"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

Sultan Korkut, for all intents and purposes, had disappeared, appointing one of his Viziers to help rule in his stead as he departed with the Grand Vizier. Of course, Korkut maintained correspondence with the capital as best he could, a mini-army of bureaucrats and scribes accompanying him as he traveled over. Soon enough, reaching the last destination before the battle ahead, Sultan Korkut and a few of men approached the tomb. Giving a few prayers for the departed soul, asking for wisdom, and founding a new waqf to help further maintain the tomb and the upcoming years and decades, Korkut and the army continued under the winter sun and moon. The launching point for their invasion was close.

As he departed the tomb, Korkut remembered that his father had stood among the sands and under the stars. While he had only been partially successful, the way was clear to him now. Like the walls of Jericho had fallen before the might of Allah, so too would these pretenders, rats and traitors be cleansed from this world through holy light.

[M]

• 200,000 civ florins to revitalize the tomb of Osman I's grandfather
• The Sublime Porte declares war on Shah Ismail for numerous, prolonged violations of the Treaty of Erzincan