Two Sultans Enter

The Zayyanid Sultan set off from home in the Spring at the front of an army thousands strong. Developing a routine of campaigning for himself over the past few decades, Zayyanid influence had spread far east all the way to the city of Constantine, ruled ostensibly by an ally of the Sultan of Tlemcen. The respect and discipline garnered by the Sultan still demanded he in turn continue to respect the complex web of relationships in Algeria and beyond in the Maghreb. Dependent on multiple others within his own Sultanate, his planned southern expedition would require the assistance of the Sultan of Beni Abbas. For this the Sultan had exchanged a series of letters with the old man, where he and his army was promised to be accepted at the heart of the Sultanate of Beni Abbas, the fortress of Kalaa.

The Sultan of Beni Abbas, Tamim al-Thani, had a complex and often contradictory relationship with his Zayyanid neighbors. At one point he had been their subject, the Emir of the city of Algiers. Head of the significant Tha'alaba tribal confederation, his controversial decision making in the wake of a major Spanish invasion of Tlemcen and the Zayyanid realm had soon turned him into a renegade in the eyes of the court. The Sultan had, with certain allies, removed the Tha'alaba and Tamim al-Thani from Algiers and much of the Zayyanid's lands. In the chaos of the convergence in Bejaia, Tamim al-Thani had deftly maneuvered himself into a position of respect and authority amongst an even larger group of Amazigh within the region of Kabylia and soon made peace with his Zayyanid enemies more powerful than he had started. Now ruling over a more complex and decentralized Sultanate of his own, the Zayyanids attempted a policy of reconciliation. Sultan Tamim al-Thani had graciously accepted and continued on a policy of hesitant cooperation with the resurgent Tlemceni. The Zayyanid Sultan's personal arrival in Kalaa would cement the shaky relationship that had dominated the region since the Spanish invasion.

The Zayyanid Sultan would be shown the worst of it when it soon became apparent that many of the settlers in Kalaa itself were of the Tha'alaba, many whom were victims of his earlier violence. The steely eyed townspeople regarded the incoming army as foreigners squatting on their land, and a tense fog laid itself over the city. However, soon the Sultan is invited in to meet Tamim al-Thani and his court. The Zayyanid gifts of Italian machinery and metalworking, along with an important dose of respectful sweet talking of the Sultan, does wonders to break the ice in the palace environment. Grand celebrations are limited in joy and merrymaking due to the cold townspeople, but the palace itself becomes alive and party. The Zayyanid Sultan soon found his counterpart in Kalaa amenable to his attempt into the interior, though he seems worried about the ripple effects of the region's trade. Nevertheless, he offers to fill the Zayyanid army's belly and send them off provisioned and with water. A similar feeling is shared amongst the courtiers of the Sultan of Beni Abbas, who welcome the Zayyanid generosity and attempts to reconcile. Many of the less directly-affected tribes of the confederation in Kabylia hear news of the joyous meeting and the reputation of the Zayyanids as friends of Kabylia grows.

The Zayyanid Sultan has received other news as he sets off as well. A vanguard party had been sent disguised as a caravan to the final destination of Biskra, which successfully enters the town. The Zayyanids make it from Kalaa to M'Sila, a city on the edges of Zayyanid authority. The arrival of the Sultan personally to the city combined with his impressive army scared the locals and they soon shut the Sultan out of the town. There is a strong rejection of the attempts to bring royal authority back into the region strongly, but the cannons brought by the Sultan were key in soon pounding the walls and the city into submission. In short order the town once again surrenders to the Sultan and its garrison lays down its arms. Leaving a more loyal garrison behind, the Zayyanids continue onwards to Biskra. The treacherous path and the mountain passes crossed eventually force the Sultan to abandon his artillery and make slow progress to the city. Stretching what caravans were bringing supplies to the marching army, eventually they reach the city of Biskra without significant local resistance and raiding. The city flat out rejects an attempt at a peaceful resolution and prepares a steely and strong defense. The Sultan organizes an effective siege camp capable of threatening the city somewhat, but without any proper siege capabilities are heavily limited beyond assaults. Food and water supplies are also starting to become worrisome and effect army morale. Here the Sultan sends the signal to the earlier "caravan" which had infiltrated the city. Unbeknownst to the caravanners, they had been tracked as suspicious upon their arrival. Even so, the city's lax approach and the numerous caravan meant that one of the main gates into the city was soon captured by the internal group. The city guards elicit a quick and large response to the issue, but an enterprising officer in the Zayyanid army had been standing at the ready with a large contingent of the cavalry. Upon seeing the gate open he had led a large scale attack into the city, leveraging the Zayyanid's numbers to overwhelm the defender and ensure the gatehouse was not lost. The momentum here quickly coalesced into a quick scouring of the city as the garrison and defenders were cut down. A citadel at the center of the city stood strong and defiant against the Zayyanids who still lacked capable siege equipment. Weeks turned into months before the citadel finally surrendered as starvation spread. Once more a garrison is left to man the walls while the Sultan now returns home. Crossing the treacherous interior once more, a lack of supplies and a harsher local resistance makes the return journey much worse than the arrival. The Zayyanids even attempt to attack and scare the Sultan of Laghouat into submission, but stiff resistance and a crumbling sense of cohesion and morale within the Zayyanid army restricts the Sultan from doing so effectively. What's worse, it was only a few weeks after setting out from M'Sila that news reached the Sultan's ears of the garrison at Biskra having been slaughtered after a local conspiracy contacted friendly Amazigh tribes who arrived and were let into the city. It was incredibly difficult for the Zayyanids to project power continuously over such distance with such harsh terrain. The expedition instead affected the Zayyanid Sultan's reputation, and spread it. The Tlemceni were stable enough to raise armies to threaten the interior, and through cunning and sound strategy the Sultan was a capable and successful man and general.

TL;DR

• Zayyanid and Beni Abbas relationship strengthened and better defined; Some lingering bad feelings and fears over Zayyanid ascendancy

• Zayyanids find strong aversions to royal authority on the frontier of the Sultanate

• The city of Biskra falls to a combination of Zayyanid trickery and tenacity, but soon removes Zayyanid influence once the army is forced to return home

• The Sultanate of Laghouat engaged in low-scale conflict with the Zayyanids and now feels threatened