Section Five: The Siege Intensifies
The news of the Martyrdom of the Báb
While the siege was in progress, the news of the Martyrdom of the Báb in Tabríz eventually reached the Fort. 58_ACT14 Although heartbroken, the Bábís knew what path lay ahead for them as well. The thought of following in the footsteps of their Beloved and their other comrades across the country from Tabarsí to Nayríz, is what now sustained them.
The deceit and fearmongering of the Governor achieve their ends
The Sháh, a young man of seventeen, was already upset at the Bábí resistance in other parts of the country. Receipt of the message from Hujjat – which had been replaced by the falsified anti-government message by the governor of Zanján – enraged the Sháh. He ordered that several regiments be immediately dispatched to Zanján, and that Hujjat and all his supporters be killed. No one was to survive. 59_ACT14
The Grand Vazír, the Amír-Kabír, was already fully in favour of the destruction of the Bábís, having not long before ordered the Martyrdom of the Báb. He now ordered several generals from different areas to head to Zanján with their regiments.
What followed next was wave after wave of various regiments coming to Zanján. The lead was taken by Muhammad Khán, who had the title of Amír-Túmán. He came to Zanjan “at the head of five regiments and equipped with a considerable amount of arms and ammunitions … to demolish the fort and wipe out its occupants.”60_ACT14
The reinforced attacks on the Fort prove lethal to the Bábís
The attacks by such a large number of regiments of infantry and cavalry together with heavy canons delivered lethal blows to the Bábís encampment. Describing one such encounter, Nabíl records:
Headed by their kad-khudás [head of an area or village] and preceded by four regiments, a vast multitude of people marched, to the sound of a flourish of trumpets and the beating of drums, in the direction of the fort. Undaunted
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