Persia, the hour had arrived when he was free to punish the rebellious Czar of Georgia. Before setting out for that country, he summoned Heraclius to return to his duty, to pay the accustomed tribute, and to appear at his court to do homage, and take the oath of fidelity. The reply of Heraclius was that he acknowledged no suzerain but Catherine the Second of Russia. Aga Mahomed was unwilling to give up the rights of his country over Georgia, and he was also unwilling to suffer the encroachment of Russia. He accordingly collected a large force, and in the spring of 1795 set out from Tehran for Ardebeel, at the head of sixty thousand men. At Ardebeel he divided his force into three corps. One of these was despatched by the plain of Moghan in the direction of Daghestan, to exact the required oath of fidelity from the chiefs of that quarter, and to levy the arrears of tribute. This force met with no opposition, and executed the services required of it. The second corps marched upon Erivan, which place acknowledged the authority of the Czar of Georgia, and was defended by fifteen thousand Georgians under the command of the son of Heraclius. The third corps was under the immediate orders of Aga Mahomed himself. With it he marched to undertake the siege of Sheeshah, a hill fort near the Araxes, in the province of Karabagh; at which place he met with a stubborn and unexpected resistance. Failing alike in his efforts to reduce this stronghold and to corrupt the fidelity of the governor, Ibraheem Khaleel Khan, he contented himself with leaving a force to invest the fort, whilst he himself proceeded to join his second corps d'armée at Erivan.
That city, which is the capital of the province of
