Jeráh Mohammed Páshá raised to the premiership.
The grand vezírship having again become vacant, there was some disposition shown to recall Ibrahím Páshá to that important office; but by the dexterity of the reverend prelate, his old enemy, this was thwarted, and Jeráh Mohammed Páshá was appointed to fill that high station.
The enemy gains advantage at Yanuk by stratagem.
The city and fortress of Yanuk about this time was put under the government of Mahmúd Páshá, who had formerly been ághá of the Janissaries, and subsequently beglerbeg of Fajir. The enemy permitted no grain of any kind to be brought or conveyed to Yanuk, but in order to corrupt and pervert the inhabitants, as well as the troops who were in it, they permitted great quantities of wine to be carried thither both in boats and waggons. In consequence of this traffic in wine, the people of Yanuk acquired the habit of drinking, and so very relaxed did they become, that their ramparts and gates were no longer watched with that care and vigilance which was the case before wine was introduced amongst them. Regardless alike of the Páshá’s warnings as of every other advice, they vainly confided in the natural and artificial strength of the place, and were no longer the active vigilant men they used to be.
The beglerbeg of Yanuk was in the habit of receiving from the sanják of Petcheví an annual quantity of grain, amounting to two or three hundred waggons, but which, when returning, were frequently intercepted by the enemy, who on all such occasions carried off the oxen. In this way above five or six thousand of these animals had been stolen at various times, and driven away into the enemy’s dominions. This great loss the people of the sanják of Petcheví were obliged to sustain; but other districts fared worse, and had not even so much as one left them. In fact, some of the peasants were under the necessity of ploughing their lands by their own strength and that of their wives.
About the commencement of the month of Ramazán this year, the enemy committed great cruelty and excess. They attacked several hundreds of waggons which were carrying provisions to Yanuk and Agria. The escort of cavalry which accompanied these waggons, on seeing the enemy, fled, leaving the poor drivers to shift for themselves. The number of these amounted to about three hundred, who were either killed or made prisoners. Between one and two thousand oxen and waggons were carried off by the enemy.
The two thousand regular troops, and the two thousand Kúl-oghláns, which had been left to garrison Yanuk, had most of their families in the districts of Petcheví, Koban, and Alba Julia, and were therefore strongly inclined on this account to abandon Yanuk altogether. The fortress of Tata, which the year before had been demolished, and its inhabitants destroyed, was allowed to remain in its state of ruin and dilapidation.
The people of Yanuk appeared to be bound over by some spell or infatuation not easily accounted for, if we except their propensity for wine, which brought its own punishment. A swine of the name of Palghi, kapúdán of Komran, sent some thousands of his foot soldiers to surround Yanuk, whilst he himself with a thousand or two of cavalry made his way towards its gate. The inhabitants and garrison were in a profound state of inactivity and carelessness, and knew nothing of the enemy’s approach. The gate was barricaded only with a single bar of fir wood, and their drawbridge was not let down. Some few of these apostate infidels who came to attack the place approached about midnight to the gate, and feigned an alarm. The centinel, a boy, awaking from his sleep, asked, “Who’s there?” They replied: “We are come from Petcheví with provisions, were very near meeting the enemy, and have with much difficulty escaped to this place. They are still in hard pursuit of us, and will soon have us in their power, unless you open your gate and let us in. Open then the gate, and let in the waggons loaded with provisions.” As this conversation with the watch ended, the rest came forward with their wooden mortars and placed them in front of the gate, whilst the boy said he would run and inform the kapújí, and did so. The treacherous enemy lost no time, for the centinel was scarcely gone when they attacked the gate, splintered it to pieces, and rushed in on the devoted people: some were lying drunk, some asleep, and all in a state of total negligence and unconcern. Now the work of destruction commenced. The troops in it saw when it was too late their danger, but the sight of the enemy only roused them to madness. They fought with the most desperate fury, and perished in the conflict. Thus did Yanuk fall into the hands of the execrated enemy. The stratagem succeeded.
It has been said that the commander of the Janissaries of Yanuk was brought alive, but in a state of drunkenness, before the above-mentioned impious Palghi, kapúdán of Komran, and that ten or fifteen thousand pieces of gold were found in his possession. After interrogating him, the story goes on to say, as to what he meant to do with such a quantity of money, and asking him why he had not laid it out on the garrison, or if he thought that his money would watch the fortress, the commander caused his head to be cut off and fixed upon a pole. The same account also states that, notwithstanding the general carnage, five or six Muselmans made their escape to Buda; the rest were totally annihilated. The beglerbeg of Buda sent a report of this disastrous affair to the commander-in-chief, which reached him on the 29th of Shabán.
The wooden mortars or guns above alluded to were something in the form of a cannon—large mortars made of bronze, and surrounded by five or six iron rings on the outside. Each mortar had two ears of the same metal with itself, and the whole piece or apparatus was placed in a wooden frame or case about as large as a small mat or carpet (about the size of a hearthrug) and four or five fingers thick, and in which these ears were fixed. The point of the mortar was seen outside of the frame, and when it was charged with powder a circular plate was firmly fixed to its mouth by ropes or straps. These mortars were placed on two-wheeled carriages, which were provided with a long rod or pole behind them to prevent the wheels or carriage, when the mortars were discharged, from diverging from the proper line. Such were the instruments employed on the above occasion.