Yazid ibn al-Muhallab's Jurjan Campaign

Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab over Iraq, and he went out to Khurasan. On the way, Sul the Turk came in his path, and he asked Sulayman's permission to fight him, and it was granted. ¹

Yazid raided Jilan and Sariya, then came to Dihastan where Sul was, besieged it and cut off its supplies. Sul asked him for peace, on condition of safety for himself, his property and his household in return for the surrender of the city; Yazid accepted and kept his word. Al-Baladhuri says that Yazid killed fourteen thousand Turks, and relates from Abu Ubayda that Sul was killed. ¹

Yazid came to Jurjan, and its people met him with tribute, then broke the covenant. He sent Jahm ibn Zahr al-Ju'fi, who took it. The report says that Yazid besieged the king of the Turks for six months, and made peace with him for three hundred of his household, and paid the bahira. Then the people of Jurjan broke the covenant a second time, and Yazid camped at their fortress for seven months and set up the catapult, until a man showed him a path by a ladder of hides. The fortress was taken, and the building of the city of Jurjan was attributed to Yazid. ¹

The reports on this event are various, and some differ from others in number and detail. Al-Baladhuri gives them as they came. ¹