A few days later the amir Sayf al-Dīn Shaykhun (1)—one of the foremost grandees of the Egyptian realm who was under official surveillance—arrived. He was brought into the Citadel of Damascus, and after spending a single night there he was taken away and conveyed to Alexandria—Allah knows best (2). A courier then reached Damascus ordering that his administrative bureau, as well as that of Manjak, be placed under sequestration; all hope for their safety was abandoned.

News also arrived that Baybughā had been captured en route; his sword was sent to the sultan. An amir dispatched from Egypt made the other amirs swear allegiance to the sultan, then proceeded to Aleppo and exacted the same oath from the amirs there, returned to Damascus, and finally went back to Egypt, collecting large sums of money from the deputies and amirs along the way.

On Thursday, the twentieth of Dhu al-Qaʿdah, the two senior Syrian amirs, Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Ṣubḥ and Malik Āṣ (3), were arrested in the Dār al-Saʿādah in the presence of the deputy of the sultanate and the assembled amirs. They were taken up to the victorious Citadel, marched on foot from the Dār al-Saʿādah to the citadel gate near the Dār al-Ḥadīth, then shackled and imprisoned there.

Word came that the sultan, in Egypt, had appointed Qāḍī ʿAlam al-Dīn ibn Zanbūr (4) as vizier and had vested him with a splendid robe of honor the like of which had not been heard of for many ages. Upon assuming office he distributed robes to the amirs and commanders. A robe was likewise conferred upon the amir Sayf al-Dīn Tashbughā (5); he was reinstated in charge of the duwaydāriyya (chancery) in Egypt and given precedence.

Early in Dhu al-Ḥijjah it became widely known that the deputy of Ṣafad, Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Mashad al-Shurbkhānah, had been summoned to Egypt. He refused to comply, broke his pledge, fortified the citadel, gathered men and supplies, and stored substantial provisions in preparation for holding out. A courier therefore reached the deputy of Damascus commanding him to march with the entire Damascene army against him. The troops readied themselves and the detachments set out under their banners, but when some of them had already advanced the deputy of the sultanate reconsidered—being highly experienced—and recalled them. The decision then settled on dispatching four commanders with four thousand men against him (6).

On Thursday, the twelfth of that month, a strange incident occurred at Minā: the Egyptian and Syrian amirs clashed with the ruler of Yemen, al-Malik al-Mujāhid (7). They fought near Wādī Muḥassir, and the engagement ended with the taking of captives