Shortages of food and fodder, and the financial drain of keeping armies continuously in the field, plagued Masc ud and his generals. It was these needs which in 426/1035 impelled him to lead an expedition to Gurgan and Tabaristan on the Caspian coast, where the local ruler Abu Kalijar was behind with his tribute. At first sight, the military advantages in Khurasan seemed to be on the side of the Ghaznavids, with their professional troops and generals, their superior weapons and equipment, and their numbers at least equal to those of the Saljuqs, but this was not in practice the case.
The Turkmens were poorly armed, but were highly mobile; they could leave their baggage and families long distances away, and being accustomed to the rigours of steppe life, could operate with minimal food supplies. As one of Mas'ud's courtiers said, "The steppe is father and mother to them, just as towns are to us." The Ghaznavid armies were skilfully commanded by such generals as Sii-Bashi, but they suffered terribly from the shortages oi food and water in the desert fringes of northern Khurasan; also, they were burdened by heavy equipment and had to operate from fixed bases.
The early disillusionment of the people of Khurasan with Ghaznavid rule has already been mentioned, and the lack of a will to resist begins to play a significant part in the Ghaznavid-Saljuq struggle for the province. The notables and landowners there had to endure the burnings and tramplings across their lands of the opposing forces. The sultan seemed impotent, based as he was on distant Ghazna, to master the invaders; was it not preferable to end it all and come to terms with the Saljuq leaders, in the hope that they might then be able to restrain their lawless followers?
Consequently, Marv was occupied by Chaghri as early as 428/1037, and Nishapur opened its gates to Ibrahim Inal in the next year, being occupied by the Saljuqs for several months before Mas'ud reappeared with an army. Here in Nishapur, the administrative capital of Khurasan, Toghril had during this occupation mounted Mas'ud's own throne and behaved as ruler of Khurasan. Saljuq raiders were now penetrating up the Oxus valley to Balkh and Tukharistan, and as far south as Slstan; it was feared that Ghazna itself would be threatened, although the mountain barriers of the Hindu Kush and Pamirs in fact prevented the Saljuqs from reaching eastern Afghanistan.
Law and order were everywhere breaking down, and local governors and officials were making the best terms they could with the incomers. Ray and Jibal were by now, of course, irretrievably lost, for the Turkmens had long been making communication with these western outposts of Ghaznavid power difficult. With the aid of the "'Iraqi" Turkmens whom he had hired as mercenaries, the Kakuyid 'Ala' al-Daula had been emboldened to throw off Ghaznavid control in Isfahan. Then, at the beginning of 429/1038, the Ghaznavid garrison in Ray was expelled by the Turkmens and the governor Tash-Farrash killed; 'Ala' al-Daula managed to secure control of the town, continuing to acknowledge on his coins the overlordship of Mas'iid, until the Saljuqs wrested Ray from him and for a time made it their capital in Persia.
Ghaznavids and Succession Crisis
