the incessant Dagestani inroads. Despite some initial successes, Eliseni, the easternmost region of the Kingdom, was irrevocably lost in the 1710s, and free communities of the mountaineers, known as Djaro-Belokani, were established, while Georgian peasants living there had to leave or to Islamize gradually. They who chose the latter, became known as Ingiloys. In 1722, Constantine II (1722–1732), the illegitimate son of Heraclius I, became the new King of Kakheti. In the next year, Shah Tahmasp II ordered him to remove from power Vakhtang VI of Kartli, who adopted an anti-Safavid policy and made an alliance with Russia, which proved to be unsuccessful. Constantine II of Kakheti, reinforced by the Transcaucasian Tatars and Dagestanis, invaded Kartli and captured Tbilisi on May 4, 1723. Defeated King of Kartli and his supporters fled to Shida Kartli. The same year, the Ottoman army marched against the Constantine II, who was unable to stop it and offered to negotiate. The Ottomans entered Tbilisi on June 12, 1723, deceiving and imprisoning King of Kakheti during the negotiations. Fortunately for him, Constantine II managed to escape to his realm. After Vakhtang VI of Kartli immigrated to Russia in 1724, King of Kakheti became the sole leader of the anti-Ottoman resistance in eastern Georgia. Since Safavid Iran was on the verge of collapse, nominally Muslim Constantine II decided to return to the centuries-old pro-Russian foreign policy of his forefathers and offered to place Kartli and Kakheti under the Russian protection. However, Peter the Great, as well as his successors had no intention to start a new war against the Ottomans. Meanwhile, Ottoman Empire skillfully used coreligionist Sunni Dagestanis against recalcitrant Georgian King, encouraging them to put constant pressure on Kakheti. On September 26, 1724, the Ottomans defeated Constantine's army in the fierce battle of Zedavela, while Dagestani bands devastated countryside. As a result, Constantine II had to find shelter in Pshavi. Yet still, in 1725, Georgians managed to drive marauding bands of the mountaineers out of Kakheti. By 1730, Kakhetian King was forced to recognize Ottoman supremacy and agreed to pay tribute. Additionally, Constantine II, indifferent to religion, converted from Shia to Sunni Islam. Seven years long resistance of Georgians resulted in invaders abandoning initial plan of annexation of Kakheti, as the Ottoman Porte had done in Samtskhe-Saatabago at the turn of the seventeenth century. On December 28, 1732, the Ottomans, never fully confident in Constantine's loyalty,