victorious counter-offensive; Kyari, who had refused to flee, was captured and beheaded. As for the capital city, Kukawa, it was plundered and razed to the ground. Rabih made Dikwa his capital, and there built a palace which was to win later the admiration of the French governor Émile Gentil. Local legend says that during construction there was a shortage of water, and blood was substituted to mix with sand for its walls. Borno's Lord (1893–1900) Wanting to modernize his army, Rabih attempted in 1895 to make an accord with Royal Niger Company in Yola and Ibi so to obtain gunpowder and ammunition, but without success. He started confronting the Company in 1896 and the following year even started marching on Kano, while his vassal Muhammad al-Senussi in Dar al Kuti founded a fortified capital, Ndele, between Bahr Aouk and the Ubangi River, which the Senussites held until 1911. For seven years Rabih was shehu of the Borno Empire, and spent much effort to reinvigorate a decadent empire that had until then maintained the same feudal structures it had in the 16th century. Rabih kept the vassal sultans in place, but subjected them to his lieutenants, who were mostly Arab Sudanese like he was. He promulgated a legal code based on sharia, rationalized taxation through the creation of a budget, imposed on Borno a military dictatorship, which aroused the attention of the colonial powers. Émile Gentil was to speak of Rabih's reforms in Borno with a certain degree of interest; they would later inspire him in organizing the territory of Chad. Much is told about his brutality (for example, he once had one of his concubines executed because she kept a talisman designed to obtain Rabih's love, and with her the marabout who had deciphered the talisman); or about the evenings he passed listening to Ali, the poet who sang his exploits. More importantly, Rabih launched a regular series of razzias to plunder and capture slaves; this was a return to the traditional activity of the sultans of Borno, which had been described in 1526 by Leo Africanus. It is estimated that 1,500–2,000 slaves were exported every year by his vassal Mahdi as-Senoussi, excluding the deaths, casualties, and other losses he inflicted. The totals for Rabah must have been much higher. Direct conflict with the French (1899–1900) In 1899 Rabah had at his disposal 10,000 men among infantry and cavalry, all