Khorasan and, with Qa'em-Maqam, went to Tehran to claim the title of crown prince. Accession At Nowruz (Iranian New Year, which was held at the March equinox) of 1834, Mohammad Mirza was appointed as crown prince and took the governorship of Azarbaijan—the office of his father—and left Tehran for Tabriz. As crown prince, Mohammad Mirza was under the complete influence of Qa'em-Maqam, on whose orders, Mohammad imprisoned four of his brothers, including Djahangir Mirza and Khosrow Mirza, in Ardabil and later blinded them to invalidate their claims to the throne. The appointment of Mohammad as the crown prince angered Fath-ali Shah's fifth son Hossein Ali Mirza, the Prince-Governor of Fars, who thought the appointment would deprive him of his rights and was a sign of submission to Russian demands. In October 1834, Fath-Ali Shah, with the intention of collecting 200,000 tomans tax arrears from Hossein Ali Mirza and a hidden motive to revoke him of his lands, went to Fars but died en route at Isfahan. Couriers were quickly sent to Tabriz but otherwise, the shah's death remained secret. His body was then taken to Fatima Masumeh Shrine for burial; only then the death it was publicly announced. As expected, his death sparked riots across the country, and a number of princes, including Hossein Ali Mirza in Shiraz and Ali Shah Mirza in Tehran, proclaimed themselves kings. In early November, John Campbell and Comte Ivan Simonich, British and Russian envoys respectively, arrived in Tabriz to proclaim their support for Mohammad Mirza. They provided him an army led by Col. Henry Lindsay Bethune that set off for Tehran, where Ali Shah Mirza had proclaimed himself king. Mohammad's army met the 15,000 Ali Shah's men, who were led by Ali's brother Imam Verdi Mirza, in Takestan, west of Qazvin. After a brief confrontation, Imam Verdi Mirza sought to surrender and recognize Mohammad. The new king agreed to waive his uncles' punishment. In early 1835, Mohammad entered the capital with Qa'em-Maqam, his courtiers and Russian and British ambassadors, and was crowned king on 14 January. In February 1835, Mohammad sent an army under command of Manouchehr Khan Gorji to liberate Isfahan from Hossein Ali Mirza's forces, who were under the command of his brother Shoja al-Saltanah. After reconquering Isfahan, Manouchehr Khan marched to Shiraz, where he captured Hossein Ali Mirza and ended his rebellion. Hossein Ali was imprisoned in Ardabil and soon died