gone beyond the occupation of one or two islands in the Persian Gulf if the issue of Herat had not arisen. 1856 The Qajar military listed a total of 86,700 personnel on paper. However, Tehran was unable to mobilise more than 20,000 of those soldiers for battle. A sizeable portion of the Persian army was composed of regular regiments from Azerbaijan. That division of the Persian artillery (Toop Khaneh) was the only one well-versed in long-range guns. Out 120 guns in total, six were composed of 12-pounder guns, while the remainder were of lower quality. The army train relied on mules, horses and camels for transportation, with carriages being limited in availability. With the exception of several Imperial Guard regiments, the Persian army's morale was extremely low. The annual salary of an average soldier was seven tomans, with a daily subsidy of one shahi for rations. However, soldiers were considered lucky if they were paid two out of the seven tomans due for their service. The Persian army that fought against the British expeditionary force at the Battle of Khoshab was commanded by General (Amir-Nuyan) Mehr Ali Khan Nuri Shoja ol-Molk. In 1855, Mehr Ali Khan was promoted to the command of the Fars Army, which he held for four years. When the British invasion force landed in Iran, Shoja ol-Molk was temporarily promoted to commander-in-chief of the entire southern Persian army. Shoja ol-Molk was a grandson of Minister of the General Staff (Vazir-e Lashkar) Mirza Assadollah Khan and a nephew of the Chancellor (Sadr-e Azam) Mirza Nasrollah Khan Nuri E’temad ol-Dowleh. He was among the most revered Persian officers of the Qajar military at the time, and was known among the British rank and file. The British government found itself in peculiar circumstances in the case of the war with Iran. This was a unique war in which the ultimate objective was to defeat the enemy but to ensure that its government and military would remain strong enough so as to remain stable and deter prospective advances by Russia. As such, several restrictions had been placed by the British cabinet concerning the expeditionary force's conduct: No attempt shall be made to subvert the reigning Shah His people shall not be instigated to rebellion No Persian subjects shall be enrolled in the ranks of the British Army Two courses of action were available to the British: an overland expedition into