Muhammad-nutsal IV the Brave also known as Nursal-bey or Mersel-khan (Avar: Мухӏаммад-нуцал, 1730–1774) was an Avar nutsal (ruler), who ruled from 1735 to 1774. Biography Early years He was born in 1730 or 1731 in Khunzakh village in the family of Umma Khan IV. In 1735, his father was mortally wounded in a campaign against the shamkhal of Tarki and after some time died from his wounds when he was 5 years old. Due to the infancy of the children of the previous ruler Nutsal Khan II, who ruled until 1744 became the khan. Shapi Kaziev describes how during the Nader Shah's Dagestan campaign, the people of Khunzakh were led by Muhammad-nutsal and together they defeated the 20.000-strong Shah’s detachment in the Aimakin Gorge, after which nutsal went to Andalal and finally expelled the Persians from Avar lands. War with Georgia In 1751, the united army of the Dagestan feudal lords defeated the Georgian troops. This was one of the most serious defeats for Teimuraz II and Heraclius II. According to Petr Butkov, in 1752/1753 he came to Georgia with the Lezgin army Mersel-khan (Muhammad-nutsal) and surrounded the Mchadis-Jvari fortress. King Teimuraz in the first battle with him defeated and drove out the Lezgins, but then they gathered in Gartiskar and did not stop raiding Georgia. King Heraclius blocked their way and exterminated them all. But the joy of a major victory over the Khunzakh ruler was overshadowed by continuous small raids that continued until 1760. Relations with the Russian Empire In 1753, Muhammed-nutsal applied for acceptance into Russian citizenship. Among other things, in the first quarter of the 19th century, some Chechen societies were politically dependent on the Avar Khan, and in a letter to the Kizlyar commandant received on May 21, 1758, Muhammad-nutsal motivated his negative attitude towards the alleged repressions of the tsarist authorities against the Chechens. War with the Guba Khanate In 1765, Fatali Khan of Quba captured Derbent, and in 1768 occupied Shamakhi. The ruler of Shamakhi khanate Aghasi Khan fled to Karabakh, where he gathered a detachment and also attracted to his side the Muhammad Husayn Khan of Shaki and Muhammad-nutsal, who did not want the strengthening of Fatali Khan. The Avar nutsal sent an armed detachment led by his brother Muhammad Mirza and nephew Bulach. In the ensuing battle between Muhammad Husayn Khan, Aghasi Khan and the Avar nutsals on the one hand