Sardar Rafie Yanehsari

In 1900, Sardar Rafie, along with Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar, went on a European tour.[12] During a trip to St. Petersburg, Sardar Rafie, who was very surprised by the modernity of the city, decided to return and develop the areas under his rule, especially Gorgan.[11] At the beginning, Sardar Rafi carried out a program for the reconstruction of roads from Gorgan to Hezarjarib, which lasted a year and was carried out with the help of Russian advisers.[13] Later in 1906, at his invitation, a number of orientalists such as Jacques de Morgan[14] came to Gorgan to explore, which led to the discovery of the Astarabad treasury; Experts believe that some of the objects in the treasury, which are very similar to the discoveries of Tepe Hissar, belong to the third millennium BC and nearly 5,000 years ago. Since then, Gorgan became one of the favorite centers of orientalists, and as a result, caused the arrival of modern science in Gorgan.[15] With the arrival of orientalists in Gorgan, modern science also came to this city and several libraries were built in Gorgan by the order of Sardar Rafi. After that, Sardar Rafi, who noticed a new wave of constitutionalism among the Iranians with Tobacco Protest, sent a telegram to Muzaffar al-Din Shah in support of the workers of Astarabad, in which he demanded an increase in workers' salaries to one thousand six hundred tomans.[16] Although this request was rejected, Sardar Rafi became very popular among his subjects.[17]

Group of Sardar Rafi Yansari's officials, 1909

After the death of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, Mohammad Ali Mirza became king, and in 1908, by bombing the parliament, he started a civil war in Iran between the Authoritarians and the constitutionalists. Meanwhile, the security of velayat of Astarabad was not without significance. For this purpose, after a short time from Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Khan Salar Akram from the Authoritarians faction was ordered to reach Astarabad.[18][19] However, Sardar Rafie, who had been associated with the constitutionalists from the very beginning, went to Astarabad from his mansion in Hezar Jerib and did not allow its gates to be opened on Salar Akram. Salar Akram warned him that opening the gates would be treason, but Sardar Rafie did not open the gates again, which led to the three-month Siege of Astarabad.[20] In the end, in a clash, Salar Akram was killed and the siege ended. This was the beginning of the opposition to constitutionalism against Sardar Rafi throughout his territory. In Bandar Gaz, Mustafa Khan Shokooh Al-Saltanah closed the roads to Astarabad so that the products of this city would not reach the people of Astarabad and put pressure on Sardar Rafi. But the people of Bandar Gaz themselves rebelled against Shokooh Al-Saltanah and supported Sardar Rafi. Sardar Rafi also sent his nephew Amir-e Khan Sardar with an army to Bandar-e-Gaz to surrender Mustafa Khan. Finally, Mustafa Khan surrendered in less than a week.[21] Next, in Aq Qala, the Turkmen seize the opportunity to revolt and plunder. In a letter to Amir Khan, Sardar Rafi called on Amir Khan-e Sardar to return to Astarabad to quell the Turkmen uprising by combining the two 48th Regiment corps. Later in the battle of Aq Qala, the Turkmen were severely defeated and their revolt ended for a while.[22]

In 1909, following the civil war, Sardar Rafi, who had succeeded in clearing his entire territory of Authoritarians, moved to Mazandaran, To defeat Ali Khan Zahir al-Dawla, who was working against the constitutionalists, to join Mohammad Vali Khan Tonekaboni's army from there.[23] In Sari, Zahir al-Dawla's forces faced Sardar Rafi's forces, which ended with the victory of Sardar Rafi and the escape of Zahair al-Dawla.[24] After the conquest of Sari, the rest of the Authoritarians surrendered in Mazandaran, and at this time, Amir Moayed Savadkuhi, who was a constitutionalist, joined Sardar Rafie.[25] On July 13, 1909, Sardar Rafi's forces joined Tonekaboni, Yeprem Khan, Sardar Asad, and Samsam al-Saltanah, and participated in the Triumph of Tehran, which ousted Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar from the throne and replaced Ahmad Shah.[26] After the victory of the constitutionalists, Tonekaboni, who had become prime minister, forgave Zahair al-Dawla and returned the government of Mazandaran to him. However, Zahair al-Dawla had become so unpopular in Mazandaran that he resigned after a year and left politics forever.[27]

In 1911, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, who had fled to Russia after the end of the Civil War, returned to Iran via Russia with the help of Russian ammunition and encamped in Gomishan to regain the lost throne.[28] Among those who joined him in the hope of gaining more power was Habibullah Khan Sartip, the brother of Sardar Rafi, who joined him in the Gomishan campaign.[29] By this time, with this new crisis, the position of Parliament had been shaken and many former constitutionalists and fighters had sought refuge in the British Embassy for fear of their lives.[30] Mohammad Ali Shah even asked the commanders of Bojnourd and Quchan for help and pardoned their past mistakes in a decree.[31] Mohammad Ali Shah divided the army into three groups: he sent a group to Shahroud under the command of Ali Khan Arshad al-Dawla, who advanced to Varamin and were defeated by government troops, and Arshad al-Dawla was shot. A group went by the sea and its commanders were Mirza Mohammad Khan Amir Makram Larijani and Askar Khan Azam-ol-Molk who were defeated by Alikhan Divsalar, known as Salar Fateh.[32] The middle army, in which Mohammad Ali Mirza himself participated, went to Astarabad via Mazandaran. Apart from Habibullah Khan Sartip, among the officials who were in this army are Amir Moayed Savadkuhi, Morad Khan Savadkuhi, Habibullah Khan Shoja Al-Molk Surtiji, Habibullah Khan Salar Azam Do Mehri and several others. In the meantime, Sardar Rafi, realizing the danger of Mohammad Ali Shah, marched towards them with his army. The two armies fought in Savadkuh, and the crisis ended with the defeat of Muhammad Ali Shah and his return to Russia.[33] All those involved in the crisis with Mohammad Ali Shah, including Habibullah Khan, were arrested. Sardar Rafi received the Order of the Lion and the Sun from Ahmad Shah.[34]

During these three years, Sardar Rafie, who became famous for his victories in the Constitutional Revolution and became a national hero, received large sums of money from the government, which he spent on development and construction. Shahryari building, Taqwa school, Sayami mansion and Amir Latifi house were among the buildings that were built in these three years with the support of Sardar Rafie.[35] He had proposed that Greater Khorasan be annexed to Astarabad and, of course, come under his rule.[36] He was not accepted in this request, although the government tried to take advantage of him and his influential compatriots in the region on various occasions. The issue of arrears tax was perhaps no more than an excuse, and in fact it was a kind of confiscation of property that was intended not for him, but for all his classmates. He was summoned to Tehran in 1914 because of differences with Mostowfi al-Mamalek, and was detained or imprisoned for more than a year.[37]