At this desperate juncture al-Mustansir was roused to action and wrote to the Armenian Badr al-Jamali, who had once been purchased as a slave by Ibn ʿAmmar and was now acting as governor of Tyre, begging him to come to the rescue. Badr replied that he would do so if he were allowed to bring his own army with him and were given a free hand. This was granted, and soon Badr was on his way. With courage quickened by the approach of rescue the Khalif ventured to arrest Ildeguz, the Turkish governor of Cairo, and thus put some check on the military tyranny. At his arrival Badr was well received by the Turkish mercenaries who had no idea that he had been invited by the Khalif. His first act was to invite the Turkish leaders to a conference: each of his own chief officers was told off to deal with one of these leaders and, at a given signal, each slaughtered the man who had been designated. Badr then set himself to restore order in Cairo, and this he did efficiently but with the severity rendered necessary by the desperate condition of the city, and thus re-established the Khalif as master. The grateful prince could not do too much to show his appreciation of these services, and Badr was created wazir of the sword and of the pen, _i.e._, chief minister of affairs military and civil, Chief Qadi and Chief _Daʿi_. After reducing Cairo to complete order he proceeded with his troops through Lower Egypt, putting down brigandage and disorder until he reached Alexandria where he had some resistance to overcome, but in due course that also was reduced. The settlement of Cairo and Lower Egypt occupied the greater part of 467: then in 468 he proceeded to Upper Egypt and succeeded in disbanding the black troops which held out there, and reduced those parts also to good order. Thus, once more, Egypt was under an efficient and firm government. It is true that his efforts were greatly assisted by the fact that the year 466 saw an exceptionally good Nile, so that prosperity and abundance once more reigned through the land. It is interesting to note that the Khalif set himself to the formation of a new library at Cairo as one of his first tasks; it helps us to realize that the Shiʿites were then as always the friends of learning.