Muhammad Ali won the Delis to his side and, backed by a demonstration of ulema and guild leaders in Cairo, had himself named governor of Egypt in May 1805.

Hurshid, abandoned by his troops, was besieged in the Cairo Citadel, which he left only after he saw the Ottoman firman investing Muhammad Ali as Egypt's governor.

In November 1820, he was named governor of the Morea Eyalet (the Peloponnese), with a seat at Tripoli and serasker of the expedition against the rebellious Ali Pasha of Yanina.

Thus, on 6 January 1821, he left Tripoli for the north, leaving behind his treasury and his harem, while his deputy (kaimakam) Mehmed Salih with a force of 1,000 Albanians remained to maintain order.

Hurshid immediately informed the Sultan of the events, and without waiting for instructions, reacted by sending Omer Vryonis and Köse Mehmed Pasha to suppress the revolt first in Central Greece and then to cross over to the Peloponnese and quell the uprising in its heartland.

He assembled an army of 80,000 men[citation needed] (a huge number by Balkan standards) and was about to march in order to finally crush the Greek uprising, when disaster struck.

When news began arriving in Constantinople of the failure of Dramali's expedition at Dervenakia, the Sultan ordered Hurshid to take matters in his own hand and salvage what he could of the situation.