Taken initially to Malta, he was soon ransomed and returned to Istanbul (his captivity later inspired an episode in the opera Les Indes galantes). He then participated in the 1710–11 Pruth River Campaign, was appointed to the honorary post of "kapıcıbaşı", and then sent to the Rumeli Eyalet where he served as commander of the Christian irregular militia, the "armatoloi". In this role he served in the 1715 campaign that recovered the Morea from the Venetians, where he so distinguished himself that he was promoted to the rank of "pasha" with two horse-tails, and appointed governor of the Sanjak of Tirhala. During the opening operations of the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18, he was in charge of supplying the army, but soon returned to the Morea (late 1716) as a "pasha" with three horse-tails (the highest rank) and "serasker" (commander-in-chief) of the Morea Eyalet, in order to suppress local revolts and prevent any Venetian attempts at recovering the province.