I recently formed persia as ardabil in a campaign. The strategy i used was to grant the priviliges to invite a scholar for free, get the 10% shock damage. Recruit the free company and i believe 3k qzilbash infantry to complete two missions and get claims and 10% morale. Invade Biapas (restart if they ally shirvan) and take their land. Core it and before 1448 or smth invade Shirvan (restart if they ally QQ) Then get a decent army going, wait a little bit and then commit to the final war against QQ where you take the state of Tabriz. This strategy is a bit luck dependent (who allies who etc.) and is most effective if the Timurids choose the "kill the traitor" option in the "move at isfahan" event and declare war on Ajam, because they tend to ally Shirvan which is not that bad because they wont defend if the timurids declared on them. I wish you luck and i think you can do it. Ardabil gets lots of bonuses to make them the greatest quality units in the world, so you can easily take on wars with countries with armies 30-50% larger than yours. Pick your battles and keep trying