Mount and Blade Central Asia

Of course, there are also those guards...

Although Mushtaq was only a surrendered general, he had already experienced the power of those guards in the past few weeks.

They say that those guards are like the wind shaman's shadow, conveying his will; they are his eyes, patrolling his territory on his behalf; they are his ears, and no one can hide his secrets.

Such control power made Mushtaq both envious and fearful. He himself had led troops and had confidants, so he knew how difficult it was to achieve this. And that lord had dozens or even hundreds of such people.

It can be said that although Li Rufeng is only one person, he firmly controls the entire "kingdom".

This is why Li Rufeng was able to use thousands of troops to continuously pull back the entire Black Sheep Dynasty. As early as the beginning of the war, he defeated the armies directly under the Black Sheep King one after another, making the Black Sheep King quite passive in the subsequent wars.

Mushtaq didn't want to jump ship now. He wanted to at least see the real quality of the new ship first. Then he saw black smoke coming out of the corridor on the second floor of the palace.

At this time in the Abbasid Palace, the flames that burned the black wizard Ali had begun to spread along the flammable materials. Naseedin looked at the charred corpse in the flames and the scalpel on the corpse, hesitated for a moment, and finally gave up the risky plan.

After the fire was out, he would come back to take his token. Nasidin comforted himself and turned and disappeared into the shadow of the room. Compared to losing the token, he was more afraid of not being able to complete the task and that the fire could not destroy the knife.

Naseedin knew that there were still a few dark wizards in the palace, but those were not his targets. He slid down the sewer he came from and easily left the main building of the palace. Finally, he looked back at the Abbasid Palace itself and ran towards his hiding place.

Saib and his group almost brushed past Naseedin. If Saib had been a step faster, he would even have heard the sound of Naseedin leaving through the sewer.

He frowned and looked at the corpse in the fire, lost in thought.

Chapter 651 I also want to surrender!

"Sir, it's time to go! We can't stop those Mongols!" Tavel's personal guards escorted the governor back to the military camp breathlessly, urging him to pack up his belongings and run away as soon as possible.

Although Tavel was the chief of the tribe, he was old after all, and half of his prestige depended on his younger brother.

After the death of his fierce and warlike brother, Tavel's authority naturally declined a lot. Moreover, on the way back, these Black Sheep people could see clearly that a Mongolian cavalry squad was chasing them not far behind.

If they had not met a reinforcement coming from the direction of the palace and slowed down their pace, Tavel and his group might not even have reached the military camp earlier than the Mongols.

It goes without saying how much morale the Black Sheep soldiers still have after witnessing their chief fleeing in a panic. These Black Sheep soldiers who have been with Tavel through the whole thing naturally know their chief's background better. At the moment, they certainly have no desire to fight at all and just want to escape as soon as possible and survive.

"Hurry up and ask them to prepare the carriage! Carry all my money up!" Tawil didn't care about escaping. All he thought about was the wealth he had collected from Baghdad.

He had indeed made a fortune in the past few years. Apart from the part he gave to the Black Sheep King, a big city like Baghdad was still like a treasure pot for tribal chiefs like Tawel, constantly generating income.

Ever since he made a desperate move and begged the city of Baghdad from the Black Demon King, no one in the tribe has starved to death. This alone is enough for Kavir to become a candidate for the greatest chief in the tribe.

If he had not been too old to wield a sword, and his sons were not very capable, so that he could only choose his younger brother as his heir, his life could be said to be perfect.

But today's beautiful dream was shattered so suddenly, which made Tavier a little unacceptable. His brain seemed to be frozen for a moment and he couldn't think of the next plan.

Some people had advised him before to find ways to win over the pillars of the Jalali dynasty and increase investment in Baghdad, but Taweel did not listen.

This is not because he is stupid. In fact, as a tribal chief, Tavel's intelligence is obviously above average.

He was just very aware that he could not control the city for long, so he chose a sustainable way of draining the pond to squeeze out the nutrients of the city.

This city is too important. It controls the passage to the Arabian Gulf to the south. As long as they can continue to open up Basra, the last stronghold of the Jalali dynasty, the Black Sheep will be able to completely control the north-south longitudinal trade route from the Arabian Gulf (now the Persian Gulf) to the Sea of ​​​​Kwantianjis (now the Caspian Sea).

The reason why the Black Sheep People stopped in Baghdad was the same as Li Rufeng's. They no longer had the strength to move south, so they could only stay here and wait for the development of the dynasty to continue accumulating strength.

In general, before Li Rufeng's sudden rise, although the Black Sheep Dynasty was in a state of severe internal friction, it was still struggling to move forward. The Black Sheep King tried his best to support the start of a big Black Sheep Dynasty, which shocked many of the surrounding neighbors.

It can only be said that the Timurid Khanate retreated too quickly, which actually made the Black Sheep People a little upset.

If the black wizards had not helped the Black Sheep King establish a remote communication system that was not stable and extremely costly to use, the Black Sheep King would not have had the spare capacity to control such a vast land.

Although they all consider themselves Black Sheep, their internal national cohesion has not yet reached the level to tenaciously maintain the existence of an empire. They are Black Sheep today, and they can be Iranians tomorrow, or even White Sheep, or some other Turkmen tribe.

Tavel is thinking about this problem now. After calming himself down with great difficulty, this rather smart tribal chief has realized a problem, that is, in the war against Li Rufeng, surrenders have begun to appear among the Black Sheep people.

Mushtaq was undoubtedly a surrenderer. In Tawil's mind, the Saidi family was a noble family. As early as when Tawil's grandfather was still grazing on the grassland, the Saidi family had already been strategizing in Tabriz and chatting and laughing with the surrounding emirs.

Now that the Sayidi family has surrendered, Tawil no longer has any moral burden. The only thing that makes him hesitate is those Mongols...

As a nation that had been conquered before, the Black Sheep People had seen and tasted everything. The greed of the Mongols frightened all the nomads. Otherwise, it would not be because they were living a good life that they would respond to the call of the Black Sheep King again and again and join the war.

As the governor of Baghdad, Tawil had some understanding of Li Rufeng. Frankly speaking, he trusted Li Rufeng's promise. In the current situation, if Li Rufeng was willing to accept his surrender, Tawil would be happy to serve as a vanguard like the Saidi family.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Li Rufeng is willing to let him continue to be in charge of Baghdad.

But business is, after all, negotiable. Taweel's bottom line is to keep the wealth he currently holds, and for this he can give up control of Baghdad.

After all, compared to the Black Sheep King who is far away from the emperor, Li Rufeng, who is in Mosul, is too close to Baghdad. Even for safety reasons, letting Taweel continue to serve as the governor of Baghdad is a potential hidden danger.

Tawil was willing to move, as he had made a lot of money in recent years, but he was afraid that he would not be able to survive the Mongols.

I think the Mongols would have loved to have pretended not to hear what he said, not to see his surrender letter on the map, and just slaughtered him and ate him up. The Mongols were very skilled at this kind of thing...

So, Tavel had to find a suitable middleman to propose the terms.

He still had a full five hundred men in the military camp. Compared to the huge city of Baghdad, this fortified military camp, which was almost as old as the city itself, was much smaller. Five hundred men were enough to hold out for several months.

Tavel, determined, ordered his guards, "No, no need to prepare carriages! We must hold our ground here! They don't have many men! We must defend here. There's plenty of food and water here, and the Mongols can't get in!"

After boosting morale, Tavel secretly arranged for two of his confidants to secretly leave the military camp. His order to them was to find that bastard Mushtaq. He was willing to surrender, but he had to negotiate terms with Li Rufeng face to face.

Tavel felt that the descendant of the Saidi family would be happy to help. After all, the more Black Sheep people he could win over, the more his value would be demonstrated, and it would also significantly change his own ecological status.

Chapter 652: Expanding Chaos

Mushtaq, who Tavel had high hopes for, had just executed a dark wizard who had escaped from the palace through a window...

Could it be a dark wizard? Mushtaq looked at the man he had shot down with an arrow, his face full of confusion. As a Black Sheep who had reached the rank of a thousand-man commander, Mushtaq had some understanding of this group in the military system.

It was just that Mushtaq was young, and his family kept a close eye on him. It was not until the Black Sheep King killed the Miranshah outside the city of Tabriz that his offspring was allowed to join the army. He missed the golden age of cooperation with the dark wizards.

When Mushtaq joined the army, the black wizards had already established their own faction in Mosul, and only a few of the Black Sheep King's direct troops still had black wizards assisting them.

So Mushtaq had indeed only heard a lot about the magic of dark wizards, but had never actually worked with them.

When the dark wizard raised his palm towards him and made a push-out gesture, he really thought that some invisible attack would come upon him, and he dodged subconsciously, but nothing happened.

Mushtaq was a little surprised at the time, and the black wizard was obviously more surprised than him. He was shot in the face by an arrow and died cleanly and neatly, no different from an ordinary person.

"Well done, that should be the last one." Saib leaned half of his body out of the window, looked at the corpse on the ground, smiled at Mushtaq, and then disappeared behind the window.

A few minutes later, Saib walked out of the palace gate alone. "They're all staying inside to pick out what they like. You can go in and choose something too. Even though we and the Black Sheep people robbed it a few years ago and there's nothing valuable here, it's definitely not a wasted trip."

Saib laughed heartily after he finished speaking, then pointed at Mushtaq and continued, "I forgot, you're also a Black Sheep. You can't blame anyone else then. Hurry in before that idiot Huluchirja arrives. I bet the governor-general has some uncollected items he hasn't had time to pack."

"I didn't come here for wealth!" Mushtaq's face flushed. Although he surrendered and led his men to trick their way into the city, they couldn't humiliate him like this!

He did this to gain a better future!

"It's up to you. The city belongs to us now. You've already gotten what you wanted. I know that gentleman. He's a generous man, and he doesn't care much about ethnic differences." Saib patted Mushtaq's shoulder. "As long as you have the ability, you can get what you want from him."

"I hope so." Mushtaq replied unhappily, and then looked at Sayyib who left on his own and fell into confusion. What should he do now?

To kill his own people? Or to lower himself to join the Kurds in looting this empty palace?

"Go give those Black Sheep people a chance to live! Idiot!" Sayib, who had already walked away, sighed as he looked at Mushtaq standing there motionless, and shouted from a distance, "Can't you be smarter?"

Mushtaq knocked his head in annoyance. Why didn’t he think of it just now?

...

"Boss, we can't break in. It's better to send artillery." A Mongolian soldier with a beard stood next to Huluchirga with an unhappy look on his face.

No matter how hard they tried, they still couldn't reach the camp before the defenders were prepared. A few sharp-eyed cavalrymen even saw the moment the camp gate closed. They were just one step away!

"Where can I find cannons for you!" Hulucierjia kicked the other man on the thigh, making him stagger.

Ever since they saw the effectiveness of Lord Rufeng's gunners, these people were no longer willing to risk their lives to fill the line and attack the city wall.

In fact, any soldier who has seen the cannons blow the city gates to pieces with shells from an absolutely safe distance would not be willing to continue to risk his life to attack the city.

Soldiers can fight to the death under the stimulation of high morale and generous rewards, but this does not mean that they are willing to die meaninglessly. It is just like no one would use infantry teams to chase rangers. It is just a waste of lives.

"Turn around and see how many exits there are." Hulucier gave an additional order. It was impossible for him to attack the military camp head-on with the few people under his command. The best option was to continue to take advantage of the chaos to expand the results of the battle.

But now, this place has obviously become a new defense node. Hulucierjia can see panicked Black Sheep soldiers standing on the three-meter-high wall of the military camp. Some soldiers have not even had time to put on their armor.

However, the presence of these people still makes this place a real iron wall. Any enemy trying to launch a strong attack will have to pay three to four times the casualties before achieving effective results.

"The guide said that there are three entrances and exits to the military camp. The Black Sheep People have been occupying that place. There are four wells inside and enough food to feed thousands of people for several months." The soldier gave Hulucier some news that made the situation worse.

This military camp is almost a small castle in Baghdad. The Black Sheep people do not trust the locals at all. This is also a common problem of all regimes that use small forces to govern large ones.

In order to maintain their dominance in the local area, they must remain strong and constantly exert pressure. The result of doing so is to constantly breed resistance among the locals, and this vicious cycle continues.

Of course, these problems are meaningless to Huluchirjia now, and only increase the difficulty of his attack on the military camp.

After realizing that cutting off water and food supplies would not yield any immediate results, he could only withdraw temporarily and continue to expand the chaos.

They haven't taken the city of Baghdad yet. In fact, the Black Sheep still have the advantage in military strength. They were just temporarily stunned. Moreover, because their military forces were too dispersed and unable to assemble quickly, they fell into a disadvantage at the previous city gate.

The group of Black Sheep cavalry that Hulujirga and his men encountered at the city gate were coming from another city gate, and such reinforcements would continue to appear in the following period.

Only by plunging Baghdad into chaos can they continue to fish in troubled waters and gain local advantages by relying on stronger organization and individual skills.

In this regard, they do have an absolute advantage. Just the personal guard sent by Lord Rufeng who follows Huluchirjia is enough for Huluchirjia to control the overall situation.

After all, Li Rufeng can light up the map through his personal guards and remotely control the small army of Huluchirjia from the perspective of the strategic map.

Although the field of vision is limited by the lighting range of the personal guards and is not so convenient, to be honest, in this war that can almost be regarded as a street fighting level, this is already a luxurious configuration.

Chapter 653: Flags Flying

To be honest, if he had a choice, Li Rufeng would rather lead his soldiers to ride and fight. After he adapted to this kind of battlefield life and his various skills gradually improved in the war, that feeling was sometimes really addictive.

What's more, on the battlefield, your enemies are so clear that you can always get rid of them by riding a horse and picking up a knife. But off the battlefield, most enemies are invisible. You can't eliminate poverty with a saber and kill famine with a bow and arrow.

The city of Mosul is currently facing the problem of not being able to find the enemy. That’s right, Mr. Li, who has always carried a huge amount of money and thought he was a wealthy man, is almost out of money!

He fought for more than a year and didn't spend much money. After all, in this era, fighting for the master was the obligation of ordinary people. Apart from the insignificant and highly symbolic military pay, the biggest benefit of being a soldier might be the free food and some spoils of war if you were lucky.

As for the Mongolian cavalry under Li Rufeng, they didn't even want military pay. These people had more subjective initiative in fighting than Li Rufeng himself. They knew very well that fighting meant expanding territory, and expanding territory meant making their own pastures bigger.

Even during several attacks on cities, because of the outstanding performance of the artillery, Li Rufeng found that he had actually made a profit when he settled the accounts!

These Mongolian soldiers had a strict system for distributing spoils of war, so many times when they went out to fight and plunder, it was a carnival from top to bottom. Even though Li Rufeng gave up his share several times in exchange for the soldiers not completely destroying those cities, in the end Li Rufeng still made a small profit.

However, there is also bad news. After the war is temporarily over, spending money to subsidize big cities like Mosul will cost far more than fighting the war. This is equivalent to Li Rufeng paying out of his own pocket to support an army with a total number of more than 30,000 people, and it is a standing army.

Mr. Li's small treasury has shrunk visibly. Although Aleppo has begun to generate income, the difference in size and the losses on the road are almost a drop in the bucket.

As a big city, most of the original grain-producing areas around Mosul need to be rebuilt. Although Li Rufeng has organized several reclamation militias among the refugees in the way of Aleppo and provided enough agricultural tools and seeds to start reclaiming the land, he cannot be expected to do so this year.

If it weren't for the food reserves that Shaw Walad brought from Baghdad, Mosul would be suffering from famine by now.

However, the good news is that the local political situation in Baghdad has not experienced the turmoil during the period when the black wizards ruled Mosul. The grain-producing areas around Baghdad are still stable, and most of the plantations are operating well. Whether Mr. Li will levy heavy taxes or make reasonable purchases in the future, it will be a good choice.

Li Rufeng canceled his original plan and changed it to completely take over the city of Baghdad in order to serve this change.

At this time, Li Rufeng was sitting at the desk and dozing off, but in fact his attention was completely focused on the strategic map perspective.

Because there were originally only two personal guards following Huluchirga, one stayed with Xiao Walad to deliver messages and monitor the "merchant" at the same time, while the other followed Huluchirga and acted as a radar.

Li Rufeng was like a PC user who was used to using a ultra-wide screen and suddenly started playing RTS games on his mobile phone. He was quite uncomfortable with the narrow one-kilometer range.

But he was always able to determine the situation around his guards before anyone else, and convey the information to Hulucierjia through his guards.

"There is a group of Black Sheep people on the street ahead, about a hundred people, moving from east to west." The guard said to Huluchirga. Those people should have come from the city gate in another direction. Like them, they were riding horses and moving slowly on the few avenues in the city that were passable by horses.

Chapter 654: Common Interests, Common Enemies

After a night filled with smoke and violence, all the remaining Black Sheep people in the city, except for the defenders in the military camp, were either dead or fled.

The good news was that Li Rufeng controlled the situation remotely through his personal guards, and the Mongolian cavalry maintained a certain degree of restraint. For example, they looted several "commercial streets" and wealthy areas where wealth was concentrated, but other than that, they did not cause more killings.

Of course, under the planning of Sayib, a new generation believer of the Blue Wind, this group of cavalrymen looted several families that were said to have a tacit relationship with the Jalair Dynasty, as well as all the "informants" they knew who were related to Shaw Walad.

For Huluqierjia, there was no moral problem in doing such things. They had never regarded these people as allies. In the eyes of traditional Mongolians, the right thing to do was for these people to actively cooperate, and anyone who dared to disobey would be killed without mercy.

So just kill these collaborators and put the blame on the Black Sheep people, and that's it.

In comparison, the mercenaries of the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group were more "honest". Although they also participated in the looting of the Mongolian cavalry, they only ate some leftovers.

The only reason why the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group was able to remain restrained was that they had to pay attention to their reputation. Li Rufeng did not cancel their qualification as tax contractors due to changes in the plan.

The bad news was that after a whole morning of hard work, the artillery of the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group had fired two small cannons four times in turn, and one of them exploded, killing all members of the artillery crew on the spot. Morale plummeted for a while.

"Boss, what do you think they are trying to do by hiding in this small castle?" A Mongolian cavalryman who was familiar with Huluqierjia asked while eating meat in one hand and a cake in the other.

"Who knows? But since you didn't run before, don't run now." Hulucierjia snorted and frowned a little more tightly.

Not far from them, Renzo Piano, the leader of the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group, frowned even more tightly because the Mongols had directly assigned him the task of capturing the military camp.

To be fair, it was a bit of a waste to let those elite rangers attack a fortress protected by city walls. Renzo felt a little uneasy about leaving this task of attacking the fortress to himself.

This fortress-like military camp, from a distance, is full of traces of history, proving that it has existed for a long time.

This also means that its construction quality is very high and has stood the test of time.