Mount and Blade Central Asia

Not only Ahad had his eyes on these Orientals, but the owner of the city of Basra also had his eyes on them. Of course, that big man was not interested in the treasures and goods owned by these Orientals.

What the lord was worried about was whether these Orientals would continue to appear. Rumors about the Orientals' huge fleet began to spread along the coastline three months ago. Some people swore that they had seen the Orientals' fleet covering the sky and the sun on the sea.

Others say that those Orientals operate giant ships as big as islands, on which they can even grow crops.

Of course, Ahad didn't believe a word of this nonsense. Those merchants and sailors who spread rumors were all ruthless people who drank heavily and boasted big. Their words were even less reliable than those plunderers.

"Brothers, I know you have heard legends and stories about the mysterious East since childhood. They possess coveted wealth and silk smoother than women's skin. Now is the time to unveil the mystery of the Orientals!" Ahad has always been a qualified preacher. A mendicant monk once even wanted to develop him into a missionary, but unfortunately he chose the current path of "creating" wealth more directly.

Hearing Ahad's words, nearly a hundred plunderers howled with excitement. As a powerful plunderer tribe active near Baghdad, they had not had an easy time in recent years.

The war affected not only the big cities and tribes, but also the plundering tribes that made a living by plundering.

Chapter 660 Sharpshooter

"Diao Ercheng! Can you hit that official?" Dong Huaihui glanced at Ahad who was riding a black warhorse in the distance. The other party was very conspicuous among the camel cavalry, and the armor he wore was much more exquisite. He was obviously a good target.

"It works!" Diao Ercheng took a thin red rope with a copper coin hanging from the bottom and measured the wind direction and speed, and gave a positive answer.

He is the sharpshooter in the team. He has had sharp eyes since he was young. He used a bow and arrow when he was a child, and started using a musket after joining the army. Now the weapon in his hand is even better for him.

Diao Ercheng was not well educated and didn't know how his old friend could fire a gun without a match, but he knew that every time he fired, he earned two taels of silver, which was almost as much as his military pay. So he had high demands on himself and would not shoot easily unless he was sure of hitting the target.

Dong Huaihui saw that the Hu man was about 150 meters away from Diao Ercheng, which was more than enough for his shooting range. However, he had to stand on the box to barely avoid being blocked by the robbers rushing past, and his shooting window was suddenly much higher than the bunker.

Diao Ercheng didn't care about the arrows shot by the bandits. He was an old soldier and was too lazy to dodge such soft arrows. The only problem was that the gun was unstable.

Diao Ercheng himself is a big man, 1.8 meters tall. In order to pursue ultimate accuracy, the barrel of the precious musket in his hand is nearly 1.5 meters long. When the buttstock and other parts are included, it is almost as long as him.

The entire gun weighs more than 35 kilograms, and the counterweight is not well made. It was originally an experimental product. During use, Diao Ercheng had to regularly tell the craftsmen on the ship about his experience and summarize the advantages and disadvantages.

There was only one auxiliary soldier beside him, who was holding up an empty box as a human gun rack. Unfortunately, this posture would inevitably cause the person's arms to shake, and Diao Ercheng had to overcome this disadvantage.

The opportunity may be lost at any time, Diao Ercheng must seize the time.

In fact, Diao Ercheng was already grateful to these Hu people for eighteen generations. These fools didn't know the power of the Ming Dynasty's firearms. If it were the barbarians who had suffered in the local area, they would have run away long ago when they saw the black muzzle of a gun aimed at them from afar.

It was always like this. Ahad, as a male predator at the peak of his personal combat power, relied on his keen intuition to find Diao Ercheng in the "Ten Thousand Troops" and was frightened when he saw the black tube.

Although Ahad knew that there was basically no single-person weapon that could threaten him at this distance, he still subconsciously wanted to turn his horse's head and move, just in case.

It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty's technology was so shocking that as Diao Ercheng pulled the trigger, a crisp sound that was different from other sounds allowed the bullet to pass through a distance of more than 100 meters and directly penetrate Ahad's eyebrows.

"Hit!" A smile appeared on Diao Ercheng's lips because he hit the target again. He didn't care about killing a Hu bandit leader. He was simply happy that he and the treasure in his hand had once again completed a beautiful attack.

In Diao Ercheng's mind, the life of the Hu bandit leader might not be as valuable as the bullets he fired. After all, before returning to his homeland, the bullets in this gun would be used up one by one, and those Hu bandits would always find a new leader before they were all killed.

Diao Ercheng could downplay it, but the people around Ahad were terrified.

Alwash didn't even know how Ahad died. He was standing a little behind Ahad and his attention was completely focused on the convoy of Orientals.

Chapter 661 Everything is fine

Li Rufeng passed through Tikrit along the way. The only Black Sheep garrison sent a team of 100 people to follow him for twenty miles. After confirming that Li Rufeng's target was not Tikrit, they said goodbye to him peacefully.

This illusion of harmony made Li Rufeng feel that the next time he led a large army to the border, this city would most likely surrender. These Black Sheep people really had no fighting spirit.

Continuing south, Li Rufeng passed by the famous ruins of the ancient city of Samarra. Six hundred years ago, it was a prosperous city and even surpassed Baghdad to become the capital of the powerful Arab Empire.

However, as the land here became severely desertified, Lake Salsar near Samarra dried up. After more than a century of glory, the city could no longer maintain its youthful beauty. The cultural center of the Arab Empire moved north again back to Baghdad. Since then, the city has declined and eventually became completely uninhabited and turned into ruins shortly after the invasion of the Mongol Empire.

It is worth mentioning that until today, there are often reports in the ancient city of Samarra that lucky people have dug out ancient porcelain from the East from the ruins. Judging from the time, those porcelains were basically produced during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, Li Rufeng also saw the famous spiral tower of the Samarra Great Mosque, called "Malawiye", from afar.

The spiral tower is about fifty meters high. It is a building with only stairs. The spiral ramp leading to the top of the tower is on the outside of the tower. There are no protective measures next to it. After hundreds of years of wind and sun, it has been severely weathered and no one can climb to the top.

Considering that Samarra was once the center of the Babylonian Empire, this spiral tower undoubtedly pays tribute to the legendary Tower of Babel. This shows that during the reign of the Arab Empire, at least in the field of art, it reached an admirable height.

If people don't have enough food to eat, they won't have the energy to think about art or pay tribute to the ancients. Li Rufeng has always been worried about food.

Weng Guo was looking at the minaret with great interest. He had passed by this relic twice but had no time to go in for a look. Now that he was traveling with Li Rufeng, he could finally relax a little and go inside to see what was happening.

Soon, Weng Guo happily brought back two broken porcelain pieces and tossed one to Li Rufeng, "I heard this is from the prosperous Tang Dynasty. It's not common in this part of the country anymore. I'll keep one as a prize."

Li Rufeng shrugged. He had always been very indulgent towards Weng Guo and simply ignored the difference in status between them. This was because Weng Guo could speak fluent Chinese and could soothe Li Rufeng's homesickness a little. Besides, Weng Guo often brought him free information.

Of course, from Weng Guo's perspective, he probably didn't think that the status of a foreign chief like Li Rufeng was that high.

They, the Jinyiwei, had been lurking secretly all the way here, and their actions were not very ostentatious for the time being, but that fleet that sailed to the West destroyed many countries and massacred many cities along the way, leaving behind the vast power of the Ming Dynasty along the way.

"You only have such a small group of people with you. Aren't you afraid that those barbarians will kill you on the road?" Weng Guo asked as he took a bowl of bacon soup from Li Rufeng's personal guard.

Li Rufeng didn't bring many people with him on this trip, which seemed a bit too risky to Weng Guo. After all, the entire "country" now depended on Li Rufeng alone.

For example, now, Weng Guo felt that if he wanted to, he was fully capable of stabbing Li Rufeng to death with one knife, so this rising force would be disbanded tomorrow.

"Where are my enemies nearby?" Li Rufeng pretended silently. His family knew his own business. Even if the vision provided by the personal guards in the outer realm was not counted, Li Rufeng's own buggy strategic map perspective was enough to prevent any accidents from happening.

Unless an assassin hides himself in the sand in advance and gambles whether Li Rufeng will land in the place where he is hiding, if Li Rufeng is so unlucky, he will... kill the assassin directly.

Mr. Li is no longer a weak time traveler who can't even lift a chicken. If he were to travel back in time, he would have been a two-handed swordsman since he was a child, and he would have been able to make a fortune by shooting videos.

Apart from anything else, his two-handed weapon skill has now reached level 79, and he obtained the third specialty at level 75. Li Rufeng must thank Princess Parisa for her tireless teaching and sparring.

The two options provided by the level 75 two-handed weapon skill are:

[Bloodstained Comrades: (Individual) Every time you kill an enemy with a two-handed weapon, the infantry in your team will gain 5 experience points. (Captain) After each battle, the experience points gained by the soldiers you directly command will be increased by 5%]

[Power of Suppression: (Individual) Increases the chance of knocking down the enemy by 30%, (Captain) Reduces infantry recruitment costs by 20%]

Li Rufeng chose the second option "Power of Suppression" without hesitation. He now had fewer opportunities to lead troops to the front line to fight than before, not to mention that it was too inefficient to point at them and chop them down one by one on the battlefield.

It would be better to increase his hard power directly, so that it would be easier for him to deal with those difficult assassins and cultists in the future, and reduce the cost of recruiting infantry at the same time.

These recruitment fees were paid by the system, and he only needed to pay the salaries of the personal guards recognized by the system. Otherwise, he would have gone bankrupt in the system long ago.

Taking advantage of the break during dinner, Li Rufeng took the time to take a look at the situation in Baghdad.

Tavel still stayed in the military camp, never leaving the house. The food and water in the camp were enough for him to squander for several months.

However, it seemed that these Black Sheep people had lost their will to resist, and the sentries on the watchtowers were also exhausted, just waiting to go out and surrender. If Tavel had not shown these people his accumulation of the past few years and promised them that everyone would have a share after they successfully left Baghdad, this place would have been undefendable long ago.

The morale of the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group outside the military camp was stable. They even allocated half of their manpower to restore order in Baghdad. After all, this place had been their treasure trove for a period of time.

The repaired cannons are now ready to fire at any time. They have taken the initiative. No matter what decision the Black Sheep people in the camp finally make, they are confident that they can attack.

The only problem was that they were not big enough and needed support from the Mongols.

What Hulujirga did most these days was to confiscate properties. Since these Mongolian uncles had come here, they could not leave empty-handed. The junk in the Abbasid Palace could not satisfy their appetite.

Fortunately, Huluchirjia finally grew up. After using Li Rufeng's name to pressure others, the Mongolian centurions under his command used a more "gentle" attitude to patiently persuade the rich families in the city to hand over most of their property.

Of course, many wealthy people were dealt with in the traditional way, and Li Rufeng and Huluchirjia chose to pretend not to see it.

So in general, Baghdad is peaceful, just waiting for the arrival of Master Li.

Chapter 662 Eat both sides

On August 26, 1409, Li Rufeng arrived in his loyal Baghdad, although his original plan had not intended to capture the city.

After all, Baghdad is now under his control, so he can no longer openly pack up all the food reserves in Baghdad and send them to Mosul for disaster relief. Moreover, without Xiao Walad in the foreground, without such a buffer, it would be difficult for Master Li to come to this city as a savior.

Fortunately, at least the citizens of Baghdad were looking forward to Li Rufeng's arrival. Those wealthy nobles who were smart enough and willing to give up their wealth in exchange for temporary stability formed a welcoming team of nearly a thousand people in the city, and stood outside the city gate where Li Rufeng was about to enter to show their courtesy.

Although Li Rufeng was not a hypocritical person, this seemingly prosperous scene was more harmonious than the scene when he entered the city where he saw Mongols chasing and hacking local people.

"I have been restraining them, sir." Hulucierjia smiled naively. As a warrior from Li Rufeng's headquarters, Hulucierjia's loyalty to Li Rufeng was impeccable.

What made Li Rufeng most satisfied was that after several years of teaching, Hulucierjia was able to break free from the vicious cycle of killing people, herding, getting married, having children, teaching children to kill people, and herding.

Hearing what Huluchirga said, the "gentry" in Baghdad who came out to greet Li Rufeng immediately smiled bitterly, but they also praised the general for his kindness and righteousness. God bless them, this is probably the first time in their lives that these gentlemen in Baghdad have seen a Mongolian officer who can really "bargain".

At least this time, Hulucierjia restrained the bloodthirsty desires of his men, and they did not cause too much killing.

This made Li Rufeng feel that it was time to promote Huluqierjia. Although the tribesmen in his own tribe had never said anything, and the chief of the Wuerhun tribe was still in charge of Aleppo, the "dragon's birthplace", Li Rufeng still had to consider the impact.

If he doesn't even promote his own people, people from other tribes will definitely be even more dissatisfied.

Li Rufeng was actually very clear that his control over the Mongol tribes was not strong. On the one hand, he almost seized power from Qinggeli Nayan, and on the other hand, it was because of profit issues.

The Mughals were merely "waste utilization" of defeated tribes under the Great Conqueror, and they had to happily accept whatever reward the Great Conqueror gave them.

Li Rufeng, on the other hand, is more like one of "themselves". Although he has a Han Chinese face, the local Mongolian tribes have mixed with local blood over the years. Li Rufeng is also a disciple of the old shaman, the chosen shaman of Changshengtian, and has displayed many miraculous powers. Therefore, the Mongol tribes have always regarded him as one of their own.

But it is precisely because Li Rufeng is one of their own that the Mongols would ask for more.

Since the beginning of the war, Li Rufeng has taken control of all the conquered cities and sent his close subordinates to manage them, which has caused dissatisfaction among many tribal chiefs.

They may not be very interested in controlling a city, but the world conquered by the Black Sheep King next door was divided equally among the tribal chiefs. Li Rufeng's failure to do so would undoubtedly seem a bit ungenerous.

Of course, Li Rufeng did not treat these tribes unfairly. As the territory he conquered expanded, the habitats of these Mongol tribes also expanded. The area of ​​grassland they controlled mostly doubled compared to before.

This is also the reason why Li Rufeng and these tribal chiefs still maintain harmonious coexistence on the surface. However, as Li Rufeng's intelligence system gradually improves, and with the Jinyiwei secretly providing him with help to the best of their ability, he is very clear that those tribal chiefs have been seeking greater rights and freedom.

The smart ones among them have realized that Li Rufeng does not simply want to be the leader of a large nomadic tribe, and are trying to force Li Rufeng to give up this idea.

In comparison, the people of Central Asia were much more honest. They were naturally at odds with the Mongols. They had only made brief compromises in the face of larger enemies before. As the Black Sheep People were continuously defeated, they saw more possibilities in Li Rufeng.

For example, the wedding of Li Rufeng and Princess Parisa. After this wedding, Li Rufeng became one of the official heirs of the great conqueror. The people of Transoxiana were willing to be loyal to Timur's bloodline for generations. If Li Rufeng could one day return to Transoxiana with their glory, or even station in Samarkand, they would wake up laughing in their dreams.

Li Rufeng hated this kind of political struggle within the power structure, but this was the reality, whether he was willing to accept it or not.

"The former governor insisted that you enter the military camp to negotiate with him, and he didn't dare to come out." Renzo Piano finally found an opportunity to get close to Li Rufeng. After this period of training, the Genoese finally became relatively skilled in riding a horse.

"I object!" Huluchierjia frowned and said viciously to Renzo Piano, "If that coward doesn't want to come out, I'll crush them to pieces!"

"Don't get excited, Huluchirjia, it's a small problem." Li Rufeng glanced at Weng Guo, who nodded at him, obviously confident that he could protect his safety.

It's a pity that Brother Mengjiang left Mosul with the order of the Eagle of Order Organization. Otherwise, together with Haishar, Li Rufeng and the other two might be able to stand alone in the military camp and block ten thousand enemies from passing through.

Although Li Rufeng had never seen Weng Guo take direct action, out of respect for the title of Jinyiwei and the fact that the Ming Dynasty had the ability to deploy forces thousands of miles away, he was willing to believe in Weng Guo's personal strength.

What's more, Li Rufeng didn't go in alone. As the leader of a faction, it's not too much for him to bring forty or fifty personal guards in to negotiate, right?

I hope the former governor is a smart man, otherwise Li Rufeng really doesn’t mind teaching him a lesson.

"Sir! Sir, it's me!" In the distance, Xiao Valad was riding on a magical horse, wearing a white robe. He looked very handsome, even more conspicuous than Li Rufeng. "I have something to discuss with you!"

Li Rufeng glanced at Xiao Valad, his eyes swept directly over him. He was very disappointed with the performance of this "businessman". It was time to put some pressure on him. Talking to Tavel first was a way of putting pressure on him.

Li Rufeng has rarely encountered such an opportunity to put pressure on both sides and gain benefits from both sides, so he naturally cannot let it go.

In the military camp, Tavel was like an ant on a hot pan, pacing back and forth in circles. It was unrealistic to say that he had no hatred towards Li Rufeng. He was now certain that his brother was dead, and even if he could escape this time, he would be skinned alive.

But Tavel didn't dare to have any improper thoughts about Li Rufeng, and could only wait anxiously for Li Rufeng's reply.

Soon, Tavel got the information he wanted. The shaman said that he would meet with him after lunch and negotiate in the military camp controlled by Tavel, just as he requested.

Chapter 663: A show of force

Lunch was eaten in the famous Abbasid Palace. Lunch was not the purpose. Li Rufeng mainly wanted to see the body of the black wizard.

Although Badlani assured him solemnly that the black wizard he killed was the black wizard tower master that Li Rufeng had wanted before, and he had captured a living person to testify for it, Li Rufeng still wanted to see the other party's body before he could feel at ease.

"This is the body of the dark wizard, sir." Badlani's tone was a little unsure when he said this, because the body placed in front of the two was a charred corpse, and only a human figure could be barely seen.

Li Rufeng stepped forward and poked the charred corpse with the tip of the magic sword's scabbard. He gave up the idea of ​​identifying the body and gave Badrani a bit of face. He nodded and said, "Ask the dark wizard if he is willing to submit to me and accept supervision from now on. If he doesn't agree, I will deal with him completely."

Currently, apart from a few "orthodox" dark wizards from the period of dark wizard rule and a tower master who surrendered, the rest of the dark wizards in Mosul are basically apprentices who were forcibly enlightened to become dark wizards.

Li Rufeng's current supervision policy for these apprentices is to take strict precautions, not giving them any channels to learn black magic, and requiring them to write dream logs every day to prevent someone from being passively enlightened in a dream again.

Of course, this method cannot prevent those who want to follow the path of dark wizards. Although these apprentices who were once mortals have witnessed the brutality of those dark wizards, they have also witnessed their power.

Not everyone has the willpower to resist power, even if that power is mixed with shit and urine.

However, Li Rufeng had no better solution for the time being. History has proven that you cannot force intellectuals into a desperate situation like slaves, because they can always come up with ten thousand ways to "non-violently" refuse to cooperate.

Only when they recognize you in the spiritual world will they burn themselves wholeheartedly.

Fortunately, up to now, most of the Mosul people who unfortunately awakened to become apprentices of dark wizards have very much understood Li Rufeng's supervision of them. On this point, Li Rufeng also has to thank those traditional dark wizards for their actions when they treated these apprentices as academic slaves.

Therefore, Li Rufeng adopted a more extreme supervision method for the "planned" traditional black wizards. These black wizards must be under the supervision of Li Rufeng's personal guards 24 hours a day. These personal guards will change shifts every six hours, and they will be directly warned if the black wizards make any unusual movements.

In fact, there have been several cases where dark wizards have attempted to corrupt Li Rufeng's personal guards. Unfortunately, all these black wizards have failed. The loyalty of these personal guards certified by the system to Li Rufeng is unshakable.

After hearing what Li Rufeng said, Badrani's expression looked a little better. Then, in order to further please Li Rufeng, he also suggested that Li Rufeng bring Nasidin with him and go into the military camp to participate in the negotiations.

"I trust your guards 100%, but Naseedin is different. Your guards are the strongest shields in the world, while Naseedin is the sharpest dagger," Badrani said. "If Tawil has any conspiracy, Naseedin will definitely find an opportunity to kill him."

Li Rufeng agreed to Badrani's proposal. He had to admit that he did lack some offensive configuration, and no ruler could refuse the right to kill anyone he wanted.

After spending the most uneasy lunch of his life in the military camp, Tavel finally received the good news that Li Rufeng was going to see him.

"Clean up this place! Not a single hair can be left!" After all, Tawil was a "city dweller" who had seen and eaten in Baghdad and had evolved a lot in terms of etiquette.

In the past, he would definitely not care about the sanitation in the small fortress. But now, when Tavel saw some excrement in the corner, he suddenly felt ashamed and loudly ordered his soldiers to start cleaning up.