Mount and Blade Central Asia

In short, whether out of their own volition or out of necessity, these Ming Dynasty "elites" exerted their extraordinary abilities to help Li Rufeng temporarily stabilize the famine in Mosul, and at least prevent the entire Mosul from being filled with starving people on the wedding day.

"I thought I could do better." The day before the wedding, Princess Parisa leaned in Li Rufeng's arms, looking at the fiery sunset, her face full of fatigue.

Relying on her own reputation and the personal guards left by Li Rufeng, she led the huge makeshift team in Mosul City. After Li Rufeng left Mosul, she managed to maintain the situation for more than a month and was exhausted both physically and mentally.

"No one is born knowing. Ruling is an art, and ruling a land that has been ravaged countless times requires countless costs." Li Rufeng comforted the woman who was about to become his wife.

He heard a deep sense of frustration in Princess Parisa's tone. Under the rule of her grandfather and even her father, Mosul had not encountered so many problems, but now, in her hands the city was almost falling apart.

Parisa could accept that she was not as talented as her grandfather, but she absolutely could not accept that her talent in this area was not as good as her devilish father.

"When Lord Milansha ruled here, it's not that there were no problems, but that the problems did not appear in front of you." Li Rufeng didn't know how to comfort Parisa, because the fact was a bit too cruel.

"I will feed those hungry civilians because I know their hunger stems from external forces: the endless wars and those dark wizards." Li Rufeng's hand brushed Parisa's cheek, whispering, "I also know that as long as they live, they will slowly repay what they owe me and create countless benefits for me."

"Everyone says this is kindness, but they're wrong. To me, this is just business." Li Rufeng shook his head and continued, "Only you, my princess, truly hope they can survive. It's because you believe they are lives, and lives deserve respect."

Li Rufeng didn't care whether Parisa had the same ambition as the empress, he just liked the kindness and innocence she showed.

More than a decade of instruction and a special living environment had made Parisa shine like a pearl. She was neither as cruel as the nobles nor as rough as the poor; she was a treasure that belonged only to him.

Chapter 672 Blessings from Samarkand

As the son of Maharaja Miran Shah and brother of Princess Parisa, Khalil Sultan, who was far away in Samarkand, finally learned the news before his sister got married.

Although he had heard of Li Rufeng's name long before this, what happened between Li Rufeng and Parisa happened later.

It is difficult to say whether Khalil Sultan really cares about Princess Parisa's marriage. After all, he has too many things to care about. Moreover, as a tyrant with countless wives and concubines, Maharaja Miransha has left many blood relatives to Khalil Sultan.

Because Timur's rule did not directly continue to the second generation, his prestige was not entirely inherited through blood. Many times, the identities of these princesses and princes were more like a gimmick. Only those heirs who had already grasped power while Timur was still alive could truly gain a foothold.

For example, Prince Shah Rukh, Sultan Khalil, and those princes who firmly control their fiefdoms.

Princess Parisa is a special one among many "princesses". She has no prominent maternal family and no actual fiefdom, but Princess Parisa holds the magic sword, which is said to seal the power of Lord Milansha.

Of course, this matter was only spread among a very small number of people who knew the secrets of Maharaja Milan Shah, including Sultan Khalil and Prince Shah Rukh.

Sultan Khalil's impression of Li Rufeng was still that of a rising leader of a border tribe. Although he sent Hiltberg as his envoy, it was more of a gamble-like choice made out of helplessness.

Now Khalil Sultan's situation is much better than before. At least he has stabilized the situation in Samarkand and even the surrounding areas.

The help from the great Eastern power was undoubtedly not to be ignored. Ever since Timur almost caused the decisive battle between the East and the West, the Ming court had noticed this country with great war potential.

From the emergence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to Ambassador Fu An's return to the Timurid Empire, these were all new moves by the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty not only had to completely wipe out the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, but also had to ensure that the four former Khanates would never have the possibility of making a comeback.

At present, the struggle between Khalil and Shah Rukh is undoubtedly what the Ming Dynasty would like to see most. Fu An not only relies on his understanding of the Timurid Khanate to do his best to help Khalil Sultan solve internal and external troubles, but is also persuading Khalil Sultan to give the Khwarezmians more rights.

Ever since Timur completely suppressed the Khwarezmian tribes, this nation has been seeking a new way out, and they don't mind shedding blood for it.

On the other hand, Ambassador Fu An was also maintaining correspondence with Prince Shah Rukh. As a brilliant politician, Fu An hoped to accurately control the conflict between the two heirs, and preferably to split this young Khanate into two halves, or even three or more parts.

Fu An did not consider the sudden emergence of Li Rufeng, a variable. Fu An was a pragmatic person. Li Rufeng was too far away from the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps the supporters of the voyage to the West fleet were willing to have more contact with him, but to Fu An, Li Rufeng was just a symbol.

However, this very symbol has now become a problem for Fu An.

"Mr. Fu, I want to know if this Li Rufeng is a puppet supported by you?" Khalil Sultan asked Fu An bluntly in fluent Chinese.

Fu An frowned slightly. They were originally discussing whether or not to rebuild Yulong Chijie City, but the young Sultan suddenly shifted the issue to another matter.

Moreover, just from the way Khalil Sultan asked the question, Fu An knew that no matter how well His Majesty the Sultan learned Chinese, he could not learn Eastern ways of thinking. He almost solved the problem with just one sentence.

"No, I have no idea about Li Rufeng's existence." Fu An said bluntly, "His appearance is just a coincidence. Countless merchants take this trade route every year, so it's normal for some accidents to occur."

"He is about to marry my sister. Should I give them my blessing?" The majesty of a king has begun to appear on the young face of Sultan Khalil. He is learning how to become a qualified ruler.

In this regard, his grandfather was a difficult role model to learn from. Khalil always felt that his grandfather was completely indulging himself. The only difference between him and other tyrants was that he had never been defeated in his life.

In comparison, these envoys from the Ming Dynasty were more like people in high positions. They were truly able to remain calm in the face of honor or disgrace and were not affected by changes in the outside world.

Fu An heard the doubt and questioning in Khalil's words. He wanted to know whether the will of the Ming Dynasty was behind this matter.

In fact, even when Fu An first heard about Li Rufeng, he felt that the other party was most likely a hidden agent deployed by the Jinyiwei.

Those spies were already lawless enough, and now that they were outside the border of the Ming Dynasty and no longer under the suppression of imperial power, they could act even more unscrupulously. It was not surprising that they directly supported a puppet regime.

But this speculation was denied by the senior officials of the Jinyiwei. Fu An did not think that they needed to deceive him on this matter. After all, they belonged to two different systems. In this situation, it was the time to support each other without any conflict of interest.

"You can make your choice. Li Rufeng really has nothing to do with us." Fu An reassured him, but he also added, "But I think the existence of Li Rufeng is still beneficial to you. He puts a lot of pressure on the Black Sheep, preventing them from reaching a further agreement with His Highness Shaharu."

"I hope my uncle will sign a peace agreement with the Black Sheep People now, so that I will have more sufficient reasons to ask him to hand over his power." Khalil Sultan smiled bitterly. Even with the help of the Ming Dynasty, Khalil Sultan was still at a disadvantage on the surface.

The power in Shah Rukh's hands was far greater than his. If the Iranian emirs also sided with Shah Rukh, Sultan Khalil's only option would be to force a war.

"In that case, I would rather my sister have a beautiful and happy future." Khalil Sultan smiled bitterly. He was no longer a political novice. He knew how much the choice he made now would cost him in the future. These Ming people were not here to help alleviate poverty. Every drop of sweat they shed now would bear fruit in the future.

"I know you have the means of rapid communication, and I hope to use this channel to send my blessings to my sister," Khalil Sultan finally said.

Chapter 673 Dress

"Are you nervous?" Li Rufeng asked softly while looking at Parisa who was dressing up. Logically speaking, Li Rufeng should not be here now, because this is the Gonzalez Monastery in Mosul, a monastery that was almost demolished by Princess Parisa.

The final fate of this monastery was preserved because of crude cement. Li Rufeng would rather waste a week's production of crude cement and make the city's main road take a few more detours than make things difficult for Parisa.

Of course, this incident was eventually spread as a story about how the pagan Li Rufeng planned to demolish the monastery and church in the city but was finally successfully persuaded by the devout Princess Parisa.

Li Rufeng himself did not care about such rumors. He even suggested that Parisa accept the reputation. After all, just like the great conqueror of that year who intentionally let some of his descendants choose to convert to Christianity to maintain a window of dialogue with Christians, Li Rufeng was also unwilling to take a side too deeply in the religious field.

After all, he is the chosen shaman of Changshengtian. Even if he wants to stand, the resistance from the secular world is very great.

Take this wedding as an example. Putting aside Li Rufeng’s own religious stance, Princess Parisa grew up in a monastery and is a Christian. This matter itself is a stimulus to the Muslims who make up the majority of the population in Li Rufeng’s territory.

So Li Rufeng finally chose to hold his wedding in the Nuri Grand Mosque and invited Muhaya to host the wedding.

Legally speaking, this wedding was basically a mess. Even if there was a storm on the wedding day, it was to be expected. However, Li Rufeng had someone behind him, a master.

"I observed the celestial phenomena at night, and tomorrow will surely be a sunny day!" Qiu Fucheng, the immortal of Chaotian Palace, patted his chest and assured Li Rufeng, but no one saw how hard he worked to perform rituals for three consecutive nights.

"On your wedding day, I will definitely be able to ensure that all the people in the city have a full meal!" This was Chang Jinyu's promise. In just a few days, he had already grown a few gray hairs, and rows of corpses were hung on the city walls.

They were basically the daring and reckless people who had touched the grain. Chang Jinyu, as a player who was a little idealistic and ambitious, was forced to do something and had almost no cards to play except using severe punishments in troubled times. He gave the local "fellow villagers" a shocking anti-corruption campaign of the early Ming Dynasty version.

In short, the entire Mosul, and even the entire power of Li Rufeng, are preparing for tomorrow's wedding.

And what Li Rufeng needed was just one sentence——

"I'm not nervous." Princess Parisa smiled and shook her head. There was a hint of shyness in her smile, but it was mostly brilliant.

Everything that happened before her eyes was much better than she had ever imagined.

As a princess of the Khanate, Parisa did enjoy a life of luxury, but other than that, she lived no better than any other child with both parents.

For Timur, the meaning of the existence of these heirs is just existence. It is enough to use them when needed. Her father, Maharaja Milansha, is even more of a terrifying existence.

In fact, when Parisa was growing up, the role of her father often played a nightmarish existence. The hard training she received since childhood was basically set up for Parisa to pick up the magic sword one day.

Although the nuns who taught her strictly forbade her to talk about her father, the intelligent and precocious Princess Parisa guessed many secrets hidden in the darkness during their daily interactions.

The magic sword and her father together constituted the greatest fear in Parisa's heart. This fear even made Parisa think of escaping from it all.

"The princess must be the most beautiful bride in the world!" Satuya stood behind Parisa enviously, using a wooden comb dipped in clean water with fresh flowers to help comb her hair.

Li Rufeng's little maid has now lost some of her youthfulness, and is beginning to show her feminine charm like a blooming rose.

Satuya is just honest and simple-minded. She comes from a tribe and doesn't care much about many things. She is not stupid, so she knows very well that it is impossible for her to get a status with Li Rufeng like Princess Parisa.

Even if she didn't understand before, she understands now.

But Satuya accurately grasped her greatest charm to Li Rufeng, which was to maintain a trace of innocence and never put herself in any possible whirlpool.

When Li Rufeng left Aleppo to fight, Satuya refused many people's "bribes". They all thought that Satuya was easy to fool, but they didn't know that this little maid saw things more clearly than anyone else.

"Sir Li, there is news from Samarkand." Not long after, Liu Guangyue conveyed this message through Li Rufeng's personal guards.

Princess Parisa was somewhat excited when she heard the news from Samarkand. Although she was a princess of the Khanate, there might be no one in the world who cared about her except her half-brother.

"Is this news from Khalil?" Princess Parisa stood up and asked expectantly.

Li Rufeng nodded. It was indeed a message sent by Sultan Khalil through the Jinyiwei system.

The content of the message was also very simple. Khalil wished his sister all the best and promised that he would send Princess Parisa a generous dowry, which had now set off from Samarkand.

Because the channel was the Jinyiwei channel, Khalil Sultan's words were very simple and implicit, and did not contain too much affection. The dowry was not so much for Princess Parisa as for Li Rufeng. It was more like a cold transaction.

Fortunately, Princess Parisa has only maintained the minimum level of family affection needs over the years. Even though these blessings seemed a bit cold and polite, she was still very happy.

"I heard that when a princess here gets married, the wedding lasts for a week, and the princess has to dress up in a different dress every day." Li Rufeng has been a human for two lifetimes, and this is his first marriage, so he can only comfort Parisa in this way.

In Li Rufeng's impression, Parisa's image as a fierce warrior is actually more deeply rooted in people's hearts than her image as a princess. After all, when the two met for the first time, they drew their swords against each other on horseback.

But as the two came into contact more and more, Li Rufeng gradually noticed another side of Parisa, that of a woman and a princess.

The warrior is just a disguise that Parisa uses to protect herself. The real her is much softer.

"I heard that you have been making things difficult for the Ming Dynasty envoys and using silk to make me a Ming Dynasty dress?" Parisa asked while suppressing a laugh.

Li Rufeng suddenly felt embarrassed. In fact, this matter was about to turn into a diplomatic incident.

As a time traveler, Li Rufeng naturally wanted to add some oriental elements to his wedding. In addition, the Ming Dynasty delegation brought a lot of fine goods with them, so it was understandable that he wanted to get a Ming Dynasty women's dress.

It’s a pity that none of the gentlemen from the Ming Dynasty knew this skill. In desperation, they all came to complain to Parisa!

Chapter 674 Gifts from Various Parties

As a very sociable person, Hiltberg naturally would not miss Li Rufeng's wedding.

He set out almost half a month in advance, and traveled fast all the way, finally arriving in Mosul before the wedding started.

Although the journey from Erzurum to Mosul is long, the real difficulty lies in the fact that the Armenians are now fighting with the Black Sheep People in the Lake Van area. Hiltberg almost crossed the entire war zone, plus a small piece of the Black Sheep People's territory, before successfully reaching the city of Mosul.

Even though Hiltberg had witnessed the success of the Ottoman prince and the glory of the great conqueror in his life, he was still surprised at Li Rufeng's development speed.

He still remembered how "down and out" the leader of this small tribe was when he first met him.

At that time, Aleppo had almost nothing. Even the residents had to be absorbed bit by bit by Li Rufeng from nearby areas. Business was so declining that there was almost nothing left to sell in the big market.

But the other party had built up his fortune bit by bit from nothing, and now he had occupied a large tract of land and was on the verge of becoming one of the heirs to the Khanate.

Hiltberg did retain a bit of loyalty and sincerity towards Sultan Khalil, but now he is somewhat shaken.

He didn't want his achievements in this land to be completely liquidated, making his first half of life meaningless. However, in comparison, Li Rufeng seemed more like a monarch worthy of loyalty.

In Hiltberg's mind, Li Rufeng is more pragmatic and resourceful in many things. Compared with Khalil Sultan's emotional and impulsive choices without considering the consequences, Li Rufeng often shows great sophistication and forbearance.

His most profound impression of Li Rufeng was that he did not care about temporary gains and losses. He could tolerate temporary failures and would even take the initiative to give up some readily available benefits in order to seek greater benefits. This quality was too rare in this land.

Even the great conqueror didn't do very well in this regard.

Hiltberg had learned in detail about his former master's youth. He had once been known for his forbearance and his ability to retreat in order to advance, but as he grew older and gained more power, he gradually lost these qualities...

So Hiltberg temporarily put aside his plans with the Armenians and chose to go to Mosul in person to attend the wedding to show his respect for Li Rufeng.

The losses from doing so were huge. Those Armenian mountain lords were all stubborn fools, and the Urartu family that ruled Erzurum did not give up on expanding its influence in the coalition.

Although Hiltberg had been teaching Hefferson how to be a qualified lord, it was a bit too much to expect a mountain man who came from a bandit family to learn the aristocratic political game so quickly.

Even if it was just a simple political trick among the Armenian hill lords, it would still be so.

Hiltberg expected that his decision to withdraw from the coalition this time might give the Armenian lords enough time to calm down and form a political alliance that truly belonged to the Armenians.

The worst outcome might include the death of Heferson, whom he supported, in a stupid but doomed duel. Those mountain lords always like to use the simplest way to solve all problems beyond their understanding.

However, Hiltberg was willing to swallow all the bitter fruits. After all, if he was really willing to change his team and choose to completely side with Li Rufeng, the Armenian problem would no longer be a problem.

No matter how the Armenians struggled, the conflict between them and the Black Sheep People was irreconcilable. This was the best situation for Li Rufeng. He did not need the Armenians to form an army to consolidate his power.

Thinking of this, Hiltberg looked back at the century he had brought back. These Armenian soldiers loyal to him were escorting ten large carts filled with the best furs and mountain treasures that the mountain lords could come up with.

This is why he had come this long way. He couldn't come to that adult's wedding empty-handed. These gifts represented his loyalty.

At the gate on the other side of Mosul, the large team from Aleppo was equally eye-catching.

The huge horse team led by Gudi'er's father lined up for several miles outside the city gate. Lord Rufeng's wedding was the most eye-catching event in the entire grassland. They, the direct descendants, had to offer blessings from the grassland to that lord.

The sturdy horses came as a tribute from the Mughal tribes, a total of two thousand war horses, each carrying a large amount of dairy products and dried meat.

When the herdsmen heard that Lord Rufeng was worried about food, each family spontaneously took out their own surplus food and transported it to Mosul by a horse team escorted by Guder.

Shaman Rufeng is a Mongol shaman, and the problems he encounters are the same problems encountered by the Mongol people.

Behind Guder was the camel caravan led by Saduddin Fasif himself. As the largest merchant in Aleppo, no matter what his past was, all he had left was infinite respect for Li Rufeng.

He also brought a large amount of food and rare jewelry. Nearly one-third of these supplies were purchased by him at his own expense and intended to be given to Li Rufeng as gifts. The rest were contributed by all the merchants in Aleppo.

The long gift list had every name written on it, and a considerable number of contributors had appeared here with the camel caravan, quietly waiting to enter the city, just for a chance to meet that adult.

The long-lost female warrior Marida Val served as the protector of the caravan. She led a city guard of nearly 500 people equipped with armor and war horses as escort.