Many times, Qiu Fucheng would hold the talisman in his hand and recite a few spells, and the external evil would retreat. After all, as long as this kind of Five Thunder Curse talisman was activated, it would attract the power of heaven and earth, which was perfect for scaring people.

But the dark clouds in the distance clearly showed no sign of stopping and continued to drift towards the mosque.

If Qiu Fucheng had not inquired about the climate environment of each place he arrived at, he would have been really frightened. In the past 30 years, it has rained in Mosul at noon in October only a few times.

Even so, Qiu Fucheng insisted on starting the ritual two days in advance and confirmed that there would be no rain today. But now an unexpected dark cloud has appeared. Isn't this a slap in the face of his Chaotian Palace!

So, Qiu Fucheng pinched a red and yellow talisman between his two fingers and shook it twice, causing it to stand upright due to inertia. He continued to chant the incantation: "Five thunders, five thunders, quickly meet Huang Ning, mist and change, roar like lightning, come as soon as you hear the call, quickly send out the Yang sound, Lang Luo Ju Bin, Du Shen Miao Lu, Chun Yi Sha She——"

As Qiu Fucheng continued to chant the four-word spell in a rhythmic manner, a strong wind suddenly appeared above the minaret, blowing Qiu Fucheng's Taoist robe whistling. Someone below noticed Qiu Fucheng and exclaimed, but the sound was quickly drowned out by another round of salutes.

Qiu Fucheng stared at the dark cloud. At this time, thunder was already appearing above the cloud, as if the sword of Damocles was hanging high above, ready to be cut down at any time.

Qiu Fucheng's spell only had the last sentence left, which was also the only starting sentence in the entire spell that did not consist of four words.

Seeing that the dark cloud hesitated for a few seconds, still refusing to give up and stubbornly continuing to approach the mosque, Qiu Fucheng sighed, slowly shook his head, and with a hint of heartache and wallet pain, he recited the starting words: "Hurry as the law commands!"

Boom!

Accompanied by a clap of thunder, the dazzling lightning was like a whip of thunder punishing the world, lashing the dark clouds fiercely and dispersing them in an instant.

"Hmph! If you don't accept my toast, you'll have to drink a penalty. This is the power of three hundred taels of gold!" Qiu Fucheng unceremoniously added a heavy labor fee to the cost of the Five Thunder Curse Talisman. After all, the talisman has a price but the person is priceless. If someone else uses the Five Thunder Curse Talisman, its power will definitely not be as great as his.

...

"...I know that you have gathered here to offer your sincere blessings to that great man. In the presence of Allah, please cheer!" Muhaya's loud voice spread across the square of the mosque, and even the crowd outside the mosque could hear it clearly.

Those mendicants did possess some miraculous skills, and making Muheya's voice loud was just a small trick, nothing surprising.

Following Muhaya's words, Diobiya once again ordered his cannons to fire three salutes. The people of Mosul were now accustomed to the sound of cannons. The children outside the cannons jumped for joy and enjoyed the festive atmosphere.

Muheya actually has a lot more to say. As an expert in the field of religion, he, like Li Rufeng, is good at seizing this opportunity to promote his own theories.

But the sudden thunder and lightning in the sky in broad daylight made Muheya a little frightened. He knew that Li Rufeng had always regarded himself as the chosen shaman of Changshengtian. Now that he was marrying a Christian wife in a mosque, it was hard to say how Changshengtian would view this.

Although Li Rufeng acted nonchalant, Muheya felt very disappointed and just wanted to leave the platform as soon as possible and take shelter in the auditorium.

Outside the mosque, Diobiya patted his belly and took out handfuls of copper coins from the wooden barrel that had been used to hold gunpowder and threw them into the group of children, his face full of smiles.

His mission today was very simple, which was to cooperate with the orders of a personal guard and fire the cannon whenever he was told to.

As an artillery coach, Diobiya's salary was so high that he felt a little unworthy of it, so he planned to take advantage of the day of that adult's wedding to splurge a little and consider it as a charity.

It’s a pity that when the children saw someone throwing money, many women and even men immediately came over and started scattering money on the ground.

The men's movements were so violent that they soon squeezed the children's heads until they were bleeding. Seeing this, Diobiya frowned and simply pointed at a few artillery apprentices, asking them to take the bristle brushes used to clean cannons and go to those ruffians to give the artillery masters a shock.

Soon, the man who was howling and screaming because of the brushing of the bristles ran away in a panic, and Diobiya smiled again.

He missed his children a little, and he even thought about bringing his family over from Genoa. Diobbia was just a nobody in Genoa, but here, under Li Rufeng's rule, he was a big shot.

Now, that adult is married, and perhaps he will have his own children soon. This dynasty will continue for a long time, and there will be no need to worry about the spread of war and the people's livelihood from now on. Diobiya thinks it is not bad to settle down here.

"May you live long!" Diobiya raised the mead in the bag high in the direction of the mosque and offered a loyal blessing.

Inside the mosque, in the presence of all the guests, Li Rufeng took Princess Parisa's hand and walked out of the auditorium, along the red-carpeted steps, all the way to the platform.

Seeing Li Rufeng and Princess Parisa appear together, the guests were suddenly a little surprised. After all, in such occasions, it was rare to see a couple going on stage with two-handed swords.

But even if most people were surprised, they would only dare to whisper a few words in their hearts, saying something like it was unconventional.

Look at the Ming people who came over to join in the fun. They are all very calm. Although they have committed many massacres and destroyed countries along the way, they have mostly maintained the practice of respecting local customs.

So let alone the bride and groom bringing swords onto the stage, even if they killed one of the guests and put it on the grill over a high fire, they would at most say, "I don't eat beef," and politely refuse.

This stage was built in the past few days. Li Rufeng is good at public speaking and inspiring people, so he naturally would not miss such a good opportunity. He didn't know how other big figures of this era held their weddings, but for him, this wedding was more like a company annual meeting.

Those sitting below are either shareholders of the company or upstream and downstream suppliers. Now that he is in power as the chairman, he naturally has to start painting a rosy picture. After all, only when the pie is round can shareholders and suppliers feel at ease and know where to go next.

As for the identity represented by Princess Parisa, it can be compared to the company's chairman officially announcing at the company's annual meeting that he has married the granddaughter of the central bank governor. Everyone can cheer, from now on our company can walk sideways in the financial field!

What? You said the old president is dead, and now his two sons are fighting for power?

Although the old president is dead, his connections are still there. In this field, he is a real top-notch person!

"Many of you have known me since I was a tribal chief." Li Rufeng's eyes swept across the representatives from Aleppo, and Saladin and Marcelino among them immediately sat up straight.

"Some of you were personally promoted by me, while others have been quietly contributing." Li Rufeng continued, "Those who know me know that I'm a man who keeps his promises. I promised you that I would give you a prosperous Aleppo. Have I done that?"

"You did it, sir!" Saduddin responded loudly, and other representatives from Aleppo stood up to respond with him.

Although they did not feel it as deeply as Saduddin, they also benefited from the resurgence of Aleppo.

"Urfa Fort, Mardin City, Qamishli, Malikiya, I left different promises wherever I went. I value my promises and hope that you can believe in me as I believe in you." Although Li Rufeng's voice was not blessed by the mendicant monk, it was just as loud.

On the one hand, Li Rufeng benefited from the talent of "eloquence", and on the other hand, he had many talented people under his command, including not only genuine black wizards, but also Qiu Fucheng, the immortal of Chaotian Palace. He could easily master the art of sound amplification.

"I promised Parisa that I would let her go home, and I did it." Li Rufeng looked at the beauty beside him. Parisa's face was filled with a happy smile.

She had heard the fairy tale made up by Li Rufeng. When a lie is repeated a thousand times, it becomes the truth.

Sometimes even Parisa herself was not sure whether Li Rufeng wanted to capture Mosul really for her.

"Today, many friends who don't know me well have come. I also promise you that I am a generous person and willing to open the door to do business." Li Rufeng looked at the invited guests, many of whom were from Iran and were agents of the major emirs.

He also looked at the Black Sheep Messenger, the Messenger from Damascus, and then said again: "To celebrate my wedding and bless my beautiful wife, I promise that all taxes in my territory will be reduced in the next three months!"

The merchants immediately cheered. They had just come out of the happiness brought by Li Rufeng's previous year's tax-free period and were now in a period of withdrawal. When they heard that Mr. Li was going to exempt taxes again, they were naturally overjoyed.

The representatives of other forces also smiled. Although they didn't care whether Li Rufeng was tax-free or not, this behavior was obviously beneficial for Mosul and Baghdad to restore their commercial status and could significantly drive the commercial development of surrounding areas.

Mahmu, who was sitting below, also laughed. His tribe controlled the tea trade in the Nemrut Mountains. If Li Rufeng was willing to impose comprehensive taxation, he planned to place orders for all his shares directly from Aleppo. Anyway, the market in Aleppo was large now, and there was enough tea to supply all the Mongolian tribes in the Nemrut Mountains.

Mahmu only needs to worry about not having his business taken away by others. After all, now he not only has to guard against other warlords and chiefs going directly to Aleppo to purchase goods, but also has to guard against those merchants in Aleppo taking the initiative to enter the Nemrut Mountains to do business.

Especially the latter. Ever since Mengge led his troops to crush Asleng's army, the Mongols have been acting aggressively.

Li Rufeng set a bad example for these Mughals, letting them know how profitable trade is. Mirzan, his subordinate, has led caravans deep into the Nemrut Mountains several times to do business with various tribes.

But before this, the other party was mainly engaged in the sale of weapons and armor, which did not conflict with Mahemu.

Therefore, Mahemmu urgently hoped to meet with Li Rufeng in private so that the two sides could properly divide their respective trade areas to avoid any trouble.

He brought his own tribesmen to help Li Rufeng fight, and that was all he wanted.

Essenuddin in the crowd kept looking around, waiting for the other two daggers to take action. Li Rufeng would not be on the stage for too long. If they didn't take action, they would miss the best opportunity.

He looked up again at the Orientals on the tower to his right. One of the sentries had been staring at him for a long time. He did not avoid his gaze at all and just stared at him intently.

Essenuddin didn't know where he was exposed, but the other party had obviously determined that there was something wrong with him.

And in a place that Essenuddin could not see, a dagger was beyond his expectation. Under Badrani's order, Naseedin was hiding in the crowd and approaching a suspicious person little by little.

The other party was a guard brought in by a merchant, and he was well disguised. Unfortunately, Badrani had seen the dagger in the fortress, so he easily exposed his disguise.

Nasidin didn't know that his target was another dagger. He just slowly approached the target, and then with lightning speed, he cut the opponent's skin from behind with the dagger.

The poison instantly spreads along the blood, killing the opponent in just a few seconds. Another benefit of this poison is that it can quickly stiffen the body, maintaining its original posture and not attracting the attention of others.

Nasidin completed his task without even looking at the corpse, and left quietly, just as he had come.

The other dagger, who had disguised himself as a servant and sneaked into the mosque, was now frowning and looking at the two-meter-high platform in deep thought. How could he climb up the platform and assassinate the target in front of everyone without being shot to death by the soldiers?

Well, it seems there is no other way except to create chaos.

As a professionally trained dagger, he was indeed prepared for this. He made a small delayed ignition mechanism in a hidden place, which should have ignited a room in the mosque by now.

It wouldn't take long for the fire to attract other people's attention, and he was waiting for the moment when a commotion would occur.

But the accident that Dagger expected did not happen. The guards with a strategic map perspective examined the inside and outside of the mosque again and again, and had already discovered the small fire in advance and put it out directly.

Seeing that the trick he had prepared in advance did not work, and the target on the stage seemed to want to end his speech, Dagger could no longer suppress the impulse in his heart. He took out a dagger and four throwing knives from the plate, rushed out of the crowd, climbed up the platform like a monkey, and tried to kill the target by force.

The sudden movement of the dagger caused great panic among the crowd, and the guards of these distinguished guests subconsciously surrounded their master to prevent any accidents.

Essenuddin took the opportunity to assemble the crossbow under his robe, pulled the string and loaded the arrow, ready to make the final move.

However, to his surprise, the assassin successfully climbed up the platform and was not met with the rain of arrows he had imagined.

Li Rufeng stopped his guards from trying to take action through the mental network, and just took a step back in front of the assassin, making way for Princess Parisa, who was wearing a gorgeous dress, behind him.

"Let them see how powerful you are, Princess." Li Rufeng gave Parisa an encouraging look. He wanted to create an unshakable image of a princess in Mosul.

Unlike the weak princesses in previous fairy tales who need to wait for heroes to save them, he wants to create a princess character with a more three-dimensional and fuller image. This princess does not need a hero, she is the hero herself.

With her beauty, she attracted the hero who liberated Mosul, and with her strength, she protected the hero from the assassin!

Li Rufeng naturally did not want to create a god, but he planned to partially liberate the women of this land through Princess Parisa. They were also high-quality labor, especially when human resources were so scarce.

The assassin used a special technique to throw the only four throwing knives in his hand at Li Rufeng one after another, but these throwing knives were all blocked by Parisa with her long sword. As an experienced swordsman, she could even use her long sword to block arrows, let alone throwing knives and bullets.

The assassin obviously didn't expect that the last obstacle between him and his target would be today's bride. Amid the exclamations of the crowd, he rushed forward with his head held high.

Like Naseedin, this dagger has also undergone inhuman training, turning itself into a weapon.

In the first attack, the assassin did not choose to dodge Parisa's sword, but took the initiative to meet it, allowing the sword to pierce his body from the abdomen.

Parisa originally just wanted to use the advantage of the weapon's length to force the opponent back with stabbing. She never expected that her opponent would be so crazy as to fight for her life in the first round.

After all, she lacked some experience in the horror of life and death, and did not expect that the assassin's serious enemies included not only her, but also those guards who, for some unknown reason, had not taken action for the time being.

The assassin just hung on the long sword, and with the advantage of weight and inertia, he rushed directly towards Li Rufeng with Parisa. Like Nasidin, his dagger was also coated with poison. With just one wound, just one chance, he could complete the task!

Bah!

Li Rufeng pulled out his reloaded wheelbarrow and shot a hole in the assassin's forehead. He then kicked the dagger out of his hand and said to Parisa with some regret, "Looks like we'll have to write another clichéd hero-rescue-princess story this time."

Chapter 683 I’m here to negotiate terms!

When Essenuddin heard the gunshot and saw how the dagger was killed on the spot, he clenched the crossbow under his robe tightly and dared not take it out.

After all, he is old and has experienced the bliss of life. He is no longer a disposable tool. He has his own joys, sorrows, anger and happiness, and no longer has the sharpness of the past.

Essenuddin looked up and saw the Oriental man who was still staring at him. There was no expression on his face, as if he was just waiting for him to take out his crossbow.

Under such imminent threat of death, Essenuddin ultimately did not have the courage to continue his mission.

This not only disappointed the other assassins hiding there, but also Li Rufeng. Even though he was talking until his mouth was dry, he didn't see another assassin willing to risk his life.

He and Parisa stood in front of the assassin's body, their feet stepping on the flowing blood, and became husband and wife in front of everyone's witness.

The blood stained the red hem of Parisa's dress, making the red even more vivid and stinging many people's eyes, making them afraid to look directly into the eyes of the hero and princess.

Li Rufeng himself was very satisfied with the wedding. For him, perhaps the only drawback was that according to his original plan, he and Parisa had to deal with two or three assassins on the podium.

Some people's fame is destined to be accompanied by blood, and the results achieved in such occasions are far more influential than the results achieved by Li Rufeng on the battlefield.

But even so, with Li Rufeng's publicity, the bizarre events that happened at the wedding today will become everyone's bedtime story in the next few months.

As for those assassins who had been targeted at the wedding, Li Rufeng had no intention of letting them go even if they didn't take action today.

He said he would be the real master of this city, and he kept his word. Now that these people are here, they can't leave.

After the ceremony, there was the long-awaited dinner party. Whether it was the common people who did not have the chance to actually attend Li Rufeng's wedding, or the dignitaries who were truly qualified to enter Li Rufeng's mansion to attend the dinner party, they had all been waiting for a long time.

The ordinary people below just wanted to take this opportunity to have a full meal. After all, Mosul has been on the brink of famine for some time. Many people have not had a full meal for several weeks, and they have to eat a staple food mainly consisting of kvass almost every three days, which is too painful.

On the day of the wedding, the lord had promised to supply enough food for the entire city and distribute meat to each family.

Although it was just a drop in the bucket, each household could only get a palm-sized piece of dried meat, and there were some possible deductions, but it was still enough to make the people of the whole city grateful to Li Rufeng.

As for those dignitaries who were qualified to enter Li Rufeng's mansion, they became much more obedient after experiencing the massacre at the wedding.

For example, the warlord leader Ma Hemu had been considering the tone he would use when negotiating with Li Rufeng on his way here. Although he had also been a soldier all his life, he did not have the heroism of Li Rufeng, who dared to treat assassinations in such a playful manner in such an occasion.

For others, such as the Black Sheep's messenger, this banquet was more of a demonstration. He even regarded Li Rufeng's behavior at the wedding as a demonstration against the Black Sheep.

Almost all of Li Rufeng's achievements on the battlefield were achieved at the hands of the Black Sheep People. If one says that the Black Sheep People have no hatred towards Li Rufeng, that is simply a lie.

They even saw the shadow of the great conqueror in Li Rufeng. Perhaps this was the reason why the Black Sheep King had the idea of ​​coexisting peacefully with Li Rufeng.

Li Rufeng's residence in Mosul is much smaller than the mosque, so only the dignitaries themselves are qualified to enter and attend the dinner this time. Their guards and escorts can only wait outside and are not allowed to enter.

Even so, the total number of people who finally entered Li Rufeng's mansion exceeded one hundred, filling the huge hall so much that many people had to squeeze in space between each other.

The White Sheep King Kara Osman looked helplessly at the Black Sheep Messenger sitting on his left and the warlord chief Mahmu sitting on his right. The embarrassment on his face was almost enough to squeeze out water.

The former was the enemy he was fighting against, and he had not achieved any visible results on the battlefield. When Li Rufeng almost took over half of the Black Sheep People's territory, they were stuck in the city of Batman for more than half a year.

The latter were nominally vassals of the Aries King, at least that was how the great conqueror divided them.

But the fact is that Mahmu didn't even know who the guy next to him was. That's right, he had never seen the Aries King himself once in his life, let alone expect him to know that the other party was nominally his lord.

The chief who represented the great conqueror in negotiations was not Mahmu, and the representative did not take the Aries people seriously at the time. I'm afraid the great conqueror also responded with the same attitude. He was just too lazy to divide these Turkified Mongolian warlords into separate administrative regions, so he put them under the Aries people for convenience.

King Aries has now very intuitively felt Li Rufeng's dissatisfaction with him. He plans to urge his men to work harder after returning this time, to work harder on the battlefield and pick up the lost face.

The three of them just sat there staring at each other, no one speaking.

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