Mount and Blade Central Asia

If there were ten blacksmiths in the tribe now, they would have started competing with each other to improve the quality of their craftsmanship.

In comparison, coopers and shoemakers are much better off.

The cooper is the carpenter in the tribe. Most of these people come from the Taierbahe tribe because they have trees and wood. Although a large number of barrels cannot improve the combat effectiveness of Li Rufeng's tribe, they make life much more convenient.

Hours, just enough to make the mutton become chewy and tough. Although it is a bit difficult to bite, it can give the eater the fullest original flavor.

The silver cup inlaid with gems was filled with wine that had been cooled in water. Qinggeli actually didn't like the astringent taste of this fruit wine, but now that he was going to war, he didn't want to let the strong liquor paralyze his brain.

He needs to think about how to gain more benefits in this battle for power.

"Fox? Wolf? Or lion?" Qinggelinayan looked at the subtle expression on his brother's face, a little surprised. He smiled at the guard beside him and said, "It seems that this Oriental man is quite capable. He actually scared Jialalhun!"

The guards showed no expression at all and just treated themselves as tools.

"Brother, I can't see through him. He gives me the feeling of an old shaman. He looks at me like a thinking rabbit." Jatalehun hesitated for a moment and then expressed his thoughts. "Compared to the old shaman, I feel he is more like Lord Timur. He always looks ahead."

"You think so highly of him?" Qinggelinayan put down his knife and carefully rubbed the grease on his beard. He asked thoughtfully, "That ungrateful bastard Mengge also has his eyes on that Shaman Rufeng. He doesn't even want to come back?"

"No, I can guarantee he wouldn't dare." Jatalehun lowered his head and said, "I haven't seen any conflict in the tribe. If Li Rufeng isn't lying, it only took him two weeks to seize control of the entire Taierba tribe, and he allowed them to be united without any grudges. The old shaman wouldn't do that. He's too lazy to fight for power with ordinary people. Li Rufeng is different. His eyes are like Timur's, full of longing for all the beauty in the world."

"In that case, it's impossible to take him down directly." Qinggelinayan thought. He did have this intention in mind when he gathered his troops in advance. If Li Rufeng's tribe was facing internal and external troubles because of the merger, he was ready to take down that tribe directly.

With the war approaching, Qinggeli didn't want any accidents, but the accident still happened.

Li Rufeng not only completed the integration of the two tribes, he also had a cavalry unit of 300 people. As for the thousand-man team he boasted about, Qinggelinayan didn't believe a word of it.

The old Sultan used to use vassal troops to fight wars year after year, every day, and every night. Qinggelinayan was very familiar with this, but vassal troops were just vassal troops. It was okay to let them take care of logistics and move corpses, but forget about fighting.

They were a complete negative asset on the battlefield and could not fight any tough battles, whether for the enemy or for us. The Mongol knights led by Qinggelinayan had broken through countless ranks of the vassal army in front of the battle. When they fled in all directions, they often led to the collapse of the morale of the regular army and ultimately caused a real defeat.

Glinayan began to head towards Li Rufeng's tribe and began to integrate the power of the Mongols. Doshite Wanhu, who escaped from the Tianshui River, was also actively preparing for war.

After excluding the power of the Mongols, as a Wanhu, Dost could mobilize a military force of 4,000 to 6,000 people, but most of them were low-quality militia troops. The only ones who could be regarded as professional soldiers were 500 Transoxiana cavalry, 700 Armenian heavy infantry, and 1,000 Persian soldiers of mixed cavalry and infantry.

These people had previously lost two Armenian centuries and one Persian century on the banks of the Sweetwater River... But fortunately, Dost was waiting to receive support from the Black Sheep People.

Chapter 78: Destiny

"Lord Dost, another thirty-six Armenians escaped today!" Dost's trusted general, Ilda, walked into the room and complained angrily, "We should hang all those pagans up and whip them until they are too weak to escape."

"Quiet." Dost was deep in thought, holding a palm-sized book in his hands. He looked a little unhappy when his subordinate interrupted his thoughts. "If you want to punish them, take your soldiers to punish them and say it was my order."

Ildar was speechless. He was a thousand-man Persian army, but relying on less than a thousand Persian soldiers to punish 500 Armenian soldiers was obviously a joke...

The Persians were naturally not as domineering as the Mongols in this land. They just fully enjoyed the policy advantages brought by Sultan Timur. Half of the Persians had their own shops and businesses inside and outside the city, and the other half owned land.

Simply put, these Persians are property owners and do not want to live a life of living on the edge of a knife.

"Waste." Dost no longer paid attention to his weak general, but focused more on the booklet in his hand. It was a relic left by the wizard Azadirim, and Dost hoped to gain the power of the Four Winds from it.

This is his old nest, Martin.

Mardin is located at the intersection of Mesopotamia and Anatolia. It is an ancient city that has experienced the baptism of Roman, Greek, Persian and Arab cultures. In the past few hundred years, the rulers have changed from caliph to sultan, including the Arab Hamdanid Dynasty, the Kurdish Marwan Dynasty, the Turkic Seljuk Dynasty, the Artug Dynasty, the Turkmen Zengid Dynasty and the Kurdish Ayyubid Dynasty.

Until the Mongols came, Hulagu cleansed everything here, and the ruler changed from Sultan to Khan, and then from Khan to Sultan.

But now, the actual ruler of this city is Dost, who lives in a castle located at the highest point in the city. Every morning he can overlook the entire city from his balcony. He can see Kingiriya University, which was built at the foot of the castle and was ordered by the last Sultan of the Artug dynasty.

It was a monotheistic church, but it was burned down during the time of Saladin and became a residence for the homeless. It has been abandoned for hundreds of years and is now occupied by the Black Sheep people. They spent a lot of money to renovate the church, and then kept the doors closed. No one knows what they are doing inside.

I don’t want to know either, Ilda emphasized in her heart, and then she lowered her head and was led into the church by several Turkmen wearing black burqas.

The rebuilt church was devoid of monotheistic decorations. The spacious hall was decorated with light blue cotton cloth of varying layers, painted with complex and mysterious symbols. Ilda felt dizzy just by looking at it, and immediately lowered her head and dared not look again.

"What do you want?" a man in black robe asked in a sharp tone. The voice was even a little harsh, which made Ilda think of the eunuchs captured when conquering the Delhi Sultanate.

"Lord Dost wants to know when the help you promised will arrive?" Ilda asked in a low voice, as if afraid of angering the wizard opposite.

"What we promised will come when it's due. Let him just wait patiently," the black-robed man said, his tone becoming increasingly vague. "We observe the turmoil of the entire battle, we listen to the voices of his enemies, we can see through everything, we understand everything..."

"And all of these, including you, are under control." The man in black robe stood beside Ilda at some point and whispered softly in his ear. Ilda was a little dazed and couldn't remember how long he had been here. He didn't care about what the man in black robe said and just wanted to escape from here in panic.

"Don't worry, everything has been arranged, just perform with all your heart..." The voice lingered in Ilda's ears until she hurried out and disappeared.

He looked back at the eight guards who were also in shock, and the nine of them left in a hurry.

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The author says:

Author's Note: For those who don't know, Tzeentch's Holy Number is nine. No prizes for guessing! What is the Emperor's Holy Number?

None today

I've been a bit tired of my day and night routine these past few days. Today I took my wife and kids out for a walk, cleaned myself up, and got back into my routine. I'll update tomorrow and try to make sure I update twice a day.

Man accepted a Tang man as his student, but he didn't care about the old shaman and the Changshengtian belief behind him. People who have walked through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood often go to two extremes.

They are either extremely self-confident and extremely strong-willed, dedicating their faith only to themselves or to a physical leader; or they are extremely devout, attributing every success they have in escaping danger and killing enemies to their spiritual beliefs.

Qinggelinayan is the former. He is nominally also a believer in Eternal Sky, but in fact the only reason he respects the old shaman is because Sultan Timur respects the old shaman.

However, this respect has been buried along with the death of the Sultan and the old shaman. To Qinggeli, Li Rufeng has no bonus in the field of religious belief, but Qinggeli Nayan still looks up to Li Rufeng.

Because he was so young but had already started to get involved in the struggle for power, his various methods made Qinggelinayan realize that the other party was not someone who could be easily manipulated.

"Shaman Rufeng, I've heard of your great name for a long time!" Qinggelinayan, surrounded by his personal cavalry, met Li Rufeng who had come from the tribe. There was not much aggression in his words, because Li Rufeng was also followed by forty cavalrymen.

They did not have uniform armor or weapons forged from fine steel like Qinggeli's personal guards, but the tacit understanding they showed while marching was no worse than that of Qinggeli's personal guards.

"Interesting." Qinggeli turned and said to his younger brother.

"Lord Qinggeli, long time no see! I can't imagine what we would have done if you weren't there to make the decision!" Li Rufeng greeted him enthusiastically. "As long as you and your guards are here, that bastard Dosite will never be able to bully us!"

"Hahaha, the old shaman taught you well, a little too well." Qinggelinayan waved his hand, broke away from the team and walked side by side with Li Rufeng. "I heard from Jatalehun that you can gather a team of a thousand people? Including the Kurds and Saracens?"

Qinggeli had wanted to ask this question for a long time. He wanted to know what benefits this Tang man promised to those fools that made them willing to participate in this war that had nothing to do with them.

If Dost also had this ability, then there would be no need to fight this battle.

In modern times, Li Rufeng's methods can be summarized in two words: raising the flag... But he doesn't say it. Everyone knows that Qinggelinayan is a very traditional Mongolian. Or to describe it in modern language, he is a Greater Mongol racist who looks at everyone except Mongolians as a slave.

It was only because the Tang people had a lot of face. After all, when the Mongol Empire was at its most powerful, it had never been able to penetrate the heartland of the Eastern Dynasty. It was not until their Western Expedition was almost over that the Yuan Dynasty gained legitimacy. But not long after, it was overthrown again.

In addition, Sultan Timur once formally paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and later died on the way to the Eastern Expedition. This land has a natural filter for the Eastern Empire.

He wondered if he had promised them too much before, and he also understood why Piri Reyes was willing to lower the price, because these people seemed to be really useless.

They managed to get one weapon per person, but there were also some things like pitchforks and iron-wrapped wooden sticks mixed in. More than two hundred people gathered together eight sets of armor, twenty-three shields, fifteen bows and arrows, and more than thirty horses, of which only nine could barely be called war horses.

Piri Reyes looked a little embarrassed. He and his six old brothers who had escaped from the battlefield tried hard to hold their stomachs in to make themselves look more robust. However, the heavy armor made people doubt that if the belt was of poor quality, the armor might not be able to protect its owner's waistline.

"I'll assign you to the logistics team, responsible for guarding the food and supplies." Li Rufeng gave Piri Reyes a deep look. This cunning Ottoman was either playing the victim or deliberately showing weakness. Otherwise, with these misfits, the bandits on the grasslands would have devoured them alive. "But if my people find that yours can't even do this, you will be my enemies."

"They won't let you down!" Piri Reyes didn't feel slighted at all. He even breathed a sigh of relief and bowed in respect for Li Rufeng's kindness. "If anyone doesn't work hard, I'll personally chop off their heads!"

Two days later, a Kurdish cavalry arrived at Li Rufeng's unit, bringing news from Saladin Muht. The Kurdish troops would arrive a few days later, and there was still controversy among the Kurds on whether to participate in the war. Saladin Muht had to fight with his own people first to speed up the whole process.

At this time, Qinggelinayan's main force, a cavalry group with a total number of about 1,500 people, had approached the location of Li Rufeng's troops from three directions and was more than two days away.

During these few days, Qinggeli Nayan lived in Li Rufeng's tribe openly, and Li Rufeng seemed to have no grudges and accompanied Qinggeli Nayan every day to drink, eat meat, and chat.

Although Qinggeli and Li Rufeng did not make their relationship clear, they already had a tacit understanding. Li Rufeng either really had a team of a thousand people as he said, and could discuss important matters with Qinggeli and Nayan, or he would give up his rights and become a wave in this wave, going with the flow.

On the night that Saladin Muhet's messenger arrived, Habashibuhua disappeared into the night with a full hundred Mughal cavalrymen. Qinggelinayan saw it clearly, but he never mentioned it, just like he had never mocked the hundred people brought by Piri Reyes until now.

In this land, it is meaningless to demand too much from the quality of soldiers. No matter how elite the soldiers are, ten of them cannot defeat a hundred experienced militiamen on the battlefield, unless they are cavalry and have bows and arrows.

This is also the reason why the Mughals were able to roam the grasslands. They were all cavalrymen. When the enemy was really forced to the point of being in front of them, even women could ride on horses and use bows and arrows to teach the enemy a lesson. This was the foundation of the Mughals' foothold and way of survival.

Time passed, and as another night fell, Qinggelinayan sat down with Li Rufeng for dinner for the fourth time.

Good education.

Sultan Timur hoped that these hostages could feel the charm of the Khanate's order in Samarkand, support this order from the bottom of their hearts, and then return to their own tribes with this loyalty after several years to become rulers and serve the Khanate and himself.

Jatalehun had experienced the prosperity of Samarkand. He had seen people from all over the world gathering there, rare treasures being sold on the streets, and exotic animals being slaughtered in restaurants. Every day, the city was swallowing up mountains of gold and silver.

After returning to the grassland, Jialalhun felt that he was even a little uncomfortable with the life here. He was used to wearing silk clothes, drinking wine to stimulate his appetite with meals, and getting used to taking classes and practicing martial arts with his friends during the day and staying drunk and having sex with prostitutes at night.

But there was nothing on the grassland. His brother Qinggeli was a cruel man who spent more time riding a horse than walking. He preferred to speak with a saber rather than words.

They had not seen each other for eight years. When Jialhun left, his father was still a strong and powerful man. When he came back, his father was dying and could not speak. All power belonged to his brother Qinggeli.

The same was true for his younger brother, Dangertai. When Jialalhun was still a little kid who liked to catch grasshoppers on the grassland, when he came back, Dangertai had become one of the most powerful warriors on the grassland, and his skills in riding and archery were many times better than his.

His brothers divided up all the rights left by their father. Jatalehun had nothing except a horse, a set of clothes and a saber, and could only stay with his brother as an insignificant follower.

On weekdays, Jialalhun's most common job was to help Qinggeli with calculations, reading, and writing, like a jester. Although Qinggeli never treated him badly in terms of living expenses, to be fair, he should have been able to fully bear all of this, instead of accepting those luxurious clothes and food as rewards.

"I want to keep him. He is a smart man. You can let him be your assistant. Don't you always say that you are too busy?" Qinggeli's tongue was a little big. He liked the liquor provided by Li Rufeng very much. It was a liquor he had never drunk before, so he couldn't help but drink a few more glasses. He didn't expect the aftereffect was so strong.

"What if he really brought the remaining 500 people?" Jitale asked intentionally or unintentionally. He didn't know why, but he had an urge to see Li Rufeng make his brother lose face.

"Then let's discuss important matters with him. A smart and capable outsider is just the right person to fight that smart and capable bastard, haha!" Qinggeli's tone was a little excited. Driven by alcohol, he became less majestic and less taciturn, and became more talkative. "Jiatalhun, just wait and see. After this battle is over, I will be the most powerful man in this land! Haven't you always wanted to do something big? Then you can go, and half of the territory of Duosite will be yours!"

"With Dangertai and I backing you up, you can do whatever you want! No one dares to say no to us. The three of us brothers will create a great foundation that our father never imagined! We can restore the glory of Chagatai Khan!" Qinggeli looked at the fire with red eyes, as if he had seen power waving to him. He murmured, "Just watch, just watch!"

Gather together and join in.

Three days later, Sayyid Kuda, who had been trying to spread Islam in the Taierbahe tribe, found Li Rufeng's tribe. He brought with him twenty Arab cavalrymen and ten carts of food.

"As promised, I have brought the aid of the Order. Everyone within and outside the Order is pleased with your open-mindedness. If you are willing to convert, the Imam is willing to accept you as a disciple." His passion for missionary work allowed Sayyid Kuda to ignore the tense atmosphere within and outside Li Rufeng's tribe. Instead, he took the opportunity to propose, "If you are willing to guide these lost Mongols to accept God's guidance, the Order is willing to provide further assistance!"

"Can you lend me three thousand soldiers to fight against Dosit?" Li Rufeng asked jokingly. Dosit was also a Muslim, and he wanted to know which was more valuable in the Sufi order: consolidating the faith of believers or opening up new parishes.

As expected, Sayyid Kuda's face immediately turned dark.

"It's just a joke, my friend. Now you can do what you want. As long as the assistance continues, I will not interfere with your career." Li Rufeng patted the other person's shoulder and passed by him.

Chapter 82: Shaman Rufeng's Interpersonal Relationship Radar

The aid from the Sufi Order was just a drop in the bucket for a large tribe of more than a thousand people. The reason why Li Rufeng allowed Sayyid Kuda to preach was, on the one hand, his confidence in himself. If a time traveler, a time traveler with a golden finger, couldn't even be a charlatan, then he really couldn't do anything.

On the other hand, it is to integrate with the locals.

Since the Arabs united as a whole under the banner of Muhammad a thousand years ago, this land has been bathed in the faith of Allah. The Turks came and became Muslimized, and the Mongols came and also became Muslimized.

Li Rufeng couldn't possibly be an enemy of everyone on this land. His faith in the Eternal Heaven was a blank slate, free to paint with it as he pleased, even a hint of green wouldn't matter. He wasn't trying to lead the Mongols in a holy war in the name of Tengri, he just wanted to use religion as a pretext for personal gain. If he could ever return to the Ming Dynasty, those days...

Tsk, Li Rufeng didn't dare to think further, otherwise the urge to abandon everything and return to the Ming Dynasty by land along the route of Timur's eastern expedition would become stronger and stronger.

Because of the old shaman, because of Bao Rizhebu, and because of the trust of those people, Li Rufeng has a responsibility to these people. He has to pave the way for their future first, and at the same time save a considerable amount of money for himself.

The prompts that kept floating in front of the system during this period of time——

(Your relationship with the important person Jatalehun +1)

(Your relationship with the important person Sayyid Kuda +1)

(Your relationship with the important person Jatalehun +1)

(Your relationship with the important person Medina Taher +1)

(Your relationship with the important person Medina Taher +1)

(Your relationship with the important person Medina Taher +1)

(Your Charisma proficiency +1, 52/75)

...

?

Li Rufeng looked at the system prompts that appeared during this period in a daze. The only thing he could understand was that the relationship between him and Sayyid Kuda increased by 1. That was the benefit of allowing Sayyid to preach freely, but what about the others?

What did he do to make Qinggelinayan's brother Jialalhun's favorability level keep increasing?

What did he do to make that widow Medina Tah's favorability increase so much all of a sudden?

Just as Li Rufeng was lost in thought, a new system prompt appeared -

(Your relationship with the important person Saladin Muhet +5)

coming!

Li Rufeng clenched his fists. He had a rough idea of ​​the system's rules regarding interpersonal relationships. Some of his actions might take a long time to be transmitted before receiving relevant feedback from the corresponding personnel. However, he could not directly obtain feedback on the increase or decrease of the relationship. He had to wait until he met the important person or was close enough to him before the system would give him a prompt.

The range is roughly one kilometer in radius, centered on him.

In other words, Saladin Muhet has now joined Li Rufeng's army! The Kurds are coming!

He received a Qichichek helmet as a return gift. This was also a good thing left by the heavy cavalrymen of Dosite Wanhu. Li Rufeng kept the best one for himself, and the remaining ones looked good after being repaired by the blacksmith.

After determining the location of the Kurdish cavalry on the map, Li Rufeng bid farewell to the two dusty men and welcomed his plump little maid, Satuya.

It was another romantic night. Li Rufeng slept until noon, which was rare for him. He hadn't had a good night's sleep for several days. The pressure from Qinggelinayan was real. He didn't even hide his attitude. Every day he became more domineering than before, and continued to put pressure on Li Rufeng.