Mount and Blade Central Asia

Renzo Piano anxiously explained a great deal, speaking so fast that it took the translator a moment to react. "Our captain said this is a genuine French cannon! One is worth ten! If you don't believe me, let us fire it once and see! He also said we have small cannons! We have many small cannons! This is the only big cannon!"

Li Rufeng took a step back, not caring about the matter, and waited for Qinggelinayan to decide whether to give him a chance to try to run or let the cavalry in the distance start a charge.

The color on Qinggelinayan's face changed again and again. This was the first time he paid money to hire people to help him fight. Although they were artillerymen, the proud Mongol leader still felt like he was cheating in the game and was afraid that he might win unfairly.

But now he has come to terms with it. He is not cheating, he is just asking for trouble. When the craftsmen under Jatalehun contacted the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group through merchant channels, the other party boasted that they could destroy the city of Martin in an instant with the simultaneous firing of thousands of cannons.

But when we actually looked at the goods, we found that they were not what we had ordered. They only had one cannon...

Qinggelinayan's arrow was on the string and had to be shot, so he could only hold his nose and bear it, let them pack up quickly, and fire a shot to see the situation.

Under Captain Renzo Piano's repeated urging and promises, the Genoese finally began to move. It was not until this time that Li Rufeng felt that he saw some military shadows in them.

A few strong and sturdy men came out from among the old soldiers, pushed the crowd aside, holding nails in their mouths and

Hammer, in no time at all, assembled a gun carriage in the right direction in front of Li Rufeng and Qinggelinayan, and placed the cannon on the carriage by lifting it with a belt.

The simple box-type gun carriage had no wheels and only served as a support. Then the gunners began to mix the gunpowder on the spot...

This was something Li Rufeng had not expected. These veterans had obviously expanded their business capabilities from simple cannons to the field of chemistry. He knew the dangers of black powder, so he simply brought only the raw materials and mixed them on site before each use.

When it comes to knowledge about hot weapons, there's probably no one in this world who's better than Master Li. He knows the formula for black powder, and also knows that granulating gunpowder can greatly increase its explosive power. If he goes a step further, Li Rufeng can also provide some fixed-loading ammunition, which doesn't have much technical difficulty. He just needs a sudden "life hack".

But what really restricted the development of firearms in this era was metallurgical technology... Why did it take these people more than half a century to develop a true matchlock gun after they were able to make cannons?

Because thin pipes are not as easy to manufacture as thick pipes, thin pipes cannot be reinforced in the same way as thick pipes...

Li Rufeng and Qinggelinayan waited for a full half hour. Li Rufeng could see that the old men had spent a lot of effort to tinker with the formula of nitre, disulfide and tricarbonate into a process as complicated as a witch refining medicine.

In this project, they put in things including but not limited to dried bat droppings, dried dandelions, pepper, and a bunch of new things that Li Rufeng couldn't name to increase the ritual nature of the project.

Li Rufeng came to the conclusion that these old gunsmiths were all in the same business as himself, judging people by their deeds rather than their hearts...

This process at least scared the other people in the mercenary group and the employer himself. Qinggelinayan's anger visibly subsided as the gunpowder was prepared.

As the young men worked hard to wipe it, the metal cannon gradually revealed its grandeur. Soon, after several young men rolled round stones the size of footballs over, Renzo Piano was able to stand up again.

He stood beside Qinggelinayan and continued to introduce the advantages of the cannon and its past achievements in the rhythmic Ligurian. It was a pity that Renzo Piano had received basic training in the art of writing, but the translator he found did not have it.

The translator took almost a minute to finish Renzo Piano's speech before concisely summarizing it: "Our captain said this cannon was made by a French foundry. It's high-quality! Lightweight! It doesn't leak! It's never exploded!"

In the smoke, the stone shell flew far away with a whistling sound under the push of the expanding gas, and landed less than twenty meters away from Lao Ma, creating a deep pit in the relatively soft grass, splashing a lot of soil and grass, and then bounced twice in the direction of Lao Ma, and finally fell silent more than one meter in front of Lao Ma.

The frightened old horse calmed down after making sure that the stone bullet posed no threat. He licked the still warm shell twice with his tongue, spat at the other party with disdain, and then leisurely ate the uneaten feed on the ground.

Renzo Piano glanced at his employer awkwardly, then offered a few token words of greeting to the old men before standing before Qing Geli and explaining, "Cannons do require a certain amount of luck. Generally, the target will be larger..."

It can be seen that he was indeed worried that his employer was a barbarian who knew nothing, but in fact, both Qinggelinayan and Li Rufeng were experts.

The former had followed Sultan Timur in his campaigns and had long witnessed the use of cannons on the battlefield. Although cannons were not the main players in wars at that time, they had seen more than 90% of the people of that era. When they attacked Aleppo, they had used cannons to bombard the city walls. Even when they attacked Damascus, they had professional engineers conducting tunnel operations and used explosive packs buried under the city walls to blow up the walls.

Therefore, the experienced Qinggelinayan knew very well how powerful these gunners were who had hit the target area within 20 meters in the first round. He also knew that although this cannon looked shabby, it could indeed threaten the walls and gates of Mardin.

Qinggeli Nayan knew where his advantages lay. With thousands of cavalry under his command, Nayan was not afraid of Duosite's people coming out of the city to fight in the field. As long as they dared to come, they would be prepared to die.

Although there are few cannons, they can be slowly sharpened. Siege is a test of the patience and perseverance of both the attackers and defenders. The side that has weapons that can effectively harm the other side will quickly gain an absolute psychological advantage.

"How much gunpowder and shells do you have?" Qinggelinayan patted the still warm cannon with some joy, and was very fond of this big guy.

Compared to the cannon he had seen last time in Sudan's army, this weapon had made significant progress in size and caliber. As a warrior, Qinggeli sensitively perceived the advantages and potential of this weapon.

But compared to Qinggeli, Li Rufeng is the one who is sober. The look he gives towards the cannon is more like a feeling of witnessing history.

"Well done! Don't let me down when I need you to fire." Qinggelinayan took out a few pieces of gold from his arms and threw them to the old men. His wealthy appearance made Master Li envious.

He is now penniless, with not a penny in his pocket...

The city has huge potential and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is a commercial hub in Central Asia and Asia Minor.

A little further west, if Alexandria is occupied, an excellent Mediterranean port can be obtained, which allows one to engage in Mediterranean trade. In many senses, Aleppo is a place where dragons rise. Throughout history, no powerful rulers have emerged there. The only explanation is... the people are not very good.

Li Rufeng glanced at the system that had just reminded him (Your riding proficiency +1, 33/50) and felt that he had the qualities of an emperor...

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Author's Note: Cathay Pacific is a bit awesome this time, just wait for it to go bankrupt

Chapter 126 Witch

Some people say that every Venetian is a businessman. When they dream, they think about lending usury to the people in their dreams, and then the next night they look forward to recovering the loans they lent from their dreams.

The Genoese were no less powerful than the Venetians. The reputation of the Genoese crossbowmen was intertwined with their commercial talents. The carts of these Genoese were filled with a large amount of supplies purchased from the Ottomans, especially pottery and armor.

Apparently, before coming, these Genoese had conducted preliminary research on where they were going and their target customer groups, and knew what the Mughals needed. They were also willing to barter and accept furs, horses and other goods that seemed valuable in exchange.

As night fell, the Genoese vendors opened their stalls, and wealthy Moghuls who had some spare money flocked to patronize these vendors, exchanging their valuables for new and interesting items.

But these Genoese made a wrong calculation. No one was willing to spend money to buy those pottery. These people came to fight, and when they had the chance to return home, these pottery would most likely have turned into pieces. Even if the Genoese were willing to give a discount, the Mughals would not be fooled.

The Mughals were all cavalry, and all their carts had been left behind, so unless the Genoese were willing to wait a week they would not be able to sell any pottery.

As for the gypsies following the Genoese, they came uninvited. The leader of the small caravan gave Renzo Piano a few pounds of honey and was allowed to cross this dangerous alien land behind the mercenary group. Of course, in order to dispel the mercenaries' dissatisfaction, they would also give out ten free coupons every day so that the lucky ones could have a night of fun with the women in the caravan.

This small favor made the entire mercenary group accept them. Now these gypsies planned to engage in sex trade with the Mughals. Not only that, they also lit a big bonfire at night. Five people, three men and two women, took turns singing loudly. The people around them sang and danced, making the camp very lively and attracting a large number of Mughals to join in the fun.

I am grateful for God's favor to me." The witch put the blindfold back on her eyes and waited for Li Rufeng to speak with a smile.

"I heard that you are good at divination. Why don't you help me predict the winner of this war?" Li Rufeng stretched out his hand towards Huluqierga, who reluctantly took out a handful of gold and silver coins from his arms. Some had the hairstyle of the Ottomans next door, and some had the hairstyle of the Khanate itself.

Li Rufeng generously threw a large silver coin with the portrait of Khan Sutan Mahamu into the cash box in front of the witch and listened to the sound.

The witch casually distributed a large number of cards with responsible symbols in a dazzling manner, and then quickly collected them, leaving only a few: "Please choose one, and I will help you..."

The witch suddenly froze, muttering a few words to herself. Her expression changed as she collected the last few cards on the table. Then she said, "I was wrong. You don't need to choose your own destiny. The journey ahead of you is smooth. Since you've come in person to inquire about the battle situation, it must be a victory!"

The fool from Hulucier's family laughed out loud, thinking the blind man before him could speak. He pulled out a meat-cutting knife from his pocket and threw it into the cash box: "Well said! Speak more!"

The witch smiled at Hulucierjia and said, "Thank you for your kind words, General!"

Hulucierjia was so happy with the flattery that he even took it as a promise and sent a sheep to the witch to eat when he returned to the camp. The scene was very lively for a while.

Only Li Rufeng looked at the blind witch suspiciously. She was a gypsy, a blind person, and she stopped playing cards in the middle of the game. She spoke in a cryptic way, and she even revealed her true intentions through literal means. She was completely overwhelmed with buffs...

Could she have really figured it out? Or was this just another trick? Li Rufeng couldn't figure it out, but he was deeply shocked...

Chapter 127: Ziyaret Fort

1408, March 28, Ahmadri.

Facts have proved that commercial activities will increase the happiness of individual humans. Of course, it may also be that the gypsy caravan increased people's happiness and made them relax. After Li Rufeng returned to the military camp from the gypsy camp, a small group of cavalry from Hezhong successfully crossed the blockade line of the vanguard army that night and attacked a patrol cavalry two kilometers outside the camp.

Both sides suffered casualties. Overall, the people in the river took advantage of the surprise attack to gain some advantages, but considering that the angry Mughals had already caught up with them, no one could say who was the final winner of this small conflict.

What the Mongolian meant was that he only needed that artillery squad, and the others were a burden. If they didn't want to leave, they could stay in the future.

Finally, Renzo Piano hurried back to the camp, and amidst a chorus of lamentations, he urged his soldiers to prepare for another departure.

The straight-line distance from Ahmedli to Mardin is only more than 60 kilometers, which takes only two days for the Mughals. However, there is a hilly area of ​​not too high that needs to be crossed. On the road that is most suitable for cavalry to pass, there is a castle called Ziyaret that needs to be captured.

According to the information Li Rufeng had, the garrison of Ziaret had at least 500 people, and they had plenty of food and grass. They were almost all Persians. Behind them was the city of Mardin where Dost was stationed, so they could rely on each other and their morale was high.

"If we had cannons, it would be easy to defeat them," Habashibuhua explained to Li Rufeng. "It's the city walls that give them the courage to face us. If the walls are breached and the gates are wide open, we only need two hundred men to charge in and those Persians will collapse. They know how we deal with those diehards."

When Habashibuhua spoke, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth, as if he was recalling his glorious past.

Li Rufeng certainly knew what method Habashibuhua was talking about. In this regard, Sultan Timur was definitely a very cruel person. He once drove all the residents of Van City who resisted stubbornly to the end to the mountains, stood in front of the cliff, and jumped down one by one.

They also dragged Aleppo's resistance fighters out of the city, chopped off their heads one by one, and poured mud and sand into a mausoleum, with those faces showing pain facing outward, sharing their pain with everyone passing through Aleppo.

Of course, when it comes to the customs of the Mughals, they like to drag people behind horses and gallop on gravel roads. When the rope is worn out, they will check whether the victim is still alive.

In addition to the Genoese artillery as a trump card, Li Rufeng soon saw Qinggelinayan's other preparations. He had said before that the Armenians would pay the price for helping Dost, and he did not break his promise.

In addition to looting food and wealth, the looting team also forcibly took away more than 500 men from the Armenian villages. These men had to bring their own dry food and tools and perform free labor for the Mughals.

These Armenians were divided into groups of fifty and were tasked with felling trees in the surrounding forests to provide qualified timber for the engineering teams that would arrive later.

If the war goes well, they may be able to go home after a while. If the war does not go well, their fate will be at a turning point. Qinggelinayan had said long ago that the Armenians should be asked to fill the trenches of Mardin to punish them for providing soldiers to Dost.

Although military service for the Khanate was the price the Armenians had to pay after being conquered, and it made sense from a legal point of view, the weak had no right to argue.

"Qinggelinayan told an anecdote about Maodun Chanyu, a story that has always been a symbol of strict discipline even among the Mongols and has been passed down to the present day.

But Qinggelinayan obviously didn't know that the Chanyu was not only a military strategist, he was also one of the few Hun politicians who knew how to endure and compromise.

If Qinggelinayan really had the level of Maodun Chanyu, he should not have taken the risk of attacking Duosite for the sake of a momentary dispute of loyalty. However, Li Rufeng has gradually understood the difficulties of the Mongols.

In their hearts, the indigenous people around them who still remained humble before the conquerors, even the Mamluks and Ottomans, still believed that the Khanate's retreat was only temporary, the restoration of the Black Sheep was just another flash in the pan, and the Khanate's rule and order would soon return.

One of the Mughal war aims was to gain the right to speak after the future Khanate reopened its western border. They were afraid that the brutal Maharaja Milan Shah would blame them for being indifferent to the rebellion of the Black Sheep Dynasty after slaughtering the remnants of the Black Sheep Dynasty.

But on the contrary, Doste has firmly stood on the other side, not the side of the Black Sheep People, but he and Li Rufeng believe that Milan Shah cannot win this war, and the Khanate's sphere of influence may never return to what it was when the old Sultan was alive.

This land is about to usher in a new order. Duosite believes that the Black Sheep are the most likely to become the new masters of this land, while Li Rufeng believes that a real man, born between heaven and earth, cannot remain depressed and inferior to others for long...

Under the cover of night, Li Rufeng watched the Genoese busily digging a trench less than 350 meters away from Fort Ziaret, and using the excavated soil to form several small earthen slopes 30 meters behind the trench.

The Genoese just took a look at the artillery position that Dangertai and his men raised and shook their heads. They raised it too high and too steep, and no one could push the cannon up such a steep slope.

The skills that Qinggelinayan and his men mastered during the war became outdated after a few years. The quality, volume, weight and power of cannons were increasing rapidly, and correspondingly, new tactics were also emerging.

In order to prevent the enemy from attacking at night, some Genoese were fully armed and protected the engineers nearby. This was the first time Li Rufeng saw the weapons and armor of the Genoese. He could only say that the Genoese looked much more professional after putting on the armor.

Almost all the Genoese, who were wearing ridiculously tight-fitting clothes, had chain mail, and most of them also had an additional armored coat. A few of them even wore luxurious iron breastplates that had already taken the shape of plate armor, which made Li Rufeng jealous.

When the Genoese were hired, it was agreed that they would not go to the front line, nor did they have any melee troops. They were all crossbowmen, giant shield crossbowmen.

Behind the Genoese trench, there were a full fifty armored crossbowmen. They used half-man-high twisted-string crossbows. There was a manual winch at the tail of the crossbow for easy stringing, and a pull ring at the head of the crossbow for easy foot fixing.

Na Yan didn't know that the reason these Genoese people worked so hard was because they had been clever before.

The cannon was indeed extremely powerful, far exceeding any cannon the Mughals had ever seen, but if they expected it to destroy the city gates and walls, some tricks would be needed.

In order to obtain the tightest possible space and minimize the loss of pressure, the gunners also need to seal the gaps on the edges of the shells with wet mud mixed with straw before firing, and wait until the mud dries before firing.

The shot used for demonstration before was just a stunt done by the veteran to show off his skills. It looked very powerful, but that was about its power.

At this time, the old soldiers were lighting torches, preparing gunpowder, mixing mud, and roasting hay.

Because the grass-containing mud used to fill the gaps in the shells needs to dry in the shade, they have to wait at least an hour before they can fire. They will fire a shot tonight in the name of a test. These veteran gunners can hit a near miss with their first shot, so hitting such a large city gate is naturally a piece of cake.

What they really need to conceal is that after the cannon fires a shell, it needs to wait for the barrel to cool down naturally to room temperature and carefully clean the debris in the barrel before the next shot can be made. If everything goes well, they can complete eight to twelve shots a day.

What Renzo Piano was communicating with Qinggelinayan through the air at that time was that in an instant, bullets flew like rain, and nothing could be broken.

But at that time he was negotiating a big deal for a total of five cannons, which was almost the number of all the cannons on the south wall of Ankara. As a result, after completing the first transaction, the city defense officer who did the deal with Renzo Piano was purged by the hostile faction, and the city defense officer who replaced him required Renzo Piano to spend money to communicate again.

Renzo Piano didn't want to waste that money, so the Golden Arrow Mercenaries fled before the new officer discovered that his predecessor had sold a cannon.

However, Renzo Piano was not lying before. The cannon was indeed a high-end French-made product, but it was an "antique" from eight years ago.

Li Rufeng, along with Habashibuhua, Huluchirjia and Wugudu, stood at a safe distance and watched the Genoese busy at work. The first two of them were considered Li Rufeng's direct subordinates, while the latter was the first "upstart" among the newcomers to be granted military power.

His Gudeer relied entirely on his strong fertility to raise his status on the grassland. Li Rufeng has always respected this. In this era, having many children and good fortune is definitely the most sincere blessing.

"You should look more closely. This kind of weapon will change the world and the pattern of war." Li Rufeng pointed at the Genoese cannon and said, behind them there was a cavalry team of about fifty people. Such teams were in front, behind, left and right of Ziaret Fort. Relying on the advantage of their large number of cavalry, the Mughals ensured that the defenders in Ziaret Fort had no chance to leave the city to launch a surprise attack on the Genoese.

About forty minutes later, the translator of the Golden Arrow Mercenary Group rode to Qinggelinayan's tent and said that they were ready to shoot, and asked the soldiers of the Mongolian Khan not to be frightened. This was a very necessary reminder.

The veterans who had participated in the Western Expedition were not afraid of the sound of artillery, but most of the herdsmen who were temporarily recruited were going to the battlefield for the first time. If they were suddenly frightened at night, there was a high possibility of camp howling.

Soon, as Qinggelinayan's guards ran back and forth, all the soldiers in the camp knew that the Genoese were going to fire artillery again. If it were not for the military order, there would definitely be curious soldiers like Li Refu waiting here to watch the show.

As the Mughals moved, the Ziyaret Fort, which had been observing the area, also became nervous. Not only were more soldiers awakened and climbed onto the city walls in a panic, they even used city defense crossbows to try to shoot at the location of the cannons.

However, the mound that the Genoese had dug earlier was for use at this time. The arrows as thick as arms were blocked by the slope in front of the cannon, without hurting the cannon or the gunners at all.

After receiving permission to fire, the artillerymen who had already completed loading used shovels to dig up the earthen slope in front of them, leaving enough space for the main gunner to aim.

Then the gunner who was in charge of aiming before lay on the cannon again, measuring the distance and angle with his fingers. Qinggelinayan hoped that they could destroy the city gate directly, but in order to get off to a good start, the gunner decided to be safe and give priority to attacking the larger area of ​​the city wall to see how much damage he could cause.

While the Persians were anxiously waiting, the sharpshooter completed his aiming, and then the other members quickly stepped forward to continue widening the gap in the slope until the cannon's firing range was unaffected. The sharpshooter then ignited the gunpowder pool without hesitation.

With a loud bang, flames and smoke instantly enveloped the position in front of the cannon. Because the mud used to seal the gap contained dry straw, the few burning straws covered the distance of thirty or forty meters in front of the cannon like fireflies.

Perhaps because of the night, Li Rufeng felt that the cannon fire this time was much louder than before, and the visual effect was also quite shocking. The rain of fire reminded him of the days when he was tortured by the Dragon Breath Spray in the Port map of COD19 Warzone 2...

After a brief pause, a 30-kilogram stone bullet hit the city wall directly. In this head-on confrontation, the stone bullet shattered into pieces in an instant, and the flying fragments even blinded a defending soldier who stuck his head out to see the situation.

Standing on the city wall

Everyone felt the vibration from the city wall. Some defenders who were close to it even fell down and sat on it, their legs numb from the vibration.

The stone bricks used to build the city wall were severely damaged, but it was not immediately apparent from above how serious the damage was. The Persian defenders were instantly terrified. They were afraid of the power of the cannon, but they did not dare to leave the city and fight the Mughals.

Li Rufeng stared at the direction of the cannon emitting white smoke, his eyes somewhat fixed, or more specifically, he was looking at the cannon operators who were cooperating so well...

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