Mount and Blade Central Asia

The leaders of the Riverlands naturally doubted Jatalehun's words, but they seemed to have no better plan of action. They were already dissatisfied with Dosit's rule, especially the fact that he had secretly defected to the Black Sheep People, which was even more difficult for them to accept...

In that case, why not do it?

"All the warriors loyal to the Sultan, come with me and seize the city gate!" The leader of the river people in the city drew his saber and gave orders to his 168 soldiers.

It was a new army, soldiers selected by him after he united several other tribes.

If they were allowed to attack the city gate of Mardin in the dark without any preparation, those people would probably mutiny.

Moreover, in the customs of their nomadic tribe, which mainly relies on cavalry, rainy days and nights are not suitable times for fighting.

The humid environment of rainy days made the war horses afraid to gallop at full speed, causing the bowstrings to become weak, and the accuracy and power to decrease, while the darkness made it impossible for many soldiers to see the road ahead.

Asking them to attack the city on a rainy night is simply asking them to die.

At this time, Qinggelinayan also rode to Li Rufeng's headquarters with his guards and demanded, "What are you doing? Deserting from the battlefield?"

"Lord Nayan, we are going to attack the city of Mardin." Habashibuhua sighed, took the initiative to step forward and explained to Qinggeli Nayan.

"Before Shaman Rufeng set off, he left his personal guards to me. He said that if there were any unusual movements by the personal guards, it would be him passing on the message through Changshengtian, asking me to cooperate with the personal guards." Habashibuhua repeated Li Rufeng's original words to Qinggelinayan as much as possible.

After hearing Habashibuhua's words, everyone around fell silent, and all eyes turned to the personal guards that Li Rufeng had not taken away. However, they were not afraid of the gazes of outsiders. They just packed up their equipment and got on their horses, ready to go.

"We have sensed the divine call. If you do not intend to obey Shaman Rufeng's orders, we will set out alone. Even if we all die at the gate of Mardin, we will never let Shaman Rufeng fight alone." The leading guard glanced at everyone with contempt on his horse.

Qinggelinayan fell into deep thought. To be fair, he had seen too many things unusual in Li Rufeng. That oriental man was even more mysterious than the old shaman, so much so that he began to wonder if Tengri was really watching them from the sky?

Therefore, Qinggelinayan did not dare to take it lightly. After a moment's thought, he nodded to Habashibuhua and said, "In that case, I will also send 500 men to charge with you. However, if we encounter a strong counterattack, we must retreat and not fight to the death!"

Habashibuhua breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Tulik and Saladin with a cold face: "If you cowards don't dare to go, you can return to the camp now, but I will report your actions to Shaman Rufeng truthfully."

Tulik turned and left quickly, leaving Saladin hesitant for a moment before finally gritting his teeth and saying, "The Kurds promised Shaman Rufeng that we would bleed together. We can't break our promise now. Let's go too!"

Habashibuhua laughed and shouted, "Warriors of Li Rufeng's tribe, mount your horses!"

"urai!" The Mongol people responded to Habashibuhua with high morale. After the performance of those personal guards, they once again believed that Shaman Rufeng was blessed by Changshengtian and were willing to take risks with him.

Ilda curled her lips, wondering what kind of girl was so unlucky to run into you guys, but she still asked, "Didn't Lord Dost send anyone to deliver a message or something?"

"Are you fucking done yet? How would I know if Doshite Wanhu sent anyone? He just told me to help guard the city gate, and it's raining!" Karim Ansarifard said arrogantly, "If you don't want us to go up, I'll take my men back. Do you think I want to come? When Doshite Wanhu asks about it, you'll explain it yourself! Let's go!"

Karim Ansarifard said this as he was about to lead his men back.

Ilda wasn't a confident person to begin with. He looked back at the Mongol army outside, which was preparing for a surprise attack in the rain. Feeling guilty, he immediately stopped Karim Ansarifard who was about to leave: "Brother Karim! Don't worry, I'll open the door and let you in!"

The gate of Mardin was built on the basis of this tower. One needs to enter the tower first and walk through a spiral staircase to reach the upper city gate. The winch that controls the raising and lowering of the city gate is on the middle level.

In addition to the one hundred Persian archers led by Ilda, there is also an Armenian heavy infantry century stationed here. If you attack by force, even if you attack from the inside, you will have to pay a heavy price.

If they did not take the spiral staircase of the tower, they would have to walk at least fifty meters along the city wall from both sides before they could take the zigzag stairs to climb the city wall, and then kill their way through the wall that was dozens of meters long before they could start attacking the tower.

At this time, if someone in the tower closes the gate of the city wall in the same direction in time, the besiegers on the city wall can only find a way to blow up that gate first before they can continue to approach the city gate. At this time, the archers on the tower can attack all the besiegers from a high position.

But now, Ilda had the gate at the bottom of the tower opened. The heavy wooden door inlaid with iron was pulled by the Armenian guards. The door hinges creaked because of the rust, which gave people goose bumps.

Karim Ansarifard walked in with his head held high, and there was nothing wrong with him. The soldiers from the river behind him were a little nervous, but these people were usually either drinking and making trouble in the city, or fighting with soldiers of other ethnic groups. The guards in the tower were used to it and thought that these Mongolian uncles had gloomy faces because they couldn't sleep well.

Jatalehun, who entered the tower in the middle of the team, was trembling all over. He clenched his teeth with all his strength to prevent his teeth from knocking against each other and making noises, but he was too excited and trembled even more. They just came in like this!

They have already won half of the war!

The two Mughals walking at the end pushed aside the Armenians who were guarding the door with a ferocious look, and guarded the tower gate tightly on the left and right. The Armenians who were pushed aside frowned and looked at the burly Mongols around them. Feeling that they were outnumbered, they decided to suffer the loss in silence and stood in the corner without saying a word.

The Central Plains and Mongols also started to take action when the first scream was heard.

The Mughal guarding the entrance at the bottom floor did not give the Armenian guard any chance to surrender. He directly slashed his neck with a dagger, then locked the tower door and looked outside with cold eyes.

More fighting broke out inside the tower. Dozens of defenseless defenders were killed instantly by the Mongols. The city gate capstan, which was a key area, encountered almost no resistance. The strongest soldiers began to exert their strength to open the gate little by little.

It was not until now that the defenders in other areas of the city wall began to realize that an accident had occurred at the city gate. The nearby defenders rushed towards the city gate in panic, but they only saw the Mongols indifferently closing the gate leading to the tower on the city wall and sealing it from behind.

Most of the Armenian heavy infantry centuries originally stationed in the tower were driven by Irda to the side of the city gate where there was no tower. Even when it was raining, they could only use simple shelters to block the cold wind and raindrops. The Persians occupied all the spaces with roofs and walls.

This also saved them from disaster. At this time, Jatalehun was guarding this section of the passage, facing the Armenian heavy infantry through the gate. He shouted loudly: "Dost has been killed. This is not your war. Wait quietly until we finish the battle, and you can return to your hometown to farm!"

But the Armenians outside the gate remained silent and just kept banging on the gate. If they had retreated with a few words, the Khanate would not have recruited them every time it went to war over the years.

The Armenians who refused to obey orders had died in the conquerors' repeated "education". They would not stop attacking unless the city of Mardin had fallen, most people had given up resistance, or Dost was really dead.

Otherwise, if the dust settles and Dost still holds the upper hand, their village will be razed to the ground and their families will be hanged from trees.

Karim Ansarifard left a few men to guard the passage above the city gate, then retreated to the tower and led the remaining soldiers all the way up, killing all the Persian archers along the way, until he encountered some resistance on the designed platform leading to the top of the tower.

Those archers blocked the entrance to the platform. Anyone who dared to show his head would be shot to death. Even if there was a warrior from the river wearing two layers of armor and holding a shield, it would not work. The distance was too close, and the passage leading to the top platform was too wide for shooting. Those archers could shoot the unlucky soldier from 360 degrees.

"Either you surrender now, and I promise not to kill you! Or you prepare to die here!" Karim Ansarifard shouted to the top: "Look outside, the Mughals are about to enter the city! When the time comes, you will defend here until you starve to death!"

These Persian archers, who had lost their backbone, looked at each other and chose the most experienced one to answer: "How can we trust you!"

"Shoot down, shoot those who were once your allies. The more they die, the safer you will be." Karim Ansarifard laughed and said, "I mean what I say!"

Except for one person who lost his horse during the charge and fell to the ground and died, the other nineteen people all rushed into the city of Martin safely.

The defenders on the city wall didn't even have time to fight back because of the change in the city gate before they rushed in.

These guards advanced along the main street of Mardin, defeated a hastily organized Persian infantry along the way, and rushed directly towards Li Rufeng's position.

Behind them, nearly a thousand cavalrymen crowded at the city gate and began to file into the city. It was not until this time that the defenders on the city wall began to fight back, but at this time their counterattack force was so sparse that it was completely insignificant.

Because many soldiers had no desire to fight anymore after realizing the city wall had been lost...

Chapter 152 The Dust Settles

For the Mongol cavalry, the opened city gate was a smooth road. Qinggelinayan and his old cavalrymen with extremely rich combat experience were not fighting such a battle for the first time; it was an outrageous favorable situation.

Although the Mongols maintained nomadic customs and their average educational level was not enough to allow them to do any math, fighting was indeed their forte. Soldiers would gather together to discuss riding and swordsmanship, practice archery, and study how to coordinate with the ups and downs of the horse's back to shoot arrows more steadily and save horsepower. They also delved into cutting tactics and figured out at what angle to drag the sword to kill people most efficiently.

The officers learned to summarize the tactical advantages and disadvantages. For example, in a night raid with unclear visibility, the road trampled by the horses would become more and more muddy, and it was not certain whether the person in front could pass the person behind.

As pioneers, they also have the responsibility to light the way for those who come after them. The Steel Pillar Centurion left behind the fifty best riders, who galloped at a slower pace at the back of the team, and thrust a torch into the ground every two strides of their horses. These grease-soaked torches were not easy to extinguish even in rainy days, and they acted like the runway marker lights at an airport, indicating the route taken by their predecessors to those who came after them.

The sensitive Qinggelinayan stood in the camp and saw that Baoledebagen's troops also sped up and rushed towards the city of Mardin. In fact, he had realized something, but he could not believe that good luck favored the Mughals so much.

It was not until the Steel Pillar Centurion's scouts shouted all the way that the city had been broken, and excitedly dismounted and stood in front of him, that he began to accept this ecstasy.

The excitement coupled with the cold weather with rain and snow made Qinggeli cough violently. His ears were buzzing and his lungs were torn apart by coughing. His eyes were red because he couldn't breathe in time, but he still tried hard to wave his hands.

Dangertai, his younger brother, immediately understood his elder brother's intention. He jumped on his horse and shouted the order: "All Mongol warriors, listen up! The city gates are open, and glory and wealth are within our grasp! All troops, march into the city! Anyone who resists will be killed! Anyone who sets fire will be killed! Anyone who carries a weapon and wears armor will be killed! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Then he laughed, and the Persians who had just surrendered and were raining arrows on their own people trembled all over.

No matter whether Dost was dead or alive, or had an accident or not, it couldn't change the fact that Mardin had fallen. Karim shouted, "Shoot! Shoot hard! Let them bleed like a river!"

"Yes!" The Hezhongdi soldiers on the platform responded excitedly, rubbing their hands in anticipation.

Although they have a feud with the Mughals, they can put their ethnic ties first when it comes to interests.

The arrows from the Transoxiana and Persians rained down like locusts, forcing the defenders on the left and right wings near the city gate to unable to raise their heads. The few soldiers who were organized by the officers and still had morale eventually fell into inevitable collapse. They threw down their weapons, ran down the city wall and fled into the residential area in the chaos, not wanting to stay and die.

A few of Dost's loyal officers finally had no choice but to abandon the meaningless defense on the city wall and retreat from other sections of the city wall with the troops that had not yet been dispersed, intending to retreat all the way back to Martin Castle to hold on.

But the Mughal cavalry was best at fighting disruptive battles. Under the command of Habashibuhua, half of the soldiers who had advanced into the city chased and killed the infantrymen along the streets, while the rest continued to move upwards in the direction of the fire on the top of the mountain.

At this time, it is a race against time. If they arrive before the defeated troops, they will have to face fewer enemies when attacking later.

At this time, Shaman Rufeng had already reunited with his loyal guards. Li Rufeng roughly stopped the bleeding of Duosi's wound and stripped off his armor. A guard with good riding skills carried Duosi across the horse's back and took him with the team.

"Master Shaman! You...this..." As the best rider, fiercest and most skilled warrior in the tribe, Huluchirjia was naturally not left behind by Li Rufeng's personal guards. He led his soldiers to chase after him, with a confused look on his face. He couldn't believe that he was standing in the city of Mardin.

Li Rufeng smiled at Hulucierjia and once again put on his charlatan attitude: "Don't ask, if you ask, it's the will of Changshengtian!"

It didn't take long for Li Rufeng to gather a cavalry team of more than 200 people on the spot. There were Mongols, Kurds, and people from Transoxiana. Li Rufeng didn't care who they were, as long as they were intercepted, they were his people.

"I am the leader of Li Rufeng's tribe, a shaman, and the messenger of Changshengtian. This is the traitor Doste! I caught him! Now is the time to end this war! Come with me to make those weak Persians surrender!" Li Rufeng raised the magic sword and shocked everyone with flames, and announced his orders loudly.

No one spoke out in opposition, or no one dared to speak out in opposition.

Li Rufeng led his men forward and soon met up with Habashibuhua who had caught up from behind. The number of people in the team instantly expanded to more than 500.

And finally, they really took the city. Every step was so unexpected, every step was so uncomfortable...

"Nai Yan, the Persians on the city walls have laid down their weapons and surrendered. We won't look for any more of the defeated troops until daybreak." Baoledebagen glanced at Li Rufeng, who was commanding the soldiers to blockade the castle's main building and appeasing the castle servants, and asked pointedly, "This battle was a mess, so disappointing! All the limelight was stolen by that rookie who can't fight!"

"Be careful with your words. What's important is that we won." Qinggelinayan looked at the magnificent meeting hall in the castle, walked to the main seat and sat down with a sense of relief. "The best tactic is to minimize casualties. No one is born a warrior, but Shaman Rufeng has proven his talent twice in a row."

"Maybe he's just lucky, or maybe the God of Immortality really blesses him." Seeing that Lord Yan was not jealous of this, Baoledebagen walked out muttering. He couldn't let the shaman do all the good things!

At this time, Li Rufeng was arranging the resettlement of the surrendered soldiers in the castle. There were a total of 240 guards in the castle responsible for the defense of the castle. Of course, most of the time these guards acted as messengers for Dost, carrying Dost's orders to various parts of the city to convey his orders to other people.

Brother Mengjiang killed a total of 26 guards by himself and knocked out nine servants... It was not until these Persian soldiers laid down their weapons that these people finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that they had finally saved their lives.

The Mughals who were in charge of collecting the captives and corpses were all shocked and whispered about the existence of Haishar behind his back.

Among the guards who were killed, twelve died from bows and arrows, especially large arrows. Those who were shot were basically stuck on the wall and the floor with the arrows. It took several people shaking together to pull the arrows out of the wall and the floor behind them. As for the corpses...because Shaman Rufeng asked not to destroy the arrows, they could only let the corpses endure it so that they could remove the arrows intact.

This resulted in the ground inside and outside the castle being covered in blood where bodies had been found, and the surrendered guards and servants who had been taken prisoners without knowing why did not dare to breathe.

Li Rufeng needed to calm these frightened people. He gathered them together and said with a gentle smile, "I know you've heard a lot of rumors about the Mongols, like that we eat human flesh and mate with horses."

The captives below were as quiet as clay statues. At this moment, shouts and screams were coming from the city of Mardin outside the castle. The remaining soldiers who had taken refuge in the houses were still resisting under the leadership of the officers. There was also a military camp, which was almost a fortress, with at least 1,500 soldiers fighting stubbornly in it.

The Mughals only blocked them in the military camp temporarily, planning to attack them during the day, so the whole city of Mardin was still filled with shouts and cries of killing, making the captives' hearts fluctuate.

He is not so selfless, he just looks down on the rubbish in the city.

Those rich people lived in wealthy families around the castle. Even the most ignorant Mongol knew that although it was an unspoken rule to plunder wealth during a war, if you didn't even fight a war and openly robbed the officers, you would be doomed.

After letting the captives start identifying each other's confidants of Duosi Te and mobilizing a group of captives who were willing to identify Duosi Te's crimes, Li Rufeng waved his hand and had the captives taken away and strictly guarded, then turned around and went to ask Brother Mengjiang for the prisoners.

Doste is now in Haishar's hands. As a knight of the Eagle of Order, it is his job to purge the believers of the Four Wind Gods, and obtaining more lists of believers of the Four Wind Gods through torture is his professional skill, so Haishar took the important prisoner from Li Rufeng as soon as possible.

Although Qinggelinayan was somewhat dissatisfied with this, he still agreed when he saw the Steel Pillar Centurion shaking his head at him not far away.

It was not until he entered the castle later that he realized what kind of ruthless character the unknown knight was. To put it bluntly, if he wanted to kill someone, the only thing that could stop him might be an accident. Judging from the scene left in the castle, even if the ordinary guards knew that the other party was going to assassinate them, they could not stop it.

The existence of Haishaer further enhances the mystery of Li Rufeng.

"What's the situation? Did you find out anything?" Li Rufeng covered his nose with a handkerchief and walked into the castle, into the room used to interrogate Doste.

At this time, Haishar had already awakened Duosite. Wanhu, a mixed-blood who had always breathed out more than breathed in, now looked even paler and listless. Beads of sweat the size of beans kept coming out from under his skin, sticking his thick hair together and making it look greasy.

Haishaer didn't even turn his head when he heard Li Rufeng's voice. He reached out and pulled a wooden splinter from between Duosite's toenails, drawing a weak scream. "He admitted to surrendering to the Black Sheep, but he still refuses to explain his connection to the Scarlet Wind. He thought he was hiding it well, but he didn't know that I'm a professional in this business. Even the slightest smell can be hidden from my nose."

"I didn't!" Duosite said vaguely, and a lot of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.

"He wanted to bite his tongue to commit suicide, so I pulled out a few of his teeth." Haishaer reached out and patted Duosite's face. "By the way, I'll tell you that biting the tongue to commit suicide requires a lot of prerequisites. In all these years, I've only seen one successful case, and she choked herself to death on the blood that flowed out."

Li Rufeng suddenly got to know Brother Mengjiang's experience over the years, which was a bit too rich...

"Don't kill him. I need him tomorrow. Just keep his life." Li Rufeng smiled implicitly at Duo Si Te. He and Duo Si Te were not familiar with each other. They had only met twice on the battlefield, and he was the winner both times. So Li Rufeng actually had a good impression of Duo Si Te.

The sound of brushing.

In the past, Qinggelinayan was either in the tent or on horseback, and the noisy sounds obscured these subtle details, but Li Rufeng was sure that at least when he was in Urfa Castle, his illness was not so serious.

The biggest taboos for this type of tuberculosis are fatigue, strenuous exercise, and breathing in damp and cold air. Because of those dark wizards, the city of Martin has all of these.

Including the time spent on the march, Qinggelinayan had not slept for almost thirty hours. Although the Mongols rode horses, everyone who had ridden a horse knew that one could not rest on horseback.

"Then Master Yan, you need to rest." Li Rufeng frowned and said seriously, "If your condition continues to deteriorate, you may not survive this summer."

Li Rufeng was not exaggerating. Although his medical skills of more than 80 points could not directly make him a world-famous doctor, they did enhance his qualities as a doctor in all aspects.

For example, steadier hands, more delicate hearing, and subconscious judgment of the amount of bleeding, etc.

When their current biggest enemy, Duosite, is being tortured in the cell by Haishar, strictly speaking, Li Rufeng and Qinggeli can be considered enemies.

It's just that this is a war without gunpowder, a war called the struggle for power.

Li Rufeng certainly hopes to have all these powerful cavalrymen serving under his command. As a man with a system, he can pat his chest and brag like Han Xin. Naturally, the more soldiers he has under his command, the better.

Qinggeli Nayan and those Mongol leaders are the obstacles for Li Rufeng to take over this force, but if Qinggeli Nayan is dying now, it will be a big problem.

Compared with others, Qinggeli Nayan at least knows when to make appropriate choices. As a person in power, he is the kind of person who can regard the interests of all Mongols as a whole. Otherwise, he would not be respected as Nayan when the Khanate secretly prohibited these Mongols from forming groups, and he would not be able to rely on his personal reputation to unite the scattered Mongols into a whole.

Li Rufeng would rather fail in this war and live as a military leader of Li Rufeng's army than see Qinggeli die suddenly and the Mongols become a group of scattered sand.

The Mongols have committed many evil deeds in this land over the years. Without the military virtue of the Khanate to protect them, they will be swallowed up by this land sooner or later.

"I know my body. Let's talk about you first, Shaman Rufeng. If you don't get the rewards you deserve for your military exploits, the people below us will be too embarrassed to ask for anything." Qinggelinayan coughed forcefully twice, then smiled and asked, "Wealth, slaves, women, you name it. I heard Mengge say that you wanted a beautiful, educated, and charming woman before."

To attract the population of nearby settlements, as long as stable order can be maintained, population isn't a problem. Rome wasn't built in a day. Li Rufeng knew his own business. The Mount & Blade system does have a town-building function, and since Qinggelinayan was willing to discuss the matter, it proved he was interested...

"What about us? Should we live in the city too?" Qinggelinayan continued to ask. As the actual ruler of the Mongols, he was opposed to this idea in his heart. When Chagatai divided the people in the middle of the river, the Mongols had an irreconcilable contradiction over whether to adhere to nomadic customs.

Those Chagatai Mongols who were willing to settle in cities and stop eventually became Transoxiana people.

"Sir, let me be disrespectful. Doesn't the rise of Timur prove something?" Li Rufeng asked cautiously. "We are now guarding the border for the Khanate instead of grazing on our own grasslands. Doesn't that prove something?"