Mount and Blade Central Asia

Qinggelinayan's face changed immediately. This was equivalent to slapping someone in the face and scolding someone and exposing their shortcomings.

"Furthermore, over the years, where has our wealth come from, including you, Lord Yan? Where did we sell our cattle, sheep, furs, and horses?" Li Rufeng continued to ask. Now that he had been slapped in the face and exposed, he might as well come clean all at once. "You know very well that it's the cities that are the gathering places of wealth. Even Sultan Timur is working hard to build his own Samarkand. Shouldn't we follow suit?"

"Look at those Genoese, Lord Yan. In just a few years, they've created cannons we've never seen before. What about ten years from now? Will the cannons become more mobile and more powerful?" Li Rufeng questioned Qinggeli, reflecting on the current of the times. "And the blacksmiths in our tribe can't even forge a round horseshoe. You can't even find two identical arrowheads they forge!"

This was the truth, and it was also what Li Rufeng had always found most difficult to accept. As a time traveler, he was fighting as a technologically backward grassland barbarian in the Middle Ages, which was really shameful.

"Didn't you ask me what reward I want? I want all the craftsmen in Mardin City. I don't want anything else!" Li Rufeng said, and he finally got what he had long coveted. "And the people. I want every civilian willing to come with me. If there are any other tribes willing to help me bring people back, as long as they are brought back alive to Li Rufeng's tribe, I will give each adult man half his body weight in food, and women and children an equal amount of food."

Qinggelinayan looked at Li Rufeng in surprise, wondering where he got all that food. It seemed like he'd taken a lot of refugees back with him back in Urfa Castle...

But Qinggelinayan still agreed to Li Rufeng's request. This was what he had agreed to before. No matter what the reward was, he would not go back on his word.

"If...if Maharaja Miranshah really fails, the Mongol people will help you conquer Aleppo. I promise." Qinggelinayan said finally, "Aleppo will become a Mongol city, but you will be responsible for managing it yourself. Other tribes are not allowed to live in the city!"

The author says:

Author's Note: A key on my keyboard is broken, so frustrating...

It's the final ritual, and only the last three Blood Guards remain. If he can kill them, the ritual will be complete, and he'll become some kind of half-human, half-demon creature, immensely powerful and incredibly agile." Haishaer glanced at Li Rufeng and said with some emotion, "So all his most trusted guards are dead, and you just happened to intercept them on the last night."

"Can he defeat the three blood guards you mentioned by himself?" Li Rufeng's focus was on Duosite's combat effectiveness. He was not bragging, he had defeated that Duosite before, and it was easy, you know?

"What do you think the Scarlet Wind believes in? Why would an evil god care about fairness? Haha." Haishar said disdainfully, "One hundred people fought against each other every night until only three remained. Do you think those three people would still be intact?"

So that's it... Li Rufeng had a look of sudden enlightenment, but in fact, those blood guards healed their wounds very quickly under the protection of the scarlet wind. The real despicable thing about Dosite was that he had never given those soldiers a full meal. For four consecutive days, these soldiers only survived by drinking light salt water and were terribly weak.

But last night, Doste did not complete the ceremony. Unbeknownst to anyone, the three Blood Guards, who had little human consciousness left, fought each other in the chaos, and finally a monster with only a demon body but no consciousness was born. The blessing of the Scarlet Wind cannot be rejected!

In the city of Mardin, Huluchirga was commanding his soldiers to surround an entire "commercial street" as a commander. Because of Dost, the largest population in Mardin was Persians, and the richest group was also Persians. Almost all commercial buildings in the city were controlled by Persians.

The street surrounded by Huluqierjia is the artisan district, where most of the city's craftsmen, blacksmiths, coopers, bamboo makers, charcoal burners, carpenters, etc., all have their shops concentrated here.

Although Li Rufeng and Qinggelinayan had reached an agreement and completed the division of the spoils, when it came to the soldiers below, Li Rufeng himself needed to find a way to control them.

He clearly told Huluchirjia that he was not allowed to harm the craftsmen on the street, nor was he allowed to allow people from other tribes to go in and plunder. As compensation, Li Rufeng would reward all soldiers with a brand new saber, a horse, and three kilograms of salt each.

Shaman Rufeng, who had the gold in his hands, was particularly confident when he made the promise. According to his prediction, after the battle, the surrounding ethnic groups and tribes would react, and the Khanate's power would no longer be able to take care of this place. By then, the pastures of the Mongol tribes would continue to decrease over time, and the price of horses would drop rapidly, so they could be bought appropriately.

Hulucierjia actually still felt a little resentful in his heart, especially when he saw that people from other tribes had made great gains, his soldiers were also tempted.

But Shaman Rufeng's prestige allowed them to temporarily suppress the evil thoughts in their hearts.

Many people in the Artisan Street were carefully observing the situation outside. Some of them were so sound asleep that they only woke up in the morning to find out that the city had been broken and the Mongols had entered the city. They were all surprised.

"What's going on? I heard that when the Mongols capture a city, they massacre the entire population for three days. I stood on the roof this morning and saw people killing people everywhere below..."

"Keep your voice down! There are Mongols guarding outside. Are you trying to save your life?"

"Are they waiting for someone, planning to come in and rob us when they get old enough?"

"Robbery?" The Mongol looked enviously down at the chaotic city below. The stepped layout of Mardin allowed those above to easily see what was happening below. "Even those Kurds are looting! I never saw them run so fast during the war!"

Habashibuhua saw all this and remained silent.

Li Rufeng has great trust in this man who has experienced peaks, setbacks, and finally found his own way in a peaceful life. He has high expectations for Habashibuhua, so Li Rufeng also secretly gave Habashibuhua a secret order.

Observe all the soldiers, especially those who were assigned not to participate in the looting, and see how many of them calmly accepted the result without showing any impatience or indignation.

Compared with Islam, one of the main reasons why the belief in Eternal Heaven declined so quickly is that it is too loose. It is so loose that there is no clear person who controls the power of faith. It is so loose that it treats every believer equally in the true sense. It is even willful to some extent that you can believe it if you want to, and forget it if you don’t want to.

You can even be in a good mood today and believe in the religion, and be in a bad mood tomorrow and stop believing. As long as the local shaman is not a particularly petty person, they don't care at all what these believers think every day.

Moreover, the belief in Eternal Heaven has never been able to control its own military force, even during the most prosperous period of the Mongols. The entire belief in Eternal Heaven only put up minimal resistance when Islamic thought began to take root in the hearts of the Mongols - some shamans bravely stood up and accused the converted Mongolian nobles of abandoning the traditions of their ancestors, and then they were hacked to death by the scholars of law who held knives in one hand and scriptures in the other.

Not only did they fail to successfully build up their own armed forces, they didn't even know where they lost.

There are so many ethnic groups in Central Asia and Asia Minor that it is impossible to find a few that can be called the main ethnic group as the basis for rule. If you want to gain a foothold in this land, you must start from the area of ​​spiritual identity.

The Mongols accepted Islam because after they changed their faith, the lands they ruled would immediately see buffs such as -50% rebellion and +25% taxation, and all they paid was a name of faith that had no constraints on them.

However, the wisdom of those who spread Islam lies in that they never rush. The first generation of converts take it easy, but the real reform will only begin from the second or even third generation. Many converts may have been laughing at others as fools yesterday, but they don’t know that their grandchildren will lose their lives fighting with others for the doctrine tomorrow.

Li Rufeng is not yet able to achieve ambitions that last for hundreds or thousands of years, but he has already begun to select righteous people who are suitable to be enlightened and enter the Changshengtian grassland.

You have ten seconds to open the door, and let's talk about your life saving money." Li Rufeng stood in the wealthy area outside Martin Castle and knocked on the door of the first house to exchange signals.

This was a lucrative job forced upon him by Qinggeli Shaman. If there were no serious casualties during the war, especially during the siege phase, the Mongols would generally not kill all the people in the city, especially the wealthy families.

Many times, the old sultan conquered cities just to make these wealthy families submit to him. These people were the real core of the city and the controllers of wealth. Whoever controlled these people would control the stability of the region.

Qinggelinayan does not need regional stability, he only wants wealth.

So Li Rufeng came with his troops, nearly 500 people in total, including his own people, Qinggelinayan's people, and people from various departments. No one would exclude themselves from such a big spender.

Choosing Li Rufeng as the leader was what everyone expected. After all, Master Li had a very good reputation among the Mongols, and he had made great contributions in breaking the city this time, so no one had a say in it.

The master named Alibaba was a Persian Muslim. Although he had a big Arab-style beard, he had a pair of emerald green eyes. He looked to be no more than forty years old, with a well-proportioned figure, fashionable clothes and a silk dress without any decoration.

It was obvious that Master Alibaba had gone through a psychological struggle and material preparation before opening the door. Although there were seven or eight ring marks on his ten fingers, there were no rings on his hands at this time.

When facing the vicious Mughals, he subconsciously rubbed the pendant around his waist. Apparently, it had become a physiological habit, but there was nothing there at the moment.

Li Rufeng could only temporarily assume that in the mind of Master Alibaba, wearing only a single silk garment was a symbol of poverty, so he posed in this way.

"We have come from afar to fight against the rebel Doshita of Khanate. Now Doshita has been killed and has revealed many of his collaborators. Shouldn't you show some appreciation?" Li Rufeng walked into Master Alibaba's courtyard on his own.

The straight-line distance from here to the Martin Castle is less than a hundred meters. Maybe Master Alibaba saw with his own eyes how Dost was attacked last night.

There are two key points in Li Rufeng's words. One is that we have come from afar, which means don't think you can send us away by just giving us money. The other key point is the collaborators. Who is the collaborator and who is innocent? The Mongols have the final say now.

"The Ture family is willing to pay 500 gold coins, 3,000 silver coins, 1,000 kilograms of grain, and ten beauties!" Alibaba knew that this was the first time he was approached by someone because he had made an appointment with the Mughals.

Because those pieces of evidence weren't entirely nonsense. Master Alibaba had indeed acted as a matchmaker between Dost and the Black Sheep. It can only be said that Shaman Rufeng's random fabrication hit the nail on the head...

Hearing Alibaba's offer, Li Rufeng shrugged, turned, and walked out the door, waving to the ferocious Mongol soldiers outside. "Go in and search. Be civilized. I'll be watching from here. Everyone, young and old, women and children, please come out safely. If anyone can't control their cock, I'll show you how the Delhi Sultanate castrates eunuchs. Anyone who resists will be hacked to death."

"Wait! Sir, we can still talk! We can still talk!" Master Alibaba grabbed the door tightly with both hands and shouted at Li Rufeng, but Li Rufeng no longer wanted to listen.

Although the city of Mardin was captured, the war was not over yet. The remnants of the army who retreated into the residential area, the soldiers stationed in the barracks, and the few sections of the city walls that were still resisting were all waiting to be dealt with one by one during the day.

What Li Rufeng was looking forward to was the settlement of war rewards after the siege was completely over.

The author says:

Author's words: I bought two keyboards. I will try them out tomorrow to see which one is more suitable for typing, the red axis or the blue axis.

Chapter 157: Shaman Rufeng Preaching

The organized looting of the city of Martin lasted for three days and three nights and was not over yet. This was something Li Rufeng had not expected. As a newcomer who knew nothing, he had never thought that such a large-scale killing would last so long.

The systematic robbery of the wealthy area led by Li Rufeng himself lasted only two days and one night. A total of 23 wealthy families that could be called big families were arrested. Except for the entire family of Master Alibaba, whose houses were burned down and demolished, the remaining 22 families cooperated very well and basically accepted whatever price Li Rufeng offered.

There were some relatively wealthy small workshop owners in the wealthy area. Li Rufeng only charged them a symbolic "protection fee" of 500 kilograms of grain per person. Although this price was the entire profit for many of them for one to two years, compared with the tragedies happening in other areas of Mardin, the legend of the benevolent Shaman Rufeng had already spread among the survivors.

Li Rufeng promised all the wealthy families who paid "protection fees", including those large families that had lost everything, that since they paid the money, they would be protected by him in this war. He did it. The soldiers who were lent to him as "thugs" became the protectors of the entire wealthy area and artisan area.

These people strictly followed the orders of Shaman Rufeng, making these two areas the safe zone in the city of Mardin. At the same time, they turned a blind eye to the refugees who sneaked into the two areas. That was also secretly instructed by Li Rufeng. Of course, this kind of talk was just gossip circulated among the soldiers. Li Rufeng

Feng himself would never admit it.

It was impossible for the refugees who flowed into the safe zone to take away all their belongings. At most, they could only save their lives. Even if the other Mongol leaders who were looting were slightly dissatisfied, they did not dare to confront Li Rufeng directly. After all, the city of Mardin could be conquered so easily thanks to the personal bravery of Shaman Rufeng.

The reason why Li Rufeng was able to do this was simply because he had money.

He paid every soldier assigned to his command in cash, without cheating anyone. He also bought food directly with money in the city, making the soldiers who had looted a lot of food and had no place to exchange it for money grateful to Shaman Rufeng.

But as an ambitious time traveler, what Li Rufeng really cares about are only human resources and food. Shaman Rufeng, who owns two tons of gold, is simply spending money to buy fame, and of course food.

Not only did the word about the benevolent shaman spread throughout the city of Mardin, and that anyone who could escape to the shaman's controlled area could survive, but Li Rufeng's reputation for generosity also spread among the Mongols, meaning he earned two reputations for one dollar.

Although Qinggeli Nayan and other chiefs had once suspected where Li Rufeng got so much money, because Li Rufeng handed over all the wealth seized from the rich area except for the food to share with Nayan and other chiefs, these doubts could only be suppressed in their hearts and not spoken out, because speaking out would destroy the harmony.

Li Rufeng, who had gained fame, took the opportunity to preach the teachings of Changshengtian in the safe zone. Of course, it was the teachings that Li had improved. In return, Li Rufeng would give those who listened to his lectures two meals a day regardless of whether they were willing to convert or not.

The refugee meals consisted of watery soup and were not tasty, but they could keep people alive. This behavior allowed Li Rufeng to gather thousands of listeners in a short period of time. This was definitely the largest missionary activity of the Changshengtian Sect since the Mongol invasion of the West.

Some of the Mughals who had already plundered a lot of goods were also attracted by this magnificent sight. They put down their butcher knives and came to listen to Shaman Rufeng's lectures on time every day. This alleviated the chaos in the city of Mardin to a certain extent.

In previous wars, the Mughals were brave and courageous, had superb riding skills, and accurate archery skills. They were the sharpest swords in the hands of the old Sultan, but they also had a bad reputation and poor military discipline.

Every time a city is captured, a special law enforcement team is needed to restrain the Mongols. The chaos happening in Mardin now is simply because Qinggelinayan cannot restrain the heads of the various Mongols tribes, and the heads of the Mongols tribes cannot restrain the warriors of their own tribes.

In other words, Dost had no external allies to rely on, and this land had been cleared too cleanly by the Khanate before, leaving no military enemies capable of causing any harm. Otherwise, the chaos in Mardin City in recent days would have been enough to give the Mughals a hard time.

Li Rufeng's unintentional behavior eventually became the key to calming the war.

"The land you inhabit was once unowned. It was only through the hard work of mortals that it became the inhabited land it is today. We didn't eat raw meat and drink blood, but chose civilization." Li Rufeng sat on a makeshift platform, looking at the listeners below, and began to explain his adapted doctrine. "Civilizations vary depending on the living environment. Some people who live in warm places use thatch to build their houses because they don't have to worry about the cold wind. Others in cold places have learned to build houses with ice because they don't have to worry about the sun melting the ice when it's hot."

When it comes to so-called preaching in this era, don’t consider so many doctrinal issues, because there may be only one person out of every hundred people in the audience who can read and write his own name. The remaining ninety-nine may not even be able to tell whether they believe in Christianity or Islam. They only know that if they believe in religion, they will no longer be excluded or bullied.

Therefore, preaching in this era is nothing more than telling stories, talking about foreign things that these people have never heard of before, and adding the ideas that you want to express into the story so that these people can understand it. This is considered a very meaningful preaching.

Most of the people listening below heard of someone building a house with ice for the first time. They had seen many thatched houses, but they had to find ways to keep warm in winter, so they immediately started talking about it, wanting to know where to build a thatched house without worrying about the cold wind.

"Some civilizations, protected by the Eternal Heaven, grew up on the grasslands, lived in yurts, and led a nomadic life. Every day, they woke up to see rivers flowing like milk in front of their yurts," Li Rufeng continued. His voice, enhanced by his eloquence, was particularly resonant and deeply felt. "But beyond the sight of the Eternal Heaven, there is also a group of people who live on the plains. Although they don't have the protection of the Eternal Heaven, they live well. They have learned to build houses with stone and mud and to farm."

Many listeners followed Li Rufeng's voice and thought, ah, this is exactly me!

The Mughals were thinking, this is about me, I am the chosen one who is blessed by the Eternal Heaven!

People's hearts leaped with joy because they had found their own position, and they were eager to continue listening to see what the shaman wanted to say.

"Then the evil spirits came. They ran rampant in the world in the name of the four winds. There was the blue wind that was specifically designed to stir up trouble. It loved to deceive people, spread conspiracies and tricks everywhere, and provoke wars between the grassland people living in yurts and the plains people living in stone houses." Li Rufeng also incorporated some of the things about the four wind gods into his own system. After all, the world's religions are a lot of copycats, starting from the Romans to the Greeks.

, and then Islam borrowed from Christianity, and no one should blame anyone else.

Now that we have the Four Wind Gods acting as villains, it would be a waste to use them.

"When the war began, the scarlet wind stirred up chaos, disturbing the hearts of the warriors, turning their bravery into bloodlust, and their integrity into greed." As Li Rufeng said this, his eyes swept over the Mongols. Many soldiers did not dare to look directly into Li Rufeng's eyes, because there was still blood on their swords and looted property in their pockets.

"In addition to the Scarlet Wind, there is also the Dark Pink Wind, which specifically seeks out dissolute people and spreads its name through them." Li Rufeng did not intend to introduce too much about the Dark Pink Wind, as it spread too quickly among the people.

"After the war, the Green Wind of Corruption appeared again, spreading under the guise of disease, leaving thousands of miles of land barren and human life reduced to bones." Li Rufeng looked at the horrified expressions on the faces of many people below before continuing, "The war is over, but the four winds have passed through, leaving us alone in devastation."

"Those who live in stone houses have no houses to live in, those who live in yurts have no yurts to live in, those who farm have no food to eat, and nomads have no sheep to flock to." Li Rufeng's words made many refugees sob, and the sound of crying could be faintly heard from the crowd.

"When Changshengtian saw the grassland people he favored behave this way, he became disgusted and no longer wanted to favor them. So he lifted up his grassland and ascended to heaven, never to be seen again by the grassland people." Li Rufeng said, looking at the Mongols. "But Changshengtian is merciful. He couldn't bear to let the grassland people remain on earth to suffer forever. So he left the shamans to preach in the human world and let the shamans select the righteous. All the righteous people will ascend to heaven after death."

Upon hearing Li Rufeng's words, many of Li Rufeng's soldiers who had participated in the looting actually took out their looted treasures and threw them to the refugees. They knelt on the ground and cried loudly in public: "Shaman Rufeng, please save me! I was bewildered by the four winds for a while. I shouldn't have done this!"

Of course, it’s not that Li Rufeng’s words are as sharp as a knife and can make people wake up. It’s just that his “eloquence” has that 10% chance of convincing the other party to agree with your opinion. As more people listen to him, there will always be one or two unlucky people who will fall into his trap.

Once someone takes the lead, the rest of the people will tend to take different positions. Seeing him crying miserably, as if he had committed an unforgivable crime, several soldiers from Li Rufeng's army threw out money and goods and knelt on the ground hoping to atone for their sins.

With Li Rufeng's soldiers leading the team, many soldiers from other tribes who had never heard of the story of the righteous man followed suit. In a short time, the wealth piled up in the open space formed a small mountain.

The author says:

Author's words: The blue axis keyboard is OK. I will get a red axis one tomorrow. I will see which one is suitable for me.

Chapter 158: Wind Shaman Wins Another Game

Li Rufeng's lecture finally ended the chaos in the city of Mardin. Of course, it might also be because there were not many living people in the entire city except for Shaman Rufeng's lecture place and Shaman Rufeng's safe zone.

But even so, all the Mongol leaders, Qinggeli Nayan and his brothers were deeply aware of the influence of Rufeng Shaman's prestige on the Mongol people, and were deeply afraid of it.

You have to know that behind every powerful shaman, there is a large group of chiefs who are known for their light and gentle bodies. No one wants to be that light and gentle chief, but they can only watch all this happen. After all, Shaman Rufeng's personal guards can fight for him, while the personal guards of these chiefs will only rush faster than them when robbing.

"Brother, all our people have gone to listen to Li Rufeng's lecture!" Dangertai stood in front of Qinggelinayan and complained angrily, his tone full of dissatisfaction with Li Rufeng.

As a grassland man who was trained as a general since childhood, Dangertai was used to his soldiers obeying his orders. Now that these soldiers suddenly stopped listening to his commands, Dangertai immediately felt that his authority was challenged.

"What did Shaman Rufeng say today?" Qinggelinayan lived in the Mardin Castle, enjoying the treatment of fine grape wine and luminous cups, but his face was a little paler than before. He forced himself to command on the night of the siege, and the fatigue of marching and fighting for several days made his condition worse.

Li Rufeng prescribed him some warming and lung-nourishing Chinese herbal soup. To be honest, as a half-baked dentist, most of his understanding of Chinese medicine theory came from the knowledge points passively instilled by his grandmother when he was a child, and Li Rufeng didn't recognize the local herbs.

As the saying goes, oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges, while those grown in the north of the Huai River are bitter oranges. The reason why this seemingly herbal medicine can become medicine is all due to the system's more than 80 points of medical skills.

Li Rufeng can roughly figure out which herbs have what medicinal effects by tasting them, but he has no idea whether the medicinal effects will conflict or reduce each other if mixed together. He can only guarantee the minimum compassion of a doctor - this stuff won't kill people, well, or even better, it's better than not drinking it.

But for Qinggelinayan, this herb did relieve his symptoms. At least he could sleep well at night. Even the constant wailing of Dosite in the basement did not affect him.

A healthy body is undoubtedly the best companion of every ambitious careerist. Qinggelinayan, who was severely affected by lung disease, was completely unaware that he was becoming weak because of the disease and was more willing to compromise.

But Li Rufeng has realized this, and the current Qinggelinayan is in the best interest of Li Rufeng.

So he ordered his personal guards to keep the castle's fire burning every day, and also gave him regular medicine to maintain Qinggelinayan's health.

"Today we talked about how if we want the world to return to the days before Tengri left, the people of the grasslands and the plains must coexist peacefully and jointly resist the erosion of the Four Wind Evil Gods." Although Dangertai complained about Li Rufeng, he actually went to listen to Li Rufeng's lectures every day these days.

After all, what Li Rufeng was imitating was a special performance of Deyun Club, and he told all kinds of strange stories from all over the world. There is no place in the city of Mardin that is more interesting than the lecture hall.

At this time, in Master Li's lecture hall, Li Rufeng was already speaking until his mouth was dry, but every time he saw the scene of thousands of listeners filling the open space in the square, the walls of the surrounding houses, and the roofs, he had a great sense of accomplishment.

Regardless of whether the people here regarded this place as a refuge or truly believed in Li Rufeng's evil, this was indeed an unprecedented grand occasion.

Li Rufeng starts preaching at nine o'clock in the morning every day. Of course, it is called preaching, but in fact it is just telling stories. He continues until four o'clock in the afternoon. At noon, one person is counted as one, and meals are provided!