Over the past decade or so, these nomadic tribes have gone through two generations, and they have become accustomed to going out to fight with the Khan every few years.

For them, war meant wider pastures, more wealth, stronger slaves, and the opportunity to get ahead.

So when the Dosite Wanhu issued the conscription order, the entire Tumed Wanhu woke up like sharks smelling blood.

At dawn the next day, a messenger from the post station, carrying three round flags with a blue background (Note 1), appeared outside the tribe on a fast horse. Li Rufeng was pulled out of bed by Wuerhun.

In the vast territory of the Timurid Khanate, the best symbol of its ruling status is the post station system that runs across the country.

According to the old shaman, there were post stations all over the Khanate, and horses were available in the post stations for envoys to ride. Some larger post stations always had hundreds or even two hundred good horses.

In order to provide for the needs of the personnel at each post station and to raise horses, a building was built next to each station.

Whenever Timur's envoys arrived at a post station, they would immediately hand over their original horses to the station to be replaced with new ones and continue on their journey. The original horses would then be carefully cared for by the local postmen at the post station and then sent back to the original post station.

If a horse becomes tired or dies on the way, the messenger can requisition a mount from a rider he meets on the road and continue on his journey without stopping.

According to the regulations of the Khanate, when an envoy requisitioned horses, any pedestrian he met, regardless of his status, even if he was a prince or a noble, had to dismount and lend him the horse.

There is no room for shirking this obligation. If there is any hesitation or refusal, the envoy has the right to kill the other party on the spot.

Under this system, messengers at these post stations could travel 500 miles a day when delivering urgent messages, and those with good riding skills could travel up to 700 miles a day.

But that was when the old Sultan was still alive. Since Timur's death, the entire post system, like the rest of the Khanate, has fallen into chaos.

As far as Li Rufeng knows, the post stations in the surrounding areas are currently under the control of Duoshite, and the messengers in the post stations have been relying on Duoshite's money and food to make a living in the past two years.

Li Rufeng received the envoy of Dosite with the same etiquette as before for receiving the envoy of the Great Khan. He and Wuerhun were dressed neatly and stood in front of the gate. He ordered the guards to open the gate wide to welcome the envoy in.

The envoy riding on a tall horse was a little surprised by the circle of fence outside the tribe. He had been looking for this tribe on the grassland for five days, but he didn't expect that the other party had already entered a semi-settled state here.

The messenger was a short and strong Khorasan man. He first touched his chest and gestured to Li Rufeng and Wuerhun on his horse, then dismounted and walked to Li Rufeng.

Although Wuerhun was nominally the head of the tribe, when the two stood together, the misalignment was too obvious and no one would mistake the person in charge.

"I am Muzaffar Natanzi, the messenger of the great Sultan Timur. I am asking you now whether you are still loyal to the Timurid family." Muzaffar Natanzi strode up to Li Rufeng with a firm expression, as if he was ready to kill if they disagreed with him.

This is Li Rufeng's first consecutive week.

Having faced this kind of rough guy twice, he, who was used to the leisurely life in the tribe, still couldn't adapt to this kind of straightforwardness.

However, looking at the envoy who was a head shorter than him, Li Rufeng did not panic. He reached out and stopped Wuerhun, who was also holding the scimitar and trying to move forward, and replied calmly: "Of course we are loyal to Timur Khan. What makes you so rude to question our loyalty?"

One is called Sultan and the other is called Khan, and the factions of both sides are clear at a glance.

"These are just rumors spread by the wind, not intentional." Muzaffar Natanzi suddenly laughed heartily. "I have brought you the conscription order from the Dost Wanhu. If you are loyal to Sultan Timur, I will allow you to take fifty mounted men and enough food for them for thirty days."

"Are we discussing something so important outside the tent?" Li Rufeng clapped his hands, and the guards on both sides took the reins of the horses from the messenger. "I have tea from the East in my tent. I'll have a sheep slaughtered right away. Before the sun is even overhead, the fragrant mutton and milk tea will be ready, perfect for washing away the dust of your travels."

As Li Rufeng spoke, he turned and walked towards the tribe: "Then, we can talk about recruiting soldiers."

Muzaffar Natanzi looked at the group of tents, which were much larger than those of other tribes, and the gate facing the specially leveled road. He saw the guards around him looking at him with fierce eyes. He smiled contemptuously, took off his helmet and hugged it to his chest, then followed Li Rufeng's footsteps.

"I've heard that your medical skills are superb, but I didn't expect that you could manage the tribe so well." Muzaffar complimented Li Rufeng, but his eyes scanned around like an eagle, and his footsteps never left Li Rufeng within half a meter.

He was a warrior with experienced swordsmanship. At this distance, if there was any sign of trouble, he was confident that he could take the oriental shaman in front of him as a hostage.

As a general under Dost, Muzaffar Natanzi's loyalty to the Timurid Khanate is as bright as the moon in the night sky. Even if the old Sultan asked him to rush into the sea of ​​fire and swords, he would not blink an eye.

But now the old Sultan is dead, his heirs are fighting each other and have no time to worry about external troubles, and the rebels of the Black Sheep Dynasty have cut off their retreat. The Mughal tribes inside are ready to make moves, and the Khanate seems to be falling apart in an instant. He has to find a new master.

Doshite Wanhu is determined to open a passage back to his homeland. Muzaffar Natanzi believes that his interests are the same. It is said that the old Sultan's son Mishalan has begun to mobilize a large army to encircle the Black Sheep rebels. They only need to break through the Black Sheep rebels' defense line to return to the embrace of the Khanate.

More than half of the population of the entire Tumed Wanhu are Mughals. Muzaffar Natanz must admit that these Mughals are the best cavalry and they need this force.

Doshite Wanhu had already known in advance that some Mongol officers wanted to take advantage of this conscription to rebel, but he did not know the specific list. Since he did not have the advantage in strength, he did not want to use force to find the traitors.

So he sent messengers from the post station and generals he trusted, trying to win over as many Mughal tribes as possible by relying on the old Sultan's remaining prestige and visible benefits.

Li Rufeng's tribe is Muzaffar Natanz's first stop. This young shaman has a reputation among the Mughals that is unimaginable to others.

Just as Li Rufeng said, there was tea from the East in his tent. It was a rare thing brought from Samarkand by a caravan two years ago. It was said to be authentic Eastern goods sold privately by the Ming Dynasty delegation. Li Rufeng exchanged it for a ruby.

Muzaffar looked at Li Rufeng as if he was drinking wine. He drank a cup of hot tea in one gulp and then filled it up for him with the same pot.

He felt the other party's sincerity and couldn't help but have higher expectations for the purpose of his trip.

"The Black Sheep rebels' repeated actions are a disgrace to us all. In principle, we support sending troops to quell the rebellion," Li Rufeng set the tone before adding, "But the environment surrounding the tribe is unstable. If we rashly send troops to quell the rebellion, how will Wanhu Duosite defend against counterattacks from the Ottomans and Mamluks?"

"The Ottomans are cowards. They don't dare to invade the Khanate's territory," Muzaffar Natanzi said firmly. "After the death of Sultan Bayezid, the heirs vying for the Sultanate's position now have to look to us for favor."

"That was before the Black Sheep rebels captured Tabriz. Now everyone knows we've become weak." Li Rufeng shook his head. "Just a week ago, an Ottoman caravan passed by our tribe. We went to collect taxes, but ended up getting injured and killing several people. The wounded are now in the tent next door."

Muzaffar Natanzi clenched his fists. He participated in the Battle of Ankara and followed the old Sultan to capture Aleppo and attack Damascus. At that time, the Ottoman cowards and the group of Mamluk slaves dared not even breathe in front of them.

And now, the Ottoman caravans even dared to resist the border tribes of the Khanate. This sense of disparity made him feel deeply humiliated.

"Shaman Rufeng, let's not waste each other's time. Dosit Wanhu knows that some of the Mongol people are planning to betray him, and he needs your support now." Muzaffar Natanzi once again displayed a frankness that made Li Rufeng a little embarrassed to approach him, and said directly, "Or have you already sided with those betrayers?"

“I am an outsider, and I have no idea about the land.

I'm not familiar with the conflict." Li Rufeng shook his head leisurely, "I just want the tribe to live in peace and stability as before."

"Twenty men, that's the minimum requirement, but you must accompany the army and serve the Dost Wanhu at all times," Muzaffar Natanzi offered. "In return, after the rebels are purged, all their property will belong to your tribe as compensation."

Li Rufeng lowered his head and drank tea.

"Fifteen, but you must help me resolve the misunderstandings among the other Mongol tribes regarding Lord Dost." Muzaffar Natanzi lowered the conditions again. "At the same time, you will gain the friendship of the Dost household."

Li Rufeng continued to drink tea. In the two and a half years since he came here, he could count the number of times he heard the name of Duosite Wanhu on two hands. His friendship was of no use.

He, a half-blooded centurion, has been hanging around in the border area for four or five years, while a pure-blooded centurion with real power like Mengge is still alive and well, which is enough to prove that Dost is a waste.

If Li Rufeng sat in that position, a rough guy like Mengge would not survive the second chapter.

Muzaffar Natanz said nothing more and just gripped his scimitar tightly.

Seeing that the situation was almost heated, Li Rufeng finally spoke, "I wonder if Duo Si Te Wan Hu and you have any respect for Chang Sheng Tian?"

Note 1: Some say Timur's flag had a black background, but Central Asian scholars generally believe it was blue. The three circles represent Timur's conquest of three-quarters of the known world.

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Chapter 12 My Charm is Unstoppable

Do you have respect for Changshengtian? This question can actually also be used to question Li Rufeng.

As a time traveler who was accepted by this world as a shaman, does he have respect for the belief in Eternal Heaven?

Li Rufeng asked himself, there should be some, but not many.

The shamans tried, but their resistance was too naive for the locals, who specialized in religious warfare.

So a hundred years ago, Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the son of Tolui and the founder of the Ilkhanate, was the first to embrace the Islamic faith in order to better rule his territory, followed by the Chagatai Khanate and the Golden Horde.

Perhaps the secular power of the Eternal Blue Sky belief was so weak that it did not attract the attention of Islam, or perhaps it was intimidated by the Mongolian beliefs of the orthodox Mongols. In any case, no large-scale bloody war occurred during this replacement process.

They would rather seize the opportunity to carry out religious cleansing against Christian believers in Transoxiana than have any conflict with the shamans.

From Li Rufeng's perspective, if those shamans all had the same personality as the old shaman, then they would really not pose any threat.

When the old shaman gave Li Rufeng his first religious lesson, his first words stunned him: "Tengri is kind and generous. He doesn't care much about conventional etiquette and is good at making things convenient for others. So we shamans can do whatever is convenient for us."

To put it in a more lofty way, it means the Lord doesn't care. To put it simply, it means there are no taboos...

The old shaman also cited several examples to prove his theory. For example, before Genghis Khan went on an expedition, he felt that the chief shaman at that time was a hindrance and never followed his wishes, so he killed the chief shaman with a knife. From then on, the belief in Changshengtian entered the stage of divine right of kings.

Changshengtian was not angry about this. Instead, he protected Genghis Khan and helped him conquer the world. The old shaman believed that this was because Changshengtian preferred those who helped themselves, so shamans and believers should be self-reliant and not rely on Changshengtian for everything. The sky is so high and they don't have the time for that.

Later, as the Mongols' territory expanded, they began to come into contact with Nestorianism, Islamic religion, etc. In order to adapt to the times, the shamans created Mongke Tenger as the embodiment of Eternal Heaven on the basis of the belief that all living things have spirits.

Changshengtian did not object. One night, he even used the image of Mongke Tengri, which was created based on the portrait of Genghis Khan during the shamans' evening meeting, to appear in everyone's dream and smiled at them for half an hour.

The old shaman believed that this meant that Changshengtian didn’t care about its image in people’s hearts. It would be whatever image you wanted it to be. Anyway, it would just smile at you and didn’t care about anything else.

After three such blows, even a modern soul like Li Rufeng couldn't withstand it, and his favorability towards Changshengtian suddenly increased.

After all, he was a genuine shaman who had seen the old shaman glow before his death. There was a real god above his head who was very likely to exist and basically didn't care about your actions. This was awesome!

So when Li Rufeng put on a mystical expression and looked at Muzaffar Natanzi, he subconsciously straightened his back and gave the correct answer without hesitation: "I dare not disrespect Changshengtian, and the same goes for Duosite Wanhu."

In front of everyone."

"In this way, I can guarantee that the Mongol tribes will no longer be Wanhu's enemies." Li Rufeng's second-best request made Muzaffar ponder.

Even Sultan Timur, who wanted to rule this land for a long time, had to move closer to the orthodoxy of the Mongolian Golden Tent in terms of secular power. He established a descendant of Chagatai as the nominal Khan, and called himself Sultan. Then he turned to Islam in faith to win the hearts of the people.

Therefore, the coexistence of Islam and Mongolian orthodoxy, and the sharing of Sharia law and Dazai, are the norm in this land.

It seemed that showing more respect for the Tengri faith was no big deal now, and Muzaffar felt that it was not a harsh condition.

But Li Rufeng emphasized that the Mongol tribe would not be a problem for Dost, which made Muzaffar's face look a little ugly.

He was almost telling himself openly that those Chagatai officers had already made up their minds to take action.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Shaman Rufeng. I will convey your words to the Dosit Wanhu verbatim. I believe he will, like me, pay respect to Changshengtian." Muzaffar made a promise to Li Rufeng before adding, "I sincerely hope that there will be no conflict between us, a laughingstock for outsiders and a disgrace to Sultan Timur."

Li Rufeng patted the other person's shoulder vigorously, and a line of small words flashed before his eyes - Persuasion successful, Charm proficiency +4, 50/50.

Chapter 13: Strange Prey

50 points of charisma gave Li Rufeng another option to specialize in skills. He didn't know where the end of the system was, but this system could undoubtedly help him complete the transformation from ordinary to extraordinary in a short period of time.

This time, the choice of specialized abilities still provides two directions, namely "Rhetoric" and "Warlord". As the names suggest, these are two completely opposite branch paths.

[Eloquence: (Personal) In a debate, the chance of convincing the opponent to agree with your opinion increases by an additional 10%. (Troop Commander) Each time you defeat an enemy general or renowned warrior, your relationship with a random important figure in your faction increases by 1.]

[Warlord: (Individual) Increase influence gained from battle by 30%. (Troop Commander) Each time you defeat an enemy general/famous warrior, your relationship with a random important figure in your faction will increase by 1.]

From this choice, we can see that as a panel system of Mount & Blade, fighting is the most efficient way to make profits. You can use fighting to build strong enough interpersonal relationships, gold, silver, treasures and social status.

But as a real person, as a nominal shaman, and an ambitious person who intends to use the belief in Changshengtian to benefit himself, Li Rufeng's best choice is undoubtedly "eloquence."

The tribal divisions of Tewanhu and known information.

Sultan Timur rose to power by relying on war to support war, and his means of ruling seemed extremely crude, but the old Sultan himself was indeed a wise and capable overlord. In his later years, he already had the preliminary idea of ​​national integration.

Taking the Wanhu where Li Rufeng is as an example, this Tumed Wanhu on the frontier was carefully designed, and it has a bit of the meaning of a military settlement of the Eastern Empire.

Its population is mainly composed of Mughals, but they only account for about half of the total. This is because Timur intended to maintain the combat effectiveness of the nomadic tribes, otherwise this proportion may decline further.

Of the other half of the population, one-third were Khorasan, most of whom were descendants of the destroyed Celtic dynasty who migrated from the Hetman Mountains.

They have the lowest status among the entire Tumed Wanhu and appear as auxiliary troops in wartime.

Another third were people from Transoxiana, exiled people from Transoxiana.

Although they are also descendants of Chagatai, they are already highly urbanized and few of them can graze. Instead, they try their hand at building cities and farming. Most of the land controlled by the entire Tumed Wanhu is managed by them and the Khorasan people.

The last third is the Cumans, mainly composed of Armenians. They make up for the weak point of the Tumed Wanhu. Almost all the men in their families have served in the army and fought in wars. They are an excellent heavy infantry unit.

The entire Tumed Wanhu does not have a single name, and its subordinate tribes also do not have single names. In order to facilitate distinction, the tribes are referred to by the name of the tribal leader. Every time a new leader appears, the tribe will change its name.

According to common sense, the tribe where Li Rufeng belongs should be called the Wuerhun tribe by outsiders, but because of the existence of the new and old shamans, the tribe has never been called that. People now call it the Rufeng tribe and this word.

He could see the old sultan's efforts to promote integration, but this method was too inefficient and made too many trade-offs in order to maintain combat effectiveness.

However, this also made it easier for Li Rufeng to operate. Among the entire Tumed 10,000 households, there were more than 70 Mongolian tribes, and 34 of them maintained good relations with him.

There are also nineteen tribes that Li Rufeng had visited with the old shaman. The two sides had a certain diplomatic foundation, but due to distance and other reasons, there were no further exchanges. These tribes were regarded by Li Rufeng as areas that could be won over.

As for the remaining twenty or so tribes, some have completely converted to Islam and are very hostile to the old shaman, while others are closer to the Khorasan people and are excluded by other Mongols. In short, everyone has their own reasons, and Li Rufeng does not plan to go there to do thankless work for the time being.

The smaller of these tribes have a population of only one or two hundred, and the larger ones have a population of only two or three thousand. It is not difficult to exert influence on them.

Erjia's shiny bald head was surrounded by the crowd at this time. There was a hint of embarrassment on his face, as if he was not used to such a scene. He did not feel relieved until he saw Li Rufeng.

"Lord Rufeng! Come and see what this is!" Hulucier's strong arms swept left and right in the crowd, clearing a passage. Only then did Li Rufeng see clearly that the other party's horse was dragging the corpse of an animal he had never seen before.

Just by looking at the corpse, Li Rufeng ruled out the possibility that Huluchirjia had been bewitched.

That thing is so fucking weird!

The author says:

Author's Note: PS: I don't have much to say today, so I'll just complain. I looked up some information on armor and found some information about bronze armor from the Mycenaean era in ancient Greece. This is ridiculous. It seems that the Greeks were able to make ring armor as early as 1500-1600 BC, but it was lost and not rediscovered until 1200-1300 AD. I'm really disgusted...

Chapter 14: Ferocious Beast

At first glance, the thing that Hulucierjia tied to the horse's back was dark red all over, like a skinned wolf.

But when Li Rufeng got closer, he was sure that this thing was definitely not a wolf, nor was it any animal he remembered.

The corpse had a row of exogenous bone spurs growing on its spine, a scaly protective layer on its body surface, and several deformed sharp horns on its head.

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