Mount and Blade Central Asia

Author's note: I tried to draw a bird's-eye view of Aleppo, but the result was horrible... Map drawing is something that only professionals can do. In the maps of Aleppo I posted before, many of the buildings were actually built in the 16th and 17th centuries after the Ottoman Empire occupied Aleppo. There is no evidence of what Aleppo looked like in 1408...

Chapter 214: The Foundation of the Khanate

【"Hunting Falcon" Muzaffar Natanz

Age: 31

Sex: Male

Attributes - Please note that this data is only the corresponding data converted by the system based on the follower's ability. There may be errors in it, and the follower cannot obtain the expertise ability of the corresponding skill proficiency level based on this conversion data. In addition, if the follower has special characteristics, there will be additional markings after the attribute.

Vitality 4 - One-handed skill 90 - Two-handed skill 25 - Long pole skill 16

Control 3 - Bow Skill 20 - Crossbow Skill 11 - Throwing Skill 3

Endurance 3 - Riding Skill 67 - Running Skill 62 - Forging Skill 0

Cunning 3 - Reconnaissance Skill 60 - Tactics Skill 32 - Rogue Habits Skill 35

Social 2 - Charm Skill 12 - Leadership Skill 29 - Trade Skill 55

Intelligence 5 - Management Skill 62 - Medical Skill 5 - Engineering Skill 5

The last thing Li Rufeng examined was Muzaffar's missing eye. It was his first time performing a lens removal surgery on someone, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous.

The feeling of handling a broken lens can make people who are new to the medical field collapse on the spot, and they will keep thinking about it in every free time in the future.

Fortunately, Muzaffar was a lucky man. He not only survived his injuries, but also survived the reckless operation of the "quack doctor" Li Rufeng.

Li Rufeng could only ensure that the lens itself was cleaned, and he didn't care about whether it would look good after the operation. He only now discovered that he had cut off part of Muzaffar's eyelid.

"Do you feel anything?" Li Rufeng gently touched the skin near his eyelids with a probe, but Muzaffar did not react much.

"It's okay, not very sensitive." Muzaffar answered honestly. He felt like he was back on the operating table and dared not move.

"Don't wear the eye patch anymore. Go to a blacksmith and have someone make you a prosthetic eye out of gold to prop up your eye socket. Wash and disinfect it with strong alcohol every day, or the muscles here will atrophy and your face will become deformed." Li Rufeng used a probe to mark the area around Muzaffar's eye socket. "If you don't want to be deformed in the future, do as I say. I'll give you the gold."

Li Rufeng opened a locked small box on the table and took out a palm-sized gold cake. He stuffed it into Muzaffar's pocket and warned him, "The artificial eye must be made of pure gold, otherwise there is a risk of infection. I will check it when the time comes!"

Muzaffar held the golden cake in his hand for a while, and finally put it in his arms, knelt on one knee again, and paid his respects to Li Rufeng.

After sending off his first follower, Li Rufeng looked at the number of his men with a headache as it dropped from 40 to 41. Fortunately, the system did not prompt him to dismiss a soldier to make room for Muzaffar.

But another thing also troubled Li Rufeng. After looking at Muzaffar's attribute table, he was eager to know how exaggerated the attributes and skill proficiency levels of Haishar's humanoid Gundam were, and what kind of special features he had...

This led to Li Rufeng looking at Haishaer with strange eyes for several days afterwards, and he asked him several times if he had any financial difficulties and whether he wanted to borrow some money.

However, although the Great Knight from the Eagle of Order had no money, he had little place to spend it. Although Haishar was not an ascetic, his material desires were terribly low.

But on this day, Haishaer still found Li Rufeng and asked for something...

The author says:

We will not intervene..."

This is the Eagle of Order's strict rule. They will never get involved in worldly disputes. This is a lesson many people have learned after shedding blood.

"If a war breaks out, I can't rely on your small number of people. But since you've established a base here, don't you have to guarantee my personal safety?" Li Rufeng looked down on Haishar's current meager behavior and said directly, "Also, Master Ahmed, can I buy some of his panacea? It would be even better if he's willing to sell the formula."

"We will arrange patrols in the city. If we confirm that there are followers of the Four Wind Gods, someone will be stationed by your side to protect you." Haishar said with a sigh of relief. "Besides, you are helping to keep the magic sword safe. We have a responsibility to protect you as well."

"But Master Ahmed's panacea won't work, I'm afraid. We must first determine whether the special power of this alchemical creation points to the God of the Four Winds." Haishar said seriously, "We have collected many seemingly magical items in the past, and most of them were eventually proven to have side effects. Don't forget..."

"Every miracle has a price. I understand." Li Rufeng waved his hand and led Haishar to his unfinished sand table. "I give you the right to choose your own location, but the area cannot be too large, no more than half the size of this palace, and you can't choose an inhabited area."

"We only plan to build a stronghold. It doesn't need to be too large," Haishar explained. "Knights and apprentices need a place to rest, train, and store their weapons, while scholars also need a sheltered place to record their work."

"In that case, once you have chosen a place, tell Muzaffar directly about the stones and manpower you need, and he will arrange them first." Li Rufeng nodded, wrote a handwritten note and handed it to Haishar.

"Thank you for your support. The Eagle of Order will never forget its friends." Haishar bowed slightly to Li Rufeng, then took Li Rufeng's note and left the palace under renovation.

At present, the city of Aleppo is undergoing an orderly transformation under the management of a group of post station officials.

The first area to be started was the blacksmith area that Li Rufeng was most concerned about. Now, every other day, Li Rufeng discusses with the members of the Blacksmith Guild headed by Da Mier what improvements are needed in this "0.1 version of the industrial area".

Although Li Rufeng himself has some knowledge of metallurgy, this era is too backward, so backward that most of Li Rufeng's knowledge is useless. But to Damir and others, he is still as unfathomable as a man who came down from the sky.

"Sir, we added a blower as you said, which did improve the efficiency of the forge. However, the metal we obtained is soft in texture and not hard enough. It has good flexibility and can be repeatedly hammered and bent without breaking." When Li Rufeng had dinner with the blacksmiths again, Da Mier took an iron bowl and respectfully placed it in front of Li Rufeng.

Li Rufeng had previously drawn an accordion-style blower for them, with the airbag part sewn from tanned lambskin and gum used as a sealant to ensure sealing.

Therefore, Li Rufeng had to prepare to restore agricultural production in the Aleppo area.

Due to different climates, wheat and barley in the Aleppo region are generally planted between October and December and harvested in May. The reason why Li Rufeng was able to buy food from nearby villages before was because this year's new grain had just arrived.

It was already June. If everything went well, he still had half a year to restore the abandoned farmland as much as possible. But to be honest, Li Rufeng didn't know how many of these citizens knew how to farm.

Of the people of Aleppo who secretly fled back after the massacre, few were farmers. It was because they didn't know how to farm that they returned to the city after the war...

However, among the people who immigrated from Mardin by Li Rufeng, a quarter were farmers who had lost their land. Duosite not only plundered their property, but also burned down their homes because of the scorched earth policy.

Faced with this group of more than 500 farmers and the sparsely populated arable land, they were divided into three agricultural militias based on family units, scattered in the north, south and east directions of Aleppo city, and three temporary group leaders were elected respectively.

"As you can see, the land near Aleppo is very fertile. Hundreds of years ago, this was a grain-producing area for the Romans. Unfortunately, it's been barren for too long, and now you need to reclaim it." On June 15th, Li Rufeng addressed the selected agricultural workers in the mostly empty immigrant camp outside the city. "I can't promise you a prosperous future, but I promise that one day, your descendants will thank you for your choices and hard work today."

"I have a deal with you. For every two mu of land you reclaim now, one mu will be yours in ten years," Li Rufeng promised generously. "And before then, everything that grows on the land you reclaim will belong to me half and you half."

For Li Rufeng, this share ratio was actually not too generous, because Timur collected agricultural taxes in the border areas according to this tax rate, and the benefits he promised to these people were blank checks that could not be cashed until ten years later.

Moreover, even Li Rufeng himself could not guarantee whether the power he led would still exist ten years later. If he chose to join a certain power during this period, this promise would naturally be invalidated.

Therefore, Li Rufeng could not face every pair of eyes looking at him calmly as he did in the past. They were indeed the most inconspicuous part of this era, the cornerstone, but were always ignored.

None of the farmers below spoke. They had hardly received any education, and most of them even had the experience of traveling far away for the first time when they were forced by Duosite to leave their hometown and be trapped in the city of Mardin.

The reason why these people chose to follow the immigrant group to Aleppo was just to follow the crowd. When the city people around them who were usually arrogant chose to follow the Mongols to leave, they had nothing but had no choice but to choose to follow them, otherwise they would not even be able to find a place to eat tomorrow.

It was under such circumstances that these people established their initial trust in Li Rufeng. This Mongolian nobleman said that they could have enough food by following him, and he really did it, and even saw some meat every now and then.

These were good days that they had never dreamed of before...and now, the noble lord said that he would give them land and let them start farming again, and these people believed it.

As for taking away half of the harvest, they were already accustomed to it, because the Khanate's tax policy was divided into agricultural tax and head tax. The agricultural tax they paid for farming accounted for half of the output, while the head tax took away about 30% of the other half.

If they encountered the old Sultan going to war, they would often have to pay a war tax. The problem was that the old Sultan had been in power for decades, and there were only a few years without war, so these people were exhausted.

But because of those meals of mutton, they were willing to trust this noble lord again.

"My lord, to reclaim farmland, we need farm tools, and it would be best if we had large livestock like cattle and horses to help." The leader of the Northern Farm Reclamation Militia was a white-haired old man named Hesheli.

He squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil with his rough hands, walked over to Li Rufeng, and spread out his palms. "The land here hasn't been cultivated for a long time, and the soil has begun to harden. It needs to be turned over repeatedly, and it needs plenty of watering and drainage. Also, don't plant too many crops this year, or the harvest next year won't be much."

"I'm not as professional as you are in this area, Hesheli, so I'll leave everything here to someone like you who knows the business." Li Rufeng shook Hesheli's outstretched hand and instructed, "I'm different from other lords. I've always believed that only the real producers are the most important part of a country. You do your job well and ensure that everyone has enough to eat, and I'll do mine well to ensure that you can live a stable life and strive to eat meat every day. Whoever doesn't do well will be punished."

Li Rufeng stretched out his little finger with his other hand and pinched the tip of his finger, leaving only a tiny bit exposed to describe "this" as not very good.

Hesheli easily understood what Li Rufeng meant and burst into laughter.

Chapter 218: Suppressing Bandits

The three farming militias left with enough supplies for them to live for a month. Li Rufeng sent three teams of ten soldiers to escort them all the way until the farmers had established their own settlements.

Only half will return.

This is a necessary measure. There are more than just Li Rufeng and his group of "outlaws" active in this lawless area. When he took people to visit the surrounding settlements before, he encountered robbers looting the settlements.

Now that Li Rufeng has temporarily stabilized internal affairs, it is time to solve these stubborn problems.

"Marida, I recruited you this time to suppress bandits." On June 21, Li Rufeng appeared outside the village led by Marida Val with twenty personal guards and said to the female warrior.

Marida was obviously a little surprised. She didn't know why it was her, because among the leaders of the settlements around Aleppo, there were several who were much more experienced and had more manpower than her.

"If this is your wish." Marida finally did not ask those stupid questions, but calmly accepted the lord's sign, returned to her house, put on her armor, picked up her weapon and shield, rode her old horse, and told a few close people about the things she needed to pay attention to recently, and then joined Li Rufeng's team.

"Do you know why I'm looking for you?" Li Rufeng admired Marida very much, and his admiration was undisguised.

Marida is one of the few people in this era who makes Li Rufeng feel familiar. It can be seen that she is not a noblewoman like Parisa, but has crawled out from the grassroots class.

But Marida did not go with the flow because of her background and gender. She lived a wonderful life of her own. It is hard to imagine how a woman in this era could make a name for herself as a mercenary and retire successfully.

The first time Li Rufeng saw Marida, he knew that this woman had a strong heart.

"I guess it's definitely not because you want me to climb into your bed." Marida made a joke that was suitable for both young and old. While making fun of her own appearance, she also warned Li Rufeng not to have any improper thoughts.

"Hahaha, if I change my taste one day, I'll definitely inform you first." Li Rufeng snapped his fingers, and a personal guard led a horse to Marida. "Consider this as my advance payment to you. You can't keep up with our team on horseback."

Marida looked at the horse, which was probably more valuable than all her wealth combined, and began to doubt her joke. She looked at Li Rufeng suspiciously, thinking that if the other party really had a unique taste, it might not be impossible for her to give in.

Li Rufeng was amused by Marida's eyes. She was truly the person whose personality was closest to that of a modern person that he had ever met since he traveled through time, except for the old shaman.

"Come on, stop imagining it. I do intend to promote you, but that's because you're quite capable, better than the men." Li Rufeng glanced at the villagers peeking behind Marida and shook his head. "I'm a favored member of Changshengtian. I admire those who are courageous and responsible."

"And when such qualities are found in a woman, they are even more precious." Li Rufeng turned his horse and said to Marida, "Now, mount your horses and take us to find those villains and show them who is the true master of this place."

"Okay!" A smile appeared on Marida's face. She had traveled far and wide and met many people, including many nobles, but she had never met a noble like Li Rufeng.

He looked very aristocratic, but he had an indescribable temperament that was far beyond the reach of those so-called aristocrats. To Marida, he looked more like an emperor than Manuel II.

"Tell me, how much did you earn when you were a mercenary?" Li Rufeng asked, looking at the other party's newly bought chain mail and the new shield hanging on the side of the horse. He was deeply impressed by Marida's previous shabby outfit.

"You've seen it all, haven't you? It's enough for me to have enough food to eat, raise a horse, and even build a house in this remote corner, so I can live a decent life." A complicated expression flashed across Marida's face, but she quickly relaxed and said casually, "It's enough."

Apart from this, Marida did not introduce her past, but she was a good guide and was familiar with the terrain of several surrounding gathering places. She also knew where the strongholds of several nearby gangs of bandits were.

Li Rufeng had originally made an appointment with Haishaer to travel together, and said frankly that even if Brother Mengjiang did not come, he could let those apprentices come.

In Li Rufeng's eyes, almost all of the apprentices of the Eagle of Order were qualified fighters, but they lacked some practical experience. In a one-on-one fight, the guards around him probably would not be their opponents.

But Haishaer rejected Li Rufeng's invitation. Obviously, Haishaer understood Li Rufeng's style through his contact with Li Rufeng.

He doesn't care about short-term gains and prefers to make long-term investments. He is generous, cheerful, and has great charisma. It is estimated that if those apprentices follow Master Li for a few months, they may not become knights of the Eagle of Order in the future, but warriors of Li Rufeng's army.

However, Li Rufeng wasn't too disappointed. He had learned from Haishar some information about the Order Eagle's system. They had very strict moral standards for their members. Only one or two out of ten apprentices would pass the test. He had plenty of time to wait and see...

He regarded the Eagle of Order Organization as some kind of free talent training school. Li Rufeng did not need them to deal with the believers of the Four Wind Gods, he just needed them to be qualified warriors.

After combining the information Li Rufeng already had and the information Marida had, Al

There are a total of six bandit gangs with more than 20 members in the surrounding areas.

The largest and most influential group of bandits even built a fixed camp in the mountains. Their leader was called Iber, nicknamed Gray Wolf. According to Marida, he was a former comrade-in-arms of Piri Reyes and a member of Bayezid's Royal Guard.

He has more than forty men under his command, and the most ferocious ones among them each have their own nicknames, including jackals, tigers and leopards.

"Are you sure that Gray Wolf is related to Piri Reyes?" Li Rufeng attached great importance to this information and confirmed it again.

"I'm not sure, but I know they both used Ottoman Guards sabers, which are not common here." Marida spread her hands manfully. "Also, I've never seen Reyes and his family get robbed in all these years. There must be a reason."

Chapter 219 Sir, would you like a horse as a reward?

The Ottomans' military history is almost as good as that of the Timurid Khanate. Compared with Central Asia, the Ottomans, who started and prospered in the Anatolian Peninsula, accepted more European culture. This has been criticized by many Muslim countries and descendants of the Rum Sultanate.

They all say that the Ottomans recruited Muslims to fight Christians, and then used Christian prisoners of war to form armies to expand into the Islamic world.

In fact, this is true. One of the main reasons for the rapid rise of the Ottomans was that they always had flexible religious guidelines. In the war that determined the future of the Anatolian Peninsula, Bayezid's army was divided into three parts.

Among them, those who made up Bayezid's right wing army were the Serbian knights led by his vassal in the Christian world, Grand Duke of Serbia, Stefan Lazarević.

These knights from Eastern Europe were brave and skilled in fighting. In the Battle of Ankara that almost buried the Ottoman Empire, they were the most outstanding performer under Bayezid. Not only did they defeat their frontal enemies, but they also took on more pressure when the left-wing army led by the crown prince was defeated.

Under such disadvantages, this loyal Grand Duke of Serbia still held on to the end with his soldiers. He did not begin to retreat until he saw the defeat of Bayezid's central army. He finally succeeded in returning to his own land, got rid of his vassal status, and became the King of Serbia from the Grand Duke of Serbia.

People like Piri Reyes and the bandit Gray Wolf were members of the royal guards around Bayezid at the time.

Although they fought to the end and suffered an unprecedented defeat, Bayezid was ultimately unable to escape Timur's ferocious soldiers.

Piri Reyes and his brothers did not dare to return to the Ottoman Empire because their duty was to protect the Sultan. The same was true for the Gray Wolf Ibel. He fled into the mountains with the remaining soldiers under his command, leaving his first half of life in vain.

They were professional soldiers, far more powerful than the nearby bandits could contend with, so the Gray Wolves easily occupied a territory and, through years of observing the surrounding environment, stirred up trouble outside the Mughal sphere of influence.

Overall, apart from having no reputation and no future, Gray Wolf and his men's lives were even better than when they were in the Royal Guards.

Gray Wolf Ibaier and Piri Reyes are both squad leaders in the Royal Guard. They have swords different from those of ordinary soldiers. They are scimitars called kilij.

This Kilij scimitar is a single-edged sword with a blade length of about 70 cm and a total length of about 85 cm including the handle. The 2/3 of the blade near the handle is slightly curved, and the last 1/3 of the blade is the sharpest, flaring outward and thickening, with obvious bends and trumpet-shaped features. The spinal sword used by the legendary hero Ali is the predecessor of this sword.

In addition to its slashing ability, this design also has stronger cutting power, and can rely on the curved hook part to pull the shield, killing enemies holding shields.

Most Kilij scimitars are forged from Damascus steel, a symbol of status for Imperial Guard officers and a powerful weapon for striking down the enemy. Both Grey Wolf Iber and Piri Reyes meticulously maintain their weapons, especially Reyes, who, upon answering Li Rufeng's call to battle, refused to take his precious blade with him...

But today, Li Rufeng and his personal knights appeared in Piri Reyes' territory, a small village with all the necessary facilities.

Reyes's village has a wall and is located beside a stream. The sky is gloomy and looks like it will rain. It is extremely hot and humid. The running water flows along the edge of the village. Several men and children are splashing in the water, while women are washing clothes downstream.

Not far away, the farmland reclaimed by the villagers had not yet been harvested. Because of Li Rufeng's previous kindness to the outside world, Reyes had been continuously expanding the planting area of ​​his village since the year before last. In just two years, the arable area of ​​the entire village had doubled.

When people have enough food and clothing, they know etiquette. After seeing Li Rufeng's team, some men on the river bank immediately went ashore, put on their clothes, and started running towards the village to deliver the letter.

This was not the first time that the knights of Li Rufeng's tribe had visited here. Perhaps it was because Shaman Rufeng's previous words of righteousness had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, or perhaps it was because the Mughals, who did not need to pay tribute to the old Sultan, looked down on the petty profits in these places. In short, the people here had lived a good life for two whole years, so they were not panicked.