Mount and Blade Central Asia

It is a basic law to divide the current Turkified Mongols and the Mongols of the past Mongol Empire into two groups. Otherwise, Muhammad’s missionaries would face the question of life or death.

Perhaps there were indeed sufficiently tough factions back then, but under the natural selection of the Mongolian scimitars, the factions that have survived to this day have all become more open-minded about this issue.

"Master Ahmed, I have another problem and would like your organization's assistance." Li Rufeng smiled and changed the subject. "Did you hear about the public trial?"

"Ali was there, and he told me what happened." Ahmed naturally followed up on the new topic. "Your justice and mercy, Lord, are evident to all."

Wow, you're such a cool guy, it turns out you were also watching the fun in the crowd?

Li Rufeng glanced at Ahmed's apprentice Ali. The mischievous boy rolled his eyes and pretended not to hear their conversation.

"Now that you know the whole story, I can save you the trouble. The worker leader, Miyam, told me privately that he was inspired to rise up by his deceased coworkers." Li Rufeng took a sip of hot tea and continued, "He said he could hear his deceased coworkers talking to him every night, giving him advice."

"I see he's in good spirits and lucid. It's probably not a delusion caused by stress. Perhaps it's the work of some real undead," Li Rufeng explained. "I've worked with Haishar many times, and you should know you have some differences from the average person. However, Aleppo is currently undergoing a major overhaul, and I'm too busy to handle everything. Perhaps the Eagles of Order would be willing to take over the investigation?"

"Since you're sure that Miam's problem isn't hers, then there must be something sinister at work." Ahmed didn't refuse, because the Eagle of Order was established for just this kind of thing.

He would not be so stupid as to ask Li Rufeng why he did not tell Haishar directly about this matter. There was probably something fishy about it, but now they were under his roof, so they really had to give the lord some face.

"I'm afraid I need to speak to Mr. Miyam face to face," Ahmed said without hesitation. "If those bodies are still there, I'd like to see them."

"He's been dead for almost a week. To prevent the spread of the plague, I've had him buried. The burial site is in the cemetery outside the city. I can send someone to take you there when the time comes." Li Rufeng waved his hand, and a personal guard walked in. "For the next few days, you will be accompanying Master Ahmed and ensuring his safety."

The guard nodded firmly and stood silently behind Master Ahmed.

Although it was a bit ridiculous to send bodyguards to the people of the Eagle of Order, face matters were sometimes so troublesome. Even if he didn't care about face, Li Rufeng would still feel uneasy letting these people run around in his own territory.

He could trust Haishar 100%, but he would not transfer such trust to the entire Order Eagle organization.

If it was really as pure as Haishar said, as pure as a white lotus, it probably would not have developed to this point and would not have attracted the siege of the Mamluks.

Sometimes, taking sides is not about who you clearly support or oppose, but about what you actually do, whether it benefits someone or who you block.

After seeing off Master Ahmed, Li Rufeng welcomed the next wave of guests...Parissa, who was left out.

Last time, Master Li was so engrossed in the water play that he completely forgot about Parisa's visit. After that, he was busy with the public trial, and it was delayed until now.

Fortunately, it was not too late. Li Rufeng tidied up his clothes and asked someone to take away all the used tea sets and replace them with new ones. Only then did he prepare to meet Parisa leisurely.

The reason why he was so serious was that Parisa's status was no longer the same as before. Maharaja Milansha died in the war and her brother was left alone in Samarkand. As a princess, she had become a fallen phoenix and no one cared about her anymore.

That's why Li Rufeng has to pay more attention to it, to prevent the other party from thinking that she is a snob and neglecting her.

Fortunately, Parisa is not such a pretentious person. After escaping from Mosul, she had suffered so much along the way that she didn't even notice Li Rufeng's "cautious" little details.

Parisa was wearing an exquisite and close-fitting hunting suit with a cloak on the outside. When she took off the cloak, her tall figure and agile body were clearly visible. She didn't care about Li Rufeng's eyes at all. She sat directly opposite Li Rufeng, picked up the teapot and drank it in one gulp.

"It's so hard to see you now!" Parisa put the teapot back down with some dissatisfaction. "Not only did you make an appointment five days in advance, but you also made me wait in the reception room for two hours. You're quite a diligent lord...much better than my father."

Seeing Parisa talking about her father with a normal expression, Li Rufeng asked, "You should know about the death of Lord Miransha in battle, right?"

"I knew it a long time ago. I know what you want to say. I'm fine. You don't understand. He and I are only related by blood. As far as I can remember, I can only see him four times a year." Parisa stretched out four slender white fingers and gestured.

Li Rufeng was thinking, it was rare that Parisa could practice two-handed sword moves for many years without deforming her fingers.

"And these four times were like my childhood nightmares. Have you ever eaten at the table with a lion? It was that feeling." Parisa

As if he didn't want to recall the past, he continued, "Khalil had grown up by then, and was deeply loved by my grandfather. He often led his troops to fight outside. Naturally, we were not afraid of him, but those of us who were unable to protect ourselves had a much harder time."

"I've known since I was little that I should avoid being alone with my father. When he gets mad, he doesn't care who's his son or daughter." Parisa shuddered at this. "It wasn't until I grew up and he discovered that I was immune to the effects of the magic sword to a certain extent that he occasionally spoke to me."

Li Rufeng looked at Parisa quietly, playing the role of a good listener, and at the same time analyzing in his mind why she chose him as the listener.

Perhaps it was because he was still nominally a subject under his grandfather's rule, giving her a sense of security. Perhaps it was because he was also immune to the effects of the demonic sword, giving her a sense of identity. Perhaps it was because she had witnessed his most embarrassing and ugly moments, giving her a sense of freedom...

"I came here this time just to tell you that the magic sword will belong to you from now on. I am completely free!" Parisa sighed about her past life and explained it a little dazedly.

When she said this, she felt a sense of relief.

When Parisa fled in a hurry with the magic sword, she was actually not as strong as she looked.

Parisa, who had been instilled with the idea that the magic sword was related to the safety of the family since childhood, regarded the priest in the monastery as her elder. When he took out the magic sword and handed it to her, Parisa set off without hesitation.

"You must never let your father get this sword again, otherwise the burning of Tabriz will happen again!" These were the last words the priest said to her.

Although she had never experienced it herself, Parisa had always heard snippets of it from other people, but every time she asked, they remained silent.

It wasn't until she was actually dragged into the circle by the magic sword that Parisa realized what she was facing...and at that time, Li Rufeng suddenly appeared and saved her.

Facing the pursuit from the Black Sheep People, the shadow from Milansha, and the continuous deaths of her companions, Parisa had to admit that when she was captured and tied up by Li Rufeng, those were the most relaxing and secure days of her journey.

And now, with Milansha's death, she had passed her heaviest responsibility to this Eastern shaman... Thinking of this, Parisa glanced at Li Rufeng with some strangeness, but saw that he looked calm and asked, "No problem, what are your plans for the future?"

Li Rufeng's calmness made Parisa feel a little guilty. She wanted to emphasize how big the hidden dangers of the sword were and how much trouble it could cause, but she remembered the scene where the other party waved away the vision, expelled the Blood Knight, and took away the magic sword with one hand. In the end, all her worries turned into relief.

This sense of ease brightened Parisa's mood. She looked less like a princess whose father had died and more like a girl with a lover.

"I don't know. I haven't thought it through yet. My life used to be filled with other people's plans: swordplay lessons, riding lessons, languages, history, etiquette, art, dance..." Parisa said bewilderedly. "I've never had the time for myself to do what I want to do. What do you think I should do in the future?"

Hearing Parisa's Versailles-like words, Li Rufeng looked at Parisa very seriously. From the beginning, he knew that this girl had a perfect appearance and unpredictable strength, but he didn't expect that she also had such an inner beauty.

Is being a princess so competitive these days? I think you're the perfect match...

Master Li's genes were stirred, no, it should be said that his original intention was stirred. Thinking back to when he had just crossed over and solved the problem of basic survival, he placed an order for a maid from Centurion Mongke...

As a result, he was ridiculed by Mongke, saying that if he had such high requirements, he might as well find a princess. Now the princess is here, right?

"I heard from Satuya that there's a market today. Why don't we go for a stroll?" Li Rufeng calmly began to blow out warm air. "If you want to find your own path, you can start by discovering your own interests."

"Shopping?" Parisa frowned slightly. Although Milansha was not a qualified father, as Timur's granddaughter, Parisa still lived a life of luxury.

In her memory, the closest thing to shopping was probably the annual trip to Samarkand with her father to meet her grandfather.

At that time, treasures and rare objects from all over the world were presented to Timur like weeds everywhere, and his grandfather always waved his hand and let the younger generation of children choose freely.

When Parisa was eight years old, she brought back a pearl from Samarkand that was bigger than her fist and could glow at night. She loved the pearl very much, but unfortunately, she had no chance to take her treasures with her when she fled Mosul.

Thinking of this, Parisa sighed softly, but when she looked up, she saw Li Rufeng had already walked to the door. She turned her head and asked, "Do you want to go? I'll take you to see the world."

"Tsk! What haven't I seen?" Parisa instantly became like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She threw on her cloak and followed immediately, her steps brisker.

Li Rufeng personally took Parisa to the market to go shopping. On the one hand, he wanted to win people's hearts because he suddenly realized that in the whole city of Aleppo, apart from Master Ahmed, the person with the highest cultural level might be this idiot.

princess.

Even if he didn't consider a happy life, Mr. Li was willing to treat this intellectual with respect and win over this cultured man.

On the other hand, Mr. Li himself wanted to see how the current Aleppo market had changed compared to when he first arrived.

After all, he had been in Aleppo for more than two months. Various business-friendly policies had been introduced, and huge amounts of money had been spent. Many people had profited from it. If the market remained so depressed, Li Rufeng planned to hang a few more people on the city gates.

Chapter 236 Talent is Rare

The current market location of Aleppo is too close to the city gate and the area is too small. According to Li Rufeng's future plan, it will sooner or later be moved to the west side of the city wall, forming two symmetrical central areas with the blacksmith area, one in the east and one in the west.

But he has not yet made such radical reforms. It will take time for the people of Aleppo to dispel their fear of the city. Moreover, the market area is currently only mentioned by Li Rufeng, and the business here cannot support Li Rufeng's plan at all.

Although Li Rufeng's many operations in Aleppo have restored the locals' confidence in business practices, from a macro perspective, what Li Rufeng has done is too small, so small that it is not enough to change the business practices of the entire region.

The caravans traveling to and from Aleppo are still mostly small caravans, and the size of most of them is only slightly better than that of Pepper Mali before its rise.

At Qinggelinayan's call, all the merchants passing through the Mongol territory heard about the changes in Aleppo, and most of them were willing to come and see the situation. After all, for merchants, the time spent on the journey was worthless.

In addition, Li Rufeng's successful bandit suppression some time ago made the entire area much safer. Even the old farmers in the neighboring village dared to carry their own groceries to the city to sell them without having to worry about bandits running rampant.

So at a glance, Aleppo's big market can be described as prosperous. At least it was the first time that Li Rufeng had seen such a lively scene in more than three years since he traveled through time.

Parisa wore a hood, which made her look less "standing out from the crowd", but for a woman, her height was a little over the standard.

As the average height of locals is around 1.65 meters, and 5 meters less for women, the reason why Parisa, who is just over 1.7 meters tall, doesn't look very out of place is entirely because she lives next door to the tall Li Rufeng.

"My Lord!" The guard at the gate of the big market immediately stepped forward to salute when he saw Li Rufeng, and then retreated at Li Rufeng's signal.

"I'm just taking a walk here. Don't disturb other people." Li Rufeng comforted the guard, but he obviously underestimated how famous he was in the city. Passersby also saw Li Rufeng at this time and bowed to him.

Once one person took the lead, others followed suit. For a while, Li Rufeng could even see all the way to the end of the crowd and clearly see who had thick hair and who had balding hair.

"Looks like we can't go shopping." Li Rufeng smiled and returned the greetings to those people, and whispered to Parisa, "Looks like I have to disguise myself to get in."

Parisa kept smiling with her lips pursed. She didn't say anything, but just stood behind Li Rufeng to express her meaning. She would follow Li Rufeng today.

As a last resort, Li Rufeng gave an impromptu speech at the entrance of the big market, talking about the importance of business to human civilization and the importance of fairness and justice in business behavior. Finally, he got away.

He was invited by Saduddin who came rushing over after hearing the news, and he brought Parisa with him to visit his home.

"Sir, you two are out shopping?" Saduddin's tone revealed a hint of disbelief. He knew that Li Rufeng was approachable, but he didn't expect him to be so approachable.

If there were one or two extremists in the crowd who harbored hatred towards the Mughals and got carried away, then... could Aleppo still be saved?

"Sharing happiness with the people? If I don't get close to the people, how can I know how well I manage the city." Li Rufeng washed his hands with the help of the servants, picked and chose from Saduddin's exquisite fruit plate, and picked up a bunch of grapes.

It must be said that the grapes of this era were far less delicious than those of later generations. Not only were they not as sweet, but the grape seeds were also large. However, the fruits in Saduddin's mansion were chilled, and they tasted quite sweet.

"You have an ice storage here?" Li Rufeng felt that he had underestimated Saduddin's wealth. He owned two tons of gold, could command half a million armored soldiers, and the lord who ruled Aleppo could not eat ice in the summer.

"Sir, I sent it to your house, didn't I?" Saduddin suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly explained, "Isn't this the greeting gift from the merchant ship that arrived from Mersin last time? Don't you know it?"

Li Rufeng really didn't know, but considering that his lord's mansion was now filled with nothing but soldiers, it was understandable that he didn't know. Maybe those people would be wondering why Saduddin was so crazy that he would send ice cubes to the lord in the middle of summer...

The Mongol people who believed in Changshengtian were all about adapting to nature. They didn't know the joy of this off-season lifestyle...

"Sir, that merchant friend of mine collected a lot of grain last time and wanted to ask me if we still collect grain here?" Seeing that Li Rufeng didn't care, Saduddin asked cautiously.

If he hadn't met Li Rufeng by chance today, he would probably have to go to the lord's mansion to pay a visit tomorrow.

Saduddin is now very frightened because under Li Rufeng's control

Making money was so easy. He was the largest businessman in Aleppo. He took a commission on every deal he handled, even when the lord bought grain. After all, the deal was made through his connections.

Of course, this commission is not paid by Li Rufeng, but by the merchants in Mersin.

But the problem lies here. Saduddin doesn't even have a competitor in Li Rufeng, and the Mongols are used to being careless. It is common practice for them not to bargain when buying things, or to bargain only once. As long as Saduddin wants, he can earn as much as he wants within a reasonable range.

The money came so easily that Saduddin felt it was a bit hot.

Because no matter how he looked at Li Rufeng, he didn't seem like the "stupid lord" in the popular sense. His skills were seen by everyone in the few moves he made after entering the city, so Saduddin was afraid that he would accidentally climb up the city wall one day.

"Huh? He asked this on his own initiative?" Li Rufeng didn't know that Saduddin had so many tricks in his mind. He just subconsciously felt that this kind of forced business was not a business.

"Yes, he asked on his own initiative." Saduddin decided to demonstrate his value and loyalty and took the initiative to say, "I have sent people to Mersin to inquire about the situation. Perhaps there are some twists and turns involved."

"The Emir who rules Mersin and Prince Suleiman have always had secret dealings. If Suleiman obtains enough supplies from the Apennines, there will be no need to transport supplies across most of the Mediterranean to the north." Parisa, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.

"That's...that's possible." Saduddin was not sure about the origin of this woman, so he could only agree.

"Do you know a lot about the Ottomans?" Li Rufeng asked Parisa with interest, and suddenly realized that she was more valuable than he thought.

The author says:

Author's Note: First chapter today

Chapter 237 The Ottoman Situation

It turns out that as Timur's granddaughter, Parisa was very insightful about the surrounding situation, especially the political environment in the Ottoman region, because if Timur had not died, she should have been married to one of Bayezid's sons as a guarantee of a political transaction.

As for which one it is, it depends on which prince has the advantage or disadvantage in the War of Succession.

According to Parisa, if a prince gained absolute support, Parisa would naturally become the new queen of the Ottomans. If several princes were evenly matched, but one of them was slightly weaker, Parisa would serve as a fresh force to help him and prolong the Ottomans' state of chaos as much as possible.

But now that Timur is dead, his sons and grandsons have led the empire into the same abyss as the Ottomans.

After returning to the lord's mansion, Parisa gave Li Rufeng a detailed introduction to what she had learned so far about the situation of the Ottomans.

Bayezid's two sons, Musa and Mustafa, were captured by Timur along with their father in the Battle of Ankara. After being brought back to Samarkand for exhibition, Musa was sent back to Germyan, the Bey state that Timur had re-established in Anatolia, and imprisoned there for future use.

Mustafa was left in Samarkand as a proton.

Bayezid's other three sons, Issa, Suleiman and Muhammad, returned to their own fiefdoms after the war.

Prince Suleiman fled the battlefield and returned to his Balkan fiefdom. There, he, along with Bayezid's appointed vizier, Candarli Ali Pasha, and other followers, made a crucial decision: they nominally ceded the Anatolian territories to Timur...

Timur's personal historian Sharaf al-Din Yazidi once recorded this event specifically. He wrote that Timur and Suleiman sent envoys to each other, and the latter recognized Timur's suzerainty in exchange for Timur's support for his control of the entire Rumelia region (the Ottoman Empire's territory in the Balkan Peninsula).

After stabilizing the de facto leader of the Muslim world, Prince Suleiman turned to negotiate with Christian leaders in the Balkans.

In mid-1403, Suleiman signed a treaty in Gallipoli, whereby Manuel II of the Eastern Roman Empire ceded the lands occupied by his father in previous years. This was a blessing from God for the Romans, as they had thought their empire would end just a year earlier.

Suleiman gave the entire southwestern Black Sea coast and Thessaloniki (the second largest city in ancient Greece) to Manuel II in exchange for the promise that the Eastern Roman Empire would not stand idly by if Timur exterminated the Ottomans.

In addition, Suleiman also gave up the vassal status of several Ottoman vassal states that were deep in the interior of the European continent, but he seized the opportunity of the Serbian infighting to stabilize the Serbs and make them his greatest reliance in the Balkans.

After this, Suleiman also completely opened the ports in his territory to Venice and Genoa, exempted the merchants in the two places from taxes, and obtained a large amount of cash in exchange for recruiting and arming his own army.

The Golden Arrow Mercenary Group benefited from this policy and had the opportunity to take jobs in the Anatolia region.

Suleiman was also a great hero. He sold almost everything that belonged to him in name only, and he sold them for a good price in exchange for the opportunity to fight for power and profit.

Of course, he is so generous to others