Mount and Blade Central Asia

This naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of many old Ottoman officials and nobles.

Among them, the one who had the greatest objection to Suleiman was Everenos, a border noble whose fiefdom was in the Malta region, because according to the treaties signed by Suleiman, half of Everenos's territory would be handed over to others.

Everenos' nickname in the Ottoman Empire was Warrior, and Warrior Everenos was the most common name people called him.

But thanks to these measures, Suleiman was able to quickly free his territories in the Balkans from the repercussions of the Battle of Ankara, and at the same time, he prepared for the battle for the throne.

After the defeat in Ankara, Prince Isa returned to Kayseri with his troops. However, he was defeated again by Timur's army and had to flee all the way to the northwest of Antolia, where his fiefdom, Bursa, was located.

Here he met his brother Muhammad, who had also fled but had occupied the place first.

The tragedy of brothers turning against each other happened without any warning. Muhammad ordered his men to attack Isa without any hesitation. His territory could not accommodate two princes living together.

As a last resort, Prince Issa had to continue crossing the river north, intending to escape to the Balkans, but he was eventually killed by Suleiman.

All of this was just a big drama that happened in 1403.

It was already evening, and Satuya had returned from the market with a full load. As soon as she came back, she saw Mr. Li listening to the princess telling a story. She suddenly felt as if her home was being robbed.

"Bring some fruit, Satuya, and tell the kitchen to have hot pot tonight." Li Rufeng said immediately when he saw Satuya appear, then turned to Parisa and asked, "Would you be honored to have dinner together tonight? I feel like the story ends here, and I might not be able to sleep well tonight."

Parisa, who rarely showed the value of a princess, was already dry-mouthed at this time. She picked up the teacup and drank a large cup of tea. After hesitating for a moment, she finally nodded.

In fact, she shouldn't have been so wild. Although she came here in disguise, it was a bit awkward for her to come alone and stay here to eat.

Just looking at Li Rufeng's eager expression, Parisa was bewitched for a moment and agreed to it. Even though she was unwilling to admit it, deep down, she still cared about her identity as a princess.

And now, the only one who treats her as a princess is Li Rufeng.

Mr. Li had tea, fruits, and dried fruits laid out one by one. After waiting for Parisa to moisten her lips, he brought the story to the onlookers again.

After all, in Li Rufengkong's opinion, Bayezid's sons were so decisive in killing each other that they were unmatched. They didn't even give the boss's empire a chance to breathe from the defeat, and immediately put ten times the energy into the internal struggle.

Back to Prince Muhammad, after the Battle of Ankara, Prince Muhammad defeated his brother Prince Issa and occupied the northern part of Anatolia, fighting endlessly with the emirs who were originally loyal to his father but now rebelled again.

In 1404, Prince Suleiman, who was ambitious and had accumulated enough power, crossed the strait, defeated Prince Mehmed, and captured Bursa and Ankara, the former capital of the Ottomans.

Prince Mehmed was forced to retreat to Tokat in north-central Anatolia, the land nominally given to Timur by Prince Suleiman.

If Timur had not focused all his energy on the upcoming eastern expedition, Prince Muhammad's life would probably have ended there.

In this way, Prince Suleiman controlled Rumelia and a large area of ​​Anatolia as far as Ankara, and it seemed that the day of succeeding his father to the throne was just around the corner.

His vizier, Chandarli Ali Pasha, even once advised him to call himself Sultan now, but in the end the idea came to nothing due to opposition from both inside and outside.

This is the current situation in the Ottoman Empire. Prince Suleiman and Prince Mehmed are respectively in the east and west, confronting each other for several years, and neither can do anything to the other.

In the southern part of the empire, several Bey states whose independence was restored by Timur still maintained their independence, but had already developed their own tendencies in this civil war.

Based on Parisa's description, Li Rufeng drew a rough map of the distribution of power on paper. The city of Mersin was currently the territory of the Karaman Bey State, and the Emir of the Karaman people undoubtedly did not want to see the Ottoman Empire unified again. Using food prices to secretly influence the situation was undoubtedly a relatively safe idea.

Unfortunately, the Karamanians' influence in this regard was far less than that of the Venetians and Genoese, and they were the only ones who could determine the price of food.

Li Rufeng racked his brains trying to recall who was the ultimate winner in history, but in the end it was just a mess.

The names of the Ottomans, especially the names of the sultans, seemed to be chosen without any brains or intelligence. Names like Suleiman, Muhammad, Murad, Mustafa, and Ahmed were used over and over again, causing countless troubles for history lovers in later generations.

He only knew that in another forty years, the Ottomans would be strong enough to capture Constantinople and completely destroy the last Roman dynasty.

So maybe I should bet on Suleiman? After all, Suleiman seems to have a huge advantage now...

"What is this?" Parisa finished.

What he knew, he saw the hot pot that Satuya was preparing and asked curiously.

It is true that she is a princess of the Timurid Khanate, but no one else in this place knows about hot pot except the Mongols.

Especially the hot pot improved by Li Rufeng, the mutton is only selected from the inner parts of the hind legs and thighs, which are tender and fat-lean. The mutton is also from the back of the neck and on both sides of the spine. This is the most tender meat on the sheep. The fat in this part of the meat is evenly mixed, and the fat is deposited in the meat, resembling a marble pattern. Just five times up and down is enough to eat it.

The pure natural hot pot soup with a variety of spices was already boiling and bubbling. Satuya prepared an extra set of bowls and chopsticks on the table with some displeasure, but when she looked at the chopsticks on the table, a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth again, intending to see how the princess would lose her composure.

The author says:

Author's Note: This chapter was really hard to write. The main sources of information were so scattered. It felt like writing a paper in college, searching everywhere for information...

Chapter 238 John Hiltberg

While Milan Shah's daughter Parisa was eating hot pot in Aleppo, Milan Shah's son and Timur's grandson, Khalil, who was far away in Samarkand, was also sitting at the dining table, entertaining Emir Hudaida with a perfect smile.

Strictly speaking, when Khalil first took control of Samarkand, Hudaida was one of the first few powerful people to express opposition.

But times have changed. Compared with those princes and other emirs whose roots are in the army and in their own fiefdoms, Khudaida's roots are in Samarkand. He cannot leave unless he gives up his power and status.

In the end, faced with reality, Hudaida chose to be loyal to Khalil and became his important ally in stabilizing the aristocratic power in Samarkand, serving as Muhardar (seal-bearing official, an honorary position, mainly responsible for controlling visitors to the Sultan).

"Your Highness, the commercial tax in the second half of this year is only one-third of that in previous years. This amount of money is not enough to cover the expenses of those useless civil servants in the Central Diwan." Hu Daida bit the leg of lamb in his hand, and his demeanor did not show the feeling of being a subject at all.

Although Khalil had declared himself Sultan with the support of his subordinates three years ago, he did not show any displeasure when Hudaida addressed him as such. He was already accustomed to Hudaida's "rudeness".

Since he could tolerate Hu Daida's previous political stance, he could naturally tolerate his current rude behavior. After all, they were just using each other and not getting married.

"I have begun to restore the management of the artisan district, and I believe there will be results soon." Khalil did not want to talk to Hudaida about the various problems in the city. It was a waste of time. Everyone knew that the problem in Samarkand now was that the princes and emirs outside were guarding their own territories and did not allow merchants to come here.

Hu Daida was just taking advantage of the situation today to help someone pass on a message.

"But this is only a temporary solution, Your Highness!" Hudaida said to himself, ignoring Khalil's cold expression. "I heard that someone wanted to offer wealth to Your Highness, but you refused?"

"He wants to buy the position of Suqi (cup steward)! Buy it from me!" Khalil's face turned pale. It was undoubtedly a humiliation for him to discuss the sale of official positions directly with the Sultan.

Khalil felt even more humiliated when he thought that the money-grubbing merchant had been able to enter the palace and meet him directly because it was arranged by Hudaida, who was in front of him. If Shah Rukh's men hadn't been pushing him too hard, if he hadn't relied on Hudaida to provide money and food to stabilize the situation in the city...

So many "if nots" appeared in Khalil's mind at once, which quickly dissipated the anger in his heart.

His current position is very awkward. Khalil has been smart and brave since childhood, and is deeply loved by Timur. He has followed Timur to travel around the country and conquer the world. He is no longer the child who only knows how to flatter. He has his own political ambitions.

Khalil knew his grandfather, and compared to the image of the great conqueror that others saw, he saw the end of Timur's ambition.

If Timur was a hero and a powerful figure in his youth, then Timur in his later years became a completely willful child.

He was too old and just wanted to be the king of Inner Asia. Only Transoxiana was the territory recognized by him, and his conquests were more to satisfy his own status in history. That's why he chose to go on an expedition to China in his twilight years, which eventually led to the collapse of the empire.

In Khalil's eyes, Timur was a stubborn, short-sighted bastard who treated human life as worthless.

Khalil didn't want to be the same as his grandfather. He saw incomprehensible loyalty in the Ming Dynasty delegation... They called it integrity, which was something the people of Central Asia had never had.

He hoped to see such loyalty and integrity from his people in the future, but that would require a completely unified country, a centralized state...

After sending Hudaida away calmly, Khalil sighed. He could not see where his chances of winning were, nor could he see where his way out was. This kind of fight between brothers was no longer a fight for interests as before. Both sides had already started a real fight. The winner got everything, while the loser got nothing but death.

Khalil urgently needed support from his own fiefdom. With only Samarkand, he could only maintain the status quo and was far from being a match for Shah Rukh, who controlled the entire Khorasan region.

etc.

He sent countless messengers with his letters to the western border of the Khanate seeking help, but it is unknown how many people can pass the Black Sheep blockade. I hope he can persist until the day he receives a reply...

At this time, one of the envoys whom Khalil had high hopes for, the Bavarian Johann Hiltberg, was entering Tabriz as a mercenary.

Johann Hiltberg was carrying a letter from Khalil to the Mughal leader. Khalil offered him the condition that he would be free as long as he delivered the letter.

His first half of life was legendary. He was born in Munich in southern Germany on May 9, 1381. His family had always been the director of royal horses, captain of the personal guard or staff of the Duke of Bavaria.

Therefore, at the age of 15, he participated in the famous Battle of Nicopolis (the famous battle in which Bayezid beat Sigismund) as a knight's squire.

In this war that went down in history, John and many of his colleagues suffered a bitter defeat.

The defeat was irreversible from the moment the arrogant French ignored the advice of Marshal Sigismund and began to charge. When the French panicked because they had rushed into a trap, and the German and Hungarian knights were counterattacked by the Sipahi cavalry and Serbian cavalry, the Romanians turned and ran.

When Hiltberg and others tried to restore order on the chaotic battlefield, they found themselves surrounded by the Ottoman guards.

Under Islamic law, prisoners of war were the property of their captors, but the Sultan was entitled to one-fifth of the spoils, so 50 of the most noble prisoners were selected and exchanged for a high ransom.

Others who were unwilling to convert to God and had no value were ordered to be killed by the Sultan. Only a small number of young followers were selected again as trophies for the Sultan to show off his military prowess.

No matter where they are, these young people who have received martial arts training since childhood are a rare and high-quality source of soldiers.

Johann Hiltberg's handsome appearance caught the eye of Prince Suleiman, and thus began his six-year career as the prince's attendant, during which time he even underwent circumcision...

While serving as the prince's squire, Hiltberg participated in the siege of Constantinople. Ironically, the officer guarding the castle was the French knight Boucicaut, who was captured with him that year. The only difference between them was that Boucicaut's family spent a large sum of money to redeem him.

During this period, Hiltberg systematically studied the Ottomans' tactics and became a qualified Ottoman Guards officer.

But in 1402, the 21-year-old Hiltberg experienced the second change in his life. In another historic battle, the Battle of Ankara, he encountered the conqueror Timur from Central Asia.

The Ottoman Guards where Hiltberg was located were in the central position. They stayed there and fought until the last moment to protect Bayezid and the high-ranking nobles of the royal family, but in the end many people were captured in the final desperate breakout, including Hiltberg.

But similar to the customs of the Ottomans, the Timurid Khanate also opened its doors to all those they considered useful. Timur was surrounded by Mongols, Turks, Persians, Arabs, Greeks, and naturally a Bavarian.

Since then, Hiltberg has participated in many subsequent wars as a vassal of the Timurid Khanate. Even today, he is only 27 years old, but he is an old soldier who has served in the army for twelve years and participated in wars in two civilizations and three countries.

Therefore, for Hiltberg, such a trivial matter as traveling alone through the enemy country was as easy as eating and drinking tea. Moreover, with his Western European face, it was hard to doubt that he was a secret envoy from Samarkand.

But this face also brought him other troubles. For example, now, Hiltberg, who had just found a place to stay and was planning to rest, encountered two people in black robes following him stealthily nearby.

Hiltberg touched the long sword at his waist, pretended not to notice the other party, and walked straight into an alley, acting like a local who was extremely familiar with these winding alleys.

But in fact, Hiltberg had no idea where these alleys led to. Once he entered an alley, he lay motionless in the shadows behind the wall.

After about three or four breaths, a man in black robe walked in. He didn't notice Hiltberg who was so close to him. He was hit on the tip of his nose by the other party and fainted.

Hiltberg didn't waste any time. He searched the man in black robe, took out a purse from his waist, turned around and left without any hesitation.

He didn't care at all why these people were interested in him. He didn't want to cause trouble. Since there was trouble here, he would find another place to rest.

Hiltberg turned around and walked back to the place he had chosen before, took his horse and walked out of the city.

He remembered that when he came here, he saw a village a few kilometers outside the city. It would be a good idea to go there to replenish his energy.

But Hiltberg obviously underestimated the persistence of the group of black-robed men. When he rode his horse less than 500 meters away from Tabriz, he turned around and saw a group of Black Sheep cavalry suddenly rushing out and galloping towards him.

?

Hiltberg's mind was full of questions. He didn't know whether he had exposed his identity or accidentally caused some trouble, but he had already passed by several Black Sheep people's houses.

The city is in trouble only here.

Hiltberg had no choice but to pat his warhorse and tell it to stop throwing a tantrum for the time being and to prioritize escaping.

The gray warhorse let out a dissatisfied sigh, but finally gave its master a little face and galloped across the green grass.

Hiltberg's riding skills were laid on the European continent, honed in the Ottoman Empire, and finally, while grazing in the upper reaches of the Tigris River, he integrated his skills under the guidance of the Mongols and achieved perfection.

When he sped away, the black sheep people behind him could only watch him disappear into the distant horizon, without even the right to eat dirt.

In the end, these people could only go back and report to the Vientiane Wizard Association in Tabriz that they did not catch up with anyone.

"Hmm? It doesn't matter. The Blue Wind has already seen his end in the near future. It's okay, it's okay. But since one person is missing, please help fill this vacancy." The black wizard in the wizard's meeting smiled faintly, and the black sheep knight suddenly became nervous.

But these mortals could not go against the wizard's will. The black wizard just snapped his fingers, and the Black Sheep Knight walked into the Wizarding Society step by step with stiff limbs like a wooden man.

Of course, for Hiltberg, this was just a minor incident.

He rode his horse around Tabriz and did not dare to stay for long. He kept on traveling, stopping and starting all the way, and only felt relieved when he arrived in Mosul.

At this time, Pepper Mali, who came from afar and did "big business" for the first time, also entered the city from another direction.

The author says:

Author's Note: Johann Hiltberg actually existed in history. A few years after Timur's death, Shah Rukh dispatched him to the Golden Horde. He managed to gain a title and land, nearly becoming a loyal vassal. Later, when betting on the succession to the Great Khan, he chose the wrong side and fled to the Mamluk Sultanate for several years. He then revisited Constantinople and eventually returned home, wrote an autobiography, and was granted a title. It's a happy ending. It's unclear whether his chastity was compromised during those years with Suleiman. Historical records state that Suleiman was immediately attracted to the beautiful fifteen-year-old Hiltberg...

Chapter 239 Meeting

God have mercy on him. Pepper Mari couldn't even remember when was the last time he came to such a prosperous city. He still remembered that Aleppo was so prosperous when he was a child, and merchants and travelers even had to queue up to enter the city gate.

This time, Pepper Mali brought three carts of goods and hired six men and six guards. The food and travel expenses for the horses and the people along the way cost him more than fifty silver coins. Considering that he would have to spend so much money on the way back, he had to make a dinar every time he went out. He had to make a lot of money on this trip.

"Where did it come from?" The Black Sheep Man who collected the head tax at the city gate checked the carriages without any hesitation, and only asked lazily after confirming that they were all carrying normal goods.

"We came from Aleppo." Pepper Mali said nervously, while stuffing a few silver coins into the soldier's hands.

It was another extra expense, and Pepper Mali silently made a note of it in his mind.

"Hey, it's been ages since we've seen a caravan from Aleppo. Once you enter the city, head south. The market is over there. Don't get lost. The city is in turmoil right now." The soldier touched the silver coins in his hand, thinking the small merchant was quite generous. He casually reminded him, "If you see anyone in a black robe, stay away."

"Yes, yes, thank you for the reminder!" Pepper Mali nodded and said, then entered the city. At the same time, he completed the first task assigned by the lord, which was to test the attitude of the Black Sheep people towards Aleppo.

After all, although Aleppo was nominally a Mamluk city, it was no secret to the Qara ...

Seeing that the soldiers guarding the city did not look at them differently because of where they came from, Pepper Mali felt relieved.

But he still felt unsure about what would happen next...

Hiltberg was walking down the street leading his horse. His horse was a purebred Marwari horse with beautiful heart-shaped folded ears, lively eyes, about 1.5 meters tall at the shoulders, and a slender body. It was a trophy he had obtained as an officer in the attack on the Delhi Sultanate.

This horse has been with Hiltberg for more than four years. According to the analogy of a married couple, it is now at the stage where the left hand touches the right hand, and if you lift your butt, I will know you want to change positions.

For example, now Hiltberg knew that the horse was throwing a tantrum because it had not eaten beans soaked in salt water since arriving in Mosul. At this moment, it was walking forward stubbornly with its head held high.

Hiltberg had been coaxing him all the way, but the horse was proud of having escaped several strange pursuers along the way, and now it was in a state of pride and refused to bow its head.