Mount and Blade Central Asia

At this point, Orado hesitated for a moment, but eventually added, "I heard from Old Rokan's apprentice that he has already encountered this problem."

"The mine near Aleppo will be operational soon, so you don't need to worry about that." Li Rufeng noticed Olado's concern and added, "How about this? How much will it cost to move to Aleppo? I'll give you an advance. If your business isn't doing well here, or if something unpleasant happens, you can use the money to move back."

"Not only that, you can write letters to your blacksmith friends and invite them to settle in Aleppo. For every person you bring here, I will reward you with one tenth of his total income in Aleppo in the first year." As Li Rufeng spoke, he wrote down his promise on a piece of paper, signed his name at the bottom, stamped it, and handed it directly to Orado.

"My reputation is obvious to all. I will definitely keep my word. Please keep this note. No matter whether you come to Aleppo to settle down or not, as long as you bring people here, come to me for payment in a year." Li Rufeng promised frankly.

Li Ruofeng's words made Orado silent for a while. He personally escorted the goods to Aleppo to meet Li Rufeng. Naturally, he had the idea of ​​"moving the person will live, but the tree will die" in his mind.

However, after he arrived, he learned some details about the city of Aleppo and was surprised by the number of blacksmiths in the city, which inevitably caused him some worries.

But Li Rufeng's words dispelled his worries, so the blacksmith Olado nodded solemnly and said, "I believe in your promise, sir. Give me a month, and you will see smoke rising from my forge in Aleppo."

Li Rufeng did not think it was shameful for him to personally invite these blacksmiths to settle in his city. In this regard, his colleagues in the Apennine Peninsula were much more open than him.

The wealthy owners in big cities were even willing to pay exorbitant sums of money to famous craftsmen just to get them to settle in their cities and contribute to the city's commercial development.

Li Rufeng was very glad that the land where he lived did not value these craftsmen so much at present. He even felt that this contempt was one of the reasons why the Ottomans annexed this land a few years later.

After sending Orado away, Li Rufeng saw his attendant Hiltberg wandering around outside the door idly.

This Bavarian knight who came from Samarkand and carried the hopes of Khalil Sultan was quite interesting. He had actually been worried about the situation in Samarkand, but he had no way to persuade Li Rufeng to come to the aid of Khalil Sultan.

After all, Li Rufeng's current identity and status can be said to be entirely earned through his own struggle, and has nothing to do with the Khanate. Especially after knowing Parisa's identity, Hiltberg became even more certain of this.

Because it is obvious that the man in front of him may also be one of the players who will join the poker table in the future. Strictly speaking, Khalil Sultan is his competitor, not an ally.

The reason why Hiltberg did not leave was that he was actually struggling with whether he should return to Samarkand, the deadly place, and face his doom together with Khalil Sultan.

You have to know that Hiltberg was not a vassal of Khalil Sultan. The only person he was loyal to in the entire Khanate was Timur Sultan himself. He was just one of the beneficiaries of Khalil Sultan's policy of promoting the lower-middle class nobility...

Now in Aleppo, Hiltberg felt a long-lost sense of freedom. He even felt that if he wanted, he could take a ship back to Constantinople, back to the land he was supposed to serve...

But after all he'd been through, could he really go back? The young man, so passionate and determined to fight for glory, was gone. Hiltberg was a different man now.

"Stop peeking around, come here and let's talk." Li Rufeng looked at the other person's face, which was almost as young as his own, stretched out his hand and waved him, intending to have a formal discussion with the other party about the handling of Sultan Khalil's fiefdom.

Chapter 370: Far Distance and Close Attack

To be fair, Li Rufeng did not want to provoke the Black Sheep People at this stage. Sultan Karl Yusuf might not be a brave and warlike ruler, but he was definitely a hero who slept on straw and tasted gall.

This man was so cunning that Li Rufeng felt his scalp tingling just listening to his stories.

Karl Yusuf's prestige is too high. As long as he is there, the foundation of the Black Sheep Dynasty's rule will be as solid as a mountain.

But the "gift" that Khalil Sultan gave to Li Rufeng could not be just thrown there without being used. It would be such a waste, especially for a ruler like Li Rufeng whose ambitions were rapidly expanding.

Armenia and Gurji, these two lands are like Syria where Li Rufeng is located. Because of their location, they have been war zones since ancient times. No matter how poor and backward they look, as long as you squeeze them hard, you can always squeeze out enough high-quality soldiers.

Li Rufeng was worried that one day Khalil Sultan might be killed, and then the certificate in his hand that qualified him to interfere in the two places would be useless.

To use gaming terminology, that's the loss of two strong claims...

It’s just that Khalil regards the two fiefdoms as his strong allies, but do the Armenians and the Gurjis also regard Khalil as their lord?

What was the attitude of the local lords who actually controlled the land and population of the two regions towards Khalil? Were they willing to intervene in this war within the Timurid Khanate?

All of this is unknown, but at least from Li Rufeng's point of view, I'm afraid that both the Armenians and the Guerzhi people would be very happy to see all the Timurids die.

But the collapse of an empire as huge as the Timurid Khanate was not a matter of one day or one night. As the saying goes, when a whale falls, all things come to life. For a small force like them, the collapse of the empire represents countless opportunities and wealth. It just depends on whether they have the courage to make a fortune.

So Li Rufeng felt that as long as he could offer enough benefits, there would be no eternal enemies, and both Armenians and Gurzhi people could be tied to his chariot.

Since the Mongol invasion of the West two hundred years ago, Armenia and Gurji have been under Mongol rule. Whether their rulers are willing to admit it or not, the fact is that their subjects expect a legitimate ruler with ties to Mongolia.

This is why, even though Sultan Khalil was thousands of miles away in Samarkand, he could still nominally maintain his rule over Armenia and Gurji. This was also Li Rufeng's advantage. He was the leader of the Mongols and the genuine shaman of Changshengtian.

"Do you know the current situation of Armenia and Guerzhi?" Li Rufeng asked the knight in front of him.

Hiltberg's face showed difficulty. He had indeed herded sheep on the Armenian grasslands for a while before, but that was four or five years ago.

These four or five years are enough time for a great leader to reach his end, enough time for a country to rise again, and naturally enough time for Armenia to undergo earth-shaking changes.

Although Hiltberg was also trying to collect intelligence about the territory of Sultan Khalil on the way here, he was not able to complete the task well because of the pursuit of the Black Sheep People.

For Li Rufeng, he still had to travel a long distance north from Aleppo to reach Armenia, the fiefdom of Sultan Khalil. Continuing north from Armenia was the territory of the Gurji people.

Judging from the map, Gulji is Georgia in later generations. Continuing north from Georgia is the Chechen region that Li Rufeng is relatively familiar with. The entire area is often called the Caucasus region in later generations.

Even until the 20th century, there was no peace there.

In the gap between Aleppo and the Caucasus, in addition to the Black Sheep people, there is also a White Sheep Dynasty, whose leader is Kara Osman, also a Turkmen. He performed outstandingly in the Battle of Ankara and was rewarded by Timur with Diyarbakir as his fiefdom.

Diyarbakir is less than 200 kilometers north of Urfa, and is face to face with the Black Sheep People.

For now, based on the pressure from the Black Sheep people, the Aries people can be regarded as Li Rufeng's strategic allies. Although they have not had direct contact with Li Rufeng, they have sent envoys to contact Qinggelinayan and verbally agreed to a covenant of mutual assistance.

Kara Osman, the White Sheep King, was a brave and warlike man. Before the Battle of Ankara, he had seized a large area of ​​land that once belonged to the State of Kadibur Khan Dinni Bey, the predecessor of which was the State of Alitna Bey.

The reason why I want to specifically introduce the Alitna Bey State is because this Bey State has close relations with the Mongols and has always been regarded by Li Rufeng as an object to be won over.

The founder of the Alitna Principality, Alitna, was a Mongolian official of Uyghur descent who served Timur Tash of the Ilkhanate. After the decline of the Ilkhanate, he proclaimed himself king and made the Mongolian military nobles under his command the core of his rule.

Although the people and their country disappeared in the wars of the past few decades, the Mongolian military nobles still occupy this land and exist in the form of emirs, military leaders, clans, etc.

Even though they now submit to the Aries, they still maintain a considerable degree of independence, dividing the northeastern Anatolia region into scattered plots that would give cartographers nightmares, each operating independently.

In order to resolve the threat of the Black Sheep People, the first thing Li Rufeng had to do was to capture Qinggelinayan, or at least confront him, and take the power of the entire Mongol ethnic group into his own hands, and then continue to move north to form alliances with those Mongolian warlords and persuade them to form an alliance with him.

It is not difficult to do this. With the surrender of Bardock's thousand-man team, the balance of power between Li Rufeng and Qinggelinayan has been broken. If Qinggelinayan is smart enough, they will probably meet and discuss in detail soon.

If those Mongolian warlords were not stupid, they would naturally see the ambition of the Black Sheep people. As the saying goes, make friends with distant countries and attack nearby ones. Now Li Rufeng and the Aries people are isolated on both sides of the city of Urfa by the tentacles spread by the Black Sheep people. Li Rufeng plans to test the attitude of the Aries king in the near future.

But before he sets off, someone has to go ahead to arrange his itinerary and ensure his safety. Hiltberg, a comprehensive talent who is eloquent and proficient in multiple languages, is undoubtedly the best candidate.

"This arduous task is now entrusted to you. Whether it's money or people, just ask for it." Li Rufeng patted Hilterberg's shoulder generously. "I heard that the Aries King also fought in Ankara at that time. Maybe you even met him."

Hiltberg smiled bitterly, thinking the joke wasn't funny at all, because he was the loser in that battle...

Chapter 371 Gaining Experience

May 1408, 12, light rain.

The farming season had already begun during the time Li Rufeng left Aleppo. This year's rainy season came a little later than in previous years, but fortunately it did not delay the sowing of seeds.

The three agricultural reclamation groups have already planted barley and wheat seeds in October. They only need to wait for half a year, and in May next year, Li Rufeng's territory will have its first harvest. By then, Li Rufeng will no longer need to purchase grain from outside to ensure food security in the territory.

After all, the agricultural land around Aleppo is quite fertile. As long as there is no war and no bandits that affect production, the grain produced by this land will not only be self-sufficient, but Li Rufeng will also have enough grain to export as a commodity.

By then, Li Rufeng, with a strong army and abundant food supplies, planned to expand outward in an open and aboveboard manner.

Li Rufeng himself hid in the blacksmith district of Aleppo, practicing his forging skills...

What was once considered by Li Rufeng as an alternative cheat in the game, a skill of forging iron just for the sake of making money, seemed like a magical skill from outer space in the real world. If the proficiency of forging skill level was high enough, Li Rufeng could even handle the entire process from refining to forging high-quality steel ingots by himself.

From this perspective, even in the real world, forging skills are still a magical skill for trading. Li Rufeng can rely on his blacksmithing skills to earn huge wealth on his own, and let the reputation of Aleppo steel replace the myth of Damascus steel.

Of course, the above is all later. Mr. Li is now working hard to learn how to make charcoal.

The first two specialties in the forging skill list, which can be obtained with only level 25 skill proficiency, are "Efficient Ironworker" and "Efficient Charcoal Burner". Their effects are:

[Highly Efficient Ironmaker: (Individual) You can produce crude iron more efficiently, producing three units of crude iron with only one unit of iron ore.]

[Highly Efficient Charcoal Burner: (Individual) You can produce charcoal more efficiently, making three units of charcoal with only two units of hardwood.]

Li Rufeng was currently earning skill proficiency by baking charcoal. In just two days, his skill proficiency level had reached 14.

This might be the fastest skill level Master Li had achieved so far. He used his privileges to ask all the apprentices he had sent to the blacksmith shop to learn memory to come back and help, occupying a full four forges to start the skill leveling.

Someone helped him preheat the forge, someone helped him monitor the temperature, someone helped him cut the hardwood into appropriate sizes, and even someone helped him prepare the fuel for baking charcoal in advance.

All he needed to do was to throw the hardwoods of suitable size into the forge, and then wait for the high temperature to dry out the moisture in the hardwoods. Once the surface was carbonized, he would be able to gain experience points for forging skill proficiency.

Li Rufeng estimated that he would be able to raise his skill proficiency to level 25 in two days. At that time, he planned to choose "Highly Efficient Ironmaker" as his first forging skill specialty.

What made Li Rufeng happy was that his forging skills were not restricted by his endurance attribute. As long as he wanted, as long as his physical and mental strength allowed, he could keep doing this.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that Li Rufeng is a lord. He is equivalent to spending money to buy experience points for skill levels.

The blacksmiths in the blacksmith area have different opinions on Li Rufeng's sudden "crazy" behavior.

Da Mier felt that this was Li Rufeng's attack on the Blacksmith Guild. He had been unable to sleep at night for the past few days and looked much more haggard. He made up his mind to start teaching the apprentice sincerely.

People like Lao Luokan, on the other hand, felt that Li Rufeng was the kind of scholar-lord who was obsessed with the field of technology. Their favorable impression of him increased immediately, and they were eager to contribute some unique technologies.

In this way, under the leadership of Li Rufeng, all six blacksmith shops in the entire blacksmith area started to operate with higher efficiency.

The city of Aleppo was like a long-dry field, eagerly absorbing the various wealth and technologies brought by Li Rufeng. As business gradually prospered, the wallets of the people in the city gradually became richer.

The first thing the wealthy people had to do was to improve their living conditions. Their demand for ironware gradually expanded, and just making civilian ironware for the people in the city was enough to keep these blacksmith shops busy for a while.

And this is just an appetizer. Li Rufeng's main purpose in establishing the blacksmith district was to arm his own army, and the surplus production was part of the export trade.

In this profitable and healthy competitive environment, the blacksmiths recruited by Li Rufeng from the city of Mardin worked at full capacity every day, starting to forge iron before dawn and continuing until sunset.

In fact, Li Rufeng knew very well that although there were eight blacksmiths in the Blacksmith Guild including Old Rokan, in reality, the only three people who could be called blacksmiths, excluding Old Rokan, were Da Mir, a middle-aged man named Amira, and a black man named Yulivas.

There are currently six blacksmith shops operating in the blacksmith district, which means that at least two of them are just filling in the gaps.

Li Rufeng temporarily acquiesced to such behavior. He planned to let the market naturally eliminate those unqualified blacksmiths, and at the same time give those two people a chance to improve themselves.

After all, in Mr. Li's opinion, the blacksmith's craftsmanship in this era was just so-so.

Besides Old Rokan, the skills of the other three barely qualified Martin blacksmiths were also limited, so if they really worked hard and learned on the job for a month or two, it would be enough for them to catch up.

"Lord Rufeng!" Just when Li Rufeng was immersed in blacksmithing and making carbon, his little maid Satuya trotted into the blacksmith shop where Li Rufeng was.

"If you have anything to say, take a breath first. Why are you in such a hurry?" Li Rufeng took off his apron and wiped his hands. When he looked up, he made Satuya laugh.

Mr. Li's face was completely black at this time, with only a small bit of skin under his eyes and nostrils retaining its original color, making him look as if he had a mustache.

"Sir, Qinggelinayan has brought people into the city and is waiting for you at the lord's mansion!" The little maid said with a smile. In her heart, Qinggelinayan was still an unattainable big man.

Although Li Rufeng now owns two cities and his power is far greater than Qinggeli Nayan, in the hearts of the Mongols, Lord Nayan still has an unshakable position.

These Mongols have become accustomed to living under the protection of Qinggelinayan. If Li Rufeng wants to completely replace him, he needs to gain more glory on the battlefield.

Chapter 372 Can’t reach an agreement

"Shaman Rufeng, long time no see!" Qinggelinayan seemed to be at home, greeting Li Rufeng while strolling around the lord's mansion.

After not seeing him for a few months, Qinggelinayan looked much older than before. His facial features had not changed much, but one-third of his hair had turned gray. You have to know that Qinggelinayan was in his prime and was only about 35 years old this year.

"What's wrong with you?" Li Ruofeng quickly approached Qinggelinayan, looked him up and down, reached out and grabbed his left hand to take his pulse.

Li Rufeng's Chinese medicine skills can only be said to be superficial, and his actual level can only accurately take the pulse. However, as his medical skill proficiency level increases, the information he can obtain from taking the pulse is becoming more and more detailed.

For example, he now discovered that Qinggelinayan's heart rate was about one-third faster than before. He either had trouble sleeping for a long time, or he had been living a life of feasting and drinking, with music and revelry every night recently.

"Cough... cough..." Qinggelinayan coughed a few times before he could say something, and could only smile bitterly, "You know, it's an old problem."

It is indeed as Qinggeli Nayan said, this is an old illness, a chronic disease, which will not be fatal, but it is obvious that a person with this disease will not be a good Nayan. Even riding a horse for a long time is a burden for him.

"How is Jatalehun doing here?" Qinggelinayan sat down and asked with a smile, "I heard that he went on a business trip with you before and visited the Karaman territory?"

Jatalehun did go to Karaman with Li Rufeng, and accompanied Li Rufeng throughout the return journey of the Bardock Thousand-Man Team, but he appeared very silent throughout the whole process.

Obviously, the young officer who returned from "studying abroad" in Samarkand had already realized early on that the return of the Badakhshan Thousand-Man Team would be a shock to the balance of power among the Mughal people.

Li Rufeng had no doubt that Qinggelinayan came so quickly because Jatalehun wrote a letter to his brother as soon as he arrived in Aleppo.

"He's a good young man. I was planning to entrust him with an important task." Li Rufeng said hypocritically. Of course, this was not really a political struggle. It was just that up to today, apart from his identity as Qinggelinayan's younger brother, Jitalehun had not left any deep impression on him.

Li Rufeng considers himself an enlightened leader. As long as his subordinates are talented, he will never let them down. No matter what their identity and background are, it will not affect his respect for them.

But you can't always expect a superior to take the initiative to find the shining points of his subordinates. Mr. Li has the time for that, but he is still thinking about taking a slack.

"Okay, I'll let the lawsuit go. I want to know what you think of the situation going forward. You went through so much trouble to bring Badak and the others back. You can't just be sitting around with too much food and want someone to help you out." Qinggelinayan regained his usual spirit and looked at Li Rufeng like a wolf. "I need to know who you're planning to take a piece of meat from next, so I can prepare in advance."

"Don't forget that our relationship is one of shared success and shared failure." Qinggelinayan stared into Li Rufeng's eyes. "Maybe you don't have Mongol blood in your body, but you will always be a Mongol shaman, right?"

"Of course, that won't change." Li Rufeng snapped his fingers, and a personal guard brought him some hot tea. "I'll never forget who saved my life on the grassland, and I'll never forget who taught me how to survive there."

Hearing Li Rufeng say this, Qinggelinayan's eyes softened a little: "I am old and in poor health. I may have to rely on you more for some things in the future. I have recently been gradually delegating power to Dangertai, but he is too young and too impulsive. I need at least three years... cough... cough..."

Qinggelinayan's words were gentle and sincere. He didn't ask for much. He just hoped that before his body completely collapsed, he could help his brother to take the throne safely and ensure that there would be no accidents in the whole process.

This is what his father did, and this is what his grandfather did. His children are still young, so he plans to support his younger brother in the same way.

Qinggelinayan hopes that Li Rufeng can give him three years to complete the full handover. He hopes that the situation of the Mongols will not change significantly during these three years.

But at the same time, he also knew that three years was too long for Li Rufeng, and he might not be able to wait that long, so Qinggeli Nayan begged Li Rufeng that he was willing to give up his position as Nayan and support Li Rufeng to take the throne and become the number one among the Mongols in exchange.

However, three years, that is a full three years, from the time Li Rufeng traveled to this world until today, it has only been this long.

Three years is enough time for a time traveler who can't even speak to grow to where he is today. A person who can't even kill a chicken has become a lord who can remain calm and issue orders that may cause hundreds of casualties.

Three years is too long, so long that Li Rufeng can't even guarantee whether he will still be alive and well after three years.