Mount and Blade Central Asia

By the time other Black Sheep garrisons around them received their news, Abelji and his men were already dozens of miles away. Unless the Black Sheep people gathered an army of hundreds of people to chase them all the way, they would have no choice but to suffer in silence in the face of this Mongolian-style attack.

The two or three hundred years from the beginning of the Mongol westward expedition to the present are enough to prove that nomadic peoples are different from each other, and no one can defeat the Mongols in this field.

Chapter 410 Spread of Faith

The scouts sent out by Li Rufeng started to work that same day. Although there were only a hundred of them, they truly invaded with fire, leaving traces wherever they passed, successfully arousing the fear of the Mongols in the hearts of the Black Sheep people.

As the shaman of Eternal Heaven, Li Rufeng should be merciful and must be merciful, but this mercy is only for the people under the illumination of Eternal Heaven. The Mongols' belief in Eternal Heaven is primitive and cruel. Under the rules of Eternal Heaven, they are born conquerors, and their mission is to conquer the world.

As for all those who obstruct the will of Eternal Heaven in this process, to use the popular term among Christians and Muslims today - they are all pagans.

As Li Rufeng began to test the Black Sheep People, he gradually gave up his targeted activities towards Damascus.

The situation he faced was similar to that of the Qara ...

However, Li Rufeng was very satisfied with this opportunity to target the Black Sheep People, because in his opinion, the Mamluks were like corrupt giants. Although they were huge in size, they did not pose much threat. But the Black Sheep People were different. They had just risen and were on the right path.

Once they are given enough time to settle down and transform the land and wealth they currently control into real strength, they will soon become a truly powerful force.

The creatures on this land have long adapted to being trampled upon by the ever-emerging powerful nations. They will surrender faster than you can imagine, just like the cities of Aleppo and Hama. Li Rufeng didn't even feel that he encountered any significant resistance, and he successfully turned these two cities into forces under his command.

However, this also stimulated Li Rufeng to remain vigilant. He knew very well that the more obedient these people were today, the faster they would surrender when a new conqueror appeared tomorrow.

The traditional integrity, filial piety, propriety and righteousness of Eastern civilization have no room to grow here. The Romans may have achieved this, but that empire had already taken another path before its collapse.

However, although Li Rufeng temporarily gave up the military action plan towards Damascus, the bitter fruit of the plague has now blossomed in Damascus.

Emir Sayyid al-Had, who ruled Damascus, could no longer tolerate the plague raging in his territory, and the medicine in his hands did not work as it should.

He sent countless spies to Hama and even to Aleppo. After all, Hama was once the territory of the Syrian Emir Group, where they always had channels to get the information they wanted.

But the prescription sent by the shaman lord... is real.

The medicines the refugees outside Hama take every day are exactly the same as the herbs the doctors in Damascus are brewing. If there is any difference, it is that the herbs they use are not from the same region.

After all, the amount of herbs needed in Damascus is much larger, so much that it needs to be imported from overseas.

It's not like the drugs are completely ineffective; they actually do alleviate symptoms for many patients; they just... don't work as well as they did in Hama.

So Sayid Hadd now had to consider the most unlikely possibility that Safavid had mentioned. These damn herbs from the shamans needed the blessing of damn faith to completely drive away this plague...

Now, Sayyid Hadd must make a choice: on one side is the dignity of an Islamic religious leader who also possesses power and influence, and on the other side is the precarious rule of the Hadd family.

At first glance, this is actually a very simple multiple-choice question. After all, without the support of religious leaders, the Had family may suffer a huge loss of reputation, lose a lot of popular support, and face more challenges within the Arab world.

Without the right to rule, the Hard family will become nobody and worthless.

But killing a clergyman is still a big deal, and it is destined to be impossible to do without leaving any traces... But in the end, Sayyid Hader made the right choice.

So, on the night of January 31, 1409, a fire suddenly broke out in the famous Grand Mosque in Damascus. Dozens of prestigious imams and hundreds of the most devout believers died in the fire.

Fortunately, the Grand Mosque itself did not suffer too much damage, and the fire was contained in a side hall. It is said that a well-known jurisprudence scholar was debating there that night, attracting the attention of the imam and believers. Someone accidentally touched a candle, which caused the fire.

Under normal circumstances, this would definitely be a major event that shocked Syria, but at this time, a large area of ​​land centered on Damascus was submerged in the threat of the plague. Both nobles and civilians were under the pressure of the plague and had no time to care about these matters that were not related to life and death.

The only change people knew about was that after the fire, shamanism, which came from the north, suddenly spread throughout the city of Damascus.

There are rumors that the plague is afraid of the Mongols' Eternal Heaven, and all believers in Eternal Heaven can gain health, but Sayyid Khad has remained silent about this.

Although many Islamic religious figures in Damascus expressed dissatisfaction with this, because the most influential people had died in the fire, this bottom-up religious conversion gradually spread with the tacit approval of the Had family.

What really promoted the spread of the Changshengtian belief was the disease-curing effect brought about by the new belief.

Not everyone can use life and death to measure their faith, especially when those ordinary but real "miracles" happen right in front of you, to your next-door neighbor.

If you, your family, or your children happen to be sick at this time, the test will be even more severe. It is a test of human nature, and even the most devout believers may find it difficult to withstand it.

Of course, Li Rufeng knew nothing about all this at the time. He was considering the expansion plan of the Port of Alexandretta.

Thanks to trade between Aleppo and Mersin, the Port of Alexandretta is becoming an emerging port, but its current size is becoming increasingly insufficient for the current trade volume.

And just as the heir of the Baker family said, his status is indeed a bit too low. Even as a mascot, he should have a higher position and be placed more prominently.

After all, the current governor of Alexandretta Port is not Li Rufeng's own man. He doesn't know him at all and only stayed because the other party knows the current situation.

But now it seems that the governor is not so aware of the current situation. Until today, Li Rufeng has not seen him come to Aleppo to meet him.

Chapter 411 All greatness has a reason

The Governor of the Port of Alexandretta, who still has no name to this day, was originally named Jairam. He was a hardworking old ox. His background was similar to that of Gulanchi in Hama. They were both victims thrown here by Sultan Nasser to seize power with the local Emir.

But compared to Gulanchi, Jairam's luck was a little worse. When he was thrown into the port of Alexandretta, the stench of corpses could still be smelled in the city of Aleppo.

The port of Alexandretta had only 300 people at the time, and most of the port facilities were completely destroyed by the Mongols, leaving only an empty dock and a few burned small boats.

It was Jairam who led his men to clean up the port of Alexandretta bit by bit, restoring it to a state where it could barely be used normally. He also carefully maintained the size of the port until Li Rufeng occupied Aleppo.

Jairam had never gone to the Ale River to meet Li Rufeng. He still believed that one day Sultan Nasir would return like lightning...

In fact, when the immortal knights besieged Aleppo before, Jairam had thought about providing all possible help to the Cairo Heavenly Soldiers, but on the one hand, he had no supplies to offer, and on the other hand, the number of Heavenly Soldiers was too small, so he did not dare to make a bet easily.

Later facts proved that Jairam's caution was correct. The Mongolian shaman really gained a foothold in Aleppo and gradually developed the deserted city.

Like Gulanchi, Jairam was a civil official who graduated from a professional school in the Mamluk Empire. He could write and calculate, had a good understanding of mathematics, and knew a little about astronomy and architecture, so he was thrown into this port.

He witnessed with his own eyes that the population of Aleppo increased by at least 30% in just six months, not counting the military households brought back from the Karaman people by the Mongolian shaman and the refugees absorbed from Damascus.

If the latter two were included, Aleppo's total population at this time would have doubled.

The Port of Alexandretta has also made great progress, and the scale of the terminal has been continuously expanded. With the cooperation of Jairam, a new gravel road is being built simultaneously from both sides of the Port of Alexandretta and Aleppo.

Once the road is completed from Aleppo to the port of Alexandria, it will become the highway of this era.

Moreover, the Mongolian shaman also strictly required the width of the road, and based on the width of the road, limited the maximum width of carriages, ox carts and other means of transportation manufactured in the city of Aleppo to ensure that the road surface always maintained a width that allowed two vehicles to travel side by side.

This small innovation amazed Jairam. No one had ever considered such details before, but the fact is that once the rules are formed, such regulations can increase the efficiency of land transportation by 10 to 20%.

In Jairam's eyes, the Mongol shaman was a wise and powerful leader in every way, but so was Sultan Nasir...

At least in Jairam's heart, Sultan Nasir is still the same. He is still the heroic ruler who is not afraid to fight against the threat of the Conqueror Timur.

However, over the years, including now, the letters that Jairam has sent to and from have never received a response. It seems that Cairo has forgotten that there is a loyal subject far away in the northern Gulf of Syria.

Now, Sultan Nasir, who was far away, said nothing, but the Mongol lord who was nearby issued an edict to him, requiring Jairam to go to Aleppo to attend the lord's dinner.

As the saying goes, there is no good banquet. Jairam knew very well that today's banquet might very likely determine his future prospects, or even his life or death.

The Mongol shaman had tacitly allowed him to remain silent in this position because of his talents, but now the powerful ruler had run out of patience.

The reason may be because of the Crusader ships that had just docked not long ago, or it may be because of the fleet of the Baker family that was about to set off. In short, the port of Alexandretta, which was already on the right track, now needed a more loyal governor.

Jairam was 80% sure that the Mongolian shaman actually wanted a loyal and capable governor, and he was the most suitable candidate.

But an empire, even one on the verge of decline, will always have victims buried with it. Aleppo surrendered without resistance, as did Hama. Ais Baker was a waste, and he was not even weaned from milk.

And Gulanchi Goncalves was just another softie who changed his mind according to the situation. There was no one else in this land who could stand up and tell the Mongol about the glory and honor of the Mamluks except him and him.

Jairam, you put on your most expensive dress and took your only ornaments. As an official of the orthodox Mamluk court, you mounted your warhorse and followed your entourage to Aleppo along with the personal guards of the Mongolian shaman.

There is still some distance between the port of Alexandria and Aleppo, so they have to set off a day in advance so that they have enough time to wash off the dust on their bodies in the city of Aleppo and meet the lord in the best possible manner.

Jairam shouldn't have put on his fine clothes so early. These clothes were not designed for knights to travel. They needed careful care so that they could shine the brightest at the banquet.

But Jairam had already made up his mind to make this journey the last one of his life. He wanted to tour this land as a master, this land belonging to the Mamluk Empire.

This was his last glory, and the glory he deserved.

I swear to God, Jairam had done everything he could, but he did not receive God's salvation, nor did he receive the Sultan's assistance, and even his loyalty did not receive a single word of response from Cairo.

At this time, Li Rufeng, who was preparing for tomorrow's dinner in the lord's mansion in Aleppo, had no idea that someone was going to teach him a lesson. He was busy explaining to the chef how to cook food that suited his eating habits.

Li Rufeng had heard that there was a "Chinatown" in Tabriz, which was mainly inhabited by the descendants of the Han Chinese thousand households left behind during the Mongol westward expedition. Among them were not only cooks but also doctors. So, in Mr. Li's mind, there was one more reason to conquer the Black Sheep People.

This dinner was not only to entertain the ungrateful Governor of Port Alexandra, Li Rufeng also invited some businessmen, big businessmen, and he was ready to promote his war bonds at the dinner.

What those businessmen do is nothing more than risky business in pursuit of high profits. And is there anything in the world that can bring higher profits than war?

Li Rufeng was not worried about a dull occasion. This was just a rehearsal, mainly to spread the news and let the outside world know about this concept. When he won and the same bonds were launched again next time, it would be the time for Master Li to reap the rewards.

This time, he has arranged...

Chapter 412 Threshold

Li Rufeng was the kind of lord who reveled every night and spent money extravagantly. He preferred to spend his money wisely, so the dinners held in his mansion gradually became a very important weather vane in the city of Aleppo.

The last time this lord hosted a dinner at his mansion, he established a joint chamber of commerce with Venetian merchants. Although that chamber of commerce is still just a paper structure to this day, a huge amount of money has been spent like water.

Everyone could see the lord's great business ambitions, and such actions greatly promoted the development of regional commerce.

Merchants all like this kind of trading lord. Although they are often greedy and extremely shrewd, they are always easier to get along with than war-like lords.

At the previous dinner hosted by Li Rufeng, the lord confirmed the leadership of the Mughals and announced many policies that would benefit business.

Going back further, Li Rufeng proposed the establishment of the blacksmith district at a banquet at the lord's mansion. The same thing happened when he announced Aleppo's tax exemption for a whole year. The establishment of the contract management agency also took place at a similar occasion. Anyway, the lord also provided meals that time...

Therefore, these businessmen who are currently active in the Aleppo area are keenly aware that big things are about to happen every time this lord hosts a dinner party.

Therefore, whether or not one is qualified to attend the dinner hosted by the lord has become a threshold for a businessman's influence in Aleppo.

The person with the highest status and the easiest access to Li Rufeng at present is Li Rufeng's apprentice Bater.

Bater is now the principal of the Aleppo Cultural and Educational College. He is responsible for the daily food, clothing, housing and transportation of hundreds of children, as well as the salaries and teaching level of more than a dozen teachers. He even has to find time to teach several classes every day. He is extremely busy.

He is obviously still just a teenager, but now he has to shoulder so many responsibilities and is under great pressure every day.

Bell, the cartographer apprentice who had been freed, was currently employed at the academy due to his educational background, serving as Bartel's deputy. Their combined ages were less than the average age of the school's teachers...

But they have Li Rufeng's trust, which is the most important thing.

In fact, Bater should be regarded as Li Rufeng's junior fellow apprentice. Of course, he can also be regarded as his senior brother, after all, he was originally the official apprentice of the old shaman.

In Bater's opinion, Li Rufeng is actually more like a colleague of the old shaman. They are both teachers and friends. Bater even feels that Li Rufeng knows more than the old shaman, so this somewhat confusing master-disciple relationship has continued.

Because Li Rufeng was going to hold a banquet, many businessmen found Bater with their connections, which made Bater very annoyed. He could only ask the soldiers guarding the door to prohibit anyone from entering the academy and disrupting the teaching order.

This actually made those businessmen behave themselves. You know, although the Aleppo Culture and Education Institute was established only a short time ago, it has a great reputation.

This academy not only teaches students knowledge for free, but also pays for two meals a day. Even though the merchants doing business in Aleppo are used to traveling far and wide, they have never seen such an academy in other areas.

Various legends about the academy have been circulating in the city of Aleppo. The scene of Bater leading Mongolian soldiers to arrest people all over the city, and taking children from their homes and streets to school one by one, has always been talked about.

Before being defeated by Timur, the Ottoman leader Bayezid selected Christian children in his Rumelia province, brought them back to his palace, forcibly severed their blood ties, and turned them into sharp weapons in his hands.

Many parents had worried that their lords would do the same, leading to several bloody incidents in the early stages of teaching. However, as the children completed their studies in the academy every day, had their meals, and were sent home to reunite with their parents, such incidents became much less frequent.

Because of this, many businessmen who passed by even brought their families to settle in Aleppo. They understood the value of knowledge much better than ordinary people.

And according to simple market economics, a slave who can read and write is worth as much as five slaves who are uneducated and can only work hard.

Some businessmen even had evil ideas and planned to send a large number of underage slaves they had to the Aleppo Cultural and Educational College for free education, and then sell them at a high price after a few years.

Of course, the result was consistent with the merchants' stereotype of the Mongols. The merchant was skinned and hung on the city wall.

The word "skinning and tearing apart" here is not just an adjective. Li Rufeng not only confiscated all his property, but also literally killed the businessman who wanted to take advantage of him.

The Mughals were a nomadic people who raised sheep, cattle, and horses, and were particularly skilled in skinning and leather making. The older generation, especially those who were old and could no longer fight, had honed their skills to an amazing degree.

Although Li Rufeng didn't personally witness the entire process, he only examined the final results. He knew that as long as the nitrate production process was meticulously executed, there was virtually no trace of its bloodiness or cruelty. On the contrary, humans, a species at the top of the food chain, possessed exceptionally delicate skin.

As a civilized man, Li Rufeng did not encourage such barbaric behavior, but it was undeniable that this Mongolian-style punishment significantly reduced the courage of those merchants to test his bottom line...

Omar Mahmoud, a wealthy merchant from Mersin, also came to Aleppo with trepidation. Because of some "small matters", the relationship between him and the lord was somewhat awkward.

So after hearing the rumors about war bonds that Li Rufeng had spread before, Omar has been looking for opportunities to mend their relationship.

He made up his mind that even if there was no return this time, he would buy some bonds issued by Li Rufeng as if it were paying taxes to Aleppo.

But obviously Omar didn't expect that he couldn't even get the qualification to attend Li Rufeng's dinner. He had a good relationship with the local big businessman Saduddin Fasif, but this time the other party was unwilling to help.

This was a very dangerous signal. Omar immediately realized the lord's attitude towards him, so he had to do everything possible to get the invitation.

In the end, after making inquiries from many sources, Omar chose Bater's path. After all, he was a simple young man and easier to convince.

However, Omar did not expect that he would wait at the academy for a whole afternoon. As it was getting dark and the dinner was about to begin, he still did not see Dean Bartel. He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

But people are quick-witted. Watching the students filing out after school, Omar suddenly came up with a plan...

Chapter 413 Let Me Say a Few Words

"Please be kind enough to tell Lord Bartel that a merchant from Mersin heard about Lord Rufeng's righteous act and wanted to donate some money to the academy to do something for the children." Omar stood at the gate of the academy and pondered for an entire afternoon. Finally, before the dinner began, he found the ticket to the lord's mansion.

Omar only learned about the existence of Aleppo College today. He spent a little money and learned a lot of information about the college from several families living near the college.

He couldn't understand why the Mongolian lord was willing to set up this academy with his own money, but as a businessman, Omar believed that the lord must have his own interests in this academy. Apparently, no one else in the city of Aleppo had figured this out yet.

So Omar felt that if he could contribute a little in this regard, perhaps he would not only get the opportunity to attend the dinner, but also be able to directly repair the relationship between him and Li Rufeng.

Facts have proved that Omar's idea is correct, at least it works in Bater. This time, Omar made up his mind and took out a full 500 dinars to support Rufeng Shaman's educational career.