Mount and Blade Central Asia

Mushtaq remained silent, because many of the "nobles" among the Black Sheep had already demonstrated their so-called fate with their lives, and those Iranians were even unwilling to take prisoners.

This is also why many defeated soldiers would choose to return directly to their respective tribes without food. They would rather starve to death on the road or be hanged by the Black Sheep King's military judge than die in battle here.

"What do you mean? Outsiders?" Mushtaq raised his glass, but couldn't finish it. "Don't forget, those are the Iranians stationed outside the city."

He was very ambitious and naturally did not want to perish with this fortress.

"Surrender to my master, and I can spare your life," Saib said vehemently. "The same applies to your soldiers. If you are willing to pledge your loyalty to my master, I can even promise you rights."

"You are humiliating me! There are still some Black Sheep people on the battlefield who have not surrendered!" Mushtaq smashed the wine glass on the table. The guards who heard the noise immediately drew their swords and came to check.

"Really? Even the Black Sheep King himself would be embarrassed to say that, right?" Sayyib continued drinking nonchalantly. "I remember he nearly became a prisoner twice, almost a victim of the sword. Twice, he abandoned all his glory and followers and fled overseas. He finally waited for the old Sultan's death, and if he had seized that opportunity, he would have achieved his current position. Don't make the mistake..."

Sayyib's words immediately deflated Mushtaq. If someone else had said such words, he would have naturally drawn his knife to defend the honor of the Black Sheep King, but the man in front of him... this man might be one of the real culprits who killed the Black Sheep King and made him run around the world. How could he hold his head high?

"Never mind, it's just drunken nonsense. You and I are both drunk." Mushtaq's face flushed, and he waved his guards away again. "Since it's just drunken nonsense, why don't you elaborate? Let's start with this siege outside the city. How can we break it?"

"Although my lord is an outsider, he is handsome and has outstanding temperament. He was taught by Changshengtian and was respected by the Mongols as the God-chosen Shaman. He has a very high reputation. Moreover, my lord is engaged to the daughter of Prince Milan Shah. His status is not inferior to Prince Shah Rukh and Prince Khalil." Saib first boasted about Li Rufeng. No matter whether it was true or not, he had to brag about it first. It would be too late to regret after people got fooled.

When Mushtaq heard Sayyib introduce the Khanate forces that attacked them from the west, his eyes widened. After all, up to now, the Black Sheep people's understanding of Li Rufeng was already several versions behind.

It was even the first time he knew that the shaman was actually a strong contender for the succession to the Khanate. Apart from anything else, his status as a son-in-law alone was enough to gain the support of a large number of people.

After all, in order to demonstrate his legitimacy, the great conqueror supported many ambitious people who wanted to inherit the family power as sons-in-law, or should we say, steal the family power.

Now, in order to ensure their own legitimacy, these fully fledged ambitious people will naturally stand behind another "son-in-law" and cheer for him. Mushtaq is not a political novice. He has a family heritage and naturally knows that this kind of support represents power.

"The Iranians outside the city also know about this, so as long as you surrender to me and hang up the flag of the shaman, they will naturally not continue to attack." Saib boasted again, because he had no idea about the attitude of the Iranians outside the city, and didn't know whether they had awe of Li Rufeng.

But even if they don't admit it, Saiyibu has nothing to lose. In order to survive, these black sheep people will still have to cling to Li Rufeng, but it will be embarrassing for him.

But for someone like Sayib, what's the point of caring about face? He cares about substance!

"Can you intimidate those Iranians by waving your flag?" Mushtaq is not a fool, he naturally has some doubts, but just like Sayyib thought, he has no better choice.

"That's right. Our army is preparing to besiege Mosul, which is across from the Erbil Castle. Unless those Iranians intend to clearly support Prince Shah Rukh, they will never risk taking a stand." Saib had a look of confidence, but in fact, he heard these words from Li Rufeng and Badak's conversation.

What happened was that Mushtaq was no novice in this area, but he was not experienced enough either. He happened to understand this kind of words and found them quite reasonable, so he felt that the person in front of him was right and this was an opportunity!

"I believe that even if there are small-scale conflicts, they'll just be people trying to take credit. As long as you can hold out for one or two waves of attack, you'll be safe." Seeing a chance, Sayib quickly corrected his previous words. "But if you try to deceive us, you'll become our common enemy. No one will tolerate you living."

"So, are you willing to accept the olive branch I bring?" Sayyib looked at Mushtaq seriously and asked. His heart was beating very fast at this moment. If it weren't for the wine, Mushtaq would have noticed that his face was red.

Chapter 552: Fog of War

Li Rufeng didn't know that some of his men were also trying to act alone at this time. He only knew that his army would not be able to move forward for at least half a month. Fortunately, Abu Zahir was a relatively wealthy city and it could afford the cost of stationing an army here.

Moreover, the locals also showed great empathy in the face of the Mongolian swords. In addition to the nobles who took the initiative to organize and deliver supplies to the military camp for two consecutive nights, even ordinary residents sent representatives to express their willingness to support their "liberators" to the best of their ability.

However, considering the Black Sheep people's previous indiscriminate killing in the city, it cannot be said that these people have no true feelings in their hearts.

On the one hand, they were very grateful to Li Rufeng for driving the Black Sheep People out of their city. On the other hand, they were full of inappropriate expectations for Li Rufeng's army, which had not yet invaded any citizens. Li Rufeng's good reputation had spread to this place through the spread of merchants. They hoped that Li Rufeng would continue to carry forward his style and not allow his troops to plunder.

The good news is that Li Rufeng did once again restrain his soldiers and did not allow them to act recklessly in the city.

This is also thanks to his personal guards. That kind of spiritual connection has made all the personal guards who were incorporated into the system by Li Rufeng influenced by Li Rufeng to a certain extent. They can understand what Li Rufeng likes, dislikes, and even yearns for better than others.

These personal guards could vaguely sense what kind of world Li Rufeng wanted and what kind of order he wanted to create. Even without the constraints of the system, they would have supported Li Rufeng wholeheartedly. With the empathy granted by the system, such support seemed even more solid.

Didn't the legend say that humans who spoke the same language once built the Tower of Babel? That story happened on this land. This shows that understanding is a power that is enough to make even the gods fear it, and now under Li Rufeng's command, this power has begun to manifest itself.

If other lords or officers want to constrain their troops to act according to their own will, they need the cooperation of many people. But when Li Rufeng wants to do something, there are countless pairs of eyes to help him keep an eye on the entire system.

Even the most unruly Mongolian in his army was well aware of this. The Shaman's personal guards were impartial, upright, and difficult to threaten or tempt. If one did not want to be whipped, it was best not to challenge the Shaman's will.

Although Li Rufeng's requirements for the soldiers were harsh in the military records, when it came to the distribution of spoils, Master Li was generous enough to make up for all the losses. They found the previous base of the Black Sheep People. Although the few soldiers who stayed behind had absconded with a considerable portion of the wealth looted by the Black Sheep People, the remaining things were still enough to satisfy most people.

The Black Sheep camps contained not only the wealth looted from Abu Zahir, but also the wealth they had accumulated in the border areas over the past few years. The Black Sheep commanders had deceived their soldiers. They had no idea that this would be a mission with heavy casualties, and most of them would not have the opportunity to return to the camp to take away their belongings.

So these things became a bargain for Li Rufeng. He distributed one-third of the gold, silver and treasures to his officers, one-third of the wealth to all the soldiers, and the remaining one-third of the wealth as rewards to individuals who performed outstandingly in the war.

Thanks to the strategic map perspective, Li Rufeng's control over the entire battlefield is unmatched by others, so his rewards are very fair. At the same time, it also intimidates the officer class to a certain extent, so that they dare not play tricks when reporting military merits.

Finally, Master Li returned the goods looted by the Hengyang people, including large items that were difficult to carry, directly to the nobles of Abu Zahir in order to establish his own ruling position. Although there were not many things, the friendly attitude shown by Li Rufeng made the entire city breathe a sigh of relief and submit to Li Rufeng with a humble attitude.

Although they had no choice, at least Li Rufeng was willing to give them a fairly smooth way out. This kind of "respect" surpassed that of 99% of rulers.

Imam Muhayya, who knew that Li Rufeng had captured Abu Zahir, also rushed to the city on horseback overnight. Using a not-so-gentle approach, he led the religious army formed in the city of Malikiye to negotiate with the imam of the mosque in the city.

The final result was that the Imam of Abu Zahir died of illness, and the person who took his place was a Mongolian believer designated by Muhaya. He was a native of Abu Zahir named Muhammad Bagheri. Apart from his Mongolian appearance, he had been completely Islamized and could not even speak Mongolian well.

But obviously, such a person can meet the needs of both parties at the same time. Li Rufeng needs to have his own voice within Islam, and the Mongols seem to be his base for the time being. This new imam of Mongolian descent is a candidate he can accept.

Muheya also needs to expand its power to deal with the upcoming religious counterattack.

Li Rufeng likes to cooperate with smart people like Muheya. They always take the interests of their partners into full consideration and make decisions after careful consideration, so as to avoid being in a weak position and suddenly dying.

If he had a few more subordinates like this, even if they were just collaborators, he could save a lot of trouble.

Apart from the above, the rest is all bad news.

Scouts sent towards Mosul kept disappearing at an alarming rate of 50 percent. The city was like an invisible black hole, swallowing up all those who tried to explore its secrets.

Li Rufeng couldn't even get any information about the city from the passing caravans. After investigation, he found out that after Pepper Mari and Hiltberg left the city, it had never been open to the public again.

This is obviously very unreasonable. Mosul is a big city. Even after the ravages of the great conqueror, Mosul still has a population of tens of thousands. A population of this size requires the entire region to supply it with supplies in order to maintain its existence.

"Satellite cities" like Abu Zaher were built up slowly through this method. They were supposed to be responsible for supplying part of Mosul's material needs and then eating up the indigestible residues it vomited out.

Although this metaphor is a bit disgusting, this is the meaning of Abu Zahir's existence. Its trade is the low-profit trade thrown out by Mosul, and its supply chain is also the low-value-added part that Mosul looks down upon.

The Magic River has been in a state of blockade for more than half a year. Only a few fishermen on the Tigris River said that they occasionally saw large ships carrying food entering from upstream, but no ships were seen coming out.

What on earth are those dark wizards doing in the city?

Li Rufeng even took the risk of sending his personal guards to conduct reconnaissance in person. However, from the perspective provided by the personal guards, the sky above Mosul seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog, making it impossible for Li Rufeng to peek into the interior of the city on the strategic map.

This was a situation Li Rufeng had never encountered before, but for the time being he could only take it step by step. His army needed to rest and supply, but Mosul was there and he couldn't go anywhere else.

Chapter 553 Empty City Strategy

As everyone knows, Master Li has never been a man who is willing to suffer any loss, so if he were to rashly go to Mosser to test the strength of the dark wizard, he would really have no idea.

But as a novice on the battlefield, it was too difficult to get Li Rufeng to live frugally. He was already accustomed to being able to see all the movements of both the enemy and us at the same time from the perspective of his strategic map, so that he could respond efficiently.

Li Rufeng's reputation was not spread entirely by his generosity and kindness, otherwise he would have attracted only robbers and bad guests. His reputation almost rose by stepping on the black sheep people.

The most efficient conqueror in this land since the Great Conqueror was as fragile as a rabbit in front of Li Rufeng. This kind of "good reputation" was the reputation recognized by this land. As the saying goes, those who fear power but not virtue are barbarians. According to the standards of the daimyo, these people were standard barbarians.

What Li Rufeng lacks now is a victory that will make everyone famous.

He took Aleppo by cunning and plundering. The city was almost deserted, so he got a bargain.

Urfa Castle is just a castle, not worthy of being shown in public. As for the two captures of Mardin City, although the first one was full of ups and downs, Qinggelinayan was the person in charge at that time, and Li Rufeng was still unknown.

The next few cities or important towns were either acquired for free or surrendered voluntarily, which made Li Rufeng's reputation somewhat diluted and not as solid as that of a great conqueror.

The great conqueror basically conquered every place he could reach, and he conquered many famous cities repeatedly, which is why he gained such a terrifying reputation. However, his first battle was the bloody battle with the Mughals near Samarkand, which eventually established his rule over Samarkand.

Now Mosul is such a crucial battle for Li Rufeng. The crown needs to be crowned with blood, no matter which side the blood is from.

So after resting in Abu Zaher for a full half month, Li Rufeng finally assembled his troops again in early June and began to march towards Mosul. This period of waiting was still very meaningful. First of all, the logistics finally caught up with Li Rufeng's advancing speed.

Although nearly one-third of the logistical supplies were outsourced to various merchants, Li Rufeng still managed to piece together a group of nearly 7,000 civilians. These people were divided into several parts, from Aleppo to Mardin, from Mardin to Malikiye, and then to Abu Zahir, forming a primitive material conveyor belt.

To say that Li Rufeng spends money like water every day is an understatement. Mr. Li previously used his own pocket to subsidize the development of Aleppo's business. It took him nearly a year of spending to finally convert it into a few dozen kilograms of gold. Now, the war is not over yet, and Li Rufeng's assets have shrunk by nearly a quarter.

This is also thanks to the fact that Qamishli, Malikiya City, and Abu Zaher still have some foundation and have a certain circulation capacity, which can squeeze out enough supplies to supply Li Rufeng's army. Otherwise, just maintaining a supply line from Aleppo to Mosul would make Li Rufeng return home on the spot.

He really doesn't have anyone under his command who can do this kind of work. The reason why the first half of the logistics line has not been in chaos until now is mainly because Muzaffar and the former tax system bureaucrats he recruited are watching over it. It's almost like one person is doing two things and is overloaded with work every day.

The second half can be sorted out clearly because the newly defected Imam Muhayya is a true all-rounder. With the city of Malikiye as the center, he manages all the personnel and materials that transit there clearly.

To put it bluntly, Princess Parisa, who had just arrived in Malikiya City, was currently just a rubber stamp and could only carefully follow Muheya to learn how to manage a city.

Although she had mastered some theoretical knowledge, this was her first time to put it into practice. Fortunately, Muheya was very respectful to this princess of "royal blood". He was one of the leaders of the secular faction and had made his fortune by promoting the personal cult of the great conqueror. Now that he had met his blood descendant, he was naturally overjoyed.

With the cooperation between the two sides, Li Rufeng's army not only obtained sufficient supplies, but also a large number of soldiers replaced their equipment with new ones, and made up for the previous losses with new recruits. Among them, the Armenian thousand-man team was even overstaffed by half a thousand.

This made Marcelino, who had just adapted to the position of centurion, overjoyed. He didn't know where these new recruits came from. After some inquiries, he learned that they were Christian missionaries in the Armenian residential area. Because of Li Rufeng's policy of religious tolerance, they were actively promoting it, hoping that the Armenians would stand up again and defend their land for the glory of the Lord.

In addition, he also received another piece of news related to the Armenians. It was said that further north, in the Armenians' homeland, those tribes that retreated to the mountains were also connecting with each other and had begun conflicts with the Black Sheep People on the border.

Of course, Li Rufeng's grasp of this information was far more detailed than Marcelino's, because this was a big job done by Hiltberg. He never expected that the idle chess pieces he sent out at the beginning would be so powerful.

According to the news from the guards operating near Van, Hiltberg has now linked up an Armenian army with a total number of more than 3,000 people, which is gathering in the area near Erzurum, putting the Black Sheep People under great pressure.

After all, Van is the traditional territory of the Qara Qara Qara people, and Erzurum is not too far from Van. The Qara Qara Qara King will never give up Van like he gave up the land near Mosul.

With so much good news, Li Rufeng believed that even if there was nothing dirty between the Black Sheep King and the black wizard of Mosul, he would not be able to spare the time to support Mosul.

So now is the best time. The army, with high morale, took five days to advance leisurely to the outskirts of Mosul, facing the ancient city across the Tigris River.

Mosul is located on the east bank of the Tigris River. There are three ports and two bridges along the river. One of the bridges is very old and is said to have stood for a thousand years.

What puzzled Li Rufeng was that the black wizards in Mosul did not react at all. They did not demolish the bridge over the river, but just waited for Li Rufeng's army to arrive in a very calm manner.

When Li Rufeng looked at the city with his naked eyes, it looked so normal. Apart from the closed gates and the quietness, there was nothing special about it. When Li Rufeng entered the strategic map perspective again, the city was still shrouded in a deep purple mist, making it impossible to see inside.

Are these dark wizards planning to play an empty city trick on him?

Chapter 554 It’s time to get up!

Fatma Sakana is a new member of Li Rufeng's personal guard. He was selected as a personal guard after the cavalry pursuit outside the city of Abu Zaher. There are four Kurds who joined the personal guard with him, all of whom are the bravest warriors in that war.

Saladin blessed them and told them to serve the shaman more loyally than they served himself, as their performance was related to the reputation of the entire Kurdish tribe.

Fatma didn't know how to behave in order to demonstrate her loyalty, but she was indeed very proactive. So proactive that when she realized that the adult was eager to know the situation in Mosul, she volunteered to step forward and planned to sneak into the city alone.

He was so faithful because he had seen a true miracle.

Before being selected into the Royal Guard, Fatma had two knife wounds and one arrow wound on her body, but after becoming a member of the Royal Guard, most of the wounds on her body healed after only one night's sleep.

If this is not a miracle, no other miracles will appear in that world.

Of course, Fatma is not just brave. She can swim and is quite good at it. When life was the hardest in the tribe, she relied on her swimming skills to catch fish in the water pools to feed her younger brothers and sisters.

The city of Mosul has a port, so he can try to sneak into the city by water to see what the situation is inside. If everything goes well, Fatma will swim back by water.

Mosul is a big city with a population of tens of thousands. Like Li Rufeng, Fatma doesn't believe that all the residents in the city have died.

Li Rufeng didn't believe that the dark wizards had the ability to kill an entire city's population silently without leaving any survivors, while Fatma was simply accustomed to death and he didn't smell any corpses in the air.

Fatma really couldn't imagine what the scene would be like if tens of thousands of people died together, but she had seen dozens of bodies rotting in the same place, hundreds of bodies piled up in a pile, and thousands of bodies paved along the road like a road of death.

In addition to making Fatma less afraid of death, those scenes also left a deep impression on her. Corpses will rot, and rotten corpses will definitely emit an unpleasant odor.

It's okay in winter, but in summer, like this month, the corpse will rot very quickly and emit a very alarming smell. Whether it is incineration or burial, these methods cannot completely eliminate the smell of human death.

The smell would linger in the air, cling to the walls, and cling to the dirt on the ground, attracting mosquitoes for months, making disturbing noises and reminding others of what had happened here.

Now, the city of Mosul does not emit any terrible smell, the water in the river is still relatively clear, and the fish caught in the river are just normally fat, and it seems that they have not overeaten in the past few months.

So Fatma believed that there had been no large-scale massacre in this city. He only needed to find a suitable corner to go ashore, then blend into the crowd to hide himself, and then spend a little money to get enough information from the locals, and he could bring back information that would satisfy the adult.

Fatma even felt that if everything went well, she could handle it all in a bar near the pier.

He didn't know what black magic was, nor did he think those black wizards were so great. He might not even understand why Li Rufeng was cautious about the city without defenders, but Fatma felt that this was a good opportunity to prove her worth.

So after getting Li Rufeng's permission, he jumped into the slightly cold Tigris River a little upstream of Mosul early the next morning before dawn, and quietly followed the current to approach the port of Mosul.

The port of Mosul is an inland port. Because the riverbed of the Tigris River is low and shallow, shipping can only be barely maintained, so the ports here are not large, but small and dense.

Although there are only three ports in name, they are all official ports with a complete tax system. So, like other cities upstream, Mosul also has several "secret ports" that actually exist but have no records.

These ports are smaller in scale and all use fishing boats as a cover. Sometimes, only fishing boats are used as a cover to complete a ship-to-ship cargo transfer, so it has been banned repeatedly since ancient times.

Before Fatma set out, Li Rufeng had already learned from nearby fishermen and several merchants who had been to Mosul before that there were several passages that could be used to bypass the port wall by water. Fatma waited until the sun just began to rise and successfully found one of the "loopholes" and entered the city of Mosul through it.

Mosul was extremely quiet at this time. Fatma didn't even hear the crowing of a rooster. This silence made him feel a little uneasy.

Li Rufeng, who was waiting outside the city, also found with regret that even though his personal guards had successfully sneaked into the city of Mosul, from the perspective of the strategic map, the city of Mosul was still shrouded in the fog of war, making it impossible for him to peek into the information inside.

Now he could only hope that his personal guard would be lucky enough to bring back sufficiently detailed information.

At the same time, Li Rufeng did not intend to wait any longer. He waved his hand, and the army behind him, which was ready to go, entered combat status and began preparing for the siege near the south gate of Mosul.

No matter what cards the dark wizards have, they are ultimately unable to fight against real swords and spears, otherwise they would have become the actual rulers of the Black Sheep Dynasty long ago.

This is also one of the reasons why Li Rufeng has the confidence to attack a big city like Mosul. He does not need to fight a war of annihilation. He only needs to enter the city and drive away the dark wizard.

So instead of wasting manpower to surround the city of Mosul, he only needed to concentrate on attacking one of the city walls. Master Li did not have enough troops, and those black wizards had no one available.

The first to prepare was still the artillery regiment led by Diobiya. This artillery unit had performed excellently in the previous battles, and Li Rufeng was generous in rewarding them. Now both veterans and recruits were full of energy, and it only took two-thirds of the expected time to complete the installation of the cannons.

Of course, this may also be because they are missing another gun...

"When you're ready, fire a few shots first to tell those dark wizards in the city that it's time to get up!" Li Rufeng waved his hand, setting the tone for the war.