Mount and Blade Central Asia

Chapter 555: Fire, Blood, Steel, and Gunpowder Represent the Light of Humanity

Starting a battle with the roar of cannons seems to have become a signature act of Li Rufeng's army, and the members of the artillery regiment headed by Diobiya also enjoy such courtesy very much.

To a certain extent, they even ritualized this pre-war behavior, and the gunners taught by Diobbia had become accustomed to the style of this godly gunner.

Despite the long aiming time required, hitting the target with the first shot without any test firing was like a myth to any gunner of that era, who considered it a symbol of good luck.

However, because most of these gunners were "Zhenghuangqi" Mongolians from Li Rufeng's army, this statement was quickly recognized by others.

The soldiers believed that hitting the first shot before the battle was a good omen. If the shot was successful, it meant that the battle would be a great victory, otherwise it might be a tough battle.

Of course, Diobiya has not failed once so far, and this time is no exception. After all, there is not even the shadow of a guard on the high walls of Mosul.

The entire city seemed to have become a ghost town, without any response to the besieging army. This made Diobiya even risk pushing the artillery positions forward to a "dangerous" distance of 350 meters.

According to common sense, a big city like Mosul has complete defensive equipment. Diobiya herself can see the faintly visible crossbows, small catapults and other long-range weapons on the city walls.

So three hundred and fifty meters was very risky for them. An experienced crossbow operator could pose a threat to them at this distance, but there was no one there either, so Diobia decided to take a risk.

The soldiers' expectations were also a kind of pressure. Diobia received the highest salary in the army, far exceeding the average level of a seasoned mercenary and artillery instructor. Not only that, Li Rufeng rewarded him with a lot of extra money.

If Diobiya wanted to make a quick buck and then leave before, now he has begun to consider whether to settle in Aleppo.

He is a Genoese. With the prestige he has accumulated in the army, when he retires, he can become a middleman in Aleppo, specializing in introducing business to his Genoese fellows and providing guarantees, which will make him a fortune.

"Bah!" Diobbia spat in his palm, spread out his palm to feel the wind direction and speed, and then rode on the cannon with his most familiar movements. He tightened his stomach, leaned forward, and rested his chin on the cold barrel of the gun, letting his sight follow the direction of the gun body and look at the distant city wall.

At that moment, he seemed to see the parabola of the cannonball flying through the air, and felt the terrifying shock of the cannon at the moment of firing. The heavy metal tube contained the violent energy of the gunpowder explosion, allowing the angry fire to do work in the direction indicated by human will, propelling the stone bullet to destroy its enemies...

Diobiya took a deep breath and tried to find the most suitable line trajectory in his mind, but the next second, the wall of Mosul in his sight seemed to have grown taller out of thin air and became even taller!

He sat up straight suddenly and rubbed his eyes hard, only to find that the city wall was still the same wall without any change. The changes that occurred just now seemed to be just his illusion.

The old guys around Diobiya noticed his abnormality, but no one said anything. They knew Diobiya's habits and they must not disturb him when he was aiming, especially when firing the first shot.

The old gunner closed his eyes and waited calmly for a few seconds, then bent down again with a serious expression, ready to try again.

However, this time, he saw something even more bizarre. Diobia saw eyes growing on the city wall, and the city gate turned into a hideous giant mouth, which made a harsh laugh at him, as if mocking his arrogance.

Diobiya screamed and nearly fell off the gun. At this moment, several old brothers around him finally couldn't sit still anymore and asked cautiously: "Diobiya, what's wrong with you? Did you burn your eggs again?"

The old brother's caring and teasing sarcasm brought Diobbia back to reality. It was an accident that happened when they were fighting a few years ago. After the cannon had fired several times, Diobbia risked climbing onto the cannon to aim for accuracy.

As a result, his leather pants were torn at some point, and the hot cannon almost sent him to the Ottoman Sultan's palace to be a eunuch...

"It's okay, a thorn pricked my butt and almost broke my virginity!" Diobbia responded with a vulgar witticism. He didn't know what he saw, but he knew how much money he had taken.

As an experienced mercenary, Diobiya has seen life and death in his life, and is also accustomed to the mercenary mentality of taking money to eliminate disasters for others. The money Li Rufeng gave him was enough to buy his life and still make him rich, so he had to be worthy of this price.

Not to mention that the city wall was grinning at him, even if the city grew legs and rose from the ground and walked towards him, he would still smash the damn cannonballs on the city wall!

Diobbia threw his sun hat to the ground and stuck it on the cannon again, muttering something, from God to Eternal Heaven, from priests to shaman Li Rufeng.

Then, he ignored the strange changes in the walls of Mosul, suppressed the fear in his heart with his simple idea of ​​getting things done for money, and calmly directed his old brothers to adjust the direction of the guns.

A full ten minutes passed before Diobbia carefully climbed down from the cannon and squatted behind it to confirm the trajectory for the last time. At this moment, in his eyes, the city had really grown legs, and its stomping of its feet in a show of force caused the nearby ground to shake.

But Diobbia did not feel any vibration under his feet. This mismatch between vision and feeling made the old gunner's brain a mess, as if he was about to vomit in the next second.

"Give me that damn torch, I want to fire this shot myself!" Diobiya gritted his teeth and said to the old brothers around him. He didn't dare to look directly at the old brothers around him, because they had become hideous at this time, and each of them looked like a hybrid of some deep-sea creature and human.

In Diobiya's sight, only the cannon was still as bright as new. The golden copper and iron seemed like a spear of clarity that stabilized the world, maintaining his last bit of clarity.

Diobbia couldn't hear what the old brother said. He only saw the other party handing him a severed limb that looked like an octopus tentacle. At the top of the limb, a ball of fire was burning chaotically.

When he picked up the tentacle-like torch, the whole torch kept twisting in his hand, and the flame swung back and forth, refusing to listen to him.

Diobbia also lost his temper at this time and grabbed the head of the tentacle. Then a fierce pain came from his palm. He endured the pain and straightened the tentacle and stabbed it on the fire door.

The next second, Diobiya was pinned to the ground by several mutated old brothers. They held down his limbs as if they wanted to eat him, and dragged him backwards, trying to stop him from bombarding the monstrous city!

But Diobiya would not compromise! He resisted stubbornly, because he had to be worthy of the gold and silver in the iron box under his bed!

He struggled to shake off the monster that grabbed his arm, and kept dancing the tentacle, making the limp flame draw streaks of light in the air. This was his fire, his cannon, and his war!

Diobbia looked back and saw the tiny sparks on the twisting wire swinging back and forth as if trying to escape, but eventually they conducted the power of the flame along the twisting wire into the gunpowder pool of the cannon, causing the cannon to emit a huge roar!

boom!

Diobiya's eyes went dark in an instant, and there was a buzzing sound in his ears. He felt as if he had drunk several large cups of the best liquor used by the army to treat the wounded, and then been thrown into the riding training ground by the Mongols and trampled back and forth by their war horses. There was no part of his body that didn't hurt.

It was half a century later that Diobbia finally saw the real world again. He was surrounded by his old brothers, their eyes filled with fear and tension, and not far away was a cannon that had just completed a firing.

It took Diobbia several minutes to realize what he had done. He had fired the cannon, and then, against all the common sense he had taught the recruits, did not immediately move away from the cannon to a safe distance, but stood next to it until it had finished firing.

Fortunately, the cannon did not explode this time. He just had a little tinnitus from the shock. When he fell, he hit the gun carriage and a big bump appeared on his forehead.

In addition, there was a large burn on Diobbia's palm. He had randomly pressed it on the burning end of the torch and ignited the cannon with the bloody flame.

Fire, blood, steel, and gunpowder fused together, completely destroying the illusion in Diobiya's eyes. When he turned back to look at the city of Mosul again, it had turned back into an ordinary city, with an unsightly dent on the city gate.

That was the result of his battle just now!

"Bah! I hit it again!" Diobiya laughed ferociously!

Chapter 556: From outside the city?

When Fatma came ashore, she made sure that she was not discovered by anyone because there was no one near the port.

He felt as if he had walked into a dead city. There was no one at the port, no one on the streets, not even the sound of insects. It was so quiet that it was scary.

But this time, Fatma came in with the idea that he could make a lot of money if he didn't die. Naturally, he would not be scared by such a "small scene". He just hid his figure in the shadow of the building and walked towards the city.

He saw that the doors of many houses on the street were open. Fatma ventured into a few of them, but they were all empty and there was not a single resident to be found.

Although some time was wasted, Fatma still found the "black tavern" he planned before dawn. This was one of the information Li Rufeng got from those merchants.

There are no open pubs in Mosul, but that doesn't mean there are no places serving alcohol. On the contrary, as a big city, you can buy everything.

What surprised Fatma was that this tavern disguised as a bathhouse actually had a flickering light in the darkness, and some low voices could be heard faintly.

But because of the strange things that happened on the street before, Fatma didn't dare to walk into the tavern to inquire about the news as he had planned. He didn't even dare to get close to the location of the tavern.

Because a small monster with wings, which looked only a quarter of the size of a normal human, was squatting on the tavern sign, making a cat-like roar from time to time, as if expressing its dissatisfaction.

Every time the little monster roared, the voices in the tavern would instantly quiet down, followed by a long period of silence, and then the sound would slowly reappear, repeating itself over and over again, forming a strange balance.

Fatma waited until the sun rose before she saw a hooded figure walking out of the tavern. The figure looked around vigilantly, but deliberately avoided the little monster above his head, and then disappeared hurriedly into an alley.

The little monster stared at the figure with a playful look until it disappeared, then roared again out of boredom, but it did not leave its position and just stood on the signboard like the most dedicated guard.

Fatma had discovered another problem at this time, that is, the sun above her head seemed a little dim, and the sunlight seemed to have penetrated a layer of mist before shining in, looking listless.

But this was enough. This little light was enough for Fatma to see clearly what was happening on the street. He saw that other people coming out of the tavern were also wearing hoods, and from time to time people dressed similarly walked into the tavern. The little monster did not make any other moves except roaring and threatening.

Fatma bravely covered his head with his still damp clothes and walked towards the tavern with his head lowered. With every step he took closer to the little monster, he could feel his heart beating twice as fast as before.

He was afraid that the other party would rush down and bite off his head, but in the end nothing happened. Fatma walked into the tavern named after the bathhouse and almost bumped into another customer who also looked panicked.

However, there was no communication between the two sides, not even a simple eye contact, they just passed each other as if the other was a carrier of some plague.

There was a long porch at the entrance of the bathhouse, and there was a door at the end of the porch. Fatma walked along the entire porch alone, pushed open another door, and finally saw something familiar.

The tavern owner with a ferocious face sat behind the counter, staring at the door with a fierce look. Several burly slaves surrounded the owner with weapons, ready to deal with any trouble at any time.

People of all kinds gathered around the pitch-black tables. Although most of them seemed silent, there were still quite a few drunkards who kept mumbling over and over again.

Fatma bravely sat behind the counter and slapped a dinar on the table. "I want to buy some information. Who should I contact?"

The tavern owner glanced at Fatma, stretched out his hand, and the silver coin disappeared in an instant. Then a guard placed a glass of wine in front of Fatma, and the owner whispered, "A stranger, I haven't seen you before. Where are you from?"

"Don't ask things that you shouldn't ask." Fatma frowned. She didn't expect that the other party knew every guest who came here and knew at a glance that he was a stranger.

"Are you from out of town?" the tavern owner lowered his voice and cautiously probed, "Do you have a way out? I'll pay a big price! A real big price!"

"No, I came from..." Before Fatma could deny where he came from, he suddenly felt the ground shaking violently, and the light in the entire tavern suddenly became much brighter.

The tavern owner across from him suddenly shook his hand and said, "I know you're from out of town. Come with me, let's talk in the secret room!"

...

No matter what those dark wizards had arranged in the city of Mosul, they obviously did not expect that their spells would be broken by an ordinary veteran in the most unpretentious way.

Although Li Rufeng did not see as many hallucinations as Diobiya, he still saw something. From the perspective of the strategic map, he saw that the fog of war shrouding the city of Mosul was suddenly dispelled.

He saw everything, including the pedestrians lying in the streets of the city. Most of them were still alive, but they looked a little thin and seemed to have been lying there for at least two or three days.

Some strange, winged little monsters fed the men, women, old people and children who were sleeping on the streets mouth to mouth.

The moment the fog of war was dispelled, the city, which had been circled and slightly changed by the dark wizards with some kind of magic, was instantly shrouded in sunlight, and those little winged monsters disappeared in an instant like bubbles in the sunlight.

He also saw four new tall tower-shaped buildings in the city, of different heights and at different construction progresses, but none of them were completed. Hundreds of workers were toiling around these towers.

Among the workers, some supervisors wearing purple robes and holding long whips were arrogantly forcing the workers to speed up their pace.

The moment the sun shone in, all the workers heard the deafening sound of artillery fire outside the city. Some of them looked into the distance numbly, some cheered, some held their heads and cried, and more people took this opportunity to turn around and flee the construction site.

"Well done, Diobbia. I think you should be called a noble lord in the future." A smile appeared on Li Rufeng's lips.

Chapter 557 Dreamland

Fatma, who was pulled into the secret room, almost took out the dagger hidden in her arms, only because the tavern owner's action was too sudden and his intuition was too sensitive. Fatma had never experienced such a thing. He had been to taverns in other cities before, but he had never been stripped so cleanly.

"Don't be impulsive, my friend. There are not many people in the city who can come to my place to drink now. Most of them are people who do errands for those dark wizards. I know all of them. This is my livelihood. Even before the dark wizards ruled this city, I knew half of the people in the port." The tavern owner held down Fatma's arm. His strength was almost as good as that of the young and strong Fatma.

The middle-aged man pointed to his eyes with some pride and said, "Anyone who has seen my eyes once will never forget them. You can call me Jebala. In addition to the wine business, I also do some intelligence business on the side."

The secret room that Jebala mentioned was indeed a secret room. He pulled Fatma through a twenty-meter-long underground tunnel and came out from another house. This room had no windows, only a sealed door, but it did not feel stuffy inside, obviously there was a separate ventilation hole.

"It's safe for now. Those little monsters didn't find this place before, and they probably won't find it again." Jebala turned back to listen to the sounds in the tunnel, and heaved a sigh of relief when he was sure there was no problem. "Did they swim in from the harbor through the small path?"

Fatma nodded. His clothes were not completely dry yet, so it was normal for him to be recognized by this cunning boss.

Without any nonsense, Jebala turned around and used the dagger he carried with him to dig out a secret compartment in the wall. He took out a cowhide bag from it, which made a crisp and pleasant metal collision sound. Then he untied the rope and poured all the gold and silver coins inside onto the table.

"This is just my deposit, to prove I'm not bragging. I told you I'd make you a fortune if you could find a way out," Jebala said, pointing to the money on the table. "Now, can you tell me how you got here?"

"Don't you already know? I swam in from the harbor." Fatma was a little confused. He felt that his brain couldn't keep up with the other party, but fortunately he still remembered his mission. "I don't want your money. I want to buy some information, information about the dark wizard!"

As Fatma spoke, she poured out some dinar silver coins from her pocket, but the money was a little too little compared to what Jebala poured out, which made Fatma subconsciously put her hand on her dagger again.

He was a soldier, the personal guard of that lord. If something couldn't be bought with money, he had to take it back even if he had to rob it.

Jebala saw Fatma's actions, showed a look of annoyance, and said hurriedly: "Are you crazy? You didn't even ask me how much money I can make. I'm not talking about just one person! This is a big business that can be used many times!"

But it was clear that Fatma didn't care about the big business that Jebala mentioned. He just repeated his request: "I want to know what those dark wizards did in the city."

Jebala looked at the dagger in Fatma's hand, then at the pitiful few dinars on the table. He finally sighed and added the dinars to his pile of money. "Okay, let's do your business first, and then we can discuss mine, okay?"

Fatma frowned, his thoughts were a little confused, and the other party's idea seemed to work?

"Tell me what I want to know first, and then we can talk." Fatma compromised, but she was still a little jealous of the money.

"What do you want to know? Ask me and I'll answer you." Jebala sat directly on the stool and looked at Fatma anxiously, as if he wanted to finish the deal quickly.

"How many guards do those dark wizards have in the city? Where are they deployed? Why is there no one on the city wall?" Fatma asked the question that Li Rufeng was most concerned about.

Jebara frowned and thought for a few seconds, then his eyes suddenly widened. "You didn't sneak in! You're a scout. Is your army besieging Mosul?"

Chapter 558 Entering the city!

Li Rufeng has always been very interested in what happened in the city of Mosul. As a time traveler, he is naturally very interested in conquering the world and reshaping it according to his own wishes, just like other ordinary people. However, the power of miracles is like the elephant in the house. Although everyone keeps silent, it still attracts everyone's attention.

The Four Wind Gods are the most active of all things related to the power of miracles. They are so active that it is hard not to notice them even if you want to. So Li Rufeng is very curious about what changes will happen to a city that has been controlled by dark wizards for nearly half a year.

But now, as the fog of war shrouding Mosul was dispelled, Li Rufeng regretfully saw that the dark wizards had made almost no visible changes. Apart from a few tall towers that looked like they were a considerable undertaking, the city of Mosul had also declined to a considerable extent.

To be fair, Li Rufeng still had certain expectations for the black wizards of Azure Wind. After all, this world was so ignorant. No matter how crazy those black wizards were, they represented more advanced productivity. The power of miracles was not original sin, but people who could not make good use of it were.

Li Rufeng carefully examined the four towers. The tallest one stood nearly fifteen meters tall, a truly impressive structure for the era. Unlike the slender minarets built solely for height, these towers had substantial bases, resembling "magic towers" that could be used as buildings.

From this perspective, the dark wizards who believed in the Azure Wind were actually quite traditional. They used evil means to control an entire city, but after spending the better part of half a year, the only thing they wanted to do was build themselves a wizard tower...

You have to know that Aleppo has undergone earth-shaking changes in the less than two years that Li Rufeng has been in power. If those black wizards were just a group of barbarians who could use witchcraft, then they would have no meaning for their existence.

Similarly, after the fog of war was dispelled, Li Rufeng was finally able to contact the personal guards he sent into Mosul. The Kurdish personal guard had lost contact with him as soon as he entered Mosul.

The news that the personal guard passed back to Li Rufeng was very interesting. It seemed that he was in contact with the resistance organization in Mosul. Li Rufeng followed the map lit by the personal guard and found a group of armed civilians in Mosul who looked a little down and out but seemed to be in good spirits.

There were about two or three hundred people in the group, scattered and hiding near the mosque near the north city gate. They seemed to be completely unaffected by the strange fog of war of the black wizard. At this time, a group of people were taking advantage of the opportunity of the fog of war being dispelled to search for supplies in the nearby residential areas in an organized and planned manner.

It can be seen that this group of people is not the first time to do this. Their movements are quick and they are very familiar with the route. The leader even has a horse running back and forth in the team, constantly conveying orders. Li Rufeng's personal guards are temporarily detained in the mosque, waiting for the end of this operation.

Apart from this, Li Rufeng did not find anything that interested him in the city of Mosul. Those dark wizards really did not have any army loyal to him. They actually planned to use their dark magic to defend the city!

Li Rufeng could only sigh that these black wizards had really become crazy in their cultivation of immortality. He simply waved his hand and ordered his loyal Armenian infantry of a thousand men to start advancing, carrying the siege equipment that had been built in advance.

Mosul is a big city, and its walls are not dispensable like the previous satellite cities. The average height of the walls is more than five meters, and there is an arrow tower every fifty meters as the center of defense. It's a pity that those dark wizards gave up all the advantages that this city could bring them, and faced Li Rufeng's army naked.