Mount and Blade Central Asia

Li Ruofeng felt that if he didn't give those dark wizards a surprise, he would be wasting this God-given opportunity.

Chapter 559: Dream of Eternal Sleep

Mosul is a big city, a real big city. Compared with it, even a prosperous city like Samarkand is just a nouveau riche city that prospered after the rise of the great conqueror.

As early as 3,000 years ago, during the ancient Assyrian era, Mosul was already one of the most important cities in the land. Back then, it was known as Nineveh, meaning "the greatest city before God." The Bible also mentions Nineveh: "The Lord will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh a desolation, dry as the wilderness."

Of course, the legend of the ancient city of Nineveh has become the same as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, becoming a mere fragment left over from an ancient civilization. Apart from some scattered, unidentifiable ruins of buildings, the former glory can no longer be found.

But even modern Mosul itself has countless legends that are passed down by the world. Among them, the famous Great Mosque of Nur (Note 1) must be mentioned. It was built in 1172. It was initiated by Sultan Nur ad-Din of the Zengid Dynasty in 1170 and completed when he died in 1172. The mosque was named after him.

The mosque is famous for its tilted minaret, commonly known as the "camel". Li Rufeng can clearly see the camel minaret from the strategic map perspective. One of the mage towers is only 150 meters away from the camel.

The army led by Li Rufeng opened the southern gate of Mosul. After entering the city, there was a small mosque on the left and a Christian church on the right. The square and the circle looked quite harmonious. However, the first to enter the city were the bravest rangers among the Mughals.

Many of Li Rufeng's personal guards were mixed in with these rangers, so they were more familiar with the situation in Mosul than other armies. We knew that there was no resistance in Mosul, so they could rush into the city unscrupulously as vanguards.

Li Rufeng condoned this act of stealing credit. Although he had always intended to downplay his Mongolian background, the fierce Mongol cavalry was still his most powerful trump card.

He had strictly restrained these arrogant soldiers along the way, so there was nothing wrong in letting them vent their anger now. After all, the city had been hollowed out by the dark wizards, and there was nothing to lose. Of course, Li Rufeng also issued a death order: whoever dared to set fire would die.

Marcelino left one-third of his Armenian thousand-man team to control the city gate and the nearby end of the city wall, while the rest followed the Mughal cavalry into the city with a more cautious attitude.

Li Rufeng issued a new order to Marcelino through his personal guards. He needed these Armenians to gather the native residents of Mosul who were scattered everywhere. Some of these people were sleeping on the streets. Some of them were slowly waking up at this time, and more were gathered in some buildings, such as mosques and churches on both sides of the road.

Apparently, the dark wizards had intended to gather the population together to prevent people from dying of thirst or starvation in their sleep. However, the progress of this work was a bit slow. Only a few main roads in Mosul had been cleared, and there were still a large number of scattered people sleeping in the intricate paths and alleys in the residential areas.

Li Rufeng valued the Armenians under his command more and more. Compared with the Mongols who were unruly and lax, these Armenians who had been repeatedly ravaged by the great conquerors had no roots and could only rely on Li Rufeng. Moreover, these outsiders from the mountains also had enough toughness to carry out Li Rufeng's will.

Marcelino is a "little man" who is not very smart but very wise. He is stubborn and has always rejected many temptations intentionally or unintentionally, focusing his attention on his work. He is the most respected officer in the entire officer class by Li Rufeng.

In contrast, the more comprehensive and professional Bardock has always been a little hesitant. He has not yet made up his mind to stay under Li Rufeng's command. John Hiltberg, who is resourceful and is regarded with a different eye by Li Rufeng, has a more complicated background. Li Rufeng does not know what kind of treatment he should offer to retain such a talent.

However, Huluchirjia and Habashibuhua, who were from his own tribe, were limited by their own knowledge and abilities, and began to fall behind Li Rufeng's pace.

Chapter 560 The Sleepless

Fatma was sent all the way to the North City by Jebala. After the illusion spell cast by the black wizards was broken, the tavern owner Jebala was obviously relieved. He almost planned to get rid of this outsider before.

Of course, Fatma was not giving in for nothing. He also had a dagger hidden behind his back, intending to strike first if Jebala made any unusual movement. So when the two of them exposed their backs to each other afterwards, the atmosphere was extremely tense, and both sides were aware of each other's intentions, which was extremely embarrassing.

Fortunately, the subordinates who were anxious to inform Jebala of the situation outside gave both sides a way out. Because of the reappearance of sunlight, Jebala temporarily believed what the other party said about conquering the city.

Fatma was attracted by the power displayed by Jebala. Not only did he run an intelligence station and control several secret passages, he also had people under his command. He also gained the trust of the dark wizards and could move freely. Obviously, he was a useful tool.

Fatma didn't want to miss the opportunity, and Jebara also wanted to find a chance to curry favor with the possible new owner of Mosul, so Jebara planned to introduce Fatma to the sleepless people active in the north of the city.

They were a group of survivors who were naturally not threatened by the dark wizard's dream spells, and one of them, Fakhr al-Bawali, united them together to form the largest and most active resistance organization in Mosul.

Of course, people like Jebala always have two options for success. If things don't work out, he will immediately sell Fatma and the group of people in front of him to the dark wizard as a way to advance his career...

Fakhr al-Bawali, an old soldier and Kurd, served the Great Conqueror for a while after Mosul was conquered by the Great Conqueror. With his fearlessness and skills, he even became a captain of a thousand men.

But the good times did not last long. In this world, a general is not allowed to have gray hair. During a battle to clear out the rebels, Fakhr was injured in his right leg. The wound caused infection. Although he saved his life, he lost a leg.

The Great Conqueror did not need disabled soldiers, so Fakhr returned home with a large bounty. However, with the sudden death of the Great Conqueror, the Qara Sheep rose again, and the former governor of Mosul found Fakhr and hoped that he could stay in Mosul and give him advice.

Fakhr, who was idle at home, came, but unfortunately the Black Sheep's attack on Mosul came from another field that he was completely unfamiliar with. Those black wizards took the head of the Governor of Mosul in his sleep, and even when the Black Sheep entered the city the next day, the defenders of Mosul did not even put up a decent resistance.

Fakhr temporarily lived in seclusion in the city of Mosul. He didn't know what he was waiting for here. He just felt that he couldn't let go of this city that he had guarded for more than ten years. He wanted to see how it would develop in the future.

Fortunately, although the Black Sheep People looted the city like bandits, they were not savages after all, and did not completely destroy the city like the Mongols burned down Baghdad.

However, before Fahr could leave, the dark wizards came to the city again and sealed it off overnight, leaving only the waterway for transporting food and other supplies day and night.

Fakhr was an old soldier, so he could see that the stockpiling of food and grass was indeed a preparation for defending the city for a long time, so he went into hiding early with a group of strong men who were willing to listen to him.

Then came the news that people who had been sleeping for a long time appeared in various places in the city. The dark wizards announced publicly that these people had received their favor and were learning witchcraft in their dreams, and would soon wake up.

But Fahr did not believe in any wizards or sorcery. There was someone next to him who was sleeping soundly. He shook him from side to side, poured cold water on him, and even pierced his fingers with a knife and strangled his throat so that he could not breathe, but he still did not wake up.

In the end, this person spent a full thirty-two days in his sleep. Although he was taken care of and fed and watered every day, he still died of exhaustion. Fakhr never found a way to wake him up.

Therefore, he firmly did not believe the plans of those dark wizards. Learning witchcraft and magic were all nonsense. Later, as the number of sleepers increased, Fahr's opinion was confirmed.

When almost half of the city's population became sleepers, those winged monsters began to appear out of thin air. Fahr saw clearly that those monsters suddenly appeared from the air, as if they had existed before, but others could not see them.

As the number of sleepers increased, the dark wizards had to take the initiative to wake up some people to maintain the "normal" operation of the city to ensure that the projects they cared about would not be delayed.

Most of the long sleepers who were awakened did not remember what happened after they fell asleep. Fakhr, along with several respected imams and priests in the city, secretly questioned many of the long sleepers who had awakened, and finally concluded that these long sleepers were shaping a common dream.

There was also a city of Mosul in the dream. Outside the city was nothingness, and the sky was shrouded in fog just like in reality. The only difference was that the time they experienced in the dream was much longer, so that the wizard tower that the dark wizards cared about had already been built.

In the illusory city of Mosul, those black wizards seemed like gods on earth. They could do anything with just a word, and they could control all kinds of demons and monsters at will.

Fahr was afraid of the world in his dream, but he could do nothing. He couldn't even find where those dark wizards were.

Chapter 561 Pearls in the Sand

As a dark wizard, Ali Hassan was undoubtedly successful. He had pleased the Blue Wind many times and even generously shared the knowledge He bestowed on those who were lost.

It is no exaggeration to say that Ali is the enlightenment teacher of most of the dark wizards in this land. If you open the history book, you will find that he was active in Baghdad as early as two hundred years ago.

He was a professor at the Mustansiriya Academy, a magnificent building in Baghdad built by Mustansir Billah, the 37th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, at a cost of nearly 700,000 gold dinars. It was one of the world's leading centers for the dissemination of knowledge.

The centuries-long translation movement came to an end at the Mustansiriya Academy. Ali was fortunate to add astronomy and philosophical works translated from Greek and Persian to the House of Wisdom.

That was the most valuable time in his life. The glorious and benevolent rulers, the wise and friendly colleagues in the academy, and the humble and hardworking apprentices formed the foundation of that great city and maintained the glory of the Palace of Wisdom.

Every day, countless pieces of knowledge were transported by camels and horse-drawn carriages to the circular walls of Badak. The wall itself symbolized equality and peace. It was built by countless scholars who used mathematics to calculate the blueprints in advance and then guided the workers to build it step by step.

At the Caliph's call, sultans and emirs from across the Islamic world vowed not to resort to arms in the Round City, no matter what conflicts they had.

However, the terror that emerged from outside the Islamic world swept across the entire Islamic world, and the Mongolian iron hooves had no mercy on the sacredness of the Round City.

On the contrary, the arrogance of the Caliph angered the Khan. He remembered that Khan, that was Genghis Khan's grandson...Hulagu. The Mongolian army surrounded the Round City. The Caliph's letter for help even went all the way to Europe, but no one responded.

The whole world watched as the barbaric Mongols conquered this paradise of knowledge, killed all its inhabitants, and burned down the vast palace of wisdom.

Ali was the lucky one who survived that catastrophe. The last time he saw the Palace of Wisdom was when the sun was about to sink into the horizon. My light illuminated the entire city, as if lava was gushing out from the depths of the Palace of Wisdom, and flames gushed out from the windows and cracks in the bricks.

The fire burned for three days and three nights, making the Mongols who besieged the city lament that there was no distinction between day and night.

Ali could hear the wailing of knowledge in the flames, the wisdom gathered by the sages over the centuries telling their own sad story in the flames.

It was during those nights that Ali received the attention of the Blue Wind. He was attracted by the flames burning the Palace of Wisdom and felt regret and anger over the destruction of countless knowledge.

Ali was the vessel that carried this regret and anger. He became the first wizard in this land to follow the blue wind. In the past 150 years, he wrote four books of magic that recorded countless secret knowledge.

Not only that, he has been secretly watching the descendants of the Mongolian Khan who destroyed the Round City. A hundred years ago, he participated in the conspiracy to murder the legitimate Khan, Haihedu, a descendant of Hulagu, and plunged the Ilkhanate into civil strife.

The blood of the Golden Family contains mysterious power, which makes Ali's witchcraft difficult to work, so he can only use this method to attack indirectly.

However, Ali also secretly funded another prince, who later became the new Sultan of the Ilkhanate. Ghazan Khan seized the throne. Ghazan Khan himself was a devout Muslim, and in order to gain the support of local feudal lords and Muslims, he directly designated Islam as the state religion and changed his title to Sultan.

This was part of Ali's revenge plan, but he soon discovered that the Mongols were not pious and did not care about their beliefs. More than a hundred years later, the Mongols were still Mongols. The only difference was that they used to shout the name of Eternal Heaven and kill people, but now they shout Allah...

It is hard to imagine how the great conqueror felt when he brought the "new Mongols" influenced by Ali's revenge plan all the way from the East again and destroyed the rebuilt Baghdad once again.

In short, after that, Ali, who was already crazy, became even crazier, and he was more in line with the power essence of the blue wind.

Among the four wizard towers in Mosul, the tallest one was built for Ali. It was he who brought other dark wizards to steal the wealth belonging to Lord Milansha from the city.

Chapter 562 Magic City

Like Jebala, Fakhr was also concerned about how many troops were outside the city. Unfortunately, the answer given by Fatma disappointed Fakhr. He felt that Li Rufeng's number of troops was too small.

But he felt that the soldier in front of him was right about one thing, that is, although Li Rufeng's army was not large in number, Li Rufeng was the shaman of Changshengtian and he could deal with those black wizards.

At least that's the case for now.

The magic used by the dark wizards to block the city of Mosul has not been restored. Under the command of Fakhr, nearly a hundred people have left the city through the path near the north gate.

After Jebala arrived, the well-informed tavern owner also found out that there were only fifty dark wizards left guarding the north gate.

These two hundred people are die-hard fans of the dark wizards. They are all Raven Guards with the mark of a raven branded on their faces. This is what the locals call them. No one knows where they come from. Fahr and his team can't even be sure whether those people are human.

After all, the dark wizards have demonstrated extraordinary abilities. Those Raven Guards look like just stronger ordinary people, but they can not only command those little monsters at will, but many sleepers also point out that these Raven Guards can enter and exit the dream world at will.

They were like the crows in the hands of the dark wizards, seemingly able to appear from any corner of the city.

Before today, the biggest enemy of the group of sleepless people commanded by Fahr was these Raven Guards. They could appear anywhere where there were sleepers, as if those sleepers were their guides.

In Fahr's opinion, one Raven Guard could easily crush three well-trained ordinary soldiers in close combat, and their deterrent power would be even stronger when they formed a battle formation.

Fakhr led the Sleepless Ones in hiding in Mosul for several months, only killing four Raven Guards at the cost of more than twenty casualties.

Their weapons are very sharp snake-shaped scimitars. Not only are their shapes very strange and can leave wounds that are difficult to heal, but the materials are also unprecedented. These weapons are very light and do not look like they are made of metal, but they still maintain considerable toughness on the basis of being sharp and can be bent into quite large arcs.

The armor of the Raven Guards was equally amazing. Even the blue robes they wore as their outermost layer were tough enough to withstand arrows. Fahr once designed a plan to ambush the Raven Guards with bows and arrows from a distance of ten meters, but still failed to cause any casualties.

What made Fahr feel most regretful was that they stripped the Raven Guard equipment from four Raven Guards but did not allow his own people to use these equipment.

All the young men who wore the Raven Guard equipment disappeared when night fell, leaving only a set of equipment behind, so no one dares to wear the Raven Guard equipment now.

These messages were quickly transmitted to Li Rufeng by Fatma. As Master Li's level increased, he was able to have more complex mental communication with his guards at this distance.

Knowing that Li Rufeng planned to evacuate all the residents in Mosul, Fakhr was very excited, and the sleepless people around him also breathed a sigh of relief. They all had family members who had fallen into a deep sleep. If they had not become qualified soldiers under Fakhr's training in the past few months, they would have dispersed like a swarm of bees and left Mosul with their families.

Only Jebala looked unhappy. When he saw Fatma, his first reaction was that he had found a way to make a fortune, which shows how lucky he was.

Chapter 563 The real war

As the army advanced deeper into the neighborhoods of Mosul, the Mongolian cavalry who thought they were here for tourism finally encountered some trouble.

They saw soldiers in blue robes flash past in the alley. They did not shoot arrows or launch sneak attacks. The soldiers just stared at them coldly. Once any cavalry tried to approach them, these blue robes would turn around and disappear in the alley.

After that, no matter how carefully the Mongols searched, they found no trace. They could only find a few sleepers who were almost dead in those empty rooms. The Mongols didn't even need to do it themselves. As long as they woke them up from their sleep, these sleepers would scream in fear and then die.

As more and more such sightings occurred, even the bravest Mongolian cavalrymen finally began to feel frightened. They stopped exploring forward and picking up their spoils at will, and instead stayed where they were and waited for subsequent reinforcements to arrive.

But obviously, compared with the scale of Mosul City, the army of four or five thousand people under Li Rufeng is not enough. If judged by the standards of street fighting, Li Rufeng can only control one-third of the city area at most.

Of course, if it was a normal siege and street fighting, Li Rufeng would never attempt to accomplish such a feat of swallowing an elephant with such a small number of people. The current situation is that Li Rufeng does not have enough manpower, but those dark wizards have even fewer manpower.

It was just that the black wizards took advantage of the submissive mentality of the people of Mosul after they had experienced two changes of ownership in a short period of time, and with the assistance of some black magic, they were able to complete the control of the entire city.

In fact, Li Rufeng is now also taking advantage of the mentality of the Mosul people. If there is a madman in Mosul who is prestigious enough, decisive enough, or simply brave enough to take a gamble, he can completely ignore the plans of Li Rufeng and the black wizard and lead the Mosul people to break free from all constraints.

After all, this is their city. These Monsor people have lived here for generations and know everything about the city. Moreover, the city has the manpower and material resources to arm a sufficient army...

It's a pity that the Great Conqueror had killed all these people when he came here last time, and the Black Sheep People killed another batch when they arrived again. The few remaining scraps were chewed and spit into the gutter by the dark wizards.

According to Mongolian customs, what Li Rufeng now has in front of him is a city full of sheep. If Li Rufeng wants, he can order them to dig a hole and bury themselves. Some people may collapse and cry bitterly, but no one will resist.

From a positive perspective, Li Rufeng doesn't need to worry about any obstacles after he takes over the city. On the other hand, it means that no matter who the final winner is, this city will become a help to the other party as quickly as possible.

So Li Rufeng had to give up his previous fantasy of letting the Iranians help him take over the city. Once they came, they would never leave.

In the whole afternoon, Li Rufeng's soldiers transferred more than 6,000 people from Mosul, most of whom were young and middle-aged men and women. In addition, they also found thousands of corpses, including the elderly and children.

Obviously, not everyone can adapt to the dream life of the dark wizards, but fortunately, these corpses did not rot according to the laws of nature. They seemed to be dried into mummies, leaving only skin and bones, and the flesh and blood inside had completely disappeared, which prevented the plague from occurring.

At this stage, the living are much more important than the dead, so most of the bodies were left where they were and not dealt with for the time being. Only the hardworking Armenians around the mosques and churches selected as temporary military camps cleared them out.

Hundreds of mummies were piled together, and in order to prevent anything from happening, Li Rufeng had them set on fire.

Seeing that night was approaching, Li Rufeng hesitated for a moment and finally ordered all soldiers to withdraw from Mosul, leaving only two teams of 100 men to guard the south gate. He had a hunch that those dark wizards were just waiting for night to fall.

Chapter 564: The Dream Demon Enters the World

When Azadirim went out with Dost to expedition to the Tairba tribe, this black wizard organization secretly led by Ali had twelve black wizards, including Ali himself. He hid among them under the pseudonym Shawai and secretly controlled the overall situation.

Of course, these twelve dark wizards are all qualified to join Ali's big game and are able to share that huge treasure. There are dozens of dark wizard apprentices under them.

These apprentices are naturally collectively referred to as dark wizards in the eyes of ordinary people. Although they only master some tricks of creating illusions and psychological suggestion, they can still manipulate those ignorant mortals at will and drive them like livestock.

Among these black wizards, there are only a handful who can be taken seriously by Ali, and among them Azadirim is the most talented. He is naturally cunning and has a strong desire for revenge. When Ali took out the treasure as bait, he had already begun to plan how to strike first.

Ali, who used the alias Shawai, witnessed from the best viewing position how Azadim used all his means to kill three of his experienced dark wizard colleagues along the way from Mosul to Mardin.

In order not to affect the balance of the game, Ali secretly instructed the Black Sheep King to transfer Azadim out of the city of Mardin and make him the messenger and advisor of the Black Sheep King beside Dost. Only then could the remaining black wizards slowly determine the winner like raising Gu, and compete for the most cunning and treacherous ones.

There are now four unfinished wizard towers in Mosul, which are all the people Ali needs in the end. Four dark wizards who are cunning enough openly control the wizard towers that can connect to the dream world, turning the entire city of Mosul into a miracle place belonging to the blue wind.

Ali himself will sit in the dreamland of Mosul and become the uncrowned king of that dreamland. From then on, all those who embark on the path of dark wizards will be inferior to him.

The spells they learned were all improved by Ali and were more suitable for the native witchcraft of this world. It would also be difficult for those dark wizards to obtain the so-called "free" magic power directly from the Azure Wind. They could only borrow the power of miracles from Ali.

All dark wizards will become Ali's employees. As long as Ali is willing, he can take back any dark wizard's ability to control the power of miracles at any time. He will monopolize the power of the blue wind and become his only agent in this world.

It is undeniable that Ali's plan is very bold and very consistent with the madness hidden in the dark by Blue Wind. So when Ali determined this plan and began to gradually improve it, Blue Wind has been increasing Ali's "authority".

This is also the reason why he was able to release such large-scale witchcraft in Mosul. Of course, the Blue Wind has never been known for its generosity. While Ali was calculating the power that the Blue Wind had spread in this world, the Blue Wind was also plotting against his soul.

Just as Ali was willing to use the souls of those black wizards as sacrifices to improve the efficiency of using the power of miracles, in the eyes of the Blue Wind, Ali himself was undoubtedly the best sacrifice in the world. He alone was enough to block tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of souls. The most important thing was that he needed to "voluntarily" offer it.

So for Ali, this is a big gamble. If successful, he will become the spokesperson of the Azure Wind in this world. From then on, all dark wizards will only know Ali and not the Azure Wind.