Mount and Blade Central Asia

"If you follow the normal pace of social development, you will need to wait for a whole generation, or even two generations, to obtain enough talents from those fools to support you in building this land, but like now..." Saiyi Bu's words suddenly stopped there, and he smiled at Li Rufeng awkwardly.

"Go on, keep talking. Tell me, how exactly do I want to develop this land?" Li Rufeng crossed his legs, looked at Saiyibu with a smile, and asked with interest, "Did Azure Wind tell you all this?"

"In short, the vision I saw inspired me, allowing me to see the true hero of this era. We are natural allies. We are not like the Green Wind or the Scarlet Wind, which represent destruction and corruption. Like you, we hope to see more sparks of civilization and wisdom emerge in this era." Saib said enthusiastically, "My Lord represents wisdom and knowledge, strategy and trickery. He hates barbarism and..."

"Come on, I feel like you are insulting my intelligence now." Li Rufeng suddenly complained in Chinese.

Then, not surprisingly, he realized from the change in his expression that Saib understood his complaints.

"It's really deliberate!" Li Rufeng sighed and pointed at Saiyi Bu, who immediately showed an awkward smile on his face again.

Li Rufeng didn't believe that a follower of the Azure Wind would be so defenseless as to reveal his flaws in front of him twice in a row. He would rather believe that the other party was deliberately trying to be nice to him to show his sincerity.

It is obvious that the believers who represent the will of the Blue Wind have a very deep understanding of themselves. They roughly know what they want, and then when confrontation fails, they seek cooperation.

"We share a common interest, sir. We must spread knowledge, improve literacy, build schools, and allow more people to appreciate the beauty of words!" Perhaps wholeheartedly believing in what Azure Wind had shown him, Saib's eyes gleamed as he spoke. "We must ensure that more people have enough to eat, so that children no longer have to worry about survival, and so that they can unleash their spiritual potential in the areas they excel in!"

But Li Rufeng was not moved by these nonsense, because no matter how Saib talked about it, the tragedies that happened in Batman and Mosul were real, and these cultists could not make any excuses.

Chapter 614: The Sweetness of Jinyiwei

The ones who really have the final say on who will be the next successor to the Khanate are the Mongolian princes and the chiefs of the large tribes who hold military power.

Fu An, the envoy from the Ming Dynasty, saw this very clearly, and this was the breakthrough point for him to intervene in this huge empire. Khalil Sultan had never been liked by the Mongolian princes. He was too close to the common people and liked to mingle with the common people.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty must clearly support Khalil Sultan in Samarkand and allow this struggle to continue.

Similarly, the Mongolian princes also disliked Shah Rukh because he was too "pious" and was very close to the Sufi imams in religion, and theocracy suppressed the rights of secular nobles.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty also had to secretly support Prince Shah Rukh outside the Transoxiana region.

If possible, the Ming Dynasty would rather see this huge empire quickly split into several insignificant small countries.

Even if it was split into two halves, Emperor Yongle would feel uneasy and worried that the Mongolian Golden Tent would rise again one day in the future.

And now, Li Rufeng, who is far away in the Far West, has undoubtedly become another breakthrough point.

If we can successfully pull some of the Khanate's forces westward and further divide the Khanate, everyone will be very satisfied.

So under Fu An's instruction, the Jinyiwei planned to further support Li Rufeng's career, and of course, to further inquire about Li Rufeng's background.

After all, the Jinyiwei's mission here is not just this one thing. They have many dirty jobs behind the scenes, but Fu An doesn't want to get too involved.

But even so, Fu An would still see news about Li Rufeng on his desk every now and then. The Jinyiwei would summarize the intelligence from the Far West almost every three days and send it to him for review.

Fu An could vaguely see the commander's cautious choice, but he was indeed not very willing to pay attention to the news about the shaman.

Although the Han people in this land are rare, they are not uncommon. The Mongols brought tens of thousands of Han craftsmen with them, which enabled them to occupy such large tracts of land.

It is normal that some people have left their bloodlines here. Fu An now only wants to stabilize the situation in Samarkand as soon as possible, and then select an experienced and steady person from the diplomatic corps to complete the handover and quickly return to his country to retire.

He is no longer young, and another ten years of his life have been wasted in this city without being able to see his family. Fu An is tired of such a life.

"Li Rufeng occupied Erbil Castle and maintained peace with the emirs of the Iranian tribes." Fu An frowned as he looked at the news, then took out the map he had drawn before and checked it carefully, then took a breath.

In just a few months, that guy actually seized a territory almost as big as Northern Zhili. The last time I heard about him, he was still the lord of a small town and was not very impressive at all!

This is truly a case of heroes being made by the times. Such a young boy actually seized this opportunity and accomplished such a great feat.

Even an old envoy like Fu An, when thinking of Timur's tour which was in the name of invitation but in fact forced, felt that Li Rufeng did a good job. He almost took away one-fifth of the territory of Timur's Khanate!

It was time for him to make a statement. Based on the mentality that when I am abroad, other people's traitors are not my traitors, Fu An looked at the news sent by the Jinyiwei without any moral pressure.

When he saw Li Rufeng promoting his marriage to Princess Parisa and announcing that he was Timur's grandson-in-law, Fu An laughed even more happily and wanted to have a few drinks to amuse himself.

At that time, the lame man married Hu Xin's widow, who was the daughter of Chagatai Ghazan Khan. Later, Eastern Chagatai Khan Hede'erhuozhe married him to a clan member named Tawakal Hanim, giving him the title of "Gulegan" (Mongolian for son-in-law).

Chapter 615 Catching a turtle in a urn

The legend of the Muqiyi assassins spread not only throughout Central Asia, but even the nobles on the European continent knew of their reputation. If they had not taken the initiative to provoke the Mongols and intended to collect protection fees from the Mongols, they would not have been completely destroyed.

But that is only the apparent reason. The real truth has been buried under time and is unknown to outsiders.

The real reason for the destruction of the Muqiyi sect was more complicated. It was indeed related to the Mongols, but it was not as rumored outside that it angered the Mongols and was wiped out by the troops sent by Genghis Khan. Instead, some of its branches took the initiative to find Genghis Khan, who had the most powerful military force at the time, and asked them to completely destroy the Muqiyi sect's nest.

The Eagle of Order was that original branch, but even a knight like Haishar only had a vague understanding of the reasons behind it. Both the Mongols and the ancestors of the Eagle of Order were dedicated to burying that history.

Haishar only knew that the old man in the mountains who had controlled the Muqi faction had turned to Chaos, and that the castle where he was, Alamu, known as the Eagle's Nest, had become a huge circular gate connecting the two worlds.

Hulagu led his army to the banks of the Amu Darya River. On the pretext that Christianity and Islam were sworn enemies, he summoned the dukes of nearby Armenia and Georgia to besiege Alameda. Both sides paid a heavy price.

Finally, when the war was over, in order to ensure that what happened in Alammu would not be known to the outside world, the Mongols used their cavalry to trample on their summoned allies and buried them in the valley together with the crazy soldiers of the Mulai faction. Then they set fire to the mountain and burned everything to ashes.

After that, the Mongolian army that participated in the Battle of Alamud was organized separately and had been active in the disasters caused by the belief in the four wind gods in various places. It was never mixed with other troops, never received new recruits, and no one returned to his hometown.

They fought until the last man, and then, still under Hulagu's orders, charged towards the unspeakable enemy, burying all the secrets with death.

According to the records of the Eagle of Order, not all Mongolian knights were so brave and loyal, but the Mongolian Khans suppressed all possible accidents with absolute cold-bloodedness, forcing those elite warriors who had experienced many battles to complete that bloody journey.

The record of this history made the entire Eagle of Order maintain sufficient respect and fear for the Khanate established by the Mongols. This is also one of the reasons why the Eagle of Order has always maintained restraint and forbearance on the land of the Timurid Khanate.

Hayshar also knew that the castle of the last Mulashi faction in history was captured by the Mamluk knights led by them twenty-one years after the end of the Battle of Alammud, and then all potential believers of the Four Winds God there were completely eliminated.

There has long been a deep-seated blood feud between the two sides. The surviving members of the Muqiyi sect have always regarded the Eagle of Order as apostates, and have launched a century-long revenge against them in the name of revenge for the old man in the mountain.

So when the assassins of the Musali sect sneaked into Mosul, they soon realized each other's existence, just like Hayshar. Although the two sides had been estranged for more than a century, many of their ways of doing things, including the marks they left for their companions on the streets, were still extremely similar.

At this time, Haishar and others did not know who the target of these Muqiyi assassins was. They subconsciously thought that their target was Li Rufeng. After all, he had just destroyed a large group of dark wizards.

But at this time, there was another force in Mosul that was loyal to Li Rufeng and had a good understanding of the Muqi faction. That was the dancer Sarah Shahi.

As a venomous snake trained by the Mulashi sect (who call themselves Nizari sect internally, as I have written before, for the sake of convenience, I will use the more popular name Mulashi instead), Sarah, the "traitor", understands the way those people act far better than Hayshar.

This is not to say that the killers of the Muqiyi faction are all stupid. They have been found by so many people after only a few days.

Rather, it was limited by the times, and many espionage activities were centered around businessmen. As an old killer organization, the Muqiyi faction naturally paid more attention to the management of its own intelligence network after experiencing the disaster of the destruction of the religion.

Their secretive chambers of commerce have established their own bases in many major cities to cover up the real killer activities.

Of course, in such a stronghold, there are usually only one or two core members who know the heavy tasks and responsibilities they shoulder, while the others are just real chamber of commerce members and know nothing about the existence of the Muqiyi faction.

These "locals" would act as spies, material suppliers, guides, and even assistants for the Muqiyi assassins. This model has been maintained for more than a hundred years.

However, Mosul was different. It had just experienced a catastrophe. The order of the entire city was completely overturned, and many people died inexplicably. Therefore, even the assassins of the Muqiyi faction were confused when they entered the city and needed to reconnect with their old friends.

As a last resort, they left inconspicuous meeting codes at some pre-agreed places, which is how they were caught by the Eagle of Order organization and femme fatales like Sarah.

As a woman who was able to escape from the pursuit of the Muqiyi assassins and hide herself well, Sarah Xiaxi is certainly not a flower in a greenhouse.

Chapter 616: Revenge of the Viper

Naseedin Bahara looked at the contact person cautiously. He was a sharp dagger, and this kind of work was not originally his job. However, the "scabbard" who was supposed to cooperate with him fell ill shortly after arriving in Mosul. Now he could only lie in bed and cough laboriously every day. He didn't know if he could survive.

Nasidin doesn't care about the life or death of his companions, he only cares about his mission objectives.

According to Eagle Nest's regular mission process, when he and his scabbard arrived at the area where the mission target was located, they would be met by local contacts, have their identities arranged, and be given a hiding place to rest.

Then the scabbard will connect with the contact person, confirm all the action plans, and arrange everything Nasidin needs. Finally, Nasidin will take action personally to solve various problems along the way, and finally stand in front of the target to complete the fatal blow.

Then, depending on the employer's requirements and price, they will decide whether they have the option to evacuate.

Eagle's Nest has always been proud of its abundance of assassins like Nasidin. If the price offered by the employer is high enough, Nasidin will voluntarily surrender himself in the way the employer requires after killing the target, and then take poison and commit suicide after telling the employer the last words he needs to say.

Of course, sometimes the employer will choose to use the assassin's life to intimidate the target. A dagger like Naseedin needs to solve all the problems on the way, and then end his life in a cruel way in front of the target. He also has to make sure that his blood will be poured on the target's face to ensure maximum effect.

It's a pity that there haven't been as many generous employers in recent years, and Eagle Nest has relatively high requirements for its targets in such deadly missions. They are unwilling to pay the price of a broken dagger for some "nobodies".

"Are you the contact?" Naseedin stared at the other person as he spoke.

The old man opposite had been hanging around the place where the scabbard had left its mark for a long time. If it were the scabbard, he would definitely not be so reckless to come out to the street, but Nasidin was different. He had not received any training in this regard.

He grew up without a father or mother. More than a dozen children were kept in captivity, and only the most tenacious and wolf-like one could survive. And Nasidin was that wolf, a lone wolf.

Nashidin grew up in luxury, and after he completed training that would make any adult cry, the Eagle's Nest always provided him with endless enjoyment.

In the castle of Eagle's Nest, the endless delicacies from mountains and seas that these daggers can eat will pile up into mountains, the endless wine that they can drink will flow into waterfalls, and the endless men, men, boys, and girls that they can sleep with, they can pick them at will, serve them at will, and enjoy them as much as they want.

Of course, there is also the "He He Cigarette" from heaven, which allows them to briefly feel the glory from heaven in this world. As long as they can complete the task or die during the task, they will directly ascend to heaven and never see the suffering of the world again.

If the normal process was followed, Nasidin would not communicate with the contact person in front of him, or even other "outsiders" except the scabbards. The Muciyi sect can only ensure the "purity" of these daggers to ensure that they remain sharp.

But the current situation is obviously not normal. Scabbard is seriously ill and unconscious, and the contact person himself is not the spy that the Muqiyi sect had lurked in the city of Mosul before. The two spies unfortunately all died during the rule of the dark wizard, leaving only an emergency personnel who has only a vague understanding of the situation and has not completed the loyalty ceremony.

"I'm the contact person. The code word is, just ask the target..." The old man was frightened by Nasidin's eyes and spoke nervously.

"No matter why!" Nasidin added the second half of the sentence, then looked around fiercely, "Why did you come so late?"

"I'm too old, and my eyesight is blurry. I didn't see the marks you left at first, and..." The old man shook his head and whispered, "This is not the place to talk. How long have you been here?"

Nasidin tried hard to suppress the complicated thoughts in his mind. He felt that he had been too immersed in this foul-smelling world in recent days and felt uncomfortable all over.

If the scabbard was still awake, he would immediately realize that Nasidin was addicted to drugs and needed to be given some poppy-containing bread or mead, but unfortunately he didn't have any.

Within the Muciyi sect, in addition to the sect leaders who are in charge of the control of the castle, the real core of the entire sect is the level called Scabbard. They know everything and are responsible for coordinating the deployment between the secret castle in the mountains and the secret agents of the Chamber of Commerce in various places.

In addition, the scabbards are also responsible for the transportation, comfort, and finishing of the daggers.

A dagger will eventually die in a dagger-breaking operation, but the scabbard will always escape unscathed and continue to serve the next dagger.

Sarah Shahi was well aware of this, so after watching Naseedin's "performance" from a distance, she lost interest and ordered her men to remain in place and keep a secret watch. She was confident that those daggers would not discover her secret arrangements.

Sarah Xiaxi was classified as a poisonous snake within the Muciyi sect. She was neither a dagger nor a scabbard, but a female spy who was trained to use seduction to approach important figures who were difficult to approach by force in order to obtain intelligence, support, or even their lives.

When she was sold to the Muqiyi sect by slave traders, she was already six or seven years old and had her own thoughts. God knows how much she thought to avoid being sent to that false paradise to play the role of a "goddess".

Sarah hated everything there, so after she was able to leave the castle to carry out her first mission, she decisively looked for an opportunity to escape. From then on, she kept her identity secret and would rather travel around the world as a dancer than look back.

She wanted to find the scabbard hidden in the dark. The dagger was too easy to identify. Sarah believed that something must have happened to the scabbard, which allowed the dagger to be released onto the street.

There is no point in killing such a half-crazy dagger. Only the scabbards have more information. Sarah Xia Xi knows that the scabbards are not so loyal. She was able to escape successfully that year because she made a deal with a scabbard using her body.

And now, Sarah finally caught the trace left by a scabbard again. Her spies in the dark kept watching the two "newbies" in secret, and waited for them to return to the safe house they thought was safe and secret to complete a communication. Then the two of them hurried to another place with some herbs.

"Without the precipitation of time, you are nothing." Sarah Xiaxi licked her lips like a real snake, enjoying the joy before the end. "I will dig you all out and drown you one by one in the pool."

Chapter 617 Anis of the Alawi Family

Just as Sarah Shahi controlled the defense of Mosul through her personal guards, Li Rufeng, who was in Erbil Castle, also controlled the every move of the woman with the title of Long Dagger through his personal guards.

Li Rufeng was certainly not here because it was more comfortable to live in Erbil Castle, but because he was waiting to meet with Iranian representatives.

After Saib was forced to confess his religious beliefs, he did get what he wanted. Li Rufeng did not kick him out of his team, but chose to keep him by his side and observe him carefully.

For Li Rufeng, how a follower of the Azure Wind gradually turns from a shallow believer into a mentally twisted and morbid fanatic is a sample that is very valuable for research.

As for the faith represented by the Blue Wind, placing Saib, an almost obvious chess piece, in front of Li Rufeng is more like the activation of a trust mechanism.

The azure wind seemed to have the idea of ​​pacifying the country before fighting against foreign enemies, and was ready to separate from the other three unclean winds of the Four Wind Gods and go it alone.

Of course, it is estimated that the observation of Li Rufeng, a special individual, is also part of the Blue Wind plan. Just as Saib himself said, the Blue Wind always has a plan.

Until a method could be found to completely eradicate the power projected by the Four Wind Gods at this stage, Li Rufeng remained silent about the choice of Azure Wind. Compared to the power wielded by the Four Wind Gods, he really had no better way.

Li Rufeng had to admit that the theory promoted by the Blue Wind through the mouth of Saiyibu was indeed very attractive to him.

This means that Li Rufeng has more resources at his disposal. The followers of the Azure Wind widely include people from all walks of life who possess knowledge, and this is exactly what Li Rufeng lacks.

For example, right now, the tentative contact with the Iranians is being conducted through Sayib, and Li Rufeng can't find anyone else besides Sayib, the "heretic," who can do this job well...

The environment in which Li Rufeng started his career was too poor. Almost all the educated people, skilled craftsmen and artisans in the entire West Asia region were swept away by the great conquerors and taken back to the Central Asian region five or six years ago.

This period of time is not enough for a new generation to grow up, and the craft field has long relied on the inheritance method of father-to-son and master-to-apprentice for many years. After this "extinction" was broken, it would take one or two generations for the world to recover.

Moreover, the bigger the city, the more serious the problem. The entire city of Mosul currently has a registered population of just over 20,000, and the literacy rate is less than 1%. Even in terms of talent reserves, it is not as good as large towns like Qamishli.

According to this data, there are still many literate people who were brought in through commercial activities in recent years after the death of the great conqueror.

When Li Rufeng first saw the data, he could hardly believe his eyes. He didn't know how the residents here survived that period when the great conqueror left the city.

A large city with tens of thousands of people has almost no systematic bureaucratic system, and there are not many literate people in the whole city. Everyone is groping forward in the dark, barely keeping the city's existing system from collapsing.

All we can say is that the governor of Mosul left behind by the great conqueror must have tried his best to barely preserve Mosul's position as a commercial hub and prevent it from collapsing.

"Sir, the Iranian envoys have entered the castle." Saib entered Li Rufeng's study under the guidance of his personal guards and reminded him in a low voice.

The representative chosen by the Iranians to contact this time was the master of Barez, an emir named Anis.

Anis's territory was centered on the city of Hamadan, and the residents of the territory were mainly Persians and Kurds who had abandoned their nomadic customs. Anis was also the first emir in the Iranian region to start a conflict with the Black Sheep People.

He profited greatly from this war and controlled a considerable area of ​​the surrounding territory with Marifan, a mountain city near Sulaymaniyah in later generations, as its center.

A considerable part of the territory borders the territory actually controlled by Li Rufeng, so he is also the emir among Iranians who is most eager to establish a mutual relationship with Li Rufeng.

Unlike the makeshift team formed by Li Rufeng, Anis's family is ancient and prosperous, and has its own confidants in control of various places. This time, the envoy who arrived at Erbil Castle first was Anis's cousin named Malim.

They also came from the Alawite family of Hamadan, and were the only nobles who survived the city after the Great Conqueror massacred Hamadan. Their fear of the Great Conqueror maintained their family's loyalty to the Khanate, and this loyalty remained unwavering even after Timur's death.

This is also the main reason why Anis treated Li Rufeng with courtesy. He must respect Timur's bloodline, just as the Mongolian tribes respected the bloodline of the Golden Family for hundreds of years.