Mount and Blade Central Asia

The Aries King served Li Rufeng with the same attitude as he served the minister in charge of Timur. No matter whether Li Rufeng asked for food, horses, or supplies, the Aries people tried their best to spend their savings.

They simply put on a posture of being unable to fight, as if they were possessed by the Italians. But Li Rufeng turned around and thought that his biggest business partner was the Italians...

Well, Li Rufeng looked at the endless documents in front of him, and Parisa who was also overwhelmed by official business, and the two of them smiled bitterly in tacit understanding.

"Relax for a while?" Li Rufeng invited the princess to take a break from her busy schedule, but she refused.

Ruling a country has never been an easy task, especially in a startup like Li Rufeng's. Everything must be prepared in advance and everything must start from scratch.

In fact, in the system interface, cities such as Mosul have not yet been certified by the system, and have not been recognized like Aleppo and Hama, because in name the war between him and the Black Sheep People has not ended yet.

Parisa's enthusiasm for official duties has lasted for almost half a month. At first, Li Rufeng thought that she had been ignored for too long and just wanted to prove herself.

But now it seems that Parisa has more mature and noble reasons for indulging in official duties.

As the granddaughter of the great conqueror, Parisa was born in her father's fiefdom in the western region of the Khanate.

First it was Tabriz, then Sumanleni, and then Mosul.

Parisa spent her entire childhood and adolescence in Mosul. To her, the prosperous Samarkand was just a dream. Due to geographical distance, she had only been there a few times.

Mosul, by contrast, is her true home, but the land, the city, and the people within it have all been ravaged by her grandfather.

When she was a child, the people of Mosul would avoid her if they saw her from afar. Often, every time she went out, there would be no one to be seen on the entire street. People would point at her from afar and whisper that she was the descendant of the great conqueror.

That voice contained awe, hatred, and admiration. People had such a complicated attitude towards her existence that Parisa always had a sense of guilt and responsibility towards the people of Mosul and even the entire conquered areas in the western part of the Khanate.

In Parisa's original life trajectory, this sense of responsibility might eventually turn into a regret, but now Li Rufeng gave her a chance, and Parisa seized it.

She didn't know which direction she would take the people of Mosul, nor did she know if she had the ability to lead them, but she at least knew which direction she didn't want to go.

Parisa will never follow in her grandfather's footsteps.

"Have some tea and snacks?" Li Rufeng suggested again. Although he suggested it under the pretext of relaxation, he actually wanted to have more contact with Parisa.

Although they have known each other for almost a year, they have not had much interaction during this year. Either Mr. Li is too busy, or Her Royal Highness the Princess is too busy.

Chapter 628 Smuggling Network

Li Rufeng finally succeeded in asking Parisa out. After all, the future marriage between the two was the most important "political task" of the entire Li Rufeng group.

Even the great conqueror Timur himself probably couldn't count how many descendants he left behind, and no one could tell how many descendants these descendants had with Timur's bloodline.

Among these bloodline descendants, not every one is so valuable, but Princess Parisa is undoubtedly the most prominent female descendant.

First of all, Parisa is the daughter of Maharaja Miran Shah. It is a recognized fact that if Maharaja Miran Shah had not fallen off his horse and injured his head, resulting in his violent temper, capricious mood and murderous nature, he should have been the first in line to the throne.

Maharaja Miran Shah accompanied the Great Conqueror in his battles across the country, and his military achievements were far beyond what Shah Rukh could match. The father and son saved each other countless times on the battlefield.

If this accident had not happened, Prince Shah Rukh would probably not dare to stand up so openly to compete for the position of Sultan.

Of course, now everyone including Li Rufeng is very clear that the reason why Lord Milansha was excluded from the list of heirs was not because of that ridiculous reason, but because he became a follower of Scarlet Wind and his appearance has been alienated, and he no longer looks like a human.

But even so, Princess Parisa is one of the few officially recorded descendants of the Timurid family.

In short, Parisa was an effective pass that allowed her husband to be selected for the war of succession. Not only the emirs under the Khanate recognized her, but also the "good family women" in the Central Asian region.

What's more, Princess Parisa's brother, Sultan Khalil, has now proclaimed himself Sultan, so her status is naturally incomparable.

Even if Li Rufeng does not join this war of succession in the future, but directly takes charge of the western part of the Khanate with the relationship of Princess Parisa, becoming a king of a place is also a good way out.

What's more, apart from these favorable factors, Princess Parisa herself is the most charming woman Li Rufeng has ever seen, no doubt about it.

The wildness in Parisa diluted the "ignorance" that was endowed on the female group of this era, and she continued to exude charm and attract Li Rufeng.

He liked discussing his future plans with Parisa and enjoyed the admiring look in her eyes when he borrowed the wisdom of later generations to solve current problems.

Soon, Li Rufeng and Parisa, who were in disguise, quietly left the lord's mansion and appeared on the streets of Mosul that were just beginning to recover.

Of course, she was in disguise, but in fact she was just wearing an extra sun-protective cloak. Parisa was actually a little easier to hide, but the main problem was Li Rufeng, who was too conspicuous.

He has always been curious about how the Jinyiwei offices in this area disguise themselves. It can't be that all of them are mixed-race like Weng Guo, right?

Fortunately, Li Rufeng now has professionals under his command. Although Princess Parisa still feels disgusted with Sarah Xia Xi's presence, she still patiently watches the woman working on Li Rufeng's face, rubbing his skin color into a darker color.

It's interesting to say that Parisa has no hostility towards the little maid Satuya. Is it because she feels threatened by Sarah Shahi?

Li Rufeng glanced down and took the opportunity to pull at her clothes, revealing more of Sarah Xiaxi's plump figure. He could understand Parisa's hostility a little...

Sarah is worthy of her background as a Persian dancer. Her figure is amazing and she can be said to be an example of a slim body bearing great fruits. Neither Parisa nor Satuya can compare to her size.

Sarah noticed Li Rufeng's embarrassment, smiled evilly and shuddered before standing up straight with satisfaction. She bowed respectfully to Princess Parisa and left. But when she walked behind Princess Parisa, she suddenly turned back, stretched out her long tongue to lick her fingertips, and gave Li Rufeng a seductive look before leaving.

Li Rufeng had to admit that he was controlled for several seconds just now, but he still forced himself to regain his attention. After becoming the ruler, he had to face many temptations every day. Women were just the easiest to obtain and the easiest to make mistakes in.

Mosul is not a city like Aleppo which has almost become a ghost town. Even though it has been ravaged by Timur, the Black Sheep and the Black Wizard, it is still a big city with a population of tens of thousands.

Human beings are creatures that will definitely evolve into classes as long as three people form a crowd or five people form a group. It just depends on how deep the foundation is.

In the first few days after Li Rufeng entered the city, he tried to offer his daughters, sisters, and even lovers to Master Li almost every day in order to win Li Rufeng's favor, so as to quickly complete the initial accumulation or restore his former status.

And because these "newcomers" generally rose to prominence in the last decade, Li Rufeng often felt that he had a long and arduous journey ahead of him.

"Where do you want to go?" Parisa, who was pulled away from her official duties, said she didn't want to go out with Li Rufeng, but she was actually looking forward to going out with him. "My city, I'm your guide!"

"Let's go to the largest market in the city!" Li Rufeng naturally chose the place that interested him the most. There were only a few lively places in the city, either mosques, monasteries, or markets.

"Will it be unsafe?" Parisa said as she hid a dagger in her cloak. Although she was confident that she could protect Li Rufeng, his identity and status were different after all.

No one in this newly rising force can afford to lose Li Rufeng.

"Don't worry, someone will protect us in the dark." Li Rufeng didn't mention that Sarah Xia Xi was also responsible for protecting them...

This trip was not a whim of Li Rufeng. Recently, many small businessmen have entered Mosul from upstream along the waterway, reselling grain at high prices and exchanging it for kvass, which is easy to preserve, from the people of Mosul.

There were even businessmen who tried to resell crude cement, but were caught on the spot by patrolling soldiers. Li Rufeng had already issued relevant laws, which stated that kvass, a civilian commodity, could be legally traded, but crude cement was a controlled item and was not allowed to be traded.

What annoyed Li Rufeng the most was that he was unable to find out where the crude cement seized from the merchants came from.

They could only assume that the crude cement was stolen from the construction site by the tower foundry workers at the end of the Dark Wizards' reign and was now flowing into the market.

However, this is enough to show that as order in the city was restored, the people of Mosul also began to rebuild the destroyed smuggling network.

Li Rufeng did not want to break up the smuggling network, but wanted to see who could "integrate" the port area so quickly and complete trade with upstream cities.

Chapter 629 Big Buyer

The bustling streets symbolize the city's gradually recovering vitality. If we ignore the still pale complexion on people's faces, the city of Mosul can be said to have emerged from the haze of the dark wizard's rule.

As a ruler, Li Rufeng cannot be said to have complete control over the city, or it should be said that no ruler in history has ever completely controlled the city.

Its history is so long that it has left different traces in different eras. Different histories have created different groups, and different civilizations have brought different cultures and beliefs. All of this eventually converged into today's Mosul.

Even during the reign of the Dark Wizards, the few conscious Mosul residents still maintained at least two smuggling routes within the city.

Now that the ruler has been replaced by the much more normal Li Rufeng, this smuggling custom is recovering at an extremely fast pace.

Sarah Xia Xi alone has learned and reported to Li Rufeng that there are currently seven gangs that are carrying out smuggling activities on a large scale. According to Sarah herself, these gangs are basically semi-public in Mosul.

However, they had ways to get food from other places, so Li Rufeng allowed them to exist.

Li Rufeng and Parisa's attire was not conspicuous. On this so-called black market street, there were many people who did not want to be recognized. After all, everyone was here to "act in secret."

"Look at that store." Li Rufeng pulled Parisa's shoulder and pointed to an inconspicuous shop in the distance.

After all, Mosul is a much more prosperous place than Aleppo, and the stores are much larger. The store that Li Rufeng was referring to sells silk. Even though it has been blocked by the dark wizard for more than half a year, the store is still full of inventory.

As far as the eye can see, silks of different colors and materials are placed outside the door in different categories, and passers-by don't mind taking them in their hands and examining them carefully.

"That's a slave trading base." Li Rufeng wanted to speak in a low voice, so he was very close to her. His hot breath hit Parisa's ears, making the princess blush immediately.

In this era, slavery was prevalent, and there were even a large number of slaves in this city. Some of them were forced into slavery because of debt, some were captured as slaves by hostile tribes and city-states during wars, but more were "imported" foreign slaves.

Whether it was the Barbary pirates' looting along the Mediterranean coast or the Golden Horde's threshing, the end result was a massive "white slave trade."

For example, the "Mamluks" that Li Rufeng had envied before were standard military slaves, and their main troops came from the slave trade in the northern Caucasus region.

This kind of slave trade is legal and can be carried out openly. However, the reason why this company in the black market is hiding is that their business is not so legal. They are trading "slaves of the same kind" who are also Muslims.

He is also the owner behind this store. He first purchased crude cement on the black market, which attracted Li Rufeng's attention.

The daily output of crude cement is very limited. Until the production capacity is resolved, it is just a "toy" with more hype than practicality.

Li Rufeng really wanted to know who the real buyer behind this was and why he was interested in this crude cement. After all, this was a confidential project of varying sizes, and many people who had actually come into contact with the crude cement production process were under strict surveillance.

Moreover, although the city of Mosul is beginning to recover its usual prosperity, it is still in the process of gradual survival. There are not even many caravans from other places coming to do business. How did these people quickly clean up their mess and make contact with the outside world in time?

When Li Rufeng pointed to the shop, the guards hiding in the dark had already begun to surround the place from the outskirts of the market.

However, without Li Rufeng's further orders, these people would not take any further action.

By the time Li Rufeng finished speaking, the clever Parisa had already figured out the twists and turns. Although the slave trade was legal, the direct buying and selling of Muslim slaves was still not a business advocated due to religious beliefs.

This store should be one of those stores that specializes in buying and selling Muslim girls to meet customer needs.

At this stage, Mosul is in a state of disrepair. Apart from sufficient human resources, it has nothing else. Despite Li Rufeng's subsidies, there are still many families who sell their children to supplement their family income.

Whether buyers or sellers, they would rather find a professional and reliable middleman to conduct transactions to avoid trouble in the future.

Apart from religion and reputation, the most important point is that they don't pay a penny of tax.

According to Sarah's intelligence, the targeted store had recently spent money to purchase a total of 40 girls of marriageable age and was waiting to be shipped away.

Li Rufeng led Parisa to pretend to be cloth merchants and stood in front of the displayed silks to carefully examine them. From the perspective of quality alone, although these goods were not as exquisite as the genuine goods from the East, they could be considered to be above average products.

"Customer, please take a closer look. Although they are local products, they are of very good quality. The profit will be very high if they are shipped to the west. They are very popular." The merchant in charge of the goods was a thin old man who looked a little sour. He was sitting on a chair placed in the shade of the store while speaking. He didn't even bother to stand up, and his tone was even less enthusiastic.

There is a sense of heroism that allows you to look if you want to and leave if you don’t want to.

"I heard that you have more valuable goods here, the kind that are not usually put on the shelves?" Li Rufeng asked directly. This is also the trading style of the black market here. They are just avoiding the obvious risks and privately do not think that their transactions are illegal.

As for the tax issue, the tax will be paid in the transaction in which it is caught, which is very flexible.

"Yes, we do, but unfortunately, a big buyer has booked the entire place recently. If you're interested, you can wait two months and come back. We'll hold an auction," the old man said directly. "You don't need to ask other people. They're all like me, booking the entire place."

When the old man spoke, he drew a circle with his hand to increase his persuasiveness. Obviously, the circle did not refer to his store or the black market, but the entire city of Mosul.

"Who has such a big appetite?" Li Rufeng asked casually, but he was actually already alert in his heart.

Although this is a normal circulation in the slave trade, Mosul has its own national conditions after all. This place was just liberated from the dark wizards not long ago. Almost all of these Mosul people have slept in the dreamland.

From this point of view alone, the people of Mosul were more "sacrificial" than other slaves.

Chapter 630: Let’s do it, Princess

When Li Rufeng said that this time he only wanted to buy a devout Muslim girl as his wife's personal maid, and didn't mind the other party adding a little price, and generously took out a gold coin as a deposit, the old man finally stood up.

"That's right. Only girls who believe in God are the most loyal. You can never trust those pagan slaves." The old man smiled and continued, "I can choose one of our existing girls on my own initiative, just for your piety."

"These are all good girls. They're not peasant women from the countryside, nor are they shepherdesses from the tribe. They're all city girls with good backgrounds, so they're not cheap." The old man gestured to Li Rufeng, "You can only come alone."

He glanced at Parisa. Even though she was wearing a hood and a cloak, hiding herself secretly inside her clothes, these slave traders could still tell her gender from her body movements.

Li Rufeng waved to Parisa, indicating that she didn't need to worry, and then followed the old man to the backyard.

As mentioned before, Mosul is a city with a long history and has experienced many hardships. Many buildings in the city contain secret rooms, secret passages and other structures. This has led to the fact that even until today, there are still unlucky people who hid during the rule of dark wizards and unfortunately starved to death in various corners and were discovered.

This building was naturally no exception. The old man took Li Rufeng through a secret door in the backyard, passed through a winding alley, and entered another courtyard.

This is not a secret room yet. It is just cleverly surrounded by several buildings with their bodies, becoming an independent space blocked in the siege.

It was a very clever design, but unfortunately Li Rufeng was an outsider with a strategic map perspective. He often looked down at the entire city from an aerial perspective, but he never noticed that this seemingly normal building was actually surrounded.

From the perspective of the strategic map, the building is divided into at least four parts, each with a small courtyard. Obviously, each part has a different owner. The one in front is the part used by the old man leading the way.

When they entered the yard, seven or eight girls were enjoying the cool air under the shade of the only tree in the yard. The chirping sounds like larks stopped abruptly with the appearance of the man.

"This is just a selection, but they're all top-notch. For the love of Allah, you can choose the one that satisfies you. I'm sure it would be a blessing for them to stay in Mosul." The old man didn't care about the girls' reactions. He clapped his hands and said bluntly, "Girls, don't forget what I taught you before: show your charm and prove your worth!"

The girls are like quails, looking at each other, and no one wants to be the first to stand out.

But as the old man suddenly snorted, the girls scattered in panic like frightened little animals, showing their feminine charm in clumsy postures.

The old man glanced at the girls with some dissatisfaction, and then explained to Li Rufeng, "The training time is too short, and the buyers have requirements for the girls' physiques. Traditional methods can't help them improve their memory. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait for a while. I can help you train a girl according to your needs. I'm a professional."

Li Rufeng ignored the old man's boasting and walked up to him, checking the girls' conditions one by one in their fearful eyes.

Judging from their complexions, these girls are indeed natives of Mosul. Although they are of different ethnicities, they all have a sickly pale complexion and their limbs appear very slender, which are the sequelae left over from the reign of dark wizards.

This is the case for most of the surviving people in Mosul. After Li Rufeng liberated Mosul, the limited food was concentrated on men with regular physical jobs, and women suffered more from hunger. This is also the main reason why some families were forced to sell their children.

Li Rufeng praised himself as a benevolent and wise ruler, but he couldn't conjure up food out of thin air. It was a miracle that he defended the life and death line of Mosul and prevented large-scale famine and plague from happening here.

After traveling through time for so long, Li Rufeng has gradually begun to adapt to this era in some concepts. At least he is not as sensitive as when he first traveled through time.

"What's your name? Are you a local?" Li Rufeng asked condescendingly while standing in front of the tallest girl. His height itself was a symbol of privilege in this era.

That is probably a height that can only be achieved by living a life of luxury for several generations, which requires extra expenses in food, clothing, housing and transportation.