At night, Li Ang's troops marched all the way from north to south to Madhan Village.
The Inquisition had just fought with Madhan Village's troops and both sides suffered losses. Naturally, they did not dare to block the direction of the army. Holy Inquisitor Rasmu directly fled westward with his scarred team.
Madhan Village suffered numerous casualties, half of the entire village was killed, and the houses and various facilities were damaged to pieces, but it seemed to be a 'win' - the Inquisition left nearly 700 corpses, but failed to gain any benefit from Madhan Village.
Most of the corpses of the Tribunal's troops had a lot of gold and silver on them. These trophies belonged to the villagers of Madan. Li Ang's army did not stop the villagers of Madan from collecting the trophies.
Judging from the logic of 'only the victor is qualified to clean the battlefield', Madhan Village is indeed the victorious party, even though the casualties they paid were more than twice that of the Inquisition.
Li Ang showed a very friendly attitude towards the villagers of Madhan Village, as if he was treating his allies, and ordered the troops to exercise restraint against the villagers of Madan.
In order to avoid misunderstandings, he did not even allow large troops to enter the village, but only camped outside the village.
Then the caravan began to officially open its business, and many merchants settled in the village where the corpses were being collected, and they acted like a large-scale product fair.
The spoils of war always have to be sold, and the money gained from cleaning the battlefield always has to be spent. The arrival of the merchants is in line with the wishes of the Madhan Village people.
The Lion Territory army stationed outside the village did not harass the villagers, but seemed to provide protection for the village.
In fact, it is true, but they are providing protection for the merchants - the troops have to share the profits of the caravans. If you protect the caravans well, you can get a part of the profits of the caravans. This is Li Ang's promise to Lion Territory's army.
Long River Express is only responsible for logistics and transportation, but after arriving at the ground, Long River Express's mission has been completed. The businessmen naturally have to bear the safety risks themselves, that is, they must pay a certain amount of profits to seek protection from the military.
This may sound like collecting protection fees, but in fact, this is business tax.
The profit from this business is high enough, and Lord Li Ang's business tax is not heavy, so the businessmen are very cooperative.
Besides, Eric has been maintaining order and appeasing the mood among the merchants.
In other words, when merchants do business, they will pay business taxes to Li Ang, and then Li Ang will distribute the money to the small lords and knights in the group army.
This made all the army groups willing to obey the command, and no one engaged in any factional fighting during the expedition--even if those lords had any objections to Li Ang, at least the knights and soldiers below would not be at odds with the dinar.
The boss of Party A is the one who gives the money. This is a very basic truth that any soldier understands... So the group army actually follows the caravan all the time. As long as the caravan obeys the command of Li Ang, the group army will definitely follow the command...
Now that the group army has committed no crime against Ma Danqiu, it is actually the power of the dinar - everyone knows that since the caravan is stationed in Ma Danqiu, Madhan Village will bring a lot of benefits to everyone. Naturally, it cannot harm Ma Danqiu. It must be done without committing any crime...
Lord Lord, the new marshal is much more generous than King Ulrich. The small lords who joined the army somewhat regret not bringing out all the elite family members-Li Ang distributes profits to them based on the number of armored soldiers, that is, the more elite soldiers, the more they will get.
Many small lords began to think about whether they should go to Xingar to buy some equipment and arm some armored soldiers on the spot...
Soon after, Aishikeman City Lord Bahaman also came to Madhan Village.
Bahaman is already fifty-nine years old this year, and in half a year, he will enter an age that Dexian people calls "God Vata cannot take care of him either."
Life in the desert is more likely to make people grow old. Under normal circumstances, the Desha Lords at this age have no ambitions anymore. The most important thing is to figure out how to let the descendants inherit the family business.
But Bahaman is not like that.
He is still strong and powerful, still often takes his 'Qazi Raiders' everywhere to 'hunt', and still desires more power and dinars.
In the eyes of Dexia lords like Bahaman, plundering other countries is their daily job - in their view, this can be regarded as a contribution to Dexia, and they can also obtain slaves and wealth for themselves.
It's just that the risks of this kind of daily work are indeed relatively high.
In fact, Bahaman was defeated more than once while leading troops to plunder. In the past few decades, Bahaman suffered at least ten defeats.
But every time he managed to escape and regain his strength.
Bahaman usually gives the impression that he is rude and irritable, and always behaves like a pure and reckless man. But only his wife and son know that he has never been a reckless person.
Irritability and irritability are just masks he shows to outsiders.
Anyone who can sit in the high position of the caliphate will have his own mask.
He is actually a person who is very good at making decisions and weighing things up, otherwise he would not be able to live as long as he does now.
Now Bahaman doesn't look irritable at all. He behaves patiently and politely.
He is making a difficult and dangerous choice - whether to cooperate with Li Ang.
"Sir Bahaman, you should understand what is the root cause of all this suffering... I think you should also understand that I am the only one who can help you get rid of your predicament now, if you don't want to sit still and wait for death."
Li Ang was sitting under an awning, holding a coconut in his hand. There are also many coconut trees in Dexia.
This is the best season in Dexia. The climate is cool but not cold, and there are no sandstorms in early spring. It is very suitable for picnics.
"I can understand your intention, Count Li Ang... You want me to work with you to deal with Bahad Khan Kadan. But this is a breach of trust for me, and I will become the enemy of the entire Dexia..."
Bahaman is actually very sober. He knows that Li Ang showed goodwill to him in order to support a rebel regime in Dexia to jointly deal with Kadan.
The root of all suffering actually comes from the title 'Bahad Khan', from Kadan - at least in Bahaman's view.
Li Ang asked Ramon to deliberately attract the Heretic Tribunal to create this situation. He also asked Sarah to persuade and educate both Gaiwan Khan and Bahaman. What he wanted was to make Bahaman have such an idea.
In fact, the whole thing has nothing to do with Kadan. Kadan was busy reorganizing the army at Toba City and had no idea what was going on.
But now Bahaman, who is beleaguered on all sides, has no way to verify it, and he doesn't dare to bet on Kadan's character. Just like Li Ang said, he really can't sit still and wait for death.
However, he probably has concerns... a lot of concerns.
"Being an enemy of Dexia? Humph, Bahaman, wasn't everything Kadan did after becoming Bahadur an enemy of the entire Dexia?... But he still sat firmly in the position of Bahad Khan for more than 20 years!"
Li Ang laughed and added another bet for Bahaman.
"You mean..."
Bahaman's eyes suddenly widened.
"What I mean is that as long as you replace Kadan and become Bahad Khan, then you will be the one who saves Dexia in crisis. Who will be your enemy? And... Kadan has so many enemies, and you can get countless allies and supporters, including me."
Li Ang turned the coconut in his hand, cut a hole with a knife, and handed the coconut juice to Bahaman: "You only need to make a hole for Dexia, and you will be able to taste the delicious food naturally."
"But Dexian people will not respect an illegal Bahad Khan... Count Li Ang, just like you brought a formidable army but did not intend to rule by yourself, Dexian people will not submit to pure power - Kadan is the legal Bahad Khan after all. And I, even if I defeat Kadan, I cannot become the real Bahad Khan."
Bahaman is actually very sober. He knows why Li Ang doesn't conquer the city and implement his rule by himself - Bacchus Empire once occupied Aishikeman, but was driven away by endless resistance and uprisings in just half a year.
Dexian people will not agree with the rule that does not conform to the wishes of God Vata, just like places with other faiths will not agree with the rule of Dexian people.
This is what happens in a country where politics and religion are integrated. Everything must comply with God's decree.
"But you are the legal caliph, Bahaman. As long as you raise the banner of 'restoring tradition' and claim to restore the tribal election system, countless tribes will be willing to elect you as Bahad Khan! This is the most legal Bahad and the true tradition of Dexia..."
There was obvious confusion in Li Ang's words. "In order to achieve the final victory in the election, you should have sought more supporters - what Kadan did back then, you can completely copy it, or ask your son Ikram to copy it... You must have thought about this more than once, but you are just not sure, right? But now, I have given you confidence..."
Bahaman was silent for a while without speaking.
But now Li Ang, who has good hearing and vision, can hear that his breathing has become obviously heavier.
"Okay, I really can only do this... but... what do you want? Your army has come thousands of miles just to defeat Kadan?"
Bahaman made up his mind.
But he still had doubts and asked about the purpose of Li Ang.
"Ha, I am a businessman, Bahaman. As you can see, I brought a caravan with the army... What I need is wealth. As you said, I cannot rule in Dexia, so I don't need to occupy any city. But I can let a A person who is willing to give me benefits will rule Dexia - I might as well say it directly, Bahaman, whoever gives me more benefits, I will support whoever becomes Bahad Khan... You are not the only one who is willing to show me kindness."
Li Ang has officially started the big business he and Ramon agreed upon - the auction of the city lord's position, and the auction of the throne.
Bahaman was silent again.
Of course he knew that Li Ang had many choices. In fact, Xingar city lord Khalifa Tahir, Kadan's younger brother Emil Xixis, and even the rebel Sarafan Shaikh in southern Xinjiang were all better choices than him.
Tahir's military strength is quite strong, and his reputation is higher than Bahaman's. And he doesn't want to be the city leader of Xingar - Xingar, who comes from a variety of sources, is not easy to manage. In fact, no Dexia lord can implement real rule in Xingar. Tahir has been considering other ways out. This is not a secret at all.
Emil Xixis is the younger brother of Kadan. He has a natural advantage in terms of status, and there are many Dexian people of the younger generation who are already following him. Besides... Emil Xixis has been campaigning for "equally dividing Dexia" for several years. This is probably more in line with Li Ang's wishes...
As for Sarafan, the rebel in southern Xinjiang, he has won over many Dexia tribes in Holy War Fortress who are bent on restoring their nomadic traditions, and has been fighting against Kadan for twenty years. If he gets the news, I am afraid he will be willing to do anything to seek help from the Li Ang army.
So Bahaman understands that if you want to protect your own safety, you probably need to pay something.
Otherwise, Li Ang can really turn around and support a few other people, and then use himself as cannon fodder.
"Count Li Ang, I have a daughter Ruha, she is eighteen years old this year..."
Bahaman suddenly mentioned his daughter.
"Sorry, there are already too many girls around me, and I don't dare to have anything to do with any Lord Desha's daughter at this time... I am the marshal of the Lionheart Kingdom after all!"
Indeed, Li Ang can drive away tigers and devour wolves, can control the 'Dexia puppet army' to serve him, and can also make deals and negotiate terms with Lord Dexia, but he must not have any marriage relationship with Lord Dexia.
Otherwise, without any reaction from the Lionheart Kingdom, the small lords in the group army he led would probably suspect him of treason...
Marshal status can bring a lot of convenience, but it can also bring many sensitive issues, and red lines cannot be touched casually.
"Oh... In that case, Count Li Ang, maybe you can help me find a better home for her? Count Li Ang, I will use the entire Aishikeman as Ruha's dowry!"
Bahaman saw that Li Ang refused so directly, so he changed his tune.
Perhaps Bahaman and Sarafan Sheikh have something in common. They will definitely have troops and war horses in their hands, but their daughters can be used as gifts to give away...
This is Bahaman looking for a way out for himself. Bahaman wants to tie Li Ang to the chariot - whoever Ruha marries can nominally gain the right to rule Aishikeman, legally.
Bahaman feels that Li Ang will definitely not give up this opportunity. Even if he does not marry himself, he can marry Ruha to a subordinate to gain the right to rule Aishikeman.
And Bahaman himself can still control the actual control of Aishikeman in this way.
This is undoubtedly a good bargaining chip.
"In this case, I will take over this job... I will hold a grand marriage recruitment meeting for Ruha at Xingar - I guarantee that it will be a unique grand event in the entire continent and will never humiliate your daughter."
Li Ang indeed smiled and agreed.
However, this matter is probably different from what Bahaman expected...
Li Ang really has no need for Aishikeman's dominance - he has long promised Emperor Marius's ownership of Aishikeman.
But Bahaman took the initiative to increase the bet, and Li Ang, as the banker, of course had to accept it.