Ch.114Diplomatic Battle (1)

I conquered Western Liao and claimed its territory.

Now Western Liao has finally become our land.

“You’ve accomplished a great achievement, brother.”

I commended Munglig for his outstanding contribution in this conquest.

I offered him the position of commander of a thousand, along with vast lands and numerous livestock.

However, Munglig refused these rewards.

His reason was simply that with such extensive lands to manage, he wouldn’t be able to remain by my side for long.

To this, I suggested he have children and let his son manage the lands.

Of course, it would take some time, but I could manage until Munglig had a son.

Despite this proposal, Munglig remained firm.

“You must be the first to refuse a reward.”

“Hahaha! That just means I prefer to follow you, brother.”

“…”

It was certainly a touching statement, but something about his tone made me feel strange.

Of course, this could simply be my misunderstanding, so I pushed these thoughts aside and continued.

“Anyway, I understand. But if you ever want it, just say the word and it’s yours.”

“I’ll collect double later, brother.”

Munglig replied with a jest.

During our conversation, Munglig casually mentioned something to me.

“I heard Temujin achieved remarkable feats this time.”

“Yes. That’s why I appointed Temujin as the Khan of Western Liao.”

The one who accomplished the greatest military achievements in this war was none other than Temujin.

While Munglig’s contributions were excellent, Temujin’s accomplishments were truly legendary—conquering Kucha and Almaliq with minimal forces, and even capturing the capital.

Moreover, he conquered these places with almost no casualties.

When capturing Kucha, he used Jebe’s arrows to his advantage.

When conquering Almaliq, he secured surrender through Bo’orchu’s persuasive skills.

Additionally, the enemy capital Qara-Ordo was easily captured thanks to a strategy devised by the surrendered Yelu Chucai.

Temujin accomplished all this in just three and a half months.

This was an incredibly rapid conquest, rare even by modern warfare standards.

Of course, there was some element of luck involved.

But even accounting for fortunate circumstances, Temujin’s achievements were undeniably exceptional.

As a result, all Mongol officials, including Munglig and Elunka, regarded Temujin’s military accomplishments as the most outstanding.

So it was only natural that Temujin became the Khan of Western Liao.

“Temujin has found his place now.”

I nodded at Munglig’s words.

In a way, it felt like my children were becoming independent one by one.

To reiterate, Yesugei’s firstborn was originally Bekhter.

Temujin was born later, from Yesugei’s marriage to Ho’elun, who held a higher status.

So in order of birth, it was Bekhter, Temujin, Belgutei, and then Khasar.

Among them, Bekhter was the first to become independent as the Khan of Western Xia, followed by Temujin as the Khan of Western Liao. Now only Belgutei and Khasar remained.

“Now only Belgutei and Khasar are left.”

“Do you feel regretful?”

“Regretful? No. It’s right for sons to become independent when they come of age.”

I looked at Munglig as I said this.

According to Yesugei’s original memories, he became independent from his parents at the mere age of 10.

Even by the standards of this era, becoming independent at 10 was truly unthinkable.

But Yesugei, born to the Borjigin clan, became independent at a young age and formed an arban by gathering children of similar age.

Later, as they all grew up, they left the arban to establish their own ten-man units, but Munglig remained by Yesugei’s side until the end.

“Your sons should become independent, brother. But I have no intention of leaving your side.”

“Why do you follow me so devotedly?”

To this, Munglig answered without hesitation.

“Though we’re not connected by blood, aren’t we family, brother?”

Munglig was boldly saying something that sounded like it came straight out of a boys’ manga.

It was a bit cringeworthy, but his answer wasn’t bad at all.

* * *

Temujin became the Khan of Western Liao.

And the first thing he did was internal administration.

“From today, all members of the Yelu clan, except for Yelu Chucai, will be renamed to the Xiao clan.”

He ordered that everyone from the Yelu clan, except for the former crown prince Yelu Chucai, be renamed to the Xiao clan.

The reason for this order was essentially to announce that Western Liao’s sovereignty now belonged to the Ulus.

For this reason, he consolidated the various branch families derived from the Yelu imperial clan and prevented them from continuing to use the Yelu name.

In fact, the Yelu clan that unified the Liaodong region and established the Liao Dynasty had also eliminated the Yelian clan and consolidated other nobles under the Xiao clan.

Because of this precedent, no one could even resent Temujin’s actions.

To begin with, it was absurd to resist Temujin, who had conquered Western Liao through military force.

Thanks to these actions, the imperial family of Western Liao effectively ended with Yelu Chucai.

Of course, if Yelu Chucai married and had children, the family name could continue nominally. But those children would live as descendants of the Yelu clan of the Ulus, not as descendants of Western Liao’s imperial family.

“And following the proposal of Bo’orchu, the Zhongshu Ling, we will establish the Zhongshu Sheng, Shangshusheng, and Menxia Sheng, modeled after the Song Dynasty’s administrative system. Under the Zhongshu Sheng, we will establish the Ministries of Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, Works, and Livestock.”

Bo’orchu had created a new administrative system for Western Liao, modeled after the Song Dynasty’s system.

There were three governing foundations: the Zhongshu Sheng, Shangshusheng, and Menxia Sheng,

with executive agencies beneath them.

The difference from the Song Dynasty was that the seven ministries were placed directly under the Zhongshu Sheng, which created policy foundations, rather than under the Shangshusheng, which implemented policies.

This was done because Yelu Chucai was appointed to the position of Shangshu Puye, the head of the Shangshusheng.

Yelu Chucai was intelligent despite his young age and former crown prince status. However, at just 7 years old, not even of age, he was too young to manage the entire administration.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible given his status as former crown prince, but Temujin didn’t want to overwork the still immature Yelu Chucai.

So he gave him a role that would allow him to gain administrative experience.

For this reason, Bo’orchu, with his extensive experience and seniority, was tasked with establishing policy foundations and implementation as head of the Zhongshu Sheng.

This meant that the Zhongshu Sheng under Bo’orchu essentially had to perform a role close to that of a prime minister.

Of course, since this duty was burdensome, Yelu Chucai as Shangshu Puye was expected to assist him.

As Temujin made these announcements, the officials began to stir.

“I understand that the Zhongshu Ling will oversee state affairs and the Shangshu Puye will assist, but…”

“What’s the Ministry of Livestock? Never heard of it before.”

“Indeed. It’s similar to the Song Dynasty’s system yet different.”

In response to the officials’ murmurs, Bo’orchu, the newly appointed Zhongshu Ling, stood before Temujin.

Looking at everyone, he began explaining about the Ministry of Livestock in a loud voice.

“The Ministry of Livestock is a new department responsible for horses, livestock, and postal relay stations.”

For Mongols, horses were livestock, war materials, and strategic resources.

Therefore, the Mongols wanted to manage these horses more systematically.

“From now on, state-managed ranches will be established in Western Liao’s grasslands. The horses raised there will primarily be used as war horses, and those not suitable for military use will be assigned to postal relay stations.”

The Ulus planned to create state-operated ranches.

There, they intended to raise stronger and sturdier war horses using selected stallions.

Of course, not all foals born from mares impregnated by these stallions would be healthy.

The Mongols, being nomads, knew this well, so they planned to use horses unsuitable for military purposes as transport animals at postal relay stations.

“Postal relay stations…”

“The system mentioned by the late emperor.”

When the Mongols invaded, news of the invasion didn’t reach the capital quickly.

While the capital was in chaos due to Kuchlug’s rebellion, the absence of a postal relay system was also one of the main reasons.

Even just from an information perspective, the role of postal relay stations was crucial.

Additionally, postal relay stations also served to connect trade routes over land.

The fact that the Mongolian steppe and Western Xia could be unified under Gurkhan’s rule was largely due to the power of these relay stations.

Therefore, to strongly project the Ulus’s influence on Western Liao, which had newly become part of its territory, postal relay stations were absolutely necessary.

“A postal relay station is a state facility where horses are raised and managed, and where people and horses can rest. Officials can borrow horses by submitting state-issued horse tokens. And merchants engaged in trade can use the accommodation facilities there to rest.”

The officials of Western Liao nodded at Bo’orchu’s explanation.

They all already recognized that such state-level transportation facilities were necessary given Western Liao’s vast territory.

The late emperor, that is, Emperor Renzong, Yelu Chucai’s father, had also recognized this and tried to establish postal relay stations.

But because the country was so vast, he couldn’t allocate enough horses to support it.

For this reason, Emperor Renzong had temporarily suspended this policy.

Although it was a policy suspended by Emperor Renzong, it was perfectly feasible for the new Mongol rulers.

The main reason was simply that there were surplus horses after the war.

Of course, if another war broke out, they would be conscripted for military use, but in the current peaceful situation, there was nowhere to use these horses.

For this reason, the Mongols planned to first assign horses that had suffered minor injuries in war and were difficult to use as war horses to the postal relay stations.

In addition to these practical reasons, from the Mongol perspective, there was also the justification of continuing the policy of Western Liao’s emperor.

Given these factors, the officials had no choice but to welcome it with open arms.

“We plan to improve existing roads in Western Liao and build new ones. And on these roads, we will establish postal relay stations to be managed by the Ministry of Livestock.”

At Bo’orchu’s explanation, all the officials bowed in agreement.

One might wonder if such large-scale construction was possible in Western Liao, which had been devastated by war, but ironically, roads were needed to transport labor and reconstruction materials to rebuild Western Liao.

It was expected to be a significant expenditure, but for the reasons mentioned earlier, not a single one of Western Liao’s administrators expressed any concerns.