Ch.144Expedition (1)

A spacious hall.

The clergy gathered there were exchanging opinions with one another.

“We cannot remain idle while the Holy Land has fallen.”

“Indeed. We cannot tolerate the Holy Land being defiled by the hands of infidels.”

The clergy on the opposite side nodded in agreement with the hardliners’ words.

However, they expressed concerns about taking immediate action.

“It has been barely a day since our Father passed away in shock after hearing the news of Jerusalem’s fall.”

“We must mourn our Father and ensure his safe passage to our Heavenly Father’s side.”

It had been only a day since the Pope died.

Because of this, the moderate clergy couldn’t help but feel reluctant about the proposal to go to war immediately.

“The infidels are massacring Christians. Are we just going to watch?”

“Our Father would have grieved over this as well.”

“I sympathize with those words. But everything has its proper order. First, we must send people to gather allies.”

“If we don’t properly prepare our forces, we’ll face the same defeat as before.”

The clergy’s opposing views continued in a heated stalemate.

At this, the oldest cardinal among the clergy stepped forward.

“Everyone, please calm down.”

At his words, both the radicals and moderates bowed their heads.

“I believe both sides are correct. It is important to reclaim the Holy Land, and it is also important to follow proper order.”

After saying this, the cardinal continued.

“However, Rome is currently shrouded in sorrow. Our Father’s passing has saddened everyone’s hearts. Therefore, we should mourn him and wait for a new leader who will dispel this sorrow and bring down the hammer on the infidels.”

Everyone nodded at the cardinal’s logical words.

With the Father’s death, the church had lost its leader.

In effect, Christians had lost their unifying center.

Therefore, electing a new Pope was now the most important task.

“It will take time until God calls a new leader to guide the suffering Christians. Until then, we must inform neighboring countries about Jerusalem’s fall and awaken them to the threat of the infidels that has come right to our doorstep.”

Everyone nodded at his coherent explanation.

By now, all the clergy were listening attentively to Alberto di Morra from Benevento.

“Brothers, an age of chaos has arrived, and evil ones lurk everywhere. Therefore, we must gather the strength of all Christians in this world to resist evil. Even if it means reaching out to the Holy Roman Empire, with whom our relations are not good.”

Relations between Rome and the Holy Roman Empire were poor.

This was due to the long-standing feud between the Emperor and the Pope.

The Emperor held temporal power, while the Pope held spiritual power.

If this division of power had been clear-cut, there would likely have been no problems.

But as the saying goes that power cannot be divided, the Emperor and Pope were bound to be in conflict.

The cardinal showed a broad-minded approach, suggesting that even this long-standing feud must be resolved to defeat the infidels.

“We must send heralds throughout the world. We can only defeat those wicked infidels by seeking help from England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and even Christian nations that may exist beyond the Elbe River.”

At the cardinal’s words, the clergy recalled a certain legend.

Though belonging to a different sect that denied the Holy Virgin Mary’s divinity, he was a devout Christian who had conquered Asia, Africa, and India—a legendary figure.

His army was said to be vast enough to cover the world, and his domain extended beyond the seas.

The legend of Prester John.

This legend was so famous that even the clergy in Rome knew it well.

It was a legend that began in “The History of the Two Cities,” a work by Otto, the renowned Bavarian historian and Bishop of Freising.

As a result, not only common people but also the clergy believed in this legend.

More accurately, they wanted to believe it.

This was because the Christian world was facing a great crisis due to the massive evil called Islam.

They hoped for the appearance of a devout Nestorian Christian king from the East who would defeat the infidels and save them.

For this reason, the cardinal decided to seek help not only from traditional Christian nations but also from Christian nations presumed to exist somewhere in the East.

“Your Eminence is right.”

“It is time for all Christians under heaven to unite.”

The clergy expressed their agreement with the cardinal’s words and responded enthusiastically.

Then they eagerly discussed selecting clergy to send to the East.

Through this series of events, the cardinal gained the support of all the clergy, knowingly or unknowingly.

Based on this support, he received unanimous votes at the conclave held the very day after Urban III’s death, and was elevated as the new Pope.

The name he chose was Gregory VIII.

It was in honor of the previous Pope Gregory VII.

The first thing Gregory VIII did as Pope was to select clergy to send a letter requesting help from Prester John.

* * *

“Achoo!”

A sudden sneeze escaped.

I scratched my nose.

“Someone must be talking about me.”

Unlike in our country, in Mongolia there was a saying that your nose itches when someone is speaking ill of you.

So there was a superstition that when you sneeze, someone is either cursing you or talking about you.

“It must be those Jin bastards, brother.”

“That’s probably true. After all, the armory was established thanks to the Jin Dynasty.”

Thanks to the generous gifts received from the Jin Dynasty, we were able to establish an armory.

Additionally, we built an artisan village and gave the artisans as many bonuses as they wanted.

I’m sorry for mentioning it repeatedly, but this was truly a great contribution from the Jin Dynasty.

“In that sense, I think it’s about time we repay our debt.”

At my words, Munglig’s mouth curled up at one corner.

This was because “repaying the debt” didn’t really mean paying back the value of the tribute we received.

The debt we spoke of was for the humiliation of having to bow our heads, even if only nominally.

Although we chose practicality, we had no intention of forgetting the humiliation we suffered.

That’s why we focused on internal affairs, and as a result, the Ulus gained enough national power to subdue the Jin Dynasty.

Such thinking itself could be considered arrogant.

But I sincerely felt confident that we could subdue the Jin Dynasty.

As I keep mentioning, the Ulus has been expanding continuously.

As a result, doors of opportunity were always open throughout the Ulus, and talented people flocked to seize these opportunities.

With these new people constantly coming in, innovation occurred, and that innovation was driving the Ulus forward.

Of course, such radical changes didn’t always lead in a good direction.

Knowing this well, I continued to make improvements through internal discipline at regular intervals.

I reformed the administrative system to ensure smooth governance.

With the administrative reform, administrative power could be evenly distributed throughout the Ulus.

Based on this administrative power, we built roads, and numerous people and goods traveled on them.

With human and material resources moving about, we could naturally sow seeds called technology.

When we watered these seeds with capital, they bloomed into the flower called the armory.

As that flower faded and bore fruit, it was time to harvest.

“Summon the darughachis. I will convene a kurultai.”

At my words, Munglig bowed with an excited expression.

Then he mounted his horse and began galloping across the vast plain.

* * *

The darughachis gathered in the meeting hall.

It seemed that Munglig and Elunka’s muscle gospel… no, muscle propagation had been effective, as many darughachis had bulked up considerably while Yesugei was busy with administration.

“Haha. I see your upper body muscles have grown since we last met.”

“I recently learned the chest-squeezing exercise from Lord Munglig. Thanks to that, I’ve gained these sturdy and magnificent muscles.”

“Indeed, it’s Lord Munglig. I learned front and rear deltoid exercises from him. Now I can perform Lord Munglig’s signature Burkhan Khaldun pose.”

The darughachis gathered in small groups, sharing their muscular achievements.

Strength training had completely established itself as both a way of life and entertainment for the darughachis.

This was possible mainly because the people of the Ulus had few forms of entertainment.

Until the conquest of Western Xia and Western Liao, hunting and archery were the only pastimes for the Ulus people.

In that situation, city life became quite uncomfortable.

This was because they suddenly found themselves in a physically comfortable life after moving their bodies every day.

Of course, there were steppe people who thoroughly enjoyed this life.

But most of the darughachis who led the tribes could not.

Those who were called khans before becoming darughachis had to move constantly to lead their tribes.

This was because they needed to consolidate their authority.

It was the way of the steppe that one stepped back when old and frail.

Therefore, the darughachis always had an obligation to demonstrate their dignity as warriors.

In this situation, city life didn’t offer many opportunities to move their bodies.

It was strength training that appeared like a savior to them at that time.

Strength training didn’t require a large space.

At the same time, it demanded more physical exertion than horseback riding or archery that they used to do on the steppe.

Through this exercise, they became healthier, gained strength, and developed impressive muscles, so the darughachis had no reason not to do it.

There was another reason apart from these—the idea had somehow spread that one needed to build muscles to advance toward the center of power.

The Gurkhan, Yesugei, had muscles of indescribable dignity.

And his followers, Munglig and Elunka, also had tremendous muscles.

Because of this, the darughachis developed the concept that one needed muscles to exert influence within the empire.

This was not Yesugei’s intention.

The Gurkhan firmly believed otherwise, but in the eyes of the darughachis, it absolutely didn’t appear that way.

Because…

“The Gurkhan has arrived.”

“Finally, we can see the kurultai opening pose!”

The darughachis looked at Yesugei with expectant expressions.

Receiving their gazes, Yesugei could only sigh and assume the pose for opening the kurultai.