Ch.167Extinction (4)

After conquering the Jin Dynasty’s capital, I renamed Zhongdu as the Great Capital.

And I established it as the capital for governing the Ulus.

The reason I chose this place as the capital instead of Karakorum was obvious—all the infrastructure was already concentrated here.

I had already established an armory for the Ulus, but it was strictly located in Qara-Ordo.

In other words, it was an armory that belonged to Western Liao.

So that place was clearly within my son Temujin’s territory.

Since my son had become independent, it was right for me as a father to respect that independence.

That’s why I had no choice but to make the Great Capital my capital.

Although it had been devastated by war, this place could develop quickly.

Anyway, that’s why I moved the capital to the Great Capital.

“I apologize, brother.”

“No need. Who could have known the Jin emperor would flee so quickly?”

Hearing my words, Munglig wore a troubled expression.

And for good reason—Munglig had failed to properly carry out my orders.

To be precise, he couldn’t carry them out.

The Jin Dynasty’s Emperor Shizong had fled to Kaifeng in the south at an insane speed, as if he really was possessed by the spirit of Joseon’s King Seonjo.

Even the swift Mongol cavalry couldn’t help but lose them.

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine for failing to predict this.”

“I want to apologize once more.”

“That’s enough. More importantly, now that Zhongdu—no, the Great Capital—has become our capital, I’ll grant you land.”

“To me? But I failed my mission…”

“Isn’t this the land I promised you before? So take it.”

“Brother…”

Munglig looked at me with a moved expression.

I waved my hand dismissively and spoke to him as if telling him not to worry.

“Just take it. And build your fitness center or whatever you want.”

“Thank you, brother.”

Munglig nodded with a grateful expression.

Then he turned and gestured to the Kheshig.

“The merciful Khagan has granted me this land. I will build a great hall here and name it the Fitness Center.”

“Fitness Center…!”

“Our utopia…!”

The Kheshig began to act strangely, breathing heavily.

Seeing this, I made a face that suggested I wasn’t sure if this was right.

But to those already fixated on the Fitness Center, or “FC” for short, my expression didn’t matter.

What mattered more was the Fitness Center itself.

“Kheshig! Take up farming tools! Let us flatten this land and expand our muscles!”

“It’s cardio time!”

“Time for cardio exercise!”

The Kheshig rushed in like madmen.

And they began dividing roles among themselves.

Thus, some Kheshig were assigned to pull plows instead of oxen, while others were assigned to guide the plows from behind.

And they began flattening the land right away.

“…Is this really the right thing to do?”

“Yes, brother. It’s cardio training and land flattening at the same time—killing two birds with one stone. Hahaha.”

“…Well. If you’re happy with it, that’s fine.”

I nodded as I said this.

Then I turned around and looked at the vast plain.

Part of the Great Capital had been destroyed in this battle.

The damage was caused by trebuchets, and while civilian homes weren’t greatly affected, the military facilities near the city gates were completely devastated.

“I should rebuild this place anew.”

The Great Capital was going to serve as the capital of the Mongol Empire going forward.

So it seemed better to build it bigger and wider than it was now.

That way, there would be no problems when all the empire’s goods passed through here.

And there was another reason for widening the roads.

“Gur Khagan, all preparations are complete.”

“Good. Send those who are ready first.”

It was for large-scale population movement.

To be precise, I separated those who wanted to remain in the Great Capital from those who didn’t.

And those who didn’t want to stay would be transported to the Jin Dynasty and Song Dynasty.

This action was absolutely not meant to destroy the population infrastructure.

Whether Han Chinese or Jurchen, they could all be usefully employed at construction sites without discrimination.

Yet the reason for doing this was simple.

It was more of a population division.

In other words, it was a process of weeding out those who refused to be ruled by the Ulus.

Through this process, I planned to push out Han Chinese and Jurchen who were opposed to Ulus rule and fill their places with Mongols.

And additionally, I planned to absorb Semu people, Western Xia people, and Khitans to expand the Mongol ethnicity.

That way, we would naturally become the absolute majority, reducing the risk of being absorbed into Han culture.

Of course, becoming Sinicized wasn’t necessarily a problem.

It only seemed bad to me because I was a modern person and the idea of becoming Chinese didn’t appeal to me.

But objectively speaking, being absorbed by the Han Chinese, who were the absolute majority, was a necessary act to solidify the foundation of governance.

So if it was simply for smooth governance, I might have accepted Han culture.

But the current Mongolia didn’t need to make such a decision.

“The Khitans, Western Xia people, and Semu people want to become Mongols.”

“What did you say, brother?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

I said this with a smile.

Unlike the Jin Dynasty, we could grow by swallowing other cultures.

As a result, we didn’t need to submit to the Han Chinese.

Rather, with this ethnic migration, the Han Chinese, who would be at a disadvantage compared to us, were destined to be absorbed by us.

* * *

“Of course, the idea that Han Chinese would become Mongols is absurd.”

I said this while revising policies.

This was because Han culture at that time was truly excellent.

Therefore, no matter how numerically superior we became, the likelihood of Han Chinese accepting Mongol culture, which was inferior to their own, was low.

So I had to make the Han Chinese be influenced by Ulus culture.

“If Qin Shi Huang heard this, he’d rise from his grave to kill me.”

It was about changing the measurement system.

In fact, after Qin Shi Huang established the measurement system, various dynasties had continued to change it.

As a result, there was a big difference between the Qin-Han Dynasty measurement system and the Tang-Song Dynasty measurement system.

I planned to completely overhaul this.

With the metric system that would appear dozens of centuries later.

“Since we also have Indians, creating a metric system based on the decimal system shouldn’t be too difficult.”

In fact, China at this time had already understood the concept of zero due to Indian influence.

Of course, they worked it out in a difficult way.

Anyway, they understood the concept of zero and knew that numbers were composed of repeating digits from 1 to 9.

So I planned to introduce this decimal system with the authority of Gur Khagan and change all existing measurement systems to the metric system.

“Meter (尾攄). I’ll roughly match it with Chinese characters meaning ‘spreading the tail’ and patch it in.”

I planned to add Chinese characters to “meter” to create small meter, medium meter, and large meter.

I planned to use this metric system to reform existing Chinese culture.

How can I change it with just the metric system?

It’s actually possible.

“Because I can deny everything the Han Chinese are proud of.”

Han Chinese pride began with the culture they built.

It would be no exaggeration to say that the civilization built layer by layer created today’s Han Chinese.

This concept expanded to the point where they thought China was the center of the world.

This idea was completely shattered by Western powers in the 19th century.

The glorious Chinese civilization collapsed under Western concepts like mathematics and science.

Of course, it’s unclear whether this truly accelerated China’s downfall.

They fell behind the West for complex reasons including military, cultural, and economic factors.

Still, the scientific field, especially this measurement system, was enough to shake the foundation of the Han Chinese’s superior architectural style.

“And additionally, with this new measurement system, I can also take away land owned by Han Chinese.”

In pre-modern society, the most powerful force was the landlords.

One might say that landlords’ influence wasn’t great in the centralized state of China, but in reality, their influence was overwhelming.

Anyway, the key point was that their power came from land.

I planned to redefine this land with a new measurement system.

That way, I could oppress the landlord class who owned more land than they originally did due to the chaotic measurement system.

Through this oppression, I planned to promote land redistribution.

Of course, this land was planned to go primarily to Mongols, Khitans, Western Xia people, and Semu people, not Han Chinese.

“This would be condemned in modern times, but this is the medieval period.”

In medieval times, the ruler’s word was law.

So not many landlords could object to what I said.

Above all, since the Jin emperor had abandoned them, there was no one to protect them.

So they had to follow the new rules set by the Ulus.

If not, they had to leave for Kaifeng where the Jin Emperor Shizong resided.

From my position, it was better if they left.

Even if Han technical classes left, there was enough technical manpower to fill the gap.

We could bring in technical manpower from Western Liao and Western Xia that we had conquered.

And if that wasn’t enough, we could bring people from the Middle East or Europe, which were in the midst of war.

If we gave them money and land, they would surely come with open arms.

“Since the Middle East and Europe are in the midst of war, the outflow of manpower will continue.”

Sadly, this was something commonly seen in modern society as well.

Many countries accepted refugees from war-torn countries for humanitarian reasons.

Not all refugees were good people, but among them were key personnel like high-ranking officials or technical workers.

Such people, who left their homeland for a stable life, would surely settle down immediately if given homes and money.

Moreover, since there were no airplanes like in modern times, it was common to migrate to countries that shared borders.

Therefore, the Ulus, which was connected to the Middle East through Western Liao, was a good choice for them.

So I began to make plans for the future of the Ulus.

Through such plans, many people flocked to the Ulus, and I later found out that among them were people from Rome.