Ch.178Unstoppable Momentum (6)

Violence begets violence.

This violence cannot be justified, but in a world where violence is rampant, it was necessary violence.

Of course, I didn’t want to encourage this.

That’s why I gathered all the atabegs who surrendered to me during the conquest of Hamadan.

And I asked them.

“Those people refused to surrender to me. According to Islam, what would be the proper punishment?”

“They deserve to be punished.”

“According to the Prophet’s teachings, those who resist should be punished by fire and sword.”

“That’s right. They need to be punished.”

The atabegs who had surrendered to me spoke these words.

Since they were the ones who had surrendered, they were intentionally saying such things to prove their loyalty to me.

At this, I signaled to an atabeg I had previously recruited.

He stepped forward and shouted loudly in front of everyone.

“They did not uphold the honor of Muslims. Therefore, we should throw corpses at them as an example.”

His words shocked the other atabegs.

But since they were fundamentally nomads who had adopted Persian culture and Islamic religion, they weren’t completely unable to understand such a claim.

From a nomad’s perspective, a corpse was just a corpse.

So even though they had been immersed in Persian culture, their roots were Turkic nomads, so they didn’t look completely bewildered by the atabeg making such a suggestion.

“Very well. I will act according to your request.”

I wasn’t the one who made the first move.

They spoke first.

I was just doing what they said.

It was truly a case of closing my eyes and pretending, but through such actions, I could avoid moral responsibility.

This excuse wouldn’t work at all in the modern world, but in this world, there was no international court to punish war crimes.

Therefore, it was permissible.

“Load the corpses into the trebuchets and fire!”

At my command, Muqali and Chilaun, who had already finished preparations, acknowledged in unison.

And soon corpses were flying through the sky.

“My God…”

“They’re really firing corpses…”

“Allah…!”

The atabegs were shocked.

But since they were accepting a proposal made by one of their own, there were no accusing glances toward me.

I turned my back on them and looked at the walls.

Breaking walls with stones and conquering a fortress is what amateurs do.

Sending people to those who resist desperately, offering all kinds of privileges to make them surrender is what intermediates do.

“This is what masters do.”

I looked up at the sky with an expressionless face.

I might have felt nauseated looking at the numerous corpses decorating the sky, but this being the second time, I felt numb.

The first corpse bombardment was when we conquered Khara-Khoto.

At that time, we lacked experience in siege warfare, so we had no choice but to deploy such tactics to lower the enemy’s morale.

But this time was different.

This time, we were carrying out corpse bombardment in a planned and systematic manner.

The reason for doing this was to exploit the fact that Islam, unlike Buddhism, had no concept of reincarnation.

In Buddhism, whether there was a corpse or not, one would be reborn as a new being in the next life.

But in Islam, there was only the concept of returning to Allah’s side after death, so there was a great aversion to desecrating corpses.

In that respect, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity were all the same, but Islam had a particularly strong aversion to corpse desecration.

Even in modern times, throwing Muslim corpses into water would receive tremendous criticism.

Anyway, by doing this, I was insulting all of Hamadan.

And I planned to contaminate their legitimacy and sanctity by throwing desecrated corpses.

This action could cause other Islamic sultans who had surrendered to me to resent me.

But the atabegs of Hamadan had refused my offer of surrender. This was clearly an act of defiance against me, and they couldn’t complain if I humiliated them.

Above all, they were infidels different from me.

So if they resented me for treating them according to my laws as infidels, I could just make another example of them.

And as I keep mentioning, this was done because they wanted it.

Before blaming me, it would be more logical to curse the atabeg who made this proposal.

They had neither the will nor the strength to defy me anyway. So I no longer needed to care about them.

Now all I had to do was conquer Hamadan.

Before my son Temujin arrived.

* * *

“Father has already conquered this far.”

Temujin clicked his tongue as he looked at the fortresses.

The flags of the ulus were hung on those fortresses to inform Temujin that they had already surrendered to the Mongols.

Seeing this, Temujin immediately knew that Yesugei had already conquered this place.

“As expected of the Gurkhan.”

“Yes. Thanks to the Gurkhan conquering this place, we were able to arrive here quickly.”

Jebe and Jelme agreed with such words.

Indeed, thanks to the Gurkhan conquering this place, Temujin was able to reach here easily.

Arslan Shah, who witnessed this directly, showed an expression of surprise and respect.

This was because he was surprised by the fact that there was another Mongol army,

and that army was conquering Iranian territory faster than Temujin’s army.

“So this… is the Mongols.”

Arslan, who had ruled the Ghaznavid dynasty, clicked his tongue.

Temujin was already an extraordinary figure, but he could physically feel that Yesugei was an even more outstanding being.

It might not be impossible for those who came from the east to reach the western end.

That was the feeling he was getting.

While Arslan was muttering to himself, Temujin was discussing with Jebe and Jelme.

And soon, as if they had decided something, Temujin called for Arslan.

“You called for me?”

“How long does it take from here to Hamadan?”

“If only cavalry moves, it will take about a week. If infantry and supplies move together, it will take a few more days.”

Temujin nodded at this.

And looking at everyone, he spoke.

“We will move with the infantry as well as the supply troops.”

Arslan was surprised by Temujin’s words.

“Great one, wouldn’t it be better to move quickly to help the Gurkhan in Hamadan?”

“The Gurkhan will not need my help. Therefore, it would be more beneficial to move while maintaining supplies as much as possible rather than speeding up.”

“Your Majesty is right.”

“Even if we lead only cavalry, Hamadan will already be conquered.”

Arslan continued with a surprised expression.

“Hamadan was the capital of Medina, covered with thick walls. It’s impossible to conquer such a place in just a week.”

“It’s possible for the Gurkhan.”

Temujin said this while pointing at the fortresses with his hand.

And in a calm voice, he recited.

“He conquered all these fortresses in just a few days. Before him, Hamadan is nothing but a candle in the wind.”

Arslan couldn’t argue with Temujin’s words.

As the young king said, the Gurkhan had already conquered this area. So conquering Hamadan was just a matter of time.

“Therefore, I will lead my army to join Hamadan. There I will sing songs praising the achievements of the Gurkhan.”

Jebe and Jelme responded to Temujin’s words.

Right now, this was all these three people could do.

Arslan, unaware of this fact, just looked up at the sky and called out to Allah.

* * *

Hamadan had become hell.

Corpses falling from the sky, corpses rising from wells, and the entire river contaminated by those corpses.

As everything rotted, the entire city began to swarm with rats and insects.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Get away!”

Rats as big as human feet were gnawing on corpses.

Additionally, crows kept circling in the sky, screaming.

Because of this, the people complained of suffering, and the soldiers’ morale continued to drop.

Additionally, when all the drinkable water ran out, soldiers began to complain of thirst.

“Ugh… water…”

“Need water…”

During battle, soldiers were in a state of tension.

They sweated a lot, so they needed water and salt.

In such a situation, with no water to drink, everyone was slumped over like people on the verge of death.

“Everyone, pull yourselves together!”

“The enemy’s attack continues! Pull yourselves together!”

The atabegs tried to encourage them, but it was useless.

Because of this, even among the atabegs, the number of those wanting to surrender began to increase.

“It’s not too late. Let’s surrender now.”

“Would they accept us who have already resisted?”

“We have no other choice. How can we continue the war with soldiers complaining of thirst?”

As the soldiers fell into confusion, the leaders also began to conflict.

Because of this, the security of the fortress deteriorated rapidly, and people began to try to escape from the fortress.

“We’re all going to die at this rate.”

“Right. Even if we die, I’d rather die after escaping this hell.”

As people secretly escaped through the walls, security at the gates deteriorated rapidly.

They couldn’t even recognize that Mongol spies had entered the fortress because they couldn’t check who was going out or coming in.

“It’s almost as good as conquered.”

“That’s right.”

The Mongol spies said this while hiding.

And moving slowly, they assassinated the soldiers in charge of the gates.

“Keouk.”

“Keok.”

As they were assassinated, control of the gates naturally passed to the Mongols.

At this, the Mongol spies immediately opened the gates.

The atabegs who belatedly noticed this were startled.

“The… the gates are opening!”

“Close them immediately! Otherwise…!”

But it was already too late.

Because through these gates, crusaders who had departed from the east were revealing themselves.

At the front stood the most fearsome ruler, Yesugei.