Ch.179Middle East (1)

I calmly surveyed the inside of the fortress.

As I had expected, a scene of hell was unfolding here.

People were suffering, and soldiers were crying out with thirst.

There was only one mercy I could bestow upon them.

“Kill them all.”

At my command, the cavalry charged.

With each flash of their swords, the heads of soldiers who had resisted the Ulus flew off.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Kuhuk!”

As the soldiers died, innocent civilians began to beg for their lives.

“P-please spare us! Please spare us!”

“Just spare our lives! I beg you!”

Seeing them, the Ulus warriors did not attack the civilians.

They continued to methodically kill only the soldiers.

Seeing this, soldiers began throwing down their weapons to prove they had no will to fight.

“I-I surrender!”

“We surrender! Please spare our lives!”

The Ulus soldiers didn’t understand these words.

But since they had discarded their weapons, they were spared.

The Ulus was an army that knew how to show mercy.

But this didn’t apply to everyone.

“Spare us! Please spare us!”

“We give up resistance! Just spare our lives!”

“O Great Khagan!”

They were none other than the Atabegs who had resisted me.

Because of their arrogance, innocent civilians and soldiers had suffered.

Therefore, I had no intention of forgiving them.

“Bind them all.”

The Kheshig bowed at my command.

Then they rushed forward with ropes.

The Atabegs didn’t know what to do as the cavalry charged toward them, wildly swinging ropes.

They tried to flee, but it was impossible for men on foot to escape mounted pursuers.

Whoosh.

“Aargh!”

“Kuhk!”

Those caught by the ropes fell flat on their faces.

And so, the Iranian rulers who had hidden behind civilians and soldiers as shields met a miserable end.

“We’ve captured them all.”

I nodded at Munglig’s words.

Then I gave orders to my soldiers.

“Take all who surrendered out of the city. Let them take possessions, but only what they can carry in their hands.”

The Mongol warriors began driving the civilians out of the city.

The civilians and soldiers took only the minimal possessions they could carry and were driven from their homeland.

Thus, Hamadan, the capital of Media and a major Iranian city that had developed over a long period, became empty.

Inside the empty fortress, the Atabegs remained bound.

“So these are them.”

I looked down at the Atabegs.

They begged with their hands, saying something that seemed to be pleas for mercy.

“!(@#*#!”

“askjdlajf sakldj (!”

Amid this barrage of incomprehensible words, I gestured for an interpreter.

He began translating what they were saying.

“Please spare us.”

“P-please spare our lives. We’ll give you anything you want.”

“All my possessions belong to the Khagan.”

I shook my head.

“You resisted me. I have no reason to spare you.”

After saying this, I gestured for Munglig.

He immediately approached my side.

“Hang them at the city gate.”

“Yes, I understand, Khagan.”

The Atabegs’ eyes widened when I said I would hang them.

They continued rubbing their hands together and begging for their lives, but I didn’t even blink.

“And have the soldiers set fire to this place. This entire city will be erased from this land.”

At the mention of erasing the city, the eyes of the Atabegs who had surrendered to me trembled violently.

But it was impossible to revive a city already contaminated by corpses.

Therefore, abandoning this city was the logical choice.

After saying this, I left the city.

As I departed, soldiers who had received my orders began setting fires throughout the city.

The rats that had been feeding on corpses burned to death, and the crows that had been pecking at the bodies also burned.

And those hanging at the city gate began to burn very slowly and painfully from the flames that continued to blaze beneath them.

“Aaaaarrrrggghhh!”

“Save me! Save me!”

“It hurts!”

At the sound of their screams, the Atabegs who had surrendered to me trembled violently.

And the civilians who had escaped from Hamadan shook with fear, trying not to make eye contact with the Mongol warriors.

This level of fear was sufficient.

Now I intended to bestow generosity.

“Atabegs.”

“Speak, Khagan.”

“We are ready to receive your orders.”

“Unlike those others, you surrendered to me, so I will give you a reward for this.”

“By reward, you mean…”

“I will divide among you the lands of the lords who died in Hamadan.”

At this, greed began to appear in the Atabegs’ eyes.

Of course, I wasn’t giving them all the territory.

I was only dividing some of the territory they had once held.

However, from the perspective of the surrendered lords, they couldn’t help but be pleased.

They were getting free territory without fighting a war or spending money.

“Thank you, Gur Khagan.”

“We will serve you for life.”

“Gur Khagan’s will is our will.”

“I will not doubt your loyalty. And additionally, I ask that you take responsibility for the people who lived in Hamadan. Provide them with livestock and homes as they settle.”

For lords who had received free territory, providing livestock and homes was not a big problem.

Moreover, if they accepted these people as their subjects, they would collect more taxes, so they had to welcome it.

“We will follow the Khagan’s will.”

“We will carry out the order immediately.”

I nodded and turned around.

Then I walked toward where the civilians were gathered.

I saw civilians filled with terror as they saw me.

They seemed to find it difficult to even make eye contact with me.

“Do not worry. I will not harm you.”

When the interpreter translated my words, the civilians who heard this began to look at me cautiously.

I continued speaking.

“From now on, you will live as subjects of different lords. It may not compare to where you used to live, but livestock and homes will be provided so you can settle and live there.”

At this, the civilians began to stir.

At that time, when refugees were created after a war broke out, there were no specific policies for them. As a result, most of them typically lived as vagrants until they died.

Knowing this situation, I showed mercy to them.

It was to clearly show that I was making examples only of the lords and soldiers who had resisted me, not these people.

“Thank you! Thank you! O Great One!”

“We’re saved!”

“Long live Gur Khagan!”

They shouted hurrahs with truly joyful expressions.

Of course, being in front of me, they might have been intentionally exaggerating their expressions and actions.

Even taking that into account, I could immediately tell that their discontent had been somewhat resolved.

“Take them all away.”

“Yes!”

“We obey the Khagan’s command.”

After bowing, the Atabegs disappeared.

As soon as they disappeared, I immediately summoned Muqali.

“You called for me, Gur Khagan?”

“Strengthen the surveillance on them.”

“Yes, Khagan.”

In novels, movies, and dramas, heroes often show magnanimity by embracing those who were once enemies.

That was just media, and this was reality.

Even those who surrendered were not to be monitored carelessly.

That way, we could quickly respond to any sudden actions they might take.

“By the way, it should be about time for Temujin to arrive.”

At my words, Munglig immediately approached.

After bowing, he spoke to me.

“As it happens, Temujin has sent word that he’s almost arrived.”

“He’s arrived at an appropriate time.”

I nodded with a satisfied expression.

Then I turned my head to look west.

“Now it’s time to head beyond Iranian land to Baghdad.”

At my words, Munglig asked a question.

“What kind of place is Baghdad, brother?”

“A land flowing with milk and honey.”

“Is it a fertile land?”

“No, it means it’s a land suitable for raising livestock.”

Sometimes people misinterpreted the phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

People in our country, that is, those accustomed to agricultural culture, thought of a land flowing with milk and honey as truly abundant land.

But considering the background of the Bible, a land flowing with milk and honey was literally a land suitable for raising goats or cattle.

In any case, this place was, in a word, pastureland.

Of course, Baghdad was also capable of producing wheat, but after a long period of war devastation, it had taken on the characteristics of steppe land more suitable for livestock farming than wheat farming.

Additionally, with the arrival of the Medieval Warm Period, it became difficult to produce large amounts of wheat there.

The reason for elaborating on this was simple.

Their land was pastureland, making it easy to deploy cavalry.

The fact that it was easy to deploy cavalry meant that regardless of whether their walls were high or low, Baghdad could be quickly conquered.

“After joining forces with Temujin, we will immediately advance to Baghdad. We will quickly conquer it and use it as a forward base for the Middle East campaign.”

Using various Persian cities as forward bases would also be a good method.

But Persia was a mountainous region, so using it as a forward base wasn’t a very good approach.

Mongolia was also high in elevation, but unlike Persia, it was a plateau.

So it was easy to deploy cavalry. But since Iranian land wasn’t like that, it was better to conquer Baghdad.

Additionally, Baghdad was in the Gulf region, making it convenient to mobilize a navy.

Of course, it was impossible to bring the Mongol Pirates being trained on Tamra Island all the way here.

But since there were many pirates operating in the Gulf, if we recruited them, we could harass the entire Arabian Peninsula.

For these two reasons, I was planning to use Baghdad as a forward base.

“Brother! I can see Temujin’s flag over there!”

At Munglig’s words, I nodded.

There stood my son Temujin, who had now become a warrior of the steppe.