Ch.188Compromise (4)

The troops sent by the Iranian Atabegs had safely settled in Baghdad.

These settlers would serve as both soldiers and citizens, developing and protecting Baghdad.

“My Khagan.”

Muqali approached me.

After bowing, he began his report.

“After sending swift spies to investigate, we’ve confirmed that the Sultanate of Rum has no cities with significant fortifications.”

I nodded at this.

The Sultanate of Rum, or officially the Rum Seljuk Dynasty, was currently under the influence of the Byzantine Empire.

When I mentioned it earlier, I said it was part of the Seljuk Empire but considered an independent power, which might cause confusion now.

This was because during this period, it was common for a single country to be under the influence of two or more powers.

Khwarezm itself had grown and expanded while under the influence of both Western Liao and the Seljuks.

Because of this, many countries in the Middle East had similar histories, and the Sultanate of Rum was no exception.

In any case, the Sultanate of Rum had lost all its expanded territories after being defeated by Emperor Manuel and was now under Byzantine influence.

As a result, the current Sultanate of Rum remained in eastern Anatolia, devastated by years of war and lacking proper defensive facilities.

“Good. Then we’ll employ mobile tactics centered on cavalry to quickly occupy the territory, then use Kerik to exert influence across the entire Anatolian peninsula.”

Muqali nodded at my words.

The plan was to occupy or vassalize the Sultanate of Rum and then occupy Byzantine territory on the Anatolian peninsula.

The reason for this action was to control the European Crusaders while conquering the Sultanate of Rum, and simultaneously fabricate a justification for conquering the Byzantine Empire.

“A wise decision, Gur Khagan. May I humbly ask how you plan to conquer Byzantium after exerting your influence?”

“God has revealed to me that I must remember the death of an innocent.”

“An innocent…”

“He has red hair and stutters. He is the rightful owner of Byzantium, so we will use the pretext of helping him to annex Byzantium.”

As I mentioned before, the current Byzantine Emperor had a history of murdering his co-emperor, Alexios II.

Of course, knowing future history, I knew he had killed Alexios and thrown his body into the Sea of Marmara. Unlike me, people of this era only knew that he had killed the young emperor but didn’t know where the body had been disposed of.

In other words, since the body had not been found, gossipmongers were spreading rumors that the young emperor might still be alive.

The source of these rumors was, naturally, resistance to the tyrant’s oppression.

As these unfounded rumors spread, there were people in actual history who impersonated Alexios.

In some ways, it was very similar to the False Dmitry incident in Russia.

Around this time, the first false Alexios would be meeting Sultan Kilij Arslan II and receiving support of 8,000 soldiers.

So it was appropriate for me to catch him and use him as a pretext for occupying Byzantium.

However, since someone might ask how I knew this, I had no choice but to brazenly claim I had received divine inspiration.

“Indeed, you are the Gur Khagan blessed by God, Tengri, and our ancestors. Such divine revelation is a blessing and honor that reaches only one who has returned from death.”

Muqali said this with sparkling eyes.

As I keep mentioning, I was truly a mythical figure.

I had survived poisoning and unified the steppes in just a few years.

Then I had annexed Western Xia and Western Liao, and even brought the long-standing enemy, the Jin Dynasty, to the brink of collapse.

Later, at the Pope’s request, I joined the Crusade.

The Ulus had been victorious everywhere it went during the Crusade, as if truly blessed by God, so it was natural for such beliefs to develop.

This was partly due to medieval adjustments, but it would be difficult to say my achievements had no influence.

The great deeds I had accomplished, and those the Ulus had accomplished, were so tremendous that they made those around us believe in divine blessing.

“God has informed me that the red-haired stutterer is in the Sultanate of Rum.”

“Ah! So that’s why you wish to occupy it first.”

I nodded at Muqali’s words.

In truth, beyond securing the false Alexios, I also intended to occupy eastern Anatolia as a bridgehead for crossing the Caucasus Mountains.

As I’ve repeatedly mentioned, the Anatolian peninsula was a strategic transportation hub connecting East and West.

Occupying this area would allow smooth movement of troops in any direction.

“We might have to cross the sea if necessary.”

“Excuse me, Gur Khagan. I didn’t catch what you said.”

“Never mind. I was talking to myself.”

I said this while looking toward the Mediterranean Sea.

Constantinople had the Theodosian Walls, known as an impregnable fortress.

These walls were triple-layered and only fell during the 20th Siege of Constantinople in the 15th century when the Ottoman Empire launched its attack.

Until then, it would be fair to say these walls had never fallen.

However, this didn’t mean the walls were invincible.

During the 12th Siege of Constantinople, the Fourth Crusade had conquered Constantinople.

I planned to use the false Alexios to throw Constantinople into chaos and then occupy it, but if that failed, I would use another method.

That method was to target the weakness of this fortress city: the eastern coastal walls and the Golden Horn walls.

These fortresses were located along the coastline and had the disadvantage of being vulnerable to coastal assaults as they were single-layered walls.

This was why Constantinople eventually fell to the Fourth Crusade led by Venice, suffering the humiliation of occupation.

Later, in the 13th century, Michael VIII of the Empire of Nicaea, who had defeated the Latin Empire, would reinforce these two walls.

In other words, right now, no country knew that the walls defending the Byzantine coast were vulnerable.

“We must bring the Sultanate of Rum under our influence at all costs.”

To access the Mediterranean, we needed to bring the Sultanate of Rum under the Ulus’s influence.

This was because we needed their naval power.

Only then could we use the navy to annex Constantinople if the false Alexios operation failed.

“It will be done according to the Gur Khagan’s will.”

Muqali bowed. I looked at him and nodded.

* * *

After organizing Baghdad and selecting troops, we were heading north.

This was within the Ayyubid Dynasty’s sphere of influence, but since Temujin had made an implicit peace with them, there were no major restrictions on our movement.

However, some cities that nominally followed Salah al-Din hindered the Ulus’s military movement.

In response, I issued a stern warning by using soldiers to completely burn down cities that dared to resist us.

The Middle East was a dry land.

Everything dried easily, making it all very arid.

This made things highly flammable.

So I deliberately punished them with fire. By burning everything they had, I was sending a warning not to resist me.

As a result, those who hindered the Ulus’s movement naturally disappeared.

And fear of the Ulus’s forces began to be tattooed into their bodies like a permanent mark.

Ruling enemies through fear was an easy, convenient, and effective method.

However, using it excessively could provoke resistance, so appropriate conciliation was also necessary.

In that sense, I decided to offer surrender terms to the Sultanate of Rum before annexing them.

“They will reject our surrender offer.”

Chilaun, who was serving as my aide, said this.

I nodded in response.

“Whether they accept surrender or not is unimportant. I have shown mercy, and if they refuse, I will attack accordingly.”

Chilaun nodded at my words.

There was a clear difference between showing mercy through actual actions and not doing so.

So although it was troublesome, it was better to send envoys offering surrender.

This way, even when using the absolute justification given by the Pope, we could reduce some of the resentment that might arise.

It was all the same in the end, but it was better than doing nothing.

So I called someone to dispatch as an envoy.

And I gave him orders.

“Advise the Sultan of Rum to surrender, and at the same time, check if there is a red-haired stutterer under his command.”

“Understood, Gur Khagan.”

The envoy received my orders and left.

As soon as he departed, Muqali asked me with a worried expression.

“I have some concerns about the envoy carrying out the orders.”

“What is it?”

“I worry that the enraged pagan king might kill our envoy.”

“He will not kill the Ulus’s envoy.”

“Why not?”

“Because we have already instilled much fear in this region.”

I said this while looking at the cities that had been scorched and burned.

Muqali nodded at my words.

There was no need to explain what would happen to the Sultanate of Rum if they killed the envoy.

The Ulus had already demonstrated this through actions.

Therefore, they would not rashly kill the envoy.

Even in the worst-case scenario where they did kill the envoy, it wouldn’t matter.

We would make them pay in blood for ignoring our warning.

“Now we wait to see how the Sultanate of Rum responds.”

Muqali nodded at my words.

Then he raised his hand to direct the soldiers to rest.

We planned to rest here and wait for the response from Kilij Arslan II, the Sultan of Rum.

Depending on his answer, the Ulus could become either their friendly neighbor or their slaughterer.

“Of course, from their perspective, we might not be such friendly neighbors.”

If the Sultanate of Rum chose to surrender, I intended to thoroughly exploit them.

Just like the Mongol Empire in the original history.