Ch.232The Fire of Urus (2)

# About Three Weeks Earlier

Suddenly, a messenger arrived with news that the Bakufu army had begun to retreat.

Munglig immediately approached me to report this fact.

“Gurkhan, the Bakufu forces are withdrawing.”

“Something unusual must have happened.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

This made sense, as the plundering of cities near Nagasaki had reached a critical point.

The Ulus forces had been seizing food and manpower to survive, depleting the productivity of coastal villages.

As a result, the survivors had fled during the night, abandoning their hometowns.

There was nothing left to squeeze out of these places.

Under such circumstances, our forces would have had no choice but to retreat.

Fortunately, with the Bakufu army withdrawing, we could finally breathe easier.

“The enemy commander’s retreat suggests internal problems in their ranks. This is no simple matter—something must have happened in their capital. Shouldn’t we gather our troops and march toward the enemy capital immediately?”

As I always noticed, Munglig was truly intelligent.

When he presented his arguments so logically, even his bold proposal to gather forces and attack the enemy’s capital in disarray sounded reasonable.

“Good thinking, but the enemy navy remains, which would certainly hinder our advance. It’s best to avoid heading toward their capital.”

Hearing my words, Munglig nodded with slight disappointment.

“Of course, we can’t just sit idle either.”

I pointed to what could be considered the entrance to Nagasaki.

“We will conquer Kyushu.”

“As expected of you, brother.”

I intended to bring all of Kyushu—or Gushu as it was called—under our control.

And I planned to make this place a Mongol outpost.

“Even if we face naval setbacks, with Kyushu as our base, we can rise again.”

Mongolia’s greatest strength was its ability to build momentum like a rolling snowball.

Though it was achieved through violence and plunder—very coercive methods.

From a modern perspective, one might think I was deliberately acting aggressively toward Japan because I came from modern Korea.

This is somewhat of a misunderstanding. While I was indeed possessed by someone from our country, that didn’t mean I hadn’t engaged in plunder, arson, and kidnapping elsewhere.

When unifying Mongolia, I had plundered the Tatars and forcibly abducted Abd Chechek, who had been the tribal chief’s wife.

When attacking Western Xia, I thoroughly plundered Khara-Khoto, and when conquering Western Liao, I methodically destroyed numerous fortresses along the way.

Later, in the Iranian region, the Mashriq region, Anatolia, and even the Balkans.

As a Mongol, I had simply acted in pursuit of practical benefits and advantages.

It is the way of nature for wolves to hunt.

Therefore, the appearance of the prey was irrelevant to me.

Of course, I had inflicted less damage than in the original history.

However, looking at the bigger picture, since I had succeeded in the expedition faster than in the original history, Temujin, who would continue the expedition after me, would surely cause more bloodshed.

In other words, the population that had decreased dramatically in the original history would now decline more gradually but over a longer period.

The reason I went into this lengthy explanation was to clarify that I wasn’t treating Japan any more harshly than others.

I had simply chosen Kyushu as a foothold to conquer all of Japan according to strategy and tactics.

Since I planned to rule this place directly, unfortunately, a large-scale population adjustment would be necessary.

“Munglig, Elunka.”

“Command us, Gurkhan.”

“Ready to hunt, sir.”

“From now on, Kyushu will be renamed Yus Gurun and incorporated as a direct territory of the Ulus.”

Yus meant “nine” in Mongolian.

So a Gurun with nine lands was essentially a direct translation of Kyushu into Mongolian.

“Kill all who resist, and put those who surrender in shackles as slaves. Kill the elderly, capture the children and women, and distribute them among the warriors.”

The elderly couldn’t be used as labor.

Women could produce new labor.

Children could be raised to become combat forces with just a little time.

It was an inhumane order, but in this era, it was commonplace.

Conquerors impose their will on enemies through violent and murderous coercion.

Therefore, death awaits those who resist, while those who comply will be chained with the mark of slavery.

The victims of war were not the rulers who started it.

They were the powerless.

This is reality.

This is war.

* * *

As Yoshitsune’s Bakufu army retreated, all of Kyushu began to groan under the Mongol forces.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Kyaaaaa!”

“Kill all who resist!”

With each flash of the Mongol swords, armed soldiers died miserably.

As people died, women and children could do nothing but scream.

There was no hope for them.

“My son!”

“Darling…!”

Families wailed as they looked at the faces of men sprawled on the ground.

No miracle would bring back the dead, no matter how much they cried tears of blood.

“Th-they’re the faceless ones!”

“If they catch us, we’ll become slaves…”

These “faceless ones” they spoke of were Tamma soldiers wearing Cuman masks.

They were called this because the masks concealed their expressions.

This led to them being likened to Japanese yokai called Otoroshi.

“Capture the women and children, and kill all the old men you see!”

At the Tamma’s shout, soldiers spread out.

People who saw them were startled and began to flee.

“The faceless ones are coming!”

“R-run away!”

They ran desperately, but outrunning mounted Tamma soldiers was impossible.

Eventually, they fell, caught in nets or ropes thrown by the soldiers.

“Urgh!”

“Kyaaa!”

The Tamma approached the fallen people indifferently.

After looking at them, they gestured to bring someone over.

A man with shackles on his feet was clearly Japanese.

“Translate what I say.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

The slave trembled as he began translating the Tamma’s words.

“Death awaits those who resist. Submit, slaves.”

“Hiiik!”

“I-I can’t do that.”

Some of the men old enough to bear arms tried to resist.

The Tamma responded by shooting an arrow into the leg of a charging man.

“Aaaaargh!”

The man collapsed immediately after being hit.

Seeing this, the slave interpreter and the women were shocked. The children wailed at the top of their lungs.

“Finish him.”

“I-I can’t do it. He’s my…”

Slash.

The Tamma impatiently beheaded the resisting slave.

Then he gestured to bring another slave interpreter.

“Kill him.”

“Uh… uhhh…”

The slave took a spear and slowly approached the older man.

Recognizing him, the man trembled and spoke in Japanese, which the Tamma couldn’t understand.

“Kill me, Saito. And in my place, protect my wife and children…”

“Darling!”

“D-daddy…!”

The man and the slave interpreter knew each other.

That’s why Saito, the slave, trembled with bloodshot eyes.

“I-I can’t do that.”

“Hurry! If you don’t kill me now, you’ll die too, and my family will be violated by the Mongols. Please… I beg you.”

“Urgh… I’m… I’m sorry… sir.”

After saying this, the slave thrust his spear into the man’s neck.

The man slumped with a dejected expression.

“Ugh… urgh… sob…”

“Well done. For carrying out my orders well, I’ll reward you with spoils.”

The Tamma said this while pointing to the captured women and children.

The slave interpreter couldn’t say anything.

Because they were the wife and children of the man he had just killed.

Their eyes were filled with resentment and anger.

“P-please don’t blame me. Th-this was unavoidable… This was… for your sake…”

“…”

And so the woman and children became the slave’s property.

Seeing this, the Tamma nodded and spoke to the slave.

“Jushen, you have followed my orders well. If you continue to obey commands and achieve merits like this, you could become a commander of ten leading an arban.”

Jushen meant “slave” in Mongolian.

It was a term typically used for the subjugated people of conquered territories. That’s why the inhabitants of the newly formed Yus Gurun were called Jushen.

“Thank you.”

Saito said this while nodding.

His heart was filled with contradictory emotions of anger and accomplishment.

Even though he knew these feelings weren’t right.

* * *

The annexation of Yus Gurun was proceeding smoothly.

Many civilian casualties occurred in the process.

During this process, I deliberately had the subjugated people execute other subjugated people and receive their families or property as rewards.

This was to create an intermediate class that would govern the lower subjugated classes.

“It’s a terrible method, but nothing is more effective.”

Make the subjugated people resent each other.

And make them conflict with each other.

It was a method proven by history.

A way to redirect resentment against oppressive rule.

Anyway, through this process, we created a new class that conformed to Mongol authority.

Jushen-dorei.

It was a term combining the Mongolian word for slave, “jushen,” and the Japanese word for slave, “dorei.”

Literally translated as “slave-slave,” it referred to those who governed slaves who either didn’t conform to Mongolia or lacked ability—essentially slaves who governed slaves.

In any case, Mongolia granted these jushen-dorei rights comparable to those of the Japanese samurai class for smooth governance.

As a result, some commoners who had been blocked from advancing in social status due to their birth found an opportunity for class advancement by becoming jushen-dorei.