Ch.236Temuge (1)

Samurai wearing Japanese armor were walking out.

In the center of them was a man wearing the most splendid armor.

His name was Minamoto Yoshitsune, who had now become Borjigin Temuge.

“The Borjigin clan.”

Yoshitsune said this while looking at the flag hanging behind him.

Instead of the bamboo and gentian that symbolized the Minamoto family, there was a crescent moon and moon depicted.

Seeing this, Yoshitsune, no, Temuge felt complicated emotions.

“I don’t know whether to be ashamed of this or consider it an honor.”

Temuge was 30 years old.

In the archipelago, 30 was considered an adult age.

At this age, many conquerors had conquered the world and great monarchs had established countries.

So 30 wasn’t really an age to be adopted by someone.

Of course, there had been cases of adoption at this age.

However, these were mostly cases of adoption due to succession issues.

That’s why Temuge expressed that being adopted was humiliating.

But regardless of the humiliation, Temuge gained many benefits by belonging to the Borjigin clan.

The biggest benefit was, of course, belonging to the Borjigin clan, the most powerful family in the world.

The Borjigin family was a great empire whose influence reached from Liaodong in the east to the Byzantine Empire in the west.

Being adopted into such an empire was undoubtedly an enormous benefit.

Of course, Temuge didn’t know exactly how vast the territory of the Ulus was.

He only considered it a country that had seized hegemony in northern China.

Even northern China alone was an enormous territory.

So even this much was enough.

While thinking this, horses carrying white flags were approaching from the distance.

Seeing this, Temuge couldn’t help but look puzzled.

“Why are they coming here?”

Before Temuge finished speaking, an elderly advisor and other advisors approached.

Recognizing Temuge, they dismounted and bowed.

“General. Please take us in.”

“You want me to spare you?”

The elderly advisor immediately began to explain the situation.

“Well…”

The Shogun had asked them to offer their heads to appease Temuge.

So they promised to give their heads to save their lives.

Using that as an excuse, they escaped from Miyako and came to where Temuge was.

After hearing this whole story, Temuge looked dumbfounded.

And immediately drew his sword.

“W-why are you suddenly doing this? General.”

“Y-yes. Please take us in. If you do, we’ll help overthrow the Shogun and establish a new shogunate.”

“You fools. Have you been following the Shogun without knowing what a cunning man he is?”

“W-what do you mean…?”

At the old advisor’s question, Temuge pointed behind them with his sword.

Looking there, the old advisor couldn’t help but be greatly surprised.

“Sh-Shogunate army…?”

“That’s right. Even if most of the family troops under the Shogun are under my command, the Shogun is still the ruler of the shogunate. So it’s not a big problem for him to order the Oonushi to recruit troops.”

Even if the Shogun was blinded by the desire to protect his power, he was a man who had risen from a low-ranking commander to become the power holder of the shogunate.

So while his military talent might be inferior to Temuge’s, no one could surpass him in political skill.

“Foolishly, you abandoned your family to save your lives and came here, and the Shogun used that opportunity to absorb your family’s troops under the pretext of punishing treasonous families.”

“Ah…!”

“H-how could this…”

The Shogun’s seemingly crazed behavior was a kind of performance.

Yoritomo knew that those who offered their heads when asked were trying to escape, were traitors.

So he deliberately pretended to be fooled and let them escape.

Then, under the pretext of punishing those who fled, he absorbed their family troops.

Having gained troops, the Shogun threatened other officials and Oonushi with his forces,

and consequently, those who didn’t want to be branded as traitors and punished had no choice but to offer their family troops to the Shogun.

“It was all an act.”

With one seemingly reckless performance, the Shogun gained thousands of troops.

This was Yoritomo’s strength and most frightening aspect.

And with these troops, Temuge also had to be careful.

Most of the troops under his command were soldiers of the Minamoto family who had once followed Yoritomo.

The reason they followed Temuge was because they believed Temuge had a higher chance of winning than Yoritomo.

But now with thousands of soldiers gathered, the battlefield situation had become equal.

In this situation, if Yoritomo tried to persuade the family soldiers, they were likely to waver.

“We-we’re sorry, General.”

“We just had good intentions…”

“Enough. What’s done is done.”

Again, Temuge was a realist.

He wasn’t someone who would be swayed by emotions enough to kill surrendering soldiers out of anger.

So he immediately prepared to meet his brother, the real power holder of the shogunate.

As Temuge’s troops prepared, the Shogun’s troops appeared over the hill.

Seeing Yoritomo wearing armor and a helmet like a soldier rather than a ruler’s attire, Temuge swallowed hard.

Although Temuge had military talent, he could never surpass Yoritomo.

The reason was simple: Yoritomo had a talent that Temuge didn’t possess.

It was the charm that attracted people.

Yoritomo was such a charming person that samurai would come to him wanting to serve him as their lord.

No matter how legendary Temuge’s eight-foot leap was, the samurai wouldn’t follow him.

This was the difference between the two brothers.

While Temuge was thinking this, Yoritomo appeared with a relaxed smile.

Bamboo and gentian.

The flag symbolizing the Minamoto family was fluttering behind him.

“It’s been a long time, brother.”

“…”

“Didn’t you miss your brother?”

“No one here will follow you, who has disturbed the world and oppressed the Tenno, the legitimate ruler.”

At this, Yoritomo laughed loudly.

Then he pointed to the flag behind Temuge.

“You, who have betrayed the world by submitting to power and being forced to take a Mongol name, dare to speak about the world? Even a passing dog would laugh.”

The Shogun’s words were accurate.

No matter how much Yoritomo oppressed the Tenno, he acted according to order and principle.

But Temuge was different.

Being a realist, he chose the path to survive by any means necessary.

So to others, Temuge couldn’t help but appear as someone who changed his stance according to personal benefit.

“Traitor. Because of your wrong choice, the people are groaning in pain, and in the east, someone swayed by wicked desires is leading an army to attack the shogunate. You must take responsibility for this problem.”

“Ha! How can you blame me for not setting the world right?”

“Everyone knows that if you hadn’t been defeated in Nagasaki, the Oshu clan wouldn’t have raised an army.”

“It was merely a tactical retreat.”

“How amusing, brother. No matter how you dress it up, you can’t deny the fact that you were defeated.”

Temuge’s defeat in Nagasaki was a strategic one.

After that defeat, he retreated and implemented a follow-up strategy to prevent the Mongol army from leaving Nagasaki, actually pushing the Mongol army into a defensive position.

Of course, this was Temuge’s perspective.

From the standpoint of ordinary people or soldiers, they didn’t understand such strategies and tactics.

They only knew about victory and defeat.

So in their minds, the term “strategic retreat” was losing persuasiveness.

“Indeed… if we hadn’t been defeated then…”

“The Oshu domain wouldn’t have stirred…”

The soldiers began to murmur.

As the Minamoto family soldiers became restless due to Yoritomo’s eloquence, other soldiers couldn’t help but fall into confusion.

“Get a grip! That man is trying to hide the sky with his palm. Trusting someone full of lies is like crossing a raging stream naked.”

“Don’t listen to those words, soldiers. Don’t listen to someone who submitted to barbarians because he didn’t want to pay for his crimes with his life.”

After saying this, Minamoto raised both arms.

And with a confident expression, he shouted loudly.

“I know that my inadequate brother is trying to shift the blame for his crimes onto you. So if you surrender with your weapons even now, I won’t punish you. And I’ll compensate for your losses with rice and clothes.”

Minamoto was a ruler with excellent political skills.

So when criticizing Temuge, he continued with emotional and direct criticism.

Through such criticism, when the soldiers became restless, he promised not to punish them with a generous expression.

Additionally, he specifically mentioned rice and clothes, which were concrete and necessary items that the soldiers desperately wanted, making it hard for them not to be tempted.

“Don’t listen to those words! If you go back, only death awaits!”

In response, Temuge kept denying without saying what the soldiers truly wanted.

As he only repeated not to go, one or two soldiers began to desert.

“Ugh… it’s not even my fault…”

“Besides, my family is in Miyako…”

“I’m going back!”

The rate of soldiers deserting increased rapidly.

Alarmed, Temuge deployed his guards to block them, but they couldn’t stop the simultaneous desertions.

As a result, Temuge’s forces naturally decreased from thousands to hundreds.

Conversely, the Shogun’s forces increased from thousands to nearly 20,000.

It happened in an instant without a single battle.

Temuge looked dejected at this.

“Heaven is helping me! Hahaha!”

The Shogun laughed loudly.

And he looked down at his brother who had made a foolish choice.

“Farewell, brother.”

With those words, the Shogun struck down with his sword.

And his brave army rushed toward Temuge.

A clash between hundreds of soldiers and 20,000 soldiers.

The outcome was obvious to anyone.

As despair rushed toward Temuge, the sound of arrows came from somewhere.

With that sound, despair didn’t reach Temuge and collapsed.

Archery skills close to divine.

Seeing this, Temuge couldn’t help but look in the direction from which the arrows had come.

“Ah…”

“Seems like I arrived just in time, son.”

Yesugei, the lord of the four seas.

Temuge’s father.