Ch.23The Yeke Mongol Ulus (2)

“Slaughter the Keraits and Khamag scum!”

“Show no mercy to the enemy!”

The Merkit and Naiman soldiers were in high spirits.

They were massacring the unarmed Kerait tribespeople.

To stop this, Toghrul Khan led his army forward with Yesugei following behind.

“Merkit and Naiman scoundrels! You jackals dare to invade the sacred territory of the Keraits!”

Toghrul’s shout.

At his cry, a man on horseback slowly came forward from among the Merkit and Naiman soldiers.

“You… you are…”

“I’ve come to reclaim what’s mine, Toghrul.”

Tagar’s confident declaration.

He drew his sword and pointed it at Toghrul’s head.

“I will avenge my father and take back the rightful claim you stole from me!”

“What right do you have to speak so boldly after killing brothers who shared blood and mare’s milk with you?”

“Those who stood by and watched my father’s unjust death are no brothers of mine!”

After that, Tagar waved his hand as if Toghrul wasn’t worth responding to. Then he ordered his soldiers to advance.

“Attack!”

At this, the Merkit and Kerait soldiers charged toward Toghrul.

Toghrul, unwilling to just stand by and watch, immediately responded.

“Brothers! Show Tagar, who not only betrayed his clan but joined hands with these scoundrels, what we’re made of!”

The soldiers from both sides collided in the middle.

As the cavalry battle began, the screams of horses and men filled the ground.

“Die, you jackals! The Keraits will not fall!”

“God protects us!”

“For Tayang Khan! Show them the terror of the steppe!”

“The enemy is outnumbered! Charge!”

As the evenly matched struggle dragged on, the Keraits gradually found themselves on the defensive.

This was inevitable since they were outnumbered by the Merkit and Naiman forces.

Toghrul noticed this immediately,

but he hesitated to retreat because it was clear that the tribespeople who hadn’t yet escaped would be massacred by the enemy.

As Toghrul pondered how to respond,

a man in a red cloak, as if understanding Toghrul’s dilemma, began charging forward with his soldiers.

“Uaaaaargh!”

At the tremendous roar that sounded like a bear’s growl, some of the enemy soldiers stopped their attack and looked toward the source of the sound.

“Th-that… it’s like… a b-bear…”

“Red cloak… I’ve h-heard about him… the Red Warrior… Ulaanbaatar!”

Some of the enemy soldiers knew about what had happened at the Bokh wrestling match in Khamag Mongol.

A man who single-handedly crushed Juchi and Ambaghai, who were known as outstanding warriors of Khamag Mongol.

The enemy soldiers, who hadn’t believed such a powerfully strong being could exist, had no choice but to change their minds when they saw Yesugei charging at them with the ferocity of a bear.

“F-fall back!”

“N-no! Ulaanbaatar is human too! If we surround him and attack… Argh!”

Confusion spread through the Naiman and Merkit allied forces.

Seeing them falter, Yesugei led the Khamag Mongol soldiers to intercept the enemy’s flank.

“Calm down! The enemy is few in number! Don’t panic, spread out and shoot arrows at Yesugei!”

At these words, the mounted archers regained their composure.

They used their short composite bows made of wood and cowhide to fire arrows at Yesugei.

“Cowards! Fight me face to face!”

Yesugei shouted.

Despite Yesugei’s provocation, the enemy archers didn’t engage directly but maintained their distance while raining down arrows.

As a result, casualties began to mount in Yesugei’s unit.

Recognizing this, Yesugei had to be content with having broken the enemy’s right wing and was forced to fall back.

“Don’t let Yesugei escape!”

Chilger reacted immediately when Yesugei appeared on the battlefield.

Having a long-standing grudge against Yesugei, he had no intention of letting him get away.

“Chilger!”

Despite Tayang Khan’s shout, Chilger independently led his soldiers forward.

Seeing this, Yesugei, who was retreating, recognized who was pursuing him closely and shouted loudly.

“Ha! The man who wet his pants and abandoned his wife has returned leading a bunch of weaklings!”

Enraged by Yesugei’s provocation, Chilger’s eyes rolled back.

He spurred his horse to chase after Yesugei.

“It’s clear that the Merkit who accept a coward like you as their Khan have no discernment!”

“I’ll tear your mouth apart, Yesugei!”

Falling for the provocation, Chilger closely pursued Yesugei.

When he reached a distance where he could almost catch Yesugei, Chilger drew his sword, ready to slash at Yesugei’s back.

“Die!”

At that moment, Yesugei twisted his body on horseback to face Chilger.

With acrobatic flexibility, he blocked Chilger’s sword.

“Y-you…!”

“You’ve become even more petty since I last saw you, Chilger!”

“Shut up!”

Chilger swung his sword repeatedly, but Yesugei avoided all his attacks with minimal movement.

After dodging the attacks, Yesugei counterattacked.

As the blade drove toward his throat, Chilger hurriedly pulled back his sword to block Yesugei’s attack.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

A strong vibration ran through the sword.

Chilger’s sword began to give way under the immense strength.

“Nnngh!”

“Die!”

Feeling the strong air pressure against his skin, Chilger instinctively knew he couldn’t block this attack.

To survive, Chilger had no choice but to abandon his sword and flatten himself against his horse’s back.

Swish.

With that sound, the feathers decorating his helmet were cleanly cut off.

Chilger broke into a cold sweat at the chilling sound.

It was only by dodging at the last possible moment that Chilger’s head remained attached to his body.

With Chilger now on the defensive,

Tayang and Tagar rushed to his aid.

“Release Chilger at once, Yesugei!”

“I’ll kill you and all of Khamag Mongol!”

The forces led by Tayang and Tagar outnumbered those led by Yesugei from Khamag Mongol.

Well aware of this, Yesugei had no choice but to give up on Chilger, whom he had been about to kill.

“You’ve survived again through cowardice, Chilger. Go tell Tayang Khan and Tagar Khan how wet your pants are. If you can, that is. Hahaha!”

Yesugei’s taunt.

Enraged by his words, Chilger tried to swing his sword.

“I will not forgive anyone who raises a sword against my anda!”

Ong Khan’s support.

With this intervention, Chilger could no longer pursue Yesugei.

As the Kerait and Khamag Mongol soldiers retreated into the distance,

Chilger could only grind his teeth in frustration.

“Why did you come so late?!”

Having lost his enemy right before his eyes, Chilger couldn’t contain his anger and instead blamed Tayang and Tagar who had come to rescue him.

“You’re the one who suddenly rushed out, Chilger.”

“Your independent action broke our encirclement, Chilger Khan.”

Under Tayang and Tagar’s rebuke, Chilger could only blush.

He turned his head to look in the direction where Yesugei had fled.

“Damn it… curse it all…”

Chilger had missed his chance for revenge that had been right in front of him.

He knew better than anyone that it had been a golden opportunity that might never come again.

Anger.

As his volcanic rage gradually subsided, an indescribable emotion suddenly washed over him.

That emotion was none other than relief at being alive… a feeling that could only bring shame.

At the same time, he felt a wetness below.

Having experienced this sensation before when Ho’elun was taken from him by Yesugei, it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling.

However,

in this shameful and humiliating situation, Chilger could only feel anger.

* * *

“They’re certainly different from the Tatars.”

At my words, Toghrul nodded.

As he had also noticed, the Merkit-Naiman alliance possessed an organizational strength incomparable to the Tatars.

This became immediately apparent during the recent skirmish.

My plan to provoke Chilger into a false retreat and then ambush him had quickly fallen apart.

This meant that the false retreat tactic I had used when capturing Megujin-se’uldu could no longer be employed.

“More importantly, I truly thank you, Yesugei. Thanks to you leading the Khamag Mongol warriors, we were able to evacuate all the tribespeople who were there.”

As Toghrul expressed his gratitude, I waved it off as if it were nothing.

“It’s fine. Your tribe is like family to me, my anda. I only did what needed to be done to protect family.”

Toghrul looked at me with grateful eyes.

He nodded vigorously, agreeing with my words and expressing his thanks.

“You’re right. Our Keraits and Khamag Mongol are brothers and family. Thank you, truly thank you, my anda.”

Instead of replying to Toghrul’s intense expression of gratitude, I bowed my head to accept it.

Inwardly, I felt slightly guilty.

The truth was, I had saved the Kerait tribespeople not so much because they were family, but because I was concerned about the Keraits’ morale dropping.

Some of the men in the Kerait unit had family members in the area.

In such a situation, if they saw their families in danger of being massacred by the enemy, the Kerait warriors would naturally be affected.

The idea that a warrior’s combat ability increases after seeing family members die at enemy hands was just a fantasy from media.

Being human, they couldn’t help but be affected by death.

While their fighting spirit might temporarily increase, they would likely express dissatisfaction with Toghrul for failing to protect their families.

This would naturally lead to a decline in the Kerait unit’s combat effectiveness,

and could lower the morale of the entire Khamag Mongol and Kerait alliance.

Additionally, there was the possibility that the Onggirat and Oirat, who were watching this battle, might switch to the enemy’s side.

Given these complex circumstances, I had no choice but to charge at the enemy, accepting casualties on our side, to buy time for Toghrul to rescue his tribespeople.

Anyway, since Toghrul had successfully rescued his people, the immediate crisis was over.

Now the question was how to defeat the enemy.

“But the enemy’s momentum is formidable.”

“The difference in numbers is one thing, but the gap in combat power is a major problem.”

As we struggled to find a good solution,

Ibuka, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, stepped forward.

“I have a good idea.”

“A good idea?”

At Toghrul’s question,

Ibuka nodded and shared his thoughts.

After hearing Ibuka’s strategy, Toghrul and I

could only nod in agreement at his plausible plan.