Ch.241Eastern (1)

Khasar looked at the Song Dynasty envoy with one corner of his mouth raised.

The envoy made no attempt to hide his displeasure at this behavior.

“This clearly damages the friendship between our two nations, Your Majesty.”

“Is that so?”

Khasar responded indifferently.

The Song envoy showed his discomfort at this.

“This clearly violates the terms of our treaty…”

“Which part of the treaty is being violated?”

After saying this, Khasar gestured to summon an official.

He then had the official read aloud from the document containing the treaty with the Song Dynasty.

“It states that the Song Dynasty will not take issue with the Mongol Pirates’ activities regardless of where they operate after withdrawing from Japan.”

Upon hearing the official’s words, Khasar turned his head to look at the envoy.

The envoy looked back at Khasar and protested.

“The notion that ‘regardless of where they operate’ includes Song territory is absurd.”

“Is that written here?”

“No, but this damages the friendly relations between our nations…”

“Answer only with yes or no. I’ll ask again. Is there anything written here that prohibits activity along Song coastlines?”

“…Um…no, there isn’t.”

“That’s right. There isn’t.”

After saying this, Khasar rose to his feet.

Then, looking at the envoy, he spoke in a low voice.

“We have not violated any part of the treaty. Therefore, we have no reason to accept Song’s demands.”

“…”

The envoy could say nothing in response to Khasar’s firm statement.

As he had claimed, the Ulus had not broken any treaty with the Song Dynasty.

Rather, they were adhering well to the agreement between the two nations. This gave Khasar every right to be confident.

“Even so…”

“Is the Song Dynasty such an untrustworthy nation?”

“Your words are excessive.”

“What’s excessive is the Song Dynasty. At your request, as a fellow imperial nation, we withdrew the Mongol Pirates that were operating in Japan.”

“That’s…”

The Song Dynasty had approached Mongolia first with this proposal. Mongolia had accepted Song’s unreasonable demands.

So Khasar’s characterization of Song as “excessive” was not an exaggeration at all.

“Go back.”

“I…I cannot return like this. For the sake of relations between our nations…”

“We have already granted Song’s request. And we prepared documentation for just such a situation.”

Yesugei had ordered diplomatic documents to be prepared, as if he knew Song would change its position.

The Song Dynasty, distracted by Japan’s request, had signed these documents without realizing they would come back to haunt them.

In a way, Song was now suffering the consequences of its careless decision, taking the damage meant for Japan.

* * *

In a coastal city of the Song Dynasty.

This city, prosperous through commerce, was filled with countless merchants loudly hawking their wares.

“Selling cheap! Cheap! Silk clothes made by Song craftsmen!”

“Buy delicious snacks!”

“Fruit that even the Emperor praised as delicious! Right here!”

Southern Song was living more prosperously than when it had ruled the Central Plains.

This was possible thanks to the development of commerce.

Merchants competed with each other, and to win this competition, they strove to improve their products.

The best way to improve goods was through technological advancement.

As a result, Southern Song enjoyed a better life than when it had ruled the Central Plains.

This wasn’t limited to the wealthy. Even ordinary citizens lived well enough to eat oil-fried dishes daily.

Considering that oil was a precious ingredient at the time, Song’s prosperity clearly surpassed other nations.

From the perspective of other countries, Song’s cities were tempting enough to provoke greed.

Properly looting just one city could provide enough to live comfortably for a lifetime.

However, there were no pirates bold enough to plunder the cities of Great Song.

This was because Song, despite being pushed back by the Jin Dynasty, was still clearly an empire.

With an abundance of powerful gunpowder weapons, even large-scale Japanese pirates or Malacca pirates didn’t dare attempt to raid Song territory.

This maintenance of public security allowed commerce to flourish even more.

“I hope this peace continues like this.”

“With His Majesty on the throne, this peace will surely last our lifetime. Haha.”

The people believed that Song’s peace would continue.

They believed that even if countries outside the Central Plains suffered from war or conflict, Song would remain strong.

But that belief began to crack when dozens of ships suddenly appeared on the coastline.

“What’s that noise?”

“I know. They don’t look like Goryeo or Japanese vessels.”

The merchants sensed something suspicious.

At that moment, they saw Song naval soldiers in armor moving urgently.

“Seeing the soldiers moving so hastily, this doesn’t seem like an ordinary matter…”

“Could it be pirates…?”

“Nonsense! What pirate would be crazy enough to raid a Great Song city?”

The merchants exchanged these words with uncertain expressions.

While they hesitated, the unidentified vessels were steadily approaching the city.

Ding ding ding.

“Stop! This is Great Song territory!”

“You are trespassing in Song territory!”

Song soldiers rang bells and demanded that the unidentified vessels stop approaching.

But these ships showed no intention of complying, coming within close range.

“That’s… a Mongol flag, isn’t it?”

The commander observing the enemy fleet from the coastal wall wore a puzzled expression.

This was because the Mongols were typically nomads who operated on the steppes.

Yet the people before his eyes now were skillfully manning ships like experienced naval forces.

“If they’re Mongols… aren’t they nomads?”

“Yes. They’re people who ride horses…”

The Song soldiers couldn’t hide their bewilderment.

Nomads on ships? The scene unfolding before their eyes was so difficult to comprehend that they struggled to accept the reality.

“Have the archers stand by and position the gunpowder weapons in case of emergency.”

At the commander’s order, his subordinates moved busily.

One of the staff approached the commander with a question.

“It seems advisable to issue evacuation orders to the citizens, General.”

The commander waved this suggestion away.

“Evacuation orders would only increase confusion. These people are just a ragtag bunch, so it’s better not to cause unnecessary panic.”

The commander was underestimating the Mongol pirates.

Of course, he had heard that the Mongol Pirates had severely troubled Japan.

But from Song’s perspective, Japan was just a backward country, so their suffering didn’t seem like a big deal.

So even if the Mongols, who had only ridden horses their whole lives, suddenly boarded ships and pirated against Japan, he considered Japan deserving of such treatment.

In the minds of Central Plains people at that time, Japan was a primitive nation that had not yet reached the superior technology of the Central Plains.

Therefore, even though the Mongol Pirates had troubled Japan, they weren’t greatly concerned.

Song’s naval forces were powerful, so they didn’t even consider the possibility of defeat against pirates who weren’t even a regular navy.

Anyway, the Mongol pirates entered the coastal waters, specifically within Song’s attack range.

Seeing this, the commander called his adjutant.

“Send out the navy. We need to teach these enemies the terror of Song firsthand.”

“I will follow the general’s orders.”

At the Song commander’s order, the Song navy quickly deployed.

As they advanced, the Mongol Pirates began to retreat.

“Haha! I knew it. They’re running away with their tails between their legs as soon as they see the Song navy.”

“As expected of the Song navy! Unmatched in the world! Haha!”

The adjutant flattered with these words.

Hearing this, the general nodded and issued additional orders.

“Pursue them. Make them pay with their lives for trespassing on Song’s coast!”

“Yes, General!”

As the commander’s order was given, the navy quickly pursued the Mongol pirates.

Suddenly, the Mongol Pirates stopped retreating and turned their sterns.

“What are they thinking…? Have they given up?”

While the commander was pondering this, flames suddenly erupted from the Mongol ships.

Like dragons from mythology, fire shot out from the ships, greatly shocking the Song vessels.

Moreover, as the flames caused the gunpowder weapons stored on the ships to explode on their own, the damage to the Song fleet increased dramatically.

“Ships that breathe fire… what is this…?”

The adjutant stared at the Mongol Pirates with a blank expression.

The commander was the same. But it was clear that if they lost their composure now, the damage would only increase.

Knowing this well, the commander quickly regained his senses and issued follow-up orders.

“Pull yourselves together. First, create distance and engage the enemy from long range.”

The commander’s order was very reasonable.

Even if enemy ships spewed flames, they clearly had range limitations.

Meanwhile, Song ships carried gunpowder weapons with greater range than the enemy’s flame throwers.

So if they fired from beyond the range of the flame attacks, victory would be Song’s.

Of course, to implement this solution, all ships in the city’s navy would need to be deployed.

“Order the entire navy to deploy. We’ll concentrate our firepower and deal with them at once.”

With this, all the city’s ships set sail.

As they all departed, the Song naval port became completely empty.

An empty port meant there were no means to respond if enemies attacked.

“General! Disaster! Hundreds of pirate ships have suddenly appeared!”

“Suddenly?! What do you mean?”

“It seems… they took advantage of our forces being distracted by the pirates we’re currently engaging.”

“Tsk… we cannot be defeated like this. Respond immediately!”

At the commander’s order, the adjutant issued a return command to the Song fleet.

As the Song ships tried to return following the order, the Mongol pirates clung to them as if unwilling to let them go.

As a result, the deployed fleet was stuck, unable to move forward or backward.

With the main fleet immobilized, hundreds of Mongol pirate ships entered the Song naval port without resistance.

After docking at the port, the Mongol Pirates, as if familiar with the situation, immediately disembarked and rushed toward the city.

“C-coastal assault! Close the city gates immediately!”

“We cannot close the gates with citizens still outside!”

“What?! Th-then send requests for reinforcements to nearby cities immediately! Hurry!”

“U-understood!”

At the commander’s request, the adjutant sent messengers to other nearby coastal cities.

He firmly believed that if naval reinforcements came from other cities, they could resolve this situation.

But the commander was overlooking something.

The Mongol Pirates’ invasion wasn’t happening only in this one city.

The coastal assaults by the Mongol Pirates were occurring simultaneously all along the Song coastline.