Ch.31Kagan (4)

# The Unification of the Yeke Mongol Ulus

He had become the Khagan of the unified steppe.

The Khagan—a figure followed by all warriors of the steppe.

In essence, he was no different from an emperor of the Central Plains.

“Why must such a—ARRRGH! Like this…! URRGH! Why must you do such strenuous exercise! M-My lord!”

“Close your mouth or you’ll lose abdominal pressure! Focus and lift!”

“URRRGH!”

Munglig lifted the barbell while making sounds like he was dying.

Then he collapsed as if completely oxidized.

“Haha! You were struggling, but you finally did it!”

Bench press, 120 kg.

I couldn’t help but feel good as Munglig accomplished this tremendous(?) feat.

“Huff… huff… hah… does this really help?”

“Didn’t you experience it yourself when we fought against the Naiman and Merkit tribes? How the enemies feared you.”

“…They did give me those looks.”

Munglig, who had fought alongside me on the battlefield and taken many enemy commanders’ heads, was my bodyguard captain and comrade. In the recent battle, he had accomplished feats second to none.

And he was able to accomplish such feats entirely because of his muscular strength…

“Absolutely not, brother.”

“Do you know what I was about to say?”

“You were thinking it was because of muscle strength, weren’t you?”

“…”

Having spent so much time together, he knew better than anyone what I was thinking.

But showing this outwardly made me feel somewhat uneasy, so I deliberately ordered him to do the next exercise.

“Seeing you talk like that, you must have recovered well. The next exercise…”

“W-wait. Just wait a moment, brother.”

“Are you trying to slack off again?”

“H-how could I? I just thought that not only me, but everyone should learn the exercise you do…”

“What do you mean?”

“W-well, didn’t you say before that the reason I exercise is because I’m your Kheshig who guards your back?”

“That’s right.”

I found myself focusing on Munglig’s words, which had a strangely persuasive logic.

Sensing my attention, he gained confidence and continued.

“Then wouldn’t it be good if the children of the khans who have newly become Kheshig also joined in?”

After becoming Khagan—the supreme ruler of the steppe—the first thing I did was reorganize the military.

Based on conversations I had with Elunka when discussing steppe unification, I reformed the military organizations.

I appointed the khans who led the tribes under the Khamag Mongol as commanders of thousands.

In modern terms, these commanders of thousands were like those who led a thousand tanks.

Given that the entire South Korean military possessed only 2,872 tanks according to Defense Ministry reports, there was no need to explain how powerful each commander of thousands was.

Of course, comparing horses to modern tanks was absurd.

But in this era, with only infantry, cavalry, and archers, I had no choice but to compare cavalry to tanks.

Anyway, the position of a commander of thousands leading a thousand horsemen in Mongolia during this period was incredibly significant.

If they were to rebel against me, it could negatively impact the entire ulus.

Naturally, I needed a mechanism to control these commanders,

and that mechanism was hostages—specifically, making the khans’ heirs part of my personal guard.

There were many advantages to making tribal heirs Kheshig.

The greatest advantage was that by having them serve under me, I could make them absolutely loyal to me.

For this reason, the children of the khans became my personal guard.

Munglig was suggesting that these newly recruited children should also train(?).

“Wouldn’t the khan’s children develop loyalty to the Khagan if they train together?”

“…You have a point.”

At my words, Munglig’s eyes lit up, and he sprang up from the bench.

Then, without being told, he prepared to go somewhere.

“I’ll bring the new recruits (shine tsereg) right away.”

Munglig was already calling the khan’s children new recruits.

As I was about to stop him, I couldn’t help but pause at the familiar pronunciation I heard.

“What was that… I think I heard something familiar…”

For a moment, I blinked, wondering if I had misheard.

The exact pronunciation of “new recruit” in Mongolian was “ishii tseirge” (or tseirge).

Here, “tseirge” itself meant soldier, so it was slightly muted. This naturally made the first part the main pronunciation.

Even so, “ishii” should have become “ishii,” which would be correct.

But since the Khamag Mongol were of Donghu descent, they pronounced “sh” as “ashei,” similar to the language used by the Jurchen people.

When all of this combined…

“Assei… tseirge?”

It sounded like something uncomfortable just to hear.

* * *

“Are you here to play?”

“No, sir!”

“Then lift immediately! New recruits!”

At Munglig’s shout, the young men took turns lifting the barbells.

Seeing these youths, who looked about 15 years old like Temujin, struggling with barbells made me feel…

“Not bad?”

The words escaped me before I knew it.

Contrary to my expectations, the khan’s children were quickly adapting to the exercise.

Despite never having done it before, they were exercising with fairly decent form.

I couldn’t help but think this was actually quite good.

“It might really be possible to turn the Kheshig into gym… I mean, fitness warriors?”

It’s true that I had been planning to train the Kheshig after the war.

But I wasn’t sure if it would really work.

This was because there weren’t many suitable noble children to recruit as Kheshig.

Additionally, with the Naiman-Merkit tribes targeting us, the plan to make the Kheshig into gym… I mean, elite warriors existed only in my head and hadn’t been concretized.

But seeing with my own eyes that it was possible, I couldn’t help but get excited.

“Alright! Stop!”

Munglig suddenly stopped the children who were exercising diligently.

They stopped their exercises and stood before him.

“Who are you?”

“Us… you mean us?”

“We are Kheshig…”

“That’s right! You are Kheshig! The Kheshig who protect the safety of the Khagan, the ruler of the ulus! New recruits!”

After saying this, Munglig suddenly began to take off his upper garment.

I made a puzzled expression at this sight, but Munglig didn’t stop.

“Look! This is the virtue that a Kheshig must possess!”

Munglig suddenly showing off his muscles.

At his impulsive behavior, I could only stare blankly at him.

There’s no way that would work on children…

“A-amazing!”

“As expected of the Kheshig!”

“So this is the virtue that the Kheshig of Ulaanbaatar must possess…!”

“That’s right! A Kheshig must have a body like this! Only with such a body can Tengri’s power dwell within you!”

“If we follow the training properly, can we have such bodies?”

A young Kheshig’s question.

Munglig smiled at the question and shook his head.

Then he suddenly pulled something out.

What he held was none other than Buroktan.

“New recruit! Good question! After exercising, you must eat this Buroktan to more effectively invite Tengri into your body.”

“Ohhh… Buroktan…”

“Buroktan…!”

The children were looking at the Buroktan as if it were something sacred.

But as the creator of Buroktan, I knew its true nature better than anyone.

Before being reincarnated into this world, I had been working an ordinary office job. And it was in a field completely unrelated to protein companies.

For someone like me to create a protein drink that reduced stomach pain in the Mongolian steppe, without proper facilities, was nearly impossible.

However, since it was a drink made by compiling information gathered from the internet, it wasn’t completely without protein supplementation effects…

But it had the drawbacks of tasting terrible and occasionally causing stomach discomfort.

This wasn’t a major problem for fully grown adults, but

for growing children, it could be a potentially fatal poison.

Of course, the likelihood of that was probably less than the chance of dying from falling off a horse,

but there’s no death more terrible than dying from diarrhea, so I didn’t want to feed it to children if possible.

Additionally, I had a personal reason…

Perhaps because of the word “assei” that kept coming from Munglig’s mouth, I felt I had to stop this.

“Munglig. What are you doing in front of children…”

“Khagan, these are new recruits who will become Kheshig. A Kheshig must stand at the forefront of the battlefield with the Khagan, setting an example for the army while protecting the Khagan’s life.”

A somewhat plausible explanation.

The Kheshig I knew didn’t have that meaning, but that wasn’t important right now.

What was important was that he was addressing me with honorifics while saying this.

Munglig saying such things in front of children meant only one thing.

“…Are you doing this because you don’t want to exercise?”

In fact, Munglig had stopped our main training under the pretext of teaching the children he had brought.

To be precise, he had brought the children on his own, saying he needed to train the new recruits, and was making them exercise.

So it was only natural for me to think this way.

“…Ha…haha. How could that be? Haha…”

“…”

It seems I was right.

As I was about to stop Munglig, I sensed someone approaching me from afar.

“My husband.”

The person coming toward me was none other than Ho’elun and my wives.

With the appearance of my wives, I had no choice but to postpone stopping Munglig.

“We’ll talk after training.”

“…Haha…”

Leaving Munglig behind, I approached Ho’elun.

Then I looked at her and asked a question.

“What brings you here?”

“Do I need a reason to see my husband?”

Ho’elun’s confident response.

I could only nod at her words.

“I suppose not…”

“Then that’s good.”

Ho’elun smiled brightly.

As I felt again, Ho’elun was truly beautiful. Looking at such a beautiful being…

“As you have unified the steppe as Khagan, you can no longer postpone what you must do as the head of the family.”

“What I must do as the head of the family…”

“Making children.”

“…”

Making children… that’s important, but…

At the straightforward statement from this beauty, I blinked for a moment, wondering if I had heard correctly.

“This time, we’ve come personally—myself and my sisters—to attend to you, so Munglig cannot interfere.”

At those words, my wives stood awkwardly behind Ho’elun.

Sochigel and Abd Chechek were looking at me with strange gazes.

The seduction of these Eastern beauties… no, my wives.

I couldn’t help but swallow dryly at their temptation.