Ch.33The Hui People (2)

The people standing blankly in front of me.

Looking at what they wore on their heads, I unconsciously muttered to myself.

“Hui-hui hat…?”

“They appear to be Hui people.”

Elunka immediately answered my question.

From his explanation, I recalled that Muslims living in China were called Hui people.

I’d heard that in modern times, they’re called Dungans, originally from regions like Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan.

Of course, in modern times, they’ve become heavily Sinicized in appearance and customs, often considered essentially Chinese people who follow Islam.

But in this era, they hadn’t yet been Sinicized, so they looked more like Sogdians or Pashtuns.

Anyway, I couldn’t understand why these Hui people were here.

I turned my head to look at the Song Dynasty envoy.

“I requested gunpowder and siege engineers as a condition for submitting to the Song Dynasty. Did you fail to convey this properly?”

The Song envoy immediately bowed at my words.

Having been thoroughly scolded by me once before, he prostrated himself and answered immediately.

“How could that be? I reported well to the Song Emperor, and brought what the Khan requested.”

“You fool! Do those trees look like gunpowder to you?!”

Elunka shouted at the envoy.

He stepped forward in my place and scolded the Song envoy.

“Of… of course not. However, sending gunpowder here involves many constraints… with enemies like the Jin Dynasty and Western Xia in between…”

The Jin Dynasty was located between Mongolia and the Song Dynasty.

As the envoy said, if they were to bring gunpowder to Mongolia, the Jin Dynasty certainly wouldn’t just stand by and watch.

“So you brought wood instead?”

“Y-yes. Though it looks like ordinary timber, it’s actually quite different.”

“Different?”

A thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Hui people and wood… could it be? I wondered.

“I have something to show the Khan.”

But this might just be my own excitement, so I stepped back to watch what the envoy would do.

“Come on, move! You sluggish Hui people!”

At the envoy’s urging, the Hui people reluctantly began to move.

They gave instructions while looking at something, and servants moved according to those directions.

After some time, something like a massive structure, rarely seen in the Mongolian steppe, was quickly assembled.

“This is… a trebuchet… I see.”

I muttered to myself without thinking.

And for good reason—before me stood something that shouldn’t appear until a hundred years later, during the prolonged siege battles between the Mongols and Southern Song.

In the West, it was called a trebuchet, which as far as I knew, had evolved from the Roman mangonel into a counterweight-based siege weapon.

While catapults themselves were first developed in China,

Chinese catapults, or “ballistae,” operated differently from counterweight trebuchets, using manpower instead.

The manpower version involved placing a projectile and pulling multiple ropes attached to the launching mechanism to fire it.

Of course, the Western Roman Empire had also used manpower catapults at one time. However, they had gradually evolved to the counterweight method that required fewer people to operate.

Anyway, the trebuchet was a perfect weapon for Mongolia, which lacked manpower.

“Are you familiar with this device?”

Elunka asked me.

Realizing my slip, I quickly waved my hands.

“Since it’s a cannon made by Hui people, I just named it as such.”

“A cannon made by Hui people… indeed, that’s correct.”

Fortunately, I was able to get past the situation with a quick response.

I could tell him I came from another world, but no one would believe me anyway, so it was better to keep it hidden.

More accurately, I had no choice but to hide it.

Even if I said I came from modern times, I was just an ordinary office worker who didn’t know how to make even basic things like pencils or soap.

All I knew was common knowledge accumulated through social development.

Of course, this alone was a great advantage, but… anyway, that wasn’t important right now.

“It has a strange appearance. Is this the cannon that Great Song promised?”

“Yes. If the Khan permits, may we demonstrate it?”

Unlike Central China, the Mongolian steppe had no common houses.

So demonstrating the catapult here and now posed virtually no risk of damage.

“Proceed immediately.”

At my words, the envoy showed respect by clasping his hands instead of answering.

Then he turned his head and instructed the Hui technicians who had accompanied him to fire the catapult.

From somewhere, the Hui technicians placed a rather large stone on the launching platform.

They exchanged signals among themselves, and soon the counterweight attached to the front of the trebuchet dropped, sending the massive stone cutting through the sky.

Swoooosh

Boooom!

The earth-shaking sound startled nearby horses, making them neigh.

A huge crater formed in the middle of the steppe.

Seeing it with my own eyes, I could feel how powerful the trebuchet truly was.

“Did you see that? This is Song Dynasty technology! Haha!”

The envoy was rejoicing as if he had accomplished something himself.

I looked at him, shaking my head, and approached him.

“Isn’t this Hui technology rather than Song technology?”

“They’ve submitted to Central China, so it’s essentially Central Chinese technology.”

Judging by the envoy’s appearance, he seemed to be originally from the steppe.

Yet even he had become Sinicized and was busy praising Chinese culture.

From a modern perspective, the envoy’s behavior seemed detestable,

but by the standards of this era, no country could match the Southern Song’s technological and economic power, so his words weren’t entirely wrong.

Moreover, in this era, the concept of ethnicity was vague, so perhaps it was I who was out of step with the times for thinking this way.

Anyway, when I didn’t bother to respond to the envoy’s words, the excited envoy blurted out something he shouldn’t have.

“Above all, this trebuchet technology is inferior to Song Dynasty artillery technology. So you can see how great the Song Dynasty is…”

“What did you just say?”

“I… I misspoke. That is…”

“You clearly just said that Song artillery technology is superior. Does that mean you intentionally gave us inferior trebuchet technology?”

“Uh…”

“What we requested was the excellent artillery technology and siege engineers that you boast about. But you said you couldn’t send gunpowder because of the Jin Dynasty, and sent this technology instead. I thought this trebuchet technology was equivalent to Song artillery technology. But from what you just said, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

The condition the Ulus had set for submitting to the Song Dynasty was specifically Song artillery technology and siege engineers.

Even setting aside the gunpowder, it was absurd that he openly admitted to sending technology of a lower standard than what was requested.

Of course, given the power dynamics of this era, I could fully understand the Song Dynasty’s reluctance to send their key technologies.

But this was a diplomatic issue between two countries, so I had no intention of letting it slide.

“That’s… not what I meant… Hui technology isn’t Central Chinese technology… so while it doesn’t compare to Song artillery standards, it’s still of a certain level…”

I shook my head at the envoy’s incoherent words.

“Just a moment ago, you said these people had submitted to Central China, so it was Central Chinese technology.”

“…I’m… I’m sorry. That…”

There was no need to hear more. I stood up and looked down at the envoy.

Given that I was almost twice his size, the envoy, feeling intimidated, unconsciously began to back away.

“Please… spare my life! I have two sons like rabbits and one daughter under my care. And my fox-like wife is waiting desperately for my safe return.”

Finally, the envoy began appealing to emotion.

Though this was unacceptable in diplomatic relations, I had no intention of killing the envoy in the first place, so I pretended to be generous and made him a proposal.

“Very well. I’ll spare you.”

“Re… really? Th… thank you! Thank you! Great Khan!”

“But there’s a condition.”

“Con… condition?”

“If you send craftsmen who can work with iron, I’ll spare your life. However, if the Song Dynasty notices that you’re looking for iron craftsmen…”

I smiled and made a throat-slitting gesture with my hand.

Seeing this, the envoy trembled and nodded repeatedly.

“Of… of course. I’ll… I’ll spend my own money to find people and send them.”

“Good.”

“Then I’ll return to Central China immediately to find people.”

The envoy spoke as if ready to flee at any moment.

So I smiled as I looked at him.

“The steppe road is dangerous, so I’ll provide an escort.”

“Es… escort? You… you don’t need to be so considerate…”

“Hey there.”

At my words, the Mongolian soldiers stepped forward.

They looked so intimidating that it seemed they would immediately behead the envoy if he tried anything foolish.

“Escort the envoy safely to Southern Song and return with iron craftsmen.”

“We receive the Khagan’s command.”

“We will follow the Shanyu’s will.”

The large Mongolian warriors bowed to me and moved to the envoy’s side.

The envoy looked back and forth between me and the warriors with a pale face.

As if begging to be saved.

* * *

After the brief commotion ended, I met separately with the Hui technicians.

Judging by the chains on their hands, necks, and feet, these measures had been taken to prevent them from escaping.

They were essentially treated as slaves, but that was unavoidable in this era.

This was because technicians were skilled personnel and valuable assets.

In such circumstances, if they were injured or escaped, it would be like losing a great fortune.

Additionally, from the envoy’s perspective, if the technicians escaped on the Mongolian steppe, there would be no proper way to track them, unlike in Central China.

“Release them.”

Unlike the Central Chinese people, the Mongols had horses.

So even if these people escaped, they could be caught quickly, which is why I immediately ordered the soldiers to remove their chains.

When freed from their chains, the technicians looked bewildered.

I addressed them.

“Does anyone here speak Mongolian?”

The soldiers, on my behalf, used gestures to ask if they understood the language.

After repeating this several times, the one who appeared to be the eldest among them came forward, showed respect, and then shook his head.

“It’s a problem that we can’t communicate.”

Just then, a good idea occurred to me.

So I continued with my questions.

“Where are you from?”

He pointed west. More precisely, southwest, which matched the direction of Bukhara where Sogdians lived.

The reason I knew this precisely was because, unlike people of this era, I had a vague understanding of what the world looked like.

It was so helpful that I wanted to tell my department head how useful it was to look at Google Maps during idle time at work.

Of course, if I said that, I’d be fired immediately.

Anyway, I learned they were from Bukhara.

I immediately ordered a soldier to call for the person who had saved my life.

Bandak, the Nestorian monk who had saved me when I was on the verge of death from a Tatar tribe’s plot.

Conveniently, he was a Sogdian.