Ch.35The Hui People (4)

“Why isn’t he coming yet?”

I had ordered Munglig to come to the Tatar lands.

But even though I had finished making the prototype, he still hadn’t arrived, which made me wonder if something had happened.

“Could he have run away because he was worried I’d make him exercise?”

I recalled Munglig’s face, looking like he was about to die every time we exercised together.

Thinking about it, I realized Munglig was definitely the type who would do something like that.

“Sigh… should I try this myself then?”

I looked at the porridge-like substance placed in front of me.

It was none other than a misutgaru powder I had made as a prototype.

It was misutgaru made with wheat and barley obtained from the Tatar lands, but due to Mongolia’s water shortage, I used fermented mare’s milk instead of water.

As a result, it had this thick, porridge-like appearance.

“Let’s drink it.”

I picked up the bowl and took a sip.

Something thick slowly slid down my throat.

“…This isn’t bad?”

The current bowl contained carbohydrates like wheat, barley, and millet.

Since wheat and barley were precious crops, I added more easily obtainable millet, and it had a fairly good texture.

In terms of texture, it felt less like misutgaru and more like oatmeal, which Americans often eat as a breakfast substitute.

If beans were added, it would provide protein as well, making it a truly excellent food.

While I was thinking about this, I could sense someone approaching.

So I looked in that direction… and something strange was coming.

“Run! Boys!”

“Ahhh!”

“Run!”

“…What is that…”

A bizarre scene unfolded before my eyes.

The Kheshig were performing acrobatics, dismounting from their horses, running, and then mounting again as they approached.

Of course, such equestrian acrobatics were common in Mongolia.

However, these were supposed to be performed by professional acrobats. Seeing my personal guards, essentially my royal guard, doing this while making strange noises made me feel dizzy.

“Whoa! Everyone stop!”

At Munglig’s command, the Kheshig stopped their strange acrobatics and collapsed on the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“I was training the Kheshig, brother.”

“…You call this training?”

It was closer to torture than training, so I couldn’t help but give Munglig a dumbfounded look.

“Shouldn’t they practice this in advance so they can remount their horses even if they fall off? Brother?”

“Can you do it yourself?”

“…”

Munglig couldn’t readily answer my question.

I sighed and pointed to something behind me.

“Do 10 sets of 10 weightlifting reps until I call you.”

“B-brother.”

It seemed his head had grown quite big while training these children.

At this rate, he might end up hurting them. I showed Munglig my triceps while maintaining my patience, giving him one last chance.

“Begin?”

“B-begin!”

At my words, Munglig hurriedly ran to where the barbell was.

Seeing this, the young Kheshig exhaled in relief, with expressions suggesting they were finally liberated.

I looked at the children, thinking this training was too harsh for them.

When my eyes met with one child, he hurriedly corrected his posture in surprise and addressed me in a loud voice.

“I don’t know how to express my apologies for showing such an unsightly appearance before the great Khagan of Yeke Mongol Ulus, and I feel sorry about whether I should even ask such a question…”

“…”

Listening to his rambling sentence that I didn’t know where to cut off made my head spin.

I grabbed the child’s shoulders to calm him down.

“Calm down. It’s okay to rest.”

“Th-thank you for saying…”

“You don’t need to say anything more. Just sit and rest.”

At those words, the tension seemed to leave him, and tears welled up in the child’s eyes.

Again, these were children close to middle school age by modern standards.

It was only natural to feel sad seeing such children being dragged to something like a marine boot camp by their parents and suffering hardships.

The adults who pushed these children so hard were at fault.

However, in this era where children’s rights didn’t exist, I couldn’t blame Munglig too much.

But I couldn’t just stand by and watch, so I thought I should take this opportunity to scold Munglig a bit.

While thinking about this, I began to notice the children’s faces.

They were not only pale but also nearly skin and bones.

“You there.”

“C-command me, Great Khagan…”

The Kheshig was trying to stand up at my words.

I quickly approached the child and instructed him to sit.

“You’ll get dizzy if you stand up suddenly.”

“B-but before the Khagan…”

“It’s fine. Before being Khagan, I’m just a warrior of the steppe and a father of a family.”

Then I handed the child the misutgaru I had just made.

Seeing this unfamiliar food, the child looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“This is food I made. I’ve tried it myself and confirmed there’s nothing wrong with it, so don’t worry and eat.”

Seeing the child hesitate, I thought I should eat it first to show it was safe.

So I put the bowl to my lips and slowly drank the misutgaru.

“Did you see?”

“H-how dare I eat what the Khagan has eaten…”

It seemed I needed to persuade him a bit more.

Then a brilliant idea came to mind.

“Those born on the steppe are all brothers and family. Just as we become family by passing around fermented mare’s milk, from now on, the Kheshig will become one by drinking this beverage.”

“Ah…”

The child seemed moved by my plausible words.

The young Kheshig took the bowl and began to drink.

Fortunately, because it was thick, it was difficult to drink quickly,

and thanks to that, the child was able to empty half of the misutgaru without choking.

“I-I feel strength flowing through my body…!”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“Thank you! Thank you, Khagan.”

I raised my hand to accept the Kheshig’s gratitude.

Then I turned my head and pointed to the other Kheshig resting on the ground.

“Would you share this with those who will be your brothers? If it’s not enough, I’ll make more.”

“Thank you, Khagan.”

After nodding, the Kheshig slowly got up following my advice.

And just as he was about to go to the children, he carefully asked me a question as if something had occurred to him.

“I apologize to the Khagan, but… what is the name of this food?”

“Name?”

Although I had been calling it misutgaru, it was actually quite different from misutgaru.

This was because I had made it porridge-like by adding fermented mare’s milk instead of water or milk.

So it was difficult to call it misutgaru.

Additionally, it was also odd to call it misgara, which is frequently eaten in modern Mongolia, because misgara is a food eaten in clumps like rice cakes.

Above all, this was before the spread of Goryeo-style culture and customs in Mongolia.

As a result, misutgaru didn’t exist in Mongolia yet. Therefore, without exaggeration, this food could be said to be entirely my creation.

“It’s a food called Misgaragainer.”

Thus was born Misgaragainer from my hands.

I had no idea what massive repercussions this item would bring during the subsequent European conquest.

* * *

“I-I can’t eat anymore.”

“Can’t eat? Then I’ll give it to the children.”

“I-I’ll eat it! Brother!”

“Good. That’s right.”

At my words, Munglig drank the Misgaragainer with tears in his eyes.

The reason he was enduring this food torture was quite obviously because he had abused the young Kheshig too much.

Again, in this era of Mongolia, children’s rights didn’t exist.

So it was difficult to say Munglig was wrong.

However, apart from these human rights issues, unlike adults, children who hadn’t fully grown were at high risk of serious injury if subjected to harsh training.

This could lower the morale of the entire Kheshig and potentially damage relations with the Khans who had entrusted their heirs to me.

For this reason, I was conducting this food torture to let Munglig know to maintain appropriate boundaries.

“So, which one tasted the best?”

“W-was I supposed to evaluate the taste too?”

“…?”

When I tilted my head, Munglig was startled and shook his head.

Then he hurriedly pointed to the left.

“Th-this one tasted the best!”

“So the one with beans tasted the best.”

Munglig’s chosen Misgaragainer contained 20% barley, 20% black beans, 20% white beans, and the rest various grains.

Since it didn’t contain wheat, it was easy to drink, and the beans provided good protein supplementation.

And since he said it tasted good too, I couldn’t help but be pleased as the creator of Misgaragainer.

“That’s good. Then what do you think about making a lot of this and distributing it to the warriors?”

“Well, it’s compact and light, and all you need to do is add fermented mare’s milk or regular milk, so it’s easy to make. Plus, it wouldn’t be bad to eat this instead of just jerky every day.”

I nodded at Munglig’s reasonably sensible explanation.

Again, this food was intended to be used as combat rations, so it needed to be compact and lightweight.

Additionally, it needed to be ready to eat without requiring cooking or lighting a fire.

And as Munglig said, Misgaragainer could be drunk immediately by adding cow’s milk or horse’s milk, making it perfect as a combat ration.

“And wouldn’t this be easy for those Hui people to eat as well?”

“Hui people?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve heard that due to their religion, they can’t eat meat.”

“Ah…”

Munglig was reminding me of something I had momentarily forgotten.

Misgaragainer was a food that could be eaten by Muslims who couldn’t consume pork due to religious laws.

Of course, most Mongolian jerky was made from horse, goat, or beef, so it wasn’t a problem.

But if we were considering a future invasion of India, the potential of the gainer was limitless.

Given the characteristics of the Mongolian army, which continued expeditions by recruiting troops locally, supplies that local people could eat were necessary.

And this magic powder could be eaten by anyone regardless of religion, making it the best combat ration.

“You’ve had quite a good idea.”

“Haha. Thank you, brother. So now…”

“Yes, you don’t have to eat anymore.”

At my words, Munglig clenched his fist.

And having escaped the food torture, Munglig finally looked like he would live.

I looked at Munglig and stood up.

“Where are you going, brother?”

“As you said, I’m going to give it to the Hui technicians.”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

“C-couldn’t we digest a bit first…?”

“If we walk, it will digest quickly.”

“…”

In other words, he had to run with a stomach full of water.

Munglig was looking at me with a tearful expression.