Ch.81Family (3)

# Through Xin Qiji, Bekhter was officially appointed as the King of Xia and Han.

After securing legitimacy from the Song Dynasty, he was able to quickly conquer the interior of Western Xia.

“Since he’s been recognized by the Song Dynasty of all places, he’s essentially our king now.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

Bekhter’s popularity among the people was already soaring.

This was somewhat expected, given that Bekhter had once led a refugee army.

“But this creates a problem of its own…”

Sitting on a hill, eavesdropping on people’s conversations, I let out a deep sigh.

The issue was that with Bekhter’s successful conquest of Western Xia, a problem I had been postponing had now surfaced.

It was the succession issue.

“I’ve been respecting the authority of Temujin as the eldest son, but…”

Bekhter was technically an illegitimate son.

For this reason, I had always respected Temujin’s rights in every aspect.

Fortunately, my sons had followed my guidance, and so far, they had been getting along without major conflicts.

“But this will eventually break down.”

There’s a saying that power cannot be divided.

Personally, I didn’t fully agree with this.

Of course, I had no intention of going against the flow of the times.

If that happened, the Mongol Empire would fragment just as it did in the original history.

“Now that we’ve conquered Western Xia, I need to quickly formalize the succession structure.”

I planned to codify the laws of succession.

Essentially, I would create a law establishing the principle of primogeniture, like settled peoples.

Of course, this might cause some resentment among my current sons, whether they showed it or not.

That’s why I planned to grant royal titles to Belgutei and Khasar as well, giving them the foundation to establish their own households.

In other words, Temujin would be the Khagan of the empire, and that position would follow the principle of primogeniture through Temujin’s bloodline.

The kingdoms under him, vassal states like Western Xia, would go to the second sons and illegitimate sons.

Some might say this wouldn’t be any different from the Mongol Empire in the original history.

But unlike the original history, this time I planned to eliminate the kurultai that elected the Khagan.

“If the succession passes only through Temujin’s bloodline without a kurultai, things should improve somewhat.”

In truth, this might still be a stopgap measure.

Belgutei, Bekhter, and Khasar, who currently had good relationships with Temujin, wouldn’t covet the position of Khagan, but their descendants might be a problem.

So I thought it better to quickly grant them independence to establish their own royal houses, removing any possibility of them coveting the position of Khagan.

“If only I were a bit smarter, I could have handled this better…”

I sighed deeply and shook my head.

Originally, I had been just an ordinary office worker in my previous world.

It was impossible for someone like me to have the ability to immediately fix the complex succession systems of the medieval period.

Still, fortunately, knowing the future allowed me to set up at least minimal preventive measures.

While I was lost in these thoughts, Elunka approached me.

“Great Khan, all the khans have gathered at the imperial palace.”

I nodded at Elunka’s words.

Then I got up and headed toward the imperial palace.

* * *

This was the first kurultai held after the conquest of Western Xia.

As such, my son Temujin, Toghrul, and Dei-Sechen Khan, who had been on distant campaigns, all participated.

“It’s been a while, anda.”

“Thank you for coming.”

“Haha. When the Khagan of the Great Steppe calls, we must gather.”

I bowed my head in gratitude to Toghrul.

In some ways, the current ulus could be seen as a coalition government between the Khamag Mongol and the Keraites.

In this coalition government, my son Temujin had gone on a western expedition with the support of the Keraites and Onggirats.

Therefore, their political influence in the kurultai was arguably the strongest.

“By the way, how is the western expedition progressing?”

“We’re currently facing Turks who follow Islam. It’s a tricky situation with Western Liao behind them, but things are progressing well overall.”

As Toghrul said this, he turned his head.

There stood my son Temujin, looking dignified.

“I have come at the Great Khan’s summons.”

“Welcome, my son.”

As I spread my arms in welcome, Temujin smiled and embraced me.

I patted my son’s back and then asked him a question.

“Have you faced any difficulties?”

“With the help of my fathers-in-law, I’ve been managing without major problems.”

Temujin was giving credit to Toghrul and Dei-Sechen.

I nodded as I looked at my son.

“And I have something else to tell you, Father…”

“What is it?”

“Hahaha! Anda! My daughter and your son have had a daughter!”

At Toghrul’s words, I looked at Temujin with an expression that asked if this was true.

“Hehe… I should have told you earlier… and…”

“And my daughter and son-in-law have had two sons.”

At Dei-Sechen Khan’s words, I couldn’t help but be even more surprised.

“Two sons…?”

“I… I’m embarrassed. Haha…”

To think my son was such a virile man…

I was simply amazed at my son’s vigor in producing heirs during the year and a half of the Western Xia campaign.

As we were conversing, Khasar and Belgutei approached Temujin.

When the two approached, Temujin was genuinely happy to see them and immediately rushed to embrace his two brothers.

“Have you been well?”

“Brother!”

“You’ve grown so much! You must have eaten well while we were at war.”

“Haha! You guys think you’re adults now just because you’ve lost some peach fuzz on your faces?”

“What are you talking about! We’ve always been adults!”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

Despite Belgutei and Khasar’s protests, Temujin didn’t stop teasing them.

As they were joking around, Bekhter appeared before Temujin.

“Bekhter.”

“Temujin.”

The two sons looked at each other without saying a word.

Then, as if by agreement, they both smirked.

“I hear you’ve got a fancy hat on your head now?”

“It’s so heavy I’m dying.”

“Don’t talk about dying. Don’t worry, if you beg the eldest son of the Borjigin family for help, I’ll help you.”

“What are you saying, you idiot.”

After exchanging these jokes, the two embraced.

I nodded with a satisfied smile as I watched my sons’ reunion.

“It pleases me as a father to see you getting along so well even when separated.”

“It’s all thanks to Father.”

“That’s right.”

“Actually, I think it’s because I, the youngest, worked hard going back and forth between them… Ouch!”

When Khasar joked, Belgutei immediately punished him with a knock on the head.

Bekhter and Temujin chuckled as they looked at Khasar.

“Anyway, the reason I’ve gathered our family members and Temujin’s fathers-in-law separately before the kurultai is because I have something to tell you in advance.”

At my words, Toghrul and Dei-Sechen Khan nodded.

And sensing that a serious conversation was about to take place, my sons corrected their posture and looked at me.

“Our Borjigin family will uphold the principle of primogeniture.”

Temujin and my sons nodded as if they had no objections.

This was because it had already been decided.

“The Khagan of the steppe will always be succeeded by the eldest son, and this will continue through Temujin’s eldest son, and then his eldest son’s eldest son.”

“Anda, I understand your intention, but why are you bringing this up suddenly?”

In response to Toghrul’s question, I answered immediately.

“Though you all get along well now, this is to prevent our descendants from being divided by power in the future.”

Clarifying the succession structure was the most important first step in preventing the empire from fragmenting.

If the successor was designated later, the country could be torn apart.

History had proven this.

“Wouldn’t it be better to eliminate royal titles then?”

To Toghrul’s question, I shook my head.

“That’s physically impossible.”

Born in Korea, I easily accepted the concept of having only one nation on the Korean peninsula.

But looking at world history, it was clear that this was an extremely difficult thing to achieve.

Just looking at China, there were various royal titles under the Chinese Empire.

Similarly in Europe, there were numerous duchies that were virtually independent kingdoms under a kingdom.

The leaders of that time didn’t fail to centralize power because they were stupid.

Due to physical constraints, they had no choice but to select individuals to represent them.

If proper centralization had been achieved, officials selected from the central government could have been sent to manage.

But for the Mongols, who were short on manpower, it was absurd to dispatch central officials when they needed to ally with local powers.

For these reasons, I had no choice but to use my direct blood relatives and in-laws to manage the conquered territories.

However, this inevitably led to power struggles, so safety measures were needed in advance.

“Therefore, I will bestow the title of qinwang (imperial prince) upon the sons before me.”

My sons were surprised by my words.

The qinwang I was referring to was a title given to imperial family members, like in the Song or Jin dynasties.

This essentially meant they were to establish their own households.

“The title of qinwang will be passed down to the eldest son of each family, and if there is no successor or if it passes beyond the eighth generation, the territory belonging to that title will return to the family led by the eldest son.”

Huanguibenzhu (return to the original master).

In essence, I was granting my sons the title of qinwang, but the territory would eventually return to the eldest son.

In other words, while Bekhter was currently leading Western Xia, by the time of his great-grandchildren, the title of King of Xia would return to Temujin’s family.

This meant limiting the number of hereditary titles as generations passed.

This can be seen as following the Shixiwangti (hereditary without degradation) of the later Qing Dynasty.

Shixiwangti was a hereditary system in the Qing Dynasty that allowed a title to be inherited by a successor without degradation. However, for others, the titles they could inherit gradually disappeared.

This was important because the Mongols were planning to continue their conquests.

The plan was to establish a principle where the royal titles of lands acquired in the future would receive a title one rank lower with each succession.

The reason for doing this was not only to preserve the imperial family,

but also with the strong intention that in the worst-case scenario where there was no heir, the eldest son’s family could adopt a child from another family for succession.

This meant that the descendants of Bekhter, Khasar, and Belgutei would eventually lose their territories.

But in return, the eldest son’s family would be obligated to protect their lives.

“The territories will return, but the title of qinwang will be maintained, and the eldest son has the duty to protect them.”

My sons looked at me at my words.

Looking at them, I explained the reason for establishing this law without any deception.

“The ulus plans to conquer the world beyond Western Xia. When such vast lands are established, those who crave power will attach themselves to you, and they will cause the empire to fragment.”

My sons nodded as if they understood.

Fortunately, there were no power-hungry individuals attached to my sons yet.

By the time the empire expanded, it would be too late, so preparations for the future had to be made now.

“Will you follow this father’s will?”

At my words, Bekhter, Belgutei, and Khasar knelt without hesitation.

And they shouted in loud voices.

“I will follow Father’s will.”

“Father’s will is the same as mine.”

“I swear to uphold this in the name of Tengri.”

“Thank you for following my will.”

As I said this, I turned my head to look at Temujin.

Understanding this, my sons looked at Temujin while still kneeling.

“We will respect the heir of the family.”

“For the glory of the family!”

“The Borjigin family will not be divided.”

It was essentially an oath of loyalty.

In response, Temujin, as a sign of trust, used a dagger to cut his index finger and drew a picture on the ground.

The picture drawn with blood was none other than a large moon.

Seeing this, my sons, like Temujin, cut their fingers and drew crescent moons under the moon.

A large moon and crescent moons.

Seeing the symbol engraved on the Xiongnu flag, Temujin spread his arms and embraced his brothers.