Ch.90Internal Affairs (9)

“Cha-ap! Ha-ap!”

“Move faster! Execute!”

“Ha-ap!”

Rough breathing from men could be heard across the training ground.

These were none other than the Kheshig.

“Moving so sluggishly! Do you think you can lead a Minggan with that posture?”

“No, sir!”

“Then we’ll start again with the horse-riding stance exercise! Begin!”

At Munglig’s shout, the Kheshig gritted their teeth and began doing squats.

Watching all this from right beside them, I couldn’t help but stick out my tongue.

“The training looks brutal.”

“Shouldn’t it be this way to be called the elite guards who protect my brother? Haha!”

At those words, Jadaran Elunka standing next to me immediately glared at Munglig.

In response, Munglig provoked Elunka as if daring him to object.

But Elunka shrugged his shoulders as if he wouldn’t fall for such provocation.

“To win in war, physical training is important, but isn’t strategic and tactical training equally important?”

Elunka said this while looking at Munglig.

Munglig glared back at Elunka with a look that seemed to ask what nonsense he was talking about.

“From now on, the Ulus’s enemy is none other than the Jin Dynasty. War with Jin is practically inevitable since the Ulus conquered Western Xia and joined hands with the Song Dynasty.”

As Elunka said, the Ulus’s future enemies were no longer the small states of Tibet or tribal confederations of the steppe.

We would have to face the Jin Dynasty, which had appeared like a comet from Manchuria, not only freeing themselves from the Liao Dynasty’s oppression but also driving the Liao westward.

The Jin Dynasty was an incomparably stronger enemy than Western Xia.

In actual history, it took the Mongols a full 23 years to completely conquer the Jin Dynasty.

Of course, the country that consumed the most time in Mongol campaigns was Southern Song.

They took 44 years, so compared to them, 23 years might seem short.

But looking at the overall conquest records of the Mongols, few countries aside from Goryeo and a few others lasted more than 10 years.

Therefore, it was hard to ignore the resilience of the Jin Dynasty that held out for 23 years.

“The Jin Dynasty is on a different level from our previous enemies. If we fight like our warriors have been fighting, we will surely be defeated.”

“I understand what the Jadaran Darughachi is saying. But what method do you propose for strategic and tactical training?”

To Munglig’s question, Elunka immediately answered.

“We conduct mock battles.”

“Mock battles?”

“Yes. As you just told the Kheshig, they are future talents who will lead Minggans as commanders of thousands. So they need to gain experience by directly leading troops and participating in battles through mock exercises.”

“Do you have opponents in mind?”

At Munglig’s question, Elunka pointed to himself.

“Isn’t the opponent right here? It hasn’t been decided yet who the true elite of the Ulus are.”

At those words, Munglig laughed heartily as he looked at Elunka.

As he said, it hadn’t been determined whether the Kheshig or the Tamma were the true elite forces of the Ulus.

Of course, there had been some overheating on this issue, and I had stepped in to mediate before.

However, unlike then, this was now about development for each other, and furthermore, for the entire Ulus.

So there was no reason to stop a mock battle between the Kheshig and Tamma.

“Hahaha! Good! While we respect each other’s domains in terms of muscle, I have no intention of yielding on who fights better as warriors of the steppe.”

“The same goes for me, Lord Munglig.”

The two turned their heads as if by agreement and looked at me.

Then they knelt and made their request.

“Great Khan.”

“Please grant permission for this mock battle.”

To this, I nodded immediately as if there could be no objection.

“This appears to be a competition in good faith. As Khan, I have no reason to refuse your proposal that strives for the development of the Ulus. I hereby gladly grant permission.”

* * *

Numerous people stood in a wide open space.

They were divided into soldiers wearing red robes and soldiers wearing blue robes.

“This mock battle is being conducted as a competition in good faith, and anyone using weapons other than those provided will be immediately disqualified!”

Following the Bokh wrestling from before, Bulqa Khan was serving as referee again this time.

Seeing this, it seemed Bulqa simply enjoyed the role of referee.

Anyway, apart from that, I sat with my wives at the highest place, looking down at the soldiers standing in the open space.

“The warriors look very brave.”

“It’s very exciting to see who will win.”

Seeing my wives showing interest, I felt relieved inside.

Although Xingqing was a huge city, it didn’t actually have many entertainment options.

More precisely, there wasn’t much for us nomads to enjoy.

As a result, my wives naturally demanded my company in bed,

and I couldn’t help but feel increasingly drained as time went on.

If I had only one wife, it might have been manageable.

Unfortunately, I had three wives, and I had to satisfy all of them.

In this situation, the emergence of mock battles allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief.

This was because when such spectacles appeared, my wives’ attention was diverted there, and they didn’t demand to sleep with me.

Of course, this might be entirely my own thinking.

Still, it was good for me since I wouldn’t be dragged away during the day, making life more pleasant.

While I was thinking this, the soldiers who had finished their preparations lined up in the middle of the open space.

Then they looked at me and bowed.

I stood up and raised my hand to give them instructions.

“The purpose of this battle is to practice strategy and tactics for use in actual combat. Therefore, I command in the name of the Khan that you avoid injuries as much as possible. Now! Do your best for your honor and for the honor of your respective units!”

Having never given such instructions before, I couldn’t help but feel awkward.

Still, perhaps because I had heard something similar during my military service, I was able to finish it reasonably well.

After finishing the instructions and sitting down, the Kheshig in red robes and the Tamma in blue robes began giving orders to their infantry.

“Eastern army, move to the right!”

“The enemy is strengthening their defenses on the right. We will deploy as many troops as possible to the front to prepare for impact!”

At the commands of the Kheshig and Tamma, the soldiers began to move busily.

They formed formations as ordered and gripped the blunt wooden sticks they had been issued.

Boom boom boom!

With the sound of drums, the mock battle began.

“Wooaaaaah!”

“Attaaaaaaack!”

“Let’s crush those arrogant Kheshig bastards!”

“Charge straight ahead!”

The infantry became entangled.

As the battle turned into a melee, Temujin, who was watching, spoke with disappointment.

“Tsk, this makes the effort to defend the right flank futile.”

At Belgutei’s words, Khasar, who was right beside him, shook his head.

“Still, if they hadn’t fortified the right, they wouldn’t have been able to withstand the impact from the front. Then the damage from the impact would have made counterattacking difficult.”

Belgutei immediately retorted to Khasar’s explanation.

“I don’t understand why they’re blocking the impact from the front when it’s not a frontal assault in the first place.”

“This is infantry combat, not cavalry. So it’s not a battle of points against points, but planes against planes, so it’s right to minimize the plane receiving the attack.”

“Planes and planes? Points and points? What are you talking about?”

“Anyway… I explained this last time. In infantry combat, when formations are made, most soldiers except those at both ends are standing shoulder to shoulder.”

“That’s right.”

“The closer they are, the more they can reduce the enemy’s attack, or impact, but the tactical range for deploying strategies decreases.”

“So what does that have to do with what I asked earlier?”

When Belgutei got angry, Khasar sighed and frowned.

“I’m saying if they hadn’t defended the right, the tactical range for deploying this strategy would have decreased, making counterattacking difficult even if they blocked the impact!”

“Explain in simpler terms!”

“It means they sacrificed flesh to gain bone!”

“Why sacrifice flesh!”

“Argh! Just watch!”

Khasar gave up explaining to Belgutei and pointed to the open space where the mock battle was taking place.

Belgutei pouted and looked at the open space.

There, as Khasar had said, the unit led by the Tamma chose to accept some damage from the attack by the Kheshig-led unit.

Because of this, part of the defensive line collapsed, but fortunately, the front didn’t break.

With the front holding, the flank of the Kheshig unit attacking the right was completely exposed.

For the Tamma-led unit, this was an excellent opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the enemy.

“The enemy’s flank is exposed! Attack!”

“Wooaaaaaaaah!”

“Attack! Attack!”

Infantry with blunt wooden sticks penetrated the flank of the Kheshig-led unit.

From the Kheshig unit’s perspective, since their attack direction had been to the right, it was difficult to immediately respond to the enemy’s attack and establish a defensive formation.

As a result, casualties naturally began to mount in the Kheshig unit.

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

“Don’t panic at the enemy’s flank attack! If we continue our attack on the right, we will win!”

The Kheshig commander, seemingly realizing that defending the flank was difficult, ordered his troops to continue the offensive.

It seemed he intended to continue the attack and completely break through the enemy’s right flank.

“Continue the flank attack! If the Kheshig bastards break our right, we lose!”

“Break through! Show those Tamma bastards who’s superior!”

As the battle of strength continued, cracks began to appear where the two units were entangled.

“Ugh…!”

“No…no! We’re being pushed back!”

It was the Kheshig unit that was being pushed back.

As Khasar had said, because they were receiving attacks on more fronts compared to the Tamma unit, their casualties were subtly higher than the Tamma unit’s.

In battle, increased casualties meant a reduction in combat power.

The more wounded soldiers, the lower the unit’s fighting capability would inevitably be.

Anyway, because of this, defeat seemed increasingly likely.

As the outcome seemed to be decided, Bulqa stepped forward and ordered the mock battle to stop.

“Stop! Stop!”

Both units immediately ceased fighting.

Then Bulqa approached the victorious Tamma commander, took his hand, and raised it high.

“Wooaaaaah!”

“The Tamma won!”

“We won!”

Though it was a mock battle, it provided nail-biting entertainment.

The officials and darughachis watching also began to cheer.