Usurping the Mongols: My Father-in-Law is Genghis Khan

Time flies. Three years have passed since Zhao Shuo returned with his army to the Hulunbuir Grassland.

Many things have happened in these three years.

Suna, with her heterochromatic eyes, bore Zhao Shuo a son and a daughter. The son is two years old this year and is named Zhao Yan. The daughter is now eight months old. On the night she was born, many fireflies appeared outside the tent. Fireflies are rare in Hulunbuir, and Zhao Shuo was amazed, so he named his daughter Zhao Ying.

Hulan also bore Zhao Shuo a son, named Zhao Yi, who is only two months old. Aliya, the most beautiful woman of the Naiman tribe, is also six months pregnant.

Hua Zheng's belly is also showing signs of activity, and she is about to give birth to her second child.

Zhao Ying did not inherit her mother's heterochromatic eyes, but her pure big eyes are dark and bright, like obsidian washed by the Kerulen River. Zhao Yi was restless in Hulan's womb and moved vigorously. Now, as a two-month-old infant, he kicks his small quilt with impressive force.

Zhao Yan is only slightly less worry-free than Zhao Yi. Now, at just two years old, he can already speak fluent sentences. Moreover, his health is also very good.

Zhao He's talent is extraordinary. In just one week, his archery skills have become quite presentable. He quickly grasped the aiming and releasing techniques of traditional Mongolian archery.

In addition to practicing archery, Zhao Shuo also taught Zhao He some strength training. A child's bones and muscles have not yet fully developed, so weight training or even extreme training is completely impossible. However, Zhao Shuo taught him some training methods from later generations, such as step jumps, crab walks, glute bridges, side leg raises, and jump rope... to lay a solid foundation first.

In addition to physical aspects, Zhao Shuo also did not neglect Zhao He's cultural education. He directly taught Zhao He simplified Chinese characters.

As for what to do since the Central Plains region uses traditional characters at this time? There is no need to worry at all. Zhao Shuo believes that simplified characters will definitely become popular in the Central Plains in the future. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of his effort to create a Mongolian script containing simplified characters?

Batu is also growing up, but he still likes to follow behind Zhao He, just like when he was a child.

He comes to the Hulunbuir Grassland about every three months, and each time he stays for half a month.

Whenever this happens, the diligent and hardworking young Zhao He in front of Zhao Shuo reverts to his big brother persona. He not only arranges everything for Batu obediently but also shares the games that Zhao Shuo taught him with this little admirer. As a result, Batu is even more reluctant to leave and always sets the date for his next visit when he is taken back, with tears in his eyes.

The Hulunbuir Grassland is becoming increasingly prosperous.

Among the craftsmen Zhao Shuo captured in Zhongdu, some were skilled in digging wells.

Zhao Shuo ordered them to dig wells in places where the pasture was fertile but lacked rivers and lakes. Now, thirty wells have already been dug.

Don't underestimate these thirty wells.

If history had developed normally, it would not have been until after Genghis Khan's death, when Ögedei succeeded to the throne, that he would have allowed craftsmen from the Central Plains to dig wells on the grassland. Ögedei often said that he had four great achievements for the Great Mongol Empire, and digging wells on the grassland was one of them, on par with the achievement of "destroying the Jin."

The importance of wells to the grassland people is evident.

The principle is very simple: nomadic peoples have always lived "following water and grass." Grass is very easy to understand; they go wherever the grass grows lushly to graze. The so-called "water" refers to rivers and lakes.

Even in places where the pasture is lush, it is impossible to graze for a long time if there are no rivers or lakes nearby. Otherwise, where would the livestock get water to drink? Where would humans get water for their daily lives?

The Hulunbuir Grassland, with an area of ​​over 100,000 square kilometers, equivalent to a province in the Central Plains, can only accommodate Zhao Shuo's five thousand households, with a total population of only about 30,000. In addition to the limitations of productivity, the nomadic range of the herders is limited to the vicinity of rivers and lakes, which is one of the reasons.

They appear to live on the grassland, but in reality, they always live by the water.

Therefore, the existence of a well is equivalent to having dozens or hundreds of miles of extra pasture available for grazing.

What are those gold and silver treasures? They will eventually be used up.

However, a well is equivalent to leaving a steady stream of wealth for future generations.

Many herders, when they come to graze near the well, kowtow towards the well, thanking Zhao Shuo for his kindness.

As the number of wells increases, Zhao Shuo's prestige on the Hulunbuir Grassland will become higher and higher, and more and more deeply rooted.

Kharkhira, the city without walls, has been built.

On the day the city was completed, Genghis Khan made a special trip to attend the ceremony.

Genghis Khan was very satisfied with the layout of Kharkhira and had already ordered his craftsmen to build a city with a similar layout on the southern foot of the Khangai Mountains, upstream of the Orkhon River, to serve as the capital of the Great Mongol Empire.

However, since it is the capital, even if there is no concern about enemy attacks, city walls must be built. The project is huge and will probably take another year to complete.

Genghis Khan named this capital Karakorum.

Obviously, Karakorum will be the political center of the Great Mongol Empire in the future, and Kharkhira will be the economic center of the Great Mongol Empire.

Now, the workshops under Zhao Shuo's command are developing very well.

Firstly, following the example of the Fushun, Huanzhou, and Changzhou pastoral administrations, Zhao Shuo told the newly arrived craftsmen that they could regain their freedom after serving for twenty years. If they did not complete twenty years of service, their sons would take over the remaining years of service.

Secondly, during their service, their wages were 70% of those of normal workers. This was already quite a lot, because the workshops had high profits, and the wages of the craftsmen under Zhao Shuo were also high. 70% of the wages were already twice the wages they received as "artisan households" for the Jin Dynasty.

Moreover, the Jin Dynasty often did not pay wages for years on end, only giving a small amount of food rations.

The craftsmen under Zhao Shuo, however, received their monthly wages on time.

Thirdly, there was respect for talent.

Zhao Shuo divided the craftsmen into eight levels.

Level one was the lowest, and level eight was the highest.

The famous eighth-grade fitter, Zhao Shuo, was actually referring to the experience of later generations.

If their skills improved or they made special contributions, they could be promoted to a higher level, earning more money and better treatment.

As a result, in less than half a year, the output of the workshops experienced a major surge.

The problem of long-term supply shortages of products from Zhao Shuo's workshops has been greatly alleviated.

Three months later, Zhao Shuo's workshops had two more flagship products.

The first was glass mirrors.

Of course, these glass mirrors were not the silver mirrors commonly seen in later generations, but glass covered with a mercury-tin amalgam mirror surface.

Mercury-tin amalgam is an alloy of mercury and tin.

First, melt the tin and pour it onto a copper plate. After the tin on the copper plate solidifies, cover it with mercury. After a quarter of an hour, a bright, reflective mercury-tin amalgam will appear. Then cover it with glass, and a brand-new glass mirror is born.

In fact, as early as the Warring States period, the Chinese had discovered the mercury-tin amalgam reaction. However, tin amalgam is very easy to oxidize and will turn black in a short time, far less practical than bronze mirrors. Now, in Zhao Shuo's workshops, the mercury-tin amalgam is directly and tightly covered with glass, preventing it from coming into contact with oxygen, so there is no oxidation reaction, and practical glass mirrors can be made.

With Zhao Shuo's guidance, coupled with the skilled craftsmen from Zhongdu, it was simply a matter of course.

The second was the telescope.

Convex lenses and concave lenses.

Zhao Shuo only needed to tell his skilled craftsmen the principles, and the rest was time-consuming and meticulous polishing.

For the skilled craftsmen from Zhongdu, there was no difficulty at all.

Of course, the military significance of telescopes is too great and must not be leaked out.

Otherwise, even if other forces don't have suitable glass, they should at least have valuable pure crystal, right? They could completely spare no expense to replicate the telescope.

Regarding people's livelihood, after hearing about the huge benefits of cotton planting, Temujin ordered Huhan to fully promote cotton planting in the Xinjiang area.

Okay, in fact, it doesn't require much effort to promote it.

How much money can be squeezed from the herdsmen?

Now, half of the Mongolian nobles' income comes from their subordinate merchant groups.

Hearing that Zhao Shuo has new things that require a large amount of cotton as raw material, the Mongolian nobles enfeoffed in the Xinjiang area have long been vigorously promoting cotton planting.

As for what to do if too much cotton is planted and there is not enough food?

You can buy it from Xixia, and if Xixia doesn't give it, then fight!

Moreover, picking cotton is too labor-intensive. These Mongolian nobles in the Xinjiang area are already eager to find a reason to attack the Xixia people again and capture some slaves to pick cotton.

Lu Zibu is also promoting writing on the grassland.

Not only that, he has been on the grassland for six or seven years and has several loyal disciples who follow him in promoting it.

It's just that Lu Zibu wrote several letters to the Southern Song Dynasty, inviting other literati to come to the grassland and promote writing with him, but no one agreed.

Perhaps those people will not understand what they have missed until Zhao Shuo drinks horses in the Yangtze River.

Xin Yao did a good job in Khwarazm. Zhao Shuo recruited him to the Hulunbuir Grassland and asked him if he wanted to do other duties or continue doing business.

Xin Yao said that he certainly wanted to work for Zhao Shuo, not to earn much money. However, merchant groups are not just merchant groups, but also the most convenient spies. If Zhao Shuo intends, he can give him some support first and try it out in Khwarazm. If he does well, he will come back to serve him.

The Imperial City Division of the Great Song Dynasty?

The Bureau of Attendants of the Jin Dynasty?

The Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern and Western Depots of the Great Ming Dynasty?

The Sticky Rod Office of the Qing Dynasty?

This Xin Yao has something!

Zhao Shuo immediately gave Xin Yao five thousand taels of gold and fifty people, allowing him to act conveniently in Khwarazm.

Xin Yao just wanted to try his hand in Khwarazm, but Zhao Shuo knew that in a few years, a world-shattering war would break out between Mongolia and Khwarazm. The current Xin Yao is just an idle chess piece he has placed in Khwarazm.

In short, Mongolia has been recuperating and thriving in the past three years.

But the Central Asian region is in chaos.

Quchulu, the son-in-law of the Western Liao Dynasty, colluded with the Western Karakhanate, a vassal state of the Western Liao Dynasty, and the Khwarazmian Dynasty. The three families jointly sent surprise troops to surround the royal court of the Western Liao Khan, Zhilugu, who had no choice but to surrender.

Quchulu formally became the Khan of the Western Liao Dynasty and set a plan with the Western Karakhanate and the Khwarazmian Dynasty to divide the Central Asian region among the three families.

However, the Eastern Karakhanate, the original vassal state of the Western Liao Dynasty, refused to accept this.

Quchulu sent the Western Liao army to attack the Eastern Karakhanate, burning pastures, plundering cattle, sheep, and women, killing all the men they saw, and turning all areas outside the capital of the Eastern Karakhanate into a living hell.

Two years passed, and the Eastern Karakhanate finally couldn't hold on and chose to surrender.

Quchulu moved the capital of the Western Liao Dynasty to Kashgar.

This move greatly angered Khwarazm.

Because the Eastern Karakhanate, like Khwarazm, believed in Islam, while Quchulu and his Western Liao army believed in Buddhism.

Therefore, all previous agreements were voided.

Khwarazm not only turned against the Western Liao Dynasty, but also destroyed the Western Karakhanate.

So, now the west of Mongolia is the Western Liao Dynasty, and the west of the Western Liao Dynasty is the once powerful Khwarazm.

……

In the year 1215 AD, June 18th.

The morning sun pierced through the light fog, shining on the noble city of Halaha, dyeing the entire city with a layer of golden brilliance.

Zhao Shuo woke up from his sleep, next to him was Hua Zheng, whose belly was slightly bulging and who was naked.

After becoming pregnant, Hua Zheng became even more fair-skinned and charming because of good nutrition.

Zhao Shuo was also not wearing any clothes. His strong and sturdy body was full of clear muscle lines. Decades of battle had left many marks on his strong body: knife wounds, arrow wounds,

stab wounds. These wounds added a lot of wildness and charm to his muscular body. But strangely, he didn't have any discomfort or hidden injuries, perhaps because this body was naturally gifted.

Zhao Shuo gently pulled out his arm, preparing to get dressed.

However, the feeling of pregnant women is very sensitive, and Hua Zheng was still awakened.

The couple looked at each other and smiled.

Then Zhao Shuo lowered his head and kissed Hua Zheng on the cheek, and then started to move his hands and feet.

When the couple got up and washed, the mist outside had been completely dispelled by the sun. The maids had already prepared breakfast.

Little Zhao He is at the age of being sleepy, so he doesn't need to be taken care of now. The other children have breakfast with their respective mothers. Zhao Shuo often goes out to inspect at noon and does not go home for dinner, so the arrangement is the same as breakfast. Only dinner is Zhao's family's formal meal, and the family will eat together.

"Please eat, Consort and Princess."

The four Jurchen maids bowed and retreated.

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A plate of sliced roasted lamb leg was placed next to a plate of wild chive flower sauce, a plate of freshly peeled milk skin, a bowl of stewed beef, two cakes, and a pot of steaming milk tea, which was Hua Zheng and Zhao Shuo's breakfast today.

After eating breakfast, Zhao Shuo rode Jinshanshan, called Ge Rile, and came to the workshop under the protection of thirty Black Riders.

This inspection was not notified in advance. It was not until Sun Wei was twenty meters away from his office that Sun Wei hurriedly greeted him.

"Sun Wei pays homage to the Consort!" Sun Wei was obviously a little nervous.

"Don't be nervous. The inspection that notified you in advance was to see what you can do best. This time I came temporarily to see what you usually look like. Even if there are some minor flaws, I won't blame you."

"Yes, yes, yes. But I don't know which workshop the Consort wants to see? Or should I go through them all?"

"I mainly want to see the ironware workshop, lead the way ahead."

"Yes." Sun Wei introduced as he walked: "Now, a total of 140,000 spears, broadswords, and single-sided heavy axes equipped with Wootz steel have been produced. The Consort has distributed 100,000 pieces. There are still 40,000 in stock. Therefore, we have recently reduced production. Most of the craftsmen in the ironware workshop are producing armor, bows, crossbows, and cotton armor."

"Well, how much cotton armor is being produced now?"

"There are now more than 5,300 sets, all made according to the style ordered by the Consort."

Zhao Shuo wanted to produce cotton armor, of course, he did it in one step, completely according to the mature style of cotton armor in the Qing Dynasty.

First, wet the picked cotton and beat it repeatedly to make very thin cotton sheets.

Then, several such cotton sheets are stitched together to form a very thick and solid cotton cloth, with iron armor between the two layers of cotton cloth, and fixed with copper nails inside and outside.

This kind of cotton armor has a very good defensive effect against firearms, and also has a strong anti-cold effect.

However, now is not the time for cotton armor to show its power. Zhao Shuo is most concerned about the knives and guns made of Wootz steel.

In fact, Wootz steel and China's steelmaking route are completely different.

In this era, China mainly used two methods to make steel. One is the potting steel method, which mixes wrought iron and pig iron together for smelting. The advantage of this method is that the output of steel is very high, but the disadvantage is that the quality is relatively average.

The other is the hundred-refining steel method, which gradually removes impurities and improves the quality of steel by repeatedly heating and hammering pig iron.

The smelting method of Wootz steel is the crucible steelmaking method. Specific auxiliary materials and iron ore are first made into crude steel in a crucible. Then, pig iron, wrought iron, and some carbon-rich materials are added for further smelting to obtain Wootz steel.

Moreover, the ore required for Wootz steel is produced in Tianzhu, which Zhao Shuo does not have here.

However, the essence of so-called steel is to adjust the carbon content. Add some other materials to adjust the properties of the steel.

Zhao Shuo knows this basic principle.

He provided Harish with a concise and insightful guidance, coupled with the assistance of skilled blacksmiths from Zhongdu. As a result, Harish finally produced Uzi steel that met the requirements a year and a half ago. After another year and a half of production, the weapons of Zhao Shuo's troops were all replaced with Uzi steel products.

A standard Damascus knife is made entirely of Uzi steel.

However, the weapons Zhao Shuo needed were heavy weapons that could break armor on the battlefield. There was no need to use Uzi steel for the entire weapon; only the blade, spearhead, and axe blade were made of Uzi steel.

Zhao Shuo's visit this time was to check the quality and stability of these Uzi steel weapons.

"This is the knife, spear, and axe. Grile, you come and test it."

Inside the ironware workshop, there were more than a hundred newly made Uzi steel knives, spears, and heavy axes. Zhao Shuo randomly took a long knife, a heavy iron spear, and a single-sided heavy axe.

Zhao Shuo's strength was too great, and he might not be able to test the true effect of these weapons.

Therefore, he chose Grile.

Grile's martial arts have always been his biggest weakness, only slightly stronger than the most ordinary grassland warriors.

Swish!

Grile took out a prepared gauze scarf and threw it into the air, then raised the Damascus heavy knife and slashed at the scarf. The almost weightless scarf floating in the air was directly cut in half by Grile's swing.

This is the most basic and showy application of Damascus knives.

When Chinese people describe precious knives, they often use the phrase "cuts hair on blowing, slices iron like mud."

Cutting a nearly weightless scarf floating in the air is several times more difficult than "cuts hair on blowing."

Ten years ago, Saladin used this trick when negotiating with the Crusaders, greatly surprising Richard and the accompanying knights who had seen countless famous knives and swords in their lives.

From that day on, a legend spread in Europe: there is an unknown metal material in the East, and the knives and swords forged from it are extremely sharp, which triggered the knights' endless desire for this kind of sword.

And now, the Damascus long knife has become standard equipment in Zhao Shuo's army.

Then, there was the heavy iron spear.

Purely in terms of strength, Grile may be slightly worse than ordinary grassland warriors, mainly relying on hard-won skills to win.

However—

"Kill!"

With Grile's loud shout, the spear equipped with Uzi steel directly broke through a set of Western Xia chain mail!

"Chop!"

Grile held his breath and concentrated, wielding a single-sided axe, and forcibly chopped through three layers of ordinary iron armor!

"Good spear! Good axe!"

Although he had seen the power of these weapons before, this test still made Grile exclaim in admiration.

Zhao Shuo was also very satisfied with this temporary spot check, and said: "Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty once said that he took the world by relying on strong armor and sharp weapons. Now, it is hard to say whether our armor is the most solid in the world.

However, we can indeed be called the best in the world in terms of 'sharp weapons'. Sun Wei, you have done a great job. Not only have you made such sharp weapons, but you have also been conscientious and maintained the stability of the quality."

Sun Wei's face turned red, and he bowed deeply, saying: "I am willing to die for the Prince Consort!"

Then, Zhao Shuo participated in other workshops and spot-checked the quality of other goods. Non-military products inevitably had some minor flaws. Zhao Shuo gently asked Sun Wei to pay attention to improving quality so as not to ruin his brand.

After a simple lunch, Zhao Shuo hurried to the horse farm.

The number of horses in Fu, Chang, and Huan prefectures has now reached 160,000. However, newborn foals can only serve at least three years old, so there is nothing to see.

Zhao Shuo went to the Hulunbuir Grassland Horse Farm, which is seventy miles away from Halkha Noble City.

It is hosted by Zhang Yong, who is good at matching horses.

Now, two hundred Arabian mares have bred four hundred foals. The number of Arabian horse herds under Zhao Shuo has reached eight hundred.

The two hundred Arabian stallions have become pure stallions.

Zhang Yong selected the best Mongolian horses, Liaodong horses, Dawan horses, and Western Xia horses to crossbreed with them.

This inspection had been notified in advance, and Zhang Yong had been waiting at the entrance of the horse farm for a long time with thirty horses.

"Prince Consort, look."

Zhang Yong pointed to the thirty horses and said: "They are only two years old and are already over four feet tall. When they are three years old, they should be even taller. Moreover, the endurance, resistance to rough feeding, and cold resistance of these horses are much stronger than those of precious Arabian horses, and they are gradually approaching our Mongolian horses."

Zhao Shuo nodded slightly and said: "Well, they are taller than ordinary Mongolian horses now, and they can indeed be called tall and handsome. How about the speed?"

"It's only two years old now, so it's hard to say how fast it will be when it grows up. However, it is at least 20% faster than Mongolian horses of the same age."

"Is it the same breed?"

Zhang Yong said: "It is the same breed. At the beginning, we selected 100 mares of different breeds and crossbred them with Arabian horses. There are also horses that are taller than this horse, and some that are faster than this horse, but after a comprehensive weighing, the most suitable horse with tall, stable speed is this horse. At the age of two, there are thirty horses that exceed four feet."

Zhao Shuo said: "What breed is the mare?"

"It is one of the best war horses in our Mongolia, the Baicha Iron Hoof Horse. Look at their hooves, are they similar to the Baicha Iron Hoof Horse?"

"What? Their mother is the Baicha Iron Hoof Horse? Even the hooves are similar?"

Zhao Shuo was surprised and delighted when he heard this news.

Of course, he knew that the Baicha Iron Hoof Horse was one of the best war horses in Mongolia.

This horse originated from a place called "Baicha Gully", so the name contains the word "Baicha". As for the word "Iron Hoof", it means that the horse has a hard hoof, which is not easy to crack, and it can walk on rugged mountain roads covered with rocks as if walking on flat ground.

Moreover, this horse is extremely fast, as the saying goes, "A thousand miles of wind and ten thousand miles of glow, can't catch up with the iron hoof horse of Baicha."

Not to mention in this era, even in the Qing Dynasty five hundred years later, the Baicha Iron Hoof Horse was one of the best war horses.

This thing is on the history books.

The "Qing History Draft·Military Records" records: "The iron hoof horse is actually a sharp weapon of the country, and the power of one horse can抵 three soldiers."

When Kangxi personally conquered Galdan for the second time, he urgently transferred 300 Baicha iron hoof horses as the vanguard, and actually arrived at 287 horses.

They launched a charge on the basalt mountain with a slope of nearly 40 degrees, carrying knights. Although they did not nail horseshoes, only seven hooves were seriously injured in the end. However, even if the general cavalry were nailed with horseshoes, the hoof damage rate exceeded 40%.

Afterwards, Kangxi was overjoyed and announced that the Baicha Iron Hoof Horse was prohibited from crossbreeding with foreign blood, and 100 young foals were selected into the official horse farm every year, and those who stole the iron hoof horse would be beheaded immediately.

Unexpectedly, the effect of crossbreeding this Baicha Iron Hoof Horse with Arabian horses is so good.

30% of the offspring not only basically retained the characteristics of "Iron Hoof", but also are so strong.

In addition to the characteristics of resistance to rough feeding and cold resistance, it is simply the most suitable war horse for him.

Moreover, where is this going?

It's just the first generation of hybridization.

Zhang Yong uses this as a blueprint, selects the best from the best, and may be able to cultivate excellent war horses.

Think about it, what would it be like for hundreds of thousands of super war horses carrying knights armed to the teeth to rush into Europe?

The Pope's triple crown fell to dust,

Burgundy wine ferments with Rhine blood,

The Teutonic Knights' oath became a joke,

The monastery's collection of books turned into a raging fire!