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

Surchi hefted the sinew-feathered armor.

“This thing… is too light,” Surchi said, carefully choosing his words, though he was quite drunk, still wanting to save Zhao Shuo’s face. “Is it any good?”

“Of course, it’s extremely good. If you don’t believe me, let’s go try it out outside the tent.”

“Alright, then I’ll have to see for myself.”

As they spoke, Zhao Shuo, Hua Zheng, and Surchi walked out of the tent.

He ordered someone to set up a target a hundred paces away and put the sinew-feathered armor on it.

Surchi took his longbow and used fifty percent of his strength.

Clang!

The fletched arrow was easily deflected by the sinew-feathered armor.

Zhao Shuo knew that Surchi was trying to spare him embarrassment, and said, “Surchi Anda, are you not full yet, or are you afraid of making me lose face? Shoot with all your strength, so we can see the power of my sinew-feathered armor.”

“Then I’ll really use all my strength.”

Whoosh!

The bow was drawn like a full moon, the arrow shot like a shooting star.

Thud!

The second fletched arrow hit the sinew-feathered armor and fell to the ground.

“I still don’t believe it.” Surchi ordered, “Someone, bring that sinew-feathered armor from the target over here.”

“Yes.”

A soldier who was waiting on him went to retrieve the sinew-feathered armor.

After Surchi took it, he carefully examined it: “The second arrow wasn’t completely useless, it just didn’t quite penetrate the armor.”

Hua Zheng smiled, covering her mouth: “Big brother, what do you think of this sinew-feathered armor?”

“Of course, it’s a good thing.” Surchi said, “An armor that even my full-strength strike can’t penetrate, how could it not be a good thing? The most important thing is, this thing is light!”

Surchi looked left and right, completely enamored with the sinew-feathered armor.

Eventually, he directly put on the sinew-feathered armor, finding it much lighter and more flexible than other armors, allowing him to move freely without any hindrance.

Surchi said with excitement, “Good stuff, this is definitely good stuff. This armor is so light and still has such defensive power. If the warriors under my command wore this armor, I don’t know how much trouble we could have avoided when we conquered the forest people.”

Zhao Shuo said, “Actually, this armor has an even greater advantage: it’s cheap. Not only is it cheap, but it’s cheap on the grasslands. It’s much more expensive elsewhere.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The raw materials for making this sinew-feathered armor are the sinews of cattle, horses, and sheep, combined with the feathers of birds of prey and wild geese. These things aren’t much on our grasslands, but they’re definitely not cheap goods in other regions.”

“Good, good, good!”

Surchi nodded repeatedly and said, “Now that I’ve made a great contribution by subduing the forest people, and Anda Zhao Shuo you’ve created this treasure armor, we’re practically having a double celebration.”

Zhao Shuo shook his head slightly and said, “No, it’s a triple celebration.”

“What? There’s another celebration?”

Surchi was both surprised and delighted as he looked at Hua Zheng.

Hua Zheng nodded slightly and said, “It’s true, we just confirmed it yesterday and haven’t had time to tell anyone else.”

“That’s great, Father Khan will be so happy when he finds out.”

Temujin would certainly be very happy.

It was strange, Temujin had so many adult sons and daughters. However, right now, only Surchi had a son. Ogodei, Chagatai, Tolui, and several princesses didn’t have any children yet.

Hua Zheng had a faint smile on her fair face. Touching her lower abdomen, she glanced at Surchi and said, “When the child is born, you, as the maternal uncle, must give a generous gift.”

“You don’t need to say more, sister.” Surchi said, taking on the responsibility. “All the spoils I get from this attack on Western Xia will be for the child in your belly!”

The forest people were powerful, and Temujin wanted to use them as his base. Surchi used both kindness and power to subdue them, so there weren’t many spoils of war. Besides, the forest people were even poorer than the grassland people, so even if Surchi really wanted to rob them, he wouldn’t get anything good.

Therefore, he spoke of the spoils of war from attacking Western Xia.

That’s right, the Mongol army was preparing to attack Western Xia for the second time!

Half a year ago, Temujin, Khulan, and Zhao Shuo had decided on the strategy of attacking Western Xia.

After that, Temujin summoned generals such as Zhao Shuo, Muqali, Bo'orchu, Borokhul, and others to discuss the details of the attack on Western Xia multiple times.

Surchi only mobilized about ten thousand soldiers to subdue the forest people. The majority of the national forces remained on the grasslands, training and recuperating.

After Surchi subdued the forest people, the Great Mongol Empire immediately dispatched 30,000 soldiers, led by Temujin himself, to attack Western Xia for the second time!

If Temujin’s first attack on Western Xia was just a casual affair, then this second attack on Western Xia had clear political and military objectives.

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A month later, thirty thousand Mongol iron cavalry, personally led by Temujin, invaded Western Xia.

Among them, Zhao Shuo and Qasar led eight thousand soldiers, ready to act as the vanguard of the entire army at any time, delivering a fatal blow to the Western Xia reinforcements. Temujin led ten thousand kheshig soldiers as the general reserve force. Muqali, Jebe, Bo'orchu, Borokhul, and Chuurchedai jointly led twelve thousand soldiers, on the one hand besieging strong cities, and on the other hand raising food, grass, and laborers for the entire army.

Don't think that twelve thousand people is a small number.

Advancing like peach blossoms in the mountains,

Deploying like a sea of formations!

The Mongol army only deployed five thousand people, completely covering an area of forty square miles.

The Western Xia people were completely unaware of the specific situation of the Mongols, only knowing that the Mongols were fiercely attacking Orohai City.

That’s right, it was Orohai City.

The Mongol army did not attack Ligis City and Qilin Guguza City like last time, but instead went straight to another border city—Orohai City.

This city is located at the Langshan Pass southwest of Urad Rear Banner in later generations of Mongolia. In terms of geographical location, it is much more important than Ligis City and Qilin Guguza City.

Let’s put it this way, after Temujin captured Ligis City and Qilin Guguza City, Western Xia still had countless dangerous passes to block, which did not affect the nobles of Zhongxing Prefecture from continuing to enjoy their wealth.

But if this Orohai City was captured by the Mongol army, Western Xia would not have many dangerous passes in front of it, and the nobles of Zhongxing Prefecture would probably not be able to sleep peacefully.

When striking a snake, strike at its vitals!

Boom boom boom~~

The Mongol army's trebuchets were roaring, launching a fierce attack on Orohai City.

Boom boom boom~~

Orohai City's trebuchets were not to be outdone, giving the Mongol trebuchets a strong counterattack.

That's right, since the Mongol army captured Ligis City and Qilin Guguza City last time, Western Xia had learned its lesson and deployed trebuchets on the border cities. Moreover, as an important pass, Orohai City had an especially large number of trebuchets deployed.

This was not easy to handle.

The trebuchets on the city wall had the advantage of height, and their range was longer than the trebuchets below the city. In a cannon-to-cannon battle, at least in the short term, the Mongol army was at a disadvantage.

In this kind of siege warfare, the Mongol army's advantage of being invincible in field battles was completely difficult to exert.

It can be said that, in the short term, the Mongol army could not break through Orohai City.

However, on the other hand, the Mongols were not in a hurry to break through the city.

Why attack with one's weaknesses?

Temujin's real plan was to besiege the city and strike at reinforcements.

That's right, last time when the Mongols attacked Ligis City and Qilin Guguza City, the Western Xia people did not send reinforcements.

However, this time, Orohai City was so important, they would not fail to send reinforcements, would they? As long as the Western Xia reinforcements were defeated, Orohai City, no matter how strong it was, would despair and surrender because there were no external reinforcements.