Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1317 – Extradition
11th month, 5th day, the Persian Empire finally gave an official reply to Great Xia’s warning.
The Persia King expressed that if Great Xia was willing to pay a ransom, they would be willing to send Ogedai back to Great Xia to protect their friendship.
“The specific ransom amount can be discussed.” the Persia King said.
The Persia King was an intelligent person. He was not greedy for some ransom cash; instead, he wanted to use the money to shut up the mouths of the opposition in the country.
As such, the Persian Empire would be able to hand over the burning problem in their midst while protecting their internal stability.
A perfect solution.
To make Great Xia agree, the Persia King expressed that the amount could be discussed.
Truthfully, under such circumstances, he would be willing even if Great Xia did not give them a single cent.
After contemplating the matter, Ouyang Shuo chose to accept the proposed terms. First, Ogedai was a knot in Wang Jian’s heart. Dealing with him early would help Wang Jian enter a correct mindset.
Secondly, Ouyang Shuo did not really have plans to declare war on the Persian Empire right after spring began.
The focus of Great Xia for the next year was India. Only after taking down India would Great Xia have the energy to proceed west. After all, the strength of the West Asia and South Asia warzones could not support fighting on two fronts.
Agreeing to a ransom in exchange for the prisoners could also pacify and confuse the Persian Empire.
In the end, each had their own considerations, and it was down to who the better chess player was.
…
11th month, 20th day, Xijiang Province border, South City Pass.
Great Xia had two big passes at the Xijiang border, one north and one south. The north was called the North Tower Pass and the south was the South City Pass, which helped to defend the border land.
These two paths were the only two passes from Great Xia over to the Persian Empire. Outside of them were basically mountain ridges that were difficult to get past, much less send troops through.
As such, one could see the importance of these two passes.
Out of these two passes, the South City Pass was the more important one, as it headed directly into the core land of the Persian Empire.
When Ogedai led his troops to flee a year ago, they had used this pass; they also used it back when the Mongol army attacked west.
The naturally formed pass had uneven and marked walls; these were signs of time passing, marking many historical moments.
The core legion of the West Asia warzone – the Bear legion corps 1st legion – was the true trump card of the warzone and was housed in this pass. The 2nd legion was housed in North Tower Pass.
The remaining three legions were housed outside of the two passes.
Morning, the cold breeze blew.
The bone chilling breeze lingered in the morning air. When one breathed out, their breath would instantly turn into white fog that rose up into the sky.
At the South City Pass city wall, rows of soldiers were standing still in the cold. They were unmoving, standing totally straight like statues. They loyally defended the border of the Empire. Currently, their thick armor was covered with a layer of white snow.
Only their determined eyes showed that they were still alive.
At this very moment, heavy footsteps spread from the steps on the city wall. Walking at the front of the troops was a middle-aged general dressed in martial attire. He had a firm, resolute, blade-like expression.
His triangular eyes were full of energy.
“Commander!”
As he walked over, the soldiers along the way all greeted him.
He was the southwest warzone commander, the empire’s Great General, God General Wang Jian.
Just last morning, Wang Jian had arrived in the South City Pass along with his Personal Guards. He came over under instructions from the Imperial Court; he was in charge of receiving the returned Ogedai troops.
Last night, Wang Jian experienced a bout of rare sleeplessness.
A year had passed, and it was about time the resentment between Ogedai and him was ended.
Wang Jian was really grateful for his majesty’s understanding and help.
Standing on the city wall, he looked out at the rising and dipping mountains and the twisting and turning mountain path. His eyes drifted off; who knows what he was thinking about.
When the soldiers saw that, all of them held their breath, unwilling to disturb the commander’s thoughts.
For the next hour, Wang Jia stood like that in the cold wind without moving. The surrounding soldiers were the same. They turned into statues as they helped the Empire guard the border.
Wang Jian was thinking about when he could lead the army out of South City Pass, over the mountain ranges, and into Persian territory to contribute on the battlefield once more.
In history, Wang Jian had never gone on an expedition outside of China.
He really wanted to spread the authority of China, of Great Xia, to the outside world.
At 9am, on the mountain path ahead of the pass, the rumbling of horse hooves suddenly reverberated out of the valley. One would be able to hear it even if they did not want to.
“Commander, they are here!” the Personal Guards Captain reminded Wang Jian.
Wang Jian nodded his head as the huge Persian army waltzed on the official pathway, causing dust to fly everywhere.
As they pushed forward, Ogedai’s forces, including Ogedai himself, became visible. Ogedai was tied up by many ropes and walked in the middle of the group. All of them were depressed and down, their faces ashen white.
When they escaped to the Persian Empire, Ogedai had a total of 200 thousand men with him.
Just a year had passed, and many of them had died, either in battle, from hunger while travelling, or due to other reasons. As such, there were only 150 thousand of them left.
Evidently, their time in the Persian Empire for the last year had not been good.
Many of the soldiers had actually started to feel regret. If they knew that this would happen to them, they would have just surrendered to Great Xia. If they did that, at least they would be able to reunite with their family.
Unlike now, living away their home and even being bullied.
In truth, their extradition was something that most of them were happy about. Being able to return home while they were still alive and getting the chance to meet their families was simply too precious.
Of course, Ogedai was not amongst those that were happy.
Ogedai was extremely clear about the kind of ending that awaited him after being sent to Great Xia. At best, he would be locked up until he died of old age.
Speaking of which, Ogedai was also filled with hatred.
He really could not understand why the Persian Empire was so afraid. After just a single warning from Great Xia, they decided to hand him over.
They did not even hesitate.
If he knew that this was going to happen, he would not have submitted to the Persian Empire.
How would he know the true reason the Persia King accepted his submission? It was not because of his forces and him. Instead, it was to get back the territory that the Mongol Empire took down.
As for Ogedai’s forces?
The Persian people had not forgotten the slaughter the Mongol’s west conquering had caused at the Persian border not that long ago. Who could forget such a blood debt?
As a result, after Ogedai’s forces surrendered, some people taught them a lesson even without the Persia King needing to instruct them. Moreover, they became more and more unrestrained as time passed.
First was confiscating their salary, then their grain, and then locking them up.
As this continued, once Ogedai’s troops became a litter of sick kittens, they directly charged into the camp and openly took revenge. Their methods grew more and more vicious.
Out of the 50 thousand dead, more than 70% of them had died to such methods.
