Surely these are the most incompetent of fighters, and I, Örlög baghatur Subedei, conqueror of thirty-two nations, would know. At Legnica and again at Mohi they were crushed by our superior fighting prowess, tactics, and strategy. They go about encased in metal like children's toys and do not even carry bows!
Why do they simply not submit to the inevitable conquest by the might of the khanate? Surely they do not think they can win?
P.S. Has anyone heard from Ogedei recently?
DAY ONE
The 2nd U.S. Army Cavalry Regiment is on maneuver near its home base of Vilseck, Germany. Suddenly, it vanishes.
General Subutai, the Pope of Europe has sent a messenger, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine. I can barely understand his thick accent, so I'm not sure if he is Frankish or Franciscan. Regardless, the Cross Army wishes to ally with us against the Muslims. Even if we do not agree with their terms, I believe that we should at least stand down for the time being rather than pressing our advantages throughout Central Europe for several reasons
First, there is no wealth further west. Our spies have reported that everyone west of us is nearly as poor as the Kipchaks were, save the churches of the Pope. We can more easily trade for their treasures, which mostly are worth little compared to the riches we captured at Zhongdu, Xi'an, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Xiangyang, Samarkand, Gobalik, or even Kiev. Conquering any one city of the Caliphate or southern China would probably yield more riches than the whole of the Franks
Second, the people here are useless. They are always white with fright, and their eyes are constantly open wide in bewilderment. How will they handle a gelding or even a Mongolian steed? Many of them are illiterate and surely cannot serve in the artillery as the Chinese and Koreans do. We have superior herdsmen and hunters, and their malnourished farmers can barely feed themselves. As a result, adding more of them would only add unnecessary weight to a mount
Third, who has challenged us in the past few years? Ever since we defeated Bachman of the Kipchaks at the Volga, the Hungarians made only a brief stand. All others were annihilated almost effortlessly. I believe that we should not only stand down, but also ally with the Franks. Fighting against the Muslims will yield greater wealth, a superior population, and stronger enemies. After all, the Mamluks of Egypt are elite warriors who seek a glorious death in battle and have reduced the Franks to small pockets on the coasts of the Western Sea
Even if we do not go to war again with the Muslims, I suspect that Ogedei Khagan would prefer to end the Song Dynasty to avenge the death of Prince Kochu. The Song infantry, sailors, and marines have proven to be much tougher than anyone expected, especially in the mountains of Sichuan and the lakes and rivers of Jiangnan. Their rockets and cannons are even more sophisticated than what we witnessed during our war against the Jin Dynasty. In that case, it would be wise to ally with the Franks. That would protect our flanks and create a buffer between us and the Mamluks while we consolidate our gains and rest our troops
However, my greatest concern is that we have not heard from Ogedei Khagan or even Chagatai Khan for the past two months. News from Karakorum always arrives within a few weeks. I fear that Güyük reported unfavorably about our expedition after his argument with Batu Khan. We should leverage the fear of the Franks to negotiate a position of strength now so that our troops and junior commanders are well-prepared for our absence when we are called back to Mongolia for a kuriltai. At the least, we will avoid adding any addition stress to our logistical system while it recovers from 8 years of westward expansion. After all, we had spared Novgorod to focus on Kiev, and many Russians have fled there. Perhaps we should consider taxing them
Chinese Sources
English Sources