After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

If the Great Khan can protect his subordinates, then officials and tribal chiefs at all levels can naturally choose to protect their subordinates as well!

At that time, the laws of the Khuttod Khanate will become a mere formality. Everyone will choose to bribe powerful tribal chiefs to beg for their help when they commit crimes. The development of the Khuttod Khanate will then be severely affected, which is absolutely unacceptable to the Great Khan.

However, it would be equally unacceptable for the Khan to simply choose to execute the loyal and meritorious Kheshig.

On the one hand, his execution of loyal servants would not only chill the hearts of his own warriors, making these loyal and powerful warriors doubt whether following him would bring them glory and rewards, but it would also make the tribal chiefs and nobles unwilling to exert their full strength when he ruled the empire later.

After all, loyal warriors follow you not only for their own ideals, but more importantly, to gain peace of mind, rewards, status, and glory.

If a kheshig (a type of imperial guard) who has received rewards, status, honor, and a sense of security is beheaded for making an accidental mistake, wouldn't the servants who were originally striving for these things feel disheartened?

Therefore, the Great Khan also had to prevent such a thing from happening. In other words, neither simply "covering up" nor "execution" would work. Fortunately, the Great Khan had already devised a perfect plan that could take everyone into consideration.

The burly man, whose chest hair was more abundant than that of a troll, first took a sip of the hot milk tea from the grasslands. Then he disassembled his short sword and threw it in front of the kheshig who was bound and kneeling on the ground.

Then, the Great Khan rose and personally walked to the Kheshig and the father. He paced back and forth there, surveying the loyal ministers and representatives of the people in the tent, before speaking in a steady voice:

"Since I, Huttod, unified the tribes and proclaimed myself Khan, I have not only rewarded those who have made contributions, but I have also exhausted all means to make my country stronger and more prosperous for the people of the Huttod Khanate."

I will not disregard the laws I have enacted, leaving my people without any legal basis in the future; but I will also not allow a Kheshig soldier who has rendered great service to face an dishonorable death for a momentary lapse in judgment.

The Great Khan turned to look at Kheshig and the father. He personally helped the poor father to his feet, then picked up his dagger and cut the ropes binding Kheshig's hands. He then placed the dagger before Kheshig and delivered his final judgment:

"From this day forward, you must strip off all your clothes, cut off half of your hair with the dagger I have given you, be stripped of all your property, and receive ten lashes before our people while loudly confessing your crimes."

After that, you must live with the slaves in the lowest-ranking tents for ten days, enduring their humiliation and contempt to perform the most menial tasks. Only after ten days will you be allowed to put your original equipment back on, but you are not allowed to enter my tents or the places where the Kheshig (imperial guard) gathers.

Only after you achieve military merit sufficient to atone for your crime will you be allowed to return to my camp—I will reserve your place until you die in battle or return. Once you are able to return to the Great Khan's camp, you will also need to raise funds to bring the woman you abused back home, and use your life and military achievements to atone for the sins of this woman you wronged, so that she and her family may enjoy wealth and honor.

My kheshig, are you willing to accept my judgment? Or do you have any objections?

Faced with the Great Khan's judgment, the Kheshig were moved to tears, their gratitude overflowing.

"I am willing to accept all the Khan's judgments! I am willing to die to prove my innocence and atone for all my mistakes by achieving great military exploits on the battlefield!"

The Kheshig had originally prepared themselves for death, but when faced with an opportunity to live, to choose between a glorious death or a glorious return, no man of the grasslands would give it up.

The Khan picked up the dagger again and solemnly placed it in the hands of the guard. Then he turned and bowed slightly to the poor father, asking in a deeply affectionate tone:

"So, my child, are you satisfied with the Khan's verdict?"

The father glanced at the Kheshig, recalled his daughter's ordeal, and then thought of the Kheshig's illustrious military achievements. Finally, he knelt gratefully before the Great Khan.

"Thank you, Father Khan, for standing up for my daughter! Thank you, Father Khan, thank you, Father Khan!"

Since neither party had any objections, the Khan ordered the judgment to be carried out immediately.

The kheshig immediately stripped off all his clothes, including his undergarments. He used the short sword given to him by the Khan to cut off half of his hair, respectfully returned the sword to the Khan, and then left the tent with his head held high, escorted by two other kheshig.

Before leaving, the Khan showed the Kheshig his armor on the hat rack and behind the cushion—meaning that the Khan would keep his promise that if the Kheshig returned alive after achieving great military exploits, he would still have the right to sit in the Great Khan's tent.

After this serious incident, Khutuktu Khan finally had time to discuss the upcoming southward campaign with his children (ministers).

A centaur kheshig said that the Khuttod Khanate was fully prepared to march south. Although they had not yet recovered from the last great war, at least when facing the small southern country, they would utterly destroy it with overwhelming force and seize all its resources.

"Father Han, as long as we launch an attack, the enemy will be no match for us! Their slaves have no morale whatsoever. Although they have made preparations to defend against us, under the threat of our new weapons, these fortifications are practically as flimsy as paper!"

We plan to sweep across the entire territory of that small country within a month, and after the entire population migrates to their homeland, we will use their land and resources to feed our people, and we can also turn their people into our slaves, preparing for our later attack on our mortal enemy, Roman.

“My child [your subject], you are right. This small country that stands between us and the Roman Empire is a fledgling state that separated from the former Great Khanate. Destroying them will be effortless for us. But you must not be complacent because of this small victory. Do not forget that everything we have done is to secure living space in the south, to fight against the legendary demonic calamity, and the terrifying behemoth that is about to awaken in the far north.”

"We understand, please rest assured, our father!"

The Khan was pleased with the unanimous cheers of his subjects. He felt that his previous actions had achieved the desired effect, but this also meant he had to look to the more distant future.

The Khuttod Khanate's southward expansion was not solely for revenge or to secure resources for survival. In fact, given the Khuttod Khanate's current development, the resources within the steppe were more than sufficient.

But Hutto Khan did not believe the grasslands were safe.

For in the north of the grasslands, and even further north of the Sorrowful Mountains, the legendary demons and calamities are about to awaken. To prevent his people from becoming the demons' food or breeding ground for corruption, the Great Khan must relocate his Khanate to the location of the Roman Empire and drive the Romans to the north, making them his slaves, and also to make them the first line of defense against the demons.

(After all, in prophecy, the invasion of demons always begins in the north.)

The Great Khan looked down at the sheepskin map on the small wooden table in front of him, at the mountains to the north of the Khanate and the unknown snowflakes marking the frigid lands.

(Moreover, we are not good at defense. We excel at mobile warfare, not to mention that we suffered a defeat a few years ago—the "Chosen One" of the Roman Empire has been born, and we must drive that "Chosen One" away before the tribe is destroyed, so that they can stop the demons from invading in our place.)

According to the ancient barbarian prophecy of bone fracture, before each demonic calamity, a "chosen one" will be born in this world due to the imminent disaster.

Benjamin Roman, who once defeated the Great Khanate and established the Roman Empire, was the "Chosen One." Legend has it that he was brave, decisive, capable of ruling chaotic tribes, harmonizing hearts and minds, and possessing unparalleled military prowess.

This "Chosen One" is undoubtedly the result of this world's efforts to resist the demons—he is in fact the embodiment of the world's will.

And Huto' Khan—naturally, was also the "chosen one".

From the day he was born, this man could clearly feel that he was different from others. He learned everything very quickly, his body was stronger and more powerful than that of ordinary people, he showed his military talent at a very young age, and more importantly, he believed that he was like Roman's "Chosen One," and that they could both sense the imminent threat of the devil.

Although the Great Khan had never seen a demon and did not know what demons would bring to the world, whenever he thought of the word "demon," images of otherworldly scenes would always flash before his eyes.

A beautiful woman who perished alongside the devil by burning the entire world in flames.

The king and his armored knights who once existed on this continent, charging against the hideous and terrifying demons.

There is also the great nation that sank to the bottom of the sea along with its demons, and the floating nation that blasted the entire continent into pieces like an archipelago and fell from the sky.

This world is transmitting to the Great Khan, through illusions, the heavy price paid for the past struggle against demons. And the Great Khan, of course, understands that the struggle against demons is by no means an easy task.

But two tigers cannot share one mountain. Benjamin Roman and he were destined to be friends who cherished each other, but also mortal enemies who had to be killed on the battlefield—not only because the Great Khan's own father had died at Benjamin's hands, but more importantly, because the vast majority of the tribesmen had died at the hands of the Romans.

“...Roman is our mortal enemy.” The Great Khan murmured unconsciously, his words making all the keishi (imperial guards) serious. “Therefore, we must reclaim our land no matter what, and then send our mortal enemies to the north, let them bear the first wave of demonic invasion in our place, and buy time for our subsequent work.”

“Father Han... But right now, we need to deal with that small country first before we can open up the route for the western grasslands to move south.”

"We don't necessarily have to go along that grassland; we can enter from the forest..."

"We'll suffer too much loss in the forest! Let's wait for Father Han to make the decision..."

The Kheshig members discussed in hushed tones, while the Great Khan stared at the map, lost in thought.

Undoubtedly, destroying that small, fragmented country would not be difficult. The problem is that integrating its resources will take a very long time—they will need about six months to organize their resources, use them to produce better weapons, use them to arm more people, use their people to replenish their slave reserves, and use these slaves as expendable resources to fill any possible trenches and land in front of the city walls as they continue their southward march.

The Great Khan knew that his invasion of Roman Empire would take a long time—but he also knew that speed was of the essence. He had to achieve his strategic objectives as quickly as possible, and could he first send a group of men into Roman territory to carry out sabotage...?

...No.

Sending people in now would be tantamount to informing the "Chosen One" of the Great Khan's arrival and instructing them to prepare accordingly.

Therefore, what the Great Khan needs to do is to follow the established procedures step by step.

"My children! Let's go and inspect our weapons. Tomorrow we will attack that mantis trying to stop a chariot, and let them spread fear and plague within their own borders—but before that, we must make sure our weapons are adequately prepared!"

The Great Khan rose from his cushion, donned his bear-head cloak, and led the Kheshig (imperial guards) away from the tent.

............

The Khuttod Khanate did not have a true capital. As a state composed of nomadic tribes, their capital was the Great Khan's camp. Because of this, the Khuttod Khanate's infrastructure was practically non-existent.

The Great Khan hoped that his people would settle down in Romano, because only when they were settled could the Great Khan develop everything the country should develop—but before that, his priority was naturally to develop portable food and weapons, which were crucial to victory.

He led his guards on oxen and horses to inspect the area where the blacksmith Khan, or rather the master blacksmith, resided. Around that commander, the Khan could see siege towers being disassembled and tested according to their components, catapults that could accurately launch stones after being loaded with counterweights, and ballista carts specially designed for field battles.

“Father Han.” The blacksmith master stepped forward. The troll first knelt on the ground and kissed Father Han’s boots to show his respect and loyalty. Then he stood up and introduced the weapons and equipment of the current Khuttod Khanate to the Khan.

It turns out that, under the instruction of Hutot Khan, they had reached an agreement with the ogres of the Mourning Mountains two years ago, obtaining the rich mineral resources in the mountains and using those resources to forge their own steel weapons.

Whether it's steel scimitars, steel javelins, or the full plate armor and massive, heavy maces specifically designed for trolls, steel arrowheads, or the steel dragon heads on battering rams.

In short, the main force of the Khuttok Khanate now uses steel weapons, all thanks to the abundant and high-quality iron ore in the Sorrow Mountains, the powerful arms of the troll blacksmiths, and the fierce winds generated by the Khuttok Khan using fire magic.

Needless to say, the best iron ore is abundant. In the Mourning Mountains, there is a huge cliff that looks entirely rust-red from afar. The red sand there can be dug up and put into a furnace to smelt iron. It is not only extremely rich in iron ore, but also the best in terms of quality.

After smelting pig iron from iron ore, one can then attempt to forge steel with the help of troll blacksmiths. Although temperature issues frequently arise during the forging process, the Great Khan ultimately resolves the problem using magic with fire.

After all, fire generates wind. Under the influence of fire magic, the tribesmen successfully made a unique blower using cowhide and various materials, successfully remelting pig iron. After an extremely complicated manual process, they refined the pig iron into molten steel and poured this molten steel into weapon molds, making them into steel weapons.

Although there is still much room for improvement in refining this steel, it is enough for the current Khan—steel weapons have achieved a perfect victory in the clash with iron weapons, and this nearly 10,000-strong Royal Guard, composed of veterans and warriors, disciplined and honored after rigorous training, and equipped with steel weapons and armor, will be the Great Khan's most important breakthrough force.

"Father, although warriors equipped with steel will have a great advantage in melee combat, the Romans' ballistae and catapults are still a threat that cannot be resisted by manpower. Even if we trolls wear steel helmets, we are not confident that we can withstand the impact of ballistae and giant stones. Therefore, before sending the guards to break through, it is best to let the slave soldiers deplete the Romans' ammunition reserves first."

"I will consider it. Blacksmith Khan, you just need to focus on providing us with more weapons and equipment—but how about our siege engines?"

"Based on the customs of our tribe, I modified Roman's siege equipment—they no longer need to use local wood to make it, but can disassemble it, attach wheels, and have it pulled to the battlefield in batches by centaurs or oxen, and then reassembled by trolls or cranes."

"I think assembling the catapult is no problem. But wouldn't assembling the siege tower be very troublesome?"

“It’s better than us building them on-site.” The troll blacksmith shrugged. “We won’t have the resources to build siege towers on-site—especially when facing the Roman cities in the west. There’s no wood to be found there, and even stones might have to be dug up from the dirt.”

"Let's leave it at that for now."

The engineering equipment of the Hutto Khan was also modified to some extent according to the characteristics of the nomads. This made the Great Khan extremely gratified, but also made him realize that this was far from enough.

He knew very well that once they entered the narrow mountainous region of Roman territory, these siege weapons might become useless due to the terrain. If they couldn't find a way to acquire weapons that were smaller yet capable of breaching city walls, the Khan's army's advance would be severely hampered once they entered the mountainous region of Roman territory.

This is not permitted by the Khan! But the Khan also knows that he cannot act rashly... so what should be done?

The Khan couldn't think of a good solution for the time being. He led the Kheshig away from the blacksmith's camp, and then they came to the army camp, inspecting his personal guards and comparing the differences between his guards and ordinary nomadic warriors.

Those equipped with gleaming steel armor and steel weapons were naturally the Khan's personal guards. Among this guard, only the centaurs, who were the main force for rapid mobility, and the harpies, who could not bear the weight of steel, were not equipped with steel armor. Even so, they were equipped with the finest leather armor.

Those who were only equipped with ordinary leather armor or a piece of chainmail, without helmets or neck guards, or even just wearing ordinary cloth and carrying shields, were ordinary nomadic warriors. The Khan had tried his best to improve their equipment, but with the national treasury empty, the Khan could not guarantee that every nomadic warrior would have their own armor.

Finally, those dressed only in cloth, carrying short knives, or even just a wooden stick, were the army's tent slaves and slave soldiers. They were purely expendable. Compared to the slave women, these men not only had to do more manual labor, but also had to fight to the death against the enemy on the battlefield. What forced them to launch attacks were naturally the swords of the soldiers and their supervisors.

...This is the Khan's powerful army.

However, the only drawback was that the Khan's army did not have any mages because the number of priests who knew magic was too small.

This might put them at a disadvantage when facing Roman mages or priests. But you can't make bricks without straw, and the Khan can't conjure mages out of thin air... So for now, he's done the best he can.

Having inspected all the troops, the Khan, full of confidence in annihilating the small states, concluded his day's agenda.

As a Khan, he was a wise ruler when he was at work, but after work, he would also reveal his shortcomings and helplessness.

He wanted to go back and drink, get thoroughly drunk, and then launch a fierce attack on the entire territory of that small country on February 4th.

At that time, the name of Hutot Khan will spread throughout the grasslands, and when Hutot Khan defeats the Romans and later the demonic calamity, his name will live on forever.

This is the Khan's fanatical desire.

He possesses the prerequisites to fulfill this desire. It's just a question of when those prerequisites will be met.

He didn't think too much about it. Instead, he returned to his tent with his Kheshig children to enjoy their night of revelry. But before getting completely drunk, the Khan still planned out everything he would do after conquering the small country.

First, after conquering all the towns of the small country with lightning speed, he would have his soldiers wear the uniforms of that small country and, along with the enemy's routed troops, even get ahead of them to launch an attack on the Romans. This would make the Romans mistakenly believe that a small country was planning to infiltrate their territory under cover of darkness and wreak havoc, thus lowering their guard.

After all, they would fight with all their might when facing an invasion by the Great Khan. But when faced with a potential invasion by a small country, they would only be lazy. In that case, they would still disperse their troops to other places, and the forces sent by the small country would not be enough to resist the attack of the Hutto Khanate, which would make the Romans feel "reassured".

The sense of security gained after being deceived is the most dangerous. The Khan knew this, so he had to make his warriors disguise themselves convincingly, ideally to the point that the Romans would believe that "that small country actually wants to let us in their warriors by spreading rumors."