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

What does "attaching to Jin and Song" mean? It means calling both the Jin and Song states "father." As long as these two countries don't attack Western Xia and disrupt Li Chunyou's peaceful days, that's all that matters.

What about the Western Xia Chancellor, Li Anquan? Well, he's only slightly better than Li Chunyou.

He is the son of Li Renyou, the brother of Li Renxiao, making him Li Chunyou's cousin.

After Li Renyou passed away, Li Anquan petitioned Li Chunyou, requesting to inherit his father's title of Prince of Yue.

However, Li Chunyou felt that this cousin was unreliable and didn't grant his request, only making him a Prince of the Commandery.

Prince and Prince of the Commandery, there's a big difference! I *expletive* Li Chunyou!

Note that this isn't an insult, but a statement of fact.

In a fit of anger, Li Anquan actually slept with Empress Dowager Luo, Emperor Li Chunyou's mother.

Empress Dowager Luo enjoyed the experience and naturally wanted to help her lover, requesting her son to give this convenient father figure an important position.

Li Chunyou had no choice but to appoint Li Anquan as the Chancellor of Western Xia.

However, Li Chunyou quickly discovered that this convenient father figure, who was seven years older than him, wasn't as useless as he had imagined. He collected a large amount of treasures and beauties for him to enjoy, and was quite capable.

As time went on, Li Chunyou and Li Anquan actually got along quite well.

This time, when the Mongol army attacked, the Western Xia army remained idle and didn't send any reinforcements. This was Li Anquan's idea.

"Chancellor, didn't you say that the Mongol army doesn't have siege equipment and can only plunder some civilians? Now, both Li Jisi City and Qilin Gugusa City have been captured by the Mongols!"

As soon as Li Anquan entered the palace, Li Chunyou began to complain.

Li Anquan, however, remained calm and unhurried, saying, "Your Majesty, don't worry. I have already read the military report. The Mongol army is incredibly brave, one of them can fight twenty of our soldiers. It wasn't wrong for the court not to send reinforcements. Otherwise, wouldn't we have suffered even greater losses?"

Li Chunyou was immediately swayed and his anger subsided, saying, "What the Chancellor says is true."

Li Anquan continued, "As for the Mongols actually capturing two of our cities, it's just a minor matter. We can completely turn a funeral into a celebration to pacify the hearts of the Western Xia soldiers and civilians."

Li Chunyou still felt something was wrong, saying, "What if the Mongols make a comeback? They can break Li Jisi City and Qilin Gugusa City, they can break other cities too!"

Li Anquan shook his head and said, "That won't happen. The world is so big, the Mongols have no old or recent grudges with our Xia kingdom, why would they keep targeting us? It's the Jin kingdom that not only nailed the Mongol Khan Ambaghai to a wooden donkey alive but also implemented a long-term policy of population reduction against the Mongols, burning, killing, and looting without restraint. Now that the Mongols have become strong, wouldn't they seek revenge against the Jin kingdom?"

"That's the logic, but... but I'm still a little worried. After all, our Xia kingdom is much weaker than the Jin kingdom. Is there a possibility that the Mongols are afraid of the Jin kingdom and will pick on the weaker target? That is, bully our Xia kingdom.", Li Chunyou said worriedly.

"If Your Majesty is really worried..."

In fact, Li Anquan's talent was only slightly better than Li Chunyou's. For such an important military matter, he didn't have any good solutions either.

He thought for a moment and could only resort to his most skilled method, saying, "Why don't we send gifts to the important ministers of Mongolia and have them say a few good words for our Xia kingdom in front of Temujin."

Li Chunyou eagerly asked, "Which important minister?"

Li Anquan said, "I heard that Temujin's son-in-law, Zhao Shuo, beheaded Wang Han of the Kereit tribe, Taiyang Khan of the Naiman people, and also captured Gurkhan Jamukha, achieving great military exploits and being highly trusted by Temujin."

Li Chunyou finally showed a happy expression, saying, "If we can accomplish this, of course, it would be the best. Then, what gifts does the Chancellor think we should send to Zhao Shuo?"

Li Anquan pondered for a moment and then said, "How about the treasured saber in Your Majesty's treasury?"

...

Far away, Zhao Shuo certainly didn't know that the crooked wind from Western Xia was about to blow his way.

He was preparing to treat the wounded soldiers.

In this era, when soldiers were injured by knives, swords, or spears, if the injury was minor, they would cauterize it with a red-hot iron, then invite a shaman to perform rituals if they believed in shamanism, or pray to God for blessings if they were Christians, or chant Amitabha if they were Buddhists... then pour some herbal medicine in, and that would be considered treatment complete.

If the injury was severe, they would slaughter a large animal, empty its internal organs, put the person inside and soak them in hot blood, and then ask the gods for blessings... if they lived, it meant the gods had manifested. If they died, it meant they had returned to heaven or paradise.

Both of these methods actually have some scientific basis.

Using iron to cauterize wounds is to kill bacteria and prevent infection. Soaking in the hot blood of livestock is to prevent hypothermia in cases of excessive bleeding.

Of course, the effect is far inferior to that of later generations' medicine.

First of all, Zhao Shuo prepared to disinfect the wounded soldiers with alcohol.

Although Zhao Shuo had already produced highly distilled mare's milk wine, the strength of alcohol is relative.

Based on his experience of tasting wine in his previous life, Zhao Shuo felt that the distilled mare's milk wine he produced was only about forty degrees.

It seems that the concentration of medical alcohol is seventy-five percent?

What is the effect of forty-degree liquor? Is it as good as red-hot iron? Zhao Shuo really didn't know.

Therefore, he had never really implemented this method, but instead asked the craftsmen under him to improve the manufacturing process of high-proof liquor.

It was just that the technical level of the grassland craftsmen under him was really not high, and the progress was very slow. It was not until three months ago that they produced higher concentration liquor.

Before Zhao Shuo went on the expedition, he instructed that once there was progress in high-proof liquor, someone should be sent to deliver this liquor to the front line as soon as possible.

Two months ago, this batch of ultra-high-proof liquor was finally sent to Gerile.

It's just that Zhao Shuo himself was still far away and didn't know about it.

In addition to ultra-high-proof liquor, the germ-killing weapon that Zhao Shuo could use in this era was allicin.

However, not to mention garlic on the grassland, even food was only grown in small quantities by the Kereit and Hongjira tribes.

The money earned from selling novelties was used to buy precious weapons and iron, and garlic could only be ranked far behind.

This time, after capturing the two Western Xia cities, Zhao Shuo asked Temujin for permission to gather all the garlic, which amounted to five or six hundred pounds.

Together with the readily available high-proof liquor, allicin could be made.

The method of making this thing is very simple: first mash the garlic, then dry it over low heat, then crush it, and finally put it in high-proof liquor to soak and precipitate for a period of time, and the clear liquid on the top layer is the simplest allicin.

Although the medicinal effect of allicin is not as powerful as penicillin, in this era, it is enough to be called a magical medicine.

The last magical item is aspirin, which is known as one of the three great magical medicines.

Aspirin itself cannot kill bacteria, but it has the effect of relieving fever, pain, and inflammation. It has little effect on external injuries when used alone, but when used in combination with antibacterial drugs, they complement each other and have quite magical effects.

The preparation process of this thing is also very simple: peel off the willow bark, rinse it with clean water, then tear it into small pieces and soak it in water to boil. Boil for about half an hour, take out the willow bark, and then continue to heat it. When white crystals precipitate in the pot, you can stop the fire. Cooling will cause a large number of white crystals to precipitate, which is the famous aspirin.

Oh, yes, there are also surgical sutures made of sheep intestines.

The production time of sheep intestines is the longest and the most troublesome.

It is said to be sheep intestines, but the intestines of animals such as sheep, cattle, cows, horses, mules, and donkeys can actually be used, as long as they are the intestines of these large mammals.

First, scrape off the fat and other tissues from these intestines, take the innermost mucous membrane, then soak and wash it with the clear liquid on the top layer of plant ash water, flatten it, and then use sulfur smoke to fumigate it to prevent insects and decay. Finally, when using it, you also need to disinfect it with alcohol.

"It's not easy, finally got it all together. It's just that allicin is too easy to oxidize and will expire after two hours. Otherwise, all this garlic could be made into allicin at once."

When all the medicines were prepared, it was already the first watch of the night.

Zhao Shuo shook his head and prepared to go to the wounded soldiers' camp with Gerile.

However, just at this moment, suddenly a quiver-bearer of Genghis Khan arrived at Zhao Shuo's camp, summoning him to Temujin.

It's so late, what important matter could have happened?