Usurpation of Mongolia: My father-in-law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 63: The captured Xixia Han people, hybrid horse breeding

"Hmm? It worked?" Zhao Shuo ordered, "Bring him here."

"Yes."

Not long after, two attendants brought a wounded soldier of medium build, about thirty years old, to Zhao Shuo.

This person must have been wounded in the stomach by a sword, and he used a strip of cloth to tore from his clothes to tightly strangle his abdomen. The cloth was completely soaked with blood.

"I'm meeting the Prince Consort! I'm meeting the Heavenly Wizard! Please, Prince Consort and Heavenly Wizard, have mercy on me and treat my injuries. I don't want to die, I really don't want to die!
As soon as the two attendants let go, the wounded soldier knelt down on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

Zhao Shuo said, "Alright, stop kowtowing. What's your name?"

"My name is Zhang Yong, and I'm a sergeant in the Xixia army."

"Zhang Yong? Tangut or Han?"

Although many Tanguts changed their surnames to Han Chinese, I have never heard of anyone changing their surname to Zhang. Moreover, this person spoke Chinese instead of Tangut, so he was most likely a Han Chinese.

Zhang Yong said, "I am Han Chinese, my ancestral home is Lanzhou. About 120 years ago, the Xixia people attacked Lanzhou but failed, and captured many civilians, including my ancestors."

"So what exactly is the use of what you just said about Mongolia being useful?"

"I'm good at matching horses."

"Mating horses? Is that considered a specialty? Any herdsman on the grassland can do it. Even if they can't, if you put a male and a female together, they will probably be able to mate them." Zhao Shuo was so angry that he almost laughed.

Zhang Yong quickly explained carefully, "Your Highness, you don't know. What I mean by breeding horses is to crossbreed different types of horses to obtain excellent war horses.

The four types of horses that converged in Xixia were the Gansu-Qinghai horses, the Dayuan horses from the west, the Mongolian horses from the north, and the Tibetan horses from the south. Some people studied whether it would be possible to crossbreed these four types of war horses to create a warhorse that combined the strengths of each.

Zhao Shuo finally became interested and asked, "Are there any results?"

Zhang Yong said, "There have been some successes. After crossbreeding various types of horses, some very good war horses have indeed been produced. The people of the Central Plains call them Western horses, meaning they are horses from Western Xia.

However, the population is not stable.

If the Western horses are bred again, only a small number can inherit the advantages of their parents. Most of them are either thin and sickly, or have bad tempers, and are not as good as the original war horses.

If you want to get a Western horse, you have to start hybridizing again."

The instability of hybrid livestock offspring is indeed a major problem. This problem has been left unsolved in later generations, with the only solution being the inhumane practice of backcrossing. Besides the ethical issues, backcrossing can also lead to numerous genetic diseases.

Zhao Shuo asked, "So, you're good at breeding qualified Western horses through hybridization?"

"After my ancestors were captured and taken to Western Xia, they were settled on the most barren land. Living on farming alone was difficult. So, they began studying horse breeding and animal husbandry. When their lives became more affluent, they began breeding Western horses, and now they have developed quite a few unique techniques."

"Well, it is indeed useful."

Western horses were nothing special. When Zhao Shuo fought against the Western Xia army, he didn't feel the Western Xia horses were particularly impressive. However, if the Mongols continued to fight westward, wouldn't they be able to obtain the famous Arabian horses?

Many excellent horse breeds in later generations were derived from crossbreeding with Arabian horses. Zhao Shuo wanted Zhang Yong to try to see if he could crossbreed some excellent horse breeds with Arabian horses.

Zhao Shuo instructed the doctor beside him, "Set up a medical tent right here and treat his injuries first."

The doctor bowed slightly and said, "Yes."

"I can be useful to Mongolia too!"

"I am willing to surrender!"

"Please have mercy on me, Prince Consort, and save me!"

...Seeing that Zhang Yong was about to receive medical treatment, the seriously injured soldiers began to clamor and asked Zhao Shuo to show mercy.

But Zhao Shuo no longer had time to tangle with them, and together with the old man Wusun, he hurried to Temujin's golden tent. Because it was time for the post-war summary meeting.

This post-war summary was filled with laughter and joy.

There is no way, the results of this battle are really too brilliant.

The main force of the Xixia reinforcements' field infantry was annihilated, the Poxi army was annihilated, and even the Iron Harriers were crippled. Li Chengzhen escaped with less than 10,000 cavalrymen.

The spoils were even richer: Li Chengzhen's food and supplies, as well as the armor and weapons of the captured soldiers, all became spoils of war for the Mongolian army, with over 10,000 sets of iron armor alone. The Mongolian army had previously relied mainly on leather armor, but this was a major upgrade.

Moreover, this victory came so easily.

Hasar led only 3,000 troops and shook the Western Xia infantry formation.

Zhao Shuo used a thousand Flying Eagle Army soldiers to play with the Western Xia's Iron Harriers at will.

The victory of this war against Western Xia was just around the corner. How could the Mongolian nobles not be very happy?
"One last thing," Temujin said, "we've captured over 30,000 prisoners this time. What should we do with them?"

Hu Nan added, "The main thing is to keep an eye on them, which will tie up too many of our troops. If we kill them, the Xixia soldiers will surely be in danger once they hear the news, and I'm afraid they'll fight us to the death."

"Then kill them," Borhu said. "What's the harm in fighting to the death? Can little Xixia really turn the tables?"

Zhebie said, "It's really hard to keep these people. Even if we don't kill them now, we can take them to the grasslands and make them slaves. These are soldiers who are used to wielding swords and guns, and I'm afraid they will still be difficult to control."

"Yes, kill him! It's all over!"

"They're just soldiers, not craftsmen. We have no use for them."

"killed!"

"Kill them! It will save us from wasting food!"

……

Almost all the generals agreed to kill these prisoners to prevent future troubles.

This is why the Mongols often massacred cities and only spared the craftsmen and beautiful women. Ordinary soldiers were really of little use to them.

At the same time, two pairs of eyes looked towards Zhao Shuo.

The first look came from Old Man Wusun, who had just wanted to treat the wounded. But now, all the wounded were killed, so there was no point in treating them!
The other gaze came from Mu Huali.

He shook his head slightly, as if he disagreed with the generals' opinions.

Zhao Shuo nodded slightly to Mu Huali, indicating that he should speak first.

When the generals' voices gradually faded, Mu Huali coughed lightly and said, "We already know how powerful the Xia Kingdom is. Even if we kill these prisoners, we don't have to worry about what the Xia people will think.

"However, we are not only attacking the Xia Kingdom, but also the Jin Kingdom. Most of these captives surrendered voluntarily. If we kill them all now for the sake of temporary relief, I wonder how much more difficult it will be for us to attack the Jin Kingdom in the future, and how many lives of grassland warriors will be lost in vain."

Temujin nodded slightly and said, "You have some truth in what you said. But if we don't kill them, what should we do with them? We can't just let them go, right?"

Mu Huali smiled slightly and said, "Ashuo is very clever and he must have a good plan in mind by now."

----

In the new year, I wish you all good health and success.
(End of this chapter)