Chapter 28: Journey to Lake Baikal

A battle has just concluded at a hill covered by snow. Hundreds of corpses are laying on the ground lifelessly, painting the snow-white soil with their blood. The victor of the battle is the escapees who are settling the aftermath of the battle right now. Out of the initial 500 escapees, only around 350 survived the battle. It is not just the escapees who suffered casualties. From the 600 troops dispatched, 200 troops of Temuujin died during the battle. The worst news for Temuujin would be that he lost his son Tsagadai during this battle.

The escapees are looting the weapons that are dropped on the snow. In addition to looting, to have food for the upcoming journey, the escapees are dismembering the dead horse bodies.

On top of the hill, Dorj is sitting on the snow with shaky hands as he was looking at the aftermath of the battle. He has survived and comes out victorious. Unfortunately, he is terrified and shocked to kill a person for the first time in his life. His survival instincts calmed down.

Dorj has seen that half of the surviving escapees are heading the West. /AN: Khereit tribe is located in the west/

Led by Zorigt, around the other half of the surviving escapees slowly get near Dorj and bowed. With gratitude in their eyes, they feel gratitude for freeing them.

Zorigt bowed and said "My lord, you have saved our lives. We are indebted to you! Half of us headed back to the Khereit tribe. But you have shown us our faith is wrong. So we decided to devote our loyalty to you!"

Dorj shook his head and replied. "Don't you guys want to go back to Khereit tribe as well?" asked Dorj as he stood up and faced Zorigt and the troops.

Zorigt shook his head. "My lord, You have saved our lives. We have discussed and we are going to follow you from now on. Please accept us!"

"Please accept us!" the other surviving escapees kneeled in front of Dorj.

Dorj looked at the people in front of him devoting their loyalty to him. The guilt for killing a person has washed away and he feels great responsibility.

'If I want to survive, I need troops against Temuujin. I don't know how many of them will die during a battle in the future!' thought Dorj in his mind.

Jegei near to Dorj bowed to Dorj as he said "My lord, please accept their loyalty. They have seen your great leadership and they want to devote their life to you."

"Zorigt! Please stand up! I accept you guys as my people! In the future, I will use my knowledge to bring great prosperity to the land!"

The kneeling people stood up and placed their right hands on their chests.

"Because I am from the Tenger, Let us name ourselves the Tengeriin uls in the future!" shouted Dorj as he pointed up towards the blue sky. /Author Note: Tengeriin uls means Sky people or Sky land/

"Tengeriin uls! Tengeriin uls!" the surviving escapees shouted in unison.

'Neuralink, show the world map.' Commanded Dorj in his head.

Dorj wants to gather the scattered Mongolian families across the steppe to create his own settlement. That was the reason why Dorj headed north. There must be Sakha, Buryat, Khalimag, and Tuva ethnic people who later joined Mongolia still in the north scattered.

The world map opened in front of Dorj's eyes. Dorj pinned the approximate location they are on the map near Buir lake.

'We will reach the Khulun lake and then the Siberian Forest and if we go further north, we can reach Yakutia But if I remember correctly, Yakutia is the world's coldest place to live. So before we reach the Yakutia which is near the arctic, let's head to the west and reach Lake Baikal!' Dorj thought for a while and zoomed to the west.

'It is not known whether Lake Baikal is currently occupied or not. But in order to create a settlement, a stable supply of water is important.' pondered Dorj as he weighed the pros and cons.

"Zorigt, we will go north till we reach the forest of Siberia, during our journey, we will enlist the scattered Mongol families as much as we can. If we gather more than 5000 people, we will not wait for spring to come. We will go west and settle to lake Baikal." instructed Dorj.

/AN: See Buir Lake and Lake Baikal. /

Dorj and his around 200 troops mounted on their horses. Their journey to Lake Baikal has just started. Riding their horses against the wind that is blowing from the north, the 200 troops marched and rested altogether.

The next day, Dorj and his troops encountered a small settlement with 10 gers. The small settlement has around 300 horses, 50 cows, and 500 sheep.

Jegei bowed to Dorj and said. "My lord, this is a small settlement. By the design of the ger, they must be Khongirat people. Khongirat people are renowned for the beauty of their girls!"

Zorigt and his people got excited to find warm gers and beautiful girls.

Zorigt neared Dorj and he suggested. "My lord, should we raid the settlement? By the number of gers, there must be fewer men than us. At most, there can be 50 adult men. If we raid the settlement, we can capture the women and the livestock from these people"

After hearing the suggestion of Jegei and Zorigt, Dorj shook his head. "Let's go to the small settlement. But don't attack. Let's have a discussion and ask them whether they want to join us."

Dorj and his 200 troops have got near the small settlement. The women and children are running to hide away from the unidentified troops that are coming. While around 50 men have come out to defend their families holding a few swords and hand tools ranging from axe to hammers.

A man in his thirties stood in front of the 50 men and shouted. "Whose troops are you? Why are you here?"

Dorj dismounted from his horse as he replied. "My name is Dorj. I am the messenger of the Tenger. I came here to ask you to join my Tengeriin Uls."

The man in his thirties shooed Dorj. "No, I don't care whether you are the messenger of the Tenger or the incarnation of Tenger, we will not join your Tengeriin Uls! Just go away to where you came from!"

Dorj gazed at the eye of the man in his thirties and pointed his hand to his troops. "We have more men than you. We are fully equipped. If we attack you, your daughters and wife would be consorts to my troops. While your boys would be slaves for my men. But if you join our Tengeriin Uls, I promise you your daughters and wife would be protected by me and your people will enjoy glory and riches in the future!"

The man in his thirties got intimidated by Dorj. He looked back to look at his people's eyes. They are truly terrified by the words which Dorj has just said. To see four times more men than them, the men are also gritting their teeth.

The man in his thirties introduced himself. "My name is Galdan. You have just mentioned you are a messenger of Tenger. Can you prove that you are truly a messenger of Tenger?"

Dorj pondered for a while as he took out his crystal bear amulet from his neck and showed it to everyone. "Can you see this crystal bear amulet? This is a gift from a Reindeer herder spirit to me. If I drop my blood on this amulet, it will shine brightly!"

As Dorj cut his finger and dripped a few drops of blood on his crystal bear amulet, the amulet shone brightly. After seeing that the crystal bear amulet has shone with white light after absorbing Dorj's blood. The people of Khongirat become amazed.

The belief of Tenger is the strongest among Mongolians except for the Khereit tribe and Naimans. /AN: Khereit tribe and Naimans are Christians./

The Khongirat men couldn't help but kneel in front of the messenger of Tenger. In front of a deity, if they don't kneel and accept their fate, they may be struck by lightning.

"Please, stand up. We will migrate tomorrow morning! We are heading to lake Baikal far in the northwest. There we will establish our Tengeriin uls and become the greatest nation in the world!"

A month passed after the battle against Tsagadai.

During their journey, Dorj and his group encountered eleven small settlements of herders. At maximum, the small settlements had two hundred people. Due to being the messenger of the sky, there are three small settlements that submitted themselves to Dorj. But the other small settlements were subdued only after a small battle and intimidation.

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Current status:

Tengeriin Uls: Population of 2 thousand and 600 soldiers.

Borjigin: Population of 20 thousand and 6.3 thousand soldiers.

Khereit tribe: Population of 30 thousand and 7,000 soldiers.

Naimans: Population of 60 thousand and 10,000 soldiers.

Western Xia: Population of 3 million and 150,000 soldiers.

Song Dynasty: Population of 90 million and 1 million soldiers.