205 – Rolling a Cart Wheel
“Lieutenant General Yeager has brought a cart wheel! “It means that you will kill all the traitorous bastards!”
“I thought even we good people would suffer because of that damn Ishtaven. The lieutenant general says he will clearly distinguish between us and them. As expected, Lieutenant General Jaeger!”
“My blood is boiling. In the past, when we caught a traitor who betrayed our alliance, we would slowly roll that wheel, kill all those larger than that wheel, and use those who were not as slaves.”
I heard from Anya that among northerners, after conquering a tribe that betrayed their trust, the surviving men of the traitor tribe are gathered together and set next to the wheel.
Then, I heard that just like the Mongolians did, they kill all those larger than the cart wheel and make those smaller than that into slaves for life.
So, I heard that a chieftain or captain rolling a cart symbolizes conquest and revenge, and I can’t believe he reacted so violently.
“I heard that you northerners have a custom of rolling a cart to punish an enemy tribe that has formed an alliance but then betrayed it. “Isn’t that right?”
The chiefs shouted in the affirmative, shouting so loudly that I was worried that my words would tear their throats.
“There is no such custom in the Empire, but these are the people who dared to betray His Majesty’s grace and abandon their compatriots. I declare that your will and mine are the same in rolling the wheel in front of such guys. So, after our Northern Army wins this conquest, we will drag in all the surviving traitors and their clans and cartwheel in front of them. A man bigger than a wheel will not survive. And the surviving boys and their wives and daughters, who are smaller than a cartwheel, will be used as slaves of the empire to clear the land for you to cultivate. “
As originally planned, the traitorous family should be captured and carted away, and the captured women and young boys should be turned into slaves and distributed to everyone.
But if they do something like that, it’s easy for them to complain that the distribution of prisoners is less compared to their performance or why that guy gets paid more than me.
No one will be allowed to have slaves at all. Since no one else can have the same things as you do, the total amount of absolute dissatisfaction decreases.
Because if people can’t own things equally for themselves and others, at least they won’t have the dissatisfaction of a stomach ache.
Furthermore, even though the slaves are owned by the empire, they will be satisfied because they will use them to cultivate land for their own tribes.
Perhaps that is why there was neither agreement nor opposition to my words.
No, rather, what they were hoping for with sparkling eyes seemed to be waiting for permission to serve in the military, which was the first step toward being treated equally with the nobles and citizens of the empire.
“Although this issue has already been largely passed, starting this summer, I plan to request that you northern young people be allowed to serve in the military like the citizens of the empire. Then your taxes will be reduced, and you won’t have to pay two days of hard labor every week. “How is it?”
Hearing those words, a chief among the group asked cautiously.
“If that happens, that would be great. However, even when living a nomadic life in the north, it was necessary to give something in order to receive something. So what does the Empire require of us?”
“It is to serve His Majesty the Emperor with the same duties as the citizens of the Empire. “All you have to do is go to the cathedral every Sunday, go to mass, and serve in the imperial army for three years like other imperial citizens.”
“If we really do that, will we also become citizens of the empire? “Are you not planning on oppressing us for not conforming to the empire’s culture and customs?”
According to the knowledge learned from Islam when the concept of the Islamic Empire existed, oppressing people with different cultures because of their different cultures is generally foolish.
Because ethnic minorities know that their numbers are very small, they have a strong tendency to follow the country they belong to unless they are severely oppressed.
Islam and Christianity were able to get along quite well as long as they did not interfere with their ‘unique culture’, which was their vice.
The faith of Christians living in Arabia, Egypt, and North Africa was tolerated in exchange for a poll tax called Jizya.
Concepts such as various Western medicine, science, and philosophy were also accepted very well.
As a result, countries including the Ottoman Empire did not have many problems even though people from many different cultures lived together.
“Instead, when you go to the military, you have to have a certain level of conversation with the noble officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the empire, and you have to understand at least what kind of people the imperial people are. Northern soldiers who join the army will receive the basic education they will need as imperial citizens.”
All the chiefs who heard that nodded and said as if they were satisfied.
“Honestly, at first, I had a hard time processing official documents and tax issues because I couldn’t read the imperial script. I can’t imagine how bad it must have been for the tribesmen.”
“In my village, we almost ended up paying 20% more taxes three years ago because we misread the tax payment documents. Fortunately, I survived because the administrator made adjustments.”
“If young people learn more about the empire, it will be easier in many ways. Besides, once you get out of the military, doesn’t that mean you become smarter anyway?”
When you join the military, you are given the same tax-paying benefits as the citizens of the empire, and you are even taught basic arithmetic and how to write, so it functions like a modern-day school.
That was the truth. Before the introduction of the elementary school system and compulsory education, the military was the optimal tool used to raise the level of education of the people.
Because in order to turn the dull serfs who had been farming in the countryside into tools that could understand commands and move, it was necessary to teach them letters, minimum math, and the rules that must be followed in the military.
So, some historians say that the main factors behind modernization were the standing army and the conscription system.
In addition, I, His Majesty the Emperor, and His Highness the Crown Prince have prepared to foster loyalty to the Empire by adding a moderate level of Gukbbong, the history of the Empire, and pride.
With this, northerners who have served in the military will live with the identity of a northern nomadic people and at the same time the idea that they are imperial subjects living in the northern part of the empire.
“So now the empire and the northerners are officially becoming one. Now then, everyone raise your glasses high and shout. Cheers!”
At the same time as he said those words, all the chiefs and officers present raised their glasses high in the sky and shouted a toast.
Then, I was guided by the operations officer and went to a separate group in the banquet hall where Ishtaven and the 20 other chieftains who were trying to betray the empire.
They were talking about the new benefits promised by the Empire, shivering at the thought of trying to stab them in the back not long ago.
“f*ck, if Lieutenant General Jaeger had said he was coming, Ishtaven would have been the first to sprinkle salt when he came to my house.”
“Shut up, we still joined the empire at the end. “You become an imperial human just like those guys.”
“Taxes will go down and all kinds of side jobs will disappear, so it will be easier to live. Do you have any information to sell? “If only I could achieve something.”
I walked up to them, tapped their shoulders and spoke with a warning.
“The Empire knows very well that you were in cahoots with Ishtaven. “But now that you’ve come to your senses, how nice is it to see you?”
When the chieftains heard those words, they became as hard as stone.
“I’m so glad. You and your family, whom I care so dearly, would almost end up standing in front of the cart. Still, I feel fortunate that I came to my senses quickly and ended up on the side of rolling the cartwheel.”
“We had a moment of crazy thinking, Commander. “If you give me the chance, I will do anything to atone for my sins.”
I was planning to just scare these guys a little anyway and use it as material to motivate the remaining chieftains.
Ah, but I have no intention of tormenting them by telling them to fight and die like the punishment units in Germany or the Soviet Union.
“When we start applying for the military this summer, we will mobilize the young men of the tribe to actively join the military. So much so that other tribal leaders felt impatient when they saw it. Then, encourage them to go to the battlefield and fight with the readiness to die. Because soon there will be war with the Stockholm bastards. There you will prove your loyalty.”
“Of course, we love war. Additionally, I don’t mind dying if I can fight for the empire.”
“That is a very desirable attitude, and then I expect you to prove your loyalty.”
Two months after the inauguration ceremony, conscription began for northerners, and as I mentioned, in the 20 tribes that were contemplating betrayal, even people in their 40s applied for enlistment, saying they were young people.
Other tribes, seeing such passion, were not to be outdone and even men in their mid to late 30s applied for military service.
I was able to conscript elite (to be) recruits by matching physical standards and ages according to the imperial army’s conscription standards, excluding nearly 1/3 of the applicants.