The nomads of Central Asia were a people who lived in poor natural conditions.

In the process of overcoming the barren environment, they became strong and for thousands of years, they were tempered under foreign influence. Their genetic factor naturally permeated the bodies of their descendants.

They searched for grasses to fatten livestock, raised offsprings, and protected the grasslands so far by fighting against the invasion of immigrants.

They regarded horses as the most precious livestock because moving was part of their life.

Horses were a means of transportation to and from the grasslands and a great tool of war, so horses were inseparable from nomadic people.

In the eyes of invaders, people of Central Asia would have been like demons, appearing and dispersing in a flash, causing dust.

They might have looked like demons without blood or tears, but it was a struggle to live.

They had to show their bravado with a small number of people to intimidate their opponents with a loud appearance, and a little bit of cruelty was added to prevent them from attacking again.

Due to their life environments where they had to continuously move in order to live, horses were part of their life.

They also had the ability to turn the body completely backwards while riding a horse and shoot an arrow, and such flexible bodies were the result of riding horses every day.

Perhaps that was why most of Kazakhstan’s soldiers were like special marksmen.

The gene from their ancestors, who used to boast of shooting arrows taking down their enemies accurately even on a shaky horse, remained in their bodies, so they were good at shooting guns.

There was no other way to explain the Kazakh soldiers’ shooting ability otherwise.

As this trait was passed down to posterity, the Central Asian people were perceived as belligerent and courageous.

For this reason, even during the period when China was strong, it did not dare to attack Central Asia.

The only time it was conquered was by Genghis Khan of Mongolia.

Central Asians had no chance against Genghis Khan, who conquered Europe like a flood.

Uyghur was annexed to China in the 19th century after the Qing Dynasty established Xinjiang Fortress.

Up until then, Uyghur had maintained its reputation as a member of Central Asia.

Uyghur was home to all ethnic groups in Central Asia, including the Kazakh, Uzbek, Tatar, and Kyrgyz, as well as the Uyghurs.

In particular, Uyghur was an area with an unusually high percentage of immigrant residents among its own other autonomous states of China, and there was not even a connection between Uyghurs and the Chinese people, including their language, religion, and western appearance.

Uyghurs had no reason to be called as Chinese, so they were constantly demanding independence.

Since Uyghur had a strong connection to Central Asia, the Uyghur issue became the main focus of Central Asia, and Kazakhstan helped the Uyghurs to establish an autonomous region in Kashgar, Uyghur last time.

However, the Chinese government’s recent Uyghur policy did not hesitate to engage in anti-humanitarian acts as if it intended to wipe out all Uyghurs.

In this situation, Kazakhstan would not overlook such acts.

Kazakhstan was the leading country of Central Asia. If it refused to play its role as a leading state, the federal citizens would stand against the government and royal family, causing the federal to be shaken.

On top of the nomadic and ethnic connection to Uyghur, there was a reason why Kazakhstan should be involved in war against China to free the Uyghurs.

Kazakhstan’s national interest was directly related to the Uyghur issue as well as it needed a buffer zone called Uyghur against China for national security.

For these reasons, Uyghur’s independence must be won.

It did not have to be the whole Uyghur territory, but could be the areas bordering China were enough.

***

The Royal Bodyguards organized in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began secretly moving into the Kashgar region of Uyghur.

The move was a response to intelligence reports that Chinese troops were gathering in Uyghur, just in case such a move was aimed at targeting Kashgar.

Kazakhstan’s regular forces were planned to be sent in the form of peacekeepers in time for the armistice, so they could not be mobilized now, but the royal guards were not tied to such a political burden.

There was nothing much to worry about as the mercenaries of private military companies had already been deployed along the border, but the reason the royal guards were sent to Kashgar was because they volunteered to get involved.

As the descendants of nomadic people, they wanted to contribute.

Anyway, the deployment of some 1,500 royal guards disguised as militiamen eased some of the anxiety over Kashgar.

Of course, if China attacked with all its might, it could recapture Kashgar, but it would have to be prepared for a huge loss of troops.

The Kazakh Intelligence Service judged that China would not be able to attack so easily because of that.

As such, Kashgar was the place where the pride of both countries was at stake.

Youngho was weighing the timing of the Uyghur independence fight, Putin secretly requested Youngho to visit Moscow, so he flew to Moscow right away.

Putin’s urgent request at such an important time like this meant that he had something to advise or something had happened.

Youngho entered the Kremlin with worry.

Putin greeted him with pleasure.

“You cooked the European Union well. I didn’t know European greedy people would even adopt a joint statement against China. You are indeed a great diplomat.”

“You’re welcome. No special diplomatic effort was required. It’s because our interests are in sync. The EU will be writing its bills to us soon.”

Everything about diplomatic relations was profit.

Even though the European Union seemed to have risen up for the human rights of Uyghurs, it was done after a careful calculation for benefits in return.

Likewise, the reason why Putin was empowering Kazakhstan was because it was directly related to Russia’s interests.

“By all means, you seem to have earned enough cause externally. The Chinese authorities will be very upset. But I’m a little concerned that China is rallying its forces in Uyghur. It’s going to be a tough fight.”

Putin was also scrutinizing China’s move.

It was not a matter of finding out such a thing through Russia’s intelligence network.

However, he became deeply concerned because he thought it would be a dispute that would go beyond the scope of the initial calculation.

Youngho confessed that he had mobilized the royal forces to reassure Putin.

“We are thoroughly prepared for that. Civilian military companies are participating and non-regular troops are being deployed. We’ve recently mobilized some of the federal royal forces.”

“We believe that we can never achieve our goal with that scale of troops. Shouldn’t we take Uyghur away from China for sure? That’s why I wanted to see you. I was thinking about deploying some civilian resources, too.”

It seemed Russia also wanted to be deeply involved, but Youngho was not sure whether there were civilian military companies in Russia as well. He looked at Putin to listen to his next words.

“I also heard it all about Yaniv. You’ve mobilized mercenaries consisting of mafia groups.”

Youngho was startled by Putin’s remark, but he acted as if it was nothing.

“Well… I used to do this and that, but now I think that the organization has been dismantled and only a part of the group are working in our private military company.”

Youngho did not know how Putin figured it out, but he came clean to him as he seemed to know about it all.

“It was a very fresh idea. Who could have thought of using the trouble-prone mafia as mercenaries? When I heard that, I was quite surprised.”

“Mr. President, are you thinking of a mercenary made up of mafia members?”

“The way to help you is to deploy regular troops, but it seems like it’s going to be a big fight with China, so I thought about using the mafia.”

It was no exaggeration to say that Russia was a mafia paradise.

There was no place where the mafia did not intervene, so Putin even declared war on the mafia.

However, that was an external political move only, and he did not seem like he despised mafia groups.

“Now that you are willing to lend a hand, I feel like I’ve got thousands of troops.”

If the mafia, known for its roughness, played an active role, it would be a great help to the military power.

“And besides the mafia mercenaries, there are Serbian militias. They helped us a lot during the Ukraine crisis. If it’s too help Kazakhstan, they’ll probably roll up their sleeves to help. You know, Kazakhstan’s Queen is Serbian, too.”

He was going to attract all sorts of mercenaries into this as he could not deploy regular troops.

Serbia was so pro-Russian that it was even called another Russia in Eastern Europe.

This was due to the bond between the two countries as they were the same East Slavic people.

Serbia also volunteered to help Russia during the Ukraine crisis.

With such a track record, Putin said mobilizing Serbian militias was not a problem.

Although they were not properly trained, they could be helpful and they had experience in conducting a battle close to guerrilla warfare.

Since Kazakhstan needed any help it could get, Youngho did not refuse Putin’s offer.

“The Serbian militia that has a lot of combat experience is welcome anytime.”

Youngho was thankful, but in a way, Putin was risking a lot by helping Kazakhstan.

“I’m afraid you might be in trouble for this.”

“I’m prepared for that. If you suffer, it will be a big blow to Russia. Also, the Uyghur issue isn’t just about Kazakhstan.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s a high-risk, high-return, right? I have to take some risk in moving for the national interest. You don’t have to feel too much pressure. Think of it as a payback for defeating Germany in the Battle of the Volga River with the help of Kazakhstan’s soldiers during World War II.”

In other words, it meant that they were in a mutual relationship, and Youngho and Kazakhstan would owe Putin.

This was why Putin was mentioning World War II, which was more than half a century old.

“Just not forgetting the hard work of Kazakhstan’s soldiers will make the people of our country proud. I’ll be sure to pay you back for this.”

“Oh! I told you you don’t have to feel pressured. We are still blood allies before and now.”

Youngho was not sure what Putin was really after by doing this, but for now, he needed Putin’s help.

“Mr. President, you know we can’t let this day just go without a small celebration, don’t you think?”

“Hahaha… I knew you’d say that, so I’ve already prepared it for you.”

Putin knew that Youngho was a drinker, so he prepared a drink after the private meeting.

Putin, who usually did not enjoy drinking, arranged a drinking party for Youngho.

It was only a minor favor, but this meant he valued his relationship with Youngho.