Founding Of The Mongol Empire By Genghis Khan
Author: Howorth, Henry H.
Founding Of The Mongol Empire By Genghis Khan
1203
The origin and early history of the Mongols are very obscure, but from
Chinese annals we learn of the existence of the race, from the sixth to the
ninth century, in regions around the north of the great desert of Gobi and
Lake Baikal in Eastern Asia. The name Mongol is derived from the word mong,
meaning "brave" or "bold." Chinese accounts show that it was given to the
Mongol race long before the time of Genghis Khan. It is conjectured that the
Mongols were at first one tribe of a great confederacy whose name was probably
extended to the whole when the power of the imperial house which governed it
gained the supremacy. The Mongol khans are traced up to the old royal race of
the Turks, who from a very early period were masters of the Mongolian desert
and its borderland. Here from time immemorial the Mongols "had made their
home, leading a miserable nomadic life in the midst of a wild and barren
country, unrecognized by their neighbors, and their very name unknown
centuries after their kinsmen, the Turks, had been exercising an all-powerful
influence over the destinies of Western Asia."
But at the beginning of the thirteenth century arose among them a chief,
Genghis Khan, the "very mighty ruler," whose prowess was destined to lead the
Mongolian hordes to the conquest of a vast empire, extending over China and
from India through Persia and into Russia.
Who and what this mighty ruler was, and by what achievements he advanced
to lay the foundations of his empire, are told by Howorth, not only with an
authoritative fidelity to history, but with a literary art that is no less
faithful in its appreciation of oriental character and custom.
Among the men who have influenced the history of the world Genghis Khan
holds a foremost place. Popularly he is mentioned with Attila and with Timur
as one of the "scourges of God," one of those terrible conquerors whose march
across the page of history is figured by the simile of a swarm of locusts, or
a fire in a Canadian forest; but this is doing gross injustice to Genghis
Khan. Not only was he a conqueror, a general whose consummate ability made
him over throw every barrier that must intervene between the chief of a small
barbarous tribe of an obscure race and the throne of Asia, and this with a
rapidity and uniform success that can only be compared to the triumphant march
of Alexander, but he was far more than a conqueror. Alexander, Napoleon, and
Timur were all more or less his equals in the art of war. But the colossal
powers they created were merely hills of sand, that crumbled to pieces as soon
as they were dead.
With Genghis Khan matters were very different: he organized the empire
which he had conquered so that it long survived and greatly thrived after he
was gone. In every detail of social and political economy he was a creator;
his laws and his administrative rules are equally admirable and astounding to
the student. Justice, tolerance, discipline - virtues that make up the modern
ideal of a state - were taught and practised at his court. And when we
remember that he was born and educated in the desert, and that he had neither
the sages of Greece nor of Rome to instruct him, that unlike Charlemagne and
Alfred he could not draw his lessons from a past whose evening glow was still
visible in the horizon, we are tempted to treat as exaggerated the history of
his times, and to be sceptical of so much political insight having been born
of such unpromising materials.
It is not creditable to English literature that no satisfactory account
of Genghis Khan exists in the language. Baron D'Ohsson in French, and Erdmann
in German, have both written minute and detailed accounts of him, but none
such exists in English, although the subject has an epic grandeur about it
that might well tempt some well-grounded scholar to try his hand upon it.
Genghis Khan received the name of Temudjin. According to the vocabulary
attached to the history of the Yuen dynasty, translated from the Chinese by
Hyacinthe, temudjin means the best iron or steel. The name has been
confounded with temurdji, which means a smith, in Turkish. This accounts for
the tradition related by Pachymeres, Novairi, William of Ruysbrok, the
Armenian Haiton, and others, that Genghis Khan was originally a smith.
The Chinese historians and Ssanang Setzen place his birth in 1162;
Raschid and the Persians in 1155. The latter date is accommodated to the fact
that they make him seventy-two years old at his death in 1227, but the
historian of the Yuen dynasty, the Kangmu, and Ssanang Setzen are all agreed
that he died at the age of sixty-six, and they are much more likely to be
right. Mailla says he had a piece of clotted blood in his fist when born - no
bad omen, if true, of his future career. According to De Guignes, Karachar
Nevian was named his tutor.
Ssanang Setzen has a story that his father set out one day to find him a
partner among the relatives of his wife, the Olchonods, and that on the way he
was met by Dai Setzen, the chief of the Kunkurats, who thus addressed him:
"Descendant of the Kiyots and of the race of the Bordshigs, whither hiest
thou?"
"I am seeking a bride for my son," was his reply. Dai Setzen then said
that he recently had a dream, during which a white falcon had alighted on his
hand. "This," he said, "Bordshig, was your token. From ancient days our
daughters have been wedded to the Bordshigs, and I now have a daughter named
Burte who is nine years old. I will give her to thy son."
"She is too young," he said; but Temudjin, who was present, urged that
she would suit him by and by. The bargain was thereupon closed, and, having
taken a draught of koumiss and presented his host with two horses, Yissugei
returned home.
On his father's death Temudjin was only thirteen years old, an age that
seldom carries authority in the desert, where the chief is expected to
command, and his mother acted as regent. This enabled several of the tribes
which had submitted to the strong hand of Yissugei to reassert their
independence. The Taidshuts, under their leaders Terkutai, named Kiriltuk,
i.e., the Spiteful, the great-grandson of Hemukai, and his nephew Kurul
Bahadur, were the first to break away, and they were soon after joined by one
of Yissugei's generals with a considerable following. To the reproaches of
Temudjin the latter answered: "The deepest wells are sometimes dry, and the
hardest stones sometimes split; why should I cling to thee?" Temudjin's
mother, we are told, mounted her horse, and taking the royal standard called
Tuk (this was mounted with the tails of the yak or mountain cow, or, in
default, with that of a horse; it is the tau or tu of the Chinese, used as the
imperial standard, and conferred as a token of royalty upon their vassals, the
Tartar princes) in her hand, she led her people in pursuit of the fugitives,
and brought a good number of them back to their allegiance.
After the dispersion of the Jelairs, many of them became the slaves and
herdsmen of the Mongol royal family. They were encamped near Sarikihar, the
Saligol of Hyacinthe, in the district of Ulagai Bulak, which D'Ohsson
identifies with the Ulengai, a tributary of the Ingoda, that rises in the
watershed between that river and the Onon. One day Tagudshar, a relative of
Chamuka, the chief of the Jadjerats, was hunting in this neighborhood, and
tried to lift the cattle of a Jelair, named Jusi Termele, who thereupon shot
him. This led to a long and bitter strife between Temudjin, who was the
patron of the Jelairs, and Chamuka. He was of the same stock as Temudjin, and
now joined the Taidshuts, with his tribe the Jadjerats. He also persuaded the
Uduts and Nujakins, the Kurulas and Inkirasses, to join them.
Temudjin struggled in vain against this confederacy, and one day he was
taken prisoner by the Taidshuts. Terkutai fastened on him a cangue - the
instrument of torture used by the Chinese, consisting of two boards which are
fastened to the shoulders, and when joined together round the neck form an
effectual barrier to desertion. He one day found means to escape while the
Taidshuts were busy feasting. He hid in a pond with his nostrils only out of
water, but was detected by a pursuer named Surghan Shireh. He belonged to the
Sulduz clan; had pity on him; took him to his house; hid him under some wool
in a cart so that his pursuers failed to find him, and then sent him to his
own people. This and other stories illustrate one phase of Mongol character.
We seldom hear among them of those domestic murders so frequent in Turkish
history; pretenders to the throne were reduced to servitude, and generally
made to perform menial offices, but seldom murdered. They illustrate another
fact: favors conferred in distress were seldom forgotten, and the chroniclers
frequently explain the rise of some obscure individual by the recollection of
a handsome thing done to the ruler in his unfortunate days.
Another phase of Mongol character, namely, the treachery and craft with
which they attempt to overreach one another in war, may be illustrated by a
short saga told by Ssanang Setzen, and probably relating to this period of
Temudjin's career. It is curious how circumstantial many of these traditions
are. "At that time," he says, "Buke Chilger of the Taidshuts dug a pitfall in
his tent and covered it with felts. He then, with his brothers, arranged a
grand feast, to which Temudjin was invited with fulsome phrases. 'Formerly we
knew not thine excellence,' he said, 'and lived in strife with thee. We have
now learnt that thou art not false, and that thou art a Bogda of the race of
the gods. Our old hatred is stifled and dead; condescend to enter our small
house.'
"Temudjin accepted the invitation, but before going he was warned by his
mother: 'Rate not the crafty foe too lightly,' she said. 'We do not dread a
venomous viper the less because it is so small and weak. Be cautious!'
"He replied: 'You are right, mother, therefore do you, Khassar, have the
bow ready: Belgutei, you also be on your guard: you, Chadshikin, see to the
horse; and you, Utsuken, remain by my side. My nine Orloks, you go in with
me; and you, my three hundred and nine bodyguards, surround the yurt.'
When he arrived he would have sat down in the middle of the treacherous
carpet, but Utsuken pulled him aside and seated him on the edge of the felt.
Meanwhile a woman was meddling with the horse and cut off its left stirrup.
Belgutei, who noticed it, drove her out, and struck her on the leg with his
hand, upon which one Buri Buke struck Belgutei's horse with his sword. The
nine Orloks now came round, helped their master to mount the white mare of
Toktanga Taishi of the Kortshins; a fight began, which ended in the defeat and
submission of the enemy."
Once more free, Temudjin, who was now seventeen years old, married Burte
Judjin. He was not long in collecting a number of his men together, and soon
managed to increase their number to thirteen thousand. These he divided into
thirteen battalions of one thousand men each, styled gurans, each guran under
the command of a gurkhan. The gurkhans were chosen from his immediate
relatives and dependents. The forces of the Taidshuts numbered thirty
thousand. With this much more powerful army Temudjin risked an encounter on
the banks of the Baldjuna, a tributary of the Ingoda, and gained a complete
victory. Abulghazi says the Taidshuts lost from five thousand to six thousand
men. The battle-field was close to a wood, and we are told that Temudjin,
after his victory, piled fagots together and boiled many of his prisoners in
seventy caldrons - a very problematical story.
Among his neighbors were the Jadjerats, or Juriats, the subjects of
Chamuka, who, according to De Guignes, fled after the battle with the
Taidshuts.
One day a body of the Jadjerats, who were hunting, encountered some of
Temudjin's followers, and they agreed to hunt together. The former ran short
of provisions, and he generously surrendered to them a large part of the game
his people had captured. This was favorably compared by them with the harsh
behavior of their suzerains, the Taidshut princes, and two of their chiefs,
named Ulugh Bahadur and Thugai Talu, with many of the tribe went to join
Temudjin. They were shortly after attacked and dispersed by the Taidshuts.
This alarmed or disgusted several of the latter's allies, who went over to the
party of Temudjin. Among these were Chamuka, who contrived for a while to
hide his rancor; and the chiefs of the Suldus and Basiuts. Their example was
soon followed by the defection of the Barins and the Telenkuts, a branch of
the Jelairs.
Temudjin's repute was now considerable, and De Mailla tells us that
wishing to secure the friendship of Podu, chief of the Kieliei, or Ykiliesse
(i.e., the Kurulats), who lived on the river Ergone (i.e., the Argun), and who
was renowned for his skill in archery, he offered him his sister Termulun in
marriage. This was gladly accepted, and the two became fast friends. As a
sign of his good-will, Podu wished to present Temudjin with fifteen horses out
of thirty which he possessed, but the latter replied: "To speak of giving and
taking is to do as merchants and traffickers, and not allies. Our elders tell
us it is difficult to have one heart and one soul in two bodies. It is this
difficult thing I wish to compass; I mean to extend my power over my neighbors
here; I only ask that the people of Kieliei shall aid me."
Temudjin now gave a grand feast on the banks of the Onon, and distributed
decorations among his brothers. To this were invited Sidsheh Bigi, chief of
the Burgins or Barins, his own mother, and two of his step-mothers. A skin of
koumiss, or fermented milk, was sent to each of the latter, but with this
distinction: in the case of the eldest, called Kakurshin Khatun, it was for
herself and her family; in that of the younger, for herself alone. This
aroused the envy of the former, who gave Sichir, the master of ceremonies, a
considerable blow. The undignified disturbance was winked at by Temudjin, but
the quarrel was soon after enlarged. One of Kakurshin's dependents had the
temerity to strike Belgutei, the half-brother of Temudjin, and wounded him
severely in the shoulder, but Belgutei pleaded for him. "The wound has caused
me no tears. It is not seemly that my quarrels should inconvenience you," he
said. Upon this Temudjin sent and counselled them to live at peace with one
another, but Sidsheh Bigi soon after abandoned him with his Barins. He was
apparently a son of Kakurshin Khatun, and therefore a step-brother of
Temudjin.
About 1194 Temudjin heard that one of the Taidshut chiefs, called Mutchin
Sultu, had revolted against Madagu, the Kin Emperor of China, who had sent his
chinsang ("prime minister"), Wan-jan-siang, with an army against him. He
eagerly volunteered his services against the old enemies of his people, and
was successful. He killed the chief and captured much booty; inter alia was a
silver cradle with a covering of golden tissue, such as the Mongols had never
before seen. As a reward for his services he received from the Chinese
officer the title of jaut-ikuri - written "Tcha-u-tu-lu" in Hyacinthe, who
says it means "commander against the rebels." According to Raschid, on the
same occasion Tului, the chief of the Keraits, was invested with the title of
wang ("king"). On his return from this expedition, desiring to renew his
intercourse with the Barins, he sent them a portion of the Tartar booty. The
bearers of this present were maltreated. Mailla, who describes the event
somewhat differently, says that ten of the messengers were killed by Sidsheh
Bigi to revenge the indignities that had been put on his family. Temudjin now
marched against the Barins, and defeated them at Thulan Buldak. Their two
chiefs escaped. According to Mailla they were put to death.
In 1196 Temudjin received a visit from Wang Khan, the Kerait chief, who
was then in distress. His brother Ilkah Sengun, better known as Jagampu
Keraiti, had driven him from the throne. He first sought assistance from the
chief of Kara Khitai, and, when that failed him, turned to Temudjin, the son
of his old friend. Wang Khan was a chief of great consequence, and this
appeal must have been flattering to him. He levied a contribution of cattle
from his subjects to feast him with, and promised him the devotion of a son in
consideration of his ancient friendship with Yissugei.
Temudjin was now, says Mailla, one of the most powerful princes of these
parts, and he determined to subjugate the Kieliei, the inhabitants of the
Argun, but he was defeated. During the action, having been hit by twelve
arrows, he fell from his horse unconscious, when Bogordshi and Burgul, at some
risk, took him out of the struggle. While the former melted the snow with
some hot stones and bathed him with it, so as to free his throat from the
blood, the latter, during the long winter night, covered him with his own
cloak from the falling snow. He would, nevertheless, have fared badly if his
mother had not collected a band of his father's troops and come to his
assistance together with Tului, the Kerait chief, who remembered the favors he
had received from Temudjin's father. Mailla says that returning home with a
few followers, he was attacked by a band of robbers. He was accompanied by a
famous crossbowman, named Soo, to whom he had given the name of Merghen. While
the robbers were within earshot, Merghen shouted: "There are two wild ducks, a
male and a female; which shall I bring down?"
"The male," said Temudjin.
He had scarcely said so when down it came. This was too much for the
robbers, who dared not measure themselves against such marksmanship.
The Merkits had recently made a raid upon his territory, and carried off
his favorite wife, Burte Judjin. It was after her return from her captivity
that she gave birth to her elder son, Juji, about whose legitimacy there seems
to have been some doubt in his father's mind. It was to revenge this that he
now (1197) marched against them, and defeated them near the river Mundsheh (a
river "Mandzin" is still to be found in the canton Karas Muren). He abandoned
all the booty to Wang Khan. The latter, through the influence of Temudjin,
once more regained his throne, and the following year (1198) he headed an
expedition on his own account against the Merkits, and beat them at a place
named Buker Gehesh, but he did not reciprocate the generosity of his ally.
In 1199 the two friends made a joint expedition against the Naimans. This
tribe was now divided between two brothers who had quarrelled about their
father's concubine. One of them, named Buyuruk, had retired with a body of
the people to the Kiziltash mountains. The other, called Baibuka - but
generally referred to by his Chinese title of Taiwang, or Tayang - remained in
his own proper country. It was the latter who was now attacked by the two
allies, and forced to escape to the country of Kem Kemdjut - i.e., toward the
sources of the Yenissei. Chamuka, the chief of the Jadjerats, well named
Satchan, or "the Crafty," still retained his hatred for Temudjin. He now
whispered in the ear of Wang Khan that his ally was only a fair-weather
friend. Like the wild goose, he flew away in winter, while he himself, like
the snowbird, was constant under all circumstances. These and other
suggestions aroused the jealousy of Wang Khan, who suddenly withdrew his
forces, and left Temudjin in the enemy's country. The latter was thereupon
forced to retire also. He went to the river Sali or Sari. Gugsu Seirak, the
Naiman general, went in pursuit, defeated Wang Khan in his own territory, and
captured much booty. Wang Khan was hard pressed, and was perhaps only saved
by the timely succor sent by Temudjin, which drove away the Naimans. Once
more did the latter abandon the captured booty to his treacherous ally. After
the victory, he held a Kuriltai, on the plains of Sari or Sali, to which Wang
Khan was invited, and at which it was resolved to renew the war against the
Taidshuts in the following year. The latter were in alliance with the
Merkits, whose chief, Tukta, had sent a contingent, commanded by his brothers,
to their help. The two friends attacked them on the banks of the river Onon.
Raschid says in the country of Onon, i.e., the great desert of Mongolia. The
confederates were beaten. Terkutai Kiriltuk and Kuduhar, the two leaders of
the Taidshuts, were pursued and overtaken at Lengut Nuramen, where they were
both killed. Another of their leaders, with the two chiefs of the Merkits,
fled to Burghudshin, i.e., Burgusin on Lake Baikal, while the fourth found
refuge with the Naimans.
This victory aroused the jealousy of certain tribes which were as yet
independent of Temudjin, namely, the Kunkurats, Durbans, Jelairs, Katakins,
Saldjuts, and Taidshuts, and they formed a confederacy to put him down. We
are told that their chiefs met at a place called Aru Bulak, and sacrificed a
horse, a bull, a ram, a dog, and a stag, and striking with their swords, swore
thus: "Heaven and earth, hear our oaths, we swear by the blood of these
animals, which are the chiefs of their kind, that we wish to die like them if
we break our promises."
The plot was disclosed to Temudjin by his father-in-law, Dai Setzen, a
chief of the Kunkurats. He repaired to his ally, Wang Khan, and the two
marched against the confederates, and defeated them near the Lake Buyur. He
afterward attacked some confederate Taidshuts and Merkits on the plain of
Timurkin, i.e., of the river Timur or Temir, and defeated them. Meanwhile the
Kunkurats, afraid of resisting any longer, marched to submit to him. His
brother, Juji Kassar, not knowing their errand, unfortunately attacked them,
upon which they turned aside and joined Chamuka.
That inveterate enemy of Temudjin had at an assembly of the tribes,
Inkirasses, Kurulasses, Taidshuts, Katakins, and Saldjuts, held in 1201, been
elected gurkhan. They met near a river, called Kieiho by Mailla; Kian, by
Hyacinthe; and Kem, by Raschid, and then adjourned to the Tula, where they
made a solemn pact praying that "whichever of them was unfaithful to the rest
might be like the banks of that river which the water ate away, and like the
trees of a forest when they are cut into fagots." This pact was disclosed to
Temudjin by one of his friends who was present, named Kuridai. He marched
against them, and defeated them at a place north of the Selinga, called Ede
Kiurghan, i.e., site of the grave mounds. Chamuka fled, and the Kunkurats
submitted.
In the spring of 1202, Temudjin set out to attack the tribes Antshi and
Tshagan. These were doubtless the subjects of Wangtshuk and Tsaghan,
mentioned by Ssanang Setzen. They were probably Tungusian tribes. The
western writers tell us that Temudjin gave orders to his soldiers to follow up
the beaten enemy, without caring about the booty, which should be fairly
divided among them. His relatives, Kudsher, Daritai, and Altun, having
disobeyed, were deprived of their share, and became, in consequence, his
secret enemies. Ssanang Setzen has much more detail, and his narrative is
interesting because, as Schmidt suggests, it apparently contains the only
account extant of the conquest of the tribes of Manchuria. He says that while
Temudjin was hawking between the river Olcho and the Ula, Wangtshuk Khakan, of
the Dschurtschid (Niutchi Tartars of Manchuria), had retired from there.
Temudjin was angry, and went to assemble his army to attack the enemy's
capital. But as a passage was forbidden him across the river Ula, and the
road was blockaded, the son of Toktanga Baghatur Taidshi, named Andun Ching
Taidshi, coupled ten thousand horses together by their bridles, and pressed
into the river, forced a passage, and the army then began to besiege the town.
Temudjin sent word to Wangtshuk, and said, "If you will send me ten
thousand swallows and one thousand cats then I will cease attacking the town";
upon which the required number was procured. Temudjin fastened some lighted
wool to the tail of each and let them go; then the swallows flew to their
nests in the houses, and the cats climbed and jumped on the roofs; the city
was fired, by which means Temudjin conquered Wangtshuk Khakan, and took his
daughter Salichai for his wife. He then marched farther eastward to the river
Unegen, but he found it had overflowed its banks, whereupon he did not cross
it, but sent envoys to Tsaghan Khakan of the Solongos, i.e., of the Solons.
"Bring me tribute, or we must fight," he said; upon which Tsaghan Khakan was
frightened, sent him a daughter of Dair Ussun, named Kulan Goa, with a tent
decorated with panther skins, and gave him the tribes of Solongos and Bughas
as a dowry, upon which he assisted Tsaghan Khakan, so that he brought three
provinces of the Solongos under his authority.
Ssanang Setzen at this point introduces one of those quaint sagas, which,
however mythical in themselves, are true enough to the peculiar mode of
thought of the Mongols to make them very instructive. The saga runs thus:
"During a three years' absence of her husband, Brute Judjin sent
Arghassun Churtshi, i.e., Arghassun the lute-player, to him. When the latter
was introduced, he spoke thus: 'Thy wife, Burte Judjin Khatun, thy princely
children, the elders and princes of thy kingdom, all are well. The eagle
builds his nest in a high tree; at times he grows careless in the fancied
security of his high-perched home; then even a small bird will sometimes come
and plunder it and eat the eggs and young brood: so it is with the swan whose
nest is in the sedges on the lake. It, too, trusts too confidently in the
dark thickets of reeds, yet prowling water falcons will sometimes come and rob
it of eggs and young. This might happen to my revered lord himself!'
"These words aroused Temudjin from his confident air. 'Thou hast spoken
truly,' he said, and hied him on his way homeward. But when some distance
still from home he began to grow timid. 'Spouse of my young days, chosen for
me by my noble father, how dare I face thee, home-tarrying Burte Judjin, after
living with Chulan, whom I came across in my journey? It would be shameful to
seem unfriendly in the assembly of the people. One of you nine Orloks hie you
to Burte Judjin and speak for me.'
"Mukuli, of the Jelair tribe, volunteered, and when he came to her,
delivered this message: 'Besides protecting my own lands I have looked around
also elsewhere. I have not followed the counsel of the greater and lesser
lords. On the contrary, I have amused myself with the variegated colors of a
tent hung with panther skins. Distant people to rule over, I have taken
Chulan to be my wife: the Khan has sent me to tell you this.'" His wife seems
to have understood the enigmatical phrases, for Setzen says: "The sensible (!)
Burte Judjin thus replied: 'The wish of Burte Judjin and of the whole people
is that the might of our sovereign may be increased. It rests with him whom
he shall befriend or bind himself to. In the reedy lakes there are many swans
and geese. If it be his wish to shoot arrows at them until his finger be
weary, who shall complain? So also there are many girls and women among our
people. It is for him to say who the choicest and luckiest are. I hope he
will take to himself both a new wife and a new house. That he will saddle the
untractable horse. Health and prosperity are not wearisome, nor are disease
and pain desirable, says the proverb. May the golden girth of his house be
immortal.'" ^1
[Footnote 1: I.e., "May the band that binds the felts and spars of the yurt
never decay"; in other words, may he ever be prosperous - a favorite Mongol
wish.]
When he arrived at home he discovered that Arghassun had appropriated his
golden lute; upon which he ordered Boghordshi and Mukuli to kill him. They
seized him, gave him two skins full of strong drink, and then went to the
Khan, who had not yet risen. Boghordshi spake outside the tent: "The light
already shines in your Ordu. We await your commands; that is, if your
effulgent presence, having cheerfully awoke, has risen from its couch! The
daylight already shines. Condescend to open the door to hear and to judge the
repentant culprit, and to exercise your favor and clemency." The Khan now
arose and permitted Arghassun to enter, but he did not speak to him.
Boghordshi and Mukuli gave him a signal with their lips. The culprit then
began: "While the seventy-tuned Tsaktsaghai unconcernedly sings 'tang, tang,'
the hawk hovers over and pounces suddenly upon him and strangles him before he
can bring out his last note, 'jang.' So did my lord's wrath fall on me and has
unnerved me. For twenty years have I been in your household, but have not yet
been guilty of dishonest trickery. It is true I love smoked drink, but
dishonesty I have not in my thought. For twenty years have I been in your
household, but I have not practised knavery. I love strong drink, but am no
trickster." Upon which Temudjin ejaculated, "My loquacious Arghassun, my
chattering Churtchi!" and pardoned him.
Temudjin now seems to have been master of the country generally known as
Eastern Dauria, watered by the Onon, the Ingoda, the Argun; and also of the
tribes of the Tungusic race that lived on the Nonni and the Upper Amur. The
various victims of his prowess began to gather together for another effort.
Among these were Tukta, the chief of the Merkits, with the Naiman leader,
Buyuruk Khan, the tribes Durban, Katagun, Saldjut, and Uirat, the last of whom
were clients of the Naimans. Wang Khan was then in alliance with him. At the
approach of the enemy they retired into the mountains Caraun Chidun, in the
Khinggan chain, on the frontiers of China, where they were pursued. The
pursuers were terribly harassed by the ice and snow, which Mailla said was
produced by one of their own shamans, or necromancers, and which proved more
hurtful to them than to the Mongols. Many of them perished, and when they
issued from the defiles they were too weak to attack the two allies. The
latter spent the winter at Altchia Kungur. Here their two families were
united by mutual betrothals; as these, however, broke down, ill-feeling was
aroused between them, and Chamuka had an opportunity of renewing his
intrigues. He suggested that Temudjin had secret communications with the
Naimans, and was not long in arousing the jealousy of Wang Khan and his son
Sengun. They attempted to assassinate him, but he was warned in time.
He now collected an army and marched against the Keraits. His army was
very inferior in numbers, but attacked the enemy with ardor. Wang Khan's
bravest tribe, the Jirkirs, turned their backs, while the Tunegkaits were
defeated, but numbers nevertheless prevailed, and Temudjin was forced to fly.
This battle, which is renowned in Mongol history, was fought at a place called
Kalanchin Alt. Raschid says this place is near the country of the Niuchis,
not far from the river Olkui. Some of the Chinese authorities call it
Khalagun ola and Hala chon, and D'Ohsson surmises that it is that part of the
Khinggan chain from which flow the southern affluents of the Kalka, one of
which is called Halgon in D'Anville's map. Mailla, however, distinctly places
it between the Tula and the Onon, which is probably right. Abandoned by most
of his troops, he fled to the desert Baldjuna, where he was reduced to great
straits. Here are still found many grave mounds, and the Buriats relate that
this retired place, protected on the north by woods and mountains, was
formerly an asylum. A few firm friends accompanied him. They were afterward
known as Baldjunas, a name compared by Von Hammer with that of Mohadshirs,
borne by the companions of Mahomet's early misfortunes. Two shepherds, named
Kishlik and Badai, who had informed him of Wang Khan's march, were created
Terkhans.
Having been a fugitive for some time, Temudjin at length moved to the
southeast, to the borders of Lake Kara, into which flows the river Uldra;
there he was joined by some Kunkurats, and he once more moved on to the sacred
Mongol lake, the Dalai Nur. Thence he indited the following pathetic letter
to Wang Khan:
"1. O Khan, my father, when your uncle, the Gur Khan, drove you for
having usurped the throne of Buyuruk, and for having killed your brothers
Tatimur Taidshi and Buka Timur, to take refuge at Keraun Kiptchak, where you
were beleaguered, did not my father come to your rescue, drive out, and force
the Gur Khan to take refuge in Ho Si (the country west of the Hwang-ho),
whence he returned not? Did you not then become Anda (i.e., sworn friend)
with my father, and was not this the reason I styled you 'father'?
"2. When you were driven away by the Naimans, and your brother, Ilkah
Sengun, had retired to the far east, did I not send for him back again; and
when he was attacked by the Merkits, did I not attack and defeat them? Here
is a second reason for your gratitude.
"3. When in your distress you came to me with your body peering through
your tatters, like the sun through the clouds, and worn out with hunger, you
moved languidly like an expiring flame, did I not attack the tribes who
molested you; present you with abundance of sheep and horses? You came to me
haggard. In a fortnight you were stout and well-favored again. Here is a
third service we have done you.
"4. When you defeated the Merkits so severely at Buker Gehreh, you gave
me none of the booty; yet shortly after, when you were hard pressed by the
Naimans, I sent four of my best generals to your assistance, who restored you
the plunder that had been taken from you. Here is the fourth good office.
"5. I pounced like a jerfalcon onto the mountain Jurkumen, and thence
over the lake Buyur, and I captured for you the cranes with blue claws and
gray plumage, that is to say, the Durbans and Taidshuts. Then I passed the
lake Keule. There I took the cranes with blue feet; that is, the Katakins,
Saldjuts, and Kunkurats. This is the fifth service I have done you.
"6. Do you not remember, O Khan, my father, how on the river Kara, near
the mount Jurkan, we swore that if a snake glided between us, and envenomed
our words, we would not listen to it until we had received some explanation?
Yet you suddenly left me without asking me to explain.
"7. O Khan, my father, why suspect me of ambition? I have not said, 'My
part is too small, I want a greater;' or 'It is a bad one, I want a better.'
When one wheel of a cart breaks, and the ox tries to drag it, it only hurts
its neck. If we then detach the ox, and leave the vehicle, the thieves come
and take the load. If we do not unyoke it, the ox will die of hunger. Am I
not one wheel of thy chariot?"
With this letter Temudjin sent a request that the black gelding of Mukuli
Bahadur, with its embroidered and plated saddle and bridle, which had been
lost on the day of their struggle, might be restored to him; he also asked
that messengers, might be sent to treat for a peace between them. Another
letter was sent to his uncle Kudshir, and to his cousin Altun.
This letter is interesting, because it perhaps preserves for us some
details of what took place at the accession of Genghis. It is well known that
the Mongol Khan affected a coy resistance when asked to become chief. The
letter runs thus: "You conspired to kill me, yet from the beginning did I tell
the sons of Bartam Bahadur (i.e., his grandfather), as well as Satcha (his
cousin), and Taidju (his uncle). Why does our territory on the Onon remain
without a master? I tried to persuade you to rule over our tribes. You
refused. I was troubled. I said to you, 'Kudshir, son of Tekun Taishi, be
our khan.' You did not listen to me; and to you, Altun, I said, 'You are the
son of Kutluk Khan, who was our ruler. You be our khan.' You also refused,
and when you pressed it on me, saying, 'Be you our chief,' I submitted to your
request, and promised to preserve the heritage and customs of our fathers.
Did I intrigue for power? I was elected unanimously to prevent the country,
ruled over by our fathers near the three rivers, passing to strangers. As
chief of a numerous people, I thought it proper to make presents to those
attached to me. I captured many herds, yurts, women, and children, which I
gave you. I enclosed for you the game of the steppe, and drove toward you the
mountain game. You now serve Wang Khan, but you ought to know that he is
fickle. You see how he has treated me. He will treat you even worse."
Wang Khan was disposed to treat, but his son Sengun said matters had gone
too far, and they must fight it out. We now find Wang Khan quarrelling with
several of his dependents, whom he accused of conspiring against him.
Temudjin's intrigues were probably at the bottom of the matter. The result
was that Dariti Utshegin, with a tribe of Mongols, and the Sakiat tribe of the
Keraits, went over to Temudjin, while Altun and Kudshir, the latter's
relations, who had deserted him, took refuge with the Naimans.
Among the companions of his recent distress, a constant one was his
brother Juji Kassar, who had also suffered severely, and had had his camp
pillaged by the Keraits. Temudjin had recourse to a ruse. He sent two
servants who feigned to have come from Juji, and who offered his submission on
condition that his wife and children were returned to him. Wang Khan readily
assented, and to prove his sincerity sent back to Juji Kassar some of his
blood in a horn, which was to be mixed with koumiss, and drunk when the oath
of friendship was sworn. Wang Khan was completely put off his guard, and
Temudjin was thus able to surprise him. His forces numbered about four
thousand six hundred, and he seems to have advanced along the banks of the
Kerulon, toward the heights of Jedshir, between the Tula and the Kerulon, and
therefore toward the modern Urga, where Wang Khan was posted. In the battle
which followed, and which was fought in the spring of 1203, the latter was
defeated; he fled to the Naimans, and was there murdered. Temudjin was
sincerely affected by the death of the old man.
The Naiman chief, Tayang, had his skull encased in silver and bejewelled,
and afterward used it as a ceremonial cup; a custom very frequent in Mongolia.
Such cups have been lately met with in Europe, one of which was exhibited at
the great exhibition of 1851, where it was shown as the skull of Confucius.
Another, or perhaps the same, which was encased in marvellous jeweller's work,
has been lately destroyed; the gold having been barbarously melted by the
Jews. By the death of Wang Khan, Temudjin became the master of the Kerait
nation, and thus both branches of the Mongol race were united under one head.
He now held a kuriltai, where he was proclaimed khan. There is some
cunfusion about the period when he adopted the title of Genghis, but the
probability is that he did so three years later. The earlier date (1203) is
the one, however, from which his reign is often reckoned to have commenced.