Volume Six元朝秘史 卷06

After Chinggis had taken captive the four branches of the Tatars, he took counsel in secret with his kinsmen. "In the past the Tatars killed our father, and we have that grudge against them. Now let every man of them who is taller than the axle of a cart be put to death, and let the rest be shared out and used as slaves." So they took counsel together and settled it. Belgutei came out, and Yeke Cheren, a man of the Tatar people, asked him, "What did you take counsel about today?" Belgutei said, "Every man among you who is taller than the axle of a cart is to be put to death." Yeke Cheren passed this on to the Tatar people, and the Tatars then held a stronghold in the hills. Chinggis had the stronghold attacked, and his soldiers suffered greatly. When they broke it open, they killed every Tatar man who was taller than the axle of a cart. Now at the first, when Yeke Cheren learned of the plan, he said to the people, "When they kill us, let every man hide a knife in his sleeve. Let each of us kill even one man and carry him on his back into death." So when the time came, every man did indeed hide a knife in his sleeve, and many of the soldiers were killed and wounded. After the matter was settled, Chinggis said, "We took counsel on a great matter within our own kindred, and because Belgutei let it out, very many of our soldiers and horses were wounded and killed. From now on, when a great matter is discussed, Belgutei is not to come in. Let him settle brawls and thefts and such matters outside. When the counsel is finished and one cup of wine has been offered, only then let Belgutei and Daaritai come in."

At this time Chinggis took Yesugen, the daughter of Yeke Cheren of the Tatars, as his wife. Because Yesugen was favored, she said to Chinggis, "I have an elder sister named Yesui. Her face is more beautiful, and she is fit to be a match for the emperor. She has only just been married to her husband, and I do not know where she is now." Chinggis said, "If her face is truly beautiful, I will have her sought out. When she is found, will you give up your place to her?" Yesugen said, "If I may only see her, I will give it up at once." So Chinggis had men go and look for her, and they came upon her in the forest with her husband, where they had taken shelter from the fighting. When her husband saw the men coming he fled, and so they brought Yesui back alone. When Yesugen saw her, she gave up her own place to Yesui and seated her in it.

One day Chinggis was drinking outside and sitting with his two ladies Yesui and Yesugen, when Yesui let out a long sigh. Chinggis grew suspicious at this. He ordered Mukhali and the others to have everyone who was gathered there go and stand with his own tribe. At the very last one young man was left over who did not go back to any tribe. Chinggis asked, "What sort of man are you?" The man said, "I am the husband of Yesui. When she was carried off at the first, we fled away. Now that the matter is settled, I have come out at last. I thought that among so many people no one would know me." Chinggis said, "He was the offspring of our enemies from the start, and now he comes again to spy on us. All such men have been killed. What is there left to doubt?" And he had him cut down at once.

In that same year of the dog, Chinggis went to put down the Tatars. At that time Ong Khan went by himself to put down the Merkit. He drove Tokhtoa into the land of Barghujin Tokum, killed his eldest son Togus Beki, and took his two daughters and his wife. He also carried off two of his sons and all his people. Ong Khan gave nothing at all of the goods to Chinggis.

After that, Chinggis and Ong Khan struck Kuchugud Buiruk of the Naiman people. Buiruk was then in the land of Uluk Tak, on the Kok River, and Chinggis and Ong Khan came there. Buiruk could not face them in line, and he rose and went off across the Altai mountains. They pursued him as far as the Ulunggu River in the land of Khum Senggir, and there they met Yedi Tubluk, an officer Buiruk had sent out to keep watch. He was driven up the hill by the scouts Chinggis had sent out, and because the girth of his horse broke they seized him. They pursued Buiruk further, as far as Lake Kishil Bashi, and Buiruk was at last driven into a corner.

As Chinggis and Ong Khan were returning, Kokseu Sabrakh, a man of the Naiman people who was good at fighting, made ready his soldiers and horses in the land of Baidarak Belchir and meant to fight. Chinggis and Ong Khan made ready their soldiers and horses as well, but the day was late, so they passed the night facing each other. That night Ong Khan left fires burning for show in the place where he had stood, and he went away up along the Khara Seul River.

There, as Jamukha and Ong Khan set out together, Jamukha said to Ong Khan, "My anda Temujin has sent envoys back and forth to the Naiman before now. This time he has fallen behind and does not come. He must surely have submitted to the Naiman." And he spoke of Ong Khan in this way. "Emperor, emperor, I am the white lark that stays, and Temujin is the lark that scatters and flies away." Gurin Baatur, a man of the Ubchiktai, was there, and he said, "Why do you fawn like this? Why do you slander your own good younger brother?"

Chinggis passed the night in that place. When the day dawned and he looked, there was no one where Ong Khan had stood. Chinggis said, "They have left me behind like a place where a meal was cooked and thrown away." So he crossed by the valley of Eder Altai and came down at last in the land of Saari Keer. He had also made out well enough what the Naiman were reckoning, and he did not count it as much.

Kokseu Sabrakh followed on Ong Khan's heels. He carried off the wife and children and the people of Senggum, and he carried off as well half of Ong Khan's people and livestock at the pass of Telegetu. Now Khutu and Chilaun, the two sons of Tokhtoa of the Merkit, had been with Ong Khan. They took this chance and left him, taking their own people with them, and they went along the Selengge River, meaning to join their father.

When Ong Khan's wife and children and people had been seized by Kokseu Sabrakh of the Naiman people, he sent an envoy to say to Chinggis, "Send your four champions and save us." So Chinggis sent Boorchu and the other four champions, and they made ready their soldiers and horses and went to the rescue. Before the four champions arrived, Senggum had already faced the Naiman in the land of Khulaan Khud. Senggum's horse was struck in the leg by an arrow, and he was all but taken. The four champions came and saved him, and they saved his wife and children and his people as well and gave them back. Then Ong Khan said, "Long ago his good father saved the people I had lost and gave them back to me. Now his son has sent his four champions and saved the people I had lost and given them back to me again. I wish to repay his kindness. May heaven and earth help me and know it."

Ong Khan spoke again. "My anda Yesugei once saved the people I had lost and gave them back to me. Now his son Temujin has saved the people I had lost and given them back again. For whose sake have these two, father and son, taken such pains? I am old now. To whom shall I leave these people hereafter? My brothers have no virtue in them, not one. I have only the one son Senggum, and he is as good as none. If I make Temujin the elder brother of Senggum, so that I have two sons, how should my mind not be at ease?" So in the black forest on the Tola River he met Chinggis, and they bound themselves as father and son. Ong Khan had been a sworn friend of the father of Chinggis at the first, and so Chinggis called him father. This time they became father and son once more, and they said together, "When we put down the enemy where they are many, we will put them down together. When we ride a ring around the wild beasts and hunt, we will hunt together. If anyone tries to set us apart, let us not believe him. Let us believe only after we have spoken face to face ourselves." They settled it so, and they lived on close terms with each other.

Chinggis wished to be closer still upon their closeness with Ong Khan. So he asked for Senggum's younger sister Chaur Beki for his son Jochi, and he meant to give his daughter, whose name was Khojin, to Senggum's son Tusakha, exchanging the one for the other in marriage. Senggum made himself great and said, "If our girl goes to their house, she will do nothing but stand behind the door facing north. But if their girl comes to our house, will she not sit in the place of honor facing south?" He looked down on the match in this way and would not agree to it. Because of this the heart of Chinggis drew away from him.

Jamukha noticed how the heart of Chinggis had drawn away. In the spring of the year of the pig he took counsel with Altan and the others and set out. He came to Senggum, in the land of Berke Elet on the north side of Mount Jeje'er Undur, and slandered Chinggis to him. "Temujin sends envoys back and forth to Tayang of the Naiman and exchanges words with him. With his mouth he says father and son, but his movements are like that. Will you still lean on him? If you do not get rid of him beforehand, how will you bear it? When Temujin is got rid of, I will drive straight in from the side." Altan and Khuchar said, "As for the sons of Mother Hoelun, we will kill them for you." Ebugejin Khartaad said, "His hands and feet I will hold for you." Tooril said, "It is better to go and carry off his people. If his people are carried off, what will he do?" Khachiun Beki said, "Senggum, whatever it is you mean to do, whether it is the tip of the tallest thing or the bottom of the deepest water, I will go there with you."

Senggum listened to Jamukha and the rest, and he sent Saikhan Todeen to speak to his father. Ong Khan said, "Why do you think such a thing of my son Temujin? We lean on him even now. If you turn such an evil heart on him, heaven will surely not care for us. Jamukha's words are wild and cannot be believed." Ong Khan would not agree. Senggum sent a man again to say, "Men with mouths and tongues are saying this now. How can it not be believed?" He said it over and over, and still his father would not agree. Senggum went himself and said to his father, "Even while you are alive, he counts us as nothing. When you have grown old, how will he be willing to let me govern the people our grandfather and our father gathered with such labor?" Ong Khan said, "My child, how can a man cast off his own son? We lean on him even now, and it is not right to turn an evil heart on him. Heaven will surely not care for us." Senggum saw that his father would not agree, and he went off vexed. Ong Khan called him back and said, "Do you not fear that heaven will not care for us? My child, how is it that you want to cast him off? Only go and do it. Whether it is a thing by which you can overcome him, you must know for yourselves."

So Senggum took counsel with the others. "Temujin once asked for our girl Chaur Beki. Let us now set a day and invite him to eat a betrothal feast, and when he comes, let us seize him on the spot." They settled it and sent a man to invite Chinggis. Chinggis came with ten men, and on the way he passed the night at the house of old Munglik. Munglik said, "When we asked for that girl, they made themselves great and looked down on us and would not give her. Why then do they now go out of their way to invite you to eat a betrothal feast? Does my son Temujin not see it? It would be better to make the excuse that the horses are thin in the spring and must be fed, and not to go." Chinggis followed his words. He sent two men, Bukhatai and Kiratai, to eat the feast, and he himself turned back from there. When Senggum saw that Bukhatai and the others had come, he said, "They have found us out. Let us go quickly, surround him, and seize him."

After they had taken counsel and settled it so, Yeke Cheren, the younger brother of Altan, came home and said, "Now we have taken counsel together and settled it. Tomorrow we go to seize Temujin. If someone were to tell Temujin this now, I wonder what reward he would get." His wife Alakh It said, "Do not speak such loose words. If the household hears them, I fear they will take them for truth and carry them off." At that time Badai, who herded the horses, had brought mare's milk. He heard this, went back, and told his companion Kishilik. Kishilik said, "I will go again and listen closely." When he came to the house, he found Narin Keen, the son of Yeke Cheren, sharpening arrows and saying, "For the words we spoke just now, our tongues ought to be pulled out. Who can stop the mouths of the household?" And he said to Kishilik, "Bring the two horses, the white one and the chestnut, and tie them up. I mean to mount early tomorrow morning." When Kishilik heard these words he went at once and said to Badai, "I have listened and learned that what you said just now is true. Let the two of us go now and tell Temujin." Then they brought the two horses and tied them up. They went into their own room, killed a lamb, and boiled it with the wood of their bed. They took the two tied horses, each man mounting one, and that night they came behind the tent of Temujin and told him everything that Yeke Cheren and his son had said. They said as well, "Do not doubt it. The plan to seize you is already fixed."