Volume Seven元朝秘史 卷07

Chinggis listened to the words of Badai and Kishilik. That very night he sent word to the trusted companions who were near him, left the goods of his household behind, and fled to the north side of Mount Mau Undur. As they went, he made Jelme the rear scout and had him keep watch. Past midday of the next day, while they were resting in the land of Khalakhaljid Eled, Chigidai and the others who herded the horses of Alchidai came and reported, "Looking out from the front of Mount Mau Undur, we saw dust rising in the land of Khulaan Burkhad. The enemy has come." Chinggis mounted and rode out. At that time Ong Khan came together with Jamukha, and he asked Jamukha, "Who fights well on Temujin's side?" Jamukha said, "The two peoples Uruud and Mangkhud fight well. Even in a tangled fight they do not fall into disorder, and from childhood they have been used to the spear and the sword. Their standards are of flower color or of black. Take care when you see them." Ong Khan said, "Then let Khadakh, the hero of our Jirgin, charge them. After him let Achikh Shirun of the Tumen Tubegen clan and Khori Shilemun Taishi, the hero of the Oron Dongkhaid, lead a thousand guardsmen and come up in turn behind them. Last of all let our great center charge." Ong Khan said again, "Jamukha, younger brother, set these troops of mine in order." So Jamukha went out from him. Jamukha said to his own companions, "Before now I have never been a match for Temujin. Today Ong Khan tells me to set his troops in order, and by the look of it he is less a match than I am. This is worth telling to Temujin my anda." So Jamukha secretly sent a man to tell Chinggis the words spoken before. "It stands like this. They will surely not beat you. Do not be afraid. Be careful."

Chinggis learned of these words and said, "Jurchedei, my uncle, I would make you the vanguard. What do you say to it?" Before Jurchedei could answer, Khuildar said, "I will be the vanguard. In the days to come, raise up the orphan I leave." Jurchedei said, "Before the emperor, my Uruud and Mangkhud will be the vanguard and fight." When he had spoken, the people of those two clans drew up their line and stood before Chinggis. No sooner had they taken their stand than the Jirgin, the vanguard of Ong Khan, came charging. The Uruud and Mangkhud met them, charged into them, and broke them. As they gave chase, Achikh Shirun of the Tumen Tubegen, who was Ong Khan's support behind, came charging and speared Khuildar down from his horse. The soldiers of the Mangkhud turned back again and took their stand at the place where Khuildar had fallen. Jurchedei led the Uruud in a charge and broke them once more. While he was giving chase, the Oron Dongkhaid came charging, and Jurchedei beat them too. Shilemun Taishi came charging with a thousand of the guard, and Jurchedei beat them too. Then Senggum, the son of Ong Khan, charged as well, without letting his father know. Jurchedei shot Senggum in the cheek and struck him, and he fell. When the soldiers of the many Kereit saw Senggum shot down, they turned back and took their stand beside Senggum. Chinggis, having beaten Ong Khan, saw that the day was already late. He gathered his men and came back, bringing the wounded Khuildar. They set out that night and slept away from the place of the fighting.

At daybreak the next day they counted the men and horses, and three men were missing, Ogodei and Boroul and Boorchu. Chinggis said, "Ogodei is with Boroul and Boorchu, whom he trusts in his heart. They will live or die together, and they will surely not have left one another." That night Chinggis, fearing that the enemy might come after them, set his men and horses in order and made ready to fight. When day broke they saw one man coming up from behind, and it was Boorchu. Chinggis beat his breast and said to Heaven, "It is well." Boorchu said, "The enemy shot my horse down under me, and as I was fleeing on foot I saw the Kereit turn back and take their stand beside Senggum. Just then I saw that a packhorse of theirs had its load slipping to one side. I cut the load away, mounted, and got out, and I followed the tracks and came."

A little later another man came. Looking closely, they saw two more feet hanging down below the man. When he came up, it was Ogodei and Boroul riding double on one horse. There was blood about the mouth of Boroul, for an arrow had struck Ogodei in the neck and Boroul had sucked the clotted blood away. When Chinggis saw it, his tears ran and his heart was in pain. At once he burned the arrow wound of Ogodei with fire, and gave him something to stop his thirst and had him take it. Boroul said, "The dust of the enemy rose high, and I saw them going toward the land of Khulaan Burkhad in front of Mount Mau Undur." So Chinggis set his men and horses in order, went up along the water named Ulkhui Shilugeljid, and entered the land of Dalan Nemurges.

There Khadaan Dalduurkhan came after them. He had left his wife and children and came to Chinggis, and he said, "When Senggum the son of Ong Khan was struck by the arrow, Ong Khan said, 'They have provoked a man who was not to be provoked. To my sorrow they have driven a nail into my son's cheek. While there is still life in my son, let us charge them again.' Achikh Shirun said, 'Emperor, emperor, let it be. When you had no son you prayed and begged for an heir. Now raise up this son Senggum, who is already born. The greater part of us Dadan people are here with us. Where can the people who went out with Temujin go? Each of them rides a single horse, and at night they must sleep under the trees. If they do not come to us, we can go and gather them up as one gathers horse dung.' Ong Khan took this and said, 'Do not shake this son of mine. Raise him well.' And from there he turned back."

When Chinggis moved along the Khalkha River from the land of Dalan Nemurges, he counted the men and horses, and there were two thousand six hundred. Chinggis led one thousand three hundred and set out along the west side of the river, and the Uruud and Mangkhud led one thousand three hundred and set out along the east side, driving game as they went to make food for the road. While they were driving the game, the spear wound of Khuildar had not yet healed. Chinggis held him back, but he would not listen, and he rode hard after a wild beast until the wound broke open again and he died. They buried his bones halfway up the cliff of Mount Ornuu by the water of the Khalkha.

Where the Khalkha River flows into Lake Buir were Terge and the rest of the Onggirad. Chinggis sent Jurchedei with the Uruud and Mangkhud to say to the people of the Onggirad, "If you think on the marriages of former days, come and submit. If you will not submit, then let us fight." When this was said to them, all the Onggirad submitted. Because they had submitted, Chinggis did not touch one thing of theirs.

When Chinggis had taken in the Onggirad, he set out and camped on the east side of the little Tunggelik River. Chinggis sent two men, Arkhai Khasar and Sukegai Jeun, to Ong Khan to say this. "We have camped on the east side of the little Tunggelik River. The grass is good and the horses are fat. Father, in what thing have I angered you, that you should make me afraid? If you would rebuke me, why do you not rebuke me quietly? Why do you rebuke me in this way? You have broken down our household. Is it not that someone has set us against each other? At the first, did we not say together at Khulaanuu on Mount Jorkhalkhun, 'If anyone sets us against each other, let us not believe it. Only when we have spoken face to face shall we believe it'? Now, father, have we ever spoken face to face? Though I was little, you counted me as though I were much. Though I was bad, you counted me as though I were good. And you and I are like the two shafts of a cart. If one shaft breaks, the ox cannot pull it. We are like the two wheels of a cart. If one wheel is ruined, the cart cannot go. Am I not worth one shaft, one wheel? In days past your father Khurchakhus Buiruk the emperor had forty sons, and because you were the eldest of them they set you up as emperor. Afterward you killed your two younger brothers Tai Temur and Bukha Temur, and when you would have killed your younger brother Erke Khara as well, he fled at last to the Naiman. Because you had killed your brothers, your uncle Gurkhan came to attack you, and you fled with only a hundred men into a narrow place in Mount Kharaun. At that time you gave your daughter Khujaur Ujin to Tokhtoa of the Merkit, and from there you came to my father and asked for help. My father led out his army, drove your uncle into the land of Khashin, and gave your people back to you. In the Black Forest on the bank of the Tola River he became anda with my father. You knew the favor and said, 'I will surely repay this kindness to your children and your grandchildren. Let Heaven and Earth know it.' After that your younger brother Erke Khara borrowed men and horses from the Naiman and came to attack you again, and you fled to the Muslim lands of Gurkhan of the Kitai people. Before a year was out you turned away again and came out, and passing through the lands of the Uighur and Hexi you fell into want. You milked five sheep, you cut a camel and drank its blood, and you came riding a blind dun horse. Because you had bound yourself to my father, I sent men to meet you and bring you into my camp, and I gathered goods and kept you alive. Afterward, when you took the people of the Merkit captive, all their herds and their goods were given to you. Later we went together after Buiruk, and when we faced Kokseu Sabrakh in line of battle in the land of Baidarak Belchir, you lit empty fires in your camp by night and drew off. That Kokseu Sabrakh went after you instead, and took Senggum and your wives and children and your people captive, and took half of the people you had at Telegetu as well. Again you asked me for help, and I sent my four champions and saved your Senggum and your wives and children and your people and your herds, and gave them all back to you. Again you knew the favor. Now for what cause do you rebuke me?" This was the word he sent by his messengers.

When Ong Khan heard these words, he sighed and said, "The son Temujin has a rightness in him that must not be parted from. And I have already parted from it." At this his heart was in pain. He pricked his little finger with a knife, let the blood run into a small birchbark pail, and said, "If I see the son Temujin and would do him harm, let me be pricked as this blood is." Then he gave that blood to the messengers who had come, and sent it back.

Chinggis had these words said to Jamukha. "The emperor my father hates me and has made us part. In days past, who was it who rose early each day and drank my father's mare's milk from the blue cup? It was because I always rose early that they were jealous. Now, though the blue cup of the emperor my father be drunk to the full, how much will it cost?" He also said to the two men Altan and Khuchar, "I do not know why you two would cast me off. Khuchar, you are the son of Nekun Taishi. At the first we would have made you emperor among us, and you would not. Altan, your father Khutula the emperor ruled the Dadan people, and so we would have made you emperor, and you too would not. In the generation above there were Seche and Taichu, the sons of Bartan, and those two also would not do it. It was you many who told me to be emperor, and I did it because I could not do otherwise. Now you have left me instead and gone to Ong Khan. Be good companions there. Do not begin and fail to finish, and so become a word in the mouths of men. You leaned on Temujin alone. Without Temujin you will be of no use. Guard well the head of those three rivers, and let no other man make his camp there."

Chinggis had these words said again to Tooril, his younger brother. "This is why I call you younger brother. In days past the two men Tumbinai and Charakhai Lingkhu carried off a slave whose name was Okhda. The name of his son was Subegei. The name of the son of Subegei was Kokochu Kirsaan. The name of the son of Kokochu Kirsaan was Yegei Khongtokhar. And the son of Yegei Khongtokhar is you. Whose people is it that you now take, to flatter Ong Khan and give them to him? My people I will never let another man rule, not Altan and not Khuchar. You are a slave of my house from the time of my forefathers. This is why I call you younger brother."

Chinggis had these words said again to Senggum. "As for you and me, I am the son born in his father's clothes, and you are the son born naked. Our father raised us both alike. You set your heart on this, and fearing that I would go before you, you hated me and drove me out. Now do not let our father's heart suffer. Go in and out morning and evening, and lighten his sorrow. If your old jealous heart is not taken away, is it not that you would be emperor while our father is still living? That is why you make his heart suffer. If you would send a man to me, send two men." Chinggis charged Arkhai Khasar and Sukegai Jeun with these words, and the two of them said them to Senggum. Senggum said, "When did he ever say 'the emperor my father'? He said only 'that old man who is good at killing people.' And when did he ever call me anda? He said only 'the shaman teacher of Tokhtoa,' and 'the man who goes about with a sheep's tail patched on.' I know what these words are aiming at. They are the first words of a fight. You two, Bilge Beki and Todoyen, raise the standards and fatten the geldings. There is nothing to doubt." At that place Arkhai Khasar came back from Ong Khan, but Sukegai Jeun did not come back, because his wife and children were with Tooril. Arkhai Khasar told these words to Chinggis.

Chinggis set out at once and stopped at Lake Baljuna. There he met Choos Chagaan and the others of the Khorolas people, and without any fighting they submitted at once. There was also a Muslim named Asan, who had come from Alakhush Digit Khuri of the Onggud people. He had a thousand wethers and one white camel, and he was going along the Erguene River trading for sable and squirrel skins. When he came to Lake Baljuna and was watering his sheep, he met Chinggis.

While Chinggis was staying at Lake Baljuna, his younger brother Khasar left his wife and his three sons Yegu and Yesungge and Tukhu at Ong Khan's camp, and with nothing but his body and a few companions he got away and came looking for Chinggis. He came as far as Mount Kharaun and searched along the ridges, but did not find him, and his food ran out, so he chewed raw hide and sinew. Only when he reached Lake Baljuna did he find his elder brother Chinggis. Chinggis was glad. They took counsel, and made two men, Khaliudar of the Jouredai people and Chaurkhan of the Uriangkhadai people, the messengers of Khasar, and sent them to Ong Khan to say this. "I cannot see so much as my elder brother's shadow, and though I walk the roads I cannot find him. I call to him and he does not hear. At night I look at the stars and sleep with earth for a pillow. My wife and children are now with my father the emperor. If you will send me one man I can trust, I will go to my father." Chinggis also said to the messengers, "When you go, we will set out at once. When you come back, come to the land of Arkhal Gougi on the Kerulen River." Having made this appointment, he at once made Jurchedei and Arkhai his advance scouts, and went and camped in the land of Arkhal Gougi on the Kerulen River.

The two men Khaliudar and Chaurkhan came to Ong Khan and said the words they had been given. Ong Khan had just raised his tent decked with gold and was holding a feast, and he heard out the words of Khaliudar. Ong Khan said, "If it is truly so, let Khasar come." Then he sent Iturgen, a man he trusted in his heart, along with Khaliudar and the others. When they had almost reached the appointed place, Iturgen looked out and saw that the traces of the camp were very many, and he turned and fled. The horse of Khaliudar was fast and he overtook him, but he did not dare to seize him and only barred the way in front of him. The horse of Chaurkhan was slow, so from behind he rode until his arrow would reach, and he shot the horse Iturgen rode in the rump and brought it down. There they took Iturgen and brought him to Taizu, who gave him to Khasar and had him killed.

Khaliudar and the others said to Taizu, "Ong Khan is not on his guard. Even now he has raised his tent decked with gold and is holding a feast. It would be well for us to travel day and night and fall upon him." Taizu said, "It is right." So he made the two men Jurchedei and Arkhai his advance scouts, and traveling day and night they came to the mouth of the land of Jer Khabchigai on Mount Jejeer Undur, and ringed Ong Khan about. They fought three days and three nights, and on the third day, when the others could hold out no longer, they submitted at last. But no one knew where Ong Khan and his son had already slipped away. In that fighting a man named Khadakh Baatur said, "I could not bear to let my own lord be taken by you and killed, and so I fought for three days, to let him get far away. Now if you tell me to die, I will die. If you grant me my life, I will spend my strength for you." Taizu said, "He would not forsake his lord. He fought me alone so that his lord might save his life and get far away. Is that not a man? He is worth taking for a companion." So he did not kill him, but had him lead a hundred men and serve the wife and children of Khuildar as their slave forever. Because Khuildar had been the first to stand out and say that he would fight, he had it ordered that the sons and grandsons of Khuildar should always receive the gifts given to widows and orphans.