Volume Thirteen元朝秘史 卷13

Afterward, in the Year of the Sheep, Chinggis attacked the land of the Jin. He first took Fuzhou, passed Yehu Ridge, and then took Xuande Prefecture. He made Jebe and Guigunek his two forward scouts, and when they came to the Juyong Pass the guard there was firm. Jebe said that the enemy could be drawn out and fought, and so he turned the horsemen back as if in flight. The Jin saw it, and indeed they sent out all their horsemen and chased after him, and came right up to the spur of the hills at Xuande Prefecture. Then Jebe wheeled about and struck, and he beat down the horsemen of the Jin as they came up one troop after another. The main body under Chinggis came up behind him, and they overcame all the chief horsemen of the Jin, the Khitan and the Jurched and the rest. All the way to the Juyong Pass the slain lay heaped like rotten timber. Jebe took the Juyong Pass, and Chinggis went in through the pass, came to the Longhu Terrace and made camp, and he sent horsemen to attack and take Beiping and the other towns. He set Jebe to take Dongchang, but Jebe could not win it and drew back for six nights. Then he turned about again, and every man led one spare horse, and they rode day and night, and they took Dongchang while the Jin were not looking for them.

Jebe took Dongchang and came back and joined Chinggis. At the first, when Beiping was under attack, the chancellor Wanyan of the Jin said to the ruler of the Jin, "The breath of heaven and earth has turned, and the time seems to have come when the great seat passes to another. The Dadan are mighty and strong. They have killed off our brave horsemen, and even the Juyong Pass that we trusted in is taken. If we fight them again and do not win, I fear our horsemen will break and scatter. It would be better to submit to the Dadan emperor and have him draw his soldiers back. After he draws them back, we can take counsel again. I hear also that the water and the soil do not suit the Dadan horsemen, and that sickness is going through them now. Send the Dadan emperor a daughter, and gold and silver and silk, and see whether he agrees or not." The ruler of the Jin said, "Wanyan speaks rightly." So he submitted to Chinggis, and he had Wanyan carry a princess and gold and silver and silk and the rest to Chinggis. With that the horsemen who were attacking the city drew back, and Wanyan himself saw them as far as the spur of the hills at Mozhou and Fuzhou, took his leave and went back. The soldiers bound up the gold and silver and the rest with boiled silk and carried off all that they could.

From there Chinggis attacked the Khashin people, and their lord Burkhan submitted. He offered a daughter named Chakha and said, "We heard the emperor's name, and we were afraid. Now we will be your right hand and give our strength. We are a people who live within walled towns, so when a campaign is urgent we cannot come at once. If you grant us your favor, we will always send the emperor the camels and the woolen silks and the hawks that our land brings forth." When he had said this he gathered up the camels of his own country and sent them, so many that they could not be driven along.

In that one campaign of Chinggis the ruler of the Jin submitted and much silk was won, and the lord of the Khashin submitted and many camels were won. He came back to the land of Saari Keer and made camp.

Afterward Chinggis sent his envoy Jubkhan and others to be on good terms with the Song, and the Jin blocked them. For this reason Chinggis attacked the land of the Jin again in the Year of the Dog. Chinggis meant to take the Tong Pass himself, and he ordered Jebe to attack the Juyong Pass. The ruler of the Jin heard of it and ordered Ile and two others to lead soldiers and hold the pass, and he made the men of Khulaan Degele the vanguard to bar the way. Chinggis came to the pass, saw that the soldiers of the Jin had come in great numbers, and faced them. When the soldiers of the Jin drew back a little, Tolui and Chuku struck their ranks from the side. The men of Khulaan Degele of the Jin and the men of Ile and the rest broke in a great rout, and the slain filled the field. The ruler of the Jin heard of it and moved his capital to Bianliang, and the soldiers of the Jin who were left were so starved that men ate one another. Chinggis came back, and because Tolui and Chuku had done good service he gave them both rewards.

When Chinggis came to the land of Shira Keer at Beiping, Jebe had already won the Juyong Pass and came with his soldiers to meet him. At the first, when the ruler of the Jin moved his capital, he ordered his officer Khada to stay and guard Yanjing. Chinggis ordered Onggur and two others to take in the storehouses and count the gold and the silk. Khada, the officer of the Jin, brought gold and silk and the rest and offered them to Onggur and the others. Shigi Khutukhu said, "In the old days the gold and silk of Zhongdu all belonged to the ruler of the Jin. Now the gold and silk of Zhongdu belong to Chinggis already. How can we dare to take them as we please?" And so he refused what was offered. Only Onggur and Arkhai Khasar took what was offered. When the work was done and they came back, Chinggis asked the three whether they had taken what was offered. Shigi Khutukhu set out the words he had spoken, one by one. Chinggis reproached Onggur and the others, and he gave Shigi Khutukhu a reward and said, "You are fit to be my eyes and ears."

The ruler of the Jin came to Bianliang, bowed his head to the ground and submitted to Chinggis, and he had his son Tenggeri lead a hundred men and come in to serve. Then Chinggis came back from Beiping through the Juyong Pass, and he ordered Khasar to lead the army of the right hand and told him, "Go along the sea from Daning and pass through the Jurched. If they submit at once, go on by the border towns within their land, pass the two rivers Ula and Nau, and come back up the Tao'ur River to the camp. If they do not, then loose your soldiers and cut them down." Khasar went with Jurchedei and Tolun to Daning, and that city surrendered. They came to the Jurched, and their lord surrendered too. The rest of the towns all came and submitted, and so they came back up the Tao'ur River to the old camp.

Afterward Taizu went to attack the Muslims, because they had killed his envoy Ukhuna and a hundred men with him. As he was about to set out, the lady Yesui said, "The emperor is to cross mountains and rivers and go far off to fight. If one day something should befall you, which of your four sons will be made lord? Let the people know it first." Taizu said, "Yesui speaks rightly. Not one of my brothers or my sons, nor Boorchu and the others, has ever raised such words, and I too had forgotten it." Then he asked, "Jochi, you are the eldest of my sons. What do you say?" Before Jochi could answer, Chagadai said, "Father asks Jochi. Is it not that you mean to entrust it to him? He was brought in from the Merkit people. How can we let him rule us?" As soon as he had said it Jochi rose, seized Chagadai by the collar and said, "Father has not yet spoken and made the choice. How do you dare to speak so? Besides being hard, what other skill have you? I will shoot at a distance against you, and if you beat me I will cut off my thumb. I will wrestle against you, and if you beat me I will never rise again from the place where I fall." When he had spoken, the brothers held each other by the collar, and Boorchu and Mukhali pulled them apart. While Taizu sat silent, Kokochos said, "Chagadai, why are you in such haste? The emperor has his hopes in you. Before you were born the world was in turmoil, and men attacked and robbed one another, and no one could live in peace, and for that reason your wise mother was taken captive in her misfortune. If you speak so, how will it not wound your mother's heart? When your father first built the nation he toiled together with your mother, and they raised you, their sons, and hoped that you would grow into men. Your mother is bright as the sun and deep as the sea. She is as wise as that. How can you speak so?"

Taizu said, "How can you speak so of Jochi? He is the eldest of my sons. From now on do not speak so." Chagadai said with a faint smile, "There is no need to argue over Jochi's strength and skill. Of all the sons, I and Jochi are the eldest, and I will give my strength together with Father, and if any man shirks, let him be killed at once. Ogodei is thick and steady, and he is fit to take up the teaching." Then Taizu asked Jochi again what he said. Jochi said, "Chagadai has spoken already. We two will give our strength together. Let Ogodei be the one to follow after." Taizu said, "You two need not go side by side. The lands of the world are wide, and I will have each of you keep the country given to him. Keep, each of you, the words that you have spoken, and do not let men laugh at you. In the old days Altan and Khuchar broke the words they had spoken themselves, and what became of them afterward? Their children and grandchildren are alive now, and I will have them follow you, so that you may take them for a mirror." Then he asked Ogodei what he said. Ogodei said, "Father in his favor bids me speak, and it is hard for me to say that I cannot. I will give my strength and go on with care. I fear only that the sons and grandsons of the later world will be worthless and will not be able to carry it on. This is what I have to say." Taizu said, "Since Ogodei speaks so, it is settled." Then he asked Tolui what he said. Tolui said, "Beside the elder brother whom Father has named, I will tell him what he forgets and wake him when he sleeps. When he sends me out to fight, I will go at once." Taizu said, "That is right." He said also, "As for the seats of my four younger brothers, Khasar and Alchidai and Otchigin and Belgutei, let one man of each of their houses rule. As for my own seat, let one son rule. My words are not wrong, and they must not be broken. If the sons of Ogodei should all be worthless, will not one good man be born among my own?"

Taizu sent a man to say to Burkhan, the lord of the Tangut, "You said before that you would be my right hand. Now the Muslim people have killed my envoys, and I am going to call them to account. Be my right hand." Before Burkhan could speak, his officer Asha Gambu said, "If your strength is not enough, there is no need for you to play the emperor." And he would not give soldiers. Taizu heard these words and said, "How does Asha Gambu dare to speak so? What would be hard in driving these horsemen of mine straight against him? But my first thought was not to attack him. If Heaven shelters me and I come back from the Muslim lands, then I will go and attack him."

In the Year of the Hare Taizu went to attack the Muslims. He ordered his younger brother Otchigin to stay and guard, and he took the lady Khulan along with him. He made Jebe the forward scout, Subeetei the support behind Jebe, and Tokhuchar the support behind Subeetei. He ordered the three to go round outside the towns where the Muslims lived, not to touch their people, and to wait until Taizu came and then strike from both sides. Jebe did as he was ordered and passed by the town of King Melik without touching his people. The third time, when Tokhuchar passed, he seized the standing grain of the people. King Melik slipped out and joined Jalal ad-Din, the king of the Muslims, and they led soldiers out to meet Taizu and fight. Taizu ordered Shigi Khutukhu to be the forward scout and to face Jalal ad-Din in the field, and he was beaten. They were about to come up to where Taizu was when Jebe and the other two arrived behind Jalal ad-Din and overcame him. He wished to go into the town of Bukhara and could not, and they chased him right to the Sind River, and almost all of his horsemen drowned. Only Jalal ad-Din and Melik fled up the Sind. Taizu went up the Sind and took the town of Badkesen, and he came to the land of Parwan Keer on the Simu River and made camp, and he ordered Bala to chase Jalal ad-Din and the rest. Because Jebe and Subeetei had done good service he gave them rewards. Because Tokhuchar had broken his order he meant to cast him out, but afterward he did not, and only punished him heavily and forbade him to command soldiers.

When Taizu came back from the Muslim lands, he ordered his three sons Jochi, Chagadai and Ogodei to lead the army of the right hand, to cross the Amu River and make camp before the town of Urgench, and he ordered Tolui to go to Iru and the other towns and make camp there. Jochi and the others came to Urgench and made camp, and they sent a man to ask, "Now which of us three are we to obey?" Taizu had them obey Ogodei.

By this time Taizu had won Ular and the other towns, and he passed the summer on the ridge of Altan Khorkhan, where the king of the Muslims used to pass the summer. While he waited there for Bala he sent a man to say to Tolui, "The weather is hot. Come and join me." At that time Tolui had already taken Iru and the other towns and was in the midst of attacking the town of Chukcheren, and only when the town fell did he come back and join Taizu.

Jochi, Chagadai and Ogodei won the town of Urgench, and when they divided the people among themselves they left no share for Taizu. When they came back, Taizu would not let his three sons come in and see him for three days. Mukhali and the others said, "The Muslim people who would not submit have bowed down. The towns that were divided, and the sons who took a share, are all the emperor's. Heaven and earth have sheltered us, and the Muslim people are bowed down, and all of us are glad. Why is the emperor so angry? Your sons know their fault already and are afraid. Make them careful hereafter, and let them come in and see you." Then the anger of Taizu stopped a little, and he let Jochi and the others come in and see him. Taizu blamed them as before, and the three sons were so afraid that the sweat ran down them. Khonkhai, Khontokhar and Chormakhan, who bore the bow and arrows, came forward and said, "Your three sons are like young hawks only now trained. They have just gone out to fight, and if you blame them so, we fear that hereafter the heart that would learn will grow slack. Now everywhere the sun goes in and out is the enemy. Send us out and use us like the dogs of Xifan. If Heaven shelters us and we overcome the enemy, we will bring back all the gold and silver and silk and offer it to you." They said also, "To the west of here are the people of Baghdad and the king who is the Caliph. Give the order to go and fight there." Taizu said that this was right, and his anger went down. He kept Khonkhai and Khontokhar with him, and he ordered Chormakhan to go and attack the Caliph.

Again, between the people of India and the people of Baghdad there were the Aru and other peoples, and he ordered Dorbei Dokhshin to go and attack them.

Again he ordered Subeetei the brave to attack the eleven tribes of the north, the Kanglin and the rest, and Subeetei crossed the two waters, the Idil and the Jayakh, and came right up to the towns of Kiev and Kermen.

Taizu took the towns of the Muslims one after another again and set men to hold them. A Muslim man whose family name was Khurumshi and whose own name was Yalavach came with his son from the town of Urgench to see Taizu. Because he knew the ways of the towns well, Taizu ordered his son Maskhud to rule Bukhara and the other towns together with the officers who held them. He ordered Yalavach to rule Beiping.

The campaign of Taizu against the Muslims lasted seven years. At the first he ordered Bala to chase Jalal ad-Din, the king of the Muslims, and King Melik, and Bala crossed the Sind River and chased them right to the land of the people of India. He searched them out to the root and did not find them, and as he came back he carried off all the camels and sheep of the people of the border towns of India. Then Taizu came back at last to the land of the Irtysh and passed the summer there. In the autumn of the seventh year, the Year of the Fowl, he came back to the old camp in the Black Forest on the Tola River.