The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 3 – Part 6

Jebe had escaped death and found a wise lord to serve besides, and he was in high spirits. He lay on the grass to rest until Li Ping came back from the market, and then told her all that had happened. It wrung Li Ping’s heart to see the whip-weals all over her son’s head and face, but when she heard Jebe tell of the boy’s toughness and his xia spirit,¹ she said, “Good boy. That is how a man should be.” She thought that if her son spent his whole life herding sheep on the grassland, he could never avenge his father. Better that he go into the army, toughen himself and seek his chance. Mother and son went with Jebe to Temüjin’s camp.

Temüjin made Jebe a captain of ten under his third son Ögedei.² When Jebe had presented himself to the Third Prince, he went to thank Bo’orchu.³ The two men held each other in high regard and became close friends.

Mindful of what he owed Guo Jing, Jebe looked after mother and son with every care, and he meant to teach Guo Jing everything he knew of archery and fighting as soon as the boy was a little older.

One day Guo Jing was wrestling and playing with several Mongol children when he saw two Mongol riders galloping in from the distance, plainly bringing urgent news for the Great Khan. Not long after the two soldiers had gone into Temüjin’s tent, the horns began to blow, and soldiers came running out of the tents all over the camp.

Temüjin drilled his people with strict discipline, and his military law was like iron. Ten soldiers formed a squad, led by a captain of ten. Ten squads formed a company under a captain of a hundred. Ten companies formed a regiment under a captain of a thousand. Ten regiments formed a tumen⁴ under a captain of ten thousand. When Temüjin gave an order, tens of thousands of men moved as one, as the mind moves the arm and the arm moves the fingers.

Guo Jing and the other children watched from the side. By the time the first call of the horn ended, the soldiers of every company had taken up their weapons and mounted. At the second call, hooves drummed across the plain and heads jostled everywhere. When the third call died away, the great grassland before the camp gate was a dark mass of men, five tumens drawn up in perfect order, and apart from the breathing and snorting of the horses there was not a whisper or a clink of weapons to be heard.

Temüjin came out through the camp gate with three of his sons and announced in a loud voice, “We have beaten many enemies, and the Jin Empire has taken notice. Now the Jin Emperor has sent his third prince and his sixth prince to confer a title upon your Khan!”

The Mongol soldiers raised their cavalry daos and cheered as one. In those days the Jin ruled the whole north of the Middle Kingdom, from the sea in the east to the Western Regions in the west. Their empire was vast, their armies were mighty and their fame spread far and wide, while the Mongols were still no more than a small tribe of the grasslands and the desert, and so Temüjin was very proud to receive a title from the Great Jin.

At Temüjin’s command, the Eldest Prince Jochi⁵ led one tumen out to meet the visitors, and the other four tumens spread out across the grassland.

The Jin Emperor then on the throne was Wanyan Jing,⁶ the Mingchang Emperor. Learning that the northern steppe chieftains Wang Khan⁷ and Temüjin were growing powerful, he feared they might become a threat to the north. He therefore sent his third son, Prince Rong Wanyan Hongxi,⁸ and his sixth son, Prince Zhao Wanyan Honglie,⁹ to confer titles: firstly to keep them in check through favour, and secondly to gauge the strength of each tribe, subduing by force or outmanoeuvring by cunning as the occasion demanded. This Prince Zhao Wanyan Honglie was the very man who had once been an envoy to Lin’an, been wounded by Qiu Chuji at Niu Family Village, and encountered the Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan at Jiaxing.

Guo Jing and the other children stood well off to one side, watching the proceedings. After a good while they saw dust flying in the distance. Jochi had met Wanyan Hongxi and Wanyan Honglie and was escorting them back.

The Wanyan brothers had brought ten thousand picked troops, every man in a brocade robe and iron armour, the left column carrying long spears and the right column wolf-tooth clubs, all mounted on tall horses. The clank of their armour could be heard a li¹⁰ or more away. As they drew closer, the brocades could be seen glittering, the helmets and armour gleaming and the daos and spears flashing in the sun, a most magnificent array. Wanyan Hongxi and Wanyan Honglie rode side by side. Temüjin, his sons and his generals stood at the roadside to receive them.

Wanyan Hongxi saw Guo Jing and a crowd of other Mongol children standing some way off, staring at him wide-eyed without blinking. He gave a loud laugh, reached into his robe, pulled out a handful of gold coins and flung them hard into the middle of the children. “A reward for you!” he cried. He had scattered the coins far and wide, fully expecting the children to whoop and scramble for them, which would show off his lordly generosity and give him a good laugh besides. But what the Mongols valued most was the respect between host and guest, and his behaviour was not only frivolous but grossly discourteous. The Mongol officers and men all looked at one another in astonishment.

The children were the sons and daughters of Mongol soldiers and officers, and young as they were, every one of them had pride. Not one of them paid the scattered coins any heed. Wanyan Hongxi felt very foolish. He flung out another handful of gold coins with all his strength, shouting in Mongolian, “Grab them, all of you, you little bastards!” When the Mongols heard this, their faces darkened with anger.

The Mongols of that time had no written script, and their customs were rough, yet they prized trust and righteousness above all, and showed the greatest respect to guests. The Mongols never used foul language. Even to a mortal enemy, or in fun, they never cursed or swore. When a guest entered a Mongol tent, he was welcomed with everything the host possessed, whether the two were acquainted or not, and the guest in turn must show not the slightest disrespect to his host. To break the rites of host and guest was considered a grave sin. Wanyan Hongxi’s Mongolian was poor, and most of the Mongol officers and men did not understand what he said, but his manner made it plain that he meant to insult the children.

Guo Jing had often heard his mother tell stories of Jin cruelty: how they raped and plundered in the Middle Kingdom, how they slaughtered the common people, how they colluded with traitors to bring about the death of the Middle Kingdom’s great general Yue Fei. Deep in his childish heart a hatred of the Jin had already taken root. Now, seeing this Jin prince behave so rudely, he picked up several of the gold coins from the ground, ran close and hurled them with all his might at Wanyan Hongxi’s face, shouting, “Who wants your money!” Wanyan Hongxi jerked his head aside, but one coin still hit him on the cheekbone. Guo Jing had little strength and the blow did not hurt, but it was still a humiliation in front of tens of thousands of men. From Temüjin down, every Mongol in the crowd was delighted.

Wanyan Hongxi flew into a rage. “You little brat, asking to die!” he roared. In the Middle Kingdom, whenever things did not go his way, he would raise his hand and kill someone. Who had ever dared insult him? His fury boiling over, he seized a long spear from a guard at his side and hurled it straight at Guo Jing’s chest.

Wanyan Honglie knew this was a mistake and cried out at once, “Third Brother, stop!” But the spear had already left his hand. It was not flying very fast, but Guo Jing only turned to run and did not jump aside, so it stayed on course. The boy was about to die on the spear when suddenly an arrow shot out from the Mongol tumen on the left like a shooting star chasing the moon, and struck the spearhead with a clang. It was shot with such force that, light as the arrow was and heavy as the spear, it knocked the spear aside, and both fell to the ground together. Guo Jing ran off as fast as he could. The Mongol soldiers cheered with one voice until the grassland rang. The archer was Jebe.

Wanyan Honglie said in a low voice, “Third Brother, leave him be!” Wanyan Hongxi had seen how formidable the Mongol troops looked and was a little afraid himself. He shot Guo Jing a vicious glare and muttered, “You little mongrel!”

Temüjin and his sons now came forward to welcome the two Jin princes into the great tent, where mare’s milk wine and beef, mutton and horse-meat were served. Each side had its interpreters, who carried the words between Jurchen and Mongolian. Wanyan Hongxi read aloud the Jin Emperor’s decree, conferring upon Temüjin the office of Commissioner for the Pacification of the Northern Marches of the Great Jin,¹¹ hereditary for his sons and grandsons, to serve for ever as a shield on the Jin Empire’s northern frontier. Temüjin knelt to give thanks for the honour and received the Jin Emperor’s decree and a golden belt. That night the Mongols laid on a great feast for the envoys of their overlord. When the wine had gone halfway round, Wanyan Hongxi said, “Tomorrow my brother and I are to confer a title on Wang Khan. We invite the Commissioner to come with us.” Temüjin was delighted and readily agreed.

Wang Khan was the head of the tribes of the grassland. He had many warriors and great wealth, and he was generous, so the chiefs and nobles of the tribes held him in great affection. “Khan” meant the same as “Great Khan”, and with “Wang”, a king, added to it, the title made him the foremost of all the tribes of the great grassland. Long ago Wang Khan had sworn brotherhood with Temüjin’s father. Later, when Temüjin’s father was poisoned by his enemies and Temüjin was left with no one to turn to, he took Wang Khan as his sworn father and placed himself under his protection. Not long after Temüjin’s marriage, his wife was carried off by the Merkit.¹² It was only through Wang Khan and Temüjin’s sworn brother Jamukha¹³ joining their forces to defeat the Merkit that his wife was recovered.

And so Temüjin was very glad to hear that his sworn father Wang Khan was to receive a title too. He asked, “Does the Jin Empire confer titles upon anyone else?” Wanyan Hongxi answered, “No one else.” Wanyan Honglie added, “In the north there are only two true heroes and men of valour: the Great Khan and Wang Khan. The rest are not worth mentioning.” Temüjin said, “We have another man here, one Your Highnesses may not have heard of.” Wanyan Honglie said, “Really? Who?” Temüjin said, “My sworn brother Jamukha. He is a man of kindness and honour and a fine leader of troops. I beg the Third Prince and the Sixth Prince to confer an office on him too.”

Temüjin and Jamukha had been friends since childhood. When they swore brotherhood, Temüjin was only eleven. Among the Mongols, sworn brotherhood was called “swearing anda,”¹⁴ anda meaning sworn brother. By Mongol custom, when two men swore anda they exchanged gifts. On that occasion Jamukha gave Temüjin a knuckle-bone of a roe deer, and Temüjin gave Jamukha a knuckle-bone cast in copper. The Mongols used knuckle-bones for hunting hares, and children often threw them about in play. After they became sworn brothers, the two boys played at knuckle-bones on the frozen Onon River. The following spring they shot with little wooden bows. Jamukha gave Temüjin a whistling arrowhead, fashioned by boring holes through two small ox horns, and Temüjin gave him an arrowhead of cypress wood in return, and they swore brotherhood a second time. When they grew up, both lived in Wang Khan’s tribe and were as devoted to each other as ever. Every day they raced to see who could get up first, and whoever won drank sour milk from their sworn father Wang Khan’s green jade cup. Later, when Temüjin’s wife was carried off, Wang Khan and Jamukha marched out to recover her. Temüjin and Jamukha exchanged golden belts and horses, and swore brotherhood for a third time. By day they drank from the same cup, and by night they slept under the same blanket. Later, following the water and grass, each led his own herds and people away and they parted. Temüjin’s fame grew day by day and the tribes under Jamukha kept increasing too, but their friendship never faltered, and they were closer than brothers of the same blood. Now Temüjin, seeing that he himself had received a title while his sworn brother had not, asked on his behalf.

But Wanyan Hongxi was already half-drunk and answered offhand, “There are so many Mongols. If we conferred an office on every one of them, where would the Great Jin find enough offices to go round?” Wanyan Honglie shot him look after look, but Wanyan Hongxi took no notice.

Temüjin was offended. “Then let him have my office instead. It’s no great matter.” Wanyan Hongxi slapped his thigh and said harshly, “Do you look down on the offices of the Great Jin?” Temüjin glared and was on the point of striking the table and leaping to his feet, but in the end he forced down his anger and said no more. He picked up his cup and drained it at one draught. Wanyan Honglie hastily cracked a joke and turned the talk to other things.

Footnotes

1. 侠 — xiá. A person adept in the martial arts who acts with chivalry and upholds the right. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 窝阔台 — Wōkuòtái. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 博尔朮 — Bó’ěrshù. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 万人队 — wànrén duì. Literally ten-thousand-man unit. The tumen, the largest standard formation of the Mongol army. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 朮赤 — Shùchì. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 完颜璟 — Wányán Jǐng. Emperor Zhangzong of Jin, who reigned 1189—1208; Mingchang was his first era name. ↩

7. 王罕 — Wáng Hǎn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 完颜洪熙 — Wányán Hóngxī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 完颜洪烈 — Wányán Hóngliè. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 里 — lǐ. A traditional unit of distance, about 500 metres or one-third of a mile. ↩

11. 北强招讨使 — běiqiáng zhāotǎoshǐ. A Jin dynasty military-administrative title for a frontier commissioner charged with pacification. ↩

12. 蔑尔乞惕 — Miè’ěrqǐtì. The Merkit, a tribal confederation of the Mongolian steppe. ↩

13. 札木合 — Zhāmùhé. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 安答 — āndá. The Mongol word for a sworn brother, bound by oath before Heaven. ↩