Senggum (simplified: 桑昆, traditional: 桑昆, pinyin: Sāngkūn, jyutping: song1 kwan1) was the son of Wang Khan. Jealous of Temüjin, his father’s adopted son, he plotted with Jamukha and the Jin prince Wanyan Honglie to destroy him, and was ruined when the plot failed.
Biography
At Wang Khan’s camp
When Temüjin escorted the Jin princes Wanyan Honglie and Wanyan Hongxi north to Wang Khan, Wang Khan sent Senggum and Jamukha ahead to meet them. Senggum was plump and pale, as if he had lived in comfort rather than grown up in the desert, and haughty, barely deigning to notice Temüjin. He and Jamukha led their troops down in the joint victory over the Naiman (chapter 3).
At the feast that followed, Wang Khan called his two adopted sons, Temüjin and Jamukha, the most famous heroes among the Mongols, and Senggum drank cup after cup in resentment. He insulted Jebe, then a mere captain of ten, for drinking from his gold cup, and boasted that he had something that could devour Temüjin’s Four Heroes at one go: two hunting leopards. Temüjin refused to set his generals against beasts and conceded the wager, handing Senggum the ruby ring Wanyan Hongxi had thrown down as a prize. Senggum called Temüjin his sworn elder brother only because Temüjin had taken Wang Khan as his adoptive father; the two had never become anda (chapter 4).
His spoilt only son Tusakha later set the leopards on Tolui, and Ke Zhen’e killed them unseen with poisoned caltrops. Temüjin offered Senggum four of his best leopards and eight pairs of black hawks in recompense, and to keep the peace betrothed his daughter Huazheng to Tusakha. Senggum, who thought himself high-born and had always envied and despised Temüjin, did not want the match but could not defy his father, and forced a smile (chapter 5).
The plot against Temüjin
In his tent Senggum cut down one of Temüjin’s guards with his dao and, with Jamukha and Wanyan Honglie, agreed to strike first: Temüjin’s livestock, women and treasure would go to Senggum and his people to Jamukha, whom the Jin would make Pacification Commissioner of the North. Senggum undertook to obtain his father’s order, and planned to invite Temüjin to discuss the wedding and ambush him on the road. Guo Jing overheard the plan (chapter 6).
Temüjin rode out half-believing Guo Jing’s warning and was surrounded on a mound by Wang Khan’s cavalry under Senggum, who demanded his surrender and accused him of breaking the ancestral law by merging the tribes. Guo Jing dashed down and seized Tusakha, and Senggum had to pull his men back and ring the mound with carts. When Temüjin’s reinforcements arrived he struck at Senggum’s flank, knowing him to be an incompetent who relied only on his father’s standing; Jebe’s arrow hit Senggum in the right cheek and knocked him from his horse (chapter 6).
Fall
Temüjin sent Tusakha home with rich gifts and abject apologies. Reassured, Wang Khan and Senggum withdrew their guard and feasted with Wanyan Honglie and Jamukha, and Temüjin’s surprise attack routed them. Wang Khan and Senggum fled west in panic; Wang Khan was later killed by the Naiman and Senggum by the Western Liao (chapter 6).
Personality and traits
Senggum was arrogant, jealous and petty. He prided himself on his birth, resented his father’s praise of Temüjin, and bullied those beneath him, as with Jebe at the feast. Temüjin judged him incompetent, a man who relied only on his father’s shelter, in contrast with the able Jamukha.
Martial arts abilities
The novel shows Senggum leading cavalry and killing a guard with his dao, but gives him no particular martial skill.
Relationships
- Wang Khan: his father, whose praise of Temüjin and Jamukha Senggum resented.
- Tusakha: his only son, born many years after a daughter and much spoilt.
- Temüjin: his father’s adopted son, whom Senggum called sworn brother though they never became anda; his rival and enemy.
- Jamukha: his father’s other adopted son and his ally in the plot.