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Authors: Barry Sadler

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BOOK: Casca 22: The Mongol
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The only bad thing about the day was the loss of Jemuga. Temuge had told him of Jemuga's desertion. Temujin did not hold that against him. Jemuga was not a coward.  He was just smart.

But at least he still would have the pleasure of looking forward to the day when they would meet again. It was always good to have an enemy who was implacable in his hatred. It kept one constantly on his toes and alert.

 

 

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

To the Kereit warriors who had pledged fealty it did not seem strange to have a new master. After all, their old one was dead, and so were his sons. And as Temujin had said, "All dogs want a strong master."

He wanted to move on the homelands of the Kereit immediately but it was not yet time. As of this moment, most of his warriors were Kereits. He needed to bind them to him, and there was nothing like a small war to do that. Give them some bloodletting and some plunder and they would soon fall into line, even if it meant fighting members of their own clans and tribes.

Indeed he had a respectable-sized force at his command now. Men who were fit for the ride numbered nearly four thousand of his own and a few hundred less than six thousand of the Kereit – nearly ten thousand warriors. Many empires had begun with much less.

To all he cried out, "Rest this day. Bind your wounds, for on the morrow we ride--"

He was about to say "...to the lands of the Chin." But a signal from Casca stopped him. He therefore said only, "We go for glory and plunder. All Noyans, present yourselves to me this evening. This includes the Noyans of the Kereit. There is much for you to learn of how I do things, and this you must inform your warriors of. At sundown come to me."

There was a silence spreading over the battlefield as the warriors who only seconds before had been trying to kill each other now found that their master wished for them to leave immediately for a campaign against an unknown place and people. And each of the new factions was not yet sure of the other. The Borjigin and Merkits had shared bread and blood together. Till they proved themselves, the newcomers would be watched closely.

The wounded were treated as best as they could be by their companions. Hot irons were applied to sword cuts, thin-bladed knives used to remove arrowheads stuck deep in flesh. Many of the wounded died shortly after these tender ministrations.

Weapons and usable gear were gathered from the dead. Temujin ordered for all booty and weapons to be put into a common pile. Later, to each man in his force he would allot the same amount of gear. It was important to standardize equipment as much as possible. Each would have the same minimal number of arrows, lances, and horses, two horses to each man. The rest were put into the common herd to provide spares they rode. Only food, weapons, and robes against the cold of night were permitted. All other things were to be left behind.

There was some grumbling when among the effects of the Kereit were found items that had belonged to the Borjigin and Merkits, recently acquired when the Kereits had raided their abandoned camp.

Only those personal items were permitted to be returned to their original owners. Mostly they were of little value – amulets, some knives of poor iron, and other such trash. Temujin would not permit their possession to cause a disruption between his forces.

As for the wounded who could still ride but were not fit to fight, they were to return to his camp. There they would gather the women and children who had fled to the hills and return to the camp. Under pain of death, the wounded Kereit were not to leave for their own encampment. To insure this he also dispatched with them a force of two hundred of his Merkits to serve as guards and security.

To Ashif Khan, the father of Bortei, he sent word of his victory, sending the captured standard of Ong Khan as proof. With it came the request that he send forces to the camp of Ong Khan and there take command until the return of Temujin from his raid.

He was then to send the standard of Ong Khan on to the Reldas, khan of the Naimans. The gift of Ong Khan's horsetail standard should please him greatly, for this was the end of an open wound between them that went back many years. He was also to say that the tribes of Ong Khan were now under Temujin's banner and the enmity between the Kereits and the Naimans would soon be no more.

He, Temujin, ally of the Quonqurats and khan of the Merkits and the Borjigin, and who also commanded the survivors of the army of Ong khan, would come at the first opportunity and pay his respects to Reldas, khan of the Naimans.

Once Ashif had done these things, he was to move the tribes of the Borjigin and Merkit to the winter pastures in the south.

The Kereit tribes would be in disarray, and it would soon be too late in the season for any other tribe to mount a campaign. He would have only enough time to make one quick raid, then return before the great cold of the Gobi swept across the plains to close the land.

Temujin saw all this, and Casca watched him carefully to see how he would manage the situation and bind these different tribes together. For now he had three. His own Merkits, the Borjigin, and now the Kereits of Ong Khan. If he was able to take this force and gain plunder and slaves, many of the other smaller tribes and clans would willingly submit to him.

The dead or too badly wounded horses were butchered quickly and the meat cut into thin strips over campfires. Horsemeat would be their staple until they found plunder.
Each of the nomads was to have the same portion as the other. Most would place it under their saddles to tenderize the flesh as they rode.

It was fortunate that there were more than enough dead Kereits to provide pack animals for the extra gear and weapons and still leave a sufficient number for the wounded to take back to his camp so they could move to the south. All things considered, with the exception of the escape of Jemuga, this had been a most rewarding day.

That evening there was a strange atmosphere in the campground. The piles of the dead had been gathered together and moved away from the springs. After having them buried in a mass grave, Temujin ordered them covered by the loose boulders that had killed many of them. A mass grave with over six thousand bodies under the boulders. There were other graves in the gorge at the site of the first and second engagement with Ong Khan. There another three thousand had to be disposed of.

Temujin thought about this. Masses of dead would always be a problem, and the Old Young One had told him of the many times when the dead had caused sickness to spread among healthy soldiers. The dead must always be disposed of as rapidly as possible.

That evening, before the pale gold sun of the Gobi set and the Noyans would come to him, he sat by his campfire and spoke with Casca. "Old Young One, why did you stop me from speaking this afternoon? I had much to say."

Spreading his fingers, Casca warmed his hands at the fire. Looking down at the coals, it was as if he were seeing something that was lost to the rest of the world. Shaking his head, he raised his eyes to Temujin. "I was afraid that you were going to say you were going to go into Chin."

Temujin was shocked. Why should that have bothered the Old Young One? "I was going to say that. Do you think it is wrong? It has always been where we go when we have the power."

Casca nodded his head, the red of the fire turning his weathered face a reddened bronze.
"That is the problem. From what you have told me and what I know, the Empire of the Chin is now controlled by the Jurchen, who, as you said, came from these same steppes. They are like you, Mongols. To the south of them is the Sung Empire, whose members are the real Chin. But they are too far away for now.

"If you go against Chin, you go against the Jurchen, and I don't think we are ready for that now. You can put less than ten thousand in the field. They, if what you told me is correct, can mount several hundred thousand. Those are not good odds.

"Sun Tzu said, `There are some bridges not to cross, and some battles not to fight.  I think this would be one of those, for even if you were successful in a raid on a single town, do you think the Jurchen would not mount a force against you in the spring? Remember, they think and fight much as you do."

Temujin pursed his lips as he had the manner of doing when troubled or in deep thought.
"What you say is true. I spoke too rapidly. But I have promised them a battle and booty. This they must have, for I have said it, therefore it must be. If we are not yet to go against the Jurchen of Chin, then we shall raid into lands of the Tatar through the wide valleys in the great Khinghan Mountains to the north and west of the Chin and attack the Tatars. From there we can take passes that would lead us swiftly to our winter pastures.

"I do have a great need for a victory to bind the wounds of my army. I must give them one. We will make a quick raid and return before the snows fall."

The Noyans came to him at the appointed time, the Kereits under the suspicious eyes of the Merkits and Borjigin. Temujin sat on a saddle. He said nothing. When they were all gathered, Subetei and Temuge gave the command to prostrate themselves before the master. There was a moment of confusion among the Kereit Noyans. They had never done this before with Ong Khan.

Subetei and Temuge each took a head from the shoulders of one of the Kereit Noyans. The rest understood. They, along with the other Noyans, prostrated themselves facedown, arms outstretched, palms down on the earth. Only Temuge
, Subetei, and Casca remained standing.

He let them lie on their faces long enough for the fear to work, for sweat to gather on brows and faces as each wondered if he was going to be able to rise and still have his head.
"You may stand."

He rose also, going to where the campfire was between him and the Noyans.

"It is time for you to understand what you have become part of.  I am Temujin, son of Yeshugei. But I am more than that, and so shall you too be more than you are if you serve me well. This day you lost a battle, but you may have gained an empire where each of you will be as wealthy as the greatest kings of Chin or Persia. You lost a battle, not because of your lack of courage but because of a lack of leadership."

There was a muttered grumbling of agreement from the former Noyans of Ong Khan. And the talk of wealth was always a sure way to the heart of a nomad. Temujin gave his words time to register.
"As you have now one and all sworn fealty to me, I tell you this: after we finish the raid we will return to your tribes and peoples. Nothing will be taken from you. Your cattle and your horses, your women and your children are safe and will not be harmed. For they, too, are now mine. And it is a fool who damages his own property.

"From this day forth, all who face us will have the same options:
resist us and die; submit and become part of us and prosper. There is no other way."

Temujin paused to take a drink of water from the Baljuna springs. Cleansing his mouth, he spat out the remainder into the coals of the fire, pleased at the hissing steam that rose from it.
"As we ride, you Noyans of the Kereit will each have one of my Noyans with you. This is not to watch you but to instruct you. I have a different manner of waging war, as you well know."

At this the Kereit Noyans laughed freely. They knew they had been drawn into a trap, and they admired the one who could do it.

"See and note well these men about you, for they are tarkhan to me. Temuge, my brother; Subetei, my chief Noyan; and over here, the one with the scarred face, is Casca-Bahadur my chief adviser and counsel.

"Obey them as you would me. When an order is given, hesitate not for the beat of a heart or I will have yours torn out of your chests.

"The first thing you will do is return to your bands. There they are to be reorganized into tens, with one as leader of each ten. Then tens shall be under the command of a leader of ten tens, and they under a leader of a thousand. You Noyans of the Kereit will decide among yourselves who is to be your leaders and who will be your chief commander.

"From this moment on, no man may leave his ten or hundred or thousand on pain of death. No other tribe or band may offer one who leaves his ten shelter or food. To do so is to die. To leave your command without permission is to die.

"Think not that this is excessively harsh. Think upon it. Each man in the ten will know well the others, their strengths and their weaknesses. Each will know where he is to be at all times, and this will make them stronger, and your hundreds stronger, and the thousands stronger.

"For we will fight with one mind and one will. Each of our separate parts will be stronger. And that is what we need if we are ever going to be able to take and plunder the land of Chin from the Jurchen, or the fabled cities of Baghdad and Samarkand for our own.

"All are equal before me. The road to my favor is excellence and loyalty. Tribe or religion matters not – that is your affair. Serve well and prosper. Fail me and die."

Casca was amazed. The captured Noyans broke into a spontaneous cheering for Temujin, calling his name over and over at the tops of their lungs.

At a sign from Temujin their weapons were returned to them. With bared blades in their hands, they vowed eternal loyalty to the death.

Casca smiled bitterly, for that was exactly what it would be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK: Casca 22: The Mongol
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