Genghis Khan The Emperor of All Men by Harold Lamb

Author:Harold Lamb [Lamb, Harold]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harold Lamb
Published: 2011-07-03T14:24:15+00:00

Chapter XVII. Genghis Khan Goes Hunting

WHILE the two Orkhons were raiding the west of the Caspian sea, two sons of the Khan journeyed to the other inland sea, now known as the Aral. They had been sent forth to gather news of the Shah and to cut off his return. Learning at length that he was in his grave, they followed the wide Amu through its clay steppes to the native city of the Kharesmians.Here the Mongols settled down to a long and bitter siege, in which lacking large stones for their casting machines, they hewed massive tree trunks into blocks and soaked the wood until heavy enough for their purpose. In the hand-to-hand fighting that lasted within the walls for a week, the chroniclers say they used flaming naphtha a new weapon that they must have picked up among the Mohammedans, who had handled it with devastating effect against the crusaders of Europe. Urgench fell, and they trotted back with their captives and spoil to the headquarters of the Khan, but Jelal ed-Din, the valiant son of a weak father, escaped to lead fresh forces against them.

Meanwhile Genghis Khan withdrew his warriors from the lowlands during the heat of the summer a burning, sultry heat that distressed the men accustomed to the high altitudes of the Gobi. He led them up into the cooler ranges beyond the Amu. To keep them occupied while the horse herds grazed and with an eye to discipline he issued an order for the favourite pastime of the horde, a season’s hunt. A Mongol hunt was no less than a regular campaign, against beasts instead of men. The whole horde shared in it, and its rules had been laid down by the Khan himself, which meant that they were inexorable. Juchi, the Master of Hunting, being absent on duty, his lieutenant galloped off to survey and mark several hundred miles of hills. Streamers were planted for the starting points of the various regiments. Beyond the horizon the gurtai^ or closing point of the hunt, was chosen and likewise marked. Witness then, the squadrons of the horde, in high fettle, moving off to right and left, bivouacking under the orders of the hunters, waiting the arrival of the Khan and the fanfare of horns and cymbals that would start them off. They were thus arranged in a shallow half-circle, covering perhaps eighty miles or so of countryside.

The Khan appearing with his higher officers, and princes and youthful grandsons, the riders mounted, forming a close-knit line, sometimes two ranks deep. They carried all weapons and equipment used against human enemies, with the addition of wicker shields. The horses surged forward, the officers dropped behind their commands, and the rousing of the animals began. The warriors were forbidden to use their arms against the animals, and it was a real disgrace to allow any four-footed thing to slip through the line of riders. They crushed through thickets, beat up gullies and climbed hillocks, shouting and cjamouring when a tiger or wolf was seen sliding out of the brush.

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