The Description of the World by Marco Polo

Author:Marco Polo [Polo, Marco; Kinoshita, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-1-62466-648-3
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Published: 2016-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

121. How the Great Khan conquered the kingdom of Mien and Bangala

Now know that we had forgotten a very beautiful battle that took place in the kingdom of Vocian, which is worth mentioning in this book; therefore we will tell you quite clearly how it came about and in what way.

It was true that in the year 1272 of the incarnation of Christ, the Great Khan sent a great army to the kingdoms of Vocian and Qarajang to protect them and keep other people from doing them harm.24 For the Great Khan had not yet sent any of his sons there, as he did later; for he made Esen Temür [Sentemur] king, who was the son of his son that had died. Now it happened that the king of Mien and Bangala, who was a very powerful king in land, treasure, and people—this king was not subject to the Great Khan; rather, it’s only a little while since the Great Khan defeated him and took from him both the kingdoms I named for you above—and when this king of Mien and Bangala learned that the Great Khan’s army was at Vocian, he said to himself that he needed to meet him with so many people that he would put them all to death, in such a way that the Great Khan would never again want to send another army there.25 So then this king made {110} great preparations: I will tell you what. Now know in all truth that he had 2,000 very large elephants; and atop each of these elephants, he had a very strong, very well made wooden castle made and fitted out for combat; and on each castle there were at least 12 fighting men; some had 16 and some more. He also had a good 50,000 men, between those on horseback and some on foot. His preparations were those of the great and powerful king that he was, for know that it was an army capable of great deeds. What should I tell you? When this king had made the great preparations I have told you about, he didn’t delay, but set out immediately with all his people to attack the Great Khan’s army at Vocian. They traveled without encountering any adventures worth mentioning, until they came to a point 3 days’ travel away from the Tartar army; there he made camp to stay and rest his people.

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