Day of Empire_ How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--And Why They Fall - Amy Chua [56]
Temujin's judgment in selecting his generals was unerring and surprisingly subtle. He valued not just courage but cunning and patience. The brave but foolhardy were not allowed to lead others, but instead were assigned to the important task of protecting the military supplies. Reportedly, Temujin once refused to promote a warrior, offering the following explanation:
No man is more valiant than Yessoutai; no one has rarer gifts. But, as the longest marches do not tire him, as he feels neither hunger nor thirst, he believes that his officers and soldiers do not suffer from such things. That is why he is not fitted for high command. A general should think of hunger and thirst, so he may understand the suffering of those under him, and he should husband the strength of his men and beasts.10
In 1203, Temujin took the audacious step of requesting a marriage between his eldest son, Jochi, and Ong Khan's daughter. Ong Khan and Temujin had been allies for more than two decades. Under Ong Khan's overlordship, Temujin had conquered most of the steppe peoples, with the exception of the powerful Naiman confederation in the west. Nevertheless, despite Temujin's reputation as the greatest military commander on the steppe, Ong Khan saw Temujin and his family as unworthy of the aristocratic Kereyids. Ong Khan was also likely manipulated by rivals of Temujin, who were jealous of his influence over the aging Kereyid ruler. In any event, according to Marco Polo, writing a century later, Ong Khan's reaction was, essentially, “Is not [he] ashamed to seek my daughter in marriage? Does he not know that he is my vassal and my thrall? Go back to him and tell him that I would sooner commit my daughter to flames than give her to him as his wife.”
Shortly afterward, however, he sent another message to Temujin, saying that he had changed his mind and would approve the marriage after all. En route to the ceremony, Temujin learned that the wedding was a ploy and that Ong Khan had ordered his army to ambush Temujin's camp and slay him in his tent. Far outnumbered, Temujin ordered the warriors with him to disperse. He and his closest officers fled for their lives, arriving eventually at the shores of Lake Baljuna. What happened next has become legendary in Mongol lore.
A wild horse appeared from nowhere. The men, on the verge of starvation, took this as a sign of divine intervention and slaughtered and skinned the horse. Relying on an ancient cooking technique,
they cut up the meat and made a large bag from the horsehide into which they put the meat and some water. They gathered dried dung to make a fire, but they could not put the hide kettle directly on the fire. Instead, they heated rocks in the fire until glowing hot, then they dropped the hot rocks into the mixture of meat and water…After a few hours, the starving men feasted on boiled horseflesh.
The companions then swore eternal allegiance to one another and to Temujin as their leader. Strikingly, these men, although just twenty in number, hailed from nine different tribes and included Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims, as well as animists like Temujin, who worshipped the Eternal Blue Sky and the God Mountain of Burkhan Khaldun. This multiethnic, multicreedal oath of brotherhood would come to symbolize the new form of society that Temujin, as Genghis Khan, would soon create.”
First, however, Temujin had to defeat Ong Khan. From Lake Baljuna, Temujin sent word throughout the steppe of his plan for counterattack. Over the next few days, his army reassembled in its units of tens and hundreds all across the steppe. A few warriors