Hujaku knew that if he was to overthrow the emperor he would first have to deal with me, The Great and Glorious Genghis Khan. However, he was most afraid to attack me.
So Hujaku sent someone out to do his work for him
The general to whom he gave the command was named Kan-ki.
Kan-ki went out against me but returned unsuccessful.
Hujaku was very angry with him when he came to hear his report. Perhaps the wound in his foot made him impatient and unreasonable. He declared that the cause of Kan-ki’s failure was his dilly-dallying in pursuing the enemy, which was cowardice or treachery, and, in either case, he deserved to suffer death for it. He immediately sent the emperor a report of the case, asking that the sentence of death which he had pronounced against Kan-ki might be confirmed, and that he might be authorized to put it into execution. But the emperor, knowing that Kan-ki was a courageous and faithful officer, would not consent.
The Emperor
In the meanwhile, before the emperor’s answer came back, the wrath of Hujaku had had time to cool a little. Accordingly, when he received the answer, he said to Kan-ki that he would, after all, try him once more.
“Take the command of the troops again,” said he, “and go out against the enemy, Genghis Khan. If you beat him, I will overlook your first offense and spare your life ; but if you are beaten yourself a second time, you shall die.”
So Kan-ki placed himself at the head of his detachment, and went out again to attack my Mongols. We were to the northward, and were posted upon a sandy plain. At any rate, a strong north wind began to blow at the time when the attack commenced, and blew the sand and dust into the eyes of Kan-ki’s soldiers so that they could not see, while their enemies, my Mongols, having their backs to the wind, were very little bothered. The result was that Kan-ki was repulsed with considerable loss, and was obliged to make the best of his way back to Hujaku’s quarters to save the remainder of his men. He was now desperate. Hujaku had declared that if he came back without having gained a victory he should die, and he had no doubt that the man was violent and reckless enough to keep his word. He determined not to submit.
He might as well die fighting, he thought, at the head of his troops, as to be ignobly put to death by Hujaku’s executioner. So he arranged it with his troops, who probably hated Hujaku as much as he did, that, on returning to the town, they should march in under arms, take possession of the place, surround the palace, and seize the general and make him prisoner, or kill him if he should attempt any resistance. The troops accordingly, when they arrived at the gates of the town, seized and disarmed the guards, and then marched in, brandishing their weapons, and uttering loud shouts and outcries, which excited first a feeling of astonishment and then of terror among the inhabitants. The alarm soon spread to the palace.
Indeed, the troops themselves soon reached and surrounded the palace, and began thundering at the gates to gain admission. They soon forced their way in. Hujaku, in the mean time, terrified and panic-stricken, had fled from the palace into the gardens, in hopes to make his escape by the garden walls. The soldiers pursued him. In his excitement and agitation he leaped down from a wall too high for such a descent, and, in his fall, broke his leg. He lay writhing helplessly on the ground when the soldiers came up. They were wild and furious with the excitement of pursuit, and they killed him with their spears where he lay.
Kan-ki took the head of his old enemy and carried it to the capital, with the intention of offering it to the emperor, and also of surrendering himself to the officers of justice, in order, as he said, that he might be put to death for the crime of which he had been guilty in heading a military revolt- and killing his superior officer. By all the laws of war this was a most heinous and a wholly unpardonable offense.
But the emperor was heartily glad that the turbulent and unmanageable old general was put out of the way, for a man so unprincipled, so ambitious, and so reckless as Hujaku was is always an object of aversion and terror to all who have any thing to do With him. The emperor accordingly issued a proclamation, in which he declared that Hujaku had been justly put to death in punishment for many crimes which he had committed, and soon afterward he appointed Kan-ki commander-in-chief of the forces in his stead.
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Genghis done fishing and is in the Yurt
Now that I am back from fishing I must share some additional information
Some of my story has been passed down through oral stories. Other parts have been gleaned from documented history. I cannot vouch for the entire story. The reason is because various generations of our civilization have left the story for Jacob Abbott and others to discover.
JACOB ABBOTT
And so Jacob wrote my story for me.
History and storytelling is much the same thing.
Enough about Jacob Abbott.
There is another person who helped carry the story forward.
Her name is Vikie Pedia. She has agreed to help me tell you my story from this point forward.
The remainder of my story is therefore ghost written by Vikie Pedia.
From the name, I assume she must be Italian or Greek; so many vowels, so few consonants.
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During my 1206 political rise, the Mongol Empire created by I, The Great and Glorious Genghis Khan (and my allies) shared our western borders with the Western Xia dynasty of the Tanguts. To the east and south was the Jin dynasty, founded by the Manchurian Jurchens, who ruled northern China as well as being the traditional overlords of the Mongolian tribes for centuries.
Remember those names; The Jin Dynasty of the Jurchens and the Xia Dynasty of the Tanguts.
There will be a quiz on this later!
Battle between Mongol warriors and the Chinese.
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Next post; #78 The Tanguts Request Help from the Jin Dynasty
