I
-°-oOo-°-
Chapter eight Karakorum Blue Moon InnI
-°-oOo-°-
Earth -414 IR1. Northern Yuan Empire
4 Ding Wei (24th of May 1431)
I
-°-oOo-°-
Karakorum Blue Moon InnI
-°-oOo-°-
Adai was a small man with a muscular frame and a round bearded face.
He didn't look pleased, but his initial frown had disappeared when he had heard Geoffrey's pure Mongolian speech. It was a little on the exotic side, but it was perfectly pronounced.
Until now they had exchanged pleasantries, but Geoffrey knew that it would soon change.
- I never saw one of those, said finally Adai while showing the Tuman-U Noyad insignia.
- Normal, all the others have either been destroyed or have been buried with the Khan of Khans' body… This one is the only one that's still in circulation.
- I didn't know that the insignias played also the role of a blank cheque…
- How could it not? All those who received the Tuman-U Noyad insignia were highly trusted military companions of the Khan. They were all the Khan's voice. And that's also the main reason why all the remining insignias were collected at the Khan of Khans' death to be buried with him.
- But this one…
- But this one, indeed. This one was with its legitimate owner… Somewhere else where nobody, not even the Khan's envoys could reach him… It couldn't be brought back in time. And once the burial done there was nobody left alive to show where to put it… So, it stayed within the family.
- Is the graving…
- Accurate? Of course, it is. It looks exactly like him. He had the best craftsmen at his disposal. And he wasn't renowned for his patience.
- The other graving looks a lot like you…
- Probably because it was already me.
- Genghis died two hundred years ago…
- Two hundred and four years ago to be precise, corrected Geoffrey while letting his smile reach his eyes.
He was quite satisfied to have been able to wake up Adai's curiosity. It would help him to avoid wasting time.
To take care of those who were discreetly listening, he changed the tone of his voice and whispered in Olomunk, the Spirit Language he had learned a few years ago while supporting Yonglin Emperor.
- Don't repeat it, but I am not what I look like and especially I am a lot older than my looks could make you feel!
Switching back to modern Mongolian, he spoke up.
- I count three different people who are listening to what we say within this room…
He looked up and took the time to focus on three different points of the walls.
- I warn everybody that I will do what's necessary to put an end to that spying. Two of the spies work for the Khargan and one works for the Inn's manager. I will offer those three a count to ten to give them the opportunity to get out of where they are currently. At ten I will kill them beginning with Chimeg, the Inn's spy and his death will be followed by Mandakh's. The last to die, since he is Adai's cousin, will be Togtuun… One… Two… Three…
At six the last of the spies had left the vicinity of the room.
Geoffrey looked at Adai and shook his head.
- Next time, I'll just kill them without any further warning.
- It is common protocol, said Adai who didn't look phased.
- I won't reproach you anything just know that the next ones you send to spy on me or on men of mine will never come back. No threat, just a warning…
Adai, for a few seconds abstained to answer. Then he asked the question which had been on his mind since he had looked at the insignia.
- What do you want?
- We want Mankind to finish what we charged Genghis to achieve. But, if possible, without the carnage, the mountains of skulls and the razing of cities. We still want the world to be united as we did when we saved Genghis' life when he was a very young and very solitary young man. We had great hopes in him and his blood but we were quite disappointed by him and his blood. The Mongols have shown again and again that they are unable to control their most basic instincts and always fall back into barbaric customs.
- We conquered half the world…
- And while doing it, you killed half the world's population. Your chieftains never were able to control your hordes.
Geoffrey took a long breath.
- How many times have the Mongols disappointed us. First Genghis, than Ogodai and finally a few decades ago we've got with Timour Lang another of those bloodthirsty mass murderers the Mongols seem to beget with an awful regularity.
- Timour was a Turk…
- He himself pretended to be of the same blood as Genghis' grandfather, that will suffice to consider that, once more, the Mongols have disappointed us and that the Turks aren't any better.
- Why should we give a damn?
There was a silence which became very soon very heavy.
- We conquered half the world…
- And lost eighty percent of it within the next century, said Geoffrey. Which seems to prove that if Mongols are good warriors, excellent killers, over average rapists, they are bad managers. So, since you seem to be unable to control your hordes we will have to offer the chance to do the job to somebody else. Somebody in better control of their troops!
- The Great Khan died before he could achieve the conquest…
- The Great Khan died because he forgot the promises he made before we offered him the world and even while we warned him he destroyed the empire of Kwarazan!
- The shah killed the Khan's envoys…
Geoff didn't hide his annoyance.
- We do know exactly what happened! Second by second! And so we know that the shah refused to punish Inaltchuk who killed the members of the Mongol Trading expedition. We know the facts, and we do know the necessities of warfare, so, we didn't forbid neither invasions nor vengeance. But we did forbid the killing of innocent citizens and we insisted that a man should always be true to his word. Those were part of the deal! And still the Horde killed millions of innocent people and Genghis perjured himself twice by not being true to his word to us and by forgetting the promise he gave to the people of Samarkand not to kill them if they surrendered. That was the moment when we stopped supporting the man who, for us, had become two-tonged Temujin. We didn't stop the Mongol people, but we stopped helping Temujin.
- He soon died after the Kwarazanian campaign… Did you…?
Geoffrey couldn't help but snicker at the man's visible shock. Could it be that the Greatest Mongol of all times had been assassinated?
- No, we didn't! The possibility had been contemplated by some of us but it was never implemented because even if Temujin had shown himself as a lying bastard, the goal we wanted to achieve was still possible. But, once more, we were greatly disappointed! And failing us always has consequences! Had he shown that he was a trustworthy man we wouldn't have ignored his plight after his…
Here he hesitated. The manner in which Genghis had died had been very thoroughly wiped out from the memories to avoid showing that other monstrous personality trait that had ultimately been Genghis' downfall.
Dying from massive blood loss after having been emasculated was not something the Mongols had wanted to share with the rest of the world.
- Had we not been displeased we would have sent a messenger to heal his injuries. Having shown his faithless nature, we chose to let the Spirits decide how Genghis would end. And clearly the Spirits wanted him to die in a very messy way. We had and still have the means to bestow a loyal and trustful follower with a very long and fruitful reign, believe me! But treachery, lecherousness, disloyalty, bloodthirstiness and greed are not things we support, forget or forgive within the ranks of our followers.
Adai who had known how Genghis had died could only nod.
How a man who had literally bedded thousands of willing girls and who had scores of them fighting each other to have a chance to be bedded by him could show the pettiness to force himself on a girl whose parents and siblings he had just ordered to be killed, was beyond understandable. Even for a bloodthirsty Mongol chieftain like him.
Whatever the Mongols could think about their most famous man, admiring him was clearly not a safe activity.
He couldn't help but repeat his question.
- Why are you here?
- To convince you that the raids you are preparing against Ming must be postponed…
Adai couldn't hide his surprise.
- We prepare no such thing…
Geoffrey's smile increased minimally.
- The fact that you don't know about them should not be considered as a proof of them not happening. Let's just consider the facts. Those who are about to launch the first raid are absent from Karakorum because they want to make you face a done deal. And they are already under way towards the place where their troops have been gathering for weeks now.
Geoff shot a one eyed wink in Adai's direction.
- So, could it be that the reason of your ignorance is based on a certain will to let you in the dark as long as possible? One could think that your followers, believing that you would be absent for a few more months, have forgotten to take the time to inform you that your troops have moved in the general direction of the Ming Empire! Indeed, why bother you while you were busy warring in the west, by informing you that the rest of your army was more or less moving southwards?
- I just came back, I suppose that somebody could be waiting at the palace to give me the details!
- The possibility exists, and it could indeed be that your generals, ignoring that you would be back so soon, have, meanwhile, sent somebody to inform you that they have decided to launch the whole thing during your absence.
- You don't believe so?
Geoffrey shook his head.
- I don't need to believe. I know that as we speak there is nobody awaiting you to give you the news, answered Geoffrey. And I doubt that there will be anybody any time soon even if a courier is, as we speak, galloping to the South to inform your faithful generals that you came back to Karakorum. Let said courier arrive…
Geoff made a vague hand gesture.
- Since he is in no hurry, I'd speculate that he will reach them in two or three days. The message will inform the generals of your arrival and they will discuss not their decision, but how long they need to discuss to be sure that your call to stop won't come to them in time. So, add three more days before the messenger is sent with strict orders to be cautious and to get here. So we add three more days till you even get the chance to send the recall call. So, without me, you would officially have been informed in eight or nine days. Add four or five more days to get your answer to the still marching troops and you would have lost the opportunity to stop them before the intrusion in the Ming Empire had already happened.
Geoffrey shrugged once.
- And once on Ming territory calling them back would be the worst of all decisions. So, you will go with the tide and officially approve of the raid.
Geoffrey chose to stop smiling.
- In matters of war and love, it is always easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission… Especially when your generals know that the Khargan has thought for the last months about doing a little bit of raiding in the Ming Empire all by himself.
Adai who had to acknowledge that he was angrier to have not been invited than to have been overseen looked the man in the eyes.
- I suppose you have a way to stop them?
- More than one. The only real question is how you want to have it done. Or to be more precise, what sort of retaliation do you believe necessary? Or in other words, who do you want dead? Nobody, only the generals? All the officers? Every one of those traitors?
- You could do that?
- For us getting rid of people is the easiest thing in the world. As you know a human being is a fragile little beast who can be chopped down by so many different means that the real problem is and has ever been the choice of the weapon. But I will have to admit that killing everyone isn't our preferred MO. We would even prefer to do it, for once, without any bloodshed. It would be counterproductive in this particular setting…
- How so?
- Let's say that we are a little more in a hurry than two centuries ago. Especially since then we didn't get what we hoped for!
- Which was?
- A united Earth under one efficient dynasty! And it is still what we know the planet needs. We still want everybody under the same flag, and, in fact, to be operative, we need everybody under the same flag. So, the faster we get there the better. But we will have to do it differently this time. You won't like it, but we will intervene a lot more often and a lot more openly than the last time.
Geoffrey shook his head.
- Last time, with two-tongue Temujin a.k.a. Genghis, we tried to play it while staying discreetly in the background of the throne. Giving the ruler we have chosen the appearance of independence seemed us a good façade. He showed us that trustworthiness goes both ways. We now know that one must look after one's investment with a lot more scrutiny when dealing with a genius who has a lot of bad habits. He taught us that trust is a very overrated feeling and we have decided to do without it. This time, not only will we be very visible, but we will take no precautions to make believe that we are not the ones calling the shots. We won't be present in the flesh every second of your time, but we will be there looking over your shoulders…
Whispering advice in your mind and listening to the plotting in your thoughts.
Adai made no effort to hide his fear when the voice slithered into his mind.
The voice didn't let itself heard again but like a reek of a lost battle he could still feel its presence. And his counterpart's smile had, this time, totally disappeared to be replaced with a face that could have been chiseled out of granite.
- Provide me with a message for your generals and I can assure you that it will be delivered before nightfall. You are free to warn them that should they decide to not follow your orders you will have them executed.
Another sort of smile appeared on his host's face.
- And, since I will know their thoughts, if necessary, I'll do it myself upon arrival!
I
-°-oOo-°-