The Successors of Genghis Khan - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

THE SUCCESSORS OF GENGHIS KHAN
attack]?" Mongke Qa'an approved these words and said: "Our
fathers and aqas, who were the former rulers, each of them wrought a
deed and conquered a land and raised up his name amongst mankind.
I too shall go to war in person and march against Nangiyas."94
The princes replied with one voice: "One who is ruler of the face of
the earth and has seven brothers, how shall he go to war against the
enemy in his own person?" And he said: "As we have spoken finally,
to oppose our words is remote from counsel and policy." And in the
taulaiy'ilvs corresponding to Muharram of the year 653 [February-
March, 1255], which was the sixth96 year from his auspicious accession,
he went to war against Jaugan,97 the ruler of Khitai, leaving his
youngest brother Ar'iq Boke in charge of the ordos and the Mongol
army that had been left behind there. He likewise entrusted the ulus
to [Ar'iq Boke] and left his own son Uriing-Tash with him. As for the
armies he took with him, he appointed to the command of them the
following princes, kuregens, and great emirs. The right98 hand—Princes:
[from the] branch of the house of Qa'an; Yeke-Qadan, and Totaq;
[from the] branch of the house of Chaghatai; Qushiqai and other
princes, Abishqa, Narin-Qadan and Qadaqchi-Sechen; [from the]
branch of the sons of Tolui; Moge and Asutai; [and from the] branch
of the cousins of Ja'utu and other princes, ;99 Emirs: Baiju
of the house of Mongke Qa'an; [and] Qprchi Noyan. The left hand100
—Princes: Taghachar, son of Otchi Noyan; [and] Yesiingge, son of
Jochi-Qasar; Emirs: Chaqula, son of Elchitei Noyan; Qurumshi,
son of Muqali Guyang;101 Alchi Noyan102 of the Qpnqiirat; Nachin
94 See above, p. 22 and note 43.
95 The Year of the Hare: Mo. taulai, "hare." The campaign was actually launched
early in 1258, a Year of the Horse. See also below, p. 225 and note 108 and p. 228 and
note 123.
96 The reference apparently is not to his official enthronement in 1251 but to the
earlier ceremony held under the auspices of Batu in 1249.
97 From the Chinese Chao kuan, " Chao official." This was the Mongols' contemptuous
designation of the Sung Emperor, who bore the family name of Chao.
98 That is, the West. «9 Blank in Blochet's MSS.
100 That is, the East.
101 i^e name of Muqali's only son according to the Chinese sources and another
passage in Rashid al-DIn (Khetagurov, p. 93) was not Qurumshi but Bo'ol. See
Campagnes, p. 371.
102 The brother-in-law of Genghis Khan. He had fought in the war against the Chin
and had also apparently taken part in the Campaign in the West. See Boyle 1963, p. 238.
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