The Khan Series 5-Book Bundle: Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Genghis: Bones of the Hills, Genghis: Lords of the Bow, Khan: Empire of Silver, Conqueror (258 page)

I have tried to contrast Hulegu with Kublai, as they had such differing styles. In many ways, Hulegu struggled to be like Mongke and Genghis, while Kublai became as Chinese as the most tradition-bound Chin lord—and greater. Baghdad was ransacked and looted, as Hulegu seems to have had a greed for gold that Genghis would never have understood. In comparison, it is true that Kublai spared cities if they surrendered, making it a central part of his style. He forbade his men indiscriminate killing of the Chin and Sung, on pain of their own execution if they disobeyed him. His character must be set against the traditional ruthlessness of his culture to understand what an unusual man he was. He was certainly influenced in that by Yao Shu, a man still revered in China for his Buddhist principles and the lives he saved.

Mongke still felt the need to join the Sung attack on a different front in the end. One source puts the size of the army he brought into Sung lands as sixty tumans—a true horde of six hundred thousand men, though a smaller figure is much more likely. Enemies of the khans always had trouble estimating Mongol army sizes because of the vast herd of remounts they kept with them. We do not know if Kublai had stalled, or whether Mongke had always agreed with his brother that a two-pronged attack would be necessary to unite the Chinese empires.

The manner of Mongke’s death en route to Sung China is disputed. It was either an arrow wound that became infected, or dysentery, or cholera: such a wide range of possibilities that it allowed me to work with the idea that Hulegu’s attack on the Assassins could well have earned their final vengeance. Kublai knew he had to pull back when the news reached him of the death of Mongke. It was an established tradition, and even Tsubodai’s conquest of western Europe had been abandoned on the death of Ogedai. The Sung generals
would have heard almost as soon as Kublai himself and their relief can only be imagined. Yet Kublai refused to leave China. He had already begun to divorce himself from the politics of home. China was his khanate, his empire, even then.

Mongke’s army had no such reluctance and immediately abandoned their progress south in Sung lands. When Hulegu heard the news, he too returned from the Middle East, loyal to the end. He left only some twenty thousand men under General Kitbuqa (who did indeed insist on holding Christian Mass in conquered mosques). Without the other tumans in support, they were destroyed by resurgent Moslem forces, using, of all tactics, the feigned retreat so beloved by Mongol armies. However, Hulegu had won his own khanate, which eventually became modern-day Iran. Only Kublai ignored the call.

At home in Karakorum, Arik-Boke made a decision that would affect all the generations of his family to come. He had ruled the capital in Mongke’s absence and was already established as the khan of the homeland. With the return of Mongke’s army, he convinced himself there was no better candidate and declared himself great khan. The youngest son of Sorhatani and Tolui had come to rule.

In the same year, 1260, his brother Kublai declared himself khan while standing on foreign soil. Kublai could not have known that he was sowing the seeds of a civil war between brothers that would bring the empire of Genghis to its knees.

I HAVE ALTERED THE ORDER OF SUNG EMPERORS RATHER
than omit scenes with the boy emperor, Huaizong, who ruled slightly later in the period. Emperor Lizong had reigned for some forty years when he finally died childless in 1264. He was succeeded by his nephew, Emperor Duzong, a man of immense appetites. He lasted only ten years until 1274 and was succeeded by his eight-year-old younger brother, who in turn would survive only four years and see Kublai’s triumph over his house.

On the subject of numbers: fourteen is extremely unlucky in Chinese
culture, as the sound is similar to the words for “want to die” in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Nine, as the greatest single integer, is one of the luckiest numbers and is associated with the emperor.

BY THIS TIME, THERE WERE SIMPLY TOO MANY PRINCES TO
include them all. Lord Alghu was son to Baidur, grandson to Chagatai, great-grandson to Genghis. He ruled the Chagatai khanate and initially supported Arik-Boke in the civil war before turning against him. It is true that he was the first of his line to convert to Islam, a fairly sound tactical move given the people he ruled in the khanate around Samarkand and Bukhara, in modern-day Uzbekistan. A century after these events, Samarkand would become the capital of the conqueror Tamerlane.

THE ANSWER ARIK-BOKE GAVE TO HIS BROTHER, “I WAS IN
the right but now you are,” is part of the historical record and fascinating for what it reveals of the man. Like Guyuk Khan before him, Arik-Boke’s death remains one of those oddly convenient occurrences in history. He was in the prime of his life, healthy and strong, yet shortly after losing to Kublai, he dies. It is not difficult to suspect foul play.

WHEN I BEGAN THIS SERIES, I INTENDED TO WRITE ALL OF
Kublai Khan’s life. The most famous events—meeting Marco Polo, both attacks on Japan—seemed like vital parts of the story. Yet it is a truth of historical fiction that all the characters are long dead; all the lives and stories have ended, and usually not well. Very few lives finish in glory and I have already written the deaths of Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan. For once, I thought I might finish a series with a character still alive and with all his dreams and hopes still to come.
I
might know that Kublai’s wife and son died before him, leaving him a broken man given to drinking and eating far too much, but at this point in his life,
he
does not—and that is how I wanted to leave him.

There will always be loose ends with such a decision. Kublai defeated
the Sung at last and established the Yuan dynasty of a united China, a name still used for the currency today. His descendants ruled for almost a hundred years before fading into history, though the bloodline of Genghis ruled other khanates for far longer.

This story began with a single, starving family, hunted and alone on the plains of Mongolia—and ends with Kublai Khan ruling an empire larger than that of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Over just three generations, that is simply the greatest rags-to-riches tale in human history.

Conn Iggulden
London, 2011

Ala-ud-Din Mohammed
Shah of Khwarezm. Died exhausted on an island in the Caspian Sea.

Alkhun
Senior officer of the khan’s guards in Karakorum.

Arik-Boke
Fourth and youngest son of Sorhatani and Tolui. Grandson of Genghis Khan.

Arslan
Master swordsmith who was once armorer to the Naiman tribe. Father to Jelme. Died of disease in Samarkand.

Baabgai
The bear. A Chin recruit who becomes a successful wrestler.

Baidur
Son of Chagatai. Rules his father’s khanate around modern-day Afghanistan.

Barchuk
Khan of the Uighurs.

Basan
Wolf tribe. Bondsman of Yesugei in
Birth of an Empire
.

Batu
Son to Jochi and grandson to Genghis Khan. Leads a tuman with Tsubodai and becomes a lord with vast lands in Russia.

Bayar
General to Kublai.

Bekter
Oldest son of Yesugei and Hoelun. Murdered by his brothers.

Bela IV
King of Hungary at the time Tsubodai’s tumans attacked.

Borte
Olkhun’ut tribe. Daughter to Sholoi and Shria. Becomes wife to Temujin/Genghis and has four sons: Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedai, and Tolui.

Chagatai
Old storyteller in Wolf tribe.

Chagatai
Same name as storyteller. Second son of Genghis and Borte. Father to Baidur.

Chakahai
Daughter to Rai Chiang of the Xi Xia. A princess given as tribute. Second wife to Genghis.

Chen Yi
Criminal gang leader in Chin city of Baotou.

Chulgetei
General of a tuman under Tsubodai.

Eeluk
Bondsman to Yesugei Khan. Becomes khan of the Wolves on Yesugei’s death.

Enq
Olkhun’ut tribe. Father to Koke. Brother to Hoelun. Uncle to Temujin/Genghis and his siblings.

Genghis Khan (see also Temujin)
First khan of the Mongol nation. Husband to Borte. Father to Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedai, and Tolui. Dies in
Bones of the Hills
.

Guyuk
Son of Ogedai Khan and Torogene.

Hasan
Brutalized servant in Assassin fortress of Alamut.

Hoel’un
Wife of Yesugei. Mother to Bekter, Temujin, Kachiun, Khasar, Temuge, and Temulun.

Ho Sa
Officer of the Xi Xia. Becomes envoy and officer under Genghis. Dies in
Bones of the Hills
.

Hulegu
Third son of Sorhatani and Tolui. Grandson of Genghis Khan.

Ilugei
General of a tuman under Tsubodai.

Inalchuk
Governor of the city of Otrar. Dies when Genghis pours molten silver into his mouth.

Jebe (originally Zurgadai)
Chosen successor to Arslan. Becomes one of Genghis’s most trusted and able generals. Leader of “Bearskin” tuman. Friend to Jochi, Genghis’s son.

Jelaudin
Son and heir to Shah Ala-ud-Din Mohammed.

Jelme
Son of Arslan. Later becomes one of Genghis’s most trusted generals.

Jochi
First son of Genghis and Borte. Some doubt over paternity. Becomes general to “Iron Wolf” tuman. Only general ever to rebel against Genghis. Killed in
Bones of the Hills
.

Kachiun
Fourth son of Yesugei and Hoelun. Becomes a general under Genghis.

Khalifa al-Nayan
Leader of elite Arab cavalry for Shah Mohammed.

Khasar
Third son of Yesugei and Hoelun. Becomes a general under Genghis.

Kokchu
Shaman to the Naiman Khan and later to Genghis. Killed in
Bones of the Hills
.

Koke
Olkhun’ut tribe. Nephew of Hoelun. Cousin to Temujin and his siblings.

Köten
Leader of the Cumans, a refugee people who fled into Hungary and converted to Christianity.