PART I. - THE KAAN, HIS COURT AND CAPITAL.
CHAPTER I.
OF CUBLAY KAAN, THE GREAT KAAN NOW REIGNING, AND OF HIS GREAT PUISSANCE.
Now am I come to that part of our Book in which I shall tell you of the
great and wonderful magnificence of the Great Kaan now reigning, by name
CUBLAY KAAN; Kaan being a title which signifyeth "The Great Lord of
Lords," or Emperor. And of a surety he hath good right to such a title,
for all men know for a certain truth that he is the most potent man, as
regards forces and lands and treasure, that existeth in the world, or ever
hath existed from the time of our First Father Adam until this day. All
this I will make clear to you for truth, in this book of ours, so that
every one shall be fain to acknowledge that he is the greatest Lord that
is now in the world, or ever hath been. And now ye shall hear how and
wherefore.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1. - According to Sanang Setzen, Chinghiz himself discerned young
Kublai's superiority. On his deathbed he said: "The words of the lad
Kublai are well worth attention; see, all of you, that ye heed what he
says! One day he will sit in my seat and bring you good fortune such as
you have had in my day!" (p. 105).
The Persian history of Wassaf thus exalts Kublai: "Although from the
frontiers of this country ('Irak) to the Centre of Empire, the Focus of
the Universe, the genial abode of the ever-Fortunate Emperor and Just
Kaan, is a whole year's journey, yet the stories that have been spread
abroad, even in these parts, of his glorious deeds, his institutes, his
decisions, his justice, the largeness and acuteness of his intellect, his
correctness of judgment, his great powers of administration, from the
mouths of credible witnesses, of well-known merchants and eminent
travellers, are so surpassing, that one beam of his glories, one fraction
of his great qualities, suffices to eclipse all that history tells of the
Caesars of Rome, of the Chosroes of Persia, of the Khagans of China, of
the (Himyarite) Kails of Arabia, of the Tobbas of Yemen, and the Rajas of
India, of the monarchs of the houses of Sassan and Buya, and of the
Seljukian Sultans." (Hammer's Wassaf, orig. p. 37.)
Some remarks on Kublai and his government by a Chinese author, in a more
rational and discriminative tone, will be found below under ch. xxiii.,
note 2.
A curious Low-German MS. at Cologne, giving an account of the East, says
of the "Keyser von Kathagien - syn recht Name is der groisse Hunt!"
(Magnus Canis, the Big Bow-wow as it were. See Orient und Occident, vol.
i. p. 640.)
CHAPTER II.
CONCERNING THE REVOLT OF NAYAN, WHO WAS UNCLE TO THE GREAT KAAN CUBLAY.
Now this Cublay Kaan is of the right Imperial lineage, being descended
from Chinghis Kaan, the first sovereign of all the Tartars. And he is the
sixth Lord in that succession, as I have already told you in this book. He
came to the throne in the year of Christ, 1256, and the Empire fell to him
because of his ability and valour and great worth, as was right and
reason.[NOTE 1] His brothers, indeed, and other kinsmen disputed his
claim, but his it remained, both because maintained by his great valour,
and because it was in law and right his, as being directly sprung of the
imperial line.
Up to the year of Christ now running, to wit 1298, he hath reigned
two-and-forty years, and his age is about eighty-five, so that he must
have been about forty-three years of age when he first came to the
throne.[NOTE 2] Before that time he had often been to the wars, and had
shown himself a gallant soldier and an excellent captain. But after coming
to the throne he never went to the wars in person save once.[NOTE 3]
This befel in the year of Christ, 1286, and I will tell you why he went.
There was a great Tartar Chief, whose name was NAYAN,[NOTE 4] a young man
[of thirty], Lord over many lands and many provinces; and he was Uncle to
the Emperor Cublay Kaan of whom we are speaking. And when he found himself
in authority this Nayan waxed proud in the insolence of his youth and his
great power; for indeed he could bring into the field 300,000 horsemen,
though all the time he was liegeman to his nephew, the Great Kaan Cublay,
as was right and reason. Seeing then what great power he had, he took it
into his head that he would be the Great Kaan's vassal no longer; nay
more, he would fain wrest his empire from him if he could. So this Nayan
sent envoys to another Tartar Prince called CAIDU, also a great and potent
Lord, who was a kinsman of his, and who was a nephew of the Great Kaan and
his lawful liegeman also, though he was in rebellion and at bitter enmity
with his sovereign Lord and Uncle. Now the message that Nayan sent was
this: That he himself was making ready to march against the Great Kaan
with all his forces (which were great), and he begged Caidu to do likewise
from his side, so that by attacking Cublay on two sides at once with such
great forces they would be able to wrest his dominion from him.
And when Caidu heard the message of Nayan, he was right glad thereat, and
thought the time was come at last to gain his object. So he sent back
answer that he would do as requested; and got ready his host, which
mustered a good hundred thousand horsemen.
Now let us go back to the Great Kaan, who had news of all this plot.
