Kublai, as Koeppen observes, the first of his line to raise
himself above the natural and systematic barbarism of the Mongols,
probably saw in the promotion of Tibetan Buddhism, already spread to some
extent among them, the readiest means of civilising his countrymen. But he
may have been quite sincere in saying what is here ascribed to him in
this sense, viz.: that if the Latin Church, with its superiority of
character and acquirement, had come to his aid as he had once requested,
he would gladly have used its missionaries as his civilising instruments
instead of the Lamas and their trumpery. (Rubr. 313; Assemani, III.
pt. ii. 107; Koeppen, II. 89, 96.)
CHAPTER VII.
HOW THE KAAN REWARDED THE VALOUR OF HIS CAPTAINS.
So we will have done with this matter of Nayan, and go on with our account
of the great state of the Great Kaan.
We have already told you of his lineage and of his age; but now I must
tell you what he did after his return, in regard to those barons who had
behaved well in the battle. Him who was before captain of 100 he made
captain of 1000; and him who was captain of 1000 men he made to be captain
of 10,000, advancing every man according to his deserts and to his
previous rank. Besides that, he also made them presents of fine silver
plate and other rich appointments; gave them Tablets of Authority of a
higher degree than they held before; and bestowed upon them fine jewels of
gold and silver, and pearls and precious stones; insomuch that the amount
that fell to each of them was something astonishing. And yet 'twas not so
much as they had deserved; for never were men seen who did such feats of
arms for the love and honour of their Lord, as these had done on that day
of the battle.[NOTE 1]
Now those Tablets of Authority, of which I have spoken, are ordered in
this way. The officer who is a captain of 100 hath a tablet of silver; the
captain of 1000 hath a tablet of gold or silver-gilt; the commander of
10,000 hath a tablet of gold, with a lion's head on it. And I will tell
you the weight of the different tablets, and what they denote. The tablets
of the captains of 100 and 1000 weigh each of them 120 saggi; and the
tablet with the lion's head engraven on it, which is that of the commander
of 10,000, weighs 220 saggi. And on each of the tablets is inscribed a
device, which runs: "By the strength of the great God, and of the great
grace which He hath accorded to our Emperor, may the name of the Kaan be
blessed; and let all such as will not obey him be slain and be
destroyed." And I will tell you besides that all who hold these tablets
likewise receive warrants in writing, declaring all their powers and
privileges.
I should mention too that an officer who holds the chief command of
100,000 men, or who is general-in-chief of a great host, is entitled to a
tablet that weighs 300 saggi. It has an inscription thereon to the same
purport that I have told you already, and below the inscription there is
the figure of a lion, and below the lion the sun and moon. They have
warrants also of their high rank, command, and power.[NOTE 2] Every one,
moreover, who holds a tablet of this exalted degree is entitled, whenever
he goes abroad, to have a little golden canopy, such as is called an
umbrella, carried on a spear over his head in token of his high command.
And whenever he sits, he sits in a silver chair.[NOTE 3]
To certain very great lords also there is given a tablet with gerfalcons
on it; this is only to the very greatest of the Kaan's barons, and it
confers on them his own full power and authority; so that if one of those
chiefs wishes to send a messenger any whither, he can seize the horses of
any man, be he even a king, and any other chattels at his pleasure.
[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1. - So Sanang Setzen relates that Chinghiz, on returning from one of
his great campaigns, busied himself in reorganising his forces and
bestowing rank and title, according to the deserts of each, on his nine
Orlok, or marshals, and all who had done good service. "He named
commandants over hundreds, over thousands, over ten thousands, over
hundred thousands, and opened his treasury to the multitude of the people"
(p. 91).
NOTE 2. - We have several times already had mention of these tablets. (See
Prologue, ch. viii. and xviii.) The earliest European allusion to them is
in Rubruquis: "And Mangu gave to the Moghul (whom he was going to send to
the King of France) a bull of his, that is to say, a golden plate of a
palm in breadth and half a cubit in length, on which his orders were
inscribed. Whosoever is the bearer of that may order what he pleases, and
his order shall be executed straightway."
These golden bulls of the Mongol Kaans appear to have been originally
tokens of high favour and honour, though afterwards they became more
frequent and conventional. They are often spoken of by the Persian
historians of the Mongols under the name of Paizah, and sometimes
Paizah Sir-i-Sher, or "Lion's Head Paizah." Thus, in a firman of Ghazan
Khan, naming a viceroy to his conquests in Syria, the Khan confers on the
latter "the sword, the august standard, the drum, and the Lion's Head
Paizah." Most frequently the grant of this honour is coupled with
Yarligh; "to such an one were granted Yarligh and Paizah" the former
word (which is still applied in Turkey to the Sultan's rescripts) denoting
the written patent which accompanies the grant of the tablet, just as the
sovereign's warrant accompanies the badge of a modern Order.
