Genghis Khan, Makers of History SeriesAbbott, Jacob
History
Genghis Khan, Makers of History Series
Abbott, Jacob
Genghis Khan, 1162-1227; Mongols -- History
Marshaling of the army.--Arms and armor.--Provision for
contingencies.--The army commences its march.--Jughi's
division.--Preparations of the sultan.--His army.--His plan.--The
sultan meets Jughi.--Opinion of the generals.--Jughi's decision.--The
battle commenced.--Neither party victorious.--Jughi withdraws.--His
reception by his father.--The Monguls victorious.--The sultan's
plans.--Flying squadron.--Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan made his preparations for a war on an immense scale. He
sent messengers in every direction to all the princes, khans,
governors, and other chieftains throughout his empire, with letters
explaining to them the cause of the war, and ordering them to repair
to the places of rendezvous which he appointed, with all the troops
that they could raise.
He gave particular directions in respect to the manner in which the
men were to be armed and equipped. The arms required were the sabre,
the bow, with a quiver full of arrows, and the battle-axe. Each
soldier was also to carry a rope, ropes and cordage being continually
in demand among people living on horseback and in tents.
The officers were to wear armor as well as to carry arms. Those who
could afford it were to provide themselves with a complete coat of
mail. The rest were to wear helmets and breast-plates only. The
horses were also to be protected as far as possible by breast-plates,
either of iron, or of leather thick and tough enough to prevent an
arrow from penetrating.
When the troops thus called for appeared at the place of rendezvous
appointed for them, Genghis Khan found, as is said, that he had an
army of seven hundred thousand men!
The army being thus assembled, Genghis Khan caused certain rules and
regulations, or articles of war, as they might be called, to be drawn
up and promulgated to the troops. One of the rules was that no body of
troops were ever to retreat without first fighting, whatever the
imminence of the danger might be. He also ordered that where a body of
men were engaged, if any subordinate division of them, as one company
in a regiment, or one regiment in a battalion, should break ranks and
fly before the order for a retreat should have been given by the
proper authority, the rest were to leave fighting the enemy, and
attack the portion flying, and kill them all upon the spot.
The emperor also made formal provision for the event of his dying in
the course of the campaign. In this case a grand assembly of all the
khans and chieftains of the empire was to be convened, and then, in
the presence of these khans and of his sons, the constitution and
laws of the empire, as he had established them, were to be read, and
after the reading the assembly were to proceed to the election of a
new khan, according to the forms which the constitution had provided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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