Chapter - 79 Decoy Deployment On the Cliff (9) (1/2)
Three times Senggum sent a messenger to negotiate. If Temujin released Dukhsh and left, his life would be spared. Each time, the Khan cut the ears off the messenger before he returned them to their master.
The sun moved towards the horizon. Fearing that Senggum would use the dusk to attack, Temujin ordered that everyone should double their vigilance.
Towards midnight, a man clothed in white approached the foot of the hill. ”I am Jamuka,” he called out. ”I wish to see my sworn brother Temujin.”
”You may come up!” the Khan said.
Jamuka ascended slowly and saw Temujin standing at the top of the slope. He advanced and made as if to embrace him, but the Khan, not letting his guard down, said roughly, ”You still consider me a brother?”
Jamuka sighed and seated himself cross-legged. ”Brother,” he said, ”You are already the chief of a tribe, why do you have this ambition to unify all of the Mongols?”
”What do you believe?” Temujin replied.
”The chieftains of the tribes say: 'our ancestors lived this way for hundreds of years, why does Temujin want to change tradition? Heaven will not allow it'!”
”Do you remember the history of our ancestor Lady Alan Qo'a?” Temujin said. ”She had five sons that lived in discord. She asked all of them to come and eat with her. Then she gave an arrow to each and asked them to break it. This they did very easily. Next, she tied five arrows together, and asked again that they break them. Each tried in turn, but none were able to break the five arrows. Do you recall what she said to them then?”
”If you are not united,” Jamuka said in a low voice, ”you can be broken by those of no importance, just like a single arrow. If you unite, you will be as solid as the five arrows and no person will break you.”
”So,” Temujin said, ”you remember that. What happened next?”
”The five sons united their efforts and conquered an immense territory. They are the ancestors of our Mongol tribes.”
”Exactly! Both of us are brave and heroic; why not unite all of the Mongolians? If we do not quarrel amongst ourselves, we will be strong enough to destroy the Jin Empire!”
”But how?” Jamuka asked, ”The Jin Empire is powerful and its armies and wealth are immeasurable; how can we Mongolians defeat them?”
”Then you prefer to remain submissive to the Jin?”
”The Jin Empire does not oppress us,” Jamuka protested. ”The emperor has even made you a 'Northern Ambassador'!”
”At first,” Temujin said honestly, ”I also believed that they had good intentions. But the greed of the Jin has no limits, and they demand more from us each time. First they want cattle, next horses, and now they ask that we send soldiers to help them make war. The country of the Song is far removed from our lands! Even if the Song dynasty falls, all the lands conquered will belong to Jin alone. We will lose warriors, to win what? Since when would our cattle stop eating the green grass of our plains to go eat the sand on the other side of the mountains? If we must battle, it should be against the Jin Empire only!”
”Ong Khan and Senggum do not want to betray the Jin.” Jamuka said.
”To betray?” Temujin mocked. ”Betray? And you?”