Ch.3Jesus Gay (3)

# Kurultai of the Khamag Mongol

To be precise, it wasn’t the great Kurultai where all five Mongol tribes gathered, but rather a smaller meeting to gather opinions within the Khamag Mongol.

It was a meeting of the four main tribes within the Khamag Mongol.

There were the Kiyat led by Yesugei, the Tayichiud led by Ambaghai Khan, the Jalayir led by Juchi Khan, and the Jurkin led by Bulqa Khan.

The situation was that these tribes were led by descendants of Bodonchar, the progenitor of the Borjigin clan.

In other words, though they led different tribes, they were essentially all relatives.

Inside a ger made of cloth brought from the Song Dynasty.

Everyone sitting in a circle was looking at me.

“I heard you nearly died at the hands of those Tatar bastards.”

A statement from Ambaghai, the eldest of the Borjigin clan.

In response to his words—he was the youngest son of Kutula Khan, Yesugei’s uncle—I expressed my gratitude with the distinctly Mongolian gesture of placing my hand on my chest.

“The Tatars tried to harm me, but I survived.”

“That’s fortunate.”

A brief reply.

Then he naturally looked at Toghrul Khan beside me.

“Khan of the Keraites. May I ask why you are participating in the Kurultai of the Khamag Mongol?”

“Of course, Ambaghai Khan. I am here at the request of my anda, Yesugei.”

At those words, Ambaghai naturally looked at me.

I immediately nodded in response.

“I had to bring my acquaintance to ensure the Kurultai upholds the laws of the steppe. I ask the Khan to embrace this with the generosity of the steppe.”

Despite my respectful request, Ambaghai did not hide his suspicious expression.

This was because he was essentially respected as the Khan of the Khamag Mongol.

In this situation, it was natural for him to feel threatened by bringing an outsider—the chief of the Keraites, one of the five major Mongol tribes—as an observer.

But he couldn’t openly show this.

After all, once a Kurultai had begun, it was unthinkable to expel a guest.

“I understand your intention.”

Thus began the meeting.

The first matter raised was my issue.

“Everyone knows that Yesugei, a descendant of the great Khamag Mongol and nephew of Kutula Khan, was nearly poisoned by the Tatars, who are puppets of the Jin Dynasty.”

Ambaghai’s statement.

At his words, Bulqa and Juchi, who were present, nodded.

“This is a violation of the laws of the steppe and disrupts the peace of Mongolia. Therefore, the Khamag Mongol must rise up and make the Tatars pay for their crimes with blood.”

“We must kill all those larger than a cart-pulling wheel and take the young children as slaves.”

Bulqa responded in agreement with Ambaghai.

However, Juchi, who ruled an area close to the Tatars, showed a slightly hesitant attitude.

“I believe we should be cautious as this is a serious matter.”

“Are you now defending the Tatars who violated the laws of the steppe?”

Toghrul glared at Juchi and spat out harsh words.

In response, Juchi immediately waved his hands and defended himself.

“I ask you to withdraw your words, Toghrul Khan. I respect the laws of the steppe, but it’s winter now, the time for great migration. Attacking enemies in such a situation would be tantamount to suicide—that’s what I wanted to say.”

Juchi showing a desire for peace while everyone else wanted war.

I immediately sensed that he was a traitor within our ranks.

“My kinsman Juchi, do you treat my pain, who shares the same surname as you, as if it were someone else’s?”

A fluent, very nomadic sentence coming from my mouth.

Inwardly, I was surprised at how naturally I spoke such words.

It almost felt as if I had briefly become someone else.

“I ask you to calm down. While upholding the laws of the steppe is important, for the future of the Khamag Mongol…”

At that moment, an indescribable anger enveloped my body.

Feeling heat surge throughout my body, I unconsciously sprang to my feet.

“Tengri will be angered, Bai Ulgan will tear the earth, and Esege Malan will send down lightning! How dare you dishonor our ancestors and Tengri by not upholding the laws of the steppe and not caring for family!”

Yesugei venting his anger by invoking Tengri the sky god, Bai Ulgan the earth god, and Esege Malan the wind god.

Again, this happened beyond my control, leaving me dumbfounded.

But the anger was clearly felt by me in Yesugei’s body.

The desire to rip Juchi’s mouth apart filled me completely.

“Calm yourself! No matter that you sit here as Khan of the Kiyat alongside other Khans, Juchi is of a higher generation than you!”

Ambaghai’s intervention.

Despite the mediation of the greatest elder of the Khamag Mongol, Yesugei’s—or my—anger showed no sign of subsiding.

“Even if you are the great elder of the Khamag Mongol, I cannot tolerate your protection of Juchi.”

“How dare you…! You need to be banished from the tribe to come to your senses!”

In a tribal society with a strong hierarchical order.

It was difficult for Ambaghai to look favorably upon Yesugei, who was defying an elder.

Banishment from the tribe.

In the barren Mongolian steppe, banishment essentially meant death.

Therefore, in a normal Kurultai, if the word “banishment” came from Ambaghai’s mouth, Yesugei would have had no choice but to bend his will and prostrate himself.

But now, with Toghrul Khan of the Keraites by my side, I did not yield.

Instead, I glared at Ambaghai as if challenging him to do his worst.

In response, Ambaghai looked at me as if he would kill me on the spot.

“You seem to be giving my anda an unfavorable look, Ambaghai Khan.”

“It would be better for outsiders to stay out of this, Toghrul Khan. This is a respectful request.”

Toghrul shook his head at this.

He folded his arms and glared at Ambaghai.

“Yesugei is my benefactor who saved my life and my only anda. He seeks to uphold the laws of the steppe through the Kurultai, yet you refuse—I cannot stand by and watch this injustice.”

“Should I take that as the will of the entire Keraite tribe?”

Ambaghai’s low voice.

Toghrul nodded and answered Ambaghai.

“Indeed. My will is the will of the Keraites, so if you desire war, we shall respond.”

A sharp confrontation.

With the situation potentially escalating to war with the Keraites before even fighting the Tatars, Bulqa, who had been maintaining neutrality, stepped in to mediate.

“I ask you all to calm down. This only benefits the Tatars, who are dogs of the Jin Dynasty.”

“Is my stepfather’s will the same as theirs?”

Bulqa immediately shook his head at my words.

He carefully spoke to me as if understanding my anger.

“I fully understand your anger. But as Juchi Khan said, it is winter now, making it difficult to take revenge on the Tatars.”

“Stepfather!”

“I have not finished speaking.”

Then, turning his head, Bulqa looked at Ambaghai and Juchi.

He began pointing at the two.

“You pretend to worry about your nephew Yesugei, but when he was critically ill, you seized his tribesmen. How can you speak of peace without shame?”

“Ahem…”

“Hmm…”

Juchi and Ambaghai blushed at Bulqa’s accusation.

As silence fell over the ger, Bulqa, who had taken control of the Kurultai, looked at everyone and spoke.

“Since our opinions differ, I believe it is right according to the laws of the steppe to follow the will of the stronger.”

“By the will of the stronger, you mean…”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I propose we resolve this matter through bokh, following the precedent of Daichi Tengri, the red god of war.”

Bulqa wanted to resolve the issue through bokh, Mongolian wrestling.

The bokh he proposed was not the sport-like bokh currently practiced in Mongolia, but a more barbaric form.

Bokh, which also appears in the myth of Daichi, the red god of war.

Daichi Tengri once mounted a red horse and a white horse that were causing earthquakes on the Mongolian steppe to tame them.

For three days and nights, Daichi alternately rode the red and white horses, strangling them to tame them.

On the final day, the red horse died, leaving only the white horse, and the earthquakes on the Mongolian steppe ceased, according to the myth.

Following this myth, those participating in bokh had to fight with their lives at stake, ending only when one of them died.

It was essentially a duel where one had to fight for their life.

Bulqa turned to look at me.

With a serious expression, he asked me:

“Will you accept this?”

“Of course.”

The answer came without a moment’s hesitation.

Again, it wasn’t my will.

But seeing Bulqa’s expression—surprised yet satisfied by my answer—it seemed this was the right response.

“What will you do, Ambaghai Khan and Juchi Khan?”

The two hesitated.

But having come this far, they couldn’t back down.

“…I will.”

“I will participate.”

With everyone’s consent secured.

Bulqa looked at everyone and shouted in a loud voice.

“After Tengri and Bai Ulgan have switched places, we shall hold bokh before the sacred Burkhan Khaldun, following the will of Daichi Tengri.”

* * *

“To fight for my life in spring… is this right?”

A mutter from my mouth.

The “after Tengri and Bai Ulgan have switched places” that my stepfather Bulqa mentioned at the Kurultai roughly meant when spring arrived.

How did I know this…?

“It seems the original owner of the body keeps interfering…”

The strange phenomena I felt during the Kurultai.

Having repeatedly experienced my body—that is, Yesugei’s body—escaping my control, I couldn’t help but think this.

“Now it’s quiet… I can’t figure it out at all.”

The body’s original owner, who had become quiet as if nothing had happened after returning to Kiyat, our base, after the Kurultai.

It seemed he was quite angry because the elders of the Khamag Mongol didn’t seem willing to avenge him.

His anger was clearly felt by me, who shared the same body at the time.

Therefore, I could fully understand Yesugei’s feelings.

“But when I actually need him, he’s nowhere to be found, which is frustrating.”

The bokh one month later.

To survive the life-or-death wrestling, I needed Yesugei’s knowledge.

But when I actually needed it, he was quiet as a mouse, which was frustrating.