Conn Iggulden - Conqueror (2011)

When they were alone, Mongke carefully refilled the cups and handed one to Kublai.

‘And what am I to do with you, brother?’

‘You seem to have planned everything. Why don’t you tell me?’

‘You have barely left the city in your lifetime, Kublai. While I rode with Tsubodai in the west, you were here, playing with books and quills. When I was taking Kiev, you were learning to dress like a Chin woman and bathe twice a day.’ Mongke leaned closer to his brother and sniffed the air, frowning at the delicate scent around Kublai. ‘Perhaps a post in the city library would be suitable for a man of your … tastes.’

Kublai stiffened, aware that Mongke was deliberately taunting him. Nonetheless he felt his cheeks flush at the insults.

‘There is no shame in scholarship,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘If you are to be khan, perhaps I would be happiest here in the city.’

Mongke sipped his wine thoughtfully, though Kublai suspected he had already come to a decision, long before the meeting. His brother had no great intelligence, but he was thorough and patient. Those qualities could serve a man almost as well.

‘Yet I promised our father that I would look after the family, Kublai. I doubt he intended me to leave you with dusty scrolls and ink-stained fingers.’ Kublai refused to look down at his hands, though it was true enough. ‘He wanted warriors for sons, Kublai, not Chin scribes.’

Despite himself, Kublai was stung into a reply.

‘When we were young, brother, Genghis himself told his men to come to me when they had a problem. He told them I could see through the thickest patch of thorns. Are you asking me what I want from you?’

Mongke smiled slowly.

‘No, Kublai. I am telling you what I want. Hulegu will tear down the strongholds of Islam, Arik-Boke will keep the homeland safe. I have a hundred other irons in the fire, brother, as far away as Koryo. Every day, I am presented with the envoys and ambassadors of a dozen small nations. I am the khan elect, the heart of the nation. But you have another path to tread, the work Ogedai and Genghis left unfinished.’

Kublai’s mind leapt to the conclusion and he swallowed uncomfortably.

‘The Sung,’ Kublai muttered.

‘The Sung, Kublai. Dozens of cities, millions of peasants. It will be your life’s work. In my name, you will bring an end to what Genghis began.’

‘And how would you have me accomplish this grand dream of yours?’ Kublai asked quietly, masking his nervousness with a deep gulp of wine.

‘Genghis started the conquest of the Chin with the region of Xi Xia. My advisers have found another gate into the Sung. I would have you take an army along the south-western border, Kublai, into the Yunnan region. There is only a single city there, though they can call on an army to equal mine. Still, I think it will not be too great a task, even for an unblooded man.’ He smiled to take the sting out of his condescension. ‘I would have you become the grandson Genghis wanted, Kublai, a Mongol conqueror. I find I have the means and the will to change your life. Swear an oath to me today and I will give you the authority to lead tumans. I will make you the terror of the Sung court, a name they dare not speak aloud.’

Kublai drained his cup and shuddered, feeling gooseflesh rise along his arms. He had to voice his first suspicion, or have it nag at him ever after.

‘Are you expecting me to be killed, brother, by sending me against such an enemy? Is that your plan?’

‘Still looking for games and plots?’ Mongke replied with a laugh. ‘I think Yao Shu had you too long in his care, brother. Sometimes things are simple, as they should be. I would lose valuable cannons and my best general with you. Would I send Uriang-Khadai to his death? Put your mind at ease, brother. In a few months, I will become khan. Have you any idea what that means to me? I remember Genghis . To stand in his place is … worth more than I can explain. I don’t need to play games or construct complicated schemes. The Sung have already raided into Chin territory, on more than one front. Unless I answer them soon with force, they will slowly take back what Genghis conquered. That is my only plan, brother. My only aim.’

Kublai saw simple truth in Mongke’s stare and he nodded. In a revelation, he realised his brother was trying to fit the role he had won for himself. A khan needed a breadth of vision, to be able to rise above the petty squabbles of family and nation. Mongke was struggling to do just that. It was impressive, and with an effort Kublai shrugged off his doubts.

‘What oath would you have?’ he said at last. Mongke was watching him closely, his own emotions well hidden.

‘Swear to me that you will put aside your Chin ways, that on campaign you will dress and act and look like a Mongol warrior, that you will train with sword and bow every morning until you are exhausted. Swear that you will not read a scholar’s book for the whole time you are on campaign, not one , and I will give you an army today. I will give you Uriang-Khadai, but the command will be your own.’ For a moment, a sneer touched his lips. ‘If that is all too much, then you may return to the libraries here and wait out the years to come, always wondering what you could have been, what you could have done with your life.’

Kublai’s thoughts whirled. Mongke was trying to be a khan. It seemed he thought a similar change could be wrought in his brother. It was almost endearing to see the big brute so earnest. Kublai thought of Yao Shu and the peaceful years he had spent in Karakorum. He had loved the silences of study, the glories of insight. Yet part of him had always dreamed of leading men in war. His grandfather’s blood ran in him as much as it did in Mongke.

‘You promised Hulegu a khanate, if he could take Baghdad,’ Kublai said after what felt like an age.

Mongke laughed aloud, the sound echoing. He had begun to worry that his scholar brother would refuse him. He felt almost drunk on his own foresight as he reached for the pile of maps and documents.

His finger rested on the vast lands of northern China and he stabbed it down.

‘There are two areas here, brother. Nan-ching and Ching-chao. They are mine to give. Choose either one, with my blessing. You will have your stake in Chin lands, your own estates. If you agree to this, you will be able to visit them. Before I promise you more, let me see you can win battles for me.’ His smile remained as he saw Kublai examine the maps minutely, fascinated. ‘Are we agreed then?’

‘Give me Yao Shu as my adviser and we are,’ Kublai said, letting the words spill out before he could think his choices to death. There were times when a decision had to be made quickly and part of him was filled with the same excitement he had seen in his younger brothers.

‘You have him,’ Mongke said immediately. ‘By the sky father, you can have all the Chin scholars left in Karakorum if you say yes to this! I will see my family rise, Kublai. The world will know our names, I swear it.’

Kublai had been looking closely at the maps. Nan-ching ran close to the Yellow river and he recalled that the plain was prone to flooding. The area was populous and Mongke would surely expect him to choose it. Ching-chao was further to the north of Yenking, on the boundary of the Mongol homeland. It had hardly any towns marked. He wished Yao Shu were there to give his opinion.

‘With your permission, I will take Ching-chao,’ he said at last.

‘The small one? It is not enough. I will give you …’ Mongke traced a line on the map as he peered at it, ‘Huai-meng as well. Estates so vast they are almost a khanate, brother. More will come if you are successful. You cannot say I have not been generous.’