Evening star., 1928-05-27
(Continued from Second PACE

and leave matters Of leadership to his
generals and the strength of the no.
madS beyond the wall was in the mill
tary genius of their Khan, who led the
army in person.
The case of Genghis Khan was very
like that Of Hannibal in Italy. He had a
limited number of warriors A single
decisive defeat would send the nomads
back into their deserts. A doubtful VIC
tory would be no gain. His success must
be decisive without too great loss in
man power. And he would be called
upon to maneuver his divisions against
armies led by masters of tactics.
Meanwhile, out in Karakorum he was
still the subject Of the Golden Emperor.
In the past when the fortunes Of
Cathay had been aScendent, the En-
perorS had demanded tribute of the no.
mads beyond the great wall In mo-
ments OF weakness the dynaSties of
Cathay had bought off the nomads,
sending them such things as silver, floss
caravan loads of grain and wine, to keep
them from raiding. To manifest its
honor, or, in other words, to save its
face, the dynasty of Cathay would call
these payments gifts But in the years
OF power the payments demanded from
the nomad khans were called tribute.
The predatory tribes had not forgot
ten these magnificent gifts, nor the an
noying exactions of Cathayan officials
and the rare expeditions of the that
and girdle" people from the barrier of
the great wall. Thus the peoples of the
eastern Cobb were at the present mo-
ment nominally subjects Of the Golden
Emperor, adminiStered-in theory-by
the absentee Warden of the Western
Marches. GenghiS Khan was entered
In the roll Of officials as commander
against rebels. In due course the
scribeS of Yen-king, coming over the
records, sent ernisSaries to him to collect
tribute Of horses and cattle. This trib-
ute he did not pay.
The situation was typically Chinese.
The attitude Of Genghis Khan may be
described IN two words-watchful wait
ing.
In the course Of his campaigns within
the Cobb he had encountered the great
wall, and considered attentively this
rampant of brick and stone, with its
| towers over the gates and its impressive
summit, upon which six horsemen could
gallop abreast.
More recently he had caused his
standard to be dispalyed from gate to
| gate along its nearest circuit-a cir
cumstance to which the Warden of the
Western Marches and the Golden EN-
peror paid not the slightest attention.
But the frontier tribes, the buffer peo-
| pies, living within the shadow of the
wall and serving the monarch of Cathay
upon his hunting excursions took full
notice of this bold act and decided
among themselves that the Golden EN-
peror was afraid Of the nomad chief
tain.
This was hardly the case. Secure
within their walled cities, the millions
OF Cathay thought not at all of the
horde Of quarter million warriors. Ex-
cept that the Golden Emperor, in the
course of his continual warfare with
the ancient house of Sung, in the south,
beyond the Son of the Ocean, the
Yang-tze, sent other emiSSaries to the
Mongols to request the assistance of the
nomad horsemen.
Several humans were lent by Genghis
Khan, quite readily. Chepe Noyon and
others OF the Orkhons commanded these
cavalry divisions. What they effected
on behalf Of the Golden Emperor is un-
known. But they used their eyes and
asked questions.
They had all the nomads ability to
remember landmarks And when they
rode back to the horde in the Cobb they
had pretty good idea Of the topogra-
pny OF CaChay.
They brought with them, also, tales of
wonders. In Cathay. they said, the
roads ran clear across the rivers, on
stone platforms; wooden kibitkas floated
on the rivers; all the largest cities had
walls too high for horse to leap.
Men in Cathay wore vests of nankeen
and silks of all colorS, and even some of
the slaves had as many as seven vests.
Instead OF old minstrels, young poets
entertained the court-not by droning
hero legends. but by writing words on