国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 | |
マルコ=ポーロ卿の記録 : vol.1 |
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CHAP. LIV. THE TARTAR CUSTOMS OF WAR
261
the least ; and they are the best of all for making wide
conquests of country. And this you will perceive from
what you have heard and shall hear in this book ; and
(as a fact) there can be no manner of doubt that now
they are the masters of the biggest half of the world.
Their troops are admirably ordered in the manner that I
shall now relate.
You see, when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he
takes with him, say, i oo,000 horse. Wel], he appoints
an officer to every ten men, one to every hundred, one
to every thousand, and one to every ten thousand, so
that his own orders have to be given to ten persons only,
and each of these ten persons has to pass the orders only
to other ten, and so on ; no one having to give orders to
more than ten. And every one in turn is responsible
only to the officer immediately over him ; and the
discipline and order that comes of this method is mar-
vellous, for they are a people very obedient to their
chiefs. Further, they call the corps of 1oo,000 men a
Tue ; that of i o,000 they call a Tolnan ; the thousand
they call . . . . ; the hundred Guz ; the ten . . . .2 And
when the army is on the march they have always 200
horsemen, very well mounted, who are sent a distance
of two marches in advance to reconnoitre, and these
always keep ahead. They have a similar party de-
tached in the rear, and on either flank, so that there is a
good look-out kept on all sides against a surprise. When
they are going on a distant expedition they take no gear
with them except two leather bottles for milk ; a little
earthenware pot to cook their meat in, and a little
tent to shelter them from rain.3 And in case of great
urgency they will ride ten days on end without lighting
a fire or taking a meal. On such an occasion they will
sustain themselves on the blood of their horses, opening
a vein and letting the blood jet into their mouths,
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