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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
MARCO POLO BOOK IV.
462
li
Great Kaan was sending a great army to reinforce his
son, judged that it was time to be off ; so he called his
host to saddle and mounted his horse at dawn, and away
they set on their return to their own country. And
when the Great Kaan's son and the grandson of Prester
John saw that King Caidu had retired with all his host,
they let them go unpursued, for they were themselves
sorely fatigued and needed rest. So King Caidu and
his host rode and rode, till they came to their own realm
of Great Turkey and to Samarcand ; and there they
abode a long while without again making war.'
NOTE I.—The names are uncertain. The G. T. has " one of whom was called Tibai or Ciban " ; Pauthier, as in the text.
The phrase about their being Kaidu's kinsmen is in the G. T., " qe zinzinz (?) i;zeisme estoient de Caidu roi."
NOTE 2.—Araines for Harízzzs, I presume. In the narrative of a merchant in Ramusio (II. 84, 86) we find the same word represented by Ariz and Arino.
NOTE 3.—Tire date at the beginning of the chapter is in G. T., and Pauthier's MS. A, as we have given it. Pauthier substitutes 1276, as that seems to be the date approximately connecting Prince Numughan with the wars against Kaidu. In 1275 Kúblái appointed Numughan to the command of his N.W. frontier, with Ngantung or 'Antung, an able general, to assist him in repelling the aggressions of Kaidu. In the same year Kaidu and Dua Khan entered the Uighúr country (W. and N.W. of Kamul), with more than ioo,000 men. Two years later, viz., in 1277, Kaidu and Shireghi, a son of Mangu Khan, engaged near Almalik (on the Ili) the troops of Kíiblái, commanded by Numughan and 'Antung, and took both of them prisoners. The invaders then marched towards Karakorum. But Bayan, who was in Mongolia, marched to attack them, and completely defeated them in several engagements. (Gaubil, 69, 168, 182.)
Pauthier gives a little more detail from the Chinese annals, but throws no new light on the discrepancies which we see between Polo's account and theirs. 'Antung, who was the grandson of Mokli, the Jelair, one of Chinghiz's Orlok or Marshals, seems here to take the place assigned to Prester John's grandson, and Shireghi perhaps that of Yesudar. The only prince of the latter name that I can find is a son of Hulaku's.
The description of the battle in this chapter is a mere formula again and again repeated. The armies are always exactly or nearly equal, they are always divided into corps of 10,000 (tomans), they always halt to prepare for action when within ten miles of one another, and the terms used in describing the fight are the same. We shall not inflict these tiresome repetitions again on the reader.
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