Chapter 45
Khan of Anahuac, 31-45 K
(Mexico, 1399-1413)
I remained in Tlatelolco for the rest of the spring accepting sheepish delegations from the surrounding area and opening up communications with our “allies” by reestablishing the yam system in all directions. To the north, there was not far to go, only the larger Otomi cities and the Ralamari beyond. The east was also in good shape. The south was still mostly loyal. The Tlalhuica had remained steadfast and had struggled with Tezozomoc and his allies. Beyond them, the losses from the plague had been devastating, and there was no organized resistance anywhere as far as the coast. Even the Yope had remained loyal.
To the west, the Matlatzinca and the Mazahuaca had already thrown themselves on our mercy assuring us that they had been told the Mongol Khanate had fallen apart, and bandits were invading from the east. I took a few towns away from them and sent their pitiful armies east to assist the Flying Fish Ordu against the Maya. Few of them would ever return. Farther west, the Otomi, the Purepecha, and the various others had also been too devastated by the plague to revolt, but there was much lawlessness and banditry with which we would have to deal. It was a miserable, nasty job, and I sent the Horse Ordu to take care of it. I thought it would be good experience for Juchi’s sons, so I sent them along. Isadowa spent the next three years chasing down and wiping out bandits. The people were most grateful and assisted the effort greatly. The yam system was fully restored by the end of the first year.
To the southeast, things were uncertain. It seemed that the Ben Zah had not revolted or turned to banditry, but the Tya Nuu had done both and had attacked the Ben Zah, their old enemies. By midsummer, I led a group of understrength tumen that just about equaled one on a punitive expedition against the Tya Nuu. To my relief, the Coyotl Tumen was able to join me in mid campaign, and the Tya Nuu were subdued by late fall. It was a brutal campaign, and they were not much of a people when it was over. The Ben Zah were very glad we came and offered much assistance. I reorganized them into an ally granting them local autonomy much like the loyal tribes in the north. This made us even more popular with them, and they assisted our continuing campaign with a moderate force of warriors. By the late fall, I was south of the Olmeca lands chasing down more bandits when a pile of dispatches from Juchi finally reached me.
He had crushed all the revolts, wiped out all the bandits, and was now leading a campaign against the Southeastern Cities. Padraig had swept the entire western coast and found the once populous area devastated. He was organizing and training an Ordu near the large bay he had named Raven Bay. They would be called the Ravens. My family had moved east and was on its way to Tlatelolco. I should turn over my campaign to Smoking Mirror and return there myself since I was now the Khan of Anahuac! I was stunned. He went on to explain that he would now be the Khakhan of the Blue Sky, and I would still report to him, but to no one else. My Khanate would include all of the area he and I had conquered for his father. He thought this arrangement would be the most practical since the original Khanate had become too large to govern properly. He hoped I would accept the position because I was the only one he could trust. I showed the dispatches to Smoking Mirror. I watched him read them and could tell when he got to the last one. His mouth hung open, and he looked up at me in disbelief.
“It is beyond belief, Raven,” he finally said, his eyes shining. “For many of the last several years I wondered if I had done wrong in throwing my lot in with the Mongols. With this act, Juchi has restored all my original faith. You must accept. It will let all know that competence and intelligence is rewarded in the Khanate. I can’t tell you how many people have wished you were Khan and longed for your wise guidance during the dark years of Kuyuk. Do not let some misguided modesty deprive these desperate people of the good leadership that can bring them back from the abyss.”
I was stunned again. I had no idea Smoking Mirror held me in such esteem. It took a while for it all to sink in. I thought of my family. As Khan, I would only rarely have to travel, and when I did it would be with a large retinue and all my family. It would not be an easy job, but I would draw much comfort from their constant presence, especially Paula. To be able to sleep each night with her in my arms for the rest of my life was worth all the problems running a Khanate would bring. I wondered if I could do it. Well, I watched the incomparable Kaidu in action, I suffered under the incompetent Kuyuk, and I managed my little family on my own for several years. As long as I remembered who I was and where I had been, I should be able to do a satisfactory job. Was it a good idea to split the Khanate? That was a tough call. When Chingis’ Khanate was split up among his descendants, they eventually went to war with each other, encroaching on each other’s territory. But then, they never had agreed to Kubilai being the Khakhan, nor could they agree to any of the others deserving that title. As of now, there would be no problem, here. Juchi was my friend as well as ruler and my loyalty to him was so complete that should another dispatch arrive in a few days changing everything, I would obey it. But what would happen after he and I were gone? What if there was another Kuyuk among either Juchi’s sons or mine? Was the division good for the people? I shared these last thoughts with Smoking Mirror, who had been sitting quietly watching me turn all this over in my mind.
“A most worthy concern, Raven, further proof that you would be a most unusual ruler, perhaps the best ever known in these lands. The very fact that the good of the people enters your mind, frees me of all concern for it. It will be most interesting to see you make all of the decisions that affect your people while keeping in mind their welfare. It is also most heartening that Juchi seems to share your concern for the people he governs. It bodes well for the land that you and he rule most of it in these difficult times. I doubt if your children would be so different from you. The acorn does not fall far from the oak. Of course, there is no need to have your children succeed you; you could appoint another.”
“I have often wondered about that, but it occurs to me that as much intrigue as is involved when the choice of succession must be made within one family, it could become intolerable if it was thrown open to the whole realm. Still, if none of the sons are competent, a good ruler should look elsewhere.”
“I don’t think you will have that problem, but your son might.”
“Who can say? In any case, the Khakhan must approve anyone I suggest as my successor, and could easily overrule me.”
“So it has always been. Perhaps one day it will be different. I really like the way the Ani’ Yun’-wiya run things.”
“But they endlessly talk about everything. One’s entire life would be spent in meetings trying to find a consensus. And, as difficult as it is in the one tribe, imagine what it would be like for a very disparate group of tribes. It simply wouldn’t work.”
“Maybe not, but I wish it could be tried.”
I didn’t want to say it, but if such were the government of the Khanate, I would not even consider leading it. I would surely go mad within a few weeks. I could never understand why he liked that system. While it did remove any rationale for dissent, it did not end it. Smoking Mirror had too much faith in human goodness. Perhaps that was good for him. I wrote Juchi a note thanking him for his confidence in me and agreeing to take over Anahuac for him. I also reiterated my loyalty to him and acknowledged his authority over me. Meanwhile, I had a decision to make about the current campaign. We needed to restore order, but I wasn’t sure we had enough men to take on the Maya. Already, the tumen with me were in need of a rest. I ordered the Coyotl to remain and hunt down bandits until I could relieve them. I put Smoking Mirror in charge of the entire eastern frontier ordering him to first restore order, then take back the Maya lands when we could send him enough forces to do the job. I suggested that he set up his headquarters in Xicalanco.
We moved north over the mountains, escorted by all the Ordu remnants from Anahuac and traveled together as far as Coatzacoalcos. There Smoking Mirror was reunited with his family. Mazatl congratulated me on becoming Khan and urged me to take along Chico Ocelotl, now called Tepeyolotl (Heart of the Hill), to serve me and learn. The boy was about eighteen and a fine-looking lad, tall like his father but less gaunt and with a smaller nose. I readily agreed and thanked her again for her mother’s predictions. She smiled and told me not to worry about the future. I didn’t press her for any further predictions. Smoking Mirror moved east to Xicalanco, and I went north to the Monkey Ordu.
The Monkeys were in fairly good shape and up to about six thousand men. I ordered them to go south and replace the Coyotl Ordu and report directly to Smoking Mirror in Xicalanco. I sent him a note telling him of the replacement and another note to the now returned Lizards to send half of their men south to replace the Monkeys. I then went on to the pass leading up to Anahuac. When we neared Ahuilizapan, I noticed a large force camped just outside the city. They proved to be a contingent from the Eagle Ordu. They were escorting my family! I thanked them for their protection and sent them back to help Juchi on his campaign. They gave me a shield-beating salute as the new Khan of Anahuac. With them, I sent a note to Juchi thanking him for the escort of my family and telling him of my disposition of the eastern frontier and urging him to send me any Ordu he could spare when his campaign was over so we could again assert our authority over the Maya. The official work done, I went into my family’s tent, and we held on to each other and wept over our losses.
I noticed that Mathilde was not among them and asked after her. It seemed that she had become very withdrawn over her loss and had declined to come east with the others. She even turned her children over to Paula and withdrew into the forest alone. No one could talk any sense into her or get her to think of her children. Padraig sent a party to find her, and when they did, she was at our old encampment and had recently died. There were no signs of violence; they found her in her tent with a peaceful smile on her face. She was buried next to Seagull. I looked at her children and wanted to be mad at her, but couldn’t. It was unusual for a woman to love her husband more than her children, but I could understand it. The truth was that even though I was devastated at the loss of half my children, I would have been destroyed had Paula died and not even the Khanate or the children could have brought me back. But I would miss Mathilde, Ignace, Ludmilla, Seagull, and Daldal. They were wonderful people whom I genuinely loved. We had all become quite close during our “exile,” and the losses were hard.
Paula had acquired a couple of unattached women to help with all the children, for there were ten of them, and the oldest, Christina, was only eight years old. One of the women was an older widow, an aunt of Seagull named Nahtahki. The other was a young niece of the shaman Okuh-hatuh named Natomah. I was pleased that we would bring a bit of the north with us since I always felt it was more wholesome than the south. Although unquestionably the southerners were more sophisticated and cultured, the northerners were more spiritual and in tune with the land. It was a good influence, and I made a note to be sure the children all spent a few of their formative years in the north.
The ascent to Anahuac was slow and pleasant with much time taken to visit the towns along the way. We were especially well received in Cholula and Chalco along the way. But still, nothing compared to the reception in Tenochtitlan. We went around the lake from Chalco to Ixtapalapa, and as we cleared the top of the hill, before us we could see the city gleaming across the causeway with feather banners of every color floating lightly in the gentle breeze. All along the causeway were people holding reeds. Our path along the causeway was strewn with flower petals. The leaders of all the cities met us and led us in procession across to Tenochtitlan. We were led directly to the Temple of Tengri, a plain flat stone altar painted blue atop a very high pyramid. On the altar was readied a censor full of a kind of incense. I was asked to light it. I did, and it signaled the beginning of general feast, with much music, acrobatics, singing, dancing, food beyond belief, and the heady scent of innumerable flower petals raining down on us.
Late that night, we were led in triumph to the palace in Tlatelolco, but the next day we had to visit Texcoco, then Xochimilco, and so on until we had been feted at each major city of Anahuac. Then came invitations from the neighboring valleys. I put off all of these except Cuauhnahuac since I wanted to show it to Paula. She immediately fell in love with it, and I asked the ruler to allot me a plot on which to build a summer residence. He was thrilled, and it took some trouble to persuade him that my needs were modest―I wouldn’t need three mountains and a forest, just a small piece of land. He insisted on building it for me, and again it took some doing to convince him we didn’t want a huge palace, just a modestly large house, big enough for the whole family. We worked out the plans, chose the site and I left it in his hands to complete. It was done by early summer and served me every summer while I was Khan.
Word came from Juchi that the campaign against the Southeastern Cities had concluded. All of them were now subject to us. The strange death cult was probably due to the staggering losses they suffered from the plague. Whole cities were wiped out, and the survivors began to worship Death as a god. Their cult was bloody, and he felt it necessary to wipe it out. The remnants of the people were rebuilding their tribes. He was sure that the population of the area was only about a quarter of what it had been. None of the tumen were up to full strength yet, but he would begin sending them one at a time every few months to wear down the Maya resistance. Once I had rebuilt a few of my tumen, I could finish them off. It was thoughtful of him to want to give me the credit for retaking the Maya lands, but I felt I was finished being a warrior. Unless there was no alternative, I would not lead in battle again.
About the time the Horses returned from the west, I had many of my tumen up to strength, and I sent five of them to Smoking Mirror to retake the last of the Maya lands. The campaign lasted almost a year, but in the end, he was again governor of the Maya. My son Theodore and Juchi’s two sons served in the campaign with distinction. I sent Tepeyolotl to help organize a new Ordu in the west. There was a small outbreak of bandit activity there, and there was finally enough population to support an Ordu. So it went for those first years, there were a few small outbreaks of banditry, and we stamped them out quickly. The weather was good, the crops plentiful, and the population grew. There were isolated outbreaks of the plague, but with fewer deaths. Theodore took a wife from among the Ben Zah as had his brother George. The younger children grew like weeds, and I made sure they spent some years in the north, among the Siksika for Mathilde and Seagull’s children, and among Hawk Ordu for Ignace and Daldal’s children. On a whim, I sent John to visit Smoking Mirror, and when he returned, he wanted to visit the Ani’ Yun’-wiya. I let him visit Mazatl’s family for a few years, and he came back a very thoughtful, introspective young boy.
Henry managed to come down for a visit the year before he died. He looked over and approved of the iron works we had set up in Tenanco in the old Yope territory. It supplied all the iron for the Khanate for a long time. As usual, each Ordu and most of the larger cities also had their own ironworkers. More widespread was work in gold, silver, and copper. There was a great demand for bangles. I was always being presented with something or other made of gold, but unless it was artistically executed, I just stored it in the treasury. The more artistic pieces were displayed about the palace. Feathers were also in great demand for ornamentation and decoration, and I was often presented with some beautifully wrought capes and mantles and even headpieces. Again I displayed some and gave out some as gifts as necessary.
The people were much given to festivals and pageantry, and I encouraged the leaders to continue with their customs as before as long as there was no bloodshed. In general, I tried to interfere as little as possible with the cities, but made sure the borders were secure, bandits were hunted down, commerce was safe, and any natural disasters were ameliorated. Of the latter, there were occasional earthquakes, floods, hurakan, droughts, and volcanoes. Some of these were more disastrous than others were, but we were able to deal with everyone’s needs. This went a long way toward dispelling the influence of the priests. They seized on every disaster as a sign of their particular god’s punishment, but when an Ordu quickly arrived with food, clothing, and shelter, no one listened to the priests. Before long, most of them rethought their situation and came around to support the Khanate. A few, however, continued to cause trouble and eventually had to be eliminated. Not surprisingly, this caused little trouble among the people. It is difficult to miss a parasite.
Most of the people continued to have slaves, but whenever any were given to me, I would free them and pay them a wage to work for me if they wished or let them go their way. It would be nice to report that my practice spread among the people, but it didn’t. They thought me rather eccentric. I was also considered eccentric because I wouldn’t marry the daughters the various leaders offered me and so build up a proper harem. I had to go to some lengths not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I so rewarded them for offering that it would have been difficult for them to take offence. I did encourage my staff to marry out of their tribe and so to strengthen our unity. I made sure that taxes were not onerous. Ordu had to be supported wherever they were stationed, and a small levy was used to support my staff, but no one suffered from taxation, and it was always suspended in case of any disaster. Mine was a most benign rule.
Still, this was not a people given to living in peace, and warriors had to have their wars. The obvious target was the southeast beyond the Maya. Actually keeping the restive Maya in check was the real reason I decided on another campaign. It began some eight years after I became khan. Juchi had come down for a visit and mentioned that many of the young men were getting bored with Ordu duty and wanted to see some action. He was toying with the idea of wiping out the hostile cannibals on the island chain east of the Taino islands. Already the local Ordu had driven them out of some of the islands, but they still remained on the outermost island and the islands south of it. I suggested that such a campaign would not really solve his problem since a single Island Ordu could handle them if he ordered it. I suggested that instead we could penetrate the southeast with four Ordu at a time, two in the north and two in the south until all the Ordu had had a chance to participate. It would give me a chance to wear down the flower of the Maya youth before it turned on us again, and it would give the northern Ordu a difficult and challenging campaign. However, I felt that we should always offer alliance to the people we meet, not just conquer like he and I had been forced to do. He was pleased with the idea and suggested that George and Mukali be the leaders of the two wings. I suggested that Jelme should be George’s second in command and Tepeyolotl Mukali’s. He agreed and further suggested that both campaigns should report to Smoking Mirror and he should be consulted for any difficulties rather than us since he was much closer to the area. He could send us reports on their progress. I enthusiastically concurred, and we called in George and Mukali.
The two were excited about leading a campaign, even if it might prove to be largely peaceful, and were pleased with their seconds and the short line of communication. George decided on the southern part, and Mukali was quite satisfied with the northern part. I suggested that they each take a northern and a southern tumen, to further cement unity between the two khanates. They thought that was a good idea. Juchi suggested that they be ready to begin their campaign at the start of the dry season in the late fall. They went off to organize their staffs. Juchi then told me that, of course, all of the new territory would be in my khanate. It was logical for it to be so, but I thanked him anyway.
“Have you given any thought to succession?” I asked him.
“Much thought, actually. While Mukali is the better soldier, I think Jelme would be the better Khan. What do you think?”
“I agree, but will Mukali accept your decision in peace?”
“I hope so. I have already told the council my decision, so there is nothing he can do about it in any case. This campaign is his last chance to convince me he is more than just a good warrior. We must instruct Tepeyolotl to take over and send him back in chains if he does not obey his orders. Can he be counted on to do so?”
“I’m sure he can. He has his father’s loyalty and good sense. If we instruct him to do so, he will.”
“Good. Now, what about you? Will it be George, Theodore, or John?”
“My decision is easy. Only George would want the job. Theodore is too introspective to be khan, but would be an invaluable advisor for George. John seems to be more interested in medicine. Neither will begrudge George the Khanate, and George will be loyal to you and your successors.”
“The truth is, if you had not survived my father’s plots, there was no one else that I could have given half my Khanate and trusted to remain loyal to me. As for George, I know him best of all your sons and would trust him with my life, just as you trusted me with his.”
The campaign began that fall, and the people first encountered proved to be as intractable as the Maya and in fact were likely related to them. George had the easier way, since the southern part was generally more open and dry, while the northern part was jungle. Resistance was stiffer in the north, and Mukali performed bravely and irreproachably throughout the campaign. He imprudently marched back along his path of victory at the end of the campaign and died of a snakebite. He always camped out in the open with his men instead of in a tent, and during the night he was bitten. He was found dead the next morning. It removed the potential succession problem, but was a terrible waste. George and Jelme were unscathed during the campaign, but Tepeyolotl was wounded severely near the end of the campaign and was evacuated by boat. The sea and our faithful allies the Putun Maya kept the northern campaign supplied. The Ben Zah kept the southern campaign supplied by caravan. The steady supplies and the endless line of fresh troops were too much for the locals and gradually resistance lessened. Then it was renewed vigorously along the last part of the isthmus when they encountered a people called Cuna. While they were rather primitive, they were formidable warriors well able and willing to defend their land from any intrusion. In the end, we could afford the losses better than they could, and they had to submit. By the time we reached the end of their lands, all the Ordu had been bloodied in campaign, and we could call a halt and absorb the new lands.
Three Ordu were left behind to keep the peace, but there was no trouble as it became clear we were more of a boon than a curse. The several chiefdoms that joined us freely prospered with the improved trade and the safety net the Khanate provided them. Within a year, one of the occupying Ordu was replaced with a local levy. Within three years, all the Ordu were local. The campaign accomplished all we wanted. The Maya hotheads were thinned out considerably, and all the tumen got a chance to see some action. Smoking Mirror’s authority was extended over the conquered lands of the isthmus, and his son was assigned to be his assistant.
Since he was to be my successor, I assigned George to be the head of my council. It was fairly large, but was only advisory. The heads of the Mexica, Alcolhua, and Chalca were on it, and there was a representative from each of the allied peoples. I would also rotate two seats among the conquered people, except those that had revolted like the Maya, the Tepaneca, and the Tya Nuu. Any leader was allowed to see me, and anybody was allowed to see the leader of the local Ordu to redress any grievance. Eventually we set up a cadre of judges to handle civil and criminal problems to relieve the Ordu commanders of that onerous chore. This was based on a system already in use locally when we took over.
In my sixty-second year, I put George in charge of the Khanate and with the rest of my family went north to visit Juchi. We left in the fall and spent the whole winter leisurely moving northward visiting anyone we knew or thought we knew along the way. Smoking Mirror and his family came out to meet us along the way and go along with us. We were warmly received in every town along the way. Each Ordu we visited turned out in full array to great me with the shield-beating salute. Smoking Mirror and I exchanged glances frequently when we came upon a familiar sight, but found we didn’t need to say much to each other. We arrived at the Eagle Ordu in the late spring. The plains were dressed in their most beautiful flowers, and Juchi, himself, came out to meet me and lead me into the Ordu. We were met with a shield-beating salute that shook the earth. We spent the rest of spring and most of the summer getting reacquainted, hunting, visiting the other Ordu, and discussing everything and anything. Padraig and his family arrived in early summer and stayed with us several weeks. Both his and Mathilde’s hair were completely white, all his children were grown and had children of their own except for a late daughter they’d had. She was named Paula and was about John’s age, fifteen. Unfortunately John was not with us for this trip since he was still with Mazatl’s family among the Ani’ Yun’-wiya, but he planned to join us before we left, since he wanted to study with Okuh-hatuh in the Eagle Ordu.
Much had happened in the north in my absence. The Koryo trade had continued and had expanded to include cotton, ginseng root, and other raw materials for medicines from us and porcelains, finished medicines, and rice from them. A fledgling silk industry had been established (by the family of the young sailor I had spoken to so long ago) in the land of the Pansfalaya where there were plentiful mulberry trees to feed the silkworms. More Koryo immigrants had arrived at the Salmon Ordu and were bringing their valuable skills to serve the Khanate. More of the northern Tinneh had joined the Khanate, as had many isolated bands of the Kutchin people in the northwest. The Inuit, however, still preferred to live in peace independently. Also in the north, a shipful of people as pale as me were seen cutting wood and sailing east with it. This occurred in a large bay east of the larger Inuit Bay. The local Inuit reported that the ships came irregularly—often at intervals of several years. These people lived in the east on a large island with no trees where there are also many Inuit. Juchi had decided not to bother them since they caused no trouble.
Another incursion by pale people had resulted in some conflict. The people that I had heard about earlier who fished along the coast and sometimes put into shore for varying lengths of time ran afoul of a patrol from the Panther Ordu. They assumed an attack rather than a mere inquiry and fled to their ships leaving behind much of their dried fish. The patrol took the fish. A watch had been posted for them so that contact might be made with them. Meanwhile, Padraig’s youngest son Pierre was sent the Panther Ordu with the thought that perhaps they wouldn’t run off if they saw someone like them. So far their ships had been seen, but they had not put into shore since the incident a few years ago. None of the locals interviewed had any contact with them or knew from where they come.
The Natchez people had begun to unravel after the second plague (the Zhen plague). The Great Sun and most of his family had died of it, and since they could offer no help to those suffering from it, the people began to drift away to the Taunika and Pansfalaya. They no longer existed as an independent people. Smoking Mirror was not sorry to hear of their passing, but I was sorry they could not adjust and add to the Khanate instead of being brushed aside by it. The Southeastern cities were also greatly reduced and were only now returning to prosperity and starting to grow again.
The small islands south and east of the Taino islands had been conquered, and the cannibal people absorbed into the Taino. The leader of the expedition, the head of the Dog Ordu, Chekika (my long-ago Calusa observer), was convinced that they were the same people, only less civilized. At the end of the southern chain of islands was a fairly large landmass. Most of the people in the immediate area near the last island seemed to be related to the cannibals and Taino, at least in language and practices. Mapping of the land had begun and already a few mappers had been attacked, so a punitive expedition was being organized. The land could possibly be connected to our isthmus. We had just begun mapping the area beyond our border, since it had taken so long to properly map the difficult terrain of the isthmus itself. That bordering area was also a very dense jungle and was not lending itself to easy mapping. So far we were not having any trouble with the locals. Padraig thought it would be better to first map the coastline from the sea and then later fill the blanks in between. I agreed that that would be useful, except that since the mappers would have to put into shore every night, they would be at the mercy of whatever tribe was there, and it would be hard to support them or know where they were to rescue them. We had been sending mappers with all major trading expeditions into the landmass, but their efforts had not yet been properly collated. I could report that there was a massive mountain range not far inland from the coast, but that was all I had noticed on the map fragments. I promised to send detailed maps as soon as they were available.
Juchi thought we would likely have to mount another expedition in a few years to keep the warriors happy and suggested we take the coastal area between the isthmus and the end of the island chain, assuming the area was connected and not just some large islands. We should know that before we started the campaign. Meanwhile, he was experimenting with larger boats, built by Koryo immigrants along the lines of their merchant ships. The work was being done o