11 Deciding a Successor

Chapter 10 Deciding a Successor In 1219, Genghis Khan was an old man at fifty-seven, and he had an important decision to make. Genghis Khan summoned his four sons. He

wanted to hear what they thought. He told his oldest son, Jochi, to speak first. By choosing Jochi to go first, it seemed like Genghis Khan was indicating who he believed should be ruler. His second son, Chaghatai, exploded. He wanted to know how his father could pick Jochi, when Jochi did not share his father's blood. Jochi, he said, was the son of the Merkid tribesman who had kidnapped their mother, Borte, decades earlier. The two brothers fought.

Genghis Khan told Chaghatai that by insulting Jochi, he insulted their mother. He reminded them how hard it had been to form the Great Mongol Nation. He spoke of what life was like when everyone was fighting one another. Genghis Khan now knew that if he left the empire in the hands of either brother, there would be civil war. He decided that his third son, Ogodei, would rule the empire as Great Khan. Jochi and Chaghatai would be given different sections of the empire. This would keep them separated. The youngest son, Tolui, would be left in charge of the old homeland on the Onon River. Relieved to have his successor decided, Genghis Khan turned back to the growing needs of his people. The Khwarizm Empire was beckoning. THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS

MUCH OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE LIFE OF GENGHIS KHAN COMES FROM A BOOK CALLED THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. THE BOOK CHRONICLES GENGHIS KHAN'S LIFE, FROM BEGINNING TO END. WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO "SECRETIVE" IS THAT NO ONE IS CERTAIN WHO WROTE IT. NOT LONG AFTER THE BOOK WAS FINISHED, EVERY COPY OF IT DISAPPEARED. BY THE 1400S, THE ONLY COPIES LEFT WERE CHINESE TRANSLATIONS. FOR MORE THAN FOUR CENTURIES, THE SECRET HISTORY REMAINED HIDDEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD. IN 1866, A RUSSIAN MONK DISCOVERED A COPY AND TRANSLATED IT. IT WAS THEN TRANSLATED INTO MODERN MONGOLIAN IN 1917. MANY MORE TRANSLATIONS EXIST TODAY. A GOLD-PLATED COPY IS DISPLAYED IN THE MODERN MONGOLIAN CAPITOL BUILDING IN ULAANBAATAR, AND ALMOST EVERY MONGOLIAN FAMILY HAS A COPY IN THEIR HOME.