12 From the Rising Sun to the Setting Sun

Chapter 11 From the Rising Sun to the Setting Sun Genghis Khan had more goods from China than he knew what to do with. The Mongol people were well fed and comfortable. They had grown accustomed to the silks and jewels that had once seemed so exotic.

成吉思汗从中国运来的货物多得他都不知道该怎么处理。 蒙古人吃得好，过得舒适。 他们已经习惯了丝绸和珠宝，它们曾经看起来是那么的异域风情。

To the Mongols' west lay the Khwarizm Empire (present-day Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and beyond). Khwarizm was a young and large empire. It was just twelve years older than the Great Mongol Nation and stretched more than 1,500 miles across. People in Khwarizm knew the secrets of glassmaking. They were skilled at working with steel, farming cotton fields, and weaving beautiful textiles. Genghis Khan sent word to the leader of

蒙古人的西边是花剌子模帝国（今天的伊朗、阿富汗、土库曼斯坦、乌兹别克斯坦等）。 花剌子模是一个年轻而庞大的帝国。 它只比大蒙古民族大12岁，绵延1500多英里。 花剌子模的人知道制作玻璃的秘密。 他们擅长炼钢、种植棉花和编织漂亮的纺织品。 成吉思汗传话给

Khwarizm, Sultan Muhammad II. He told the sultan he did not wish to expand his Mongol empire. He wished only for a peaceful trading partnership with Khwarizm. Genghis Khan referred to himself as the ruler of the lands of the rising sun, and called the sultan ruler of the lands of the setting sun. The sultan considered the Mongols uncivilized. He did not want them coming to his lands. But he wasn't ready to fight their powerful army, so he agreed to trade. In the meantime, he secretly prepared for war. In 1219, Genghis Khan sent a caravan of 450 merchants to the city of Otrar, in what is now southern Kazakhstan. They had camel cloth, jade, and silver to sell and trade. The governor of Otrar called the merchants spies and had them executed.

花剌子模，苏丹穆罕默德二世。 他告诉苏丹他不想扩张他的蒙古帝国。 他只希望与花剌子模建立和平的贸易伙伴关系。 成吉思汗称自己为日出之国的统治者，称苏丹为日落之国的统治者。 苏丹认为蒙古人不文明。 他不希望他们来到他的土地上。 但他还没有准备好对抗他们强大的军队，所以他同意了交易。 与此同时，他秘密地为战争做准备。 1219年，成吉思汗派遣了一支由450名商人组成的商队前往现在哈萨克斯坦南部的奥特拉尔城。 他们有骆驼布、玉器和白银可以出售和交易。 奥特拉的总督称这些商人为间谍，并将他们处决。

Genghis Khan sent a group of men to the sultan to demand an apology. He wanted harsh punishment for the murderous governor of Otrar. In response, Sultan Muhammad II killed some of the ambassadors! He cut the faces of those

成吉思汗派了一群人去见苏丹，要求他道歉。 他希望严惩凶残的奥特拉总督。 作为回应，苏丹穆罕默德二世杀死了一些大使！他切开了那些人的脸

he'd spared to send a message to Genghis Khan. When word reached Genghis Khan, he became furious. He climbed his sacred mountain and prayed to the Eternal Blue Sky: "Grant me strength to exact vengeance." Genghis Khan and his sons galloped to Khwarizm with more than 100,000 soldiers. Their first stop was Otrar. It took months to overtake the city, but the Mongols were finally victorious. They executed the governor. The army next approached the city of Bukhara from the forbidding Red Desert. Merchants traveled hundreds of miles out of their way to avoid this harsh landscape. But Genghis Khan crossed in the cold winter months, when dew formed on the ground and short grasses grew for his horses. He befriended desert nomads who helped show him the best way to

给成吉思汗捎个信 消息传到成吉思汗那里后，他勃然大怒。 他爬上自己的圣山，向永恒的蓝天祈祷：“赐予我复仇的力量。” 成吉思汗和他的儿子们带着十万多名士兵驰向花剌子模。 他们的第一站是奥特拉。 蒙古人花了几个月的时间才攻克这座城市，但最终取得了胜利。 他们处决了总督。 接下来，军队从令人望而生畏的红沙漠向布哈拉城挺进。 商人们长途跋涉数百英里来避开这片荒凉的土地。 但成吉思汗在寒冷的冬季穿越，那时地面上结了露水，短草为他的马生长。 他和沙漠游牧民成了朋友，他们帮助他找到了通往

Bukhara. By the end of 1220, all the cities of Khwarizm had fallen to the Mongol armies. The sultan escaped to an island in the Caspian Sea, where he later died. Genghis Khan had only wished to trade with Khwarizm. Because of his violent expansion into

布哈拉。到1220年底，花剌子模的所有城市都被蒙古军队攻陷。 苏丹逃到里海的一个岛上，后来死在那里。 成吉思汗只希望与花剌子模进行贸易。 因为他的暴力扩张到了