by Robin Brown
There is a curious tradition for those rich enough to make up their presents in parcels of ‘nine times nine’. Thus if you are sending the Grand Khan horses there should be eighty-one of them. By this means Kublai can receive as many as a hundred thousand horses at the New Year festival. The same equation holds good for, say, gold or cloth.
This is the day when all his elephants, some five thousand, put in an appearance. They form a procession covered in a livery of cloth richly worked in gold and silk with figures of birds and beasts. Each elephant carries two large coffers loaded with vessels of gold and silver plate and other royal necessities. Then follows a train of camels loaded with the royal furniture. They form a splendid spectacle as they pass in battle order before the Grand Khan.
Come the morning of the festival, princes, nobility, courtiers, astrologers, physicians, falconers, public officers, prefects and the officers of the army make their way into the great hall of the palace to appear before the Emperor. Those who cannot get in stand outside but still within view of the Sovereign. Everyone is seated in order of rank, from the King’s sons and the imperial family downwards. A senior religious figure then rises and declares: ‘Bow down and do reverence.’ Whereupon everyone touches his forehead to the floor. ‘God bless our Lord, and long preserve him in the enjoyment of felicity.’
The people answer, ‘God grant it’. ‘May God increase the grandeur and prosperity of his Empire, may he preserve all those who are his subjects in the blessings of peace and contentment and in all their lands may abundance prevail.’ ‘God grant it,’ comes the reply. And they make their protestations four times.
The prelate (he would not be so recognised in our religion) advances to a richly adorned altar bearing a red tablet inscribed with the name of the Grand Khan. He perfumes the tablet and altar with burning incense and the company prostrates itself again.
The gifts are then presented to Kublai and when these have been displayed and he has cast an eye over them the tables are prepared for the feast according to the pecking order I described earlier. Music and merriment follow, and at this feast a full-grown lion is brought in, so tamed it has been taught to lie down at Kublai’s feet.
Royal hunting parties are ordered throughout the very cold months of December, January and February. The governors of the surrounding districts are required to provide sport with all manner of large game: wild boar, stags, fallow deer, roebuck and bears. The hunters gather in a designated area where these animals are to be found, and encircle them. The killing is done partly with dogs but mostly with arrows. Large quantities of prepared venison are sent back by carriage for Kublai’s enjoyment. If the distance is too far for the meat to travel only the skins are sent back, to be used by the army.
Kublai sometimes hunts deer with leopards, lynxes and even lions (tigers). The latter are larger than the Babylonian lion with fine skins marked lengthwise with white, black and red stripes. These will take boar, wild oxen and asses, bears, stag, roebuck and other sporting game. It is quite a sight to see a lion loosed and in pursuit of its prey and the savagery and speed with which it brings it down.
The big cats are carried about in cages on wagons. Inside with them is a little dog with which the animal is familiar and which seems to keep them calm in the presence of prey animals. They have also to be transported in cases against the wind lest the game scents them and makes off. His majesty actually has eagles which are trained to hunt wolves! Such is the size and strength of these birds, few ever escape their talons.
The Grand Khan enjoys the services of two legendary hunters, the brothers Banyan and Mingan, who are called ‘chivichi’ or ‘masters of the chase’ and who look after Kublai’s hunting dogs and his pack of mastiffs. The brothers each command a staff of ten thousand huntsmen dressed in their individual livery, one of red the other sky blue. They go into the hunting field with no fewer than five thousand dogs. Each, with his pack, commands a flank and they advance with the Emperor in the middle until they have enclosed a tract of country a day’s march across from which nothing can escape.
It is an exciting and exhilarating experience to watch those clever dogs and skilled huntsmen, with Kublai in the middle of it all, energetically covering the ground while bears, stags and other game flee madly in every direction.
The two brothers have a contract to supply the court with a thousand pieces of game daily (quails do not count). Fish – the amount three men might eat at one meal – count as one piece of game and the court takes as much as the brothers can catch.
In March Kublai makes a long journey to the north-east in the direction of the ocean, attended by ten thousand falconers who carry with them a vast number of gerfalcons, peregrine falcons, sakers and vultures with which to hunt the banks of a river. Smaller parties of one or two hundred hunt different areas and send their spoil back to Kublai. With him also are ten thousand men known as taskoal or ‘watchers’, who spread out across a large tract of land in parties of two or three, each armed with a whistle and a hood. No great distance apart, they are able to call and hood the hawks. When the hawks are loosed they do not have to be followed because one of the ‘watchers’ will pick them up and assist the birds if necessary.
The falcons all belong to Kublai or to his nobles and carry a silver tag on the leg bearing the owner’s name and also the name of the keeper. Lost birds are carried to an officer called bulangazi, ‘the officer of unclaimed property’. If you find a falcon and do not follow this procedure you are labelled a thief. The bulangazi sits under his own flag in an elevated part of the camp so that everyone can find him. Very few birds are lost.
I think nothing rivals falconry as a sport and nothing illustrates this as dramatically as the events that take place when the Grand Khan is out hunting. When the way is very narrow the Grand Khan rides an elephant. Sometimes he uses four, mounting a handsomely carved pavilion the inside of which is padded with cloth of gold, the outside covered with wild-cat skins. Actually he needs this comfort because he is troubled by gout.
In the pavilion he carries with him his twelve best gerfalcons and twelve of his favourite officers to keep him amused. Riders outside warn him of the approach of cranes or other prey birds. The pavilion curtains are raised and the falcons are let fly, bringing down the prey but often only after a long struggle. Everyone finds this hugely enjoyable, the officers in the pavilion, the outriders and of course the Grand Khan who watches it while reclining on a couch.
After several hours of entertaining sport, Kublai retires to a place called Kaksarmodin where a vast camp of the pavilions and tents of his sons, nobles, the royal guard and falconers is pitched. There are more than ten thousand of them and it is quite something to see.
The royal tent, where Kublai gives audiences, is long and wide enough to accommodate ten thousand soldiers, their officers and other persons of rank. Connecting to it is a second tent forming a spacious salon where the Emperor can have more private and intimate meetings. Then behind this is a large and handsome pavilion where he sleeps. All around are tents for other members of the household. All these buildings are of ingenious construction. They are richly carved and gilded and covered on the outside with tiger skins streaked white, black and red so well sewn they are rain and wind proof. Within is a lining of ermine and sable, the latter being the most costly of all furs, the value depending of course on the quality. The Tartars esteem it ‘the queen of furs’. Sables, called by the Tartars ‘rondes’, are about the size of polecats. The tent ropes are all of silk.
Adjoining the royal pavilion are the splendid tents of his ladies. The many gerfalcons and other birds and beasts also have quarters close by.
Incredible, is the only word I can think of to describe the huge number of people housed in the encampment, counting the people from different parts of the Empire. You could be forgiven for thinking you were in the middle of a well-populated city.
The Grand Khan’s entire household attends him here, that is, his physicians, astronomers, falconers and
all manner of other officials. He is in residence here until Easter, taking a fearful toll of storks, swans, herons and a variety of other birds. His huntsmen in other areas also procure a great deal of fine game.
The excellence of the sport is hard to describe and I honestly think, indeed I have been an eyewitness to it, that Kublai has the time of his life when he is here, and when his time is up he makes his way slowly home, hunting all the way.
Business back at court starts with three days of feasting. The idea is to entertain and amuse the locals and this he does royally. As I have said, Kanbula is vast, greater than the mind can comprehend. In addition to the people of the city there are twelve suburbs (corresponding to the twelve gates) and, if anything, these suburbs are more populated than the city proper. They house mainly merchants who need to be in close contact with the court. Wherever Kublai goes the merchants tend to flock after him. Some of these merchants’ houses are as magnificent as those in the city (with the exception of the royal palace, of course).
Special rules apply to the city. No corpses may be buried here and if an idolater dies his body is carried out beyond the suburbs for the traditional cremation. Public executions also take place well outside the city.
Prostitutes are supposed to work only in the suburbs although some go into the city secretly. As I have said, there are twenty-five thousand of them. Nor to be frank, in the light of the massive and ever-changing merchant community, does demand exceed supply.
Kanbula attracts everything that is rare and valuable in the way of trade from all over the world. It is especially a major centre for Indian goods such as precious stones, pearls and various medications and spices. Goods from the provinces of China as well as other provinces of the Empire find an insatiable demand from those obliged to maintain a presence close to court. I would say that more merchandise changes hands here than in any other place; no fewer than a thousand carriages and pack horses loaded with raw silk come in daily. They form the raw materials for an immense quantity of gold tissue. Worked silks are also manufactured locally.
There are several towns, some walled, in the vicinity of Kanbula that are entirely dependent upon the trade and manufacturing they do for the court.
Kanbula also houses Kublai’s famous mint. At first glance you might think he has mastered the secrets of the alchemists because here he manufactures his own unique form of money! Bark is stripped from mulberry trees (the same as feed silkworms) and the thin inner layer between the bark and the wood carefully harvested. This is soaked then pounded to a pulp in a mortar for making into a paper. It resembles paper made from cotton, but it is black. When dry it is cut into pieces of money.
Notes are almost square (somewhat longer than they are wide) and of different sizes. Of these the smallest is worth a denier tournois; the next size a Venetian silver groat; others for 2, 5 and 10 groats; others still for 1, 2, 3 and upwards to 10 besants of gold.
The value of this paper money is authenticated as if it were gold or silver, each note bearing the name and seal of a specially appointed group of officials. The principal officer embosses the note with a vermilion seal, confirming it to be valid, current currency. Counterfeiting is a crime punished by death.
Produced in large quantities, this paper money is circulated throughout the Empire and nobody (on pain of death) dares not accept it. Actually it is accepted without hesitation because it can be used to purchase whatever merchandise is available at the time, such as pearls, jewels, gold or silver – in short, everything!
Several times each year large caravans of merchants bring in these articles as well as gold tissue and it is all laid out before the Grand Khan who calls in twelve skilful, experienced people who, having examined the goods with great care, fix their value. Allowing a reasonable profit the merchants are paid out in paper money. No one objects because, as I have said, they can use it to buy what they want. Merchants from countries where paper money is not in circulation trade it for goods they can sell at home.
If you end up with paper that has been damaged by being too long in circulation you take it to the mint and exchange it for fresh notes. There is a charge for this but it is only 3 per cent. If you are after bullion for manufacturing purposes, you likewise apply to the mint, trading gold and silver for paper. The king pays his army with paper currency and the value is the same for gold or silver. I would say that through the use of this currency Kublai has a much greater command of his economy than does any other sovereign in the universe.
Now let us look at the way the army and the Empire are administered. There is a twelve-man army council which decides troop movements, appointment and transfers of officers and assesses the need for troops for a particular situation. They also decide on the promotion of officers on the basis of individual valour. These must have Kublai’s approval and if you get promotion you are awarded a tablet which is a warrant confirming your new post, as well as large presents designed to encourage you to greater things. This tribunal is called the ‘Thai’ or supreme court, and it answers to no one but the Sovereign.
A similar committee, the ‘sing’ comprising twelve nobles, presides over the affairs of the thirty-four provinces of the Empire. They have their own grand palace in Kanbula with many chambers and halls. Each province has its own law-officer and a number of clerks running departments for different affairs, all answerable to the Thai.
The Sing appoints the provincial governors and delivers the tablet warrants confirming these appointments. They collect taxes and customs revenues and decide the disbursement of these funds. Essentially the Sing controls every department of state other than the army and while it is a high court directly responsible to the Grand Khan, it does not quite have the status of the Thai.
Rapid communication between the outlying cities and provinces and the Palace of Kanbula is facilitated by a series of post houses (called ‘yamb’) with facilities for travellers. They are large, handsome buildings located at 25- or 30-mile intervals on all the main roads out of the capital and furnished with draperies of silk and are good enough for all persons of rank, good enough for kings in fact. For some of them the court makes regular provision, or they are catered for by nearby towns. At each station 400 good horses are kept in a state of high readiness to ensure that Kublai’s messengers and all the ambassadors may always be provided with relays of fresh horses.
Even in the mountainous districts, far away from the great roads where there are no villages and the towns are a great distance from each other, Kublai has caused to be erected elegant buildings furnished with all the necessities and many houses. He sends people to live in these remote places, to cultivate the land and mind the posts, and by these means quite large villages are formed and as a consequence messengers and ambassadors pass through the land with great facility. No less than two hundred thousand horses are used in the post service and some ten thousand beautifully furnished houses are maintained. I find it difficult to describe how wonderful and effective the system is.
You may wonder how the country manages to supply sufficient people to staff the service. Indeed, how do you feed so many? Well, you have to remember that Saracens and idolaters keep six, eight or even ten women, depending on their circumstances, and they have a prodigious number of children. Some men have as many as thirty sons. When you compare the way they live to our system where a man has only one wife, with whom he must remain even if she is barren, you will see how inferior our population is to theirs. And there is no shortage of good food as the Chinese and the Tartars subsist for the most part on rice, panicum and millet. The soil here is also very rich and for every three grains planted you get back more than a hundred. You do not, of course, get the same return from wheat, but bread is not on the diet here. It is used for vermicelli and pastry. The paste is boiled in milk or stewed with meat.
Not an inch of cultivable land is left untilled and their livestock multiplies prolifically. Scarcely anyone has less than six horses for his personal use.
Foot messen
gers who carry the post live in little villages of about forty houses spaced equidistant between the large post houses. Around their waists they wear a girdle hung with a number of small bells. They run about 3 miles and the bells serve to give notice to the next messenger so that he may instantly carry the message forward. So efficient is the system, a message for the Grand Khan that would normally take ten days, is delivered in two days and two nights. At the time of the fruit harvest, produce from Kanbula is conveyed to the Grand Khan at Shan-du in a little over thirty hours. This is generally considered a ten-day journey.
At each of the 3-mile stations a clerk notes the exact day and hour one courier arrives and another leaves; similarly at the post houses. Then there is a monthly visit by an officer to keep the staff on their toes and punish anyone not performing diligently.
The couriers do not pay tax and they receive good allowances from Kublai. The houses used are not his expense; the cities, towns and villages in the neighbourhood are obliged to supply and maintain them.
There is an officer who works out, according to their means, a quota for each of these units. The cost of maintaining the houses is, however, deductible from the revenues they pay to the Grand Khan. The stations have about four hundred horses, of which half are in service at any one time, the others put out to graze. Rivers or lakes that have to be crossed either by horse or foot messengers are serviced by three or four boats which the neighbouring villages are obliged to keep in a state of readiness. Cities on the edge of deserts that would normally take several days to cross and where there is no accommodation are likewise obliged to provide houses for the Grand Khan’s ambassadors and to supply them and their suite with provisions (for which they get paid from the royal Exchequer). Post stations remote from the great roads are supplied with horses partly from neighbouring towns and cities and partly by Kublai himself.
The system is at its most effective when used to send news of events such as civil disturbances or rebellions of which Kublai needs to be informed with the utmost despatch. In these circumstances messengers will ride some 200 or even 250 miles in a single day. They carry with them a tablet inscribed with the gerfalcon to confirm the urgency of their mission. To ensure the delivery of these urgent messages, very often two messengers, stripped down to skintight clothes and with a cloth bound around their heads, take off together, pushing their horses to the limit until they reach the next relay station 25 miles on. Without a moment’s rest they pick up fresh mounts and race on, covering, as I have said, 250 miles by the end of the day.