It's a quiet morning just before dawn
In Temüjin's camp the family sleeps peacefully thinking their troubles are behind them
They are very wrong
Even now 300 Merkit soldiers thundered towards them on horseback eager for a fight
Music (Birth of the People)
News traveled fast on the ancient steppe
And the story of Temüjin daring escape and new alliance with Ong Khan, spread far and wide
His growing success got the attention of the Merkits
The tribe Temüjin's father had kidnapped his mother from
They saw an opportunity to knock Temüjin down a peg before he got too powerful
At Temüjin 's camp an old woman was sleeping with her head on the ground
And suddenly she was awoken by the sound of approaching hooves
She alerted the camp
With little time to prepare for the attack
Temüjin his allies his mother and five-year-old child all mounted horses and took flight
But Borte was left behind
Nobody is sure if she volunteered to stay behind as her grandmother had
Or if Temüjin lost track of her in the confusion
Or if he left her behind in a calculated move to give them all time to escape
But in the end it was effective when the Merkits found Borte they halted their pursuit and took her captive
Temüjin for his part fled to the mountains lying low and following the elk trails he had known since childhood
Four days later he emerged
And seeing that the coast was clear was overcome with gratitude for having survived
He vowed to always honor the mountains as the place of his deliverance
Temüjin saw his survival as a sign that he was special in the eyes of the spirits
Truly destined for greatness, but Temüjin was devastated at having lost his wife
He had three options
He could return to his old camp and his pastoral life
But no matter how much he might build up and acquire for himself
There would always be the constant risk that some other enemy might come along
And he would lose it all in another raid
He could head north toward the wooded isolated lands of his childhood
But those desolate lands lacked pasture for animals
Living there would require his family to scrape by as he had in childhood
Fishing and trapping and catching birds
It would be a safe life
But neither prosperous nor honorable
The third option was to follow the river south to seek the help of his patron Ong Khan
Though Temüjin had declined the offer to take a position under Ong Khan's authority a year ago
Now that his newly built life was shattered
It seemed the only way to recover his bride
Ong Khan was enraged that the Merkits had acted against someone under his protection
And offered Temüjin twenty thousand warriors to retaliate against them
He also suggested that they enlist the help of his childhood friend and blood brother Jamukha
Who had become Khan of his own tribe by this time
Jamukha had experienced his own adversities
Having been captured by the Merkits and forced into slavery just as Temüjin had
But he too had escaped
He had built his own following and was now head of his own clan
He was eager for a chance to take revenge on the Merkits and to help his blood brother
Providing another two cavalry division's to Temüjin force
They sent messengers back and forth across the steppe
Arranging where and when to meet
Jamukha arrived at the appointed time and place
But Temüjin and Ong Khan's forces took their time
Meeting up along the way before proceeding to the rendezvous
When they finally arrived Jamukha was livid
He had six thousand men under his command
Each with two or three spare horses
The Army's 15,000 odd horses alone were grazing 5,000 acres of grass per day
To say nothing of the horses of the families already living in the valley
All of his soldiers were geared up for battle sleeping in the rough and eating through their limited food supplies
And increasingly anxious to get back to their families
And moreover such an enormous force of men and horses were not exactly inconspicuous
Any wandering Merkit might have seen what was going down and galloped off to warn the others
Jamukha scolded Ong Khan and Temüjin who were like 'Yeah fair enough, our bad'
The combined armies made their way north to the Merket camp
But this was the beginning of a rift between Temüjin and Jamukha
That would only continue to grow
The Merkits lay in wait across a river
Each soldier built a float of reeds and swam across with a horse
The operation was too large to be a total surprise
But as soon as the Merkits realized what was happening they panicked and scattered
Temüjin frantically searched the camp for his wife calling out her name
Now Borte didn't realize that it was Temüjin himself coming to rescue her
Any number of raiders or rivals might have been attacking and she was not up for being captured again
So she was fleeing with the rest of the war prisoners
But when she heard Temüjin's voice over the fray
She recognized it and sprinted through the battle towards him
As she ran to his horse and snatched the reins from his hands
He almost attacked her thinking she was an enemy
But as soon as he recognized her he called off the attack
Dismounted in the middle of battle and embraced her
It was a resounding victory
The Merkits were scattered both Temüjin and Jamukha had their revenge
And Temüjin was quickly establishing himself among the Mongols as a leader
But their joy was short-lived
It was discovered that Borte had been raped by her captors and come back pregnant
Nine months after she had been rescued she gave birth to a son
Temüjin claimed that the boy was his but because his paternity was never clearly established
The child would never be fully accepted as Temujin's hier
With the Merkits dealt with Temüjin and Jamukha's families combined their camps and lived together
At least for a time the two men were inseparable
Riding hunting eating even camping together
They swore their friendship for the third time now as adults
In a public ceremony with their combined followers as witnesses
Standing before a tree at the edge of a cliff they exchanged golden sashes
Key symbols of a Mongol man's identity
As well as horses that they had looted from the Merkits
And because of his blood Brotherhood with Jamukha, Temüjin enjoyed an elevated status within the tribe
For a year and a half things seemed ideal
But time has a way of changing things
Both Temüjin and Jamukha were powerful men with aspirations to unite and lead the Mongol tribes
Jamukha supported traditional Mongolian aristocracy
Where Temüjin believed in a meritocratic method
And as such attracted a broader range and lower class of followers
Jamukha came from a higher lineage than Temüjin
And over time began to treat him less as an equal and more as a younger brother or a subordinate
Temüjin had killed the last brother figure in his life who had demanded subservience
So as you can imagine this did not sit well
And they began to drift apart
One day as the two men were riding together Jamukha suggested that they split up their camps
That Temüjin should take the goats and the sheep and camp by the river
While Jamukha took the horses and camped closer to the mountains
This was a Power Move
Horses were the wealth of the steppe
Horse breeders such as those Jamukha had descended from were a noble class
Horses played such an essential role in battle and steppe life that they were a status symbol
The message behind Jamukha's statement was clear
He was asserting his authority as a horse breeder and treating Temüjin as a lowly shepherd
Temüjin was perplexed and returned to his family
Relaying the order and asking his mother what she made of it
Borte overheard this and interrupted
She was angry at this betrayal and didn't trust Jamukha any longer
She insisted that they break from the group and set out on their own
Along with any of Jamukha's followers who wanted to join them
They fled that very evening
Riding through the night to gain as much distance as possible in case anyone decided to pursue
The following dawn something strange happened
Three brothers and their families
Leading members of minor clans under Jamukha caught up with them
Then more families from other clans caught up as well
In the end many of Jamukha's followers chose to join Temüjin
Now they weren't the greatest of families Jamukha still had the loyalty of the established leaders
But Temüjin offered something that Jamukha could not
The prospect of advancement
At the age of 19 Temüjin had taken his first great step on the road to leadership and power
The rift between Temüjin and Jamukha would grow into two decades of warfare
As each young man rose in stature as leading Mongol warriors
Accrued followers and built up their bases of power
They would grow from sworn brothers to the bitterest of rivals
Splitting the Mongols into a vicious Civil War full of raids and killings
Their rift was not just personal, but also ideological
As the rightful heir to his position as Khan and coming from a noble lineage
Jamukha was fighting to maintain tradition and Aristocracy
Temüjin was a radical who cared more about the quality of his followers character than their heredity
His following was a motley band of mixed class and origin
He had fought his way up from nothing
Going from a ragged child hunting rats in the woods to a respected military leader
His following lacked the legitimacy of Jamuka's noble background
But it was very appealing for those who wanted to find freedom and build a better life for themselves
The fight for the future of the steppe tribes had begun
Music (The Infinite Steppe)
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