"Master Marco." "You requested more salt cakes?" "Yes." "Thank you." "General Aruka advised retreat." "I gave the order that we turn and fight..." "like Mongols." "Mongols do not lose." "I have thought of nothing else these past days and nights." "A ride preceded by victory is much shorter." "True words such as these can only be drawn from a well of personal experience." "Leave me with my son." "Our son... is wounded." "Let me see." "A scar that will always remind me of Wuchang... and the men and horses that died there." "That is the only wound." "It too will fade." "Empress, please." "Go to the healer..." "Immediately." "You will ride to Karakorum..." "pay a visit to Ariq." "I want to know why my brother pledged horse and bow, but did not arrive to support my army." "A horse messenger can cover 300..." "Your horse messenger... did a fine job at Wuchang." "Did he not?" "Did you even send a falcon to my brother?" "Of course I did." "Return to me the truth." "Go see the healer, as your mother instructed." "How are the merchants taxed?" "They pay a fee for their stalls, and the higher fee is for more traffic, more customers." "More money, eh?" "Are there ever holdouts?" "Inside the Imperial Wall?" "Very rare." "Too good a thing they have here." "These vendors know, they cheat on tribute, they end up peddling outside the wall." "In Venice, those who do not meet their obligations are imprisoned." "Is it the same here?" "No, no, no." "Thieves are branded thieves." "Marked, they struggle." "Their sons beg, their wives and daughters whore." "They live off Lady Chabi's charity loaves." "But they live." "Sometimes." "Severity of punishment..." "not for me to comment on." "This is for the Vice Regent Yusuf, and the wisdom of his Secretariat." "What is this fabric?" "Uh, linen." "These Jurchen make it in Manchuria." "They don't have copper coins to pay this month." "So, I let them pay with what they have." "Hey." "Hey." "Can we get rid of these... pissants?" "These are my children." "They follow me around like I'm a king." "King of a fine brood, sir." "With my own Venetian slave, huh?" "Pissants!" "I love that!" "Let me put this away." "Thank you for dinner." "It was delicious." "Spices?" "You wanna talk about spices?" "These spiceries pay three and a third percent." "From the wine they make of the rice... they generate great revenue." "Thus, they must pay duty." "Untold money to the Khan!" "What is that, Sanga?" "Huh?" "This, Marco... they're verses of love." "See, I travel to collect." "So, when I travel..." "I leave words of love on paper for my Goland." "So she remembers she has a husband!" "And the Silk Road?" "Do we ever travel there to collect taxes?" ""We"?" "No." "I travel to collect." "Once a fortnight or so." "You... are not permitted to travel outside of Cambulac." "Hmm?" "The wonders of Khan's City is plenty." "Hmm?" "So, please... don't speak of this again..." "because I like you." "My slave." "Salute!" "Noble Tiger traveled a great distance... and began to find his eyes growing heavy." "Noble Tiger was very sleepy, you see... for he was very old." "Did he have no more teeth?" "He still had teeth... just no longer sharp." "And so, Noble Tiger lay himself under a great banyan tree... and fell into a deep slumber." "He had the most beautiful dream of a long shady path." "And as he walked down it... he grew young again and began a life anew." "So, he slept forever?" "Yes." "But all of his friends in the forest were so happy for him." "Then they remembered all the treasures he left behind." "You, Ling Ling, are the sweetest... greatest treasure your father ever gifted me." "One I will selfishly hoard forever." "Hello, Sunflower." "Uncle!" "Uncle's most precious." "Born in the Year of the Monkey." "Oh." "That's why you're so clever." "Precious and clever." "Go." "Show the children your new gift." "The Emperor is breathing his last and he has requested the presence of his imperial consort." "It is a tragedy that the fates will not allow him the time to bear witness to the fall of Kublai Khan." "Perhaps the Goddess of Mercy is sparing him a far worse vision." "Men will one day sing songs about me, sister." "Jia Sidao, the prime minister who vanquished the demon and saved the Song." "I will bring my daughter to say goodbye to her father... and to the Empire." "I did not mean to startle you." " Are you following me?" " No." "I saw you and approached." "What are you doing out here?" "I might ask you the same." "There is no citizen of Cambulac foolish enough to look at, let alone talk to me." "Do you know who I am?" "I know only your protector." "And if Za Bing were to catch you anywhere near me... he would run you through." "I trust you will not report me." "So... who are you?" "I am the Blue Princess of the Bayaut tribe." "You ride as Mongol... not princess." "All Mongol women are born to the horse and the bow." "May I assist you?" "No." "I am simply being polite." "Something a noble woman such as yourself should be tutored in." "I need not be polite to someone like you." "Someone like me?" "Someone beneath me." "I will forgive your ignorance in the ways of your new home." "This is not my home." "Many before you have thought the same." "You speak from experience." "Why do you imagine that?" "I see behind your words." "If you are the Princess of the Bayaut..." "where is your Queen?" "Your King?" "You're a prisoner... like me." "I am kept for royalty." "My future is in some distant palace." "You are a slave of the Khan." "I am nothing like you." "Try to keep up, if you can." "It won't be you who gets cattle-branded, Princess." "You've been particularly busy of late." "How goes your horse riding?" "You hold your tongue from me again?" "Hmm?" "How shall I tell of the Mongolian pony, Sire?" "He is a fine and hardy breed." "Unlike some steeds in Europe... he needs not rest nor... coddling." "Good." "Because you ride to Karakorum today with my son Jingim." "Bring me back a report, with fresh eyes." "Let me see, Latin... the way things truly are in the kingdom of my brother." "By your will, Sire." "My nephew." "Uncle." "I'm honored that my older brother has sent you." "We will kill a sheep... and drink airag." "Come." "You're in the heartland of Lord Genghis now." "Beware, Polo." "Your words can get you killed." "Wait out here." "This one they call the "Cricket Minister..."" "how many soldiers did he have lying in wait at Wuchang?" "Not enough to defeat a Mongol army... had our reinforcements arrived." "You did not attack without me?" "I was almost killed!" "My general, Aruka, has passed to the Blue Sky!" "The rains cut off passage of the Blue Horde." "You should have sent word." "I did." "My best rider..." "Duwa." "They captured him outside of Wuchang." "Tied his head to his horse... let it run home." "Right to his ger... and his children." "May I see?" "They are... magnificent beasts." "When you were a child, I called you Altai." "After the mountains me and your father hunted as boys." "Kublai insisted on a Chinese name." "Jingim." "Remind me of its meaning." "Golden." "Golden." "You are his golden one, nephew." "One day, they may call you..." ""Jingim Khan."" "But beware... my big brother is too trusting of outsiders." "Persians... and Chinese... and all kinds of religions." "You and me... our blood is the wolf and the deer." "Open the gates to outsiders..." "secrets will they spill." "Who is the Christian who rides with you?" "My uncle's troops were cut off by the spring rains... east of Volga." "He sent a horse messenger... but the rebels intercepted." "Where is the Latin?" "Sire?" "What was your impression of the Old Capital?" "I found the Great Khan's brother to be a gracious host, as Prince Jingim reported." "Four wives, yes?" "Five." "He also keeps a large harem... quite young." "But not as vast as mine." "And nowhere near as charming." "Certainly no girls from Kungurat." "I have seen my uncle's army, Father." "They are ready." "Ariq is prepared to join our attack on Xiangyang." "This will not be another Wuchang." "I fear Ariq's horses will never reach Xiangyang." "Speak." "Ariq's horses are in the many thousands, true." "Quite fit." "But how many days' ride is it from the Old Capital to the Walled City?" "Three weeks." "By desert." "As the son of a merchant... they do not have the grain supplies to move that many horses to Xiangyang." "The desert alone would cut their numbers in half." "My son, Jingim, just stated that they are ready to ride into battle." "They are ready, yes, Great Khan." "But only if that battle was closer to home." "Do you accuse my uncle, brother to the Khan, of treason?" "I only describe what I see, as I saw it." "Yusuf... dispatch a night rider to verify the Latin's report." "You will not be gaining favors by your charming stories anymore." "Not without a tongue." "The sword you hid is weak." "Your water won't last you two days." "But the salt cakes were... delicious." "I called Ariq a liar tonight." "That was foolish." "Were your words true?" "Yes." "Run now, they will find you." "Stay..." "I can train you to survive in whatever world you choose to make your home." "This is not my home." "I understand." "Where did the Khan get you from?" "I said I would train you... not wallow in nostalgia with you." "Why do you think the sword has a colored sash?" "To look pretty?" "He's advanced quickly to the broadsword." "You schooled him well, Hundred Eyes." "May I interrupt the student's training for a word?" "You're the Prince." "You may kill him, if that's your desire." "Humiliate me in front of the court again..." "I will kill you." "You were right." "Ariq betrayed us." "Ariq sends me a treacherous gift." "He remembers how much I love the king of the hunters." "Ariq is a dog, that would eat its own afterbirth." "He has always believed that he should be Khan of Khans." "Not you." "Before the sun sets today..." "I will close down the Gobi trade routes... starve Karakorum." "My younger brother will have no place to go but Siberia." "So forgiving, Great Kublai." "You slaughter entire cities, yet you allow Ariq to run to Siberia." "I know how to punish my brother." "He almost killed your son." "Ariq believes he can pleasure your women better than you." "Does that excite you, Empress?" "Ariq should be trampled by 1,000 horses and left on a steppe to rot." "That... would excite me." "Ariq Khan?" "Kublai's younger brother in the north." "We are minting his own currency for when he is elected Khan of Khans and opens the Silk Road for the Song." "Of course, I need the support of our region's governors." "You have my stamp, Sidao." "And my command over the Council." "Men grow old, pearls turn yellow... there is no cure." "My condolences, Empress Xie." "Eventually, we all become white ashes, Sidao." "But my husband has left a son." "Bow to your new Emperor, Zhao Xian." "With sad news, Empress, also comes good." "We drove the Mongols back from Wuchang." "The barbarians know your Chancellor will never surrender the last stronghold of the Song dynasty." "But they will be back." "We can count on that." "I fear you do count on it, Sidao." "I fear you thirst for it." "Have you reported all?" "Yes, Good Minister Ahmad." "Yes." "You are dismissed, Sanga." "Master Marco." "Come." "Stay." "Goodbye, my Venetian slave." "Schiavo." "Huh?" "So... what is this gift I hear of?" "The foreign messenger who can paint pictures with his words." "How would you describe the manner in which... the Uighurs pay their taxes?" "Always there's a form of ceremony." "On their knees... a humble offering, more as to a god than to a king." "And the Jurchens?" "Clever, and a resourceful people." "Paying with the work of their hands when they do not have the coins." "Masters of making linen, I understand." "So if the Jurchens have been paying in linen, why hasn't Sanga deposited any such tribute?" "I did not say that Sanga collected such linens." "Only that the Jurchens are a clever and resourceful people." "You are not the first foreigner... who has had to learn to subsist in this kingdom." "I found my way here as a child... raised in the household of the Great Khan." "So I know his heart, and I have his trust." "A lie is..." "like an assault on his person, but... an honest word?" "That is like a shield." "So I must ask you again." "Did the Jurchens... at any time... pay their taxes in the form of linen?" "Perhaps Sanga simply forgot." "Indeed." "Ling Ling..." "Ling Ling, go with Jing Fei." "Come on." "Good girl." "I will see you very soon, my daughter." "My Emperor is dead... but I am still an imperial consort." "I do not bed soldiers." "Chancellor Jia Sidao has granted us permission." "Two Eels, One Cave." "Do you know this forbidden game?" "You should be tied to a post and have your skin sliced from your body." "I have bartered for your political advantage." "I will not barter for the loyalty of your soldiers." "It is beneath you..." "I know." "You will travel to Cambulac as defector." "They will take you in, and just as you won the favor of the Emperor of China... you will win the favor of the Devil himself." "Report to me." "Everything he says, everything he does, everything he dreams." "Do not worry, sister." "While you are away..." "I will personally care for my Sunflower." "I am your blood." "We give our blood for the dynasty." "Your men... they laugh at you." "They call you the "Cricket Minister."" "I was summoned." "Quiet." "You may begin." "The tax collector's deposits did not match." "What?" "He was given an honorable death." "Rolled up in a carpet so that Tengri the Sky God did not see his blood." "You will be riding into battle with us, I hear... to give your accounts." "I love you so much." "I have to go." "But I will see you very soon." "I love you." "Send for Ariq." "Put up a ger." "Light a fire." "Do you remember, older brother... the summer you chased a deer for six days?" "You were gone so long, our mother thought the wolves got you." "She made me grind borts with the women for six more days." "Our father woke up drunk and said," ""Kublai, why are you grinding borts like a girl, when you should be out hunting deer?"" "Sorkaktani... she was a fine mother." "A great mother." "Queen of Mongolia." "It was she who taught us the code of Grandfather Genghis, yes?" "It was she that taught us that a true ruler must not lose the loyalty of his allies and subjects." "The Chinese..." "Saracen..." "Christian or Hindi." "A wise leader allows his people their ways." "Our father... son of Genghis, did not agree with such open gates." "He drank himself to death." "Behind closed doors." "Do you know where I was those six days?" "When you were chasing that deer?" "Making my arrows sharp to go after the wolf and save my brother." "I was four years old." "When our brother, Mongke, died..." "Mongolia elected me Khan of Khans." "Not all of Mongolia, brother." "Not the Princes of the Golden Horde." " Not the Chagataid of Persia." " That is rebellion." "We can argue that all night." "I do not want to be Emperor of China." "I do not want to be Ruler of the Face of the Earth." "I want to be Khan of Mongolia." "They are one and the same, brother." "So... it has come to this?" "Not by my choosing." "The way I see it, it is your warriors setting camp on my land." "It's because of that point of view... my warriors set camp on my land." "I bid you a good night's rest." "I'll see you at sunrise." "Where do you think the Venetian merchant is this evening?" "India?" "Tabriz?" "On my Silk Road, chasing riches." "I was just about your age when I knew." "Knew what, Sire?" "That I had to become the man I wished my father was." "Tomorrow... watch and remember what you see." "Faithfully." "Tell me." "All the way to the horizon." "A sea of men and horses." "Ready to break ashore." "The Khan has moved from his guard to the front." "Yes." "What is he doing now?" "He is riding down." "Alone." "This is Mongol against Mongol." "And only one can win." "You best pray that it is our side." "For if we lose..." "Cambulac will be burned to the ground... and we will be made into kindling." "Look where it has ended, brother." "You want Mongolia... you come and take it." "It is... as it should be." "Men of Karakorum!" "It is over!" "This fight... between Mongols is done!" "We stand together now!" "We ride together!" "Every corner of the land beneath this Blue Sky, is ours for the taking!" "Go back to Karakorum." "Prepare for war!" "For soon, we ride toward the south."