Chapter 65: Jealousy

"Comrades, starting tomorrow, our village night school will add horsemanship as a new course."

Zhang Chu'an announced loudly to the crowd; the term "comrade" existed in ancient times, as early as the Pre-Qin period, the Guoyu recorded: "Shared virtue brings shared heart; shared heart brings comrade."

In ancient times, "comrade" carried the same meaning as "master," "elder," or "lord"—a term of address among friends.

Zhang Chu'an and Zhang Xiaofan’s use of this term was well liked by the crowd; the two had specifically explained it to them at night school.

At class, Zhang Xiaofan spoke earnestly to the crowd:

"We all come from the four corners of the land, united by a common revolutionary goal. Every person in our ranks serves solely to liberate the people, to strive utterly for their benefit—thus we call each other comrades."

Life in the base was busy: during the day everyone worked hard at production; at night everyone gathered at night school to study.

At night school, besides learning to read and write every day, they could also acquire practical skills and advanced production techniques useful for survival outside.

Such good fortune had been unimaginable before; in ancient times, learning to read and write required paying tuition to a private tutor.

Learning a practical skill for survival was even harder: apprenticing meant selling yourself to your master’s household; taking on a disciple was like acquiring a servant or laborer.

You had to serve your master faithfully, please him completely, before he would teach you anything.

Learning to read and write, and acquiring a practical skill, were real benefits for them and their children.

Yet in their eyes, the most important thing at night school was not the practical skills or literacy.

Here, the greatest thing was reclaiming human dignity and self-confidence; before this, they had never thought how vital they, as lowly tenant farmers, truly were.

They had once believed their status as common folk meant little, since the powerful lords and landlords could easily decide their fates.

Even local thugs could easily destroy their families—but the two leaders had told them words so shocking, yet so profoundly true upon reflection.

The fate of a nation is never decided by emperors and generals on the throne, nor by landlords and lords, but by the vast masses of laboring people—tenant farmers, hunters, workers, and others at the bottom.

In class, Zhang Chu'an and Zhang Xiaofan called these people "the people," emphasizing that it was they who produced all material wealth in the nation.

Isn’t it the people who grow the grain and forge the iron? The emperors, generals, and noble scholars are but parasites feeding off the people.

Without the people, what are they worth? Hearing these words and recalling their past treatment, the crowd’s hearts ignited with fury.

They had fed these parasites, yet these vermin showed no gratitude—instead, they drained the people’s blood and crushed their dignity.

Reflecting on past hardships compared to their improving present, and thinking of the inevitable crackdown by landlords and nobles outside, each heart burned with silent rage.

They must master their skills, leave this place, and venture into the wider world to liberate countless other poor, oppressed people like themselves.

Two thousand people was a small number compared to the Jin’s million-strong army—merely a spark—but a spark can start a prairie fire.

Zhang Chu'an and Zhang Xiaofan’s base was thriving, but Guo Jing and his group were now far from fortunate.

After their last defeat of Temujin, they had assumed Temujin would slow his assault on the Tatar tribes, given his losses of nearly twenty thousand troops and the Tatars’ considerable strength.

The entire tribe numbered seventy Battalion Commander; though previously struck by the Jin army and by Temujin and Wang Han, they still had some resources left.

Temujin should have found it hard to swallow them whole—but this time, he swept through the Tatar tribes like a storm.

Though the Tatar tribes outnumbered Temujin, they were fragmented into many branches, each fighting alone, while Temujin had just begun establishing a formal Mongol military structure.

Ten-commanders, hundred-commanders, and thousand-commanders ensured unified, coordinated attacks—thus Temujin crushed the Tatar tribes.

Yet after this battle, Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing did not return empty-handed; the Tatars and Temujin were ancient enemies.

During the time of Genghis Khan’s great-grandfather Ambaqai, the Tatars tricked and captured Ambaqai, delivering him to the Jin, Genghis Khan’s mortal enemy, who nailed him to a wooden donkey and executed him.

Later, the Tatars repeated the trick, killing Genghis Khan’s great-uncle Oqin Ba’erhahei.

By the time of Genghis Khan’s father Yesugei, the Tatars poisoned him.

So when Temujin defeated the Tatars, many abandoned their livestock and fled; Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing promptly sent troops to intercept Temujin’s pursuing forces.

Those who failed to escape met a grim fate: Temujin’s Mongol army slaughtered every Tatar above the height of a cart axle; the rest—men, women, children—were enslaved.

After this battle, Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing accepted one hundred thousand Tatar refugees, while Temujin seized the Hulunbuir grasslands.

One of the world’s four great grasslands, Hulunbuir spans 149 million mu, named for Hulun Lake and Beier Lake; nourished by thousands of rivers, each summer it bursts with birdsong, lush grass, and herds of cattle and sheep.

In later ages, it was called the finest grassland on earth; with this treasure in hand, Temujin no longer lacked livestock.

After this battle, Guo Jing’s strength fell further behind Temujin’s; had they not held hostages, Temujin would have attacked.

Yet Temujin’s victory not only alarmed Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang—it stirred jealousy in another: his adoptive father, Wang Han.

Wang Han had been pleased when Temujin was defeated and his forces decimated, for it proved his adoptive son posed no threat.

But who could have imagined Temujin would so swiftly annihilate the Tatars and seize the Hulunbuir grasslands? With this land, Temujin would inevitably threaten him.

As for Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang, who had defeated Temujin, Wang Han paid them no mind—they were merely a small tribe.

Even counting the Naiman refugees, their entire tribe numbered only eighty thousand; his Kerait tribe had three million people—no comparison.