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The Tang(唐) armies controlled vast areas on both sides of the Great Wall. So it was no longer needed as a defense and it fell into ruin. To maintain order in the steppes, the Tang preferred to make their mark with trade and diplomacy rather than with walls. And their best diplomats at the time were Chinese princesses.
Every so often a princess was chosen to marry a nomadic ruler, and was sent off with her eunuchs, servants and piles of luxurious gifts.
Exile was a torture for these princesses. They were used to being treated as fragile, precious, porcelain beauties. Now they were forced to eat chunks of boiled meat, and drink fermented mare's milk, and sleep with barbarian husbands who never washed. One princess lamented: "A yurt is my home; felt are my walls; sour milk is my drink. Living here in a foreign country, I dream of turning into a yellow crane, and flying back to my home. "
Sacrificing a princess to exile in life for the barbarians seemed a small price to pay for peace. It was certainly a lot cheaper than building and guarding the Great Wall. But this policy had only short-term success. A new danger was developing in the northern wastelands. China was about to face the most legendary warrior the world has ever known.
Beyond the Great Wall, barbarians thundered across Asia, destroying villages, pillaging and plundering everything in their way. And here, China's worst nightmare began with the birth of a baby. His right hand drenched in blood, an omen of things to come.
As he matured, Temujin(铁木真) grew strong, mastered the art of tribal politics, and by cunning and treachery, became leader of his tribe, and then of many tribes. By 1204, all the tribes answered to Temujin, and he became the first king of all the nomads. They acclaimed him Genghis Khan(成吉思汗), the king of kings. It was said that his fierce and ruthless warriors never knew what pain and mercy meant. They could ride for days without dismounting. When food ran low, they just sucked the blood of their horses. No prisoners were ever taken, and they often slaughtered the whole cities.
Populations were so frightened that they would surrender without fighting. Genghis soon turned his attention southward, to the fertile lands of China. The bloody hand at his birth was about to fulfill its terrible destiny.
steppe: A vast semiarid grass-covered plain, as found in southeast Europe, Siberia, and central North America
yurt: A circular, domed, portable tent used by nomadic peoples of central Asia
felt: fabric of matted, compressed animal fibers, such as wool or fur, sometimes mixed with vegetable or synthetic fibers
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