Almambet was particularly strict with his subordinates. He appointed a leader for every one thousand-strong team. “Whoever lost even one of his soldiers would be blamed,” he said. The rank and file got all washed up after a day of rapid march. Some people could not put up with his strictness. Kyrgolchial, one of the forty warriors under the direct control of Manas, could not help setting about Almambet in the face of Manas. “God damn it! How could you have made such a vagabond commander-in-chief? Our soldiers are bearing the brunt of his heavy-handed approach. We are not made from steel. We badly need to eat and have a rest. As a sixty-year-old person, I have never suffered the humiliation of this kind before. He is so wicked as to starve all of us to death in the barren land,” he yelled.
As soon as Manas heard this, he flew into a rage at once. He scolded Kyrgolchial severely: “How could you be allowed to hang about like the goats? How could you sleep until the lunch time every day? How could you have your meal in the midst of rapid march? To be quite honest, we are at stake right now. We’ll meet with enemies at any time. All of us should stand the terrible ordeal no matter how old he is. Otherwise, we are doomed to failure,” Manas said and then rode away. Kyrgolchial got very angry while standing dumbfoundered on the path.
The complaints of Kyrgolchial sent Manas thinking about all the reserves of stamina of his soldiers once again. The exorable khan asked the Khitan prince to permit having a rest for a whole day. However, such a suggestion was turned down by Almambet who left without a word while cracking the whip. After spending some time in quiet contemplation, Manas changed his mind eventually. He agreed to the Khitan prince’s advice not to permit soldiers in dissipation. It took them another sixteen days to reach the Kobul River. It was not until then that he permit taking a break. All the extremely exhausted soldiers were over the moon at getting such a rare chance to have a rest. As a result, all of them were sound asleep soon. However, Almambet did not lick his chops at the thought of hitting the hay. Instead, he began to take into account the military operations at the next stage. He climbed unto a neary
Legend of Manas
mountain to search for his age-old rival, Khitan general Muradil. He vowed to behead the Khitan general above all so that the obstacle to their march toward Beijing would be cleaned up. Unfortunately, Muradil had fled away beforehand. The Khitan prince had no choice but to return back to his barracks.
After having a six-day rest, the soldiers went on their trip. Almambet felt it necessary to explain the particulars of his operational plan to them. “As you know, we have to make the best of the mysterious witchcraft to traverse the Orkhon River. To be quite honest, the sly Khitan people are good at practising theurgy. For example, they trained some clever animals to the fullest before they were brought up to be special sentries. Those animials were even much defter in action than human beings. If we cann’t clean up these obstacles in middle of the way to Beijing, we will be spotted by Konurbai prior to getting to the destination. At that time, he will deal a crushing blow to us. If so we might not fulfill the goals of our military operations as a whole. In addition, all our previous efforts might be wasted at once,” the Khitan prince said. After that, the Khitan prince good at practising witchcraft started to conjure up a special kind of stones used to beg for rain with the help of some mysterious spells. Immediately after he sprayed the stones into water, flurries of snow and hail fell down with great violence onto the barren plateau. All of a sudden, the Orkhon River turned into a maiden who crooned in the world of snow and ice. Eventually, it turned into a narrow creek.
After the grand army traversed the river successfully, Manas led a forty-member contingent so as to annihilate the special sentry team made up with birds and beasts. If they failed, the terrible consequence would be worse than anything imaginable.
As usual, Almambet schemed out the efficient method of thorough annihilation. And he expounded the detailed operational plan in details once again.
Led by Manas and Almambet, forty warriors reached a rocky mountain in the neigborhood of a lake at last. They made an ambush right there.
As the sun rose, a mysterious wild duck stretched out its head and looked around carefully. It recognized the Khitan prince at sight of him. The reason was quite obvious: The Khitan prince raised the mysterious wild duck before. After that, the wild duck silently lowered and rested its body onto the moorland tucked away in the dense reeds.
Manas Goes on an Expedition to Save Compatriots from Adversity
51
“Everyone, let your gun be loaded. If a single wild duck flys away, we will be at stake right away,” Almambet told his companions. Then he began to beat a Khitan-styled war drum. The drum sounds reverberated across the field. Almost at the same time, a large number of wild ducks were startled and flew into mid-air in a flash. Such a large flock of wild ducks almost blocked the rays of sunshine. The sounds of firing shots and shooting arrows were echoed by the surrounding mountains. None of the flock of wild ducks escaped. All seemed to be shot to death. However, the Khitan prince doubted about this. “Well, I have a hunch that a white wild duck is unhurt and still hiding somewhere behind the reeds. The god-damned wild duck is unusual and might bring us great trouble. Just take off your boots, my old chap. Please remember: get closer to it silently and hold its wings tightly. If it wriggles itself free and flys into mid-air, I will shoot it to death as soon as possible,” he said to Chubak.