When the theurgy was over eighteen days later, Kulchoro heard clip- clop of horses’ tramping hooves suddenly. He pressed his ear onto the ground to discern how many horses were tramping up. He could discern two horses at first. Only after a short while could he infer that tens of thousands of horses were heading to the barracks at full gallop. It turned out that the fourteen khans who were always the staunch advocates of Manas and Semetei in any case called up their respective reinforcements. By the noon of the next day, all the reinforcements had arrived at the frontline. What impressed people most was that the 120-year-old Junmurgirchi, a half brother of Jakip, also took part in the operation for safeguarding the castle.
On the night of the day when different forces joined up with each other, Aichurek got to the yurt of Bakai once again for the purpose of elaborating on the progress of the battle. According to the fairy maiden, Semetei was keen to go out of the castle to fight invaders. However, such a desire could not come true right now because the khan had no magical horse in the castle. As a result, the khan asked Aichurek to send for him an urgent message to the effect that Kulchoro and other warriors should perform the duty of sending the magical horse back to him as soon as possible.
In addition, the fairy maiden pointed out the hardships that Kyrgyz heroes were suffering. “The castle is so closely surrounded that even an inconspicuous fly could not fly out of it. Kojowjiashi, the son of the sharpshooter Shipshiayidar, was also invited by Konurbai to take part in the war. In order to escape from
Konurbai Invades Kenkol and Numerous Warriors Protect Talas
123
being injured by his arrows, I had to fly out of the castle at night. Moreover,
I had to fly above the clouds for his arrows once almost hit me after breaking
through the clouds. On the road leading to the city wall, Konurbai deployed a
total of seven blockade lines. Two layers of wire netting were installed in front
of each blockade line to impede the enemy’s advance. Each blockade line was
under close guard of thousands of seasoned veterans picked elaborately from
one Qalmaq clan and headed by a noted warrior. They held the same weapon
and potrolled on their beat from time to time. So it was impossible for us to
launch an attack in the daytime. A friend of mine promised to help us beat
off the enemy’s attacks. He will turn into a twinkling star with a tail which
is supposed to point out the direction for our assaults,” said the fairy maiden.
In the next morning, the opposing forces squared off with each other in
the Kenkol Plain. Each side wanted to overwhelm the the other with their
respective tremendous momentum triggered by its massive and mighty
formation.
From the very beginning, the war situation was adverse to the Qalmaq
soldiers. Orokyrger, the youngest one among the sixty younger brothers of
Konurbai, was beheaded by Kyrgyz young general Baitailark. Konurbai was
very fond of his youngest brother and placed great hopes on him. So the death
of Orokyrger exasperated Konurbai. The old warlord was extremely terrible
when roused. He had his hair straggling over his shoulders in memory of the
deceased brother. Just like a ferocious beast seeking its prey, he responded
with successive assaults against the Kyrgyz soldiers’ bases while waving a spear
violently.
Wave of wild fury overcame the old warlord completely so most of the
Kyrgyz warriors balked at the idea of fighting a duel with him. Only Kulchoro
had the guts to antagonize the warlord.
In order to boost the courage of Kulchoro, Bakai and Junmurgirchi wound
his neck with a ribbon. Thereafter Kulchoro lunged at at his opponent while
chanting the slogan of “Manas.”
The well-matched rivals wrestled with each other for half a day. Both of
them ran out of all their weapons and a pit came into being under their feet
due to the force of their action. As a whole, it was a case of diamond cut
diamond.
Old age impaired the physical strength of Konurbai, though. One of his
Legend of Manas
arm was cut off by Kulchoro, who was nimble in action. Then a group of
Qalmaq soldiers rushed their injured commander-in-chief back into their
barracks.
The preliminary victory of Kulchoro was in favor of Kyrgyz people
furthermore. With the lapse of time, the morale of Qalmaq soldiers had been
greatly punctured. Ushang,a 100-year-old Qalmaq warrior lost his life to the
120-year-old Kyrgyz hero Junmurgirchi although he already killed a number
of Kyrgyz warriors. Yelranker, a young Qalmaq warrior who could mow
down dozens of enemy troops every time, was also killed by Junlguntzeik,the
son of Koshoi Khan. Neskara, who took over as the supreme commander
temporarily, died after being badly mauled by Kulchoro’s sharp dagger. The
so-called invincible general called Muradil knelt down before Kenchoro in
order to beg for mercy. However, his head was still cut off by Kenchoro, who
thought such an ignominious surrender disgraced the whole Qalmaq people.
On the other hand, Kyrgyz people also suffered a great loss. The whole
plain had almost turned into a sea of flames. All the yurts were destroyed by
fire and a large number of domestic animals were killed. For them, the greatest
loss was nothing but the death of Baitailark, the only son of Bakai.
Konurbai felt so sad to find that so many of his followers lost their lives
in the battle. He learned that his project of conquering Kyrgyz people had
already been hamstrung by such a great loss. However he was not willing to
make his getaway at first simply because he was still all gaging for retaliation.
Ironically, he divested oneself of such an idea only after a short while. He
did so just because he was amazed to see Semetei riding on his magical horse
out of the castle and storming the difficult enemy positions one by one.
Konurbai was stunned with terror when he caught sight of the young khan
who was as awe-inspring as his father Manas. In the eyes of him, Semetei
was just like an honorable god. In addition, many animals that were the
manifestion of tutelary deities of Semetei were also found surrounding the
young khan. The old warlord was deep in an absolute daze.
The crushing defeat reminded Konurbai of the decisive battle between
Manas and him. He was so frightened that he spurred his horse and ran away
from the battlefield at once. His elaborate schemes of conquering Kyrgyz
people came to naught entirely.
Legend of Manas