Furious, Jochi began to hit Guo Jing with his riding whip again, causing him to roll around in pain.
He rolled next to Jochi's legs before suddenly jumping up and grabbing his right leg. Jochi tried to throw him off with a kick, but the boy's grip was surprisingly strong and he couldn't get him off.
The other sons, seeing their older brother in such an awkward and embarrassing state, began to laugh loudly. Even Temujin began to snicker a bit. His face flushing blood red, Jochi unsheathed his saber and brought it down toward Guo Jing's head. Just as it looked as if the kid was about to be hit, a broken saber suddenly struck out from inside the grass pile. "Clang!" The two sabers collided and Jochi, feeling his hand go numb, almost dropped his saber. The soldiers let out a collective gasp as Jebe jumped out of the pile.
Pulling Guo Jing behind him with his left hand, he sneered: "Bullying a little kid, have you no shame?"
The soldiers immediately readied their spears and surrounded Jebe. Seeing that he had nowhere to run, Jebe tossed aside the broken saber. Jochi charged at him and landed a punch on his chest with Jebe not even trying to protect himself.
"Kill me now!" He shouted, but then he added with in a quiet and heavy voice: "Pity that I cannot die at the hands of a true hero!"
"What did you say?" Temujin cut in.
"To die on the battlefields, at hands of the hero that beat me, is dying with no regrets. But today the eagle has fallen onto the ground and was bitten to death by ants!" Jebe replied with fury in his eyes and let out a tremendous howl. Chagatai's hunting dogs, who had collectively pinned Guo Jing's 80
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shepherd dog onto the ground and were relentlessly biting it, jumped at the howl and ran away whimpering behind their trainers.
"Khan, don't let this little bastard boast like that." A person stepped out from beside Temujin and shouted. "Let me duel with him!"
"Alright, have a duel with him." Temujin replied, happily discovering that the man was Bogurchi.
"We don't have much of anything else, but we do have some heroes."
"I'm going to kill you by myself, so that you can die with no regrets." Bogurchi took a few steps forward and shouted at Jebe.
"Who the hell are you?" Jebe shouted back, noticing that the challenger was very well built and had a very deep and loud voice.
"I'm Bogurchi! Heard of me before?"
A cold feeling shot through Jebe's heart: "So this is him; rumors say that Bogurchi is the hero of heroes among the Mongols." Not wanting to reply, he simply shot a sideways look and hmmphed.
"You boast about your skills with the bow and arrow, and others even call you Jebe. Why don't you and this friend of mine have a little shooting contest?" Temujin declared. In Mongolian, "Jebe"
means both "arrow" and "divine archer." Jebe had another name, but because of his incredible skill with the bow and arrow, everyone called him Jebe and his real name had long been forgotten.
[Note: According to Mongol records, when he first entered Temujin's tribe, Jebe gave his name as Jirgadei.]
"So you are a friend of his?" Jebe shouted at Bogurchi. "Then I guess I'll kill you first." This remark caused all of the Mongol soldiers to let out an audible laugh, for everyone of them knew that Bogurchi was unbeatable as a fighter and was famous through out the entire Steppe. Even though they saw how great Jebe was with the bow, claiming to be able to kill Bogurchi was just a bit too much for them to stomach.
Back when Temujin was still a boy, he was once captured by the Taijiuts, who placed him in a wooden neck collar. The many tribes of the Taijiuts gathered at the Onon River to celebrate by drinking and whipping him at the same time. After the gatherers were sufficiently drunk, Temujin knocked his guard unconscious with his collar and escaped into the nearby woods.
The Taijiuts conducted a massive search trying to find him. It was then that he met a young man named Tchila'un who, in spite of the enormous danger, took him into his house. It was Tchila'un who smashed the collar off of him and threw it in the fire; and it was also Tchila'un who hid him in a cart of fleece. When the Taijiut scouts came around and searched Tchila'un's house, they came upon the cart of fleece and began to take it off layer by layer.
Just as Temujin's feet were going to be revealed, Tchila'un's father suddenly interrupted: "Such a hot day, how could anyone hide in a pile of fleece? If he did he's probably roasted to death by now."
It was dead in the middle of summer and everyone was sweating profusely. The scouts thought what he said made sense and didn't look any further. Temujin's life was filled with dangerous moments and close calls, but this was the most dangerous and closest call of them all.
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After he ran away, Temujin lived a squalid existence along with his mother and brother and they were forced to rely on captured prairie squirrels and marmots to survive. One day, the eight white horses that Temujin had were stolen by a small group of thieves from the Taijiut tribe. As Temujin rode after them all by himself, he ran into another young man who was milking his horse. When Temujin stopped to inquire about the thieves, he learned that the young man's name was Bogurchi.
"Our lives are full of the same hardships," Bogurchi said, "let's be friends."
The two of them rode off together. It was three days before they finally caught up to the thieving tribe. The two of them, by themselves, took on a couple hundred foes and took back those eight horses. Temujin offered to split the horses with him and asked him how many he wanted.
"I did this as a friend, so I won’t take a single one." was Bogurchi's answer. From that day forth, the two of them worked together and Temujin continued to insist on calling him his good friend. Theirs was a true friendship forged in times of trouble.
Bogurchi and Tchila'un, together with Muqali and Boroqul were the four foremost founding generals of the Mongolian Empire.
Knowing how great Bogurchi was with the bow, Temujin handed his own bow to Bogurchi and hopped off his white colt. "Ride my horse, use my bow and arrows, then it'll be as if I killed him."
"Yes sir!" Bogurchi hopped onto Temujin's treasured horse with bow and arrows in hand. Turning to Ogedai, he said: "Let Jebe use your horse."
"Well, lucky him." Ogedai commented before hopping off and ordering a guard to walk the horse over to Jebe.
"I am already surrounded," Jebe turned to Temujin after securing himself onto the saddle, "if you wanted to kill me, it would have been easier than killing a sheep. Since you have already showed mercy by letting me duel him with the bow, I dare not ask for anything more. Therefore I ask only for a bow and no arrows."
"No arrows?" Bogurchi shouted feeling insulted.
"That's right. I can kill you with just a bow!"
This time the laughter from the Mongolian soldiers was even louder. "What a braggart!" One of them shouted as Temujin ordered him to hand over his best bow to Jebe.
Bogurchi had seen Jebe in action during battle and knew very well what a great marksman he was and didn't dare to take him lightly. However, with no arrows, how could Jebe apply his great skill?
Bogurchi, knowing that Jebe must be planning to use the arrows that he himself shot, gave his horse a good squeeze with his legs, urging it into a gallop. Not only was this particular colt fast, it had been through many a battle and was especially perceptive to the whims of its rider. Because of this, Temujin had taken quite a liking to it.
In response of the opponent's speed, Jebe pulled on the reins, making his horse slowly back up.
Bogurchi fitted an arrow onto the bow and, aiming directly at Jebe's face, let loose. Jebe tilted his body and with incredible hand-eye coordination grabbed the arrow by the shaft out of mid-air.
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"Oh that's good." Bogurchi muttered under his breath and shot another arrow.
Hearing the arrow’s feathers slicing through the air, Jebe knew that he would not be able to catch this one. He leaned forward, laying his body flat against the neck of the horse. The arrow flew over his head, barely missing grazing him. Immediately he made his horse gallop forward with a little kick and sat back up. But what he didn't know was that Bogurchi was a master at shooting arrows one after another and two more arrows bore down on him. Not expecting such skill from his foe, Jebe was forced to immediately slip off his saddle and, hooking his right foot through the stirrup, leaned almost to the ground. The horse was still galloping at full speed, making it look as if there was a dancing bird at its side. Jebe twisted his body around. He had already loaded that arrow he had just caught onto the bow when he was barely half around, and let loose aiming at Bogurchi's belly. Then he immediately flipped back up onto the saddle.
"Excellent!" Bogurchi shouted as he aimed at the coming arrow and let loose. The two arrows met nearly head on and shot off in different directions before both arrows, still carrying a great force, stuck into the ground with their feathers up. The exchange caused Temujin and all other spectators to cheer in amazement.
Bogurchi feigned shooting to the left, waited until Jebe reacted to the right before suddenly letting off a shot towards the right. Jebe flicked his bow with his left hand and knocked the arrow down onto the ground. Bogurchi followed with another three shots, all of which were dodged by Jebe.