Chapter 108: Foundation
"I want campaign command," Batu said. "Real authority over the western territories and the campaign’s execution. The senior Jochid prince directing what gets done afterward."
The lamp on the table had been burning since before he arrived. Outside, the provision quarter moved through its afternoon, and the sounds of it reached through the felt walls in low undifferentiated fragments.
Her eyes continued on him across the table. "Subutai will be there."
"Subutai is the finest field commander alive and I will use his talent. What I’m asking for is strategic authority, what it is done and what gets built afterward. That authority belongs to the senior Jochid prince in this theater."
She was still for a moment. "That’s a distinction most men don’t make."
He had been watching her since the exchange opened. She took what he said and put it against what she already held.
"You didn’t ask me to explain it," Batu said. "Which tells me you already understood it."
A flash glinted on her eyes, something underneath her facade. She picked up her cup and turned it without drinking.
"Mongke needs a senior front-line role. Real authority, visible stakes, with standing that is as important in the campaign planning as well as on the field. A campaign into territory that was finished before he arrived does nothing to his merits."
She set it down. "That’s my first requirement."
"Why does he need it to be visible specifically."
"Because Tolui has been for dead three years and Guyuk has been the heir since before that and every year that passes without something changing, his position gets stronger."
She met his gaze with flat eyes.
"The next succession question opens when Ogedei dies, and Ogedei drinks enough that the question isn’t far off. When it opens, Mongke needs to stand on ground that makes him a real candidate. Give him the opportunity to earn it. That’s what I’m asking."
"Then our interests are aligned on this. I need this campaign to be victorious, and strong results require capable commanders in positions that matter. I’m well aware that marginalizing those princes to keep their merits modest would warrant me failures, and failures cost me everything I’ve built."
"That’s the first thing you’ve said that sounds like a reason."
"It’s also a reassurance."
She considered this with the attention.
"You’re saying the proof comes from watching what you do with it."
"Yes."
"And what verifies your intentions before it begins? What prevents you from taking the votes and then deciding he should lead the eastern supply depot?"
"Nothing contractual," Batu said. "The same way nothing prevents that faction from delivering its votes then finding reasons to abstain from the decisions that follow."
"We’re both relying on something that can’t be enforced."
"Then what are we relying on."
"Mutual interests. Which is more reliable than a contract because it doesn’t require enforcement. A contract is only relevant as long as the enforcer is willing and capable. This stays relevant as long as the underlying logic stays the same, and the underlying logic won’t change afterward."
She stopped on that for a moment. Outside the provision quarter ran its sounds.
"You’ve described the logic of an independent western authority," she said. "A role with a field appointment attached is a different kind of thing."
He understood her correctly coming in. She was verifying the scope of what she was agreeing to.
"Yes," Batu said. "It’s the same thing. The campaign authorizes the structure. The structure outlasts the campaign."
"And you need me to understand that before I commit to this."
"I need you to decide whether it serves your interests. You’re already deciding."
She was quiet for a moment, working through the new understanding of what she was considering.
"What do you want from this beyond that? What are you actually working towards out there?"
It was the sharpest question she’d asked. He’d been waiting for it since she’d named her terms, because a woman who had run the appanage alone for three years and had survived Ogedei’s remarriage pressure and had built a political operation capable of determining the outcome had been observing his position long enough to know that a man who’d done what he’d done didn’t want just a title.
"A western khanate that doesn’t collapse when Karakorum decides the campaign is finished," he said. "The campaign is the beginning. What comes after is the point."
"That’s a longer project than a single authorization."
"Yes."
This time her silence ran longer. She was considering it from the parts that had been accumulating, the administration Siban had described, the site on the Volga that was already under construction, the paper contracts and the hydraulic engineer and the supply commitment.
All the things that a man working towards a permanent structure in the west would have been doing on the road from the western steppes to Karakorum.
"Mongke in the main advance," she said. "Senior front-line role, real authority, the sort of achievement that’s visible from Karakorum as well as from the field. Hulagu with a genuine junior command. He’s young enough that opportunity matters more than seniority, and I’m not asking for him to be placed beyond his capacity. Kublai behind the front line in a role that fits his age."
She met his eyes directly. "The Toluid line’s support at the gathering, and whatever minor princes the household’s prestige is enough to move. I won’t overpromise the number. Some of them will watch the room and go where it looks strongest regardless of what I say to them. I’ll move what I can move."
"Those positions will be real for the campaign, with genuine tactical authority."
"Then we have a deal."
It was stated plainly, the way she’d stated everything, without performing the gravity of it or requiring him to confirm it with anything more than he’d already given.
She lifted her cup and drank.
Batu looked at the table for a moment and then at her.
"I have one more thing to discuss," he said.
She set it down and looked at him.