This Ariq Böke had been quite famous in history. He had once competed with Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan dynasty, for the khanate and had at one point gained the support of three great khanates, while Kublai Khan had received the support of only one.
Later, Ariq Böke was defeated and surrendered, while Kublai Khan became the Great Khan. The major khanates subsequently declared independence one after another. The division of the Mongol Empire, which had stretched across Eurasia, was inseparably tied to these two brothers.
Ariq Böke said, "Grandfather, have you heard? Two enormous male eagles descended from Tengri. They roost in Altai, and even the bravest hunters cannot harm a single one of their feathers."
(Tengri: the Eternal Heaven, the deity worshipped by the Mongols.)
Temüjin chuckled. "How many military and state affairs does your grandfather have to handle every day? How would I have time to concern myself with such dubious rumors?"
"This isn't a rumor!"
Ariq Böke said earnestly, "Many herdsmen have seen them. Male eagles larger than oxen, larger than fine horses, soaring above the Altai Mountains every day."
"Fine, let's assume it's true." Temüjin smiled. "Ariq Böke, what do you want? Do you want Grandfather to take you hunting?"
Ariq Böke nodded earnestly.
Temüjin was somewhat tempted. He had recently been exhausted in body and mind by matters such as the western campaigns and the conquest of the Jin Kingdom. Now that the Jin Kingdom had just fallen and the campaign against Song had yet to begin, this was a rare period of leisure. Going hunting with his beloved grandson would be a pleasure as well.
Especially if such giant eagles truly existed, shooting them down would surely make Temüjin's prestige resound even more throughout the grasslands and win him the