The Will of the Tngri

This is the first part of my TL wherein the failed Yuan invasion of Java results in their landing in the Americas. Comments appreciated.


The Will of the Tngri

Having been driven from the shores of Java by the treachery of Raden Wijaya of Majapahit with the loss of some 3,000 crack troops, Shi-bi, the Mongol leader of Kublai Khans invasion of Java, pondered his next move. His fleet had sustained minor damage and still numbered over 900 vessels and his army numbered 25,000. He could still try to defeat Majapahit to satisfy the Great Khan, but there was little time left in the season. If they were to return to China, they would need to do so very soon while the winds were still favorable.

His subordinates, Ike Mese and Gaoxing were of two minds, Mese wanted to land and pillage the kingdom, Gaoxing felt they must be bound for home. Shi-bi balanced their arguments and decided to agree with the Chinese Admiral. The Great Khan would be unhappy at the defeat of his army, but he would be even more unhappy at the loss of troops and ships if they were caught by a typhoon. There would be hell to pay in any case when they returned to Da-Du.

The fleet sailed north-east, to the straight between Nusa Tanjungnagara and Sakasanusa with the goal of crossing the Sea of Sulawesi and turning north toward China. Shi-bi wanted to avoid the Majapahit fleet that was almost certainly expecting them to return via the Java Sea and was probably waiting to ambush them. His was an invasion fleet, not a war fleet, and while he had numerous war junks, they were needed to protect the transports and supply ships and he could not afford to lose them by challenging the Javanese.

As the great fleet sailed through the islands at the bottom of the straight, it was struck by an unseasonably early storm, which scattered the fleet across a great distance. In the confusion and difficult conditions of the storm, many of Shi-bi’s ships were sunk or foundered on the shores of the islands. When the fleet regrouped off the coast of Sawaku near Tabalung, Shi-bi was concerned that he had lost nearly 200 ships, mostly war junks. There were no longer enough to fully protect the remaining fleet. Several thousand more men had been lost in the wrecks, among them was Gaoxing, whose ship had been driven onto the rocks and broken.

With the strongest voice for a return to China now silenced, Shi-bi considered his options. He had lost a good portion of the Great Khan’s fleet, and over 6,000 men in all. He had failed his mission to subdue Java. To return to China now would certainly mean loss of status, position and property for him and his family, not to mention the possibility of physical punishment. If he did not return, his family would suffer and the Khan would send a fleet out to destroy him. If his fleet was lost at sea, his family would remain with their position and possessions mostly secure. And so, Shi-bi set out to be lost at sea.

Ike Mese was surprised by the way his commander’s thoughts had turned. Shi-bi was now of the mind that they should land and the army at a good place, conquer the local peoples and carve out new kingdoms for themselves, Shi-bi had consulted the navigators and geographers on board to determine where the knowledge of the court in Da-Du was weakest so he could pick a land where word would not get back to the Khan, too quickly.

Shi-bi settled on occupying the island of Halmahera in the Maluku islands. Halmahera was large enough to feed his men and would be a good place to set up a Khanate in the East. It would take Kublai some time to find him and by then it would be more advantageous to accept his allegiance as a tributary kingdom than to wipe him out. The Great Khan’s anger could be tremendous, but his pragmatism was stronger, the influence of China Shi-bi thought.

Pickett boats he had sent out returned with word that the Majapahit fleet had been sighted, and was sailing their way in company with a great number of pirates. The weakened Yuan fleet could put up a fight, but the hope of success was low. Shi-bi’s ships were larger and faster, but the Javanese fleet would be far more maneuverable. This created a significant chance of defeat and Shi-bi did not want to risk his future on an unnecessary sea battle.

Shi-bi and Ike Mese concocted a plan to tell the fleet that the Khan had also ordered them to conquer some of the Islands in the Malukus to use as a base against Majapahit should their invasion of Java itself fail. They were therefore sailing for Halmahera, there to found a new khanate for the glory of Kublai, The Khagan.

Within a day, the fleet was once again underway, this time north-north-east to the Sea of Sulawesi and then East to Halmahera, a distance of nearly 4,000 li. As luck, or more accurately, fate would have it, the Yuan fleet had no sooner entered the Sea of Sulawesi and turned east with the intention of sailing through the Sangihe islands north of Tagulandang when they were again hit by a violent storm which raged for four days. The fleet was driven North-east by the terrible winds, where they entered a strong easterly current. As the storm abated, the prevailing winds continued strong toward the east and attempts to sail against the wind and current were to no avail. Yuan ships could be seen on the horizon all around Shi-Bi’s junk and he signaled them to rally around him. The signals were passed on to ships on their horizons and within two days, the remaining fleet was once again sailing in company, where they did not know.

Again, Shi-bi had lost a great number of ships and men. He was now down to less than 500 ships and 10,000 men. He ordered the ships to be examined and supplies concentrated on the most seaworthy of the remaining vessels. He similarly had the soldiers, horses, livestock and other supplies re-distributed. With his force now more secure, he summoned Ike Mese, his other commanders and the seers, shamans, monks and holy men who traveled with the army.

He gave them one day to consider three things and render their thoughts;
· The army had been defeated on Java
· The fleet had suffered great losses in two great storms
· When they chose to go one way, the universe sent them in another

Shi-bi had been born northwest of Karakorum on the steppes of Mongolia. His childhood had been that of a traditional Mongol boy, horses, archery, and hunting. Moving from pasture to pasture and following the ways of the Mongol, as had been done for all time. He had gone to war with the conquerors of China and had earned great honor at the Battle of Yamen, when he was only twenty three. Throughout his life he had clung to what he knew were the fundamental things that made Mongols what they were, rulers of the earth. He held the traditions and beliefs of his people as truths, and while he tolerated other beliefs, as was the Mongol custom, he was unswerving in his faith in the truth of Mongol life. He was exceedingly superstitious.

He gathered these men together the next day and asked them for their musings. He heard many things, from the mystical to the mundane, from the “will of Heaven” to simple bad luck, but none seemed right to him until a Mongol Shaman named Megujin spoke. He was an old man of the steppes who had spent much time in Da-Du. He had studied Buddhism and Taoism as well as Muslim and Christian scriptures. His words mattered when discussing issues of the Gods.

Megujin said;
“That we could not conquer the Majapahit means that we were not intended to. That storms have twice ravaged the fleet and army and taken a great number to their deaths means that we have been cleansed. That we cannot go where we want to go means we are supposed to go somewhere else.”
And he fell silent.

Shi-bi was quiet for a moment and then asked Megujin;
“If we were not meant to conquer Java, what are we meant to do? You say we have been cleansed by the storms, but why have we been cleansed? Where are we supposed to go?”

The reply was measured and quiet;
“I will tell you from back to front. The Gods want us to go where ever they deign to bring this fleet and they have cleansed it in preparation for a great task to be done when we come to the end of this voyage. Köke Möngke Tngri (Eternal Blue Heaven) guides us and Qurmusata Tngri keeps our fires burning for this purpose. Were I Buddhist, I would say that the Buddha guides us on our journey. If I were Muslim I would declare that Allah commands us to go. The Chinese would tell you that it is the Will of Heaven. But I am a simple Mongol from the steppes. We must trust that Köke Möngke and Qurmusata have set a task for us and we will recognize it when it comes, until then, we must follow their will and let them guide us.”

Shi-bi grunted and looked at the old Shaman. Then he stood and returned to his cabin. The fleet sailed on, pushed by the wind and current through the night as Shi-bi wrestled with his thoughts. He had failed in the mission set for him by the Khan. He had lost many men to battle, illness and storms. The heavens had taken half of his ships and conspired against every move he had made. He himself had conspired against the Great Khan to set himself on the throne of the east as Khan. The 99 Tngri must mean for him to cleanse himself to atone for these things, and the atonement must lie to the east. The fleet would sail on as the Gods directed them.
 
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The Will of the Tngri parts 2 & 3

The Will of the Tngri part 2​
With the holy men and captains explaining why the fleet continued toward the east there was a period of calm as the men digested the news that they would not soon be going back to China or conquering a new kingdom for the Khan. The rational that the supreme beings, in whatever form you perceived them, were behind the defeat, storms and suffering of the army resonated with a particular form of logic growing from the almost universal agreement of the holy men that Shi-bi was following the correct, preordained path. Let the Gods, Heaven, Allah, the Tngri, and/or God determine the fate of the host and it’s ships.

And so the fleet continued eastward, ever eastward. The winds would die and the ocean itself would carry them farther to the east. Storms would batter and blow them more quickly eastward. The Sun shone with the intensity of summer in the Taklimakan. Men continued to be lost to the storms, but now also to the sun and disease. Shi-bi set up some of the ships to care for the sick so sickness would not spread to the healthy crew, but the diseases were already quietly infecting the seemingly healthy. The storms claimed more ships as well and Megujin again claimed it was a cleansing, as was the sickness.

Land was not seen, at any distance and the men were growing restless. Food supplies were running short in some areas and Shi-bi set the men to fishing. Water was collected from the storms that pressed them toward the east. Eggs from the chickens and sucks and milk and cheese from the horses, cattle, sheep and goats also helped to sustain them. They had yet to reach the desperate measure of bleeding their horses for sustenance. Shi-bi was not sure how the Chinese, Uyghurs, Koreans and other nationalities in his force would respond to that.

The core Mongol contingent was small in comparison to the others, only about a thousand men and he relied on them as the center of his strength. The Uyghurs were the next most reliable, Led by Ike Mese who had completely supported Shi-bi, he felt they were nearly as reliable as his Mongols, They were after plunder, wealth and glory as well. The Chinese, now led by Zhong Yu as the most senior Chinese officer in his force, were less tractable. He sensed the resentment the Chinese felt toward the Mongols as occupiers of their lands. He would have to address their loyalties at some point. Perhaps he would break the Chinese up into smaller groups and integrate them deeper into the Mongol, Uyghur and Korean forces. The great Chingis had done something similar when he broke the clans by requiring man to serve with warriors from other clans. How he would combine their different skills into cohesive battle units was a question he felt he had time to ponder, since the Gods had not brought them to where they were going yet. Time was an ally and a foe at the same time. He would begin to integrate the forces now.

As the summer faded into autumn with little outward sign of the passage of time fleet pressed onward to the east. On a few occasions they saw birds that live on land or caught the odor of plants and earth, but no mountains rose from the sea. One of the outlying ships had seen a sail of strange shape on the horizon, but it came no closer and was gone in an afternoon. Shi-bi believed that there was land here, not far from their route, but it could not be the land he was meant to reach, for the Tngri sent him past these things into the unchanging sea.


The Will of the Tngri part 3​
By early October, Shi-bi had begun to doubt that there was any purpose to this voyage, divine or demonic. His fleet had dwindled to 300 ships out of the 1,000 that had sailed from China. His once great force of 25,000 men was reduced to only about 7,000. Supplies were nearly consumed and rations had been cut for man and beast. Even the fish had abandoned him and few were caught for the table. He determined to make for the next hint of land, if the Gods would allow.

Within a few days, they again saw birds from the land and caught the aroma of plants and earth. A day later, under a cap of clouds, an island was seen to rise from the sea to their north. Shi-bi determined to reach this island to refresh his supplies if he could and ordered the fleet to make for it. At first the Gods seemed to allow this change in course, but as they neared the land, the winds strengthened and the fleet was again pushed to the east leaving the island resting in the arms of the setting sun.

On they sailed for the next three days, never leaving the smell of land behind them, never without the company of land birds. Shi-bi thought that these constant reminders of the island were punishment for defying the Tngri and trying to land. Frustrated and morose, he kept to his cabin and spoke little. He knew the men were weary, angry and fearful. He knew the dwindling stores would not last forever. He knew that his ships would be lost one by one until he was alone and dying far from the grasses of his beloved steppes.

He became aware of a growing sense of activity, men talking excitedly, the sound of men moving ever more quickly, tension in their voices and movements. He left his cabin for the first time that day, it was shortly before mid-day, and came face to face with an excited Mongol warrior.
“LAND Great General! LAND! To the east as promised by Köke Möngke and Qurmusata!” he cried and ran off to spread the news.

Shi-bi hurried on deck and to the forecastle. On the Horizon he could see a row of mountains lifting above the waves. The shore was not yet visible and he knew it was some distance off, but it was unmistakable. He now joined the captain on the sterncastle and ordered the fleet to be signaled to move closer together. The mountains were directly east and the fleet moved without deviation in that direction.

As the hours passed and the fleet continued east, more and more land could be seen. The mountains grew inexorably nearer. The day faded and the setting sun illuminated the hills on the horizon as if they were a brilliant promise about to be kept. The captain suggested that they may not want to approach the shore in the dark of night. It might be best to heave to and await the morning light. Shi-bi so ordered and the fleet drifted through the dark sea until the eastern horizon began to grow light.

They had drifted closer to the land in the night and the dark silhouette of the mountains created a ragged edge to the horizon that the fleet had not seen in many months at sea. Shi-bi had not slept well that long night and wanted to be irritable, but the sight of the white line of surf lifted his soul and he smiled broadly for the first time. He ordered the fleet to set sail for the land.

And so they did. By mid morning they were close enough to see that there was no safe anchorage along this stretch of coast. There was a point a short distance to their south where the land curved sharply to the east. The shoreline continued northward to nearly merge with what could be a large island which stretched to the west. Shi-bi sailed along the coast, heading north, knowing that the Gods were happy with this decision, because they had allowed him to do so.

It soon became apparent that the west tending land was indeed an island. They sailed between this island and the coast and found themselves in a great bay. Surely, this must be where they were going. Shi-bi tested the Gods one more time and ordered the fleet to drop anchor off the north shore of the island, where they would be protected.

He surveyed the bay from the stern of his ship, noting another island to the west of his anchorage as well as the headland that enclosed the west side. To his north there appeared to be another island between the shores and on either side of that a channel that lead farther northward. To his east lie the shore they had first seen with its low mountains clad with dense forest. All about them was green and alive, gently rolling hills, mangroves and beaches. The gentle waves were no longer the blue black of the ocean, but dappled with the blue-green shades of shallow water. Above it all, Köke Möngke, Eternal Blue Heaven.
 
Part 4 Revised!

The Will of the Tngri part 4​
As dusk turned to dark, Shi-bi’s sentries began to see the lights of fires scattered through the hills. They had seen nothing that would indicate that this land was occupied or that they were not alone. The General was told of the fires and he came on deck to see for himself. There were about eight locations where he could see them, although there appeared to be none on the island sheltering their anchorage. In most cases there were one or two fires in a single area, but on one spot to the north-west, a low headland if he remembered his daytime view of the bay, there were many fires. It looked almost as if an army had camped there. He increased the guard on all the ships and sent smaller craft to patrol the edges of the fleet.

This had been a day of harvest in the village and most people had been in the fields for the day. The few women remaining on the village to care for the small children had kept them close while they went about their daily tasks. Unlike most days, no one had gone out to fish in the bay or beyond the islands, there was too much to do inland that day. No one had witnessed the arrival of the monstrous things that now lay against the island’s shore.

While everyone lingered by the fires while the evening meals were prepared, one youth of 15 years wandered down to the beach. He went to check his canoe, actually his family’s canoe but his father was ill and his brothers and cousins too young to fish on the water. The boat was pulled onto the beach and lay beneath the trees above the high tides. As he approached the tree line something caught his eye, something he had only seen a few times. Fires were burning on the water near the island where the fishing was always good. A few times a year, the men of the village would go out to fish at night and would carry lighted torches on their canoes to attract the many armed fish.

This was the wrong time of year for that, and the men were all in the village. There were too many fires as well and they were stacked on top of each other. None of the neighboring villages were large enough to send out that many canoes, even if they all banded together. The Headman and the Shaman need to see this he thought, and turned and ran back up the hill to the village.

The harvest was very good and the boy had difficulty getting the attention of the Headman. There was too much celebrating going on. When he whispered into Nets-Are-Full’s ear that there were fires near the island he got a sharp look. It said leave me alone boy! He did not. Fifteen minutes later, Nets-Are-Full, the Shaman and the boy were on the beach, the Headman had brought all the men of the village in order to put the boy in his place for interrupting the celebration.

That changed on the beach. Nets-Are-Full saw the fires burning near the island and knew it was not right. He called his best boatmen and sent them to find out what caused the -lights. As they paddled away in the dark, Nets-Are-Full wondered what, if anything they might discover, The boy, also wondered the same thing and had visions of magical beings come to bring the Ngöbe to glory over their neighbors.

That was an odd thought to travel through his mind. His was a peaceful people who fished the bay, farmed the soil and hunted in the forests. The neighboring villages were all the same, some bigger and some smaller, but normally at peace with each other. In his life, his people had been raided a few times, pushed out of fields that another village claimed and claimed fields that other groups had wrongly taken over, but these were short lived conflicts more often settled by talk than weapons. Traders of all the villages traveled together far to the north and south, or even over the mountains to the other sea. A few had gone as far as the great stone villages of the Maya.

The Ngöbe canoes paddled quietly closer to the Yuan ships. They avoided Shi-bi’s picket boats which were easily seen because of the torches they carried. They had never seen anything approaching these things, so large, so tall. They saw beings moving on the…boats? The small torch bearing boats they had seen were familiar enough, although the shape was all wrong. These also seemed to float on the water, so perhaps they were some new and magical type of boat. Perhaps the beings on them were spirits. Perhaps the Maya had found a way to move their great stone villages over the water. After moving among the great “boats” for a time and losing count of their number, the Ngöbe silently paddled into the night. Returning to the village in the pre dawn, they gave their report to the Headman and the Shaman.

Nets-Are-Full was at a loss. If these beings with the great boats were the Maya, why had they come to his quiet bay? The Shaman had told him the Maya spirits needed blood to live and keep their powers and the Maya fought and captured people from other villages to feed to their spirits. At least that was what his father, the old shaman, had told him. In his youth, he himself had ventured to a Maya stone village and seen blood soaked images of their spirits.
Of course they might not be Maya, they might be spirits who have lost their people and are seeking new ones to take care of, or to take care of them. How could he know?

Precaution was the best way in this case he decided. Runners were sent to the other villages so they would know what was in the bay. The villagers quickly packed up what they could and Nets-Are-Full sent them up to the grasses beyond the trees where they would be safe and able to vanish into the forest if these were Maya looking for spirit food. He would take some of the best men in the village and go south along the shore, closer to these boats. The Shaman would come with him.

That morning, Shi-bi sent a ship to explore the point where the fires had been seen. It carried a small contingent of archers, twenty foot soldiers and three Buddhist monks. The vessel sailed west, along the island and then turned north to parallel the shore toward the point.

Nets-Are-Full, paddling south with his canoes, saw the ship heading north and moved his men from the water into the mangroves along the shore. They made slow progress down the coast as far as the shelter of the trees allowed. There they stopped and watched as this “spirit canoe” went by under great wings that spread from trees that it carried. They turned and followed as best they could in the tangle of mangrove knees. The spirit canoe was faster than they were and soon reached the site of the village beach. There it folded it’s wings and stopped.

Namgung Seok, the Korean captain of the scout ship had noticed the telltale tracks where the canoes were hauled into the water and chose that spot to anchor, feeling that a settlement could be nearby. Boats were lowered and the landing party was sent ashore. The captain increased the watch while he waited for the party to return from the shore.

Nets-Are-Full and his men saw the boats lowered and the men landing on the beach near where the canoes were brought ashore, and brought his boats as close to the spirit canoe as the cover of the mangroves would allow. He sent half of his men to track those on the beach. None of the Ngöbe had yet gotten close enough to get a good look at these beings, although they certainly seemed to be very much like ordinary men.

The native trackers, concealed in the tangle of undergrowth, were the first to get a good look at the newcomers. They appeared to be of similar stature to the Ngöbe but their clothes covered almost all their bodies, so their physique was hard to gauge. They even had clothes on their feet. Parts of their clothes shone like wet stones or the obsidian blades made by the villagers in the west. They wore hats that looked like the Shamans hat, but also looked to be made of something grey and hard with the fur of animals around the bottom. Some carried strange bows and quivers of arrows; others had long spears with shining grey points. All wore the most amazingly shaped blades of this same hard and shiny material. There were three of the men who were dressed very differently, they wore cloth of the brightest color the Ngöbe had ever seen, it was the color of the clouds at the setting of the sun and seemed to flow like water. These men, they could tell, were shaped like the Ngöbe, but like all the others had oddly colored skin. The strangers spoke to each other in a language that could not be understood and sounded strange but musical in their ears. Occasionally, as they moved from canoe to canoe, or turned to speak to one another, their clothing would make a sound similar to that made by gold striking gold or copper striking copper.

They followed the strangers from the cover of the trees as they followed the path up the hill to the village. Along the way were some small gardens kept by the old women. These men stopped and examined them, pulling vegetables from the ground and fruit from the bushes. When they reached the village the strangers carried their long grey knives in their hands and the men with the bows put arrow to string. The wet-sun men walked behind those with knives as they went from house to house. Some things had been left behind in the rush of the villagers to leave and these men examined the pots and utensils that were strewn about. They paid close attention to the hearths which were still warm. One of them went into the Shaman’s house and returned carrying some of the old man’s gourds filled with his potions and handed them to one of the wet-sun men. Another entered the house of Nets-Are-Full and soon called one of the wet-sun men to come into the house. When they came out of the headman’s home, the wet-sun man held up the necklace that Nets-Are-Full wore only on the most important occasions. From the band of bright pebbles strung together hung the golden effigies of the five world spirits who protected the headman and his village. Somehow, in the rush to reach the fields of grass, Nets-Are-Full’s wives had failed to take this important sign of his office.

The spirit ship men soon left the village, carrying some of the things they had found, but only one thing of real value, the spirit necklace. As they passed the old women’s gardens, some collected vegetables, tubers and fruit which they carried down to the boats on the beach.
Some of the strangers stayed ashore when most of the others returned to the spirit canoe, These men, ten with bows another ten with long knives and one of the wet-sun men, began to prepare a camp just inside the trees along the beach. A few of the trackers remained near the beach to watch these while some quietly returned to the village to take stock of what had been taken and what had been seen. The rest made their way back to Nets-Are-Full with the sad news of the loss of the spirit necklace.

Shi-bi, in the mean time had sent other boats to explore the other shores and sent a contingent of men onto the island to reconnoiter that. They reported that there was good water and some good grazing ground. There appeared to be no one living on the island, although they had come across some abandoned camps. They had also seen signs of deer and other game as well as many birds. The island was about 62 li in length and 15 li at its widest.

Shi-bi ordered that a camp be built for his troops and that the horses and cattle be landed to graze. And so the Yuan army set foot in this new land for the first time.
 
Coma

It has become apparant to me that at the present rate it will take me 200 years to make contact with Columbus in this TL.

On top of that, I am dealing with issues of disease, religion and warfare as well as trade.

several things have become obvious...and I don't think they are butterflies...The fall of the Maya will be far more precipitous, the Inca will never expand beyond the kingdom of Cuzco and the Aztecs will never form their empire.

Additionally, when the Spanish, English, French, Portuguese et al arrive 200 years hence, their diseases will have relatively small impact.

They may even face another Crusade...or not.

The events that have taken place so far have happened and will not change. In the future I will be painting with a much broader brush, painting a mural, so to speak, instead of the miniatures I have so far painted.

If you have enjoyed what I have written so far, thank you, but I have too much to get through to worry about the daily happenings in these peoples lives. I will return to them at some point, but not until I know what happens to the New World at least through 1492.
 
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