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Ch'ing Li soon found out that as a councilor of the Master, there was little he could wish for that was not given. The large two wheeled wains of the Huns were a veritable cornucopia containing everything from fine silks to the most common of items.

  The warrior he displaced came to him later to present himself as the commander of the new Cur-quan's escort and bodyguard. He identified himself as Basich-cur, commander of thirty warriors for his new master's service.

  Ch'ing Li was feeling much better about the turn of his fortune as bath water was heated, much to the amazement of the Huns, in large copper pots used by them for the boiling of mutton or whatever else they chose to eat. After the luxury of a hot bath, he dressed in clean robes of polychrome silk brought from the wagons for his approval. He was most positively feeling quite good about his decision to come to this place.

  He had been right in his judgments so far; however, he might have to re-evaluate his previous ideas about the Hun leader, Attila. He was not a fool or an ignorant savage. Ch'ing learned from their meeting that Attila had spent much time as a hostage at the courts of both Rome and Constantinople. He was a savage, yes, but not a fool.

  Attila had listened to him without speaking for an hour, letting Ch'ing Li explain what he had to offer. Then Ch'ing Li had spent the next three hours answering questions about what should be done under certain circumstances and conditions.

  The answers given Attila pleased him, he could use the delicate man from Chin and would. He made no promises of either reward or punishment; it was unnecessary. Ch'ing Li understood perfectly his arrangement; serve Attila well and live with all that he desired in the way of wealth and slaves, or fail him and die most horribly. There were no other conditions.

  Once he was properly attired as was befitting his new rank, he followed after Basich-cur to inspect his bodyguard. He was impressed by the complete acceptance of Attila's power. Basich-cur showed no sign of irritation at being evicted. The only thing of importance to him was to do that which his Master wished.

  Basich-cur led Ch'ing to where he found himself facing thirty fierce warriors of the tribe of the Utigur. They, like their Oylan-cur, would obey without hesitation orders from Attila, even to slitting the throats of their own fathers. This was to be his personal guard. Most were men in their thirties with the marks of war on them, hard men who rode under the blue horsetailed standard of the Utigurs. All were well armed and most had fair armor of one sort or another to cover them. As he inspected them, he made intelligent comments about one or the other of the warriors pertaining to their weapons or horses. When he had finished his inspection, he congratulated Basich-cur on the good condition of the men and animals in his charge.

  He knew the way to a leader's heart was through his men, his valor or his horsemanship. The observations he made proved to Basich-cur that he knew what he was talking about and would give him respect in his eyes and those of the Oylan.

  That evening he dined in the tent of Attila. Present were two of Attila's sons, the elder Ellac and his brother Arnak. Ch'ing Li wondered where Attila's brother, Bleda, was.

  Ongesh stood close by his master. He gave him a look that was neither friendly nor hostile. He would have to be careful not to step on that one's toes.

  Harmatta was there and given a favored place near Attila where he could watch all the others' faces. Harmatta, he found out, was not only the father of one of Attila's favorite wives, he was also the chief shaman of the tribes. It was he who would read the portents of the heavens by the movements of the stars or scrape the membrane away from the shoulder blade of a sheep or ox to interpret the cracks in the bone once it had been placed on a fire until it swelled and cracked. In these cracks, the future could be read by the manner in which they split the bone.

  In all there were over thirty other leaders present from blood members of the clans to those that had been conquered and absorbed into the horde. Among these were the fierce headhunting Alans who were taller than their Hunnish cousins and fairer of skin and hair but were second to none in the pleasures they took from the letting of blood or plunder. Dark faced Ulgers, the Cur-quan of the Unugar, sat beside the Hetman of the sabiri, another conquered race that now took the name of Hun for themselves with pride.

  Then there was the Touman of the proud Saraguri which destroyed more than a hundred tribes before they were taken by Attila and made into his loyal vassals. There were others in this warlike company who represented the strength of the tribes and those peoples subject to them.

  Among the predominately dark haired, brown eyed chieftains, he saw several men of huge size with yellow or red hair who kept massive axes or extremely long, heavy swords between their legs. Ch'ing Li didn't think he could have raised one of the swords with both hands, much less one. These were the newest of the allies that had come to Attila. Their speech was even more guttural and barbaric sounding than that of the Huns. They were the Gepidae and their distant cousins the Goths, peoples unknown to Ch'ing Li.

  Men of that size and strength would be invaluable. He would learn more about them later. They reminded him of one he had heard of in the service of the Emperor Tzin over fifty years ago. They looked a great deal like the description he had heard of the large, big nosed foreigner who led the armies of the Emperor back then. The foreigner had won great victories for the Dragon Throne; then one day rode off, never to be seen again. But it was said he was a terrible warrior who had been touched by the gods with great powers.

  He would be known by the scar that ran from the corner of his eye to his mouth. It was said he had eyes of blue gray. But that would do him no good here. Even if the man were still alive and sitting across from him, he wouldn't be able to recognize him, for many of the big noses here had the same marks on them and the same odd ugly coloration in their eyes.

  Ch'ing Li was careful not to contribute too much to the conversations taking place. It would be best if he spoke only when asked something directly and then make the questioner think he thought of the answer. He would be the shadow of Attila. Let the others claim the glory; he would know who was in control. When the time came, he would assert himself, but now was the time to make friends, if that was possible, with these foul smelling creatures.

  He would be polite and properly impressed by the vulgarians who seemed only to delight in the numbers of men they had butchered or the women they had raped. Animals! Disgusting brutes, but they would be useful.

  As he planned, he was the shadow by the ear of Attila, whispering in it while others stormed and raged. It was he who made Attila understand that Bleda would have to go, leaving him the sole master of the Huns. He had never laid eyes on the brother of Attila who commanded the western part of the Hunnish lands, but he knew that there had to come a time when they would be in conflict. He had to have only one in command and he had chosen. Bleda must die!

  It didn't take much for Attila to see the wisdom of his advice pertaining to a body with two heads. Attila said nothing, but Ch'ing Li could see the wheels turning in his mind. He was pleased when less than a month later, the word had come that Bleda had died of poison.

  Attila made his mind up fast, and besides, he had never liked his older brother much anyway. When they were children, Bleda had always teased and mocked the younger Attila.

  The changes Ch'ing Li made in the plans of the Huns brought them wealth they didn't even have to fight for. He taught them how to use the time honored method of the implied threat. From this time forward, he would direct them in long range planning, something the Hun never worried about before.

  The year now by the Roman reckoning was 434 Anno Domini. Attila and his brother had been in power less than two years after the death of their uncle, Ruga.

  They had turned the Huns into a force to be reckoned with in a remarkably short time. The Huns had existed as a partially united nation only, since the first true King of the Huns, Kara ton, had united the tribes of the Kutrigur and Utiger.

  Now Attila was the sole leader. He had been in total control now fo
r two years and had accomplished more in that time, than had been achieved in the last forty.

  Ch'ing Li taught him the reasons for the unconscious successes of the Huns. How their movements of sixty years earlier had forced the Ostrogoths to move across the Dniester and pressured the Visigoths of Athanaris to go into Roman Pannonia. But the bulk of the Visigoths had appeared on the lower Danube after being beaten in battle by the Huns. They had appealed to Rome for permission to settle in Dacia. This was permitted by Emperor Valens who saw them as a buffer against the expanding power of the Hun. But the corruption among Roman officials, who were supposed to supply the Visigoths with food until they could gather a harvest, forced them to go to war in order to avoid starvation.

  When the Visigoths attacked, they were joined by others who had become disillusioned with the lies and corruption of Rome. To the strength of the Visigoths was added that of the Ostrogoths of Saphrax and Altheus. Many of their men, who had been serving under the standards of Rome, returned to their tribes.

  There was even a loose alliance with few independent tribes of the Huns and Alans who wanted in on the plunder. Several Roman armies were defeated in rapid succession which encouraged even more barbarians to join them, until they finally engaged the largest army yet fielded against them at a place called Ad Salice in the Dorogea. The Romans were slaughtered almost to a man. The date would long be remembered as a day of shame for the Romans. It was the ninth of August 378.

  After this humiliation of Roman arms, Emperor Valens took command himself of a large force and met the Visigoths near Adrianople. Two thirds of his army was wiped out and he was killed in the battle. All of these events led to the final humiliation of Rome and the eventual sacking of the city itself. The rot in Rome had gone too far to be cured quickly enough to resist the more vital peoples of the savage nations.

  After the looting of Rome, the barbarians showed no desire to inherit the mantle of civilization and accepted a huge bribe of gold to leave most of Italy. But it was too late to do the diminished and splintered Empire any good. Rome could be taken by the Huns, and where the barbarians of the Germanic tribes had no idea of how to administer a civilized culture, he, Ch'ing Li, did.

  For the next ten years, the security of Rome rested on the swords of the barbarians. Alaric's successor, Ataulf, took the sister of Honorius as his bride. He tried to keep the empire together with Honorius as a puppet emperor. But when he died there was no one to take his place and the Germans themselves became disjointed; it was each tribe for itself.

  During this time the Roman general, Flavius Constantius, reorganized what remained of the Western Empire and rebuilt much of its armies. He married the widow of Ataulf, the sister of Honorius, and proclaimed himself co Emperor in 421. He died before the year was out under suspicious circumstances. It was shortly after this that the first Hunnish attacks came to Roman provinces.

  For the next twenty years, constant harassments kept the Romans on edge and unable to mount an effective counter-force as they were faced with massive problems from Gaul to Africa. It was too much for the depleted resources of the Western Empire to deal with. Rome had to add increasingly more numbers of barbarians to the ranks of the federati and even the legions to fill out their ranks.

  All of these conditions said the time was right for a new power to make its appearance. And while the name in the mouths of the conquered people would be Attila, it would be Ch'ing Li who pulled the strings.

  Ch'ing Li would read the signs as no other. From the first days with the Huns he had begun to acquire information from captives and traders, until he knew more of the workings of Rome, its alliances and weaknesses than most of those who sat in the powerless Roman Senate and dreamed of the glory of bygone years.

  The time was right, the place was here, and he had the means. Soon he would have it all. He made sacrifices to the spirits of his ancestors to ask their aid in this magnificent venture. He was very much pleased.

  Attila had his reasons to be pleased as well. They had made good progress since. Ch'ing had come to the Huns. His first main coup was the Treaty of Margius, where he forced the Eastern Romans to double their payment of gold to the Huns to seven hundred pounds a year. Ch'ing needed this to buy arms and equipment that the Huns couldn't make for themselves. He was letting the Romans pay for the outfitting of the forces that would destroy them.

  His next move was to convince Attila to leave the Romans alone for a time and secure his own lands by subduing the tribes that had not yet sworn allegiance to him. It would not do to have enemies inside your own borders when you were waging a major war elsewhere. In addition, by absorbing the tribes of the steppes, he would then add the numbers of their warriors to his own forces, increasing the supply of manpower he could call on by two or three fold.

  In the Roman year 440, the Empire didn't make its payment of gold and it was time to test their new war machine. Ch'ing had Attila wait until the Romans were occupied with troubles on their eastern and western borders; then he made a heavy raid on the provinces of the Danubian frontier. In rapid succession, they captured and destroyed the major cities of Viminacium, Sirmium, Singidunum and a dozen lesser towns.

  Ch'ing convinced Attila to accept a truce with Rome in 442 for a couple of reasons: the Hunnish forces need to rest and regroup; and the Romans had pulled back their armies from the west and were now in strength. Ch'ing did not want his new tool to be damaged. Timing was everything.

  His hardest task was not winning battles but keeping Attila restrained from listening to his warlords who only wanted to fight endlessly, or his filthy seers who were envious of his influence. Because Ch'ing had been right in his judgments so far, Attila gave in to him when he presented his arguments.

  The Huns were not ready for an all-out war with Rome. But soon they would be. The small victories they had won at little cost to themselves would give the newly absorbed tribes of their lands confidence and a desire to participate as willing allies of their masters.

  The next year, Ch'ing waited for the right time to move again. Attila moved his warriors against Ratiaria on the Danube and rushed into the interior toward Nasissu and Serdica, bypassing most strongholds and striking to the rear. After wasting both of these major cities, he turned toward Constantinople, sacked Philippopolis and for the first time defeated a major Roman army commanded by the praetor militarium, Aspar, in a series of fast moving battles in which the greater mobility of his horse archers wore the Roman forces out in a campaign of maneuver.

  Ch'ing knew there was not any way for them to breach the walls of Constantinople, but that was never his intent. He knew the effect that just the thought of having the fierce savage warriors of the steppes near them would have. His real goal was the successful attack on the mind of the enemy, not the taking of burned out cities which they couldn't hold.

  Ch'ing had Attila turn from the capital of the Eastern Romans to destroy the remaining Roman forces in the field which had withdrawn into the narrow peninsula of Gallipoli. Time was pressing him but they had reached the sea both south and north of Constantinople.

  His next move was to use the threat of Hun occupation to force their opponents who were sitting behind the great walls in terror to make a new treaty quickly. If the Eastern Romans had held out, Ch'ing would have had to have advised Attila to leave without one as there would soon be a shortage of food for his men. They couldn't stay in the field much longer.

  The Eastern Romans were more than willing to meet his terms to make a payment of six thousand pounds of gold immediately and to increase their yearly tribute to two thousand pounds.

  Ch'ing had accomplished what he wanted. He proved to the hordes that they could beat Roman main forces in the field. And he had acquired enough gold and plunder to convince any tribes who were still reluctant in their loyalties to give full support to their Hun overlords for fear they would be left out of the next campaign.

  Now that Bleda was out of the way, Ch'ing began to plan his next step ... an even larger ca
mpaign paid for with Roman gold. It took time to gather the men and wait for the right hour. The greatest delay came from the weather. A drought had dried up the grasslands and the horses of the horde were in poor shape. Most of the mares had miscarried, foaling prematurely due to the poor grazing and lack of water. Patience... patience. The time would come.

  And it did. Rains finally came, turning the plains green with grass. The mares foaled on time. Then without warning, the Huns marched. Going farther east than in their first assault, they struck lower Scythia and Moesia, defeating the Roman Army on the Utus River, killing their commander, Arnegisclus, in a pitched battle in which the Huns suffered severe casualties. Their losses were made up in less than a week as reinforcements came in the thousands from the steppes.

  Marcianopole was leveled and the Balkans stripped as they advanced into Greece where Attila stopped at the pass of Thermopylae.

  Ch'ing tried to convince him to advance against the weaker Roman force, holding the pass, but he refused. Attila had dreamed that the pass would fall in on him, burying him under tons of stone. He would not move and nothing Ch'ing said could convince him to do otherwise.

  Attila considered himself an intelligent man and it was not wise to go against the oracles of dreams. When he told them to Harmatta, the shaman had cast the bones and read the signs of the stars. Harmatta agreed with his master that the Huns must not enter the pass.

  Ch'ing was royally pissed at the ignorant savages and as he made the sacrifice of two white doves to the spirits of his ancestors, he cursed them for being superstitious animals.

  The Huns withdrew at the moment when the greatest cities of Greece were at their feet. Ch'ing had wanted them as a psychological blow to the minds of the Romans who still considered the Greeks to be the most cultured of all the races of man. The court in Constantinople even used Greek as their official speech.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  His escort had not been pleased at having to leave Rome and escort Casca the twenty odd miles to Ostia, but he'd born it in as good a grace as he could. The smell of smoke drifted with them nearly the whole distance. It wasn't until they were less than five miles from their destination that the fresh air of the sea pushed back the remaining tinges of smoke and ash from the sky. Ostia was in a turmoil; evacuees from Rome and the surrounding countryside who still had money were trying to buy their way onto any ship that could float and was able to take them away from the mainland of Italia. Casca didn't give a damn which ship he was put on; any of them would serve just as well.