關於成吉思汗你不知道的10件事(下)

was responsible for the deaths of as many as 40 million people.

6.他纔是致死四千萬人的罪魁禍首。

While it's impossible to know for sure how many people perished during the Mongol conquests, many historians put the number at somewhere around 40 million. Censuses from the Middle Ages show that the population of China plummeted by tens of millions during the Khan's lifetime, and scholars estimate that he may have killed a full three-fourths of modern-day Iran's population during his war with the Khwarezmid Empire. All told, the Mongols' attacks may have reduced the entire world population by as much as 11 percent.

雖然無法確切得知在蒙古征服的過程中有多少人死亡，很多歷史學家認爲人數大約在四千萬。中世紀的人口調查顯示，中國的人口在可汗生時銳減了成千上萬，學者人們估計，在花刺子模的戰爭中，可汗也許殺掉了如今伊朗人數的四分之三。蒙古的襲擊總計起來或許使全世界的人口減少了11%。

was tolerant of different religions.

7.他包容各種宗教。

Unlike many empire builders, Genghis Khan embraced the diversity of his newly conquered territories. He passed laws declaring religious freedom for all and even granted tax exemptions to places of worship. This tolerance had a political side—the Khan knew that happy subjects were less likely to rebel—but the Mongols also had an exceptionally liberal attitude towards religion. While Genghis and many others subscribed to a shamanistic belief system that revered the spirits of the sky, winds and mountains, the Steppe peoples were a diverse bunch that included Nestorian Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and other animistic traditions. The Great Khan also had a personal interest in spirituality. He was known to pray in his tent for multiple days before important campaigns, and he often met with different religious leaders to discuss the details of their faiths. In his old age, he even summoned the Taoist leader Qiu Chuji to his camp, and the pair supposedly had long conversations on immortality and philosophy.

不像其他帝國締造者那樣，成吉思汗包容新徵服地域的多樣性。他通過法律稱所有人都可以自由信仰宗教，甚至免去了朝聖地方的稅。這種包容也是有政治性的——可汗明白心滿意足的國民不會起來反抗——但是蒙古人也對宗教有着特殊的開放態度。成吉思以及其他人信仰召喚天、風和山的靈魂的薩滿教，也有高原人民是信仰基督教、佛教、伊斯蘭教或是信仰萬物有靈論的。大可汗自己對精神靈魂也很有興趣。衆所周知，在重要的戰爭之前，他都會在帳篷中祈禱幾日。他還經常和不同宗教的領袖見面，同他們探討各自的信仰。他到了暮年時期，甚至召喚道家長老丘處機來他的營地，人們認爲他們倆在長生不老和哲學問題上進行了深入的探討。

created one of the first international postal systems.

8.他創造了一種國際郵政系統。

Along with the bow and the horse, the Mongols most potent weapon may have been their vast communication network. One of his earliest decrees as Khan involved the formation of a mounted courier service known as the “Yam.” This medieval express consisted of a well-organized series of post houses and way stations strung out across the whole of the Empire. By stopping to rest or take on a fresh mount every few miles, official riders could often travel as far as 200 miles a day. The system allowed goods and information to travel with unprecedented speed, but it also acted as the eyes and ears of the Khan. Thanks to the Yam, he could easily keep abreast of military and political developments and maintain contact with his extensive network of spies and scouts. The Yam also helped protect foreign dignitaries and merchants during their travels. In later years, the service was famously used by the likes of Marco Polo and John of Plano Carpini.

除去弓和馬，蒙古人最厲害的利器也許當數其廣闊的通信網絡。可汗最早下達的命令就是形成固定的信使服務也叫做牙木。這種原始快遞由很多組織有序的驛舍以及遍穿整個土地的小站組成。官方的驛員可以隔幾公里停下休息，這樣他們每天可騎行320千米的路程。這個體系使得貨物或信息能以很快的速度傳遞，同時它也作爲可汗的眼和耳朵來觀察情況。多虧了牙木，可汗能迅速瞭解軍事和政治情況，並和廣泛分佈的間諜和偵察者們保持聯繫。牙木也在旅途中保護外國顯要人物和商人的安全。在後來的幾年，這個通道被馬克·波羅和約翰·普蘭諾·加賓尼這些人所利用。

one knows how he died or where he is buried.

9.無人知道他是如何死的或埋葬在哪裏。

Of all the enigmas surrounding the Khan's life, perhaps the most famous concerns how it ended. The traditional narrative says he died in 1227 from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse, but other sources list everything from malaria to an arrow wound in the knee. One of the more questionable accounts even claims he was murdered while trying to force himself on a Chinese princess. However he died, the Khan took great pains to keep his final resting place a secret. According to legend, his funeral procession slaughtered everyone they came in contact with during their journey and then repeatedly rode horses over his grave to help conceal it. The tomb is most likely on or around a Mongolian mountain called Burkhan Khaldun, but to this day its precise location is unknown.

關於可汗的一生有很多謎團，也許衆人最關心的就是他是如何死的。傳統說法是他死於1227年，從馬背上掉下來被踩死的，但還有其他各種說法，從瘧疾到膝蓋中箭。還有最可疑的記錄稱他是在強行霸佔一位公主時死的。不管是如何死的，可汗費了好大勁才使自己的安息地不爲任何人所知。傳說，他的送葬隊伍殺死了每個在送葬路上碰到的人，隨後騎着馬反覆在可汗墓地上行走踏平來掩蓋痕跡。墓地很有可能在哈勒頓山上或其附近，但是至今都沒人知道確切地點。

Soviets tried to snuff out his memory in Mongolia.

10.前蘇聯試圖抹掉可汗在蒙古的痕跡。

Genghis Khan is now seen as a national hero and founding father of Mongolia, but during the era of Soviet rule in the 20th century, the mere mention of his name was banned. Hoping to stamp out all traces of Mongolian nationalism, the Soviets tried to suppress the Khan's memory by removing his story from school textbooks and forbidding people from making pilgrimages to his birthplace in Khentii. Genghis Khan was eventually restored to Mongolian history after the country won independence in the early 1990s, and he's since become a recurring motif in art and popular culture. The Great Khan lends his name to the nation's main airport in the city of Ulan Bator, and his portrait even appears on Mongolian currency.

成吉思汗現在被認爲是蒙古的開國英雄，但是在前蘇聯統治的19世紀，是決不允許提起可汗的名字的。蘇聯人妄圖抹掉蒙古民族主義的所有痕跡，就試圖從教科書上刪掉他的事蹟，並禁止人們在他的出生地肯特山進行朝奉，以此讓人們忘記可汗這段歷史。不過在20世紀90年代初，蒙古獲得獨立後，成吉思汗最終又出現在蒙古歷史記載中。自此，他重新出現在藝術和流行文化中。如今，位於烏蘭巴托的主要機場就是以大可汗的名字命名的，他的肖像甚至出現在蒙古的貨幣上。

翻譯：湯湯 來源：前十網