According to the rhymed prologue, the
Golden
State was a prosperous land, where people lived happily and the five
species of domestic animals filled the plains. The
Golden State was ruled by
King Süke
and its capital was
Zhongdu.
King Süke had two young daughters named
Altanquwar and
Mönggöquwar. They each possessed a magic ball, which was to be used to
select their predestined husbands. When the time came for the
two girls to marry, announcements were circulated
throughout the country, summoning people to the city. It was announced that the
men whom the two balls struck would marry the
two princesses. Crowds of people came from all
directions. There was at the court of
King
Süke a minister named
Qadai, who had
long desired to marry the
two
princesses. When
Altanquwar and
Mönggöquwar recited spells, each holding the
magic ball, the two balls flew up in the sky and missed the minister
Qadai. The
general Batučaγan set off with his troops to retrieve the two balls.
They reached
Panlong Mountain, where the
two brothers,
Kürelböke and
Küderbilig,
lived by hunting. It so happened that the two balls fell on their shoulders.
Seeing this,
General Batučaγan knew that the
two brothers were the predestined
husbands of the
two princesses. After
the marriage was celebrated, the minister,
Qudai, became jealous and decided to take revenge. He secretly set off
for
Western Liang. Originally,
Qudai belonged to the Wei family. He was the
son of
Wei Shan, who as a punishment for his
crimes had been banished from the Tang. He had come to the
Golden State where he learned Mongolian and adopted
Mongolian customs.
Qadai sought refuge in
Western Liang because his
father’s sister was the second wife of
Meng De, the king of
Western Liang.
Qadai and
Meng De discussed with each other plans
for attacking the
Golden State.
Meng De of
Western Liang sent a letter to
Süke
of the
Golden State, in which he accused him
of being corrupt and oppressive and unworthy of ruling his kingdom. He also
threatened to attack
Süke’s kingdom if he did
not hand over his kingdom to him. Having read the letter, the
Prime Minister J̌ayaγatai advised
Süke that they should join forces with the
Tang against
Western Liang. Thus a letter was
sent to the Tang emperor, who agreed to form
an alliance with the
Golden State. He sent his
Tiger Generals with a force of one hundred thousand
warriors. These events set the stage for endless battles.
