Nine-year-old Temujin kneels by the river, watching his father die at the hands of his enemies. In a single night, his clan scatters. The chieftain’s son becomes an abandoned child of the steppe, struggling to survive amid pursuit and starvation. Yet this orphan, too small even to reach a saddle, already dreams of conquering the world.
Through extraordinary willpower and intelligence, he builds a network of allies even in the depths of despair. A black sable coat wins him the support of the mighty Wang Khan. He becomes anda, sworn brother, to Jamukha, only for the two to become bitter rivals in the struggle for supremacy on the steppe. Though defeated in the Battle of the Thirteen Wings, he earns the people’s loyalty all the more. He recruits the master archer Jebe and forms the Four Hounds, an elite cavalry force, uniting the Mongol tribes one by one. At last, thunderous cries ring out beside the Onon River, and he is honored as “Genghis Khan,” the Great Khan whose power is like the ocean.
But this is only the beginning. His cavalry rides south to capture Zhongdu of the Jin Dynasty, then sweeps west through Khwarazm, carrying its iron hooves to the very edge of Europe. Behind the glory lie the fierce succession struggles within the Golden Family, and a snowbound conversation with Master Changchun about death and the meaning of conquest.
This is the story of an orphan who forged hardship into the foundation of an empire. Open this book and see how a heart abandoned on the wilderness can beat like a storm that engulfs the world.
