If Any One Was Accused By Him To The Emperor Of A
Capital Offence, And Desired To Defend Himself, He Was Unable To Bring
Proofs In His Own Exculpation, For No One Would Stand By Him, As No One
Dared To Oppose Achmath.
And thus the latter caused many to perish
unjustly.[NOTE 2]
Moreover, there was no beautiful woman whom he might desire, but he got
hold of her; if she were unmarried, forcing her to be his wife, if
otherwise, compelling her to consent to his desires. Whenever he knew of
any one who had a pretty daughter, certain ruffians of his would go to the
father, and say: "What say you? Here is this pretty daughter of yours;
give her in marriage to the Bailo Achmath (for they called him 'the
Bailo,' or, as we should say, 'the Vicegerent'),[NOTE 3] and we will
arrange for his giving you such a government or such an office for three
years." And so the man would surrender his daughter. And Achmath would go
to the Emperor, and say: "Such a government is vacant, or will be vacant
on such a day. So-and-So is a proper man for the post." And the Emperor
would reply: "Do as you think best;" and the father of the girl was
immediately appointed to the government. Thus either through the ambition
of the parents, or through fear of the Minister, all the beautiful women
were at his beck, either as wives or mistresses. Also he had some
five-and-twenty sons who held offices of importance, and some of these,
under the protection of their father's name, committed scandals like his
own, and many other abominable iniquities. This Achmath also had amassed
great treasure, for everybody who wanted office sent him a heavy bribe.
In such authority did this man continue for two-and-twenty years. At last
the people of the country, to wit the Cathayans, utterly wearied with the
endless outrages and abominable iniquities which he perpetrated against
them, whether as regarded their wives or their own persons, conspired to
slay him and revolt against the government. Amongst the rest there was a
certain Cathayan named Chenchu, a commander of a thousand, whose mother,
daughter, and wife had all been dishonoured by Achmath. Now this man, full
of bitter resentment, entered into parley regarding the destruction of the
Minister with another Cathayan whose name was Vanchu, who was a commander
of 10,000. They came to the conclusion that the time to do the business
would be during the Great Kaan's absence from Cambaluc. For after stopping
there three months he used to go to Chandu and stop there three months;
and at the same time his son Chinkin used to go away to his usual haunts,
and this Achmath remained in charge of the city; sending to obtain the
Kaan's orders from Chandu when any emergency arose.
So Vanchu and Chenchu, having come to this conclusion, proceeded to
communicate it to the chief people among the Cathayans, and then by common
consent sent word to their friends in many other cities that they had
determined on such a day, at the signal given by a beacon, to massacre all
the men with beards, and that the other cities should stand ready to do
the like on seeing the signal fires.
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