Genghis Khan 成吉思汗 - 14

He looked to the west to build on his conquests, not through war, but through trade. He sent ambassadors to Persia, and established a network of routes linked by staging posts, 40 kilometers apart. A messenger could travel 200 kilometers in a single day. It was a medieval pony¹ express.

In the summer of 1218, one messenger sent back to Genghis Khan from Persia carried a package, a package that would change the course of history. It was the head of Genghis Khan's ambassador. The sultan had fundamentally misjudged Genghis Khan's character. Genghis Khan sent an army 200,000 strong to invade Persia. It was a campaign of extreme savagery².

"I was not the instigator³ of these tribulations⁴. God grant me the strength to exact vengeance⁵."

On his order, every Persian town that did not submit was burned to the ground. When they had finished, over a million men, women and children were dead.

After the conquest of Persia, Genghis Khan ordered a small army to see how far west they could penetrate⁶ before they were stopped, and they weren't stopped at all. This was the Mongols' first raid into Europe. It would not be their last.

His empire was now four times the size of Alexander the Great's(亚历山大大帝), and twice the size of the Roman Empire.

staging post: a place at which people or vehicles regularly stop during a journey

pony express: postal system using horseback riders and trains to deliver the mail from the Midwestern United States to the west Coast in the mid 1800's

sultan: a Muslim sovereign

1 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

2 savagery   

n.野性

参考例句：

• The police were shocked by the savagery of the attacks.警察对这些惨无人道的袭击感到震惊。
• They threw away their advantage by their savagery to the black population.他们因为野蛮对待黑人居民而丧失了自己的有利地位。

3 instigator   

n.煽动者

参考例句：

• It is not a and differs from instigator in nature. 在刑法理论中，通常将教唆犯作为共犯的一种类型加以探究。 来自互联网
• If we are really the instigator, we are awaiting punishment. 如果我们真的是煽动者，那我们愿意接受惩罚。 来自互联网

4 tribulations   

n.苦难( tribulation的名词复数 )；艰难；苦难的缘由；痛苦

参考例句：

• the tribulations of modern life 现代生活的苦恼
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence. 这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

6 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。