"One day east," she said. "He's been there a few days. I sent him out before Guyuk's minor princes had time to establish themselves fully in the camp."
The reason was clear without needing to be laid out. A faction that entered the gathering before the political ground was stable gave the Ogedeid line weeks to reach every arriving man first.
Every man who arrived early got visited, got drawn into conversations that ran longer than they should have and established impressions before anyone had declared a position.
Mongke had been a day's ride east, which meant none of that had reached him.
"When do you want him here," Batu said.
"After you tell me what you want him to do when he arrives." She set her cup down. "Go ahead."
He told her.
The counter didn't require complexity. Guyuk would call the first session within a day of Batu's tumen arriving at the outer margin. That was what the Samarkand documents had named.
