As Jamukha and Temüjin drifted apart in their friendship, each began consolidating power, and soon became rivals. Jamukha supported the traditional Mongolian aristocracy, while Temüjin followed a meritocratic method, and attracted a broader, though lower class, range of followers. Due to his earlier defeat of the Merkits, and a proclamation by the shaman Kokochu that the Eternal Blue Sky had set aside the world for Temüjin, Temüjin began rising to power. In 1186, Temüjin was elected khan of the Mongols. However, Jamukha, threatened by Temüjin's rapid ascent, quickly moved to stop Temüjin's ambitions. In 1187, he launched an attack against his former friend with an army of thirty thousand troops. Temüjin hastily gathered together his followers to defend against the attack, but he was decisively beaten in the Battle of Dalan Balzhut. Jamukha horrified people greatly and harmed his image by boiling seventy young male captives alive in cauldrons, alienating many of his potential followers and eliciting sympathy for Temüjin. Toghrul, as Temüjin's patron, was exiled to the Qara Khitai. The life of Temüjin for the next ten years is very unclear, as historical records are mostly silent on that period.