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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONGOLS: A HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE MONGOLS
+                               A HISTORY
+
+
+                                   BY
+                            JEREMIAH CURTIN
+
+  AUTHOR OF “MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF IRELAND,” “HERO-TALES OF IRELAND,”
+   “MYTH AND FOLK-TALES OF THE RUSSIANS, WESTERN SLAVS, AND MAGYARS,”
+              “CREATION MYTHS OF PRIMITIVE AMERICA,” ETC.
+
+                           With a Foreword by
+                           THEODORE ROOSEVELT
+
+
+                                 BOSTON
+                       LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
+                                  1908
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, I
+dedicate to you the present volume entitled “The Mongols, a History.” I
+do this because on September 5th, 1901, in the city of Burlington where
+you addressed Vermont veterans, I asked permission to make the
+dedication and you gave it. You were Vice-President at that time.
+
+I made this request because I have great respect and admiration for you
+as a man, as a leader of men, and a scholar; and because of the way in
+which I came first to know you.
+
+In 1891 you, as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, were in
+Washington. I had just returned to that city from a work of two years
+among Pacific Coast Indians. Of these, two tribes in California had
+asked me to intercede for them with the President, who in those days
+was Benjamin Harrison. These Indians were among the truly wretched and
+suffering. One tribe of them had been almost exterminated through a
+massacre inflicted by white men. The other reduced to a feeble remnant
+through various man-killing processes. Still they were worthy of
+earnest attention. Their myths have a beauty and a value which should
+preserve them till literature perishes. These two tribes were the Wintu
+and the Yana whose account of the world and its origin I published
+later on in “Creation Myths of Primitive America.”
+
+On reaching Washington I went to Frederick T. Greenhalge, my classmate,
+who then represented a part of Massachusetts in Congress, but afterward
+was one of that Commonwealth’s renowned governors. Greenhalge tried to
+induce a strong man or two from the Senate or House to assist us to act
+on the President, but, though promises were made, no man came with
+support, and we went alone to the White House. The case had been stated
+clearly on two pages which I held ready for delivery. When I had given
+the reason of my coming the President answered: “I see no way to help
+you. What can I do in this matter?” “You can give,” replied I, “the
+executive impulse. Send this statement to the Secretary of the
+Interior, and direct him to act on it.” “That will suffice,” added
+Greenhalge. “I will do it,” said the President, after thinking a
+moment. He took my paper, jotted down the directions I had suggested,
+and sent them to the Secretary.
+
+We came away greatly satisfied, and halted some moments at the head of
+the staircase. The President’s chamber was on the second story. All at
+once in the large room below us I saw a young man, alert in his bearing
+and perfectly confident. He gazed at the ceiling and walls of the room,
+and was thoroughly occupied. There was no one else in the apartment. I
+asked Greenhalge to look at him. “That man,” said I, “looks precisely
+as if he had examined this building, and finding it suitable has made
+up his mind to inhabit it.” “He is a living picture of that purpose,”
+replied Greenhalge. “But do you not know him? That is Theodore
+Roosevelt, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, I must make you
+acquainted. But first listen to a prophecy: That man down there who
+wants this house will get it. He will live here as President.”
+
+On reaching the foot of the staircase Greenhalge met you and made us
+acquainted. We conversed for some moments, and then you were called to
+the President. You and I did not meet for some years after that day at
+the White House. You were toiling at problems of government and
+service, looking ahead always, looking to things over which you are
+brooding and toiling this moment. Some of the problems have been
+solved, others still demand solution.
+
+My work led me to various parts of the earth, and around it. But at
+home or abroad I watched your activity with care and deep interest. Not
+very long after that prophecy I read for the first time this statement
+concerning you: “We need just such a man to be President.” These words,
+uttered casually at that juncture, were like the still small voice,
+their might was in their quality.
+
+When a few years of service, unique in many ways, had brought you to
+the Navy you accomplished your task in that place and went farther
+immediately. By this time your name and the office of President were
+associated in the minds of many people. Next came the Cuban war with
+experience and triumph. And then you were governor at Albany. While
+still in that office you were named for Vice-President, and elected.
+Later you were President. But only when elected by the people could you
+act as seemed best to you and not as antecedents commanded.
+
+I have watched and studied your career with deeper interest than that
+of any man who has ever been President of the United States. There is
+no case in our history of such concordance between the judgment of a
+people and the acts of a man. “Thou hast been faithful over a few
+things, I will make thee ruler over many.”
+
+                                                       Jeremiah Curtin.
+
+St. Hyacinthe, P. Q., September 6, 1906.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+The death of Jeremiah Curtin robbed America of one of her two or three
+foremost scholars. Mr. Curtin, who was by birth a native of Wisconsin,
+at one time was in the diplomatic service of the Government; but his
+chief work was in literature. The extraordinary facility with which he
+learned any language, his gift of style in his own language, his
+industry, his restless activity and desire to see strange nations and
+out of the way peoples, and his great gift of imagination which enabled
+him to appreciate the epic sweep of vital historical events, all
+combined to render his work of peculiar value. His extraordinary
+translations of the Polish novels of Sienkiewicz, especially of those
+dealing with medieval Poland and her struggles with the Tartar, the
+Swede and the German, would in themselves have been enough to establish
+a first class reputation for any man. In addition he did remarkable
+work in connection with Indian, Celtic and other folk tales. But
+nothing that he did was more important than his studies of the rise of
+the mighty Mongol Empire and its decadence. In this particular field no
+other American or English scholar has ever approached him.
+
+Indeed, it is extraordinary to see how ignorant even the best scholars
+of America and England are of the tremendous importance in world
+history of the nation-shattering Mongol invasions. A noted Englishman
+of letters not many years ago wrote a charming essay on the Thirteenth
+Century—an essay showing his wide learning, his grasp of historical
+events, and the length of time that he had devoted to the study of the
+century. Yet the essayist not only never mentioned but was evidently
+ignorant of the most stupendous fact of the century—the rise of Genghis
+Khan and the spread of the Mongol power from the Yellow Sea to the
+Adriatic and the Persian Gulf. Ignorance like this is partly due to the
+natural tendency among men whose culture is that of Western Europe to
+think of history as only European history and of European history as
+only the history of Latin and Teutonic Europe. But this does not
+entirely excuse ignorance of such an event as the Mongol-Tartar
+invasion, which affected half of Europe far more profoundly than the
+Crusades. It is this ignorance, of course accentuated among those who
+are not scholars, which accounts for the possibility of such comically
+absurd remarks as the one not infrequently made at the time of the
+Japanese-Russian war, that for the first time since Salamis Asia had
+conquered Europe. As a matter of fact the recent military supremacy of
+the white or European races is a matter of only some three centuries.
+For the four preceding centuries, that is, from the beginning of the
+thirteenth to the seventeenth, the Mongol and Turkish armies generally
+had the upper hand in any contest with European foes, appearing in
+Europe always as invaders and often as conquerors; while no ruler of
+Europe of their days had to his credit such mighty feats of arms, such
+wide conquests, as Genghis Khan, as Timour the Limper, as Bajazet,
+Selim and Amurath, as Baber and Akbar.
+
+The rise of the Mongol power under Genghis Khan was unheralded and
+unforeseen, and it took the world as completely by surprise as the rise
+of the Arab power six centuries before. When the thirteenth century
+opened Genghis Khan was merely one among a number of other obscure
+Mongol chiefs and neither he nor his tribe had any reputation whatever
+outside of the barren plains of Central Asia, where they and their
+fellow-barbarians lived on horseback among their flocks and herds.
+Neither in civilized nor semi-civilized Europe, nor in civilized nor
+semi-civilized Asia, was he known or feared, any more, for instance,
+than the civilized world of to-day knows or fears the Senoussi, or any
+obscure black mahdi in the region south of the Sahara. At the moment,
+Europe had lost fear of aggression from either Asia or Africa. In Spain
+the power of the Moors had just been reduced to insignificance. The
+crusading spirit, it is true, had been thoroughly discredited by the
+wicked Fourth Crusade, when the Franks and Venetians took
+Constantinople and destroyed the old bulwark of Europe against the
+Infidel. But in the crusade in which he himself lost his life the
+Emperor Barbarossa had completely broken the power of the Seljouk Turks
+in Asia Minor, and tho Jerusalem had been lost it was about to be
+regained by that strange and brilliant man, the Emperor Frederick II,
+“the wonder of the world.” The Slavs of Russia were organized into a
+kind of loose confederacy, and were slowly extending themselves
+eastward, making settlements like Moscow in the midst of various
+Finnish peoples. Hungary and Poland were great warrior kingdoms, tho a
+couple of centuries were to pass before Poland would come to her full
+power. The Caliphs still ruled at Bagdad. In India Mohammedan warred
+with Rajput; and the Chinese Empire was probably superior in
+civilization and in military strength to any nation of Europe.
+
+Into this world burst the Mongol. All his early years Genghis Khan
+spent in obtaining first the control of his own tribe, and then in
+establishing the absolute supremacy of this tribe over all its
+neighbors. In the first decade of the thirteenth century this work was
+accomplished. His supremacy over the wild mounted herdsmen was absolute
+and unquestioned. Every formidable competitor, every man who would not
+bow with unquestioning obedience to his will, had been ruthlessly
+slain, and he had developed a number of able men who were willing to be
+his devoted slaves, and to carry out his every command with
+unhesitating obedience and dreadful prowess. Out of the Mongol
+horse-bowmen and horse-swordsmen he speedily made the most formidable
+troops then in existence. East, west and south he sent his armies, and
+under him and his immediate successors the area of conquest widened by
+leaps and bounds; while two generations went by before any troops were
+found in Asia or Europe who on any stricken field could hold their own
+with the terrible Mongol horsemen, and their subject-allies and remote
+kinsmen, the Turko-Tartars who served with and under them. Few
+conquests have ever been so hideous and on the whole so noxious to
+mankind. The Mongols were savages as cruel as they were brave and
+hardy. There were Nestorian Christians among them, as in most parts of
+Asia at that time, but the great bulk of them were Shamanists; that is,
+their creed and ethical culture were about on a par with those of the
+Comanches and Apaches of the nineteenth century. They differed from
+Comanche and Apache in that capacity for military organization which
+gave them such terrible efficiency; but otherwise they were not much
+more advanced, and the civilized peoples who fell under their sway
+experienced a fate as dreadful as would be the case if nowadays a
+civilized people were suddenly conquered by a great horde of Apaches.
+The ruthless cruelty of the Mongol was practised on a scale greater
+than ever before or since. The Moslems feared them as much as the
+Christians. They put to death the Caliph, and sacked Bagdad, just as
+they sacked the cities of Russia and Hungary. They destroyed the
+Turkish tribes which ventured to resist them with the merciless
+thoroughness which they showed in dealing with any resistance in
+Europe. They were inconceivably formidable in battle, tireless in
+campaign and on the march, utterly indifferent to fatigue and hardship,
+of extraordinary prowess with bow and sword. To the Europeans who
+cowered in horror before them, the squat, slit-eyed, brawny horsemen,
+“with faces like the snouts of dogs,” seemed as hideous and fearsome as
+demons, and as irresistible by ordinary mortals. They conquered China
+and set on the throne a Mongol dynasty. India also their descendants
+conquered, and there likewise erected a great Mongol empire. Persia in
+the same way fell into their hands. Their armies, every soldier on
+horseback, marched incredible distances and overthrew whatever opposed
+them. They struck down the Russians at a blow and trampled the land
+into bloody mire beneath their horses’ feet. They crushed the Magyars
+in a single battle and drew a broad red furrow straight across Hungary,
+driving the Hungarian King in panic flight from his realm. They overran
+Poland and destroyed the banded knighthood of North Germany in Silesia.
+Western Europe could have made no adequate defense; but fortunately by
+this time the Mongol attack had spent itself, simply because the
+distance from the central point had become so great. It was no
+Christian or European military power which first by force set bounds to
+the Mongol conquests; but the Turkish Mamelukes of Egypt in the West,
+and in the East, some two score years later, the armies of Japan.
+
+In a couple of generations the Mongols as a whole became Buddhists in
+the East and Moslems in the West; and in the West the true Mongols
+gradually disappeared, being lost among the Turkish tribes whom they
+had conquered and led to victory. It was these Turkish tribes, known as
+Tartars, who for over two centuries kept Russia in a servitude so
+terrible, so bloody, so abject, as to leave deep permanent marks on the
+national character. The Russians did not finally throw off this squalid
+yoke until thirty years after the conquest of Constantinople by the
+Ottoman Turks, the power of the Tartars waning as that of the Ottomans
+approached its zenith. Poland was now rising high. Its vast territory
+extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It was far more important
+than Muscovy. In the “Itinerary” of that widely travelled Elizabethan,
+Fynes Morrison, we learn that the Turks dreaded the Polish armies more
+than those of Germany, or of any other nation; this was after the
+Hungarians had been conquered.
+
+The scourge of the Mongol conquests was terrible beyond belief, so that
+even where a land was flooded but for a moment, the memory long
+remained. It is not long since in certain churches in Eastern Europe
+the litany still contained the prayer, “From the fury of the Mongols,
+good Lord deliver us.” The Mongol armies developed a certain ant-like
+or bee-like power of joint action which enabled them to win without
+much regard to the personality of the leader; a French writer has well
+contrasted the great “anonymous victories” of the Mongols with the
+purely personal triumphs of that grim Turkish conqueror whom we know
+best as Timour the Tartar, or Tamerlane. The civil administration the
+Mongols established in a conquered country was borrowed from China, and
+where they settled as conquerors the conduct of the Chinese bureaucracy
+maddened the subject peoples almost as much as the wild and lawless
+brutality of the Mongol soldiers themselves. Gradually their empire,
+after splitting up, passed away and left little direct influence in any
+country; but it was at the time so prodigious a phenomenon, fraught
+with such vast and dire possibilities, that a full knowledge of the
+history of the Mongol people is imperatively necessary to all who would
+understand the development of Asia and of Eastern Europe. No other
+writer of English was so well fitted to tell this history as Jeremiah
+Curtin.
+
+                                                    Theodore Roosevelt.
+
+Sagamore Hill, September 1, 1907.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I                                                          PAGE
+
+    Geographical spread of the word Mongol.—Beginning of the Mongol
+    career.—Mythical account of Temudjin’s origin.—Kaidu, ancestor of
+    the great historical Mongols.—Origin of the Urudai and Manhudai
+    tribes.—Family of Kaidu.—Origin of the Taidjuts.—Bartan,
+    grandfather of Temudjin.—Yessugai, father of Temudjin.—Kabul’s
+    visit to China.—Capture and escape of Kabul.—Shaman killed for the
+    death of a patient.—Death of Ambagai.—Death of Okin Barka.—March of
+    Kutula against China.—Kaidan, Tuda and Yessugai hold a
+    council.—Attack of the Durbans.—Bartan, the father of Yessugai,
+    dies.—Triumph of Yessugai                                         1
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+    Rivalry between descendants of Kabul and Ambagai.—Kidnapping of
+    Hoelun by Yessugai.—Birth and naming of Temudjin.—Yessugai finds a
+    wife for Temudjin.—Death of Yessugai, 1175.—Neglect of
+    Hoelun.—Targutai draws away Yessugai’s people.—Temudjin begins his
+    career by the murder of his half-brother.—Capture of Temudjin by
+    the Taidjuts.—Temudjin’s escape from captivity.—Assistance rendered
+    by Sorgan Shira.—Marriage of Temudjin to Bortai.—Friendship of
+    Temudjin and Boörchu.—Alliance of Togrul and Temudjin.—Chelmai, son
+    of Charchiutai.—Capture of Bortai by the Merkits.—Pursuit of
+    Temudjin.—Origin of the worship of Mount Burham.—Assistance of
+    Togrul in recovering Bortai.—Ancestors of Jamuka.—Temudjin made
+    Khan.—Appointment of officers.—Temudjin’s first victory in
+    battle.—Temudjin’s brutal punishment of prisoners.—Juriats join
+    Temudjin’s forces.—Marriage of Temudjin’s sister to Podu.—Marriage
+    of Temudjin’s mother to Munlik.—Barins withdraw from
+    alliance.—Efforts of Temudjin to win the friendship of Jamuka    16
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+    Attack of Temudjin and Togrul upon the Lake Buyur Tartars.—Togrul
+    is given the title of Wang Khan.—Attack of Temudjin upon the
+    Churkis.—Origin of the Churkis.—Death of Buri Buga.—Adopted sons of
+    Hoelun, mother of Temudjin.—Temudjin and Wang Khan attack the
+    Merkits, 1197.—Desertion of Wang Khan.—Wang Khan’s men routed by
+    Naimans.—Rescue of Wang Khan by Temudjin.—Second defeat of the
+    Naimans.—Temudjin and Wang Khan become as father and son to each
+    other.—Wang Khan and Temudjin march against the Taidjuts,
+    1200.—Taidjuts are joined by several neighboring tribes.—Offering
+    made by Taidjuts and their allies when taking oath.—Defeat of
+    Taidjuts and Merkits by Temudjin.—Jamuka is made Khan.—Effort of
+    Jamuka to surprise and kill Temudjin, 1201.—Shamans cause wind and
+    rain to strike Temudjin.—Defeat of Jamuka.—Punishment of Temudjin’s
+    brother, Belgutai, for exposing plans.—Temudjin marches against the
+    Tartars.—Marriage of Temudjin to Aisugan.—Defeat of Tukta Bijhi, a
+    Merkit chief.—Temudjin asks for Wang Khan’s granddaughter for
+    Juchi.—Efforts of Jamuka to rouse the jealousy of Sengun, son of
+    Wang Khan.—Sengun tries to break the alliance between his father
+    and Temudjin.—Discovery of a plot to kill Temudjin.—Attack of Wang
+    Khan and Sengun upon Temudjin.—Victory of Temudjin.—Death of
+    Huildar.—Message of Temudjin to Wang Khan.—Message of Temudjin to
+    Sengun.—Message of Temudjin to Jamuka.—Attack of Temudjin upon Wang
+    Khan.—Defeat of Wang Khan and Sengun.—Temudjin rewards his
+    warriors.—Temudjin takes as wife the daughter of Jaganbo, Wang
+    Khan’s brother.—Death of Wang Khan and Sengun, 1203              37
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+    Attack upon Temudjin by Baibuga, his father-in-law.—Council held by
+    Temudjin, 1204.—Battle with the Naimans, autumn of 1204.—Capture of
+    Kurbassu, the wife of Baibuga.—Surrender to Temudjin of tribes
+    allied to Jamuka.—Subjection of the Merkits.—Marriage of Temudjin
+    to the daughter of Dair Usun.—Revolt and pursuit of the
+    Merkits.—Death of Tohtoa.—Defeat and capture of Jamuka.—Death of
+    Jamuka.—Temudjin is made Grand Khan, takes the title
+    Jinghis.—Temudjin rewards his officers.—Temudjin gives his wife to
+    Churchadai.—Temudjin distrusts his brother, Kassar.—Defence of
+    Kassar by his mother, Hoelun.—Death of Hoelun.—Temudjin alarmed at
+    the power of Taibtengeri, a Shaman.—Murder of Taibtengeri.—Jinghis
+    Khan’s (Temudjin) campaign against Tanguts.—Jinghis Khan’s position
+    secured in Northeastern Asia.—Kara Kitai, geographically.—The
+    Uigurs.—Triumphs of Jinghis alarm China.—Mission of Jinghis’ envoys
+    to the Uigurs.—Indignation of the Uigurs.—Mongols invade Tangut,
+    1207.—Tangut King gives his daughter in marriage to Jinghis.—Return
+    of Jinghis.—Arslan Khan of the Karluks gives homage to
+    Jinghis.—Marriage of Arslan to Altun Bijhi, Jinghis’ daughter    62
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+    China, 618 to 907, A.D.—Fall of Tang dynasty.—The Kitans.—Parin
+    proclaims himself Emperor, 916.—House of Sung unites nearly all
+    China, 960.—Tribute paid by the Sung Emperor to the Kitans,
+    1004.—Victory over the Kitans by Aguta in 1114.—Founding of a new
+    State, Kin kwe, by Aguta.—Death of Aguta.—Invasion of North China
+    by Kin Emperor, 1125.—Kin Emperor besieges Kai fong fu, 1126.—Sung
+    Emperor seized and sent to Manchuria.—Message of Jinghis Khan to
+    the sovereign of China.—Jinghis sets out to subdue the Chinese
+    Empire, 1211.—Sons of Jinghis.—Army equipment.—Advance of 1,200
+    miles to the Great Wall of China.—Friendship of the
+    Onguts.—Insurrection of the Kitans.—Chong tu invested.—Jinghis
+    sends Subotai against the Merkits.—Jinghis resumes activity in
+    China, 1213.—Attack of Tangut on China, 1213.—Mongols attack lands
+    bordering on the Hoang Ho, 1214.—Defence of Chong tu.—Mongols
+    attack Nan king.—Defeat of the Merkits.—Corea’s submission to
+    Jinghis, 1218.—Death of Boroul, 1217.—Origin of Mukuli, one of
+    Jinghis’ greatest generals.—Jinghis’ fourth attack on the Tanguts,
+    1218.—Origin of Kara Kitai.—Victory of Yeliu over Kashgar.—Invasion
+    of Kwaresm by Yeliu.—Treachery of Gutchluk.—Execution of Gutchluk
+    by Chepé.—Kara Kitai attacked by Shah Mohammed.—The World-Shaking
+    Limper (Tamerlane).—Attack of Kara Kitans by Mongols.—Death of the
+    Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, 1136                                      79
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+    Addition of Kara Kitai to Mongol domains.—End of Seljuk rule.—Kutb
+    ud din Mohammed made Kwaresmian Shah.—Mohammed seizes Balk and
+    Herat.—Invasion of the lands of the Gurkhan by Mohammed,
+    1208.—Defeat and capture of Shah Mohammed.—Mohammed and Osman make
+    an attack on the Gurkhan.—Success of the Kwaresmian Shah.—Mohammed
+    gives his daughter in marriage to Osman, ruler of
+    Samarkand.—Kwaresmians killed by Osman.—Storming of Samarkand by
+    Mohammed.—Death of Osman.—Seizure of a part of the Gur
+    Kingdom.—Assassination of Ali Shir by command of Mohammed, his
+    brother, 1213.—Winning of Ghazni by Mohammed, 1216.—Discovery of
+    letters from the Kalif warning the Gurs against Mohammed.—Efforts
+    of Nassir the Kalif to stop Kwaresmian growth.—Limited power of the
+    Kalif.—Envoy sent by Mohammed to the Kalif.—Ali ul Muluk is
+    recognized as Kalif.—Murder of Ogulmush by command of the
+    Kalif.—Annexation of Irak by Mohammed.—Mohammed advances on
+    Bagdad.—Retreat of Mohammed.—Mohammed alarmed by Mongol
+    movements.—Mohammed receives envoys from Jinghis Khan,
+    1216–17.—Sunnites and Shiites.—Determination of the Kalif to ask
+    Jinghis to defend the Sunnites.—Invitation to Jinghis branded on
+    the head of the envoy.—Message of Jinghis to Shah Mohammed.—Arrest
+    of Mongolian merchants.—Second message from Jinghis to
+    Mohammed.—Murder of Bajra, Jinghis Khan’s envoy.—Turkan Khatun, the
+    mother of Shah Mohammed.—Trouble caused by Turkan Khatun.—A Mongol
+    tempest.—Conspiracy of Bedr ud din.—Arrangement of the Mongol
+    army.—Investment of Otrar, November, 1218.—Capture of Otrar, April,
+    1219.—Slaughter of the Turk garrison at Benakit.—Escape of Melik
+    Timur.—Investment of Bokhara, June, 1219.—Surrender of
+    Bokhara.—Feeding of Mongol horses in the Grand Mosque.—Storming of
+    the fortress.—March of Jinghis on Samarkand.—Surrender of
+    Samarkand.—Pursuit of the Kwaresmian ruler                       93
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+    Indecision of Shah Mohammed.—Escape of Mohammed to
+    Nishapur.—Submission of Balkh.—Proclamation of the Shah to
+    Nishapur.—Pursuit of Mohammed.—Withdrawal of Mohammed from
+    Nishapur.—Sack of Nishapur.—Flight of Mohammed to an island in the
+    Caspian.—Death of Shah Mohammed, January 10, 1221.—Escape of Turkan
+    Khatun to the mountains.—Succession of Jelal ud din.—Surrender of
+    Ilak and of Turkan Khatun.—Siege and capture of the Kwaresmian
+    capital.—Attack made on the Talekan district by Jinghis.—Siege of
+    Ghazni.—March of Tului against Khorassan, 1220.—Attack on
+    Nessa.—Attack and capture of Merv.—Revenge of Togachar’s
+    widow.—March of the Mongols against Herat.—Turkmans near Merv
+    escape and form the nucleus of the Ottoman Empire.—Jelal ud din at
+    Ghazni, 1221.—Death of a grandson of Jinghis.—Revenge of
+    Jinghis.—Retreat of Jelal from Ghazni.—Pursuit of Jelal by
+    Jinghis.—Battle at the Indus between Jelal and Jinghis.—Leap of
+    Jelal into the Indus.—Siege of Herat, 1222.—Mongol army marches on
+    Herat a second time                                             113
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+    Jinghis passes the winter near the Indus, 1222–23.—Resolve of
+    Jinghis to return to Mongolia, 1223.—Myths regarding this
+    resolution.—Command of Jinghis to kill useless prisoners.—March of
+    Chepé Noyon to Tiflis.—Command of Jinghis to Chepé Noyon to
+    exterminate the Polovtsi.—March of Chepé to Tiflis.—Chepé’s
+    alliance with the Polovtsi.—Betrayal of the Polovtsi, their flight
+    to Russia.—Mystislav aids the Polovtsi against the Mongols.—Defeat
+    of the Russians on the Kalka, 1224.—Terror of Southern
+    Russia.—Jinghis at his home on the Kerulon, 1225.—Mukuli’s conquest
+    of lands belonging to the Kin dynasty, 1216.—Death of Mukuli,
+    1223.—Jinghis enters Tangut, 1226.—Siege of Ling chau.—Submission
+    of Ling chau.—Death of Jinghis Khan, 1227.—Burial of
+    Jinghis.—Jinghis Khan’s disposal of his Empire.—Kurultai of
+    election held on the Kerulon, 1229.—Accession of Ogotai. His plans
+    of expeditions.—Offerings made to the shade of Jinghis.—First work
+    of Ogotai                                                       131
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+    Condition of Persian Irak at the time of Jinghis Khan’s
+    death.—Flight of Jelal ud din to Delhi.—Marriage of Jelal to the
+    daughter of Iletmish.—Effort of Jelal to take possession of his
+    inheritance.—Founding of the Kara Kitan dynasty of Kerman.—Marriage
+    of Jelal to the daughter of Borak.—Advance of Jelal into
+    Fars.—Marriage of Jelal to the daughter of the Atabeg of
+    Shiraz.—Effort of Jelal to overcome his brother, Ghiath.—Jelal
+    marches against Nassir, Kalif of Islam.—Capture of Dakuka by Jelal,
+    1225.—Possession of Tebriz by Jelal.—Expedition against Georgia,
+    1225.—Second march of Jelal to Tiflis, 1226.—Conquest of
+    Georgia.—Jelal attacks Kars.—Defeat of a Mongol division by
+    Jelal.—Attack of the Mongols on Jelal in Ispahan, 1227.—Murder of
+    Mohammed, a favorite of Jelal.—Ghiath ud din strangled by
+    Borak.—Jelal demands tribute from the Shirvan Shah.—Attack of Jelal
+    on the combined armies of Georgia and Armenia.—Second siege of
+    Khelat by Jelal.—Death of Nassir the Kalif, 1225.—Succession of
+    Zahir as Kalif and then of Mostansir.—Jelal invested with the title
+    of Shah in Shah.—Capture of Khelat by Jelal, 1230.—Defeat of Jelal
+    at Kharpert.—March of Jelal on Khelat.—March of Jelal on
+    Gandja.—Attack and defeat of Jelal by Mongols.—Death of Jelal,
+    1231.—End of Kwaresmian dynasty                                 145
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+    Ravage of Amid and Mayafarkin by Mongols.—Devastation of
+    Azerbaidjan.—Capture of Erbil by Mongols.—Mongols in Arabian Irak,
+    1238.—Capture of Gandja by Mongols, 1235.—Capture of Tiflis by
+    Mongols, 1239.—Mongols advance to the Tigris.—Visit of Prince Avak
+    and his sister, Tamara, to Ogotai, 1240.—Mongols in Syria,
+    1244.—Capture of regions north of Lake Van.—Sheherzur sacked by
+    Mongols.—The Mongols driven off from Yakuba by Bagdad
+    troops.—Refusal of Queen Rusudan to leave Usaneth.—Death of
+    Rusudan.—Installation of Kuyuk, 1246.—Death of Kei Kosru,
+    1245.—Struggle of Rokn ud din for rule in Rūm.—Death of Alai ud
+    din.—Mangu Grand Khan of the Mongols, 1251.—Visit of Rokn ud din to
+    Sarai.—Entrance of Baidju into Rūm.—Great ruin effected by Mongols
+    in Asia Minor.—Appointment by Juchi of Chin Timur as Governor of
+    Kwaresm.—Ravaging by Kwaresmian bands in Khorassan.—Attack upon the
+    Kankalis by Chin Timur.—Visit of the Prince of Iran to
+    Ogotai.—Authority transferred from Chin Timur to Sari
+    Bahadur.—Reinstatement of Chin Timur.—Chin Timur’s choice of Kurguz
+    as chancellor.—Death of Chin Timur, 1235.—Visit of Kurguz to
+    Ogotai.—Kurguz appointed to collect taxes.—Residence of Kurguz at
+    Tus.—Command of Ogotai to raise up Khorassan, and repeople
+    Herat.—Struggle between Sherif and Kurguz.—Death of
+    Kurguz.—Succession of Sherif.—Sherif’s oppression of the people of
+    Tebriz.—Death of Sherif, 1244.—Visit of Argun to the Kurultai which
+    elected Kuyuk, 1251.—Election of Mangu, 1251.—Argun’s reception in
+    Merv.—Shems ud din’s reign in Herat.—Death of Rokn ud din.—Death of
+    Shems ud din, 1244.—Death of Kutb ud din, 1258.—Position of Persia
+    in 1254                                                         172
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+    The Ismailian known in Europe as Assassins.—Death of Mohammed,
+    632.—Omar made Kalif, 634.—Murder of Aly, 661.—Election of Muavia
+    in Damascus.—Winning of Egypt by Muavia.—Yezid, son of Muavia,
+    named heir.—Death of Muavia. Succession of Yezid, 680.—Death of
+    Muslim.—Hussein camps on the plain of Kerbala.—Death of Hussein,
+    October, 680.—Babek, 816.—Seizure of Babek by Motassim,
+    835.—Execution of Babek.—Origin of Abdallah.—Spread of the peculiar
+    beliefs of Abdallah.—Amed, son of Abdallah.—Rise of Karmath.—Fights
+    in the East and West.—Obeidallah, first Fatimed Kalif, 909.—Winning
+    of Egypt and Southern Syria by descendants of Obeidallah,
+    967.—Addition of Aleppo to the Fatimed Empire, 991.—Founding of the
+    Eastern Ismailians, or Assassins, by Hassan Ben Sabah.—Omar Khayyam
+    and Nizam ul Mulk.—Death of Alp Arslan.—Seizure of the fortress of
+    Alamut by Hassan Sabah, 1090.—Rivalry of Hassan and Nizam ul
+    Mulk.—Death of Nizam ul Mulk and Melik Shah, 1092.—Peculiar belief
+    of Hassan Sabah.—Assassins in Syria.—Friendship of Risvan, Prince
+    of Aleppo, for the Order.—Assassination of the Prince of Mosul,
+    1113.—Death of Risvan.—Akhras attempts to exterminate the
+    Assassins.—Revenge of the Assassins.—Surrender of the fortress of
+    Sherif, 1120.—Death of Hassan Sabah, 1124.—Kia Busurgomid succeeds
+    Hassan Sabah.—Possession of Banias by Assassins.—Hugo De Payens,
+    Grand Master of the Templars in Jerusalem, 1129.—Death of
+    Togteghin.—Succession of his son, Tajulmuluk.—Efforts to murder
+    Tajulmuluk.—Execution of the Assassins                          197
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+    Murder of Aksonkor Burshi, Prince of Mosul, 1126.—Murder of Busi,
+    Prince of Damascus.—Murder of Sindjar’s vizir by Assassins,
+    1127.—Vengeance of Assassins.—Death of a Fatimid Kalif by the
+    daggers of the Assassins, 1134.—Death of Kia Busurgomid,
+    1138.—Appointment of Mohammed to succeed his father.—Murder of
+    Mostershed.—Death of Rashid, his successor.—Assassin doctrine as
+    delivered to Sindjar.—Succession of Mohammed, 1138.—Nur ed din in
+    Syria.—Attack against Damascus, 1154.—Friendship of Nur ed din for
+    the Abbasids.—Triumph of Nur ed din in Haram.—Arrival of Shawer in
+    Damascus.—Shawer’s request for aid against the Crusaders.—Plot of
+    Shawer to destroy Shirkuh.—Death of Shirkuh, 1169.—Saladin’s
+    origin.—Saladin first vizir of the Kalif.—Exposure of the secrets
+    of the Assassins by Hassan II.—Efforts of Hassan to establish his
+    descent from Kalifs of Egypt.—Death of Hassan.—Death of Nur ed din,
+    1174.—Egypt governed by Saladin in the name of Salih.—Defeat of the
+    troops of Aleppo, by Saladin, 1175.—End of the Fatimid
+    Kalifat.—Saladin attacked by Assassins.—Attack of Massiat by
+    Saladin.—Compromise of Sinan.—Death of Mohammed II.—Succession of
+    Jelal ud din Hassan, son of Mohammed, 1213.—Jelal’s return to the
+    true faith.—Death of Jelal ud din, 1225.—Succession of his son,
+    Alai ed din.—Death of Alai ed din.—Succession of Rokn ud
+    din.—Attack of Hulagu upon the Assassins.—Surrender of Rokn ud
+    din.—Visit of Rokn ud din to the court of Mangu, 1257.—Death of
+    Rokn ud din                                                     222
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+    Message of Hulagu to Kalif of Bagdad, 1257.—Kalif rebukes
+    Hulagu.—Hulagu’s envoys insulted by the people.—Second message of
+    the Kalif to Hulagu to warn him against making war on the
+    Abbasids.—Attempted treason of Aké, commandant of
+    Daritang.—Possession of the Daritang road by Hulagu.—Prediction of
+    the astrologer.—Capture of Luristan by the Mongols.—Advance of Feth
+    ud din to meet the Mongol division.—Opening of canals from the
+    Tigris by the Mongols.—Triumph of Hulagu.—Submission of the Kalif
+    of Bagdad.—Bagdad sacked by the Mongols.—Death of Kalif of Bagdad,
+    1258.—Appointment of Ben Amran as prefect.—Alb Argun’s accession to
+    the throne of Luristan.—Summons of Hulagu to Bedr ud din, Prince of
+    Mosul.—Presents given by the Prince of Mosul to Hulagu.—Death of
+    Salih, 1249.—Death of Turan Shah, successor of Salih.—Accession of
+    Eibeg to the throne of Egypt.—Attempt of Nassir to drive Eibeg from
+    the throne.—Message of Hulagu to Nassir.—Advance of Hulagu’s army
+    into Syria.—Accusation of Hulagu against Kamil, the Eyubite
+    prince.—Summons sent by Hulagu to the Prince of Mardin.—Message of
+    Nassir to Mogith.—Succession of Mansur, son of Eibeg.—Kutuz becomes
+    Sultan.—Siege of El Biret.—Mongols camp near Aleppo.—Assault and
+    capture of Aleppo, January 25, 1260.—Damascus left defenceless by
+    Nassir                                                          247
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+    News of the death of Mangu, 1259.—Desire of Kutuz to take the field
+    against the Mongols.—Imprisonment of Hulagu’s envoy.—Meeting of the
+    two armies on the plain of Ain Jalut, 1260.—Defeat of the Mongols
+    by Kutuz.—Arrival of Kutuz in Damascus.—Pursuit of the Mongols by
+    Beibars.—Death of Kutuz, 1260.—Enthronement of Beibars.—Youth of
+    Beibars.—Yshmut, son of Hulagu, demands the surrender of
+    Mayafarkin.—Death of Kamil.—Attack of Yshmut on Mardin.—Kalif’s
+    investiture of Beibars with the sovereignty.—Departure from Cairo
+    of the Sultan and the Kalif, 1262.—Entrance of Mostansir into
+    Hitt.—Attack of Sanjar on the Mongols who were moving against
+    Mosul.—Death of Sanjar.—Siege of Mosul.—Slaughter of the
+    inhabitants of Mosul.—Death of Prince of Mosul.—Death of
+    Salih.—Visit of Salih, the Melik of Mosul, to Beibars in
+    Egypt.—Enthronement of Beibars.—Berkai’s criticism of
+    Hulagu.—Defeat of Hulagu by Nogai.—Return of Hulagu to
+    Tebriz.—Letter of Beibars to Berkai.—Detention of envoys by Michael
+    Palæologus.—Desire of Berkai for an alliance against Hulagu.—Attack
+    of Hayton, King of Cilicia, on Egyptian territory.—Death of Seif ud
+    din Bitikdji, 1263.—Troubles in Fars.—Reception of Seljuk Shah at
+    the Oxus, by Hulagu.—Death of Abu Bekr, 1260.—Accession of Mohammed
+    Shah to the throne of Fars, 1262.—Death of Seljuk Shah.—Uns Khatun
+    placed on the throne of Fars, 1264.—Sherif ud din claims to be the
+    Mahdi promised by the Shiites.—March of the Mongols against Sherif
+    ud din.—Siege of El Biret, 1264.—Death of Hulagu, 1265.—Death of
+    Hulagu’s wife Dokuz Khatun.—Berkai’s second campaign to the
+    Caucasus, 1264.—Death of Berkai, 1266.—Nogai’s army retreats on
+    Shirvan                                                         267
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+    Kin Emperor sends offerings to the spirit of Jinghis Khan,
+    1229.—Mongols continue warfare in China.—Siege of Li ho chin by
+    Mongols, 1227.—King Yang attacked by Mongols, 1229.—Defeat of the
+    Mongols by Yra buka, 1230.—Advance of Ogotai and Tului on
+    China.—Ogotai anxious to seize Honan.—Surrender of Fong
+    tsiang.—Arrival of Yra buka, the Kin general at Teng chu,
+    1234.—Tului’s report to Ogotai of the situation in Honan.—Siege of
+    Yiu chin by Tului.—Capture and death of Yra buka.—Ogotai visits
+    Tului.—Ogotai asks the Kin Emperor to submit.—Advance of Mongols on
+    Shan chiu.—Fall of Honan.—Siege of Nan King.—Appearance of the
+    plague.—Flight of the Emperor from his capital.—Attack of the
+    capital by Subotai.—Defence of Pian king.—Surrender of Pian
+    king.—Execution of Baksan.—Appearance of Mongols near Tsai
+    chiu.—Attack of Tsai chiu by Tatchar, son of Boroul.—Nin kia su
+    yields the throne to Ching lin.—Death of Nin kia su.—Death of Ching
+    lin.—Death of Tului, October, 1232.—End of dominion of the Kins in
+    China, 1234                                                     295
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+    Kurultai summoned by Ogotai at Talantepe, 1234.—Kurultai summoned
+    by Ogotai at Kara Kurum, 1235.—Batu marches West.—An army sent to
+    Cashmir and India.—Expedition against China.—Assassination of Tsui
+    li.—Recall of Subotai.—Reoccupation of Ching tu by the Chinese,
+    1239.—Sack of Ching tu by Mongols.—Entrance into Hu kuang of
+    Kutchu, 1236.—Death of Kutchu.—Attack on Liu chiu by Chagan, a
+    Mongol general, 1238.—Withdrawal of Chagan.—Three victories of Meng
+    kong over Mongols, 1239.—Offers of peace by Wang tsie, a Mongol
+    envoy.—Death of Ogotai, 1241.—Influence of Abd ur Rahman over the
+    widow of Ogotai.—Delay of Batu in coming to the Kurultai.—Election
+    of Kuyuk as Emperor.—Death of Turakina, Ogotai’s widow.—Death of
+    Fatima, a favorite of Turakina.—Batu learns of the death of Kuyuk,
+    1248.—Kurultai called by Batu.—Mangu, son of Tului, saluted as
+    Emperor, 1251.—Refusal of Ogotai’s sons to recognize the legality
+    of the Kurultai which appointed Mangu.—Discovery of a plot to
+    assassinate Mangu.—Death of Siurkukteni, mother of Mangu,
+    1252.—Desire of Mangu to kill the partisans of Ogotai’s
+    sons.—Removal of all Uigurs favorable to Ogotai’s descendants by
+    Mangu.—Mangu gives Honan to Kubilai, 1252.—Tali the capital of Nan
+    chao under Mongol rule.—Return of Kubilai to Mongolia.—Journey of
+    Uriang Kadai to Mangu’s court to report on work done in the South,
+    beyond China.—Return of Uriang Kadai, 1254.—Summons of Uriang Kadai
+    to Chen chi kung, sovereign of Tung king (Gan nan), to own himself
+    tributary to Mangu.—Surrender of Kiao chi, the Gan nan capital, to
+    Uriang Kadai.—Chen chi kung resigns in favor of his son,
+    1253.—Popularity of Kubilai in China.—Jealousy of Mangu.—Recall of
+    Kubilai, 1257.—March of Mangu to the Sung Empire.—March of Mangu
+    against Ku chu yai, a fortress west of Pao ning.—Mangu’s conquest
+    of Western Su chuan.—Death of Mangu, 1259.—Kubilai at Ju in Honan,
+    1259.—Effort of Arik Buga, master at Kara Kurum, to usurp
+    power.—Treaty of Kia se tao and Kubilai.—Encampment of Kubilai
+    outside the walls of Pekin.—Election and enthronement of
+    Kubilai.—Battle between Kubilai and Arik Buga.—Defeat of
+    Arik Buga                                                       310
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+    March of Arik Buga to Kara Kurum.—Attack of Arik Buga on Kubilai
+    northeast of Shang tu.—Defeat of Arik Buga.—Reverses of Arik
+    Buga.—Appeal of Arik Buga to the mercy of his brother, 1264.—Death
+    of Arik Buga, 1266.—Claim of Kaidu, grandson of Ogotai, to headship
+    of the Mongols.—Decision of Kubilai to conquer all China.—Revolt of
+    Litan, one of Kubilai’s generals.—Death of Litan.—Kubilai moves
+    against Southern China, 1267.—Kubilai’s command to At chu to
+    besiege Siang yang, 1268.—Attack of Mongols on Fan ching, 1273.—The
+    Emperor’s discovery of the siege of Siang yang by the
+    Mongols.—Control of Fan ching by the Mongols.—Surrender of Siang
+    yang by Liu wen hwan.—Death of Tu tsong, the Emperor, August,
+    1274.—Surrender of many cities to Bayan.—Surrender of Su chuan,
+    1278.—Bayan advises Kubilai to continue operations in
+    China.—Arrival of the Emperor and Empress at Kubilai’s court.—March
+    of Bayan against Lin ngan.—Election of Y wang as governor of the
+    Empire.—Command obtained from the Emperor, by Bayan, ordering Sung
+    subjects to submit to the Mongols.—Chinese defections follow Mongol
+    successes.—Effort of Alihaiya to bribe Ma ki to surrender Kwe lin
+    fu, the capital of Kiang se.—Defeat and capture of Ma ki.—Death of
+    Toan tsong, 1278.—Kuang Wang is made Emperor under the name Ti
+    ping.—Destruction of the army of the Sung Emperor.—Blocking of
+    Chinese vessels by Mongol barges.—Capture of more than 800 Chinese
+    vessels.—Death of Chang shi kie.—Kubilai finds himself master of
+    China, January 31, 1279                                         336
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+    Struggle of Kubilai with Kaidu lasting from the death of Arik Buga
+    to the death of Kubilai.—End of the Sung dynasty.—Departure of
+    troops for Corea.—Mongol fleet encounters a storm.—Return of the
+    fleet.—Attack and defeat of the King of Burma.—Death of Sutu, a
+    distinguished Mongol general.—Kubilai plans a second Japanese
+    expedition.—Victory of Kubilai’s forces over the Tung king men in
+    seventeen engagements.—Visit of Yang ting pie to the islands south
+    of China, 1285.—Arrival of the ships of ten kingdoms in Tsinan
+    chiu.—Desire of Tok Timur to put Shireki, son of Mangu, on the
+    throne, 1277.—Tok Timur attacked by Bayan.—Flight of Tok Timur.—Tok
+    Timur asks aid of Shireki; failing to get it he sets up
+    Sarban.—Forming of a new league against Kubilai by Kaidan with
+    Nayan as leader.—Capture and death of Nayan.—Gift of Kara Kurum to
+    Bayan, as headquarters.—Kubilai’s departure from Shang tu for the
+    West.—Recall of Bayan.—Kubilai sends a thousand ships to attack
+    Java.—Effort of Wang chu to free the Chinese Empire.—Death of
+    Ahmed, Kubilai’s Minister of Finance.—Execution of Wang
+    chu.—Execution of Sanga.—Death of Kubilai, February, 1294.—Election
+    of Timur.—Death of Bayan at the age of fifty-nine.—Treaty of Timur
+    with the King of Tung king.—Spread of revolt.—Death of Kaidu,
+    1301.—Daughter of Kaidu.—Homage rendered Chabar as Kaidu’s
+    successor.—Timur acknowledged as overlord.—War between Chabar and
+    Dua, 1306.—Death of Dua.—Gebek, son of Dua, proclaimed
+    successor.—Attack of Chabar on Gebek.—Defeat of Chabar          361
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+    Accession of Ananda, grandson of Kubilai.—Removal of
+    Ananda.—Succession of Khaishan, under the name of Kuluk.—Death of
+    Khaishan, 1311.—Batra is proclaimed under the name Bayantu.—Cause
+    and beginning of the ruin of Mongol power in China.—Appointment of
+    Shudi Bala as successor of Bayantu.—Death of Bayantu in
+    1320.—Assassination of Shudi Bala. The first death by assassination
+    in the Imperial family.—Succession of Yissun Timur.—Appointment of
+    Asukeba as heir.—Death of Yissun Timur.—The widow of Yissun Timur
+    proclaims Asukeba.—Effort of Tob Timur to secure the throne for his
+    brother, Kushala.—Defeat of the partisans of Asukeba.—Exile of the
+    Empress.—Sudden death of Kushala while feasting, 1329.—Tob Timur is
+    made Emperor.—Death of Tob Timur.—Death of the young son of
+    Kushala.—Accession of Togan Timur, Kushala’s eldest son.—Revolt in
+    Honan, Su chuan and Kwang tung.—Removal of Tob Timur’s tablet from
+    the hall of Imperial ancestors, 1340.—Completion of the annals of
+    the Liao, the Kin, and the Sung dynasties.—Insurrection in South
+    China, 1341.—Fang kwe chin, a pirate, harries the coast of Che
+    kiang.—Declaration of Han chan tong of the appearance of Buddha to
+    free China from the Mongol yoke.—Death of Han chan tong.—Departure
+    of Mongols from the Yang tse region.—Capture of Han yang and Wu
+    chang in Hu kwang by Siu chiu hwei.—Recapture of Hang chiu by the
+    Mongol general, Tong pu.—Appearance of Chang se ching in Kiang
+    nan.—Siu chiu hwei proclaims himself Emperor.—Defeat of a Mongol
+    general by Ni wen tsiun.—Appearance of Chu yuan chang, the man
+    destined to destroy Mongol rule, and found the Ming
+    dynasty.—Capture of Nan king, Yang chiu and Chin kiang by
+    Chu.—Defeat of adherents of Ming wang, the pseudo Sung Emperor, by
+    Chagan Timur, a Mongol general.—Control of Hu kwang and Kiang si by
+    Siu chiu hwei.—Chin proclaims himself Emperor.—Plans of Chagan
+    Timur to capture Nan king.—Aiyuchelitala named as heir by Togan
+    Timur.—Invitation of Ali hwei to Togan Timur to yield what is left
+    of Mongol power.—Defeat of Tukien Timur.—Assassination of Chagan
+    Timur by Wang se ching.—Appearance of Ming yu chin as
+    Emperor.—March of Chu, the coming Emperor of China, against Chin
+    yiu liang.—Defeat of Chin yiu liang.—Surrender of cities to
+    Chu.—Effort of Polo Timur to capture Tsin ki.—Defeat of Polo Timur
+    by Ku ku Timur.—The heir of the Mongol throne acts against the
+    Grand Khan, his father.—Polo Timur made commander-in-chief by Togan
+    Timur.—News of the capture of Shang tu.—Death of Ming yu chin,
+    1366.—Disappearance of Han lin ulh.—Efforts of Chu to liberate
+    China.—Surrender of all cities to Chu’s generals.—Terror of Togan
+    Timur caused by conquests of Chu.—Chu proclaimed Emperor, the name
+    Ming is given to his dynasty.—Entrance of Chu into Ta tu,
+    1368.—Death of Togan Timur.—Capture of Togan Timur’s grandson by
+    Ming forces.—Advance of Su tu, the Ming general, to the
+    Kerulon.—Death of the Mongol heir. Succession of his son Tukus
+    Timur, 1378.—Defeat of Tukus Timur by Chu forces.—Assassination of
+    Tukus Timur.—Civil war roused by Yissudar.—Invitation of the
+    Emperor of China to Buin Shara to declare himself vassal.—Invasion
+    of Mongolia by a Chinese army.—Yung lo’s advance to the
+    Kerulon.—Defeat of the Mongols.—Death of Buin Shara, 1412.—The
+    Manchu dynasty.—End of Mongol power                             384
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MONGOLS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CLASSIFICATION, MYTH AND REALITY
+
+
+From an obscure and uncertain beginning the word Mongol has gone on
+increasing in significance and spreading geographically during more
+than ten centuries until it has filled the whole earth with its
+presence. From the time when men used it at first until our day this
+word has been known in three senses especially. In the first sense it
+refers to some small groups of hunters and herdsmen living north of the
+great Gobi desert; in the second it denotes certain peoples in Asia and
+Eastern Europe; in the third and most recent, a worldwide extension has
+been given it. In this third and the broad sense the word Mongol has
+been made to include in one category all yellow skinned nations, or
+peoples, including those too with a reddish-brown, or dark tinge in the
+yellow, having also straight hair, always black, and dark eyes of
+various degrees of intensity. In this sense the word Mongol
+co-ordinates vast numbers of people, immense groups of men who are like
+one another in some traits, and widely dissimilar in others. It
+embraces the Chinese, the Coreans, the Japanese, the Manchus, the
+original Mongols with their near relatives the Tartar, or Turkish
+tribes which hold Central Asia, or most of it. Moving westward from
+China this term covers the Tibetans and with them all the non-Aryan
+nations and tribes until we reach India and Persia.
+
+In India, whose most striking history in modern ages is Mongol, nearly
+all populations save Aryans and Semites are classified with Mongols. In
+Persia where the dynasty is Mongol that race is preponderant in places
+and important throughout the whole kingdom, though in a minority. In
+Asia Minor the Mongol is master, for the Turk is still sovereign, and
+will be till a great rearrangement is effected.
+
+Five groups of Mongols have made themselves famous in Europe: the Huns
+with their mighty chief Attila, the Bulgars, the Magyars, the Turks or
+Osmanli, and the Mongol invaders of Russia. All these five will have
+their due places later on in this history.
+
+In Africa there have been and are still Mongol people. The Mamelukes
+and their forces at Cairo were in their time remarkable, and Turkish
+dominion exists till the present, at least theoretically, in Egypt, and
+west of it.
+
+Not restricted to the Eastern hemisphere the word Mongol is still
+further used to include aboriginal man in America.
+
+Thus this great aggregation of people is found in each part of both
+hemispheres, and we cannot consider the Mongols historically in a wide
+sense unless we consider all mankind.
+
+In the first, that is the original and narrowest sense of the word it
+applies to those Mongols alone who during twelve centuries or longer
+have inhabited the country just south of Lake Baikal, and north of the
+great Gobi desert. It is from these Mongols proper that the name has at
+last been extended to the whole yellow race in both hemispheres.
+
+The word Mongol began, it is said, with the Chinese, but this is not
+certain. It is certain, however, that the Chinese made it known to the
+great world outside, and thus opened the way to that immense
+application now given it. The Tang dynasty lasted from 618 to 907 and
+left its own history. In that history the term Mongol appears as
+Mong-ku, and in the annals of the Kitan dynasty which followed the Tang
+Mong-ku-li is the form which is given us. The Kitans were succeeded by
+the Golden Khans, or Kin Emperors, and in the annals of their line the
+Mong-ku are mentioned very often.
+
+The Mongols began their career somewhat south of Lake Baikal where six
+rivers rise in a very remarkable mountain land. The Onon, the Ingoda
+and the Kerulon are the main western sources of that immense stream the
+Amoor, which enters the Sea of Okhotsk and thus finds the Pacific. The
+second three rivers: the Tula, Orhon, and Selinga flow into Lake
+Baikal, and thence, through the Lower Angara and Yenissei, are merged
+in Arctic waters directly in front of Nova Zembla.
+
+These two water systems begin in the Kentei Khan mountains which have
+as their chief elevation Mount Burhan. The six rivers while flowing
+toward the Amoor and Lake Baikal water the whole stretch of country
+where the Mongols began their activity as known to us. There they moved
+about with their large and small cattle, fought, robbed, and hunted,
+ate and drank and slew one another during ages without reckoning. In
+that region of forest and grass land, of mountains and valleys, of
+great and small rivers the air is wholesome though piercingly cold
+during winter, and exceedingly hot in the summer months. There was
+subsistence enough for a primitive life in that country, but men had to
+fight for it savagely. Flocks and herds when grown numerous need
+immense spaces to feed in, and those spaces of land caused unending
+struggle and bloodshed. The flocks and herds were also objects of
+struggle, not flocks and herds only, but women. The desirable woman was
+snatched away, kidnapped; the good herd of cattle was stolen, and
+afterward fought for; the grass covered mountain or valley, or the
+forest with grass or good branches, or shrubbery for browsing was
+seized and then kept by the men who were able to hold it.
+
+This stealing of cattle, this grabbing of pasture and forest, this
+fighting, this killing, this capture of women continued for ages with
+no apparent results except those which were personal, local, and
+transient till Temudjin the great Mongol appeared in that harsh
+mountain country. This man summed up in himself, and intensified to the
+utmost the ideas, strength, temper and spirit of his race as presented
+in action and life up to his day. He placed the Mongols on the stage of
+the world with a skill and a power that were simply colossal and
+all-conquering. The results which he won were immediate and terrifying.
+No man born of woman has had thus far in history a success so peculiar,
+so thorough and perfect, so completely acknowledged by mankind as the
+success won by Temudjin. There is in his career an unconquerable
+sequence, a finish, a oneness of character that sets it apart among all
+the careers of those mighty ones in history who worked for this life
+and no other, and strove for no object save that which is tangible,
+material and present; success of such kind and success so enormous that
+a common intelligence might yearn for it, but have no more chance of
+winning than of reaching the stars, or of seeing the sun during night
+hours.
+
+The career of this Mongol is unique in the world, unapproachable, since
+its object was unmixed and immediate and his success in attaining it
+was so great that it seems, we might say, super-human.
+
+The account which is given us of Temudjin’s origin is a myth tale,
+excepting a few generations directly preceding him. Genealogy in the
+form of a myth tale is no exception in the case of any people,—no
+wonder. It is the rule and inevitable, the one method used by each
+primitive folk to explain its own origin. All early men in their own
+accounts are descended from gods who are either divine mythic animals,
+or elements, or forces, or phenomena which become later on the
+progenitors of nations, or their totems.
+
+The first mythic parents or founders of Temudjin’s family were a blue
+wolf and a gray doe. These two swam across a lake, reached the river
+Onon near its sources and settled down permanently at the foot of Mount
+Burhan, where a son called Batachi was born to them. Ninth in descent
+from Batachi were Duva Sohor, and Doben. The former had only one eye
+which was fixed in the middle of his forehead, but with that eye he saw
+beyond three mountain ranges. Once these two brothers climbed up Mount
+Burhan, and were gazing at the world from the top of it when Duva Sohor
+beheld many people moving down the Tungeli. “There is the wife for my
+brother, unless she is married,” thought Duva. “Go and see her,” said
+he then to Doben. Doben went to the new people straightway and learned
+that the woman was single and that her name was Alan Goa. The moving
+people were dependents of one Horilartai.
+
+In time before that Bargudai, who owned Bargudjin on Lake Baikal, had a
+daughter whom he gave to Horilartai of Horntumadun. From this marriage
+came Alan Goa, born at Alih Usun. They had left their old place since
+the hunting of ermine and squirrels had been stopped there. Horilartai
+removed to Mount Burhan, where game was abundant. He joined Shinchi
+Boyan, the master of Mount Burhan, and began the clan Horilar. Thus
+Doben found Alan Goa, who bore him two sons, Bugundai and Bailgun Etai.
+
+Duva the one-eyed had four sons. The two brothers and their six sons
+lived in one company till Duva’s death; after that Duva’s four sons
+deserted their uncle, and founded the clan known as Dorbian.
+
+One day while Doben was hunting he found in the forest a man roasting
+venison and straightway asked meat of him. The man kept one flank and
+the lungs, and gave the remainder to Doben who tied what he got to his
+saddle, and started off homeward. He met on the road a poor man and a
+small boy. “Who art thou?” inquired Doben. “I am of the Malish
+Boyandai,” said the poor man, “I am in need, give me venison, I pray
+thee, I will give thee my son in return for it.” Doben gave the man a
+deer leg, took the boy home, and made him his attendant.
+
+Some years passed, the boy grew, and Doben died. The boy, now a man,
+served the widow. While a widow Alan Goa bore three sons; the eldest
+was Buga Hatagi, the second Tusalchi, the third Boduanchar. The two
+sons born of Doben said once to each other: “Our mother has no husband,
+no brother of our father has ever been in this yurta, still she has
+three sons. There is only one man in the house, he has lived with us
+always; is he not their father?”
+
+Alan Goa learned that the two elder brothers were curious concerning
+the other three, so one day she called in her five sons and seating
+them together gave each one an arrow and told him to break it. Each
+broke his arrow. She then bound five arrows firmly together and
+commanded to break them—not one of the brothers could break the five
+arrows when tied in a bundle.
+
+“Ye are in doubt,” said she then to her eldest and second son, “as to
+who is the father of my third, fourth and fifth sons. Ye wonder, and
+with reason, for ye know not that a golden hued man makes his way to
+this yurta. He enters through the door by which light comes, he enters
+in through the smoke hole like sunshine. The brightness which comes
+from him fills me when I look at him. Going off on the rays of the sun
+or the moon he runs like a swift yellow dog till he vanishes. Cease
+talking idly. Your three youngest brothers are children of Heaven, and
+no one may liken them to common men. When they are khans ye will know
+this.”
+
+Alan Goa instructed her sons then, and said to them: “Ye all are my
+children, ye are all sons of mine. If ye stand apart like those five
+broken arrows it will be very easy to break you, but if ye keep one
+mind and one spirit no man on earth will be able to injure you, ye will
+be like those five arrows in the bundle.”
+
+Alan Goa died soon after this talk with her children. Four of the
+brothers took what belonged to all five of them, counting the youngest
+a weakling and simple they gave him no property whatever. He, seeing
+that they would not treat him with justice, said in his own mind: “I
+will go from this place, I will leave them.” Then mounting a sorry roan
+horse with galled back and mangy tail he left his four brothers and
+rode away up the Onon to live at some new spot in freedom. When he
+reached Baljunala he built a small yurta, or hut at the place which
+seemed best to him and lived in it. One day he saw a falcon swoop down
+on a woodcock and seize it there near his yurta; he plucked hairs from
+the mangy tail of his horse, made a snare, caught the falcon, and
+trained it. When the wolves drove wild beasts toward the yurta in
+hunting he killed them with arrows, or took for himself and the falcon
+what the wolves left uneaten. Thus he lived the first winter. When
+spring came the falcon caught ducks and geese in great numbers.
+
+Beyond the ridge of Mount Duilyan, which was there near his yurta,
+flowed the Tungeli, and at the river lived a new people. Boduanchar,
+who went to hunt daily with his falcon, discovered this people and
+drank in their yurtas, mare’s milk which they gave him. They knew not
+whence he had come, and he asked not who they were, though they met
+every day with good feeling.
+
+At last Boduanchar’s eldest brother, Hatagi, set out to find him if
+possible and reached the Tungeli, where he saw the new people with whom
+Boduanchar was in friendship.
+
+“Have ye seen a young man with a mangy tailed horse?” asked he. “On the
+horse’s back are white spots which are marks of old gall sores.” “We
+have seen the young man with that horse—he has also a falcon. He comes
+here each day to drink mare’s milk, but we know not the place of his
+yurta. Whenever wind blows from the northwest it drives hither as many
+duck and goose feathers as there are flakes in a snowstorm. He must
+live with his falcon northwest of us. But wait here a while and thou
+wilt see him.” Soon they saw the young man coming. Boduanchar became
+reconciled and went home with Hatagi.
+
+“A man is complete who has a head on his body,” said Boduanchar to
+himself. And aloud he said as they traveled, “A coat is complete when a
+collar is sewed to it.” The brother said nothing on hearing these words
+for the first time; Boduanchar repeated the saying. “What dost thou
+mean?” asked Hatagi. “Those men on the river,” said Boduanchar, “have
+no head in their company; great and small are all one to them. We might
+take their ulus [1] very easily.” “Well,” replied Hatagi, “when we
+reach home we will talk of this; if we agree we will take the place.”
+
+The five brothers talked over the plan and were willing. Boduanchar led
+them back to the village. The first person seized by him was a woman.
+“Of what stock art thou?” asked Boduanchar. “I am of the Charchiuts,”
+answered the woman. The five brothers led all the people to their own
+place; after that they had cattle; they had also attendants to wait on
+them, when eating. Boduanchar took his first captive as wife and she
+bore him a son from whom the Balin clan was descended. Boduanchar took
+another wife and by her begat Habichi, who in time had a son Mainyan
+Todan who took as wife Monalun, from whom seven sons were born to him;
+the eldest of these was Katchi Kyuluk, and the youngest, Nachin.
+
+Monalun loved command; she was harsh in her household and severe to all
+people. With her Mainyan Todan gained great wealth of all kinds, and
+lived at Nush Argi. Though there was no forest land near his yurta he
+had so many cattle when the herds were driven home, that not five ells
+of ground within eyesight could be found with no beast on it.
+
+Mainyan Todan departed from life while his seventh son was an infant.
+At this time the Jelairs, that is, some descendants of Doben and Alan
+Goa, who had settled on the Kerulon near the Golden Khan’s border,
+warred with his people very often. On a time the Golden Khan sent his
+forces against them; the Jelairs thinking the river impassable sneered
+at the enemy, and taking their caps off fell to mocking and shouting:
+“Would ye not like to come over and take all our horses and families?”
+Roused by this ridicule and banter the enemy made rafts under cover,
+and crossed the Kerulon quickly. They rushed forward and defeated the
+Jelairs. They slew all whom they met or could find, not sparing even
+children. Most of the Jelairs were slain, except some who had camped in
+a place where the enemy did not reach them. These survivors found
+refuge at Monalun’s settlement, where they fell to digging roots for
+subsistence, and spoiled a large space used in training young horses.
+
+The widow was enraged at this trespass. She was riding in a cart when
+she saw it. Rushing in with attendants she trampled down some of the
+people, and dispersed them. Soon after this those same Jelairs stole
+from the sons of the widow a large herd of horses. When they heard of
+this robbery those sons hurried off to recover the animals. In their
+great haste they forgot to take armor. Monalun sent their wives on in
+carts with the armor, and she herself followed. Her sons were lying
+dead when their wives brought the armor. The Jelairs then slew the
+women, and when she came up they killed Monalun also.
+
+The descendants of Katchi Kyuluk were all dead now except the youngest
+son, who was living apart from the others at Bargudjin on the eastern
+shore of Lake Baikal, and Kaidu his eldest son’s only offspring, a
+small boy who was saved by his nurse, who hid with the child under
+firewood.
+
+When news came to Nachin that his family had been slaughtered he
+hurried on to Nush Argi and found there some wretched old women with
+the little boy Kaidu, and the nurse who had saved him. Nachin was
+anxious to examine the Jelair country, recover some part of his
+brothers’ lost property, and take a stern vengeance on the Jelairs, but
+he had no horse to ride on this journey. Just then a sorrel stallion
+from the herd that had been stolen by the Jelairs wandered back to Nush
+Argi. Nachin took this beast and set out alone to reconnoitre. The
+first men to meet him were two hunters on horseback, a son and his
+father, who were riding apart from each other. Each had a hawk on his
+wrist, and Nachin saw that both birds had belonged to his brothers.
+
+“Hast thou seen a brown stallion, with mares, going eastward?” asked he
+of the younger man. “I have not,” said the stranger, “but hast thou
+seen ducks or geese on thy journey?” “I have seen many;” replied
+Nachin; “come, I will show them to thee.” The man followed Nachin, who
+at his own time well selected turned on this Jelair and killed him. He
+fettered the horse, tied the hawk to the saddle, turned and rode toward
+the second man; upon reaching him he asked if he had seen a brown
+stallion, and mares going eastward. “No,” said the man, “but hast thou
+seen my son who is hawking here near us?” “I have seen him,” said
+Nachin. “He is bleeding from the nose and that delays him.” Nachin then
+killed the second man and rode along farther, taking with him the hawks
+and the horses. He came at last to a valley where many horses were
+grazing; some boys were herding the beasts, and throwing stones for
+amusement. Nachin from a high place examined the country and since
+there was no one in sight he went into the valley, killed the boys and
+urged on the herd to Nush Argi, leading the two hunters’ horses and
+bringing the hawks with him. Nachin then took his nephew, and the old
+women with the nurse, and drove all the horses to Bargudjin. There he
+lived for some years, and reared and trained his young nephew, who when
+old enough was made chief over two groups of Mongols; later on other
+groups were connected with these two. The Jelairs were crushed and
+enslaved by Kaidu and Nachin, who returned at the right time to Nush
+Argi. In that chief place of his family he acquired many cattle, and
+laid the foundation of Mongol dominion.
+
+Nachin, as Mongol story depicts him, is one of the few men in history
+who were not self-seeking. He saved the small remnant of his family
+which escaped from the Jelairs, and was for some time the real guardian
+of the Mongols. He saved the boy Kaidu, and, seeking no power for
+himself, turned every effort to strengthening his nephew.
+
+From that nephew, Kaidu, are descended the greatest historical men of
+his people, men without whom the name Mongol might not have risen from
+obscurity to be known and renowned as it now is.
+
+Nachin had two sons, Urudai and Manhudai, from whom are descended the
+Uruts and Manhuts, two tribes which under Kuildar and Churchadai saved
+the fortune of Temudjin in his most desperate battle at Kalanchin.
+
+Kaidu had three sons; the eldest was Boshin Kordokshin, the second
+Charaha Lingu, the third Chao Jinortaidji. Kaidu’s eldest son had one
+son named Tumbinai, and died soon after the birth of that single
+descendant. Kaidu’s second son had a son named Sengun Bilghe, who had a
+son Ambagai, and from this strong son, Ambagai, were descended the
+Taidjuts.
+
+Kaidu’s second son took his eldest brother’s widow, and from her had a
+son, Baisutai, from whom came the Baisuts. Kaidu’s third son had six
+sons, who were the founders of six clans among Mongols. Tumbinai, son
+of Boshin, Kaidu’s eldest son, had two sons, Kabul and Sinsaichilai.
+Kabul had seven sons; the second of these, Bartan, had four sons; the
+third of these four sons was Yessugai.
+
+Kabul was made khan, and though he had seven sons he did not wish to
+give rule to any one of them. So he gave it to Sengun Bilghe, the
+father of Ambagai. Kabul the Khan, son of Tumbinai, was renouned for
+great courage. His fame reached the Emperor of China, who had such
+regard for this chief that he sent envoys inviting him to the court as
+an evidence of friendship, and with the concealed hope of making a
+treaty through which the Mongols might act with North China. Kabul made
+the journey. The Emperor received him with honor, and entertained him
+with the best food and drink in the country. But, since the Chinese
+were given to deceit very greatly, as Kabul thought, and attacked each
+opponent from an ambush, he feared wiles and most of all poison; hence
+he avoided food and drink and withdrew from a feast under pretexts, but
+returned later on when relieved of suspicion, and fell to eating and
+drinking with very great relish. The Chinese were astounded at sight of
+his thirst and his hunger. “High Heaven must have made him to rule,”
+exclaimed they, “else how could he drink and eat so enormously, and
+still have an appetite and be sober.” But after a time he seemed tipsy,
+clapped his hands, reeled toward the Emperor, seized his beard and
+stroked his ear, to the horror of ministers, who cried out at once, and
+were ready to rush at the Mongol.
+
+The Khan turned then to the Emperor and smiled very coolly. “If the
+Golden Khan holds me guilty,” said he, “let him know that the will of
+my hand is to blame, not my own will. My hand has done that which
+displeases my own will and I condemn my hand’s action.”
+
+The Emperor was calm and deliberate; at that time he wished above all
+things to wheedle his visitor, so he reasoned in his mind as follows:
+“If I punish this man his adherents, who are many, may rise and begin a
+long war with me.” Hence he kept down his anger, and commanded to bring
+from his treasure house silken robes, embroidered in gold, of right
+size for the Mongol. A crown and a gold girdle were brought with them.
+He put these on Kabul, and showing marks of high honor dismissed him
+with friendship when the time came for parting.
+
+When Kabul had set out for home the ministers insisted that it would
+not be possible to leave the man’s conduct unnoticed. Roused at last by
+these speeches the Emperor sent off an envoy requesting Kabul to return
+to him. Kabul replied harshly, and kept on his journey. The Emperor was
+enraged now in earnest and sent men a second time not to request but to
+summon, and with them a good force of warriors to bring in the Mongol
+by violence if need be. Kabul had gone far on his journey, and, since
+the Golden Khan’s messengers took a new road by mere hazard, they
+missed him. They went all the way to his yurta, and as he had not yet
+returned his wives said on hearing the message: “He will follow the
+Golden Khan’s wishes.” The messengers turned from the yurta and after a
+while met Kabul hastening homeward; they seized him and led him off
+quickly for delivery to their master. On the journey they halted at the
+house of a Saljut, who was friendly to the captive.
+
+“These men are taking thee to death O Kabul,” said the Saljut, “I must
+save thee. I have a horse which outstrips every wind, and is swifter
+than lightning. If thou sit on this beast thou canst save thyself—thou
+wilt escape at the first chance.” Kabul mounted that horse, but his
+foot was made fast to the chief envoy’s stirrup. In the night he
+unbound it, however, and shot away in the darkness. They pursued and
+hunted him with all speed, but only at Kabul’s own yurta were they able
+to come up with him. There he received them with all hospitality, and
+gave his enemies a splendid new tent which belonged to a wife whom he
+had just taken; he gave also the best entertainment. Soon after, he
+summoned his servants (his sons were not with him). “These people,”
+said he, “wish to take me to the Golden Khan to be killed by him with
+terrible torture. Ye must save me.”
+
+The servants fell unawares on the Golden Khan’s messengers, and killed
+every man of them. Kabul was saved that time, but soon after he fell
+ill and died—very likely of poison—thus leaving the world to his seven
+sons, who were very ambitious. These sons were so great through their
+valor and courage that no combination of enemies could meet them
+successfully. They were all of one mother, Kulku Goa, a Kunkurat woman,
+whose younger brother, Saïn Tegin, was the cause of involving the
+family in a terrible blood feud.
+
+Saïn Tegin fell ill and they called in a shaman of the Taidjuts to cure
+him. He died notwithstanding the art of this shaman, who was slain
+either on his way home or soon after, by the relatives of the dead man.
+This caused a great battle between the Taidjuts and Saïn Tegin’s
+adherents and relatives, joined now by Kabul’s sons, who favored the
+cause of their uncle. In this battle Kaidan met a Taidjut in single
+encounter, split open his saddle, swept him down from his horse, and
+wounded him dreadfully. The Taidjut, who recovered only after a twelve
+month of suffering, began a new struggle as soon as strength came to
+him. Kaidan brought horse and rider to the earth, each wounded
+grievously; though ten mounted men rushed at the victor, he so used
+spear and sword on them that he came out in triumph. Thus began the
+great blood feud which later on Temudjin used with such deadly effect
+on the Taidjuts and Tartars.
+
+Between Lake Buyur and Lake Kulon is a river, on this river a large
+group of Tartar tribes lived at that period. Ambagai, son of Sengun,
+went to find a new wife at Lake Buyur but was seized by some Tartars
+and sent to the Kin Emperor, who took his life very cruelly. Before his
+captors had set out with Ambagai he sent home this message: “Tell
+Kutula, fourth son of my cousin Kabul, who has seven sons, and Kaidan,
+one of my ten sons, that I, who ruled men, am a prisoner and must die
+in great suffering. And remember these words of mine, all of you:
+Though ye were to wear every nail from the fingers of each hand, and
+lose the ten fingers on both hands, ye must avenge me.”
+
+The Golden Khan in return for offenses committed against him by
+Ambagai’s relatives, had him nailed to a wooden ass, flayed alive, and
+then chopped into small pieces slowly, beginning with his fingers and
+toes, till his whole body was finished.
+
+Okin Barka, Kabul’s eldest son and a brother of Kutula, had been
+captured by the Tartars, sent to the Golden Khan, and put to death in
+the same way as Ambagai. This was done because Kabul had killed the
+Golden Khan’s messengers.
+
+Before Ambagai was tortured he sent Bulgadji, his slave, to the Golden
+Khan with this warning: “It is shameful to kill me. I was seized most
+perfidiously, I am here without reason. If thou kill me all chiefs
+among Mongols will rise and avenge the injustice.” The Golden Khan paid
+no heed to the message, but after the hideous execution he sent
+Bulgadji on courier horses to Mongolia with the command to tell all
+there that Ambagai had been nailed to the wooden ass, his skin stripped
+from him while living, and his body then chopped into pieces bit by
+bit. On the way Bulgadji passed through the land of the Durbans, who
+would not give horses, and no matter what he said they took no note of
+him. When his horses were so weary that they could go no farther he
+left them, went home on foot and told all to Kaidan, whose son, Tuda,
+told the whole tale to Katula and Yessugai, his nephew. Kaidan, Tuda
+and Yessugai held a council immediately and resolved with many Mongols
+to avenge Okin Barka and Ambagai. Kutula was chosen khan then to lead
+the expedition. They held a great feast when the election was over, and
+all became grandly excited. They danced round a wide-spreading tree
+with great energy, and stamped out a ditch of such depth that they were
+hidden to their knees in it.
+
+Kutula assembled all warriors who were willing to go, and marched
+against China. The Golden Khan’s forces were defeated, and routed with
+terrible slaughter. The Mongols took booty of unspeakable value, took
+all that men could bear with them, or that horses could carry. They
+came home filled with delight, bringing woven stuffs of all species,
+every kind of rich furniture, weapons and implements, and driving
+before them immense herds of horses, and large and small cattle.
+
+While on the way home Kutula when passing through the land of the
+Durbans went to hunt with a small force of followers. On seeing these
+people the Durbans assembled a numerous party and attacked them; they
+killed some, and scattered the others. Kutula left alone saved himself
+by fleeing, and drove his swift horse through a swamp to the opposite
+edge of the soft place. The beast stopped and stuck fast there; Kutula
+stood on the saddle and sprang to firm ground from it. The Durbans
+seeing him on foot, were well satisfied. “Oh let him go,” said they,
+“of what use is a man when his horse is gone.” Then, while they stood
+looking, he pulled his horse out of the quagmire, mounted and rode away
+in their presence. The swamp extended so far on either hand that they
+cared not to follow.
+
+Kutula’s surviving attendants returned to the army, spread news of his
+death, and declared that the Durbans had killed him. His warriors
+reached home somewhat earlier than the Khan and since he had not
+appeared on the road and his attendants said that he had been killed by
+the Durbans Yessugai made a funeral feast for their leader and went to
+Kutula’s wife to announce her husband’s death and with her drink the
+cup to his memory. On appearing before her he began to lament, and weep
+bitterly. “Why hast thou come?” asked she, “and why art thou weeping?”
+He told the cause of his grief and his coming. “I believe not a word of
+all thou hast told me,” said the woman. “Would Kutula let Durbans kill
+him, Kutula whose voice is like thunder in the mountains, a voice which
+reaches high heaven, would Kutula let common men kill him? He would
+not, his delay has another cause. He is living. He has stopped for some
+work of importance, he will come later on.”
+
+But the warriors and Kutula’s attendants felt sure that the Khan had
+been murdered.
+
+When Kutula had pulled his horse out of the quagmire, and ridden away
+safely, he was savagely angry. “How have those vile, wretched Durbans
+brought me to such trouble,” raged he, “and driven off all my servants?
+Must I go home empty-handed? No, I will not leave these places
+unplundered.” Then he rode till he found a brown stallion, also a great
+herd of mares and their colts with them. He mounted the stallion, let
+out his own horse which ran forward, then drove the mares which
+followed the saddle beast. Riding farther in the steppes he found nests
+of wild geese; dismounting he took off his boots, filled the great legs
+of them with goose eggs, remounted and rode away home on the stallion,
+holding the boots and driving the mares and their colts to his yurta.
+
+A vast crowd of people had assembled to lament and show honor to the
+memory of Kutula, and now, astonished at his sudden arrival, they
+rejoiced beyond measure, and turned all their sorrow and wailing into a
+feast of triumph and gladness. “Ha!” said the wife then to Yessugai,
+“did I not tell thee that no Durbans, or other men could bring down
+Kutula?”
+
+After his great success against China, Kutula moved on the Tartars and
+punished them unsparingly for sending Okin Barka, his brother, to the
+Golden Khan for destruction.
+
+But now broke out afresh the great hatred of the ten sons of Ambagai
+for Kutula and his brothers. Those ten Taidjut brothers fell on the six
+surviving sons of Kabul and killed five of them, killed all except
+Bartan, who burst his way out of the murderous encounter with three
+serious wounds in his body, and fled with four attendants. His son
+Yessugai, who had been hurled to the earth from his saddle, sprang up
+quickly and, though only thirteen years of age, sent his spear through
+the body of a Taidjut who was mounted, brought him down dying, sprang
+to the empty saddle, rushed away and caught up with his father. Through
+this wonderful promptness and skill he was able to save himself.
+
+Bartan’s wife, Maral Kayak, fled on foot from her yurta with three
+other sons, Mangutu, Naigun and Daritai, and reached her wounded
+husband.
+
+The Taidjut triumph was perfect for a season. Bartan’s power had
+departed, he died soon and gave place to his son, a young hero. This
+son was Yessugai, the name means number nine, his full name was
+Yessugai Bahadur, the ninth hero. He was ninth too in descent from that
+youngest son of Alan Goa, Boduanchar, who rode off alone from
+injustice.
+
+At this time the tendency had increased very greatly among chiefs of
+Mongol clans to make other chiefs subordinates, or assistants. This was
+true specially of men descended from Kabul and from Ambagai. If rival
+or smaller chiefs would not accept the position a conflict resulted,
+attacks were made by small parties or larger ones, or through war or
+poison; the weaker men when ambitious were swept from existence. The
+continual interference of China by intrigue or by arms, or by bribery
+through titles or presents, through rewards to individuals, or dire
+ghastly punishments where punishment seemed more effective, did
+something also to strengthen and consolidate the loosely coherent
+society of the Mongols, and thus helped unwittingly the work of strong
+men seeking power north of China.
+
+Yessugai, through activity and keenness succeeded in winning
+co-operation sufficient to undo the great Taidjut triumph. Kabul’s sons
+again got the primacy.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+TEMUDJIN BEGINS HIS MIGHTY CAREER
+
+
+This intense rivalry between the descendants of Kabul and Ambagai was
+the great ruling fact among Mongols at this epoch. Kabul and Ambagai
+were second cousins, both being third in descent from Kaidu, that
+little boy saved by his nurse from the Jelairs; the Kaidu whose
+descendants were the great ruling Mongols of history. Kabul and Ambagai
+are remarkable themselves, and are notable also as fathers of men who
+sought power by all means which they could imagine and bring into
+practice.
+
+Yessugai with his brothers was now triumphant and prosperous. He was
+terribly hostile to the Buyur Lake Tartars; he was ever watching the
+Taidjut opposition, which though resting at times never slumbered. Once
+in the days of his power Yessugai while hawking along the Onon saw a
+Merkit named Yeke Chilaidu taking home with him a wife from the
+Olkonots. Seeing that the woman was a beauty Yessugai hurried back to
+his yurta and returned with his eldest and youngest brothers to help
+him. When Yeke saw the three brothers coming he grew frightened, struck
+his horse and rushed away to find some good hiding place, but found
+none and rode back to the cart where his wife was. “Those men are very
+hostile,” said the woman. “Hurry off, or they will kill thee. If thou
+survive find a wife such as I am, if thou remember me call her by my
+name.” Then she drew off her shift and gave it to Yeke. He took it,
+mounted quickly and, seeing Yessugai approaching with his brothers,
+galloped up the river.
+
+The three men rushed after Yeke, but did not overtake him, so they rode
+back to the woman, whose name was Hoelun. She was weeping. Her screams
+when they seized her “raised waves on the river, and shook trees in the
+valley.”
+
+“The husband has crossed many ridges already, and many waters,” said
+Daritai, Yessugai’s youngest brother, “no matter how thou scream he
+will not come to thee, if thou look for his trail thou wilt not find
+it. Stop screaming!” Thus they took Hoelun, and she became a wife then
+to Yessugai.
+
+Some months after the capture of Hoelun, Yessugai made attacks on the
+Tartars, and among other captives took Temudjin Uge, a chieftain.
+Hoelun gave birth to a son at that period [2] near the hill Dailiun
+Baldak. The boy was born grasping a lump of dark blood in his fist very
+firmly, and since he was born when Temudjin Uge was taken they called
+the child Temudjin. After that Hoelun had three other sons: Kassar,
+Hochiun and Taimuge, and one daughter, Taimulun.
+
+When this first son had passed his thirteenth year Yessugai set out
+with the lad on a visit to Hoelun’s brothers to find among them a wife
+for him. When between the two mountains Cihurga and Cheksar he met one
+Desaichan, a man of the Ungirs. “Whither art thou going O Yessugai?”
+asked Desaichan. “I am going with my son to his uncles to look out a
+bride for him among them.” “Thy son has a clear face and bright eyes,”
+said Desaichan. “Last night I dreamed that a white falcon holding the
+sun and the moon in its talons flew down to my wrist, and perched on
+it. ‘We only know the sun and the moon through our eyesight,’ said I to
+some friends of mine, ‘but now a white falcon has brought them both
+down to me in his talons, this must be an omen of greatness.’ At the
+right time hast thou come hither Yessugai with thy son and shown what
+my dream means. It presages high fortune undoubtedly. I have a daughter
+at home, she is small yet but come and look at her.”
+
+Then he conducted the father and son to his yurta. Yessugai rejoiced in
+his heart very greatly at sight of the girl, who in truth was a beauty.
+She was ten years of age, and named Bortai. Next day Yessugai asked
+Bortai of Desaichan as a bride for young Temudjin. “Will it show more
+importance if I give her only after much begging,” asked the father,
+“or will it show slight esteem if I give her in answer to few words? We
+know that a girl is not born to remain in the household forever. I
+yield her to marry thy son, and do thou leave him here for a time with
+me.”
+
+The agreement was finished and Yessugai went away without Temudjin. On
+the road home he stopped at Cheksar and met Tartars who arranged there
+a feast for him. Being hungry and thirsty from traveling he halted. His
+hosts, who knew well that he had captured and killed very many of their
+people, Temudjin Uge with others, had poison made ready, and gave it in
+drink to him. Yessugai rode away and reached home in three days, but
+fell ill on the journey, and his trouble increased as he traveled.
+“There is pain in my heart,” said he, “who is near me?” At that time
+Munlik, a son of Charaha, happened in at the yurta, and Yessugai called
+him. “My children are young,” said he, “I went to find a bride for my
+son Temudjin, and have found her. On the way home I was poisoned by
+enemies. My heart is very sore in me, so go thou to my brothers and see
+them, see their wives also. I give thee this as a duty; tell them all
+that has happened. But first bring me Temudjin very quickly.”
+
+Yessugai died [3] shortly after without seeing Temudjin.
+
+Munlik went with all haste to Desaichan. “Yessugai,” said he, “wants to
+see Temudjin, he has sent me to bring the boy.” “If Yessugai is
+grieving let Temudjin go, and return to me afterward.” Munlik took
+Temudjin home as instructed. In the spring following when Ambagai’s
+widows were preparing the offerings to ancestors before moving to the
+summer place they refused to share sacrificed meats with Hoelun, and
+thus shut her out from their ruling circle and relationship. “Better
+leave this woman here with her children, she must not go with us,” said
+the widows. Targutai Kurultuk, who was then in authority, went from the
+winter place without turning to Hoelun, or speaking. He with Todoyan
+Jirisha his brother had enticed away Yessugai’s people. Munlik’s
+father, Charáha, an old man, strove to persuade Targutai and his
+brother to take Hoelun, but they would not listen to him or to any man.
+“The deep water is gone, the bright stone is broken,” said Todoyan, “we
+cannot restore them, we have nothing to do with that woman, and her
+children.” And when Targutai with his brother was starting, a warrior
+of his thrust a spear into Charáha’s back and the old man fell down
+mortally wounded.
+
+Temudjin went to talk with Charáha and take advice from him. “Targutai
+and his brother,” said the old man, “have led away all the people
+assembled by thy father, and our relatives.” Temudjin wept then and
+turned to his mother for assistance. Hoelun resolved quickly; she
+mounted, and, directing her attendants to take lances, set out at the
+head of them. She overtook the deserting people and stopped one half of
+them, but even that half would not go back with her. So Targutai and
+Todoyan had defeated Hoelun with her children, and taken one half of
+Yessugai’s people; the second half joined other leaders. But Hoelun, a
+strong, resolute woman, protected her family and found means to support
+it. Her children lived in poor, harsh conditions, and grew up in the
+midst of hostility and hatred. To assist and give help to their mother
+they made hooks out of needles and fished in the river Onon which was
+close to their dwelling. Once Temudjin and Kassar went to fish with
+their half brothers, Baiktar and Belgutai, Yessugai’s children by
+another wife. Temudjin caught a golden hued trout and his half brothers
+took it from him. He went then with Kassar to Hoelun. “We caught a
+golden hued fish,” said they, “but Baiktar and Belgutai took it.” “Why
+do ye quarrel?” asked the mother, “we have no friends at present; all
+have deserted us; nothing sticks to us now but our shadows. We have no
+power yet to punish the Taidjuts. Why do ye act like the sons of Alan
+Goa, and quarrel? Why not agree and gain strength against enemies?”
+
+Temudjin was dissatisfied; he wished Hoelun to take his side and go
+against Baiktar. “The other day,” said he, “I shot a bird and Baiktar
+took this bird also. He and his brother to-day snatched my fish from
+me. If they act always in this way how can I live with them?” And he
+turned from his mother very quickly. Both brothers rushed out, slammed
+the door flap behind them and vanished.
+
+When they were out they saw Baiktar on a hill herding horses. Temudjin
+stole up from behind, and Kassar in front; they had taken arrows and
+were aiming when Baiktar turned and saw them. “Why treat me like a
+splinter in the mouth, or a hair on the eyeball?” asked he. “Though ye
+kill me spare my brother, do not kill Belgutai.” Then he bent his legs
+under him, and waited.
+
+Temudjin from behind and Kassar in front killed Baiktar with arrows.
+When they went home Hoelun knew by their faces what had happened. “Thou
+wert born,” said she to Temudjin, “grasping blood in thy fingers. Thou
+and thy brother are like dogs when devouring a village, or serpents
+which swallow alive what they spring upon, or wolves hunting prey in a
+snow storm. The injuries done us by the Taidjuts are terrible, ye might
+plan to grow strong and then punish the Taidjuts. But what are ye
+doing?”
+
+Well might she ask, for she did not know then her wonderful son
+Temudjin, for whom it was as natural to remove a half brother, or even
+a brother, by killing him as to set aside any other obstacle. He who
+worked all his life till its end to eliminate opponents was that day
+beginning his mighty career, and his first real work was the murder of
+his half brother Baiktar, whose father was his own father, Yessugai.
+
+No matter who Temudjin’s enemies were he removed them as coolly as a
+teacher in his classroom rubs figures from a black board. He struck
+down the Taidjuts as soon as he felt himself strong enough, but before
+he could do that his task was to weed out and train his own family. The
+first work before him was the empire of his household. Neither mother,
+nor brother, nor anyone must stand between Temudjin and his object; in
+that he showed his great singleness of purpose, his invincible will
+power, his wisdom in winning the success which his mind saw. The wisdom
+of Temudjin in building up empire was an unerring clear instinct like
+the instinct of a bee in constructing its honeycomb, or the judgment
+and skill of a bird in finding the proper material, and weaving the
+round perfect nest for its eggs and its little ones.
+
+Temudjin began his career in real practice by killing his half brother
+mainly through the hand of his full brother Kassar, who was famed later
+on as the unerring strong archer, and who in time tried unsuccessfully
+to rival the invincible Temudjin.
+
+Temudjin was now master in a very small region, but he was master. His
+mother and brothers did not dominate, or interfere, they assisted him.
+The family lived for a time in seclusion and uninjured till at last
+Targutai roused up his followers to action. “Temudjin and his brothers
+have grown,” said he, “they are stronger.” Taking with him some
+comrades he rode away quickly to find Temudjin with his family. From
+afar Hoelun and her children saw the men coming and were frightened.
+Temudjin seized his horse quickly, and fled before others to the
+mountain. Belgutai hid his half brothers and sister in a cliff, after
+that he felled trees to stop the horsemen. Kassar sent arrows to hinder
+the Taidjuts. “We want only Temudjin, we want no one else,” said they.
+Temudjin had fled to Mount Targunai and hidden there in dense thickets
+whither they could not follow. They surrounded Targunai and watched
+closely.
+
+He spent three days in secret places, and then led his horse out to
+flee from the mountain. When near the edge of the forest the saddle
+fell. He saw that breast strap and girth were both fixed securely. “A
+saddle may fall,” thought he, “though the girth be well fastened, but
+how can it fall when the breast strap is holding it? I see now that
+Heaven is protecting me.”
+
+He turned back and passed three other days hiding; then he tried to go
+out a second time—a great rock fell in front of him, blocked the road
+and stopped his passage. “Heaven wills that I stay here still longer,”
+said Temudjin. He went back and spent three other days on the mountain,
+nine days in all without eating. “Must I die here alone and unheard
+of?” thought he despairingly. “Better go at all hazards.” He cut a way
+near the rock and led his horse down the mountain side.
+
+The Taidjuts, who were watching outside very carefully, seized Temudjin
+and took him to Targutai, who commanded that a kang be put on him, and
+also fetters, and that he live one day and night in each tent. So he
+passed from one family to another in succession. During these changes
+he gained the close friendship of one Sorgan Shira, and of an old
+woman. The old woman was kind and put rags on the kang at the points
+where his shoulders were galled by it.
+
+Once the Taidjuts made a feast near the Onon and went home after
+sunset, appointing a boy to watch over the captive. Temudjin had been
+able to break his own fetters, and seeing that all had gone home felled
+the boy with the kang in which his own head and both hands were
+fastened. Then he ran to a forest along the Onon and lay down there,
+but, fearing lest they might find him, he rose, hurried on to the river
+and sank in it, leaving only his face above water.
+
+The boy soon recovered and screamed that the captive had fled from him.
+Some Taidjuts rushed quickly together on hearing him, and searched
+around everywhere. There was moonlight that evening and Sorgan Shira of
+the Sulduts, who was searching with others, and had gone quite a
+distance ahead, found Temudjin, but did not call out. “The Taidjuts
+hate thee because thou hast wisdom,” said he to the captive, “thou wilt
+die if they find thee. Stay where thou art for the present, and be
+careful, I will not betray thee to any one.”
+
+The pursuers went some distance while searching. “This man escaped
+during daylight,” said Sorgan Shira, when he overtook them. “It is
+night now and difficult to find him. Better search nearer places, we
+can hunt here to-morrow. He has not come thus far,—how could he run
+such a distance with a kang on his shoulders?”
+
+On the way back Sorgan Shira went to Temudjin a second time. “We shall
+come hither to-morrow to search for thee,” said he. “Hurry off now to
+thy mother and brothers. Shouldst thou meet any man tell him not that I
+saw thee.” When Sorgan Shira had gone, Temudjin fell to thinking and
+thought in this manner: “While stopping at each tent I passed a day
+with Sorgan Shira; Chila and Chinbo his sons showed me pity. They took
+off the kang in the dark from my shoulders and let me lie down then in
+freedom. He saw me to-day, I cannot escape till this kang is taken off,
+he will do that, I will go to him. He will save me.”
+
+So Temudjin went and when he entered the yurta Sorgan Shira was
+frightened. “Why come now to me?” inquired he. “I told thee to go to
+thy mother and brothers.” “When a bird is pursued by a falcon,” said
+Temudjin, “it hides in thick grass and thus saves itself.”
+
+“We should be of less value than grass were we not to help this poor
+youth, who thus begs us,” said to himself Sorgan Shira. The boys took
+the kang from the captive and burned it, then they hid Temudjin in a
+cart which they piled high with wool packs and told Kadan, their
+sister, to guard the wool carefully, and not speak of Temudjin to any
+living person.
+
+The Taidjuts appeared on the third day. “Has no one here seen that
+runaway?” asked they of Sorgan. “Search where ye will,” was the answer.
+They searched the whole yurta, then they searched around the house in
+all places, and threw out the wool till they came to the cart box. They
+were going to empty this also when Sorgan laughed at them, saying, “How
+could any man live in a cart load of wool this hot weather?” They
+prodded the wool then with lances; one of these entered Temudjin’s leg,
+but he was silent and moved not. The Taidjuts were satisfied, and went
+away without emptying the cart box.
+
+“Thou hast come very near killing me,” said Sorgan to Temudjin. “The
+smoke of my house would have vanished, and my fire would have died out
+forever had they found thee. Go now to thy mother and brothers.”
+
+He gave Temudjin a white-nosed, sorrel mare without a saddle, gave him
+a boiled lamb which was fat because reared by two mothers, gave him a
+skin of mare’s milk, a bow and two arrows, but no flint lest he strike
+fire on the way, and betray himself.
+
+Temudjin went to the ruins of his first house and then higher up the
+Onon till he reached the Kimurha. He saw tracks near that river and
+followed them on to Mount Baitar. In front of that mountain is a
+smaller one, Horchukin; there he found all his brothers and Hoelun his
+mother. Temudjin moved now with them to Mount Burhan. Near Burhan is
+the high land Gulyalgu, through this land runs the river Sangur, on the
+bank of that river is a hill called Kara Jiruge and a green colored
+lake near the foot of it. At this lake Temudjin fixed his yurta,
+trapped marmots and field mice, and thus they lived on for a season. At
+last some Taidjut thieves drove off eight horses from Temudjin, leaving
+only the white-nosed sorrel mare which Sorgan had given him, and on
+which Belgutai had gone to hunt marmots. He came back that evening with
+a load of them.
+
+“The horses have been stolen,” said Temudjin. “I will go for them,”
+said Belgutai. “Thou couldst not find them,” answered Kassar, “I will
+go.” “Ye could not find them, and if ye found them ye could not bring
+them back,” called out Temudjin, “I will go.”
+
+Temudjin set his brothers aside as useless at that juncture, their
+authority and worth were to him as nothing. Temudjin’s is the only, the
+genuine authority. He rode off on the white-nosed sorrel mare, and
+followed the trail of the eight stolen horses. He traveled three days
+and on the fourth morning early he saw near the road a young man who
+had led up a mare and was milking her. “Hast thou seen eight gray
+horses?” asked Temudjin. “Before sunrise eight horses went past me, I
+will show thee the trail over which they were driven.” Temudjin’s weary
+beast was let out then to pasture; a white horse with a black stripe on
+its spine was led in to go farther. The youth hid his leather pail and
+his bag in the grass very carefully. “Thou art tired,” said he to
+Temudjin, “and art anxious. My name is Boörchu, I will go with thee for
+thy horses. Nahu Boyan is my father, I am his one son and he loves me.”
+
+So they set out together and traveled three days in company. On the
+third day toward evening they came to a camp ground and saw the eight
+horses. “Stay at this place O my comrade,” said Temudjin, “I will go
+and drive off those horses.”
+
+“If I have come hither to help thee why should I stay alone and do
+nothing?” asked Boörchu. So they went on together and drove off the
+horses. The thieves hurried after them promptly and one, who rode a
+white stallion, had a lasso and was gaining on the comrades. “Give me
+thy quiver and bow,” said Boörchu, “I will meet him with an arrow.”
+“Let me use the bow,” answered Temudjin, “those enemies might wound
+thee.” The man on the white horse was directing his lasso and ready to
+hurl it when Temudjin’s arrow put an end to his action. That night
+Temudjin and Boörchu made a journey which would have taken three days
+for any other men, and saw the yurta of Nahu Boyan in the distance at
+daybreak.
+
+“Without thy help,” said Temudjin, “I could not have brought back these
+horses. Without thee I could have done nothing, so let us divide now
+these eight beasts between us.” “I decided to help thee,” answered
+Boörchu, “because I saw thee weighed down and weary from sorrow and
+loneliness, why should I take what is thine from thee? I am my father’s
+one son, his wealth is enough for me, more is not needed. If I should
+take thine how couldst thou call me thy comrade?”
+
+When they entered the yurta of Nahu Boyan they found the old man
+grieving bitterly for Boörchu. On seeing them he shed tears and
+reproached his son sharply. “I know not,” said Boörchu in answer, “how
+I thought of assisting this comrade, but when I saw him worn and
+anxious I had to go with him. Things are now well again, for I am with
+thee, my father.” Nahu Boyan became satisfied when he heard the whole
+story. Boörchu rode off then and brought the leather milk pail, killed
+a lamb, filled a bag with mare’s milk, and tying it to the horse like a
+pack gave Temudjin all to sustain him. “Ye are young,” said Nahu Boyan,
+“be ye friends, and be faithful.” Temudjin took farewell of Boörchu and
+his father. Three days after that he had reached home with his horses.
+No words could describe the delight of his mother and brothers when
+they saw him.
+
+Temudjin had passed his thirteenth year when he parted from Bortai. He
+went down the Kerulon now with his half brother, Belgutai, to get her.
+Several years had passed and he had a wish to marry. Bortai’s father
+rejoiced at seeing Temudjin. “I grieved,” said he, “greatly and lost
+hope of seeing thee when I heard of Taidjut hatred.”
+
+Both parents escorted their daughter and her husband. Desaichan after
+going some distance turned homeward, as was usual for fathers, but
+Bortai’s mother, Sotan, went on to Temudjin’s yurta.
+
+Temudjin wished now to have Boörchu, wished him as a comrade forever,
+and sent Belgutai to bring him. Boörchu said nothing to his father or
+to any one; he took simply a humpbacked sorrel horse, saddled him,
+strapped a coat of black fur to the saddle and rode away quickly to
+Temudjin’s yurta; after that he never left him.
+
+Temudjin removed from the Sangur to the springs of the Kerulon and
+fixed his yurta at the foot of the slope known as Burji. Bortai had
+brought with her a black sable cloak as a present to Hoelun. “In former
+days,” said Temudjin to his brothers, “our father, Yessugai, became a
+sworn friend, an ‘anda,’ to Togrul of the Keraits, hence Togrul is to
+me in the place of my father, we will go now and show Togrul honor.”
+
+Temudjin and two of his brothers took the cloak to Togrul in the Black
+Forest on the Tula. “In former days,” said Temudjin as he stood before
+Togrul, “thou didst become anda to Yessugai, hence thou art to me in
+the place of my father. I bring thee to-day, my father, a gift brought
+by my wife to my mother.” With these words he gave the black sable to
+Togrul, who was pleased very greatly with the offering.
+
+“I will bring back to thee thy people who are scattered,” said Togrul
+in answer, “and join them again to thee, I will keep this in mind very
+firmly, and not forget it.”
+
+When Temudjin returned home the old man Charchiutai came from Mount
+Burhan with the bellows of a blacksmith on his shoulders, and brought
+also Chelmai, his son, with him. “When thou wert born,” said
+Charchiutai to Temudjin, “I gave thee a lined sable wrap, I gave thee
+too my son Chelmai, but as he was very little at that time, I kept the
+boy with me and trained him, but now when he is grown up and skilful I
+bring him. Let him saddle thy horse and open doors to thee.” With that
+he gave his son Chelmai to Temudjin.
+
+Some short time after this, just before daybreak one morning, Hoakchin,
+an old woman, Hoelun’s faithful servant, who slept on the ground,
+sprang up quickly and called to her mistress: “O mother, rise, I hear
+the earth tremble! O mother, the Taidjuts are coming, our terrible
+destroyers! Hasten, O mother!” “Rouse up the children,” said Hoelun,
+“wake them all quickly!” Hoelun rose to her feet as she was speaking.
+Temudjin and his brothers sprang up and ran to their horses. Hoelun
+carried her daughter Taimulun. Temudjin had only one saddle beast
+ready. There was no horse for Bortai, so he galloped off with his
+brothers. Thus showing that self-preservation was his one thought.
+
+Hoakchin, the old woman, hid Bortai, she stowed her away in a small
+black kibitka (cart), attached a pied cow to it and drove along the
+river Tungela. As the night darkness cleared and light was approaching
+some mounted men overtook the old woman. “Who art thou?” asked they,
+riding up to her. “I go around and shear sheep for rich people, I am on
+my way home now,” said Hoakchin. “Is Temudjin at his yurta?” asked a
+horseman. “Where is it?” “His yurta is not far, but I know not where he
+is at this moment,” answered Hoakchin.
+
+When the men had ridden off the old woman urged on the cow, but just
+then the axle broke. Hoakchin wished to hurry on foot to the mountain
+with Bortai, but the horsemen had turned back already and came to her.
+“Who is in there?” asked a man as he pointed at the kibitka. “I have
+wool there,” replied the old woman. “Let us look at this wool,
+brothers,” said one of the mounted men. They dragged Bortai out, and
+then put her on horseback with Hoakchin. Next they followed on
+Temudjin’s tracks to Mount Burhan, but could not come up with him.
+Wishing to enter the mountain land straightway they tried one and
+another place, but found no road of any kind open. In one part a sticky
+morass, in another a dense growth of forest and thicket. They did not
+find the secret road and could not break in at any point. These
+horsemen were from three clans of Merkits. The first had been sent by
+Tukta Bijhi of the Uduts; the second by Dair Usun of the Uasits; the
+third by Haätai Darmala of the Haäts. They had come to wreak vengeance
+on Temudjin because Yessugai, his father, had snatched away Hoelun from
+Chilaidu, and this Hoelun was Temudjin’s mother. They now carried off
+Bortai, Temudjin’s wife, who was thus taken in vengeance, as they said,
+for the stealing of Hoelun.
+
+Temudjin, fearing lest they might be in ambush, sent his half brother,
+Belgutai, and Boörchu, with Chelmai to examine and discover. In three
+days when these men were well satisfied that the Merkits had gone from
+the mountain, Temudjin left his hiding place. He stood, struck his
+breast and cried looking heavenward: “Thanks to the ears of a skunk,
+and the eyes of an ermine in the head of old Hoakchin, I escaped
+capture. Besides that Mount Burhan has saved me, and from this day I
+will make offering to the mountain, and leave to my children and their
+children this duty of sacrifice.” Then he turned toward the sun, put
+his girdle on his back, took his cap in his hand, and striking his
+breast bent his knees nine times in homage; he made next a libation of
+tarasun, a liquor distilled out of mare’s milk.
+
+After that Temudjin with Kassar and Belgutai went to Togrul on the Tula
+and implored him, “O father and sovereign,” said Temudjin, “three clans
+of Merkits fell on us suddenly, and stole my wife, Bortai. Is it not
+possible to save her?”
+
+“Last year,” said Togrul, “when the cloak of black sable was brought to
+me, I promised to lead back thy people who deserted, and those who were
+scattered. I remember this well, and because of my promise I will root
+out the Merkits, I will rescue and return to thee Bortai. Inform Jamuka
+that thy wife has been stolen. Two tumans [4] of warriors will go with
+me, let Jamuka lead out the same number.”
+
+Jamuka, chief of the Juriats at that time, was descended from a brother
+of Kabul Khan, and was third cousin therefore to Temudjin. Temudjin
+sent his brothers to Jamuka with this message: “The Merkits have stolen
+my wife, thou and I have the same origin; can we not avenge this great
+insult?” He sent Togrul’s statement also. “I have heard,” said Jamuka,
+“that Temudjin’s wife has been stolen, I am grieved very greatly at his
+trouble and will help him.” He told where the three clans were camping,
+and promised to aid in bringing back Bortai.
+
+“Tell Temudjin and Togrul,” said he, “that my army is ready. With me
+are some people belonging to Temudjin; from them I will gather one
+tuman of warriors and take the same number of my own folk with them, I
+will go up to Butohan Borchi on the Onon where Togrul will meet me.”
+They took back the answer to Temudjin, and went to Togrul with the
+words from Jamuka.
+
+Togrul set out with two tumans of warriors toward the Kerulon and met
+Temudjin at the river Kimurha. One tuman of Togrul’s men was led by
+Jaganbo, his brother. Jamuka waited three days at Butohan Borchi for
+Togrul and Jaganbo; he was angry and full of reproaches when he met
+them. “When conditions are made between allies,” said he, “though wind
+and rain come to hinder, men should meet at the season appointed. The
+time of our meeting was settled, a given word is the same as an oath,
+if the word is not to be kept no ally should be invited.”
+
+“I have come three days late,” said Togrul. “Blame, and punish me,
+Jamuka, my brother, until thou art satisfied.”
+
+The warriors went on now, crossed the Kilho to Buura where they seized
+all the people and with them the wife of the Merkit, Tukta Bijhi. Tukta
+Bijhi, who was sleeping, would have been captured had not his hunters
+and fishermen hurried on in the night time and warned him. He and Dair
+Usun, his brother, rushed away down the river to Bargudjin. When the
+Merkits were fleeing at night down along the Selinga, Togrul’s men
+hunted on fiercely and were seizing them. In that rushing crowd
+Temudjin shouted: “Bortai! O Bortai!” She was with the fleeing people;
+she knew Temudjin’s voice and sprang from a small covered cart with
+Hoakchin, the old woman. Running up, she caught Temudjin’s horse by the
+bridle. The moon broke through clouds that same moment, and each knew
+the other.
+
+Temudjin sent to Togrul without waiting. “I have found,” said he,
+“those whom I was seeking; let us camp now and go on no farther
+to-night.” They camped there. When the Merkits with three hundred men
+attacked Temudjin to take vengeance for snatching off Chilaidu’s wife,
+Hoelun, Tukta Bijhi, the brother of Chilaidu, with two other leaders
+rode three times round Mount Burhan, but could not find Temudjin, and
+only took Bortai. They gave her as wife to Chilger, a younger brother
+of Chilaidu, the first husband of Hoelun, Temudjin’s mother. (This
+Chilaidu was perhaps Temudjin’s father.) Now, when a great army was led
+in by Togrul and Jamuka, Chilger was cruelly frightened. “I have been
+doomed like a crow,” said he, “to eat wretched scraps of old skin, but
+I should like greatly the taste of some wild goose. By my offenses
+against Bortai I have brought evil suffering on the Merkits; the harm
+which now has befallen them may crush me also. To save my life I must
+hide in some small and dark corner.” Having said this he vanished.
+Haätai Darmala was the only man captured; they put a kang on his neck
+and went straight toward Mount Burhan.
+
+Those three hundred Merkits who rode thrice round Mount Burhan were
+slain every man of them. Their wives, who were fit to continue as
+wives, were given to new husbands; those who should only be slaves were
+delivered to slavery.
+
+“Thou, O my father, and thou my anda,” said Temudjin to Togrul and
+Jamuka, “Heaven through the aid which ye gave me has strengthened my
+hands to avenge a great insult. The Merkits who attacked me are
+extinguished, their wives are taken captive, the work is now ended.”
+That same year Bortai gave birth to her first son, Juchi, and because
+of her captivity the real father of Juchi was always a question in the
+mind of Temudjin.
+
+The Uduts had left in their camp a beautiful small boy, Kuichu. He had
+splendid bright eyes, was dressed in river sable, and on his feet were
+boots made of deer hoofs. When the warriors took the camp they seized
+Kuichu and gave him to Hoelun. Temudjin, Togrul and Jamuka destroyed
+all the dwellings of the Merkits and captured the women left in them.
+Togrul returned then to the Tula. Temudjin and Jamuka went to Hórho
+Nachúbur and fixed a camp there. The two men renewed former times and
+the origin of their friendship; each promised now to love the other
+more firmly than aforetime, if possible. Temudjin was in his boyhood,
+eleven years of age, when they made themselves “andas” the first day;
+both were guests of Togrul at that period. Now they swore friendship
+again,—became andas a second time. They discussed friendship with each
+other: “Old people,” said Temudjin, “declare that when men become andas
+both have one life as it were; neither abandons the other, and each
+guards the life of his anda. Now we strengthen our friendship anew, and
+refresh it.” At these words Temudjin girded Jamuka, with a golden belt,
+which he had taken from the Merkits, and Jamuka gave him a rich girdle,
+and a splendid white stallion, which he had captured. They arranged a
+feast under a broad spreading tree near the cliff known as Huldah, and
+at night they slept under one blanket together.
+
+Temudjin and Jamuka, from love, as it were, of each other, lived
+eighteen months in glad, careless company, but really each of the two
+men was studying and watching his anda and working against him with all
+the power possible as was shown very clearly in the sequel. At last
+during April, while moving, the two friends spurred on ahead of the
+kibitkas and were talking as usual: “If we camp near that mountain in
+front,” said Jamuka all at once, “the horseherds will get our yurtas.
+If we camp near the river the shepherds will have food for their
+gullets.” Temudjin made no answer to words which seemed dark and
+fateful, so he halted to wait for his wife and his mother; Jamuka rode
+farther and left him. When Hoelun had come up to him Temudjin told her
+the words of Jamuka, and said, “I knew not what they could signify,
+hence I gave him no answer. I have come to ask thy opinion, mother.”
+Hoelun had not time to reply because Bortai was quicker. “People say,”
+declared Bortai, “that thy friend seeks the new and despises the old; I
+think that he is tired of us. Is there not some trick in these words
+which he has given thee? Is there not some danger behind them? We ought
+not to halt, let us go on all night by a new road, and not stop until
+daybreak. It is better to part in good health from Jamuka.” “Bortai
+talks wisdom,” said Temudjin. He went on then by his own road, aside
+from Jamuka, and passed near one camp of the Taidjuts who were
+frightened when they saw him; they rose up and hurried away that same
+night to Jamuka. Those Taidjuts left in their camp a small boy,
+Kokochu. Temudjin’s men found the lad and gave him as a present to
+Hoelun.
+
+After this swift, all night’s journey when day came Temudjin’s party
+was joined by many Jelairs. Horchi of the Barin clan came then to
+Temudjin after daybreak and spoke to him as follows: “I know through a
+revelation of the spirit what will happen, and to thee I now tell it:
+In a vision I saw a pied cow coming up to Jamuka; she stopped, looked
+at him, dug the earth near his yurta and broke off one horn as she was
+digging. Then she bellowed very loudly, and cried: ‘Give back my horn,
+O Jamuka.’ After that a strong hornless bull came drawing the pins of a
+great ruler’s tent behind Temudjin’s kibitka. This great bull lowed as
+he traveled, and said: ‘Heaven appoints Temudjin to be lord of
+dominion, I am taking his power to him.’ This is what the spirit
+revealed in my vision. What delight wilt thou give me for this
+revelation?” “When I become lord of dominion, I will make thee
+commander of ten thousand,” said Temudjin. “I have told thee much of
+high value,” said Horchi. “If thou make me merely commander of ten
+thousand what great delight can I get from the office? Make me that,
+and let me choose also as wives thirty beautiful maidens wherever I
+find them, and give me besides what I ask of thee.” Temudjin nodded,
+and Horchi was satisfied.
+
+Next came a number of men from four other clans. These had all left
+Jamuka for Temudjin, and joined him at the river Kimurha. And then was
+completed a work of great moment: Altan, Huchar and Sachai Baiki took
+counsel with all their own kinsmen, and when they had finished they
+stood before Temudjin and spoke to him as follows: “We wish to proclaim
+thee,” said they. “When thou art Khan we shall be in the front of every
+battle against all thy enemies. When we capture beautiful women and
+take splendid stallions and mares we will bring all to thee surely, and
+when at the hunt thou art beating in wild beasts we will go in advance
+of others and give thee the game taken by us. If in battles we
+transgress thy commands, or in peace we work harm to thee in any way,
+take from us everything, take wives and property and leave us out then
+in wild, barren places to perish.” Having sworn thus they proclaimed
+Temudjin, and made him Khan over all of them.
+
+Temudjin, now Khan in the land of the four upper rivers, commanded his
+comrade Boörchu, whom he called “youngest brother,” together with
+Ogelayu, Hochiun, Chedai and Tokolku to carry his bows and his quiver.
+Vanguru and Kadan Daldur to dispense food and drink, to be masters of
+nourishment. Dagai was made master of shepherds, Guchugur was made
+master of kibitkas. Dodai became master of servants. After that he
+commanded Kubilai, Chilgutai and Karkaito Kuraun with Kassar his
+brother to be swordbearers; his half brother Belgutai with Karal Daito
+Kuraun to be masters of horse training. Daichu, Daihut, Morichi and
+Muthalhu were to be masters of horseherds. Then he commanded Arkai
+Kassar, Tagai and Sukagai Chaurhan to be like near and distant arrows,
+that is, messengers to near and distant places. Subotai the Valiant
+spoke up then and said: “I will be like an old mouse in snatching, I
+will be like a jackdaw in speed, I will be like a saddlecloth to hide
+things, I will ward off every enemy, as felt wards off wind, that is
+what I shall be for thee.”
+
+Temudjin turned then to Boörchu and Chelmai. “When I was alone,” said
+he, “ye two before other men came to me as comrades. I have not
+forgotten this. Be ye first in all this assembly.” Then he spoke
+further, and said to other men: “To you who have gathered in here after
+leaving Jamuka, and have joined me, I declare that if Heaven keeps and
+upholds me as hitherto, ye will all be my fortunate helpers and stand
+in high honor before me;” then he instructed them how to perform their
+new duties.
+
+Temudjin sent Tagai and Sukagai to announce his accession to Togrul of
+the Keraits. “It is well,” said Togrul, “that Temudjin is made Khan;
+how could ye live even to this time without a commander? Be not false
+to the Khan whom ye have chosen.”
+
+Temudjin sent Arkai Kassar and Belgutai with similar tidings to Jamuka
+who answered: “Tell Altan and Huchar, Temudjin’s uncle and cousin, that
+they by calumnies have parted me now from my anda, and ask them why
+they did not proclaim Temudjin when he and I were one person in spirit?
+Be ye all active assistants to Temudjin. Let his heart be at rest
+through your faithfulness.”
+
+This was the formal official reply, Jamuka’s real answer was given soon
+after.
+
+Taichar, a younger brother of Jamuka, was living not far from Mount
+Chalma, and a slave of Temudjin, named Darmala, was stopping for a
+season at Sari Keher—a slave was considered in the customs of that age
+and people as a brother, hence was as a brother in considering a
+vendetta and dealing with it—Taichar stole a herd of horses from
+Darmala whose assistants feared to follow and restore them, Darmala
+rushed alone in pursuit and came up with his herd in the night time;
+bending forward to the neck of his horse he sent an arrow into Taichar;
+the arrow struck his spine and killed the man straightway. Darmala then
+drove back his horses. Jamuka to take vengeance for his brother put
+himself at the head of his own and some other clans; with these he
+allied himself straightway with Temudjin’s mortal enemies, the
+Taidjuts. Three tumans of warriors (30,000) were assembled by Targutai
+and Jamuka. They had planned to attack their opponent unexpectedly and
+crossed the ridge Alaut Turhau for this purpose. Temudjin, in Gulyalgu
+at that time, was informed of this movement by Mulketokah and by Boldai
+who were both of them Ikirats. His warriors all told were thirteen
+thousand in number and with these he marched forth to meet Targutai and
+Jamuka. He was able to choose his own time and he struck the invaders
+as suited him. He fought with these enemies at Dalan-baljut and gained
+his first triumph, a bloody victory, and immense in its value as
+results proved.
+
+Targutai and Jamuka were repulsed with great loss. Their army was
+broken and scattered, and many were taken prisoners. After this fierce
+encounter Temudjin led his men to a forest not far from the
+battleground where he ranged all his prisoners, and selected the main
+ones for punishment. Beyond doubt there were many among them of those
+who had enticed away people after the poisoning of Yessugai, Temudjin’s
+father, men who had left the orphan and acted with Targutai his
+bitterest enemy. In seventy, or, as some state, in eighty large
+caldrons, he boiled alive those of them who were worthiest of
+punishment. The boiling continued each day till he had tortured to
+death the most powerful and vindictive among his opponents. This
+execution spread terror on all sides, and since Temudjin showed the
+greatest kindness to his friends not only during those days, but at all
+times and rewarded them to the utmost, hope and fear brought him many
+adherents.
+
+The Uruts and Manhuts, the first led by Churchadai, and the second by
+Kuyuldar, drew away from Jamuka and joined Temudjin, the new victor.
+Munlik of the clan Kuanhotan came also, bringing with him his seven
+mighty sons who were immensely great fighters, and venomous. This
+Munlik, a son of that Charaha whom one of Targutai’s followers had
+wounded to death with a spear thrust, was the man who had brought home
+Temudjin from the house of Desaichan his father-in-law when his own
+father, Yessugai, was dying.
+
+Soon after the boiling to death of those captives in the forest a
+division of the Juriats, that is Jamuka’s own clansmen, came and joined
+Temudjin for the following reason: The Juriat lands touched those of
+Temudjin’s people, and on a certain day men of both sides were hunting
+and the parties met by pure chance in the evening. “Let us pass the
+night here with Temudjin,” said some of the Juriats. Others would not
+consent, and one half of the party, made up altogether of four hundred,
+went home; the other two hundred remained in the forest. Temudjin gave
+these men all the meat needed, and kettles in which they could boil it,
+he treated them generously and with friendship.
+
+These Juriats halted still longer and hunted with Temudjin’s party.
+They received every evening somewhat more of the game than was due
+them; at parting they were satisfied with Temudjin’s kindness and
+thanked him sincerely. At heart they felt sad, for their position was
+painful. They wished greatly to join Temudjin, but desired not to leave
+their own people; and on the way home they said to one another as they
+traveled: “The Taidjuts are gone, they will not think of us in future.
+Temudjin cares for his people and does everything to defend them.” On
+reaching home they talked with their elders. “Let us settle still
+nearer to Temudjin,” said they, “and obey him, give him service.” “What
+harm have the Taidjuts done you?” was the answer. “They are kinsfolk;
+how could we become one with their enemy, and leave them?”
+Notwithstanding this answer Ulug Bahadur and Tugai Talu with their
+kinsmen and dependents went away in a body to Temudjin.
+
+“We have come,” said they, “like a woman bereft of her husband, or a
+herd without a master, or a flock without a shepherd. In friendship and
+agreement we would live with thee, we would draw our swords to defend
+thee, and cut down thy enemies.”
+
+“I was like a sleeping man when ye came to me,” said Temudjin, “ye
+pulled me by the forelock and roused me. I was sitting here in sadness,
+and ye cheered me, I will do what I can now to satisfy your wishes.” He
+made various rules and arrangements which pleased them, and they were
+satisfied perfectly, at least for a season.
+
+Temudjin wished to strengthen his position still further, and desired
+to win to his alliance Podu who was chief of the Kurulats, whose lands
+were adjacent to the Argun. This chief was renowned as an archer and a
+warrior. Temudjin offered him his sister in marriage. The offer was
+accepted with gladness. Podu was ready to give Temudjin half his
+horses, and proffered them.
+
+“Oh,” said Temudjin, “thou and I will not mention either taking or
+giving; we two are brothers and allies, not traffickers or traders. Men
+in the old time have said that one heart and one soul cannot be in two
+bodies, but this is just what in our case I shall show to all people as
+existing. I desire nothing of thee and thy people, but friendship. I
+wish to extend my dominion and only ask faithful help from my sister’s
+husband and his tribesmen.” The marriage took place and Podu was his
+ally.
+
+Soon after this first group of Juriats had joined Temudjin, some more
+of their people discussed at a meeting as follows: “The Taidjuts
+torment us unreasonably, they give us nothing whatever, while Temudjin
+takes the coat from his back and presents it. He comes down from the
+horse which he has mounted and gives that same horse to the needy. He
+is a genuine leader, he is to all as a father. His is the best governed
+country.” This fraction also joined Temudjin.
+
+Another marriage to be mentioned was that of Temudjin’s mother to
+Munlik, son of Charáha, and father of the seven brothers—the great
+fighters. All these accessions of power, and his victory so
+strengthened Temudjin and rejoiced him that he made for his mother and
+step-mothers and kinsfolk, with all the new people, a feast near the
+river Onon, in a forest. At this feast feminine jealousy touching
+position, and the stealing of a bridle, brought about a dispute and an
+outbreak. In spite of Temudjin’s power and authority an encounter took
+place at the feast which caused one chief, Sidje Bijhi of the Barins,
+to withdraw with his party. He withdrew not from the feast alone, but
+from his alliance with Temudjin.
+
+The quarrel began in this way: Temudjin sent a jar of mare’s milk first
+of all to his mother, to Kassar and to Sachai Baiki. Thereupon Holichin
+and Hurchin, his two step-mothers grew angry. “Why not give milk to us
+before those people, why not give milk to us at the same time with
+Temudjin’s mother?” asked they as they struck Shikiur who was master of
+provisions. This striking brought on a disturbance. Thereupon Temudjin
+commanded his half brother, Belgutai, to mount his horse and keep order
+and take Buri Buga on the part of the Churkis to help him. A man of the
+Hadjin clan and connected with the Churkis stole a bridle and was
+discovered by Belgutai who stopped him. Buri Buga, feeling bound to
+defend this man, cut through Belgutai’s shoulder piece, wounding him
+badly.
+
+Belgutai made no complaint when his blood flowed. Temudjin, who was
+under a tree looking on, noted everything. “Why suffer such treatment?”
+inquired he of Belgutai. “I am wounded,” said Belgutai, “but the wound
+is not serious; cousins should not quarrel because of me.” Temudjin
+broke a branch from the tree, seized a milk paddle, sprang himself at
+the Churkis and beat them; then seizing his step-mothers he brought
+them back to their places, and to reason.
+
+The two Juriat parties which had joined Temudjin grew cool in
+allegiance soon after that feast at the river. They were brought to
+this state of mind beyond doubt by intrigues of Jamuka; next they
+fought with each other, and finally deserted.
+
+Jamuka was a man of immense power in plotting, and one who never ceased
+to pursue his object. Temudjin tried to win some show of kindness from
+Jamuka. In other words he made every effort to subdue him by deep
+subtle cunning, but all efforts proved fruitless. These men were bound
+to win power. Without power life was no life for either one of the two
+master tricksters. Whatever his action or seeming at any time Jamuka
+was Temudjin’s mortal enemy always. He kept undying hatred in his
+heart, and was ever planning some blow at his rival. When the Juriats
+were at their best he was plotting, when they were scattered and weak
+and had in part gone to Temudjin he was none the less active and made
+common cause with the enemies of his opponent wherever he could find
+them. Temudjin cared for no man or woman, and for no thing on earth if
+opposed to his plans of dominion.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WANG KHAN OF THE KERAITS
+
+
+A fresh opportunity came now to Temudjin to beat down an enemy and
+strengthen himself at the same time. The Kin Emperor sent Wang Kin, his
+minister, with an army against the Lake Buyur Tartars since they would
+neither do what he wished, nor pay tribute. Not having strength to
+resist, they moved to new places, higher up on the Ulcha. Temudjin
+acted now in a double manner; on the one hand he seemed as if helping
+the Kin sovereign and represented his action to the Golden Khan’s
+minister in that way. Meanwhile when assembling his intimates he said:
+“Those Buyur men killed both my father and uncle; now is the time to
+attack them, not to help the Kin sovereign, but to avenge our own
+people.” To Togrul he sent in great haste this statement: “The Golden
+Khan is pursuing the Lake Buyur Tartars; those men are thy enemies and
+mine, so do thou help me, my father.”
+
+Togrul came with aid quickly. Temudjin sent to Sachai Baiki and Daichu
+of the Churkis and asked help of them also. He waited six days for
+reinforcements, but no man appeared from the Churkis. Thereupon he with
+Togrul marched down the Ulcha and fell on the Tartars. He was on one
+bank, and Togrul on the other. The Tartars could not retreat since the
+Golden Khan’s men were pursuing, so they raised a strong fortress
+against them. Temudjin and Togrul broke into this fortress; many
+Tartars were slain, and many captured, among them their leader.
+Temudjin put this man to death in revenge for his father. Immense booty
+was taken by Temudjin and his ally in captives, in cattle and property
+of all sorts; among other things taken was a silver cradle and a cloth
+of gold which lay over it. Temudjin received praise for his action.
+Without striking a blow the Kin minister had accomplished his mission,
+and later he took to himself, before his sovereign, the merit of making
+Togrul and Temudjin do his work for him. He gave Temudjin the title
+Chao Huri, and to Togrul the title of Wang Khan was given. “I am
+thankful,” said the minister. “When I return I will report all to my
+sovereign, and win for you a still higher title.” Then he departed.
+
+Temudjin, and Togrul now Wang Khan, and thus we shall call him
+hereafter, went to their own places also.
+
+In the captured Tartar camp a boy was discovered; he had a gold ring in
+his nose, around his waist was a belt edged with sable and it had
+golden tassels. They took the lad straightway to Hoelun, who made him
+her sixth son, and named him. He was known ever after as Shigi Kutuku.
+Temudjin had left at Halil Lake many people; while he was absent the
+Churkis stripped fifty of these men, tore their clothes off, and slew
+ten of them. Temudjin was enraged at this action.
+
+“Why endure deeds of this kind from the Churkis?” exclaimed he. “At our
+feast in the forest they cut Belgutai in the shoulder. When I was
+avenging my father and uncle they would not give aid to us, they went
+to our enemies and helped them, now I will punish those people
+befittingly.”
+
+So he led out his men to ruin the Churkis. At Dolon Boldau on the
+Kerulon he captured every Churki warrior except Sachai Baiki, and
+Daichu who rushed away empty-handed. Temudjin hunted these two men
+untiringly till he caught them. “We have not done what we promised,”
+said they in reply to his questions. They stretched out their necks as
+they said this, and Temudjin cut their heads off. He returned after
+that to Dolon Boldau and led off into slavery what remained of the
+Churkis.
+
+The origin of the Churkis was as follows: Kabul Khan, Temudjin’s great
+grandfather, had seven sons. Of these the eldest was Okin Barka. Kabul
+chose strong, daring, skilled archers and gave them as attendants to
+Okin Barka. No matter where they went those attendants vanquished all
+who opposed them, and at last no man dared vie with such champions,
+hence they received the name Churki.
+
+Kabul Khan’s second son, Bartan, was father of Yessugai, Temudjin’s
+supposed father. Kabul’s grandson, child of his third son Munlair, was
+Buri Buga the comrade of the grandsons of Okin Barka. Buri Buga had
+given his adhesion to the Khan much earlier than others, but he
+remained independent in feeling, hence Temudjin did not trust him.
+
+Though no man among Mongols could equal Buri Buga in strength or in
+wrestling he did not escape a cruel death. Sometime after the reduction
+of the Churkis Temudjin commanded Belgutai and Buri Buga to wrestle in
+his presence. Whenever Belgutai wrestled with Buri Buga the latter was
+able with one leg and one hand to hold him as still as if lifeless.
+This time Buri Buga, who feigned to be beaten, fell with his face to
+the earth under Belgutai, who having him down turned toward Temudjin
+for direction. Temudjin bit his lower lip; Belgutai knew what this sign
+meant, and putting his knee to the spine of Buri Buga seized his neck
+with both hands, and broke the backbone of his opponent.
+
+“I could not lose in this struggle,” said the dying Buri Buga, “but,
+fearing the Khan, I feigned defeat, and then yielded, and now thou hast
+taken my life from me.”
+
+At this time Talaigutu, a man of the Jelairs who had three sons,
+commanded the eldest, named Gunua with his two sons, Mukuli and Buga to
+go to Temudjin and say to him: “These sons of mine will serve thee
+forever. If they leave thy doors draw from their legs all the sinews
+within them, after that cut their hearts out, and also their livers.”
+Then Talaigutu commanded Chilaun, his second son, to present himself
+with Tunge and Hashi his own two sons, and speak as follows: “Let these
+my sons guard thy golden doors carefully. If they fail take their lives
+from them.” After that Talaigutu gave Chebke his third son to
+Temudjin’s brother, Kassar. Chebke had found in the camp of the Churki
+a boy, Boroul, whom he gave to Hoelun. Hoelun having placed the four
+boys: Kuichu, Kokochu, Shigi Kutuku, and Boroul with her own children,
+watched over all with her eyes during daylight, and listened to them
+with her ears in the night time; thus did she rear them.
+
+Who was Togrul of the Keraits, known better as Wang Khan? This is a
+question of deep interest in the history of the Mongols, for this man
+had great transactions with Temudjin, he had much to do also with
+Yessugai, Temudjin’s father. Markuz Buyuruk, Togrul’s grandfather, who
+ruled in his day, was captured by Naur, a Tartar chieftain, and sent to
+the Kin emperor who had him nailed to a wooden ass, and then chopped
+into pieces. His widow resolved to take vengeance on Naur for this
+dreadful death of her husband. She set out some time later on to give a
+feigned homage to Naur and to marry him if possible, as was stated in
+confidence by some of her servitors. She brought to Naur a hundred
+sheep and ten mares, besides a hundred large cowskins holding, as was
+said, distilled mare’s milk, but each skin held in fact a well armed
+living warrior.
+
+A feast was given straightway by Naur during which the hundred men were
+set free from the cowskins, and, aided by attendants of the widow, they
+slew the Khan and his household.
+
+Markuz left four sons, the two most distinguished were Kurja Kuz and
+Gurkhan. Kurja Kuz succeeded his father. Togrul succeeded Kurja Kuz his
+own father by slaying two uncles, besides a number of cousins. Gurkhan,
+his remaining uncle, fled and found asylum with Inanji, Taiyang of the
+neighboring Naimans, whom he roused to assist him. Gurkhan then with
+the Naiman troops drove out Togrul and made himself ruler. Togrul,
+attended by a hundred men, went to Yessugai and implored aid of him.
+Yessugai reinstated Togrul, and forced Gurkhan to flee to Tangut.
+
+Togrul vowed endless friendship to his ally and became to him a sworn
+friend or “anda.” When Yessugai was poisoned by Tartars, Temudjin his
+son, a boy at that time, lost authority and suffered for years from the
+Taidjuts. Togrul gave help and harbored him. After that, as has been
+already related, when Temudjin had married and the Merkits stole his
+wife, Togrul assisted in restoring her, and with her a part of
+Temudjin’s people. In 1194 he was given the title Wang Khan. Later his
+brother expelled him, and this time he fled to the Uigurs, but sought
+aid in vain from the Idikut, or ruler, of that people. He led a
+wretched life for some time without resource or property, and lived, as
+is stated, on milk from a small herd of goats, his sole sustenance. He
+learned at last that Temudjin had grown in power, hence he begged aid
+from him, and got it.
+
+Temudjin gave Wang Khan cattle and in the autumn of that year, 1196,
+made a feast for this his old benefactor, and promised to consider him
+thenceforth as a father, and to help him as an ally.
+
+In 1197 the two allies defeated the Barins, seizing Sidje Bijhi and
+Taidju their leader. That same year they fell upon the Merkits, a
+nation of four tribes ruled then by Tukta Bijhi. One of these tribes
+was defeated near the Selinga. Temudjin let Wang Khan keep all the
+booty taken. Wang Khan in 1198, the year following, undertook
+unassisted a war against the Merkits, captured Jilaun, the son of Tukta
+Bijhi, and slew Tugun, another son. He took also Kutu, Tukta’s brother.
+He seized all Jilaun’s herds and people, but gave no part of this booty
+to Temudjin.
+
+In 1199 the two allies marched to attack the Naimans, a people strong
+and famous while under Buga Khan, an able ruler, but when this Khan
+died his two sons, to gain a certain concubine left by their father,
+began a murderous quarrel, which brought about the division of the
+country. The elder man, Baibuga, called Taiyang, [5] by his subjects
+and his neighbors, retained the level country, while Buiruk, his
+brother, took mountain places. Each ruled alone, and each was an enemy
+of the other. Wang Khan and Temudjin, remembering former robberies by
+the Naimans, and wishing too to add wealth and power to what they
+themselves had, attacked Buiruk at Kizil Bash near the Altai. They
+seized many captives and much precious booty. Buiruk then moved
+westward followed closely by the allies and fighting with great vigor.
+One of his leaders, Edetukluk, who brought up the rear guard, fought
+till his men were all slain, or made prisoners. He struggled alone then
+till his saddle girth burst, and he was captured.
+
+After this the allies came in contact with Gugsu Seirak, another of the
+Naiman commanders, who had much greater forces and had chosen his
+position. This man had plundered Wang Khan’s brother somewhat earlier
+and a portion of his kinsfolk. The allies had met him already, and
+hoped now to crush him. They would have attacked him immediately, but
+since evening was near they chose to wait till next morning for battle.
+Jamuka, ever ready to injure Temudjin, went to Wang Khan and made him
+believe that he was on the eve of betrayal, and would be ruined by
+Temudjin and the Naimans. Wang Khan set out for home that night.
+Temudjin thus deserted was forced to withdraw which he did unobserved.
+
+Gugsu Seirak followed Wang Khan in hot haste and overtook his two
+brothers. He captured their families, as well as their property and
+cattle. Then he entered Wang Khan’s land and found there rich booty of
+all kinds. Wang Khan sent Sengun, his son, to meet Seirak; meanwhile he
+hurried off messengers to Temudjin, and begged of him assistance.
+Temudjin considering the plight of his ally, but still more his own
+peril should Wang Khan’s men be routed and captured by the Naimans,
+sent his four ablest chiefs to assist him. These were Boörchu, Mukuli,
+Boroul and Jilaun. These four led their men by hurried marches, and had
+just reached the battle-ground when Wang Khan’s force was broken, his
+best leaders killed and Sengun, his son, on a lame wounded stallion,
+was fleeing. All the Khan’s property had been taken by the Naimans.
+Boörchu dashed up with all speed to Sengun, gave him the horse on which
+he himself had ridden up to that moment and sat then on the gray steed
+which Temudjin had given him as a mark of great favor. He was not to
+strike this horse for any reason; he had merely to rub the whip along
+his mane to make him rush with lightning speed during action.
+
+Boörchu sent forward his fresh troops, chosen warriors, and next he
+rallied Sengun’s scattered forces to help them against the Naimans. The
+Naimans, drunk with victory and not thinking of defeat, were soon
+brought to their senses. Temudjin’s heroes recovered everything
+snatched from Wang Khan’s people, both horses and property. Wang Khan
+on the field there thanked his firm ally and thanked the four splendid
+leaders in the warmest words possible. He gave Boörchu ten golden
+goblets and a mantle of honor; he rewarded others with very great
+bounty, and said as they were leaving him: “Once I appeared as a
+fugitive, naked and hungry; Temudjin received me, he nourished and
+clothed me. How can I thank my magnificent son for his goodness? In
+former days Yessugai brought back my people, and now Temudjin has sent
+his four heroes; with Heaven’s help they have vanquished the Naimans,
+and saved me; I will think of these benefits, and never forget them.”
+
+When the old Khan had gone back to his yurta and all had grown quiet on
+every side Temudjin went to visit his “father” and “anda.” At the Black
+Forest the two men expressed to each other their feelings, and at last
+Temudjin described with much truth, and very carefully, though with few
+words, the real position:
+
+“I cannot live on in safety without thy assistance, my father. The
+Naimans on one side and my false, plotting relatives on the other,
+afflict me. My relatives rouse up the Taidjuts and every enemy against
+me, but seeing thy love for me they know that while thou art alive and
+unchanged, and art ruling they cannot destroy me. Thou too, O my
+father, canst not live on in safety without my firm friendship. Without
+me thy false brothers and cousins, assisted by their allies, would
+split up thy people and snatch thy dominion. They would kill thee
+unless by swift flight thou wert able to save thyself from ruin.
+Sengun, thy son, would gain nothing, he too would be swept both from
+power and existence, though he does not see this at present. I am his
+best stay, as well as thine, O my father. Thou art my greatest stay too
+and support. Without thee all my enemies would rise up at once to
+overwhelm me, but were I gone, and my power in their hands thy power
+would pass soon to thy deadliest enemies, thy relatives. Our one way to
+keep power and live on in safety is through a friendship which nothing
+can shatter. That friendship exists now, and we need only proclaim it.
+Were I thy elder son all would be quiet and settled for both of us.”
+
+When Wang Khan was alone he spoke thus to himself and considered: “I am
+old, to whom shall I leave the direction of my people? My younger
+brothers are without lofty qualities; my brother Jaganbo is also unable
+to stand against enemies. Sengun is the only man left me, but whatever
+Sengun’s merits may be I will make Temudjin his elder brother. With
+these two sons to help me I may live on securely.”
+
+At the Black Forest Temudjin became elder son to Wang Khan. Up to that
+time he had called the old chieftain his father through friendship,
+because he and Yessugai had both been his “andas” and allies. Now Wang
+Khan and Temudjin used the words “son” and “father” in conversing and
+with their real value. This adoption of Temudjin excluded Sengun in
+reality from the earliest inheritance, and Temudjin knew well, of
+course, that immense opposition would come from Sengun and Jamuka.
+
+“We shall fight side by side in war against enemies,” said Wang Khan to
+his new elder son. “In going against wild beasts we are to hunt with
+common forces. If men try to raise quarrels between us we will lend no
+ear to anyone, and believe only when we have met and talked carefully
+together over everything, and proved it.” Thus they decided, and their
+friendship on that day was perfect.
+
+The crushing defeat of the Naimans, which lowered them much,
+immediately raised Temudjin above every rival. Jamuka’s plotting had
+turned against himself most completely, and if he had planned to help
+Temudjin he could not have helped better. Somewhat later Juchi Kassar
+snatched another victory from the Naimans, and weakened them further.
+Tukta Bijhi, the Merkit chief, sent Ordjank and Kutu, his brothers, to
+rouse up the Taidjuts afresh against Temudjin. Ongku and Hakadju took
+arms and made ready to help Targutai, the Taidjut chief, with Kudodar
+and Kurul.
+
+Temudjin and Wang Khan marched in the spring of 1200 and met those
+opponents at the edge of the great Gobi desert, where they crushed them
+completely. Targutai and Kudodar were both slain. Targutai was the man
+who had acted so bitterly against Temudjin after his father was
+poisoned. This Taidjut leader fell now at the hand of Jilaun, a son of
+that same Sorhan Shira, who had rescued Temudjin from the river Onon,
+taken the kang from his neck and hidden him under wool racks. Hakadju
+and Ongku, who had helped on this war by enabling Tukta Bijhi to rouse
+up the Taidjuts fled now to Bargudjin with Tukta Bijhi’s two brothers,
+while Kurul found a refuge with the Naimans. Still this defeat did not
+end Taidjut rancor. The Katkins and Saljuts shared also this hatred.
+Temudjin strove however, to win them, and sent an envoy with this
+message: “Each Mongol clan should support me, I then could protect all
+without exception.” This envoy was insulted; some snatched entrails
+from a pot and slapped his face with them; they struck him right and
+left and drove him off amid jeers, and loud howling.
+
+These people knew clearly, of course, that after insults of that kind
+they were in great danger. The Taidjuts had been crushed, and still
+earlier the Naimans. The blow which was sure to come soon would strike
+them unsparingly, hence they formed a league quickly and met at
+Arabulak with some of the Jelairs, the Durbans, the Kunkurats, and
+Tartars. These five peoples killed with swords a stallion, a bull, a
+dog, a ram and a he-goat. “O Heaven and earth hear our words and bear
+witness,” cried they at the sacrifice: “We swear by the blood of these
+victims, themselves chiefs of races, that we deserve death in this same
+manner if we keep not the promise made here to-day.” They vowed then to
+guard each secret faithfully, and attack the allies without warning or
+mercy.
+
+Temudjin was advised of the pact and the oath by Dayin Noyon a Kunkurat
+chieftain, hence he had time to meet those confederates near Buyar
+Lake, where he dispersed them after fighting a fierce, stubborn battle.
+Somewhat later he met a detachment of Taidjuts and some Merkits near
+the Timurha and crushed them also. Meanwhile the Kunkurats ceased their
+resistance, and set out to join Temudjin, but Kassar, his brother, not
+knowing their purpose, attacked and defeated them. They turned
+thereupon to Jamuka and joined his forces.
+
+In 1201 the Katkins and Saljuts with Kunkurats, Juriats, Ikirats,
+Kurulats, Durbans and Tartars met at Alhuibula and chose Jamuka for
+their Khan. They went after that to the Tula and took this oath in
+assembly: “Should any man disclose these our plans may he fall as this
+earth falls, and be cut off as these branches are cut off.” With that
+they pushed down a part of the river bank, and hacked off with their
+sabres the branches of a tree. They made plans then to surprise
+Temudjin when unguarded, and slay him.
+
+A certain man named Kuridai, who had been present at the oath taking,
+slipped away home and told the whole tale to his brother-in-law,
+Mergitai, a Kurulat, who happened in at the yurta. Mergitai insisted
+that Kuridai should gallop off swiftly to Gulyalgu and explain the plot
+to Temudjin since he, Kuridai, with his own ears had heard it. “Take my
+gray horse with stumpy ears, he will bear thee in safety,” said
+Mergitai. Kuridai mounted and rode away swiftly. On the road he was
+captured by a sentry, but that sentry, a Kurulat also, was devoted soul
+and body in secret to Temudjin, so not only did he free Kuridai when he
+heard of his errand, but he gave him his own splendid stallion. “On
+this horse,” said the Kurulat, “thou canst overtake any man, but no man
+on another beast could overtake thee.”
+
+Kuridai hurried off. On the way he saw warriors bearing a splendid
+white tent for Jamuka. Some attendants of these men pursued him, but
+soon he was swept out of sight by the stallion. In due time he found
+Temudjin, who on hearing the tidings sprang quickly to action. He sent
+men to Wang Khan who brought his army with promptness and the two
+allies marched down the Kerulon against their opponent.
+
+Jamuka who intended to fall unawares on his rival was caught himself at
+a place called Edekurgan. While he was marshalling his forces Buiruk
+and Kuduk, his two shamans, raised a wind and made rain fall to strike
+in the face Temudjin and his allies, but the wind and rain turned on
+Jamuka. The air became dark and the men tumbled into ravines, and over
+rough places. “Heaven is not gracious to-day,” said Jamuka, “that is
+why this misfortune is meeting us.” His army was scattered. The Naimans
+and others then left him, and, taking those who had proclaimed him,
+Jamuka withdrew down the river.
+
+Wang Khan pursued Jamuka while Temudjin followed Autchu of the
+Taidjuts, and those who went with him. Autchu escaped, hurried home,
+rallied his people, crossed the Onon and began action. After many
+encounters there was a fierce all day battle with Temudjin, then both
+sides promised to hold their places that night on the battle-ground.
+Temudjin had been wounded in the neck and had fainted from blood loss.
+Chelmai, his attendant and comrade, sucked out the blood which was
+stiffening, and likely to choke him. The chief regained consciousness
+at midnight. Chelmai had stripped himself naked, to escape the more
+easily if captured, and stolen into the enemy’s camp to find mare’s
+milk, but found only cream which he took with such deftness that no one
+noted him either while coming or going. He went then for water, mixed
+the thick cream with it, and had a drink ready. Temudjin drank with
+much eagerness, drawing three breaths very deeply, and stopped only
+after the third one. “My eyes have gained sight,” said he, “my soul is
+now clear again.”
+
+With these words he rose to a sitting position. While he was sitting
+there day dawned, and he saw a great patch of stiff blood there by his
+bedside. “What is this?” asked he, “why is that blood so near me?” “I
+did not think of far or near,” answered Chelmai, “I feared to go from
+thee, even as matters were I both spat blood and swallowed it—. Not a
+little of thy blood has gone into my stomach in spite of me.”
+
+“When I was in those great straits,” asked Temudjin, who now understood
+what had taken place, “how hadst thou courage to steal to the enemy all
+naked? If they had caught thee wouldst thou not have said that I was
+here wounded?” “If they had caught me I should have told them that I
+had surrendered to them, but that thou hadst then seized me, and
+learning that I had surrendered hadst stripped me and wert just ready
+to cut off my head when I sprang away, and ran to them for refuge. They
+would have believed every word, given me clothes, and sent me to labor.
+I should have stolen a horse soon and ridden back to thee.” “When the
+Merkits were seeking my life on Mount Burhan,” said Temudjin, “thou
+didst defend it, now thou hast sucked stiffened blood from my neck and
+saved me. When I was dying of thirst thou didst risk thy own life to
+get drink and restore me, I shall not forget while I live these great
+services.”
+
+Temudjin saw next day that Jamuka’s men had scattered in the night
+while his own men were still on the battle-ground. He hunted after the
+enemy then for some distance; all at once on a hill a woman dressed in
+red was heard shouting: “Temudjin! Temudjin!” very loudly. He sent to
+learn who she was, and why she was shouting. “I am Kadan, the daughter
+of Sorgan Shira,” said the woman. “The people have tried to cut down my
+husband, and I was calling Temudjin to defend him.”
+
+Temudjin sent quickly to save Kadan’s husband, but he was dead when
+they found him. Temudjin then called Kadan to sit at his side, because
+of the time when she guarded him under wood-packs at her father’s. One
+day later Sorgan Shira himself came to Temudjin. “Why come so late?”
+inquired Temudjin. “I have been always on thy side,” replied Sorgan,
+“and anxious to join thee, but if I had come earlier the Taidjuts would
+have killed all my relatives.”
+
+Temudjin pursued farther, and when he had killed Autchu’s children and
+grandchildren he passed with his warriors to Hubahai where he spent
+that winter. In 1202 Temudjin moved in spring against those strong
+Tartars east of him. That people inhabited the region surrounding Buyur
+Lake and east of it, hence they were neighbors of the Juichis of that
+day, known as Manchus in our time. Those Tartars had seventy thousand
+yurtas and formed six divisions. Their conflicts with each other were
+frequent, and each tribe plundered every other. Between these Buyur
+Tartars and the Mongols bitter feuds raged at all times. Temudjin fell
+on two tribes called Iltchi and Chagan. Before the encounter he
+instructed his warriors very strictly: “Hunt down those people, when ye
+conquer slay without pity, sparing no man. Touch no booty till the
+action is over; after that all will be honestly divided.” He heard
+later on that Kudjeir and Daritai his two uncles, with Altan his cousin
+had disregarded this order and seized what they came upon. He deprived
+these men straightway of all that they had taken, and when a division
+was made at the end of the struggle no part was given them. Through
+this strictness and punishment Temudjin lost the goodwill of those
+chiefs who opposed him in secret and confirmed later on the great
+rupture made between him and Wang Khan by Jamuka.
+
+Temudjin had slain many Tartars in this conflict and captured most of
+the survivors, now he counseled with his relatives as to what should be
+done with those captives. “They deserve punishment,” said he; “they
+killed our grand-uncle and our father. Let us slay every male who is
+higher than the hub of a cart wheel. When that is done we must make
+slaves of the others and divide them between us.” All who were present
+accepted this method. The question being settled in that way Belgutai
+went from the council.
+
+“What have ye fixed on to-day?” inquired Aike Cheran, a Tartar captive
+belonging to Belgutai. “To kill every male of you, who is higher than
+the hub of a cart wheel,” said Belgutai. The other prisoners on
+learning this broke out and fled, never stopping till they reached a
+strong place in the mountains and seized it.
+
+“Go and capture their stronghold,” commanded Temudjin. This was done
+with much trouble and bloodshed. The Tartars fought with desperation
+and were slain to the last one, but many of Temudjin’s choicest
+warriors were lost in the slaughter. “Belgutai told the enemy our
+secrets,” said Temudjin, “many good men have perished because of this.
+Belgutai is excluded from council, hereafter let him stay out of doors
+and guard against thefts, fights and quarrels. Belgutai and Daritai may
+come to us only when counsels are ended.”
+
+When Temudjin had killed all the male Tartars who were higher than the
+hub of a cart wheel he took as wife Aisugan, a daughter of that same
+Aike Cheran who had put the question to Belgutai. Aisugan gained
+Temudjin’s confidence quickly; she pleased him and soon she said to
+him: “I have an elder sister, Aisui, a beauty; she ought to be the
+Khan’s consort. Though she is just married I cannot tell where she is
+but we might find her.”
+
+“If she is a beauty,” said Temudjin, “I will find her. Wilt thou give
+then thy place to thy sister?” “I will give it as soon as I see her,”
+said Aisugan. Temudjin sent men to search out Aisui. They found her in
+a forest where she was hiding with her husband. The husband fled, and
+Aisui was taken to Temudjin. Aisugan gave her place to her sister. One
+day Temudjin was sitting near the door of his tent with these sisters,
+and drinking. Noting that Aisui sighed deeply suspicion sprang up in
+him. He commanded Mukuli, and others in attendance, to arrange the
+people present according to the places which they occupied. When all
+were reckoned one young man was found unconnected with any ulus, or
+community. “What man art thou?” inquired Temudjin. “I am Aisui’s
+husband,” replied the young stranger. “When they took her I fled, now
+all is settled and ended, I came hither thinking that no man would note
+me in a great throng of people.”
+
+“Thou art a son of my enemy,” said Temudjin. “Thou hast come to spy out
+and discover. I killed thy people and find no cause to spare thee more
+than others.” Temudjin had the man’s head cut off.
+
+The Merkit chief, Tukta Bijhi, came back from Lake Baikal and attacked
+Temudjin, but was baffled. He turned then to Buiruk of the Naimans who
+joined a confederacy of Katkins, Durbans, Saljuts and Uirats together
+with Merkits and moved in 1202, near the autumn, with a strong force to
+strike Temudjin who was supported by Wang Khan, his old ally. Because
+of the season Temudjin retired to mountain lands near the Kitan (North
+Chinese) border, his plan being to lure on the enemy to dangerous high
+passes where attacks and bad weather might ruin them. The confederates
+followed fast through the mountains and skirmished, but before they
+could fight a real battle, wind and snow with dense fog, brought on, as
+was said, by magicians, struck them all and stopped action. The
+confederates were forced to retreat greatly weakened; they lost men and
+horses killed by falling in the fog over precipices, while multitudes
+perished in wild places from frost and bitter cold. Jamuka was moving
+on to join the Naimans, but when he saw the sad plight of the
+confederates he fell to plundering a part of them, and after he had
+taken good booty from the Saljuts and the Katkins he encamped near
+Temudjin and his ally, observed very closely what was happening, and
+waited.
+
+Temudjin and Wang Khan passed the winter on level land near the
+mountains where snow served as water. While there he asked in marriage
+Wang Khan’s granddaughter, Chaur Bijhi, for his own eldest son, Juchi,
+and Wang Khan mentioned Temudjin’s daughter, Kutchin Bijhi, for
+Sengun’s son Kush Buga. These two marriage contracts, agreed on at
+first, were broken later for various not well explained reasons. Jamuka
+was beyond doubt the great cause in this matter, and raised the whole
+quarrel. This rupture was followed by wrangling and coolness between
+the two allies, thus giving a still further chance to Jamuka. As he had
+never been able to estrange Wang Khan thoroughly from Temudjin he
+turned now in firm confidence to Sengun. He conquered Wang Khan’s son
+and heir with the following statements: “Temudjin has grown strong, and
+desires to be the greatest among men. He has determined to be the one
+ruler, he cannot be this unless he destroys thy whole family, he has
+resolved to destroy it, and he will do so unless thou prevent him.
+Temudjin has made a firm pact with thy enemy Baibuga, Taiyang of the
+Naimans; he is to get help from Baibuga, and is only waiting for the
+moment to ruin thy father, that done he will seize and kill thee, he
+will take thy whole country, and keep it.”
+
+In this way Jamuka filled Sengun’s heart with great fear and keen
+hatred, feelings strengthened immensely by Temudjin’s uncles, Daritai
+and Kudjeir, who, with Altan, his cousin, were enraged at the loss of
+their booty, and for other reasons. These men declared that every word
+uttered by Jamuka was true. A great plot was formed, and directed by
+Jamuka, to surprise Temudjin and kill him. Jamuka, who was watching
+events and working keenly, took with him Altan and others, at the end
+of 1202, and went again to Sengun, who was then living north of
+Checheher, and while attacking Temudjin spoke as follows: “Envoys are
+moving continually between Temudjin and the Naimans; those envoys are
+fixing the conditions of thy ruin. All this time Temudjin is talking of
+the ties between himself and thy father whom he calls his ‘father’
+also. Thy father has made Temudjin his elder son. Thou art now
+Temudjin’s younger brother, and hast lost thy inheritance, soon thou
+wilt lose thy life also. Unless thou destroy this man, very quickly he
+will kill thee. Dost thou not see this?”
+
+When Jamuka had finished, Sengun went at once to his friends to explain
+and take counsel. “If we are to end him, I myself will fall on his
+flank. Say the word, I will do so immediately. For thee we will slay
+Hoelun’s children to the last one,” said Altan and Kudjeir. “I will
+destroy him hand and foot,” said Ebugechin. “No, take his people,” said
+another, “what can he do without people? Whatever thy wish be, Sengun,
+I will climb to the highest top with thee, and go to the lowest bottom
+when needed.”
+
+Sengun listened to his comrades and Jamuka. He sent Saihan Todai to
+report their discourses to his father. “Why think thus of my elder son,
+Temudjin?” asked Wang Khan as an answer. “We have trusted him thus far.
+If we hold unjust, evil thoughts touching him, Heaven will turn from
+us. Jamuka has been thousand-tongued always and is unworthy of credit.”
+Thus Wang Khan rejected all the words sent him. Sengun again sent a
+message: “Every man who has a mouth with a tongue in it speaks even as
+I do, why not believe what is evident?”
+
+Again Wang Khan answered that he could not agree with them. Sengun then
+went himself to his father: “To-day thou art living,” said he, “but
+still this Temudjin accounts thee as nothing. When thou art dead will
+he let me rule the people assembled by thee and thy father with such
+effort? Will he even leave life to me?” “My son,” said Wang Khan, “how
+am I to renounce my own promise and counsel? We have trusted Temudjin
+up to this time. If without cause we think evil now of him, how can
+Heaven favor us?” Sengun turned in anger from his father. Wang Khan
+called him back to remonstrate. “It is clear, O my son,” said he, “that
+Heaven does not favor us. Thou wilt reject Temudjin no matter what I
+tell thee, thou wilt act in thy own way, I see that, but victory, if
+thou win it, must be thine through thy own work and fortune.”
+
+Sengun turned to his father for the last time: “Think on this scourge
+risen against us,” said he. “If thou stop not this Temudjin we are
+lost, thou and I, without hope; if thou spare him, we shall both die
+very soon. We must put an end to the man, or be ruined. He will kill
+thee first of all, and then my turn will come very quickly.”
+
+Wang Khan would hear nothing of this murder; he would at least have no
+part in it. But strongly pressed by his son he said finally: “If ye do
+such a deed ye must be alone in it. Keep away from me strictly.”
+
+Temudjin’s death was the great object now for Sengun and Jamuka.
+Temudjin’s uncles and one of his cousins were in the plot also. Sengun
+himself formed the plan and described it in these words very clearly:
+“Some time ago,” said he, “Temudjin asked our daughter for his eldest
+son, Juchi; we did not give her at that time, but now we will send to
+him saying that we accept his proposal. We will make a great feast of
+betrothal and invite him. If he comes to it we will seize the vile
+traitor and kill him.”
+
+When they had settled on this plan Sengun sent envoys to Temudjin
+accepting the marriage proposals, and inviting him to the feast of
+betrothal. Temudjin accepted and set out with attendants. On the way he
+stopped at the house of Munlik his stepfather, the husband of Hoelun.
+Munlik became thoughtful and serious as he heard of the invitation.
+“When we asked for their maiden,” said he, “they were haughty and
+refused her; why invite now to a feast of betrothal? Better not go to
+them; excuse thyself saying that thou hast no beast fit to travel, that
+it is spring and thy horses are all out at pasture.”
+
+Temudjin agreed with Munlik and instead of going himself sent Bugatai
+with Kilatai to the festival, and returned home very quickly. When
+Sengun saw the two men sent as substitutes he knew at once that
+Temudjin had seen through his stratagem. He called a council
+immediately. “We must act quickly now,” said he. “We will move with all
+force against Temudjin to-morrow, but send, meanwhile, a strong party
+to seize him while south of Mount Mao.” Aike Charan, who was Altan’s
+youngest brother and one of Wang Khan’s chosen leaders, had been at the
+council. He hastened home that same evening and told his wife, Alikai,
+Sengun’s entire stratagem. “They have settled at last to capture the
+Khan,” said he, “and to-morrow they will seize him. If some man
+to-night would warn Temudjin his reward would be enormous.” “Speak not
+idle words,” said the woman. “Our servants may hear thee, and think thy
+talk serious.”
+
+Badai, a horseherd who had just brought in mare’s milk, overheard Aike
+Charan and the answer of Alikai. He turned at once and told Kishlik. “I
+too will listen,” said Kishlik who was his comrade. Kishlik went in
+then and saw Aike Charan’s son, Narinkeyan, whittling arrows and
+looking at his parents. “Which of our servants,” asked he, “should lose
+his tongue lest he tell what ye have said to each other?” Kishlik heard
+these words, though Narinkeyan did not know it. “Oh Kishlik,” said
+Narinkeyan, turning to the horseherd, “Bring me in the white horse and
+the gray one, I will go riding to-morrow.”
+
+Kishlik went out quickly. “Thou hast told the truth,” said he to Badai.
+“We must ride now tremendously, thou and I, we must ride to-night to
+Temudjin and save him, tell him everything.” They ran to the pasture,
+caught both horses and rode off without seeing Narinkeyan. They
+reported all to Temudjin, told him Aike Charan’s whole story and the
+words of Narinkeyan.
+
+Temudjin summoned his trustiest servants immediately and hurried off to
+the northern side of Mount Mao. Chelmai he commanded to follow and
+watch every movement of the on-marching enemy. At noon the next day
+Temudjin halted briefly and two horseherds, Alchidai and Chidai,
+brought in tidings that the enemy was advancing very swiftly. A great
+dust cloud was rising up from them and was visible on the south of
+Mount Mao. Temudjin hurried on till he reached Kalanchin, a place
+selected by him for battle. There he stopped, disposed all his forces,
+and assembled his leaders.
+
+Meanwhile Sengun with Wang Khan, who had at last by much urging been
+persuaded to join this expedition, were advancing at all the speed
+possible, and soon men could see them. They halted at once for battle.
+“Who are the best men among Temudjin’s warriors?” asked Wang Khan of
+Jamuka. “The Uruts and Manhuts are best,” said Jamuka, “they are never
+disordered; they have used swords and spears from their boyhood. When
+they strike thou wilt see dreadful fighting.” “Well,” said Wang Khan,
+“let our hero Hadakji fall on them first with his Jirkins; after him
+will go Achik Shilun with the Omans, and Tunkaits, and Shilaimun, with
+a strong force of our body guards. If these do not finish them our own
+special warriors will give them the death blow.”
+
+While Wang Khan was thus making dispositions, Temudjin on his side
+spoke to the Urut commander: “Uncle Churchadai, I would give thee the
+vanguard, what is thy own wish?” Churchadai was just ready to answer
+when Huildar spoke up: “O Khan, my dear friend (he was Temudjin’s
+anda), I will mount my strong steed and break, with my Manhuts, through
+all who oppose us. I will plant thy tail standard on Gubtan, that hill
+at the rear and left flank of the enemy. From that hill I will show
+thee my firmness and valor. If I fall, thou wilt nourish my children,
+thou wilt rear them. Relying on Heaven it is all one to me when my fate
+comes.” “Go thou,” said Temudjin, “and take Gubtan.”
+
+Huildar fixed the tail standard on Gubtan. Churchadai spoke when his
+turn came, “I will fight,” said he, “in front of the Khan, I will be in
+the vanguard with my Uruts.” And he arranged his strong warriors in
+position. Barely were they ready when Hadakgi and the Jirkins made the
+first onrush and opened the battle. They were met by the Uruts, who not
+only received their attack with all firmness, but drove them back in
+disorder. While the Uruts were following this broken vanguard Wang Khan
+sent Achik Shilun and his Omans to strike on the Uruts. Huildar
+attacked from Gubtan this new reinforcement and broke it, but being
+thrown from his horse by a spear cast, the Omans rallied, and were sent
+with the Tunkaits against Churchadai. Both forces were hurled back by
+the Uruts, strengthened greatly by Temudjin. Shilaimun attacked next
+with Wang Khan’s own body-guards. These also were broken by Churchadai
+reinforced this time by Temudjin. Sengun now, without leave from his
+father, rushed into the struggle taking with him Wang Khan’s special
+warriors. The battle raged to the utmost and Sengun had some chance of
+victory when an arrow from Churchadai’s bow pierced his cheek and he
+fell badly wounded.
+
+When the Keraits saw their chief down, and night already on them, they
+stopped fighting. Sengun had not carried his point, and Temudjin held
+the field, hence the victory was on his side although very slightly. It
+was late in the evening and dark, so he brought together his men and
+was careful to seek out and save Huildar. Temudjin during that night
+withdrew from the battle-ground, and at daybreak discovered that
+Ogotai, his son, with Boroul and Boörchu were all three of them
+missing. “Those two faithful men,” said Temudjin, “have lived with my
+son, and now they have died with him.” He grieved that day greatly. The
+next night he feared an attack, and held all his people in readiness to
+receive it. At daybreak he saw a man riding in from the battle-ground,
+and recognized Boörchu; he turned his face heavenward, struck his
+breast, and was grateful.
+
+“My horse,” said Boörchu, when he had ridden up to Temudjin, “was
+killed by the enemy; while escaping on foot I saw a pack horse that had
+wandered far from the Keraits. He had a leaning burden. I cut the
+straps, let the pack fall, then mounted the beast and rode hither.”
+
+A second horseman appeared somewhat later. When he had drawn near it
+was seen that besides his legs two others were hanging down near them.
+Ogotai and Boroul were on that horse. Boroul’s mouth was all blood
+besmeared; he had sucked stiffened blood from Ogotai’s neck wound;
+Temudjin wept when he saw this. He burned the wound with fire
+straightway, and gave Ogotai a drink to revive him.
+
+“A great dust has risen near the enemy,” said Boroul, “they are moving
+southward as it seems toward Mount Mao.”
+
+Temudjin marched now to Dalan Naimurgas where Kadan Daldur brought him
+tidings: “When Sengun was wounded,” said Kadan, “Wang Khan said to his
+counsellor: ‘We have attacked a man with whom we should not have
+quarreled. It is sad to see what a nail has been driven into Sengun,
+but he is living and can make a new trial immediately.’ Achik Shilun
+spoke up then: ‘When thou hadst no son,’ said he, ‘thou wert praying to
+receive one, now when thou hast a son thou shouldst spare him.’ Wang
+Khan yielded and gave up further thought of battle. ‘Carry my son back
+with care,’ said he to his attendants, ‘do not shake him.’ Father and
+son then turned homeward.”
+
+Temudjin marched toward the East. Before starting he reviewed the
+remnant of his army and found only five thousand men altogether. On the
+way his men hunted. While beating in game Temudjin tried to restrain
+Huildar whose wound had not healed, but he rushed quickly at a wild
+boar, his wound opened, and he died shortly after. They buried him on
+Ornéü, a hill near the Kalka. At the place where that river falls into
+Lake Buyur lived the Ungirats; Temudjin sent Churchadai with the Uruts
+and Manguts to talk with that people. “Remember our blood bond,” said
+he to them in Temudjin’s name, “and submit to me; if not, be ye ready
+immediately for battle.” After this declaration they submitted, hence
+Temudjin did not harm them. When he had thus won the Ungirats he went
+to the eastern bank of the Tugeli, and thence sent Arkai Kassar and
+Siwege Chauni to Wang Khan with the following message: “We are now east
+of the Tugeli, grass here is good, and our horses are satisfied. Why
+wert thou angry with me, O my father, why didst thou bring such great
+fear on me? If thou hadst the wish to blame, why not give the blame
+reasonably, why destroy all my property? People divided us, but thou
+knowest well our agreement, that if men should talk to either one of us
+to the harm of the other we would not believe what was said till we,
+thou and I, should explain questions personally. But my father, have we
+had any personal explanation? Though small, I am worth many large men,
+though ugly I am worth many men of much beauty. Moreover thou and I are
+two shafts of a single kibitka, if one shaft is broken an ox cannot
+draw the kibitka. We are like two wheels of that kibitka; if one wheel
+is broken the kibitka cannot travel. May I not be likened to the shaft,
+or the wheel of a kibitka? Thy father had forty sons; thou wert the
+eldest, therefore thou wert made Khan. After that thou didst kill Tai
+Timur and Buga Timur; these were two of thy uncles; thou hadst the wish
+also to kill Erke Kara, thy brother, but he fled to the Naimans. A
+third uncle, in avenging his brother, went against thee with an army,
+and thou didst flee with one century of men to the Haraun defile. At
+that time thy daughter was given by thee to Tukta Bijhi the Merkit, and
+from him thou didst come to my father with a prayer for assistance. My
+father drove out thy uncle who fled then to Kashin, and my father
+brought back thy people. In the Black Forest of Tula thou didst make
+thyself an anda to my father. And moved in those days by gratitude, thy
+words to him were of this kind: ‘For thy benefactions to me I will make
+return not only to thee, but thy children and grandchildren. I swear by
+High Heaven that I will do so.’ After that thy brother Erke Kara got
+troops from the Naimans, made war on thee a second time, and drove thee
+to the lands of the Gurkhan. In less than a year thou didst weary of
+the Gurkhan and leave him. Passing through the Uigur country thou wert
+brought to such straits as to nourish thyself with the milk of five
+sheep that went with thee, and with blood from the camel on which thou
+wert riding. At last thou didst come to me on a gray, old, blind,
+wretched horse. Because of thy friendship for my father I sent men to
+meet thee and bring thee with honor to my camp ground. I collected what
+I could from my people, and gave thee provisions. Later on, when thou
+hadst conquered the Merkits I let thee keep all their property and
+cattle. After that when thou and I were pursuing Buiruk of the Naimans,
+and fighting with Gugsu Seirak, thou didst make fires in the night
+time, deceitfully withdraw, and forsake me. As Gugsu Seirak missed
+seeing my forces he followed after thee swiftly. He captured the wives
+of thy brothers, and their warriors; he captured half thy people. Again
+thou didst ask me for aid and I gave it. I sent my four heroes who
+saved thee, and restored what the Naimans had taken. Thou didst thank
+me at that time most heartily. Why attack now without cause, why attack
+when I have not done any evil to thee or to Sengun, or harmed either
+one of you?”
+
+When the men gave these words to Wang Khan he sighed deeply and
+answered: “I should not have quarreled with Temudjin, I should have
+stayed with him.” Then he cut his middle finger and putting the blood
+from it into a small horn, he said: “If I harm Temudjin may I be cut as
+this finger is cut.” He gave the horn then to Temudjin’s messenger.
+
+To Jamuka Temudjin sent this message: “Through envy and hatred thou
+hast parted me from my father. In former days when we lived, thou and
+I, at his yurta, that one of us two who rose earlier took mare’s milk
+from the dark drinking cup kept by my father. I rose early always, and
+thou didst conceive toward me hatred at that time. Drink now from my
+father’s dark drinking cup, much loss there will not be to anyone from
+thy drinking.” Temudjin then commanded to say to Altan and to Huchar:
+“I know not why ye resolved to desert me, O Huchar. We wished first to
+make thee khan since thou art the son of Naigun, but thou wert
+unwilling. Thy father, O Altan, ruled as khan once, hence we wished to
+choose thee to rule over us; thou wouldst not yield to our wishes.
+Sachai Baiki and Taichu, sons of Bartan had still higher claims, but
+both men rejected our offer. After that ye and with you the whole
+people proclaimed me as khan, though, as ye know, I was unwilling. Ye
+have withdrawn from me now and are helping Wang Khan. But ye have begun
+what ye never can finish. I advise you to meet me with confidence for
+without me ye are powerless. Work well with me to hold the headwaters
+of our rivers; let no stranger come in to snatch them from our people.”
+
+Temudjin commanded to say to a slave named Togrul: “I have called thee
+my brother for the following reason: On a time Tumbinai and his brother
+Charaha had a slave known as Okda. This slave had a son Subaigai and he
+a son Kirsan Kokocho, and he a son Aiga Huantohar, this last man begat
+thee. Why dost thou flatter Wang Khan and adhere to him? Altan and
+Huchar would never let other men rule over my flock. Thou art my slave
+by inheritance, hence I address thee as brother.”
+
+To Sengun Temudjin sent this message: “I am a son of thy father born
+with my clothes on; thou art his son born in nakedness. Once our father
+showed equal kindness to both of us, but dark suspicion attacked thee,
+and thou, fearing lest I might trick thee in some way, conceived a
+great hatred and expelled me unjustly. Cease causing grief to thy
+father, go to him now and drive out his sorrow. Unless thou expel from
+thy heart that old envy against me it will be clear that thou hast the
+wish to be Khan ere thy father dies naturally. Shouldst thou wish to
+confer with me, and come to agreement send hither two men for that
+purpose.” Arkai Kassar and Suge Gaichaun gave these words to Sengun,
+and he answered:
+
+“When Temudjin spoke of my father as Khan he called him old murderer
+while he did so, and when he called me his sworn friend he jeered at me
+touching the Merkits, and said that I came to this world to handle
+rams’ tails and remnants. I know the hidden sense of his speeches, I
+know what his plans are. Battle is my first and last answer to
+Temudjin. Bilge Baiki and Todoyan raise ye the great standard; feed our
+steeds carefully.”
+
+When Arkai Kassar returned he told everything. Temudjin went to the
+lake called Baljuna where many of the Kurulats came to him. Juchi
+Kassar had disobeyed Temudjin his elder brother, he had in fact been
+disloyal and had tampered with the enemy. Not present at the great
+Kalanchin battle he had either favored Wang Khan, or been captured with
+his children, his wife and his followers. After that he escaped with
+two servants and searched in hardship and hunger for Temudjin till
+finally he found him at Lake Tunga. Kassar turned now to his brother’s
+side thoroughly, and the two men examined how best they might fall on
+Wang Khan unexpectedly. They worked out their stratagem and sent
+Haliutar and Chaurhan as if going to Wang Khan with this message from
+Kassar: “I have seen not a shadow of my brother; I have gone over all
+roads without finding him; I called him, but he heard me not. I sleep
+at night with my face toward the stars and my head on a hillock. My
+children and wife are with thee, O Khan, my father. If thou send a
+trusty person I will go to thee. I will return and be faithful.” “Go,”
+said Temudjin to the messengers, “we will leave this place straightway,
+when ye return come to Arhalgougi on the Kerulon.” Temudjin then
+commanded Churchadai and Arkai Kassar to lead the vanguard.
+
+Kassar’s two servants appeared before Wang Khan and gave him the
+message as if coming from their master. Wang Khan had set up a golden
+tent and arranged a great feast in it. When he heard the words, he
+said: “If that is true, let Kassar come to us.” He sent with the two
+messengers Iturgyan, a trusted warrior. When not far from Arhalgougi
+Iturgyan judged by various signs that a camp must be near them, so he
+turned and rushed away. Haliutar, whose horse was far swifter, spurred
+on ahead of him, but not venturing to seize the man, blocked the road
+to his stallion. Chaurhan, who followed, struck Iturgyan’s horse in the
+spine with an arrow, brought him down to his haunches, and stopped him.
+They seized Iturgyan then and took him to Temudjin, who sent him to
+Kassar, who killed him.
+
+The two messengers then said: “Wang Khan has made a rich golden tent;
+he is careless and is feasting. This is the time to attack him.” “Very
+well,” said Temudjin, “let us hasten.” When they arrived at the place
+they surrounded Wang Khan, and a fierce battle followed. On the third
+day of this battle the Keraits had not strength to fight longer. Wang
+Khan and Sengun had both vanished, no one knew by what road they had
+saved themselves, or when they had fled from the battle-ground.
+
+“I could not let you kill my sovereign,” said Hadak, the chief leader
+to Temudjin, “and I fought long to give Wang Khan and Sengun time to
+save themselves. If thou command I shall die, but if thou give life I
+will serve thee.” “A man fighting as thou hast to rescue his lord is a
+hero,” said Temudjin, “be one among mine and stay with me.” So he made
+Hadak a commander of one hundred, and bestowed him on Huildar’s widow.
+Since Huildar had planted the standard on Gubtan and fought with such
+valor his descendants had received for all time rewards assigned widows
+and orphans. Temudjin now divided the Keraits among his comrades, and
+assistants.
+
+Wang Khan’s brother, Jaganbo, had two daughters, the elder of these was
+Ibaha. Temudjin himself took Ibaha, and Sorkaktani, the younger, he
+gave to Tului, his son. Because of these daughters, Jaganbo’s
+inheritance was not given to other men. To Kishlik and Badai, the two
+horseherds who had warned him, he gave Wang Khan’s golden tent with all
+the gold dishes set out in it, and the men who had served at the
+tables. Kishlik and Badai with their children and grandchildren were to
+keep everything won by them in battle, and all the game taken in
+hunting.
+
+“These two men,” said Temudjin, as he gave their rights to them, “saved
+my life from Sengun and his father, and by Heaven’s help and protection
+I have crushed all the Kerait forces and won my dominion. Let my
+descendants remember the measure of this service. My enemies, not
+knowing Heaven’s will, wished to kill me. Kishlik who brought warning
+of their treachery, was in that hour Heaven’s envoy; hence I have given
+him Wang Khan’s golden tent with utensils and music, as I might to a
+prince of my family.”
+
+Wang Khan and Sengun had fled almost unattended toward the land of the
+Naimans. At Didik, a ford on the Naikun, Wang Khan, who was tortured
+with thirst, stopped to drink from the river. A Naiman watch, guarding
+the passage, seized the old Khan, and killed him (1203). Wang Khan told
+who he was, but the guard would not credit his story. He cut his head
+off immediately, and sent it to Baibuga. Sengun, being at some
+distance, did not rush up to rescue his father, but went with Kokocha,
+his attendant, and Kokocha’s wife, farther west past the Naimans. He
+stopped to drink somewhat later and seeing a wild horse which flies
+were tormenting, he stole up to kill him. Kokocha wished now to desert
+and take Sengun’s saddle horse; he intended to tell Temudjin where
+Sengun was, but his wife was indignant. “How leave thy master, who gave
+thee food and good clothing, how desert him?” She refused to advance
+and was very angry. “Thou wilt not go with me? Dost wish to be wife to
+Sengun, perhaps?” asked Kokocha. “If thou go, O Kokocha, leave that
+gold cup behind. Let Sengun have even something to drink from.” Kokocha
+threw down the cup, and hurried off to find Temudjin.
+
+“How receive service from any man of this kind?” asked Temudjin when he
+heard how Kokocha had treated his master. The deserter told his tale,
+and was put to death straightway. But his wife was rewarded for her
+loyalty to Sengun.
+
+When Wang Khan’s head was brought to Baibuga his mother, Gurbaisu, had
+music before it with an offering. In the time of this ceremony the face
+seemed to smile at the honor. Baibuga, who thought the smile mockery,
+was offended and made the skull into a drinking cup rimmed and
+ornamented with silver.
+
+“In the East,” said Baibuga, “is that man Temudjin who drove out Wang
+Khan and brought him to ruin. This man may be thinking to make himself
+lord over all of us. There is only one sun in the heavens; how can two
+real lords be on earth at the same time? I will go to the East and
+seize this Temudjin, I will take all his people.”
+
+Sengun when deserted by Kokocha fled toward the Tibetan border and
+subsisted for a season by plundering, but was captured some time later
+and slain by Kilidj Arslan, the ruler of that region, who sent Sengun’s
+children and wives back to Temudjin, and submitted to his sovereignty.
+
+Thus perished the Khan of the Keraits and his son, and with them the
+separate existence of their people.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+TEMUDJIN TAKES THE TITLE OF JINGHIS AND REWARDS HIS EMPIRE BUILDERS
+
+
+One more great struggle was in store now for Temudjin, that with
+Baibuga, the Naiman, his father-in-law. Baibuga, alarmed at the rising
+power of his own daughter’s husband, sent an envoy to Ala Kush Tegin,
+the Ongut chief, to get aid. “Thou knowest,” said Baibuga, “that two
+swords cannot be in one scabbard, or two souls in one body. Two eyes
+cannot be in one socket, or two sovereigns in one region. Make haste
+then to seize the horn of empire which this upstart is seeking.”
+
+Ala Kush and the Onguts lived next the Great Wall of China, and guarded
+it, at least, during intervals, for the emperor of China. This Ongut
+chief was sagacious; he was near Temudjin and remote from Baibuga; he
+judged that the former was rising and the latter declining; hence after
+some thought he neglected Baibuga, left his message unanswered, and
+sent an envoy to explain the whole matter to Temudjin. Baibuga found
+other allies, however.
+
+Knowing clearly his father-in-law’s intention, Temudjin did not fail to
+be first on the battle-ground. As the spring of 1204 was beginning he
+held a great council of his leaders. Some thought their horses too weak
+after winter, but others preferred to move promptly. Action pleased
+Temudjin, hence he set out immediately, but halted before he reached
+the Naiman boundary. It was autumn when he entered the enemy’s country,
+and found arrayed there against him men from the Merkits, the Keraits,
+Uirats, Durbans, Katkins, Tartars, and Saljuts. In fact, forces from
+each hostile people were ready before him in the hope of destroying, or
+at least undermining his primacy. There was also Jamuka, his
+irrepressible enemy. Temudjin ranged his army for action. To Juchi
+Kassar, his brother, he confided the center. Overseeing himself the
+entire army, he reserved a certain part for his own use.
+
+When Jamuka saw this arrangement he said to his officers; “My friends,
+Temudjin knows how to range men for battle much better than Baibuga.”
+And foreseeing an evil end to Baibuga in that action Jamuka fled from
+the field of battle quickly.
+
+The two armies met and fought desperately from sunrise to sunset. Many
+times the great issue seemed doubtful, but when all was wavering like
+two even scales of a balance Temudjin came with new forces at the
+perilous moment and gave greater weight to his own side. Just after
+sunset the Naiman force broke and fled in confusion, sweeping with it
+Baibuga, badly wounded. The Taiyang fled on foot, first to a
+neighboring mountain where Kurbassu, his wife was. Later on he was
+hurried to a place of more safety, where he died soon of wounds and of
+blood loss. Temudjin, ever swift to pursue, hunted down his fleeing
+father-in-law; his men captured Kurbassu, who was joined to his
+household. They captured also Baibuka’s seal keeper, Tatungo, an Uigur
+of learning. Brought before Temudjin he explained what a seal is.
+“Remain with me,” said the conqueror, “use the seal in my name, and
+teach my sons the language, and lore of the wise Uigurs.”
+
+All allies of the Naimans submitted, except the Merkits and the
+Tartars, who fled from the battlefield. Gutchluk, Baibuga’s son, sought
+safety with Buiruk his uncle.
+
+At this time the Chatalans, the Katkins, and all others who had
+followed Jamuka, surrendered to Temudjin. Temudjin now hurried in
+pursuit of Tukta Bijhi, the chief of the Merkits. He hunted him to Sari
+Keher, and captured many of his people; but Tukta Bijhi fled farther
+with Chilaun and Katu, and a few attendants.
+
+At the beginning of the Merkit subjection, Dair Usun, chief of the
+Uasit Merkits, gave Kulan Khatun, his daughter, to Temudjin. When he
+was taking the girl to the conqueror the road was impassable through
+disorder. He met on the way a man, Naya of the Barins. “I am giving my
+daughter to Temudjin,” said Dair Usun to Naya. “Come with me,” answered
+Naya. “If thou go alone, wandering warriors will kill thee and do what
+they like with thy daughter.” So he and Dair Usun traveled three days
+together, and after that Kulan was given to Temudjin, who on learning
+that she had been three days in company with Naya, was angry.
+
+“Torture this Naya,” said Temudjin, “learn all his secrets and kill
+him.” When they set about torturing Naya, Kulan spoke up to save him.
+“On the road Naya met us; he said that he was one of the Khan’s men,
+and since on the way there were many disorderly warriors he offered to
+help us. My father and I were three days in his company. Without Naya’s
+help I know not what would have happened. Torture him not, but if the
+Khan will be merciful examine my innocence.”
+
+“I serve my lord faithfully,” said Naya. “I hold it my duty to bring to
+him beautiful women, and the best of all horses. If there are thoughts
+beyond this in me, I am ready to die at any moment.”
+
+“Kulan speaks with wisdom,” said Temudjin. That same day the girl was
+examined. Temudjin grew convinced that she was truthful and liked her
+the more for her wisdom. He dismissed Naya, saying: “This man is not
+false, we may trust him with tasks of importance.”
+
+After the subjection of the Merkits Kuda, the wife of Tukta Bijhi was
+given to Temudjin’s son, Ogotai. Later on one-half of the Merkits
+revolted, retired and took Taikal a fortress in the mountains. The son
+of Sorgan Shira was sent to attack them. Temudjin himself went to the
+Altai, and there passed the winter. In the spring he crossed the
+mountains in search of Tukta Bijhi. At that time Gutchluk joined Tukta
+Bijhi; they drew up their army at the Irtish near its sources, and
+there Temudjin found and attacked them. Tukta Bijhi was killed in a
+very fierce battle, his sons were unable to bear off the body, so they
+cut his head from the trunk and thus saved it. The Merkits fled from
+the battlefield, and more than half of those warriors were drowned in
+the Irtish, the rest scattered and saved their lives as best they
+could. Gutchluk fled to the land of the Karluks, and still farther
+westward to the Gurkhan. Kutu and Chilaun fled through Kanli and
+Kincha.
+
+While all this was happening Sorgan Shira’s son captured the fortress
+at Taikal and killed or seized all the Merkits. Those who had not left
+their own home land revolted as well as the others, but were captured
+through men sent by Temudjin to quell them.
+
+“If we let those people remain in one land,” declared Temudjin, “they
+will rise again, surely.” And he had them conducted in small bands to
+various new places. That same year Temudjin made an iron kibitka for
+Subotai, and sent him to hunt down and seize all the other sons of
+Tukta Bijhi. “Those men,” said Temudjin, “though defeated in battle,
+tore away recently, like wounded wild deer, or like wanton young
+stallions; and now thou must find them. If they fly on wings to the
+sky, become thou a falcon and catch them; if like mice they bore into
+the earth, be a strong iron spade and dig them out of it; if they hide
+as fish in the sea, be a net and enclose them. To cross deep ravines
+and high mountains choose the time when thy horses are not weary. Spare
+thy warriors on the road, and hunt not at all save when need comes.
+When thou must hunt, hunt very carefully. Let not thy warriors use
+croupers, or breast straps, lest their horses rush feebly. Should any
+man refuse thee obedience bring him hither, if I know him, if not do
+thou kill him on the place of refusal. If with Heaven’s aid and
+protection thou seize Tukta Bijhi’s sons, slay them straightway.” Then
+he added: “When I was young three bands of Merkits pursued me, and
+thrice did they ride round Mount Burhan. These men have fled now with
+loud insolent speeches, but do thou hunt them down to the uttermost
+limits if need be. I have made a kibitka of iron to convey and protect
+thee. Though far away thou wilt ever be near me. Heaven will keep thee
+most surely while traveling, and will give thee assistance.”
+
+When the Naimans and Merkits were captured by Temudjin, Jamuka had lost
+all his people, and was left in the land of the Naimans deprived of
+property, and attended by only five servitors. He went then to the
+mountain Tanlu and lived there by robbery and hunting. One day those
+five servitors seized him and took him to his enemy. Jamuka sent these
+words then to Temudjin. “Slaves had the insolence to seize their own
+master, and betray him. Mistake not, O Khan, my friend, these words
+which I send thee.”
+
+“Is it possible to leave men unpunished who betray?” asked Temudjin.
+“Give them to death with their children and grandchildren!” Then he
+commanded to slay those five traitors before the eyes of Jamuka to whom
+he sent at the same time this message: “Once I made thee a shaft of my
+kibitka, but thou didst desert me. Thou hast joined me again, so now be
+my comrade. Should one of us forget, the other will remind him. If one
+falls asleep the other will rouse him. Though thou didst leave me, thou
+wert still in reality my assistant. Though thou didst oppose I got no
+harm in the end from that action. When thou and I had a battle thy
+heart was regretful, apparently. When I warred with Wang Khan thou
+didst send me his discourses. That was the earliest service. When I was
+battling with the Naimans thy words made their hearts shake; that was
+another good service.”
+
+These words were taken to Jamuka and he answered: “When we became andas
+in boyhood we ate food too strong for our stomachs; we gave words to
+each other which nothing can take from our memory. People roused us to
+quarrel and we parted. I blush when I think of my speeches uttered once
+to my anda, and I dare not look now at thee. It is thy wish that I be
+for the future thy comrade. I might call myself thy comrade, but I
+could be no comrade to thee in reality. Thou hast joined peoples
+together, thou hast built up dominion, no man on earth can now be thy
+comrade. Unless thou kill me I shall be for thee henceforth like a
+louse on thy collar outside, or a thorn in thy inner neck-band. Thou
+wouldst not be at rest in the daytime, while at night thou wouldst
+sleep with alarm in thy bosom were I to be near thee. Thy mother is
+prudent, thou thyself art a hero, thy brothers are gifted, thy comrades
+are champions, thou hast seventy-three leaders, but from childhood I
+have had neither father nor mother, I have no brothers, my wife is a
+babbler, my comrades are traitors, hence, O my anda, whom Heaven has
+preferred, give me death the more quickly that thy heart may be quiet.
+If thou let me die without blood loss I, after death and for ages, will
+help thy descendants and protect them.”
+
+On hearing this answer Temudjin said: “Jamuka, my anda, went his own
+way in life, but his words have in fact never harmed me. He is a man
+who might change even now, but he has not the wish to live longer. I
+have tried divination to search out good reasons to kill him, but have
+not discovered them thus far. What must I do? He is a man of
+distinction, and we may not take his life without reasons. Ah, now I
+have found the right reason! Say this to him: ‘Because of horse
+stealing and quarrels between Taichar, my slave, and Darmala, thy
+brother, thou didst attack me and fight at Baljuna; thou didst frighten
+me dreadfully. I wish now to forgive thee, and make thee my comrade,
+but thou art unwilling. I am sorry that thy life should be taken, but
+thou wilt not permit me to save it; hence we must do what thou
+wishest.’”
+
+Temudjin then commanded to take life from Jamuka without blood loss,
+and bury him with honor. Altan and Huchar were put to death also at
+that time.
+
+When Temudjin had subdued to his own undivided dominion the various
+peoples opposed to him he raised on the Upper Onon, in 1206, his great
+standard of nine white tails and took the title Jinghis (Mighty) to
+distinguish him from all other Khans. After that he rewarded Munlik,
+Boörchu, Mukuli and others who had helped him in building the Empire,
+and those who had shown special service. “Thou hast been to me a
+comrade,” said Jinghis (as we shall now call Temudjin), to Munlik his
+step-father, “thou hast helped me very often, but above all when Wang
+Khan and his son were enticing me to a false feast to kill me. If I had
+not halted that day I should have dropped into hot fire and deep water.
+I remember this service of thine, and will not let my descendants
+forget it. Henceforth thou wilt sit first in thy order. As I reward
+thee by the year, or the month, so will that reward be continued to all
+thy descendants unbrokenly.”
+
+“In my youth,” said Jinghis to Boörchu, “Taidjut thieves stole my eight
+horses; I had chased three days and nights after them when I met thee;
+thou didst become then my comrade and ride three days and nights with
+me to find and restore those eight horses. Why did it happen that Nahu
+Boyan, thy rich father, who had only one son, let that son be my
+comrade? Because in thee traits of high justice were evident. After
+that when I called thee to help me thou didst not refuse and wert
+prompt in thy coming. When the three Merkit clans drove me into the
+forests of Mount Burhan thou didst not desert me; thou didst share my
+great suffering. When I spent a night before the enemy at Talan and a
+great blinding rain came thou didst give me rest, and spread out thy
+felt robe above me, and stand there and hold it, and not let that rain
+touch me. Thou didst stand in that painful position until daybreak,
+resting first on one leg and then on the other. This proves thy
+unbounded devotion. It would not be possible to recount all the good
+deeds which thou hast done since I saw thee the first day. Besides thou
+and Mukuli advised me to that which was proper, and stopped me from
+that which should be omitted. Through doing the right thing in every
+great trial I have reached my high power and dominion. Sit thou now
+with a few men above all others. I free thee from punishment for nine
+death offenses. Be a commander of ten thousand, and rule the land
+westward till thou touch the Golden Mountains.” [6]
+
+Then he turned to Mukuli and said to him: “When we were at Hórho
+Nachubur at the thick spreading tree under which Khan Kutula made merry
+and was dancing, Heaven bestowed wisdom and tidings which became clear
+to thee. I remember the words given then by thy keen father, Gunua, and
+I make thee prince now because of those words, and thy conduct ever
+after. Sit thou above other men in society, be a commander of ten
+thousand on the left wing, and govern on the east to the Haraun
+mountains. Thy descendants will inherit thy dignity.”
+
+“In youth,” said Jinghis to Horchi, “thou didst prophesy touching me;
+thou didst share with me toils after that and wert to me a true
+comrade. Now when thy words of fore-knowledge are verified and proven,
+I give thee what thou didst ask for at that time: I give thee the right
+to choose for thyself thirty beautiful maidens and women among all
+conquered nations. Bring together three thousand of the Bali, the
+Adarki and other clans ruled by Achik and by Togai, and when thou hast
+ten thousand assembled command them and govern those people. Put up thy
+camps as may please thee among forest nations on the Irtish, and guard
+well that region. Let all affairs there be under thy management, thou
+hast now thy heart’s wish.”
+
+Jinghis turned then to Churchadai: “Thy greatest service,” said he,
+“was in that dreadful battle at Kalanchin against the strong Khan of
+the Keraits. When Huildar declared that he would seize and hold Gubtan
+thou didst take the vanguard. Success in that desperate encounter came
+from thee beyond any man. Thou didst break and hurl back the Jirkins,
+the strongest of the enemy, and after them came still others who broke
+the line of my own chosen body-guard, who held the strong central
+position. Thou didst wound with thy own hand Sengun in the cheek while
+he was making the last fearful onrush. Hadst thou not struck him then,
+it is unknown what would have followed. Later on, when we were moving
+down the Kalka, I relied upon thee as I might on a lofty immovable
+mountain. On arriving at Baljuna thou didst fight in the vanguard
+again, and with Heaven’s great assistance we crushed the Keraits at
+last, and because of that triumph the Naimans and the Merkits could not
+resist us, and were scattered. When they were scattered, Jaganbo gave
+me his daughters and thus saved his people, but later on he revolted;
+then thou didst think out a plan to entrap him and capture his people.
+That is thy second great service.”
+
+With these words Jinghis gave Churchadai his own wife, Ibaha, the
+daughter of Jaganbo, to whom he spoke then as follows: “Ibaha, I do
+this not because I have ceased to love thee, not because thou hast an
+evil temper of mind, or art lacking in beauty. I give thee to
+Churchadai to reward him in the highest way possible. I give thee to
+Churchadai because of his inestimable service, and I desire those of my
+sons and descendants who shall receive the throne after me to honor the
+dignity and fame of Ibaha. Now thou wilt grant me a favor: Thy father
+gave with thee Ashi Timur, who is master of thy kitchen and two hundred
+men to work under him. In going leave with me one hundred of those men,
+and leave also Ashi.” Then Jinghis said to Churchadai: “I command thee
+to govern four thousand of the Uruts. Thou didst tame the wild, and
+bring down the rebellious, thou and Chelmai with Chepé and Subotai. Ye
+have been like four raging watch-dogs in swiftness. If I sent you to
+any place ye crushed hard immense stones into gravel, ye overturned
+cliffs, and stopped the great rush of deep waters, hence I command you
+to be in the battle front. The four heroes: Boörchu, Mukuli, Boroul and
+Chilaun I command to be behind me. Churchadai to be in front, and thus
+make my heart free to be fearless. Kubilai be the elder in all warlike
+matters and decisions.” Then he added: “Because of disobedience I do
+not make Baidun a commander apart and independent; I join him to thy
+person, that is better. Let him act with thee, and see thou what will
+come of it.”
+
+After that Jinghis said to Boörchu and others: “Hunán is like a
+fearless wolf in the night time, in the day he is like a black raven.
+He joined me and never would act with bad people. In every affair take
+ye counsel with Hunán and Kokosi. Let Hunán be commander of ten
+thousand under my eldest son, Juchi. No matter what Hunán and Kokosi
+and Daigai and Usun heard and saw they kept back no word, and never
+distorted a word which they told me.”
+
+“When I was born at the river Onon,” said Jinghis to Chelmai, “thy
+father came from Mount Burhan with the bellows of a blacksmith on his
+shoulders, and brought a sable wrap to put around me. Thou wert in
+swaddling clothes that day, O Chelmai, and he gave thee to serve me for
+life and inseparably. Thou hast grown up with me, and shown immense
+service. Thou art my fortunate comrade. I release thee from nine death
+penalties and reward thee.”
+
+“In former times,” said Jinghis to Vanguru, the master of nourishment,
+“thou with three yurtas of the Tokuruts, and five yurtas of Torguts,
+and with the Chanshikits and the Baiyuts made one single camp with me.
+In darkness and fog thou hast never lost thy way marching. In
+scattering and disorder thou hast never lost thy head, thou hast
+endured cold and wet with me always and nothing could shake or
+discourage thee. What reward dost thou wish of me this day?”
+
+“If thou in thy favor command me to choose,” said Vanguru, “I should
+wish to collect all the Baiyuts who are scattered.”
+
+Jinghis consented. “Collect them, be their commander and govern them,”
+was his answer. And he continued: “Vanguru and Boroul while managing on
+the right and the left as masters of nourishment, and dispensing food
+justly, ye have pleased my heart well, so henceforth sit ye on
+horseback when food and drink are dispensed to great gatherings in the
+open. While feasting in tents take your places on the right and the
+left at the door on the south side, and send food and drink to all
+present.”
+
+“My mother took you,” said Jinghis to Shigi Kutuku and Boroul and
+Kuichu and Kokochu, “from camps where men left you, she made you her
+sons, she reared and prepared you to be comrades to us, her own
+children. Ye have paid her well for this benefaction. Boroul was my
+comrade in the perils of battle, in nights of snow and of rain and of
+tempest. When exposed to the enemy he never let me lack drink or food.
+On a time when we had destroyed nearly all of the Tartars, one of them,
+Hargil Shila, while fleeing for his life felt great hunger and turned
+to get food from my mother. ‘If thou desire food,’ said she to the
+Tartar, ‘sit on that side of the entrance.’ He sat at the west of the
+door and there waited. Just then Tului, my son, who was five years of
+age, came in and was going out soon after when the Tartar caught him,
+thrust him under his arm and snatched a knife quickly. ‘He will kill
+the child!’ screamed my mother. Altani, Boroul’s wife, who was sitting
+east of the door, rushed at the Tartar, caught his hair with one hand
+and pulled his knife with the other so vigorously that she and the
+knife fell together. Now Chedai and Chelmai, who had just killed a cow
+a little north of the yurta, heard Altani screaming. They ran, one with
+a knife, the other with an axe and killed the stranger. Altani, Chedai
+and Chelmai disputed then as to who had shown the greatest service. ‘If
+we had not run up,’ said Chedai and Chelmai, ‘thou couldst not have
+managed the Tartar, O woman, and he would have finished Tului.’ ‘If I
+had not screamed,’ said Altani, ‘ye would not have run up, and if I had
+not seized his hair and snatched the knife from him, Tului would have
+perished ere ye could have saved him.’ Boroul’s wife won the word
+battle. In the struggle with Wang Khan at Kalanchin, Ogotai was wounded
+in the neck with an arrow. Boroul sucked the blood from the wound, and
+thus saved him from stifling. He has repaid very richly the trouble of
+rearing him by saving two sons of mine. In the most difficult places he
+was never neglectful, hence nine times will I save him from suffering
+the death penalty.”
+
+Jinghis spoke next to Sorgan Shira: “When I was young,” said he,
+“Targutai Kurultuk, with his brethren the Taidjuts, captured me. Thou,
+with thy son, hid me at thy yurta and commanded Kadan, thy daughter, to
+serve me, and ye then gave me freedom. Day and night I remember this
+service, but ye came to me late and only now am I able to reward you.
+What may your wish be?” “We should like,” answered they, “to make a
+camp in the Merkit land, at Sailyange, and whatever other reward may be
+possible, let the Khan give it.” “Let it be as ye wish; make your camp
+in that country. Besides, let all your descendants bear arrows and
+bows, and drink a cup of wine in the camp of the Khan when ye come to
+it. Nine death offenses will be forgiven you.” To Chilaun and Chinbo,
+sons of Sorgan Shira, he said: “How could I forget the words spoken
+once on a time by you, and the deeds done when ye spoke thus. Now
+should anything fail you come yourselves and inform me,” and he said
+further: “Sorgan Shira, Badai and Kishlik, ye are free. Keep all the
+booty which ye may take during warfare at any time, and whatever game
+ye kill in hunting. Sorgan Shira, once thou wert Todayan’s servant.
+Badai and Kishlik, ye were horseherds to Aike Cheran; live with me
+henceforth and be happy.”
+
+“When thou with thy father seized Targutai,” said Jinghis to Naya,
+“thou didst say: ‘How could we yield up our master?’ Ye let him go then
+and came to me as subjects. For that reason I said: ‘Those people
+understand lofty duty, I will trust them.’ Boörchu is now commander of
+ten thousand on the right hand. Mukuli is commander of ten thousand on
+the left, be thou a commander in the center.”
+
+Jinghis then directed Daigai, his shepherd, to collect homeless people
+and command them. When all who had labored to build up the Empire had
+received their rewards and offices Jinghis Khan’s step-father, Munlik,
+brought his seven sons to the assembly and received for them good
+recognition. The fourth man of these was a shaman, Kokochu, a man of
+boundless ambition. Taibtengeri was his second name. No one could tell
+who among these seven brothers was the most self-willed and bitter. One
+day they attacked Juchi Kassar and beat him. Kassar complained to
+Jinghis of this treatment; Jinghis became angry. “Thou hast boasted,”
+said he, “that no man is thy equal in valor and skill. If that be true
+why let those fellows beat thee?” Kassar shed tears from vexation, went
+out, and for three days after that made no visit to his brother.
+Meanwhile Taibtengeri went to Jinghis to incense him against Kassar.
+“The spirit has given me a sacred command from High Heaven,” said the
+shaman, “Jinghis will rule people at first, and then will come Kassar.
+If thou set not Kassar aside thy rule will be short-lived.”
+
+When Jinghis heard these words he went that same night to seize Kassar.
+Kuichu and others informed Hoelun, who set out that night also in a
+kibitka drawn by a swift going camel. She reached Kassar’s yurta at
+sunrise, just as Jinghis, having tied Kassar’s sleeves, had taken cap
+and girdle from him and was asking him questions. When Jinghis saw his
+mother he was wonderfully astonished, and alarmed also. Hoelun was very
+angry. Stepping out of her kibitka, she untied Kassar, gave him back
+cap and girdle, then sitting down, she put her feet under her, bared
+her bosom and addressed the two brothers: “See these breasts of mine
+both of you? Ye two have drunk from them. What crime has Kassar
+committed that thou, Temudjin, art destroying thy own kindred flesh in
+this brother? When thou wert an infant thou didst drink from this
+breast; neither thou, Temudjin nor Temugu could draw my breasts
+thoroughly; only Kassar could empty both sides and relieve me.
+Temudjin, thou hast gifts, but Kassar alone has the strength and the
+art to shoot arrows. Whenever men have risen in rebellion he has
+brought them down with his arrows, and tamed them. Every enemy now is
+destroyed, and Kassar is needed no longer.”
+
+Jinghis waited till Hoelun’s anger had subsided. Then he said: “I was
+frightened when I acted. I am ashamed at this moment.” He went out
+after these words, but later, unknown to his mother, he took away
+Kassar’s people, for the most part, leaving only fourteen hundred
+yurtas. At first he had given him four thousand. When Hoelun learned of
+this action she grieved much, and died shortly after. Chebke was placed
+then with Kassar to guard him.
+
+After this many men gathered to the shaman, Taibtengeri, among others
+people who belonged to Temugu, Jinghis’s youngest brother. Temugu sent
+Sokor to lead back those people, but Taibtengeri beat him, put a saddle
+on his back, and sent him to his mother. Next day Temugu went himself
+to Taibtengeri. The seven brothers surrounded him. “How didst thou dare
+to send men to take people from us?” roared the brothers, and they were
+ready to beat him. “I ought not to have sent men to you,” said Temugu,
+much frightened. “As thou art to blame, then beg pardon.” And they
+forced him to kneel to them straightway.
+
+The next day, very early, while Jinghis was in bed, Temugu fell on his
+knees before him and told how Taibtengeri and his brothers had treated
+him. He wept while relating the details. Jinghis had said no word yet,
+when Bortai came from her bed with a blanket around her and, shedding
+tears meanwhile, spoke as follows: “This man has beaten Kassar, and now
+he has forced Temugu to his knees to beg pardon. What kind of order is
+this in thy dominion? If while thou art living they ruin thy brothers,
+majestic as cedars, when thou art dead the people, who are like grass
+blown by wind, or a mere flock of birds, will not obey thy small,
+helpless children.”
+
+“Taibtengeri will come to-day,” said Jinghis to Temugu. “Deal with him
+as thou pleasest.” Temugu went out and agreed with three very strong
+wrestlers. Munlik came later with his seven sons, and when Taibtengeri
+sat near the door on the west side, Temugu, as he passed, seized him
+roughly by the collar. “Yesterday,” said he, “thou didst force me to my
+knees; I will try strength to-day with thee.” While Temugu was
+struggling with him the cap fell from the head of the shaman; Munlik
+took the cap and put it under his arm. “Wrestle not here!” cried
+Jinghis, “go outside.” When the two men stepped forth from the yurta
+Taibtengeri was seized by the wrestlers who broke his spine and threw
+him aside to the left where he fell near the wheel of a kibitka.
+“Taibtengeri,” said Temugu to Jinghis, “forced me to my knees yesterday
+to beg pardon; now when I wish to try strength with him, he lies down
+and refuses to rise. It is clear that he is a coward.”
+
+Munlik understood and began to weep bitterly. “O Khan,” said he, “I was
+thy assistant before thou wert even at the beginning of thy greatness,
+and I have continued to serve thee till this day.” While he was
+speaking his six sons stood near the center of the yurta and watched
+the door. They began to put up their sleeves as if for a struggle.
+Jinghis rose. He was frightened, but shouted with sternness and
+authority, “Aside, I wish to go out!” He went out, and his body-guard
+of archers surrounded him. Seeing that Taibtengeri was dead, Jinghis
+commanded to pitch his own tent above the shaman’s body, and then he
+went to another place. In the tent put over the body the door and upper
+aperture were fastened, and at first a guard was placed around it. On
+the third day at dawn the upper aperture opened, and the body of the
+wizard was lifted out through it. When inquiries were made, all learned
+that the body had vanished through the upper aperture, or smoke hole.
+
+“Taibtengeri calumniated my brothers and beat them,” said Jinghis,
+“hence Heaven looked on him with anger, and snatched away both his life
+and his body.” After that he reproached Munlik sharply: “Thou hast
+failed,” said he, “to teach thy sons what was needed very greatly in
+their case—obedience. This one tried to equal me, hence I extinguished
+him. Had I known thee earlier I should have put an end to thee, as I
+have to Jamuka, to Altan and Kudjeir. But if a man gives a word in the
+morning and breaks it ere night comes, or gives it in the evening and
+breaks it in the morning, the judgment of people will shame him. I have
+promised to save thee from death, so let us now end this matter.”
+
+After these words Jinghis Khan’s anger was diminished. When Taibtengeri
+was dead the vanity of Munlik and his sons decreased greatly and soon
+disappeared altogether.
+
+In 1207 a new and victorious campaign was begun against Tangut which
+had failed to pay tribute, but was brought down now, thoroughly, at
+least, for a season. The subjection of the Kirghis and this new victory
+over Tangut secured the position of Jinghis in Northeastern Asia. There
+was not one man now to challenge his dominion. Groups of people, or
+tribes, might rebel, but there was no power to stop him or modify his
+policy. He was preparing to meet foreign nations. The first turn was
+for China.
+
+Kara Kitai (Black Cathay) was at that time a very large Empire composed
+of many nations. The ruler of each of these nations acknowledged the
+overlordship of the Gurkhan or sovereign. In length Kara Kitai extended
+westward from Tangut to the Kwaresmian Empire, and in width from the
+Upper Irtish to the Pamir highlands. Within its borders were the lakes
+now known as Balkash, Issikkul and Lob Nor. Of cities now existing,
+Kuldja would be close to the center, Kashgar and Yarkend a good
+distance from its western border, while Khotan would be well removed
+from its southernmost limit.
+
+Nearly all Central Asia was included in this Empire, while vassal
+states extended far beyond its western and southwestern borders. The
+Uigurs, whose chief city was Bish Calik, lived in the northeast corner
+of the Empire and touched on the Naimans. These Uigurs are famous, at
+least among scholars, as having been the most devoted to learning of
+all Turkish nations; from them it was that the Mongols received an
+alphabet and their earliest instruction.
+
+The Idikut, or ruler, of the Uigurs acknowledged the Gurkhan as
+overlord, but the yearly tribute which he paid, and the daily tyranny
+of the agent near his court, so annoyed him that he took this
+official’s life at a place known as Kara Kodja. He resolved thereupon
+to seek the protection of Jinghis, whose triumphs and whose power were
+threatening even China, and filling all Asia with amazement and terror.
+Bardjuk, the watchful Idikut, had appointed an embassy to the
+conqueror, but events had delayed its departure.
+
+When the three sons of Tukta Bijhi and their uncle fled taking their
+father’s head, which they had cut with all haste from his body on the
+battlefield, they despatched an envoy in advance to the Idikut to beg a
+refuge for themselves, and protection. The Idikut, seeing danger in
+their visit, slew the envoy, took the field against the brothers, and
+scattered all their forces. But later on he was troubled greatly by
+this act; for these new opponents might side with the Mongols, or they
+might join the Gurkhan; they might rouse either party to move against
+him. The Idikut’s delight was great, therefore, and genuine when Mongol
+envoys appeared before him. Jinghis had heard of the Idikut’s resolve,
+and, knowing well what good might rise from it, had taken action very
+promptly, and despatched as envoys Alp Utug and Durbai to the ruler of
+the Uigurs.
+
+The Idikut showed the highest honor to these envoys, and dismissed them
+with every mark of courtesy and friendship, associating two envoys of
+his own to bear to Jinghis Khan the following message: “The fame of the
+world-conquering sovereign has come to me. I have agreed till very
+recently with the Gurkhan, and was just preparing to explain through an
+embassy a change in my position, and to yield myself with upright heart
+to thee, all conquering and mighty sovereign. While thinking over this
+I saw thy envoys coming toward me, and then I beheld a blue heaven
+through the clouds around me. I beheld a bright sun in the sky. I saw
+besides a blue shining river where just before the ice had hidden
+everything. I was filled with delight to my innermost being. I yield to
+thee the land of the Uigurs. I myself am the servant and son of Jinghis
+Khan the Immovable.”
+
+At first sight it might seem that the Mongol Khan would be satisfied
+with a statement of this kind, but he was far from satisfaction, for
+just then came four envoys from the sons of Tukta Bijhi, declaring
+their subjection,
+
+The Uigur envoys were received with every honor, but since he doubted
+the Idikut’s sincerity, Jinghis sent envoys a second time with this
+message: “If the Idikut has the honest wish to subject himself let him
+come to us in person, and present us with what there is of greatest
+value in his treasure house.”
+
+On hearing this message the Idikut went to his treasure house and took
+from it the best of gold, silver, pearls, and other precious objects.
+These were sent to Jinghis Khan that same summer, but the Idikut
+excused himself from offering them in person, and added various reasons
+to explain his own absence.
+
+Fresh disorders broke out in Tangut, which caused new campaigning. The
+Mongols invaded that country a third time, routed its warriors,
+captured the city of Uiraka and the fortress of Imen. A second Tangut
+army was scattered, and Chong sing, the chief capital, was invested.
+During this siege peace was concluded and the Tangut king gave his
+daughter to Jinghis in marriage.
+
+During 1209 the Mongol sovereign returned home in triumph and found
+Arslan Khan of the Karluks and the Idikut of the Uigurs waiting to
+render him homage. Arslan Khan had till then ruled conjointly with an
+agent of the Gurkhan, his suzerain. But, as the power of the Gurkhan
+had diminished in recent days very sensibly, many princes, who had
+recognized him up to that time, revolted. Among these was the Sultan of
+Khotan, who marched against him with an army, and persuaded Arslan Khan
+to drop allegiance. Arslan made haste to help the Sultan all the more,
+since at that time he was advised of the Gurkhan’s plans by that
+sovereign’s deceitful Emir, Tanigu. This traitor so represented Arslan
+to his overlord, the Gurkhan, that the latter gave him the title “son,”
+and appointed for him the agent whom Tanigu recommended. But when
+Mongol victories sent panic throughout Northern Asia, Arslan acted
+quickly. He slew the agent of the Gurkhan, joined Jinghis Khan very
+promptly, and waited for his favor.
+
+Arslan said that if he received a golden girdle, and a high position in
+the Mongol service he would have one wish alone ungratified: to be the
+fifth son of the great Khan. Jinghis, divining this wish of his, or
+learning of it, had it gratified. He gave Arslan his daughter, Altun
+Bighi, in marriage, and with her the title of fifth son was added.
+
+Thus Jinghis Khan was intrenched in Kara Kitai very firmly. His next
+move was on Kitai itself, the great North China Empire. He was now
+master of mighty legions drawn from all tribes whose leaders and chiefs
+he had driven from existence in that fierce fight for dominion, during
+which no mercy had been manifest on either side, but in which greater
+wisdom, with keenness and skill, also fortune to some extent, were with
+Jinghis.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+JINGHIS KHAN’S TRIUMPHANT ADVANCE BEYOND THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
+
+
+Many provinces of China had been subject to foreign rule for three
+centuries. After the fall of the Tang dynasty, which had ruled the
+whole country from 618 to 907, this immense Empire fell to commanders
+of provinces and was cut up into ten states co-existent and separate.
+Intestine wars, the result of this parceling, favored the rise of a new
+power in Northern Asia.
+
+The Kitans, who formed a part of the Manchu stock, held that country
+from the Sungari southward as far as the present Shan hai kuan, and
+from the Khingan range on the west to Corea. These people had for a
+long time been vassals of Tartar Khans, and next of Chinese Emperors.
+They were divided into eight tribes, each with its own chief or
+manager. Abaki, the head of the Sheliyu tribe, which owned the district
+known at the present as Parin, gained supreme power in 907, and used
+the whole strength of the Kitans to subdue Northern Asia. In 916, he
+proclaimed himself sovereign, and when he died, ten years later, his
+dominion extended eastward to the ocean, and westward to the Golden
+Mountains or to the Altai.
+
+Tekoan, the son of this first Kitan ruler, by giving the aid of his
+arms to a rebel chieftain in China, secured victory, and a throne for
+him. In return for such service the newly made Emperor, who fixed his
+residence or capital at the present Kai fong fu on the south bank of
+the Hoang Ho, or Yellow River, ceded sixteen districts to Tekoan in
+Pehche li, Shan si and Liao tung, engaging also to furnish three
+hundred thousand pieces of silk as his annual tribute.
+
+The new Chinese Emperor took the position of vassal to the Kitan, and
+termed himself his grandson and subject. The successor to this Chinese
+ruler sought to modify these conditions. Tekoan made war on him;
+conquered all the provinces north of the Hoang Ho, seized Pien (Kai
+fong fu), captured the Emperor and sent him to regions north of China.
+
+Following Chinese usage the Kitan took a new name for his dynasty,
+calling it Liao, that is Iron.
+
+After the fall of the Tang dynasty five petty lines followed one
+another on the throne of Kai fong fu in the course of five decades. On
+the ruins of these dynasties in 960 the house of Sung united nearly all
+China. This house made war on the Kitans, but failed to win back the
+districts previously ceded to them, and in 1004, because of hostile
+action by the Kitans, the Sung Emperor, to gain peace, engaged to pay
+an annual tribute both in silk and silver.
+
+The Kitan Empire lasted two centuries and assumed in its functions
+Chinese forms, at least externally, but Chinese methods made it feeble.
+After strong and warlike chiefs came weak and timid Emperors. At last a
+great man named Aguta rose among the Jutchis, a nomad people living in
+the lands between the Amoor, the Eastern Ocean and the Sungari River.
+These formed part of the same Tungus stock as did the Kitans, but they
+were untouched as yet by luxury.
+
+In 1114 Aguta gained a victory over the Kitans, and the following year
+proclaimed himself Emperor of the Jutchis. The new State he called
+Aidjin Kurun (Kin kwe in Chinese), that is, Golden Kingdom. He would
+not act, he said, like the Kitans, who had taken the name of a metal
+that is eaten by rust very easily and ruined.
+
+Aguta subdued the whole Kitan Empire, and died in 1123. Two years later
+his successor seized Yeliu yen hi, the ninth and last Emperor of the
+Kitan dynasty, which had endured nine years and two centuries.
+
+The Sung Emperor had abetted Aguta, and even urged him towards victory,
+hoping thus to regain the lands lying between the Yellow Sea and the
+Yellow River. The Kitans were crushed in the conflict, but the new
+power (the Kin dynasty) was more dangerous for him than the old, as he
+learned to his cost very quickly. In 1125 the Kin Emperor invaded North
+China; the year following he reached the Hoang Ho, or Yellow River, and
+besieged Kai fong fu which lies south of it. The Sung Emperor, who
+visited the camp of the invader to find peace there if possible, was
+seized and sent to Manchuria with his family. One of his brothers,
+living then in the South, was made sovereign by the Chinese. The Kins
+advanced farther, reached the Yang tse and took Lin ngan in the Che
+kiang province. They forced the Emperor to acknowledge their conquest
+and promise a yearly payment of twenty-five thousand pieces of silk
+with two hundred and fifty thousand ounces of silver, and to avow
+himself a vassal in addition.
+
+The rivers Hoai and Han formed the boundary between the two Empires,
+and now the Kin Empire reached a line almost half way between the great
+rivers Hoang Ho and Yang tse. The Sung Emperor moved his capital to Lin
+ngan, known as Han chau somewhat later. The Kins took up arms to extend
+their new Empire still farther southward, but were confronted by
+failure. The war ended in 1165 by a treaty which retained former
+boundaries, but decreased the Sung tribute. The southern Emperor,
+moreover, instead of being a vassal to him of the north, acquired the
+relation of a nephew to an uncle. But in 1206 the Sung Emperor began a
+new war which brought defeat to him. To restore peace he was forced now
+to pay the original tribute.
+
+About the middle of the 12th century the Kins had chosen the present
+Pekin as their residence; they called it Chong tu, or the middle
+capital. Lords over one third of China, they had adopted the customs
+and laws of that country. Their dominion extended on the north beyond
+China proper to Lake Baikal and the great Amoor River. The Kitans, once
+masters, had now become subjects to the Kin dynasty, but in 1162 they
+revolted; after that they were by force brought down to obedience.
+
+Some years before, the Kins had had a struggle with the Mongols which
+for the Kins proved disastrous. They ended it by making concessions.
+The Mongol chieftain then took the title of Khan, which he kept ever
+after.
+
+Jinghis, in beginning a war against China, was really attacking the
+Northern, or Kin dynasty, which had driven out that of the Kitans,
+hence, very naturally, he turned for co-operation to the Kitans.
+Madaku, the Kin Emperor, died in November 1209, and in 1210 an envoy
+informed Jinghis Khan that Chong hei, the eighth of the dynasty, had
+succeeded Madaku. The envoy demanded that the vassal, as he claimed to
+consider Jinghis, should receive the announcement while kneeling, in
+accordance with the etiquette of China.
+
+“Who is this new Emperor?” asked Jinghis of the envoy.
+
+“Prince Chong hei.”
+
+On hearing the name Jinghis spat toward the South, and then added: “I
+thought that the Son of Heaven must be lofty and uncommon, but how is
+this idiot Chong hei to sit on a throne, and why should I lower myself
+in his presence?” Then he mounted his steed and rode away without
+further word or explanation. He summoned his leaders at once, and said
+to them: “My forefathers suffered very greatly, as ye know, from
+Chinese monarchs; and still those same monarchs failed to conquer this
+land of ours after centuries of effort. Heaven has granted me victory
+over every opponent and permitted me to mount the highest round of
+fortune. If ye act with me faithfully, that same Heaven will grant a
+glorious triumph over China. Through this triumph the Mongols will win
+the greatest wealth and magnificence; their fame will never cease among
+nations.”
+
+All were delighted, all praised their conquering ruler. They agreed
+with him then to send an envoy to the Altyn Khan (Golden Khan) [7] with
+the following message: “Of course it has come to thy knowledge that we,
+by Heaven’s favor, have been chosen from among all the Mongols to hold
+the reins of Empire and of guidance. The fame of our conquering host
+has gone forth, and is spreading. We are planting our banners over all
+the earth’s surface, and soon every people and all nations will submit
+without delay or hesitation to our prosperous direction, and share in
+its many benefactions. But should any rise and resist, their houses,
+goods, property and dependents will be ruined without mercy. Praise and
+honor to High Heaven, our dominion is so well ordered that we can visit
+China. With us will go instruments of every sort, and crushing weapons.
+With us will march an army which is like a roaring ocean. We can meet
+enmity or friendship with the same tranquil feeling. If the Golden Khan
+in wisdom selects the way of friendship and concord, and meets us in
+congress, we will secure to him the management of China in proper form
+and strong possession. If he cannot come himself, let him send his
+honored sons to us as hostages with treasures. But should he resist,
+which Heaven forbid, we must wait for warfare and for slaughter, which
+will last till Heaven puts the diadem of victory and power on the head
+of him whom it chooses, and puts the rags of misery and want on him
+whom it desires to wear them.”
+
+On receiving these words, such as no man had ever sent a sovereign in
+China, Chong hei burst into a blazing rage and dismissed the envoy with
+contempt and with injury. “If Jinghis has planned war and slaughter
+against us,” replied he, “who can prevent him from tempting fortune?”
+
+The last word had been uttered, and both sides made ready now for
+warfare.
+
+Directing Tuguchar to guard home lands from every possible disorder,
+Jinghis moved from the Kerulon in March, 1211, to subdue the Chinese
+Empire. But before he left his native place he visited a lofty
+mountain. On the summit he loosed his kaftan, put his girdle round his
+neck and called High Heaven to help him: “Boundless Heaven,” said he,
+“I am going to avenge the blood of Berkai and Ambagai, my uncles whom
+the Altyn Khans put to death with infamy and torture. If thou favor me
+send aid from out the lofty places, but on earth send men to help me;
+send also spirits good and evil.”
+
+His four sons, Juchi, Jagatai, Ogotai and Tului, accompanied the Mongol
+sovereign.
+
+This army of invasion was held together by the sternest discipline and
+made up of mounted men only. The units of this force were ten, one
+hundred, one thousand and ten thousand warriors. The orders of the
+sovereign were given to the chiefs of ten thousand, and by them to
+subordinates. Each man had a strong rawhide armor and helmet; he
+carried a lance and a sabre with an ax, a bow, and a quiver; he was
+followed by a number of horses, which had no food save that which they
+found as they traveled. Immense herds of cattle were driven in the rear
+of the army. In time of forced marches each man carried with him some
+milk and a small portion of flesh food.
+
+To reach the Great Wall the Mongols crossed a space of about twelve
+hundred miles consisting in part of the desert known as Sha mo in
+Chinese and as the Gobi in Mongol. The first success of the invaders
+was made easier by Ala Kush Tegin of the Onguts, whose duty it was to
+guard the Great Wall for the Emperor, but who favored the Mongols. In
+no long time Tai tong fu, called also Si king, an Imperial court
+northwest of Yen king or Chong tu, the Pekin of the present, was
+invested. The Chinese commander Kin kien sent Mingan, a trusted
+officer, to reconnoitre the Mongols. Mingan deserted and gave all
+needed information about places to the enemy, who attacked Kin kien and
+routed his forces; their mounted men trampled his infantry and cut it
+to pieces. The Mongols pressed on toward the chief Chinese army, which
+did not wait to engage them.
+
+The success of the invasion was enormous. Expeditions were made to the
+walls of Chong tu the great northern capital. The terror stricken
+Emperor prepared to flee southward, but was stopped by his guards, who
+swore to fight to the death for their sovereign. During 1212 the
+Mongols succeeded at all points, and cut up the Kin armies wherever
+they met them. Still Jinghis could not capture Tai tong fu, though in
+August, 1212, he besieged it in person. He was wounded in front of the
+place by an arrow, and withdrew to the north for a period.
+
+The Mongol invasion of China was aided now by an insurrection of
+Kitans. At the outbreak of hostilities Lyuko, a prince of the
+dispossessed Kitan dynasty, an officer serving in the Kin army, fled
+and levied men on his own account. He was ready to add his strength to
+Jinghis, when the latter sent Antchin Noyon to conclude an alliance
+against the common enemy. The two men ascended Mount Yen to finish the
+compact. On the summit they slew a white stallion and a black bull for
+their sacrifice. Turning then to the north they both held an arrow and
+broke it. Lyuko pledged his faith to Jinghis, and Antchin, in the name
+of his master, swore to uphold the Kitan prince against the Kin
+sovereign.
+
+There was need of prompt help, since an army sixty thousand in number
+was marching to annihilate Lyuko. Gold and high dignities were promised
+to him who should bring the rebel’s head to the Emperor. Jinghis sent
+three thousand warriors. With these, and his own troops, Lyuko defeated
+the Emperor’s army, and took all its baggage, which he sent to Jinghis,
+and received then a new reinforcement. Chepé Noyon was despatched to
+give aid in winning the land of the Kitans, and he gave it
+successfully. Master now among the Kitans, who rushed in great crowds
+to him, Lyuko, with the consent of Jinghis, proclaimed himself King of
+Liao.
+
+In 1213 Jinghis resumed his activity in China, and again there was
+slaughter on all sides. The Mongol armies swept on till they almost
+touched the gates of Chong tu, where bloody scenes were enacted. The
+year before, Hushaku, the Kin commander, had been stripped of his
+office and exiled. He was placed in command now in spite of protests
+from the governor, Tuktani, and others. Hushaku took command north of
+Chong tu, and, though the Mongols were near him, he passed his time
+mainly in hunting. Enraged because the Emperor cast blame on this
+conduct, he took a revenge which he had planned since his own
+reinstatement. He spread a report that Tuktani was rousing rebellion,
+and feigned that he, Hushaku, had been summoned to the city to repress
+it. Fearing military opposition he raised a false alarm to mask his
+real object. Horsemen rushed in hot haste to the city declaring that
+Mongols had come to the suburbs. Hushaku sent for Tuktani, the
+governor, as if to take counsel, and then with his own hand he slew
+him. Next he replaced the guard of the Emperor with his personal
+followers, and transferred to another edifice the Emperor, who was
+slain that same day by a eunuch.
+
+Hushaku wished supreme power for himself, but saw soon that his plans
+were impossible. The throne fell to Utubu, the late monarch’s brother.
+
+Chepé Noyon had returned from the Kitans and was marching on the
+capital at that time. Hushaku had a wound in the foot, so he sent Kaoki
+to meet the Mongols, and threatened death should he come back defeated.
+Kaoki was forced to retreat on Chong tu, after desperate fighting.
+Fearing death from his chief he resolved to anticipate, and rushed to
+seize his superior and slay him. Hushaku tried to escape, but fell from
+his own garden wall while climbing it. Kaoki’s people seized the man
+and then cut his head off. Kaoki grasped the head, bore it in hot haste
+to the palace, and asked for judgment immediately. The Emperor not only
+gave pardon, but made Kaoki chief commander.
+
+While the Mongols were attacking the Kin Empire in the north, Tangut
+was attacking on the west, and in 1213 took King chiu, a border city.
+
+Tangut and China had passed eighty years in mutual good feeling and
+friendship when the Tangut sovereign, attacked by Jinghis for the third
+time, asked aid from the Kin sovereign, but having failed to receive
+it, made an agreement (1210) with the Mongols, and severed relations
+with China. The Empire was weakened by defections so numerous that
+Jinghis Khan formed fifty-six brigades of men with officers and
+generals who had passed from the Chinese to his service. These were
+joined to his army, and now began an attack on all those lands bounded
+on the west and south by the Hoang Ho or Yellow River and on the east
+by the Hoang Hai or Yellow Sea, and forming the provinces of Shan si,
+Pe che li and Shan tung.
+
+The Mongols sacked ninety flourishing cities, and in all that rich and
+great region there were only nine places which, through self-defence,
+escaped ruin. The booty was immense in gold and silk stuffs, in
+captives male and female, and in horses and cattle.
+
+This great raid took place in the first months of 1214. All the Mongol
+armies were assembled with their booty in April of that year, at a
+place some leagues west of Chong tu. Jinghis would permit no attack on
+that capital. To the Emperor he sent two officers with the following
+message: “All places north of the Hoang Ho are mine, save Chong tu,
+which is all that remains in thy service. Heaven has brought thee down
+to this impotence; were I to harass thee still further I should dread
+Heaven’s anger. Wilt thou treat my army well, and satisfy the
+generals?”
+
+Kaoki wished to attack, but the counsels of other men triumphed. Envoys
+were sent to the invader, and peace was concluded. Jinghis received as
+wife the daughter of Chong hei, the late Emperor, with immense gifts in
+gold and precious objects. Five hundred youths, as many maidens, and
+three thousand horses went forth with his bride to the conqueror.
+
+Peace now concluded with Jinghis, Utubu proclaimed complete amnesty to
+all, but not feeling safe, he left his heir in Chong tu, and set out
+for Pien king, the present Kai fong fu, better known as Nan king, on
+the southern bank of the Hoang Ho. On the way he attempted to deprive
+the Kara Kitans in his escort of the horses and arrows which had been
+given them. They revolted immediately, chose as leader one Choda and
+turned then toward Chong tu. Two leagues from the capital Choda met
+armed resistance, and though victorious, he sent envoys at once to
+Jinghis. These envoys tendered submission, and asked for aid
+straightway.
+
+The Mongol Khan did not hesitate; he sent a division of Mongols under
+Samuka, and a division of Jutchis under Mingan, with orders to join the
+Kara Kitans and capture the capital. Mukuli, the best Mongol leader in
+China, was sent at the same time to strengthen Lyuko, from whom a Kin
+army had retaken the greater part of his kingdom.
+
+When Utubu heard of this new Mongol inroad he summoned his son to Nan
+king immediately. Chong tu, the capital, was poorly provisioned, the
+Mongols were near it, their ferocity was famous; the besieged were in
+terror. Utubu hurried forward a great transport of food under Li ing,
+with a numerous army. The Mongols attacked this strong army. Li ing,
+who was drunk when they fell on him, was killed. The battle was lost,
+and the transport was seized and swept off by the victors. At news of
+this dreadful disaster the troops of two other Kin generals dispersed
+and the men went home to their families.
+
+Connection with the city was broken. The investment was merciless; want
+came, and next famine, with hunger so cruel that the dead were
+devoured, and then living men killed to be eaten. Fu sing, the
+governor, proposed to Chin chong, the commandant, to attack the Mongols
+with every force in the city, and die arms in hand or else conquer.
+Chin chong had not this view of duty. Fu sing, unwilling to witness the
+loss of the city in which he was governor, made ready to die with
+propriety. He gave all he had to his servitors, took poison, and ended
+his earthly existence.
+
+Chin chong hastened then to escape before the Mongols could enter. The
+Imperial princesses implored him to take them from the city, and save
+them, but, not wishing to hamper his flight, Chin chong asked some time
+to prepare for their journey. Once beyond the city, however, he fled
+and left those poor princesses to the Mongols. A great slaughter took
+place in the capital. The palace was fired, and burned, as is said, a
+whole month and even longer. Jinghis sent three officers to receive
+Imperial plunder, and give due praise to Mingan for his siege work.
+
+Mingan had hardly captured Chong tu when Jinghis sent Samuka with ten
+thousand men to fall on Nan king and capture the Emperor. Samuka
+marched up so close to the city that he was only two leagues from it,
+but his troops being few, he was forced to retreat empty-handed. He
+made a second attempt the year following and was nearer success without
+reaching it.
+
+Meanwhile the Kin dynasty was approaching its doom, and the day of
+extinction.
+
+In the spring of 1216 Jinghis, from his home on the Kerulon, again sent
+Subotai against the brother and three sons of Tukta Bijhi, the last
+Khan of the Merkits. Tuguchar was to help should the need come. Subotai
+met the Merkits near the Jem River in the Altai and defeated them. Two
+sons of Tukta Bijhi and Kutu, his brother, were slain in the action;
+the third son, Kultuk Khan, a great archer, was captured and taken to
+Juchi, eldest son of Jinghis. When Juchi asked for a proof of his
+skill, the young man sent an arrow into a goal, and then split that
+first arrow with a second one. Juchi begged his father to spare this
+Kultuk, [8] but in vain. This great archer, the last son of Tukta
+Bijhi, had to die like the others.
+
+While the Mongol Khan was in China, Baitulu, who was chief of the
+Tumats, withdrew from obedience. At command of Jinghis, Boroul marched
+in 1217 against the Tumats and crushed them, but lost his own life in
+the conflict, which was close and very bitter.
+
+Jinghis had asked aid of the Kirghis. But they too rose against him,
+and Juchi was sent to reduce this recalcitrant people. He did the work
+thoroughly before leaving the upper waters of the Irtish and the
+Yenissei.
+
+In 1214 Mukuli had been sent, as we remember, to the Kitans, whose
+country had been greatly overrun by Kin armies. During the two years
+which followed, this best of all Mongol leaders won back that whole
+region by excellent strategy, finesse, and grand fighting. This work
+was indispensable in the conquest of China. During 1217 this great
+general appeared before Jinghis encamped then on the Tula. Mukuli was
+rewarded beyond all other generals up to that day, and after it.
+Jinghis praised him in public, lauded his great mental gifts, and his
+services, called him Kwe Wang, or prince in the Empire, and made this
+title hereditary. He created him lieutenant commanding in China, and
+gave him a seal made of gold as a sign of authority. “I have conquered
+the North,” said Jinghis, “subdue thou the South for me.” And he
+dismissed him with an army of Mongols and Kitans, with the Jutchis, or
+Manchus, to help them.
+
+In 1218 Jinghis marched on Tangut for the fourth time and brought it to
+obedience. During that year he received the submission of Corea. Next
+his activity was turned to a new side, and soon we shall see the
+opening scenes in that mighty movement begun by Jinghis and continued
+by his descendants, and still later resumed by his relative, the
+tremendous Timur, that World Shaking Limper and father of the Mongol
+rulers of India.
+
+The first place which called the Grand Khan was Kara Kitai on the west,
+then conterminous with his own growing Empire. Kara Kitai had the
+following origin: When Kitan rule in North China was overthrown by the
+Kins, Yeliu Tashi, a relative of the last Kitan Emperor, and also his
+leading commander, took farewell of his sovereign in 1123, and with two
+hundred men journeyed westward. Governors and chiefs of tribes in those
+Chinese provinces through which he passed showed him homage as a
+descendant of Apaki, and gave armed warriors to strengthen him. At the
+head of these and his own men, he went farther. Bilik, prince of the
+Uigurs, from whom he asked a passage, went out to receive him at the
+boundary, with a large gift of sheep, horses, and camels. Bilik gave
+also as hostages a number of his sons and grandsons, and recognized the
+renowned man as overlord.
+
+Yeliu conquered Kashgar, Yarkend, Khotan and Turkistan. Turkistan was
+at that time under Nahmud Khan, the twentieth prince of his dynasty, a
+ruler claiming descent from Afrasiab, so famous in Persian story.
+Nahmud was reduced to the possession of Transoxiana, and, as this
+region too was attacked somewhat later by Kara Kitans, he became
+Yeliu’s vassal. Kwaresm met soon the same fate as Transoxiana; Yeliu’s
+troops brought sword and flame to it, and Atsiz, the second prince of
+the dynasty of the Kwaresmian Shahs, obtained peace by paying thirty
+thousand gold coins for it yearly.
+
+When Yeliu had brought under his dominion all regions between the
+Yaxartes and the Gobi desert, and between the headwaters of the Irtish
+and the Pamir highlands, he took the title of Gurkhan of Kara Kitai,
+and fixed his chief residence at Bela Sagun on the next large stream
+east of the Yaxartes River. In 1136, while preparing for war against
+the Kin sovereigns to win back the Empire which they had snatched from
+his family, he died, leaving only one son, then a minor. Till 1142 this
+son was under the tutelage of his mother. Dying in 1155 he left a son,
+Chiluku, for whom his aunt, Pussuen, was regent till 1167 when he came
+to majority. When the son of the last Naiman ruler came in 1208 to seek
+an asylum in Kara Kitai, Chiluku was still ruling. He showed the
+fleeing Khan a kind welcome, and gave him his daughter in marriage.
+
+Chiluku was occupied mainly in hunting wild beasts, and in seeking for
+pleasure. This weakness caused the defection of great vassals: the
+Idikut of the Uigurs; the Khan of Transoxiana; the Kwaresmian Shah, and
+now it led his perfidious new son-in-law to dethrone him.
+
+The Naiman Khan had attracted some of Chiluku’s commanders, and on
+collecting the wreck of his late father’s army he saw himself at the
+head of considerable forces. To begin his plot easily he begged leave
+of the Gurkhan to assemble the scattered remnants of the Naiman army,
+then wandering through northeastern lands of the Kara Kitan Empire.
+These men might be employed, he said, in Chiluku’s service. The weak
+and kindly old sovereign consented, gave his daughter’s husband rich
+presents, and confirmed his title Gutchluk, or the Strong Man. The
+false son-in-law went on his mission. From Iwil, Kayalik and Bishbalik,
+crowds rushed to his standard. He was joined by the chief of the
+Merkits, who had fled before the Mongols. These men began to win wealth
+by incursions in every direction. Further hope of booty caused other
+bands to follow quickly. Still Gutchluk could not seize the Empire
+without an ally, and the Empire, or at least a large part of it, was
+his object.
+
+He turned to Shah Mohammed who had withdrawn from subjection to
+Chiluku, and had received even the homage of Osman, the Khan ruling
+then over Transoxiana and Samarkand. Gutchluk asked Shah Mohammed to
+fall on the Empire, and seize the western part for this service. The
+Shah gave a favorable answer. Meanwhile a Kara Kitan army was
+despatched to Samarkand by Chiluku to bring Osman back to obedience.
+Shah Mohammed hastened to render aid to his vassal, but before his
+arrival the Kara Kitans were recalled to meet Gutchluk, who had now
+opened war on his father-in-law, the Gurkhan.
+
+While Chiluku’s army was absent in Samarkand, Gutchluk seized in Uzkend
+the state treasures, and hurried then by forced marches to surprise
+Bela Sagun. Chiluku, though old, took the field promptly in person, and
+defeated his son-in-law, who retired in despair after losing a large
+force of warriors who were killed or taken captive.
+
+Meanwhile Shah Mohammed had crossed the western boundary accompanied by
+Osman, and met the Kara Kitan forces commanded by Tanigu. He attacked
+these and captured the commander. The defeated troops while marching
+home robbed their own fellow subjects and plundered without
+distinction; Bela Sagun, which preferred Mohammed, would not open its
+gates to them. Besieged by the troops of their own sovereign they
+fought for sixteen days, hoping daily to see the Shah’s army. The city
+was taken by assault, and the people were slaughtered. Fifty-seven
+thousand persons perished under the sword edge.
+
+As Kara Kitan treasures had vanished, the state treasury was empty.
+Mahmud Bai, an immensely rich general who feared for his own wealth and
+substance, advised the Gurkhan to force a restoration of all that had
+been seized by Gutchluk and his followers. The army chiefs, unwilling
+to yield up their plunder, were furious on hearing this proposal.
+Gutchluk appeared then on a sudden, and seized his father-in-law, the
+Gurkhan. Once master of the sovereign’s person he used sovereign
+authority, so Chiluku, without power himself, retained a vain title
+till death took him off two years later.
+
+In 1218 the Mongol Khan marched westward, but sent Chepé Noyon in
+advance, with an army twenty-five thousand strong, against the Kara
+Kitan usurper, his enemy. Gutchluk fled from Kashgar with a part of his
+forces. On entering the city Chepé proclaimed freedom of religion to
+all men. The inhabitants massacred Gutchluk’s warriors, who had been
+quartered in their houses. Chepé hurried off in pursuit of the
+fugitive, and never drew bridle till he had hunted him over the Pamir,
+and caught him in the Badakshan mountains, where he cut his head off.
+
+When Jinghis heard of this he commanded Chepé not to be proud of
+success, for pride had undone Wang Khan of the Keraits and the Taiyang
+of the Naimans, as well as Gutchluk, and brought ruin to every recent
+ruler.
+
+This victorious Chepé some years later carried Mongol arms to Armenia
+across Georgia and a large part of Russia. He was of the Yissuts, a
+Mongol tribe which had fought against Jinghis, known at that time as
+Temudjin. On a day Temudjin wrought a crushing defeat on the Yissuts;
+Chepé fled with some others to the mountains, and hid there from death,
+which he looked on as certain in case he were captured. One day when
+Temudjin was out hunting his beaters inclosed and caught Chepé. The
+Khan wished to slay him, but Boörchu, his earliest comrade and one of
+his four chosen leaders, begged for a combat with Chepé. Temudjin
+agreed, and gave him a white muzzled horse for the trial. Boörchu shot
+an arrow which failed to reach Chepé. Chepé, more adroit than his
+enemy, sent a shaft which brought down the horse under him, and the
+next instant he rushed away with lightning speed. Reduced to want some
+time later Chepé offered his service to Temudjin, the strong victor.
+Temudjin knew the man’s worth and accepted his offer. The Khan made
+Chepé a chief of ten men to begin with, then of a hundred, later on of
+a thousand, and at last of ten thousand warriors.
+
+When Chepé brought back Gutchluk’s head he wished to give a recompense
+for the white muzzled horse which he killed when Boörchu attacked him,
+so in Kashgar he collected a thousand white muzzled horses and brought
+them to Jinghis as a present.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+DESTRUCTION OF THE KWARESMIAN EMPIRE
+
+
+That immense Kara Kitai, or Black Cathay, or Black China was added to
+the Mongol dominions which now were conterminous with the Kwaresmian
+Empire. This Empire, begun on Seljuk ruins, was increased soon by other
+lands, and in 1219 it extended from the Syr Darya or Yaxartes to the
+Indus, and from Kurdistan to the great roof of the world, those immense
+Pamir highlands. The sovereign at the opening of the thirteenth century
+was Alai ud din Mohammed, great-great-grandson of a Turk slave named
+Nush Tegin. The master of this slave was a freedman of Melik Shah the
+Seljuk Sultan, and this freedman transferred Nush Tegin to his
+sovereign. The slave became cupbearer to Melik Shah, and prefect of
+Khwaresm at the same time by virtue of his office. In Mohammedan
+history cases of Turkish slaves seizing sovereignty are frequent.
+Turkish captives in Persia were highly esteemed and appeared there in
+multitudes. Throughout the vast regions north and east of the Caspian
+various Turk tribes fought unceasingly; each seized the children of an
+enemy whenever the chance came, and sold them in the slave marts. These
+children, reared in the faith of Mohammed, were trained to arms for the
+greater part, and became trusted body-guards of princes. They served
+also as household officials, or managers. Those of them who earned
+favor gained freedom most frequently, and next the highest places at
+courts, and in armies. A lucky man might be made governor, and when
+fortune helped well enough he made himself sovereign.
+
+Turkish slaves grew all-powerful in Moslem lands, till those lands were
+invaded at last by Turk warriors. Persia, lowered much by Arab
+conquest, recovered under Bagdad rule in some slight degree, till the
+eleventh century saw it conquered again by Turk nomads from those
+immense steppes north and east of the Caspian. Under the descendants of
+Seljuk these fierce sons of wild herdsmen pushed their way on to the
+Propontis and to Palestine; camped in Persia, and in lands lying west
+of it. These self-seeking, merciless adventurers brought torture,
+oppression, and brigandage to all people equally, till at last
+intestine wars and social chaos put an end to Seljuk rule toward the
+close of the twelfth century.
+
+Kutb ud din Mohammed, son of the manumitted slave, Nush Tejin, and also
+his successor, won the title of Kwaresmian Shah, a title used before
+the Arab conquest. Atsiz, son of Kutb ud din, raised arms repeatedly
+against Sindjar, the son of Melik Shah, and was forced to render
+tribute to the Gurkhan. When Sindjar died (1157) Il Arslan, son of
+Atsiz, seized West Khorassan; his son, Tukush, took Persian Irak from
+Togrul, who fell in battle. By the death of Togrul and Sindjar, both
+Persian Seljuk lines became extinct.
+
+Tukush obtained investiture at Bagdad from the Kalif, and Persia passed
+from one line of Turkish tyrants to another. Mohammed, who succeeded
+his father Tukush, in 1200, seized the provinces of Balkh and Herat and
+made himself lord of Khorassan. Soon after this Mazanderan and Kerman
+passed under his power and direction. Mohammed now planned to shake off
+the authority of the Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, to whom he, and three of
+his predecessors, had paid yearly tribute. Besides he was urged to this
+step by Osman, Khan of Samarkand and Transoxiana, who, being also a
+vassal of the Gurkhan, endured with vexation the insolence of agents
+who took the tribute in his provinces. Osman promised to recognize
+Mohammed as his suzerain, and pay the same tribute that he had paid to
+the Gurkhan. The Shah accepted this offer with gladness; he merely
+waited for a pretext, which appeared very quickly: An official came to
+receive the yearly tribute, and seated himself at the Shah’s side, the
+usual place in such cases, though it seemed now that he did so somewhat
+boldly. Mohammed’s pride, increased much by recent victory over
+Kipchaks living north of the Caspian, would endure this no longer, so
+in rage he commanded to cut down the agent and hack him to pieces.
+
+After this act Mohammed invaded the lands of the Gurkhan immediately
+(1208), but was defeated in the ensuing battle, and captured with one
+of his officers. The officer had the wit to declare that the Shah,
+whose person was unknown in those regions, was a slave of his. In a
+short time the amount of ransom for the officer was settled; he offered
+to send his slave to get the sum needed. This offer was taken and an
+escort sent with the slave to protect him. Thus did Mohammed return in
+servile guise to his dominions, where reports of his death had preceded
+him. In Taberistan his brother, Ali Shir, had proclaimed his own rule,
+and his uncle, the governor of Herat, was taking sovereign power in
+that region.
+
+The following year Mohammed and Osman, the Samarkand ruler, made a
+second attack on the Gurkhan. Crossing the Syr Darya at Tenakit, they
+met their opponents, commanded by Tanigu, and won a victory.
+
+They conquered a part of the country as far as Uzkend, and instated a
+governor. The news of this sudden success caused immense joy in the
+Kwaresmian Empire. Embassies were sent by neighboring princes to
+congratulate the victor. After his name on the shield was added “Shadow
+of God upon earth.” People wished to add also “Second Alexander,” but
+he preferred the name Sindjar, since the Seljuk prince Sindjar had
+reigned forty-one years successfully. After his return the Shah gave
+his daughter in marriage to Osman, and the Gurkhan’s lieutenant in
+Samarkand was replaced by a Kwaresmian agent. Soon, however, Osman was
+so dissatisfied with this agent that he gave back his allegiance to the
+Gurkhan, and killed the Kwaresmians in his capital.
+
+Mohammed, enraged at this slaughter, marched to Samarkand, stormed the
+city, and for three days and nights his troops did naught else but slay
+people and plunder; then he laid siege to the fortress and captured it.
+Osman came out dressed in a grave shroud; a naked sword hung from his
+neck down in front of him. He fell before Mohammed and begged for life
+abjectly. The Shah would have spared him, but Osman’s wife, the Shah’s
+daughter, rushed in and demanded the death of her husband. He had
+preferred an earlier wife, the daughter of the Gurkhan, and had forced
+her, the Shah’s daughter, to serve at a feast that detested and
+inferior woman. Osman had to die, and with him died his whole family,
+including the daughter of the Gurkhan.
+
+Mohammed joined all Osman’s lands to the Empire, and made Samarkand a
+new capital. He further increased his Empire by a part of the kingdom
+of Gur, which extended from Herat to the sacred river of India, the
+Ganges.
+
+After the death, in 1205, of Shihab ud din, fourth sovereign of the Gur
+line, his provinces passed under officers placed there as prefects.
+When Mohammed took Balkh and Herat, Mahmud, nephew of Shihab, kept
+merely Gur the special domain of the family, and even for this he was
+forced to give homage to the Kwaresmian monarch. Mahmud had reigned
+seven years in that reduced state when he was killed in his own palace.
+Public opinion in this case held the Shah to be a murderer, and beyond
+doubt with full justice.
+
+Ali Shir, the Shah’s brother, who had proclaimed himself sovereign so
+hurriedly when Mohammed was returning, disguised as a slave, from his
+war against the Gurkhan, was now at the Gur capital; he declared
+himself Mahmud’s successor and begged the Shah to confirm him as
+vassal. Mohammed sent an officer, as it seemed, for this ceremony, but
+when Ali Shir was about to put on the robe of honor sent him the
+officer swept off his head with a sword stroke, and produced thereupon
+the command of his master to do so. After this revolting deed the Gur
+principality was joined to Mohammed’s dominion (1213).
+
+Three years later, 1216, Mohammed won Ghazni from a Turk general once a
+subject of Shihab ud din. This Turk had seized the province at the
+dissolution of Gur dominion. In the archives of Ghazni the Shah came on
+letters from the Kalif Nassir at Bagdad to the Gur Khans, in which he
+gave warning against the Kwaresmian Shahs, and incited to attack them,
+advising a junction with the Kara Kitans for that purpose.
+
+These letters roused the Shah’s wrath to the utmost. The Kalif, Nassir,
+who ascended the throne in 1180, had labored without success, though
+unceasingly, to stop Kwaresmian growth and aggression. He could not
+employ his own forces to this end, since he had none. The temporal
+power of the Prophet’s successors had shrunk to the narrow limits of
+Kuzistan and Arabian Irak. The other parts of their once vast dominions
+had passed to various dynasties whose sovereigns were supposed to
+receive lands in fief from the Kalif. If these sovereigns asked for
+investiture it was simply for religious, or perhaps more correctly, for
+political reasons.
+
+Outside the bounds of their own little state the Abbasid Kalifs had
+only two emblems of sovereignty: their names were mentioned in public
+prayer throughout Islam, and were stamped on the coins of all Moslem
+Commonwealths. They were not masters even in their own capital always.
+
+When the Seljuk Empire, composed at that time of Persian Irak alone,
+was destroyed by disorder under Togrul its last Sultan, the Kalif, a
+man of quick mind and adventurous instincts, did much to bring on the
+dissolution of the tottering state, through his intrigues, and by
+calling in Tukush, the Kwaresmian monarch. He had hoped to win Persian
+Irak, but when Tukush had won that great province he would cede not a
+foot of it to any man. The Kalif saw himself forced to invest a new
+line with the sanction of sacredness, a line which threatened Bagdad
+far more than that which he had helped so industriously to ruin.
+
+When Mohammed succeeded Tukush, Nassir roused Ghiath ud din of Gur to
+oppose him. This prince, lord already of Balkh and Herat, desired all
+Khorassan, and began war to win it. His death followed soon after.
+Shihab ud din, the next ruler, continued the struggle but lost his
+whole army, which was slaughtered and crushed in the very first battle.
+When at Ghazni, Mohammed found proof of the Kalif’s intrigues, he
+despatched to Nassir an envoy; through this envoy he demanded the title
+of Sultan for himself; a representative in Bagdad as governor; and also
+that his name be mentioned in public prayers throughout Islam. Nassir
+refused these demands and expressed great surprise that Mohammed, not
+content with his own immense Empire, was coveting also the capital of
+the Kalif.
+
+On receiving this answer Mohammed resolved to strip the Abbasids of the
+succession, or Kalifat. To do this he must obtain first a sanctioning
+fetva from Mohammedan theologians (the Ulema). So he proposed to that
+body the following questions: “May a monarch whose entire glory
+consists in exalting God’s word and destroying the foes of true faith,
+depose a recalcitrant Kalif, and replace him by one who is deserving,
+if the Kalifat belongs by right to descendants of Ali, and if the
+Abbasids have usurped it, and if besides they have always omitted one
+among the first duties, the duty of protecting the boundaries of Islam,
+and waging sacred wars to bring unbelievers to the true faith, or, if
+they will not accept the true faith, to pay tribute?”
+
+The Ulema declared that in such cases deposition was justified. Armed
+with this decision the Shah recognized Ali ul Muluk of Termed, a
+descendant of Ali, as Kalif, and ordered that in public prayers the
+name of Nassir be omitted. The Shah assembled an army to carry out the
+sentence against Nassir.
+
+Ogulmush, a Turk general who had subdued Persian Irak and then rendered
+fealty to Mohammed, was murdered at direction of the Kalif, under whose
+control a number of Assassins had been placed by their chieftain at
+Alamut. In Persian Irak the name of the Shah was dropped from public
+prayers, after the slaying of Ogulmush. The princes of Fars and
+Azerbaidjan hastened promptly to seize upon Irak, at the instance of
+Nassir. Sád, prince of Fars, was taken captive, but secured freedom by
+ceding two strongholds, and promising the third of his annual income as
+tribute. Euzbek of Azerbaidjan fled after defeat, and the Shah would
+not pursue, as the capture of two rulers in the space of one year was
+unlucky. Euzbek, on reaching home, sent envoys with presents, and
+proclaimed himself a vassal. Mohammed annexed Irak to the Empire, and
+moved his troops on toward Bagdad.
+
+Nassir sent words of peace to his enemy, but those words had no
+influence, and the march continued. Nassir strove to strengthen Bagdad
+and defend it, while Mohammed was writing diplomas, which turned
+Arabian Irak, that whole land of which Bagdad was the capital, into
+military fiefs and tax-paying districts.
+
+The Shah’s vanguard, fifteen thousand strong, advanced toward Heulvan
+by the way of the mountains, and was followed soon by a second division
+of the same strength. Though the time was early autumn, snow fell for
+twenty days in succession, the largest tents were buried under it; men
+and horses died in great numbers, both when they were marching through
+those mountains and when they halted. A retreat was commanded at last
+when advance was impossible. Turks and Kurds then attacked the
+retreating forces so savagely that the ruin of the army was well nigh
+total. This was attributed by Sunnite belief to Divine anger for that
+impious attack on the person of the Kalif.
+
+The reports of Mongol movements alarmed the Shah greatly and he
+hastened homeward, first to Nishapur, and later on to Bukhara, where he
+received the first envoys from Jinghis Khan, his new neighbor.
+
+It is well to go back to the time when the Shah chose a new Kalif from
+among the descendants of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed. In
+the Moslem world there are seventy-three or more sects, varying in size
+and degree of importance, but the two great divisions of Islam are the
+Sunnite and Shiite, which differ mainly on the succession. Among
+Sunnites the succession was from Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed the
+Prophet of Islam; that is the succession which took place in history.
+Among Shiites the succession which, as they think, should have taken
+place, but which did not, was that through Ali, the husband of Fatima,
+the daughter of Mohammed.
+
+The Shiites of Persia thought that the day of justice had come after
+six centuries of abasement and waiting, and that the headship of Islam
+would be theirs through the accession of Ali ul Muluk of Termed to the
+Kalifat. In their eyes the Kwaresmian Shah had become an agent of
+Allah, a sacred person. His act created an immense effect throughout
+Persia, and certainly no less in the capital of Islam at Bagdad, where
+the Kalif Nassir called a council at once to find means of defence
+against so dreadful an enemy as Shah Mohammed. After long discussion,
+one sage among those assembled declared that Jinghis Khan, whose fame
+was sounding then throughout Western Asia, was the man to bring the
+raging Shah to his senses.
+
+The Kalif, greatly pleased with this statement, resolved to send an
+envoy, but the journey was perilous, since every road to the Mongols
+lay through Shah Mohammed’s dominions. Should the envoy be taken and
+his message read, the Shah, roused by resentment and anger, would spare
+no man involved in the plot, least of all Kalif Nassir and his
+servants. To avoid this chance, they shaved the envoy’s head and wrote
+out, or branded, his commission upon it. His skull was then covered
+with paint, or a mixture of some kind. The entire message to Jinghis
+was fixed well in the mind of the envoy, and he set out on his journey.
+
+After four months of hard traveling he reached Mongol headquarters,
+delivered his message in words, and was admitted soon after to the Khan
+of the Mongols in secret. The envoy’s head was shorn a second time and
+the credentials traced with fire on his crown became visible. There was
+branded in also an invitation to invade the Kwaresmian Empire, and
+destroy the reigning dynasty.
+
+Jinghis meditated over this invitation. The thought of conquering a new
+Empire did not leave him, but as he had spoken not long before with its
+ruler in friendship, he waited till a reason to justify attack should
+present itself.
+
+In 1216–17 in Bukhara, as mentioned already, Shah Mohammed received
+three envoys from Jinghis; these men brought ingots of silver, musk,
+jade and costly white robes of camels’ hair, all creations and products
+of Central Asia, sent as presents to the Kwaresmian sovereign. “The
+great Khan has charged us,” said the envoys, “to give this message: ‘I
+salute thee! I know thy power and the great extent of thy Empire. Thy
+reign is over a large part of the earth’s surface. I have the greatest
+wish to live in peace with thee; I look on thee as my most cherished
+son. Thou art aware that I have subdued China, and brought all Turk
+nations north of it to obedience. Thou knowest that my country is
+swarming with warriors; that it is a mine of wealth, and that I have no
+need to covet lands of other sovereigns. I and thou have an equal
+interest in favoring commerce between our subjects.’”
+
+This message was in fact a demand on Mohammed to declare himself a
+vassal, since various degrees of relationship were used among rulers in
+Asia to denote corresponding degrees of submission.
+
+The Shah summoned one of the envoys in the night-time. “Has Jinghis
+Khan really conquered China?” asked he. “There is no doubt of that,”
+said the envoy. “Who is this who calls me his son? How many troops has
+he?” The envoy, seeing Mohammed’s excitement, replied that Mongol
+forces were not to be compared with his in any case. The Shah was
+calmed, and when the time came he dismissed the envoys with apparent
+good feeling and friendliness. When they reached the boundary of the
+Shah’s land they were safe, for wherever Jinghis Khan became sovereign
+there was safety for travelers immediately, even in places where
+robbery had been the rule for many ages.
+
+Since Kara Kitai had fallen, Mohammed’s possessions reached the heart
+of Central Asia, and touched the land of the Uigurs, now tributary to
+Jinghis, hence commercial relations were direct and of very great
+value. Soon after the Khan’s envoys had made their visit, a party of
+between four and five hundred merchants from Mongolian places arrived
+at Otrar on the Syr Daryá. Inaldjuk, the governor of the city, tempted
+by the rich stuffs and wares which those strangers had brought with
+them, imprisoned the whole party, and declared to the Shah that the men
+were spies of the Mongol sovereign. The Shah gave command to slay them
+in that case immediately, and Inaldjuk obeyed without waiting. When
+news of this terrible slaughter was borne to Jinghis he wept with
+indignation as he heard it, and went straightway to a mountain top
+where he bared his head, put his girdle about his neck, and fell
+prostrate. He lay there imploring Heaven for vengeance, and spent three
+days and nights, it is stated, imploring and prostrate. He rose and
+went down then to hurl Mongol strength at the Kwaresmian Empire.
+
+The request of the Kalif of Islam ran parallel now with the wish of the
+Mongols. But before striking the Empire, Jinghis had resolved to
+extinguish Gutchluk, his old enemy, the son of Baibuga, late Taiyang of
+the Naimans. Meanwhile he sent three envoys to the Shah with this
+message: “Thou didst give me assurance that thou wouldst not maltreat
+any merchant from my land. Thou hast broken thy word! Word breaking in
+a sovereign is hideous. If I am to believe that the merchants were not
+slain at Otrar by thy order, send me thy governor for punishment; if
+thou wilt not send him, make ready for conflict.”
+
+Shah Mohammed, far from giving Jinghis Khan satisfaction, or offering
+it, slew Bajra, the first envoy, and singed off the beards of the other
+two. If Mohammed had wished to punish or yield up Inaldjuk he could not
+have done so, for the governor was a kinsman of Turkan Khatun, the
+Shah’s mother, and also of many great chiefs in the Kwaresmian army.
+
+And now it is important to explain the position of Turkan Khatun, the
+unbending, savage mother of Mohammed. This woman was a daughter of
+Jinkeshi, Khan of the Baijut tribe of Kankali Turks; she married
+Tukush, the Kwaresmian Shah, and became then the mother of Shah
+Mohammed. A large number of Kankali chiefs who were related to Turkan
+followed her with their tribesmen to serve in the Kwaresmian Empire.
+
+The influence of this relentless, strong-willed woman, and the valor of
+Turkish warriors raised those chiefs to the highest rank among military
+leaders; their power was enormous, since commanders of troops governed
+with very wide latitude. Amid this aristocracy of fighters the power of
+the sovereign was uncertain; he was forced to satisfy the ambition of
+men who saw in all things their own profit only. The troops controlled
+by those governors were the scourge of peaceful people; they ruined
+every region which they lived in or visited.
+
+Turkan Khatun, the head of this military faction, not only equalled her
+son in authority, but often surpassed him. When two orders of different
+origin appeared in any part of the Empire, the date decided which had
+authority; that order was always carried out on which the date was most
+recent, and the order of recent date was the order of that watchful
+woman. When Mohammed won a new province he always assigned a large part
+to the appanage of his mother. She employed seven secretaries at all
+times, men distinguished for ability. The inscription on her decrees
+was “Protectress of the world and the faith, Turkan, queen of women.”
+Her device was: “God alone is my refuge.” “Lord of the world” was her
+title. The following example shows clearly the character of the Shah’s
+mother: She had obtained from Mohammed the elevation of Nassir ud din,
+a former slave of hers, to the position of vizir, or prime minister of
+the Empire; soon the Shah came to hate the man, for personal and also
+other reasons. His ability was small, and his greed without limit. At
+Nishapur the Shah appointed a new judge, one Sadr ud din, and forbade
+him to give the vizir any presents. Friends, however, warned the judge
+not to neglect this prime dignitary, so he sent Nassir ud din a sealed
+purse containing four thousand gold pieces. The Shah, who was watching
+both judge and vizir, caused the latter to send the purse to him. It
+was sent straightway, and the seal was intact on it. The judge was
+summoned, and when he appeared the Shah asked before witnesses what
+gift he had made the vizir; he denied having made any, persisted in
+denial, and swore by the head of his sovereign that he had not given
+one coin to the minister. The Shah had the purse brought; the judge was
+deprived of his dignity. The vizir was sent home without office to his
+patroness.
+
+Nassir ud din went back to the Shah’s mother. On the way he decided
+every case that men brought him. On the vizir’s approach Turkan Khatun
+ordered people of all ranks and classes to go forth and meet him. The
+vizir grew more insolent now than he had been. The Shah sent an officer
+to bring the recalcitrant minister’s head to him. When the officer came
+to her capital, Turkan Khatun sent him to the vizir, who was then in
+the divan and presiding. She had given the officer this order: “Salute
+the vizir in the Shah’s name, and say to him: ‘I have no vizir except
+thee, continue in thy functions. No man in my Empire may destroy thee,
+or fail in respect to thee.’”
+
+The officer carried out the command of the woman. Nassir ud din
+exercised his authority in defiance of Mohammed; he could do so since
+Turkan Khatun upheld him, and she had behind her a legion of her
+murderous kinsmen. The sovereign, who had destroyed so many rulers
+unsparingly, had not the power or the means to manage one insolent
+upstart who defied him.
+
+The murder of the merchants in Otrar was followed soon by such a
+tempest of ruin as had never been witnessed in Asia or elsewhere. Shah
+Mohammed had mustered at Samarkand a large army to move against
+Gutchluk, whom he wished to bring down to subjection or destroy
+altogether, but hearing that a body of Merkits was advancing through
+Kankali regions lying north of Lake Aral, he marched to Jend
+straightway against them, and learned upon reaching that city, that
+those Merkits, being allies of Gutchluk, were hunted by Jinghis, and
+that Gutchluk himself had been slain by the Mongols.
+
+He returned swiftly to Samarkand for additional forces, and following
+the tracks of both armies, found a field strewn with corpses, among
+which he saw a Merkit badly wounded; from this man the Shah learned
+that Jinghis had gained a great victory, and gone forward.
+
+One day later Mohammed came up with them and formed his force
+straightway to attack them. The Mongol leader (perhaps Juchi) declared
+that the two states were at peace, and that he had commands to treat
+the Shah’s troops with friendliness; he even offered a part of his
+booty and prisoners to Mohammed. The latter refused these and answered:
+“If Jinghis has ordered thee not to meet me in battle, God commands me
+to fall on thy forces. I wish to inflict sure destruction on infidels
+and thus earn Divine favor.”
+
+The Mongols, forced to give battle, came very near victory. They had
+put Mohammed’s left wing to flight, pierced the center where the Shah
+was, and would have dispersed it, but for timely aid brought by Jelal
+ud din, the Shah’s son, who rushed from the right and restored the
+battle, which lasted till evening and was left undecided.
+
+The Mongols lighted vast numbers of camp fires, and retired in the dark
+with such swiftness that at daybreak they had made two days’ journey.
+
+After this encounter the Shah knew Mongol strength very clearly. He
+told intimates that he had never seen men fight as they had.
+
+Jinghis, having ended Gutchluk and his kingdom (1218), summoned his own
+family and officers to a council where they discussed war with
+Mohammed, and settled everything touching this enterprise and its
+management. That same autumn the Mongol conqueror began his march
+westward, leaving the care of home regions to his youngest brother. He
+spent all the following summer near the Upper Irtish, arranging his
+immense herds of horses and cattle. The march was resumed in the
+autumn, when he was joined by the prince of Almalik, the Idikut of the
+Uigurs, and by Arslan, Khan of the Karluks.
+
+Shah Mohammed was alarmed by the oncoming of this immense host of
+warriors, more correctly this great group of armies, though his own
+force was large, since it numbered four hundred thousand. His troops
+were in some ways superior to the Mongols, but they lacked iron
+discipline and blind confidence in leaders; they lacked also that
+experience of hardship, fatigue and privation, that skill in desperate
+fighting, which made the Mongols not merely a terror, but, at that
+time, invincible. The Kwaresmian armies were defending a population to
+which they were indifferent, and which they were protecting, hence
+victory gave scant rewards in the best case, while the Mongols, in
+attacking rich, flourishing countries, were excited by all that can
+rouse human greed, or tempt wild cupidity. The disparity in leaders was
+still more apparent. On the Mongol side was a chief of incomparable
+genius in all that he was doing; on the other side a vacillating
+sovereign with warring and wavering counsels. The Shah had been
+crushing and assassinating rulers all his reign, and now he feared to
+meet a man whom he had provoked by his outrages. Instead of
+concentrating forces and meeting the enemy, he scattered his men among
+all the cities of Transoxiana, and then withdrew and kept far from the
+fields of real struggle. Some ascribed this to the advice of his
+generals, others to his faith in astrologers, who declared that the
+stars were unfavorable, and that no battle should be risked till they
+changed their positions. It is also reported that Jinghis duped the
+Shah, and made him suspect his own leaders. The following is one of the
+stories:
+
+A certain Bedr ud din of Otrar, whose father, uncle and other kinsmen
+had been slain by Mohammed, declared to Jinghis that he wished to take
+vengeance on the Shah, even should he lose his own soul in so doing,
+and advised the Grand Khan to make use of the quarrels kept up by
+Mohammed with his mother. In view of this Bedr ud din wrote a letter,
+as it were, from Mohammed’s generals to Jinghis, and composed it in
+this style: “We came from Turkistan to Mohammed because of his mother.
+We have given him victory over many other rulers whose states have
+increased the Kwaresmian Empire. Now he pays his dear mother with
+ingratitude. This princess desires us to avenge her. When thou art
+here, we shall be at thy orders.”
+
+Jinghis so arranged that this letter was intercepted. The tale is, that
+the Shah was deceived by it and distrusted his generals, hence
+separated them each from the others, and disposed them in various
+strong cities. It is more likely by far, that he and they, after
+testing Mongol strength, thought it better to fight behind walls than
+in the open. They thought also, no doubt, that the Mongols, after
+pillaging the country and seizing many captives, would retire with
+their booty.
+
+The Shah was light-minded and ignorant. He knew not with whom he was
+dealing. He had not studied the Mongols, and could not have done so; he
+had no idea whatever of Jinghis Khan and could not acquire it; he knew
+not the immense power of his system, and the far reaching nature of his
+wishes.
+
+Jinghis arrived at the Syr Daryá with his army, and arranged all his
+troops in four great divisions. The first he fixed near Otrar and
+placed two of his sons, Ogotai and Jagatai, in command of it; the
+second, commanded by his eldest son, Juchi, was to act against the
+other cities, from Jend to Lake Aral; the third division he directed
+against Benakit on the river, south of Jend. While the three divisions
+were taking these cities on the Syr Daryá, Jinghis himself moved toward
+Bokhara to bar Shah Mohammed from the Transoxiana, and prevent him from
+reinforcing any garrison between the two rivers.
+
+Otrar was invested late in November, 1218. The walls had been
+strengthened, and the city, with its fortress, provisioned very
+carefully. The strong garrison had been increased by ten thousand
+horsemen. After a siege of five months the troops and the citizens were
+discouraged, and the commander thought it best to surrender, but
+Inaldjuk, the governor, could not hope for his life, since he was the
+man who had slain the Mongol merchants; hence, he would not hear of
+surrender. He would fight, as he said, to the death, for his sovereign.
+The chief of the horsemen felt differently, and led out his best troops
+in the night to escape, but was captured. He and they offered then to
+serve the besiegers. The Mongols inquired about conditions in the city,
+and, when the chief had told what he knew, they informed him that he
+and his men, being unfaithful to their master, could not be true to
+another. They thereupon slew him, and all who were with him.
+
+The city was taken that day, April, 1219, and its inhabitants driven to
+the country outside, so that the captors might pillage the place in
+absolute freedom. Inaldjuk, the governor, withdrew with twenty thousand
+men to the fortress, and fought for two months in that stronghold. When
+the Mongols burst in he had only two men left; with these he retired to
+a terrace. The two men at his side fell soon after. When his arrows
+were gone he hurled brickbats. The besiegers had orders to seize the
+man living. He struggled like a maniac, but they caught and bound him
+at last, and bore him to the camp before Samarkand. Jinghis had molten
+silver poured into his ears and eyes to avenge the slaughtered
+merchants. The surviving inhabitants of Otrar were spared but the
+fortress was levelled.
+
+Juchi, before marching on Jend, went to Signak and asked that the gates
+be thrown open. Scarcely had the message been given when the furious
+inhabitants tore Hassan Hadji, Juchi’s envoy, to pieces and called on
+God’s name as they did so.
+
+Juchi gave the order at once to attack, and forbade his men to cease
+fighting till the city was captured. Fresh troops relieved those who
+were wearied. After seven days of storming the Mongols burst in and
+slew every soul in that city.
+
+Juchi made a son of Hassan Hadji commandant of the ruins; then he moved
+up the river and sacked every place that he visited.
+
+As the Mongols drew near to Jend, Katluk Khan, the commandant, fled in
+the night time, crossed the Syr Daryá and took the desert road for
+Urgendj beyond the southern shore of the Oxus. Juchi demanded surrender
+through Chin Timur his envoy. Deserted by their chief, the people were
+in doubt what to do, and when Chin Timur came they wished to kill him,
+but he told them of Signak, and promised to turn aside Mongol vengeance
+in case they were prudent. The people then freed him, but very soon saw
+the enemy under the walls, which they thought proof against every
+besieger. The Mongols scaled those walls quickly, and rushed in from
+all sides. No hand was raised then against them. The inhabitants were
+driven to the open country and left nine days and nights there, while
+the pillage continued. Excepting those who had abused Chin Timur, the
+people were spared, since they had made no resistance.
+
+Meanwhile a detachment of the army had seized Yengikend, the last town
+on the river, and Juchi’s work was done on the right bank with
+thoroughness.
+
+The third division of the army moved from Otrar to the left up the
+river, and attacked Benakit which was garrisoned by Kankalis. At the
+end of three days the officers wished to capitulate. Their lives were
+promised them, and they surrendered. The inhabitants were driven from
+the city. The Turks were taken out to one side, and cut down to the
+last man, with swords and other weapons. Being warriors whom the
+Mongols could not trust, they were slaughtered. The artisans were
+spared and divided among the Mongol army. Unskilled, young, and strong
+men were taken to assist in besieging; all other people were slain
+immediately.
+
+The march was continued to Khodjend, and soon the invaders were in
+front of that city, and storming it. In Khodjend, Timur Melik, a man of
+great valor, commanded. He took one thousand chosen warriors to a fort
+on an island far enough from either bank to be safe from stones and
+arrows. The besiegers were reinforced by twenty thousand Mongols for
+conflict, and fifty thousand natives of the country to carry on siege
+work. These natives were employed first of all at bearing stones from a
+mountain three leagues distant, and building a road from the shore to
+the fortress in the river. Timur Melik meanwhile built twelve covered
+barges, protected from fire with glazed earth, which was first soaked
+in vinegar. Every day six of these boats went to each shore and sent
+arrows, through openings, at the Mongols. Night attacks were made
+suddenly and wrought much harm on the invaders.
+
+But despite every effort Timur saw that failure would come if he stayed
+there. He was met by preponderant and crushing numbers at last. So he
+put men and baggage in seventy strong boats and his chosen warriors in
+the twelve covered barges; and they sped down the swift river at night
+by the light of many torches fixed on the boats of his flotilla. The
+boats snapped a chain stretched across from one bank to the other by
+Mongols near Benakit, and passed along, hunted by the enemy on both
+sides.
+
+Timur learned now that Juchi had posted a large corps of men on the two
+banks, close to Jend, captured recently; he learned also that balistas
+were ready and that a bridge of boats had been made near the same
+place. He debarked higher up, therefore, and took to horse to avoid
+capture. Pursued by the enemy, he gave battle till his baggage was
+brought near him. He repeated this day after day till forced at last to
+abandon the baggage. Finally, having lost all his men, he was alone and
+pursued by three Mongols. He had only three arrows left, one of these
+had no metal point on it; he shot that and put out an eye of the
+nearest pursuer. Then he cried to the other men: “There are two arrows
+still in my quiver, ye would better go back with your eyesight.” They
+did so. Timur Melik made his way to Urgendj, and joined Jelal ud din,
+whom he followed till the death of that sovereign.
+
+Meanwhile Jinghis moved against Bokhara with his main forces and
+arrived at that city during June of 1219. On the way he seized Nur and
+Charnuk, which he pillaged; then he took from those places all stalwart
+men useful in siege work. Bokhara, the great city with a garrison of
+twenty thousand, was invested on all sides, and attacked by relays of
+fresh warriors, who gave neither respite nor rest to it.
+
+After some days the defenders lost hope of success and resolved to
+burst through in the night time, trusting in that way to save
+themselves. They fell on the Mongols unexpectedly, and scattered them,
+but instead of pursuing this advantage and fighting, those escaping
+defenders hastened forward. The Mongol troops rallied, and hunted the
+fugitives to the river, where they cut down nearly all of them.
+
+Next morning early, the Ulema and notables came out to give homage to
+the great Mongol Khan, and open the gates to him. Jinghis rode in, and
+going to the main mosque of the city entered it on horseback.
+Dismounting near the minbar, or pulpit, he ascended some steps of it
+and said to the people who assembled there quickly before him: “The
+fields now are stripped; feed our horses in this place!”
+
+The boxes which had been used to hold copies of the Koran were taken to
+the courtyard to hold grain for Mongol horses; the sacred volumes were
+thrown under the hoofs of those animals and trampled. Skins of wine
+were brought into the mosque with provisions; jesters and singers of
+the city were summoned, and while wild warriors were revelling in
+excesses of all sorts, and shouting songs of their own land and people,
+the highest chiefs of religion and doctors of law served them as
+slaves, held their horses and fed them. While thus employed one great
+man whispered to his neighbor: “Why not implore the Almighty to save
+us?” “Be silent,” said the other, “God’s wrath is moving near us; this
+is no time for beseeching. I fear to pray to the Almighty lest it
+become worse with us thereby. If life is dear to thee hold their beasts
+now for the Mongols, and serve them.”
+
+From the mosque Jinghis went to the place of public prayer beyond the
+city, and summoned all people to meet there. He stood in the pulpit and
+inquired: “Who are the richest men in this multitude?” Two hundred and
+eighty persons were presented; ninety of these had come from other
+cities. The Khan commanded all those wealthy persons to draw near, and
+then he spoke to them. He described the Shah’s cruelties and injustice,
+which had brought on the ruin of their city: “Know,” continued he,
+“that ye have committed dreadful deeds, and the great people of this
+country are the worst of its criminals. Should ye ask why I speak thus,
+I answer: I am Heaven’s scourge, sent to punish. Had ye not been
+desperate offenders I should not be standing here now against you.”
+Then he said that he required no one to deliver wealth which was above
+ground, his men could discover that very easily, but he asked for
+hidden treasures. The wealthy men were then forced to name their
+agents, and those agents had to yield up the treasures, or be tortured.
+All strong men were set to filling the moats encircling the city; even
+copies of the Koran and furniture of mosques were hurled in to fill
+ditches. The fortress was stormed and not a man of its defenders found
+mercy.
+
+When the fortress was taken, all its inhabitants were driven from the
+city with nothing but the clothes which they had on their bodies. Then
+began the great pillage. The victors slew all whom they found in any
+place of hiding. At last Mongol troops were sent out to surround the
+inhabitants on the plain, and divide them into parties. Deeds were done
+there which baffle description. Every possible outrage was enacted
+before those to whom it was most dreadful to be present, and have
+eyesight. Some had strength to choose death instead of looking at those
+horrors; among spectators of this kind were the chief judge of the
+city, and the first Imam, who seeing the dishonor of their women rushed
+to save them, and perished.
+
+Finally the city was fired; everything wooden was consumed, nothing was
+left save the main mosque, and a few brick palaces.
+
+Jinghis Khan left the smoking ruins of Bokhara the Noble, to march on
+Samarkand, which was only five days distant. He passed along the
+pleasant valley of Sogd, covered at that time with beautiful fields,
+orchards and gardens and with houses here and there in good number. All
+inhabitants of Bokhara taken to toil in the coming siege were driven on
+behind the army. Whoso grew weak on the way or too weary for marching
+was cut down at once without pity.
+
+Samarkand was one of the great commercial cities of the world. It had a
+garrison which numbered forty thousand. Both the city and the citadel
+had been fortified with care, and all men considered that a siege of
+that place would continue for months, nay, for years perhaps.
+
+The three other army corps appeared now, for every place on the lower
+river had been taken, and Northern Transoxiana was subjected. These
+divisions brought with them all captives who were young, firm and
+stalwart, men who might be of service in siege work; there was an
+immense host of those people arranged in groups of ten, and each ten
+had a banner. Jinghis, to impose on the doomed city, paraded his
+legions before it; cavalry, infantry, and at last those unfortunate
+captives who had the seeming of regular warriors.
+
+Two days were spent in examining the city defenses and outworks; on the
+third morning early the Mongol conqueror sounded the onset. A host of
+brave citizens made a great sally, and at first swept all before them
+but not being sustained by their own troops, who feared the besiegers,
+they met a dreadful disaster. The Mongols retired before the onrushing
+people, who pressed forward with vigor till they fell into ambush;
+being on foot they were surrounded very quickly and slaughtered before
+the eyes of the many thousands looking from the walls, and the
+housetops. This great defeat crushed the hopes of the citizens.
+
+The Kankali troops being Turks believed that the Mongols would treat
+them most surely as kinsmen. In fact Jinghis had promised, as they
+thought, to take them to his service. Hence this great multitude, the
+real strength of the city, issued forth that same day with their
+leaders, their families, and their baggage, in one word, with all that
+belonged to them. On the fourth day, just as the storm was to be
+sounded, the chief men of the city went to the Mongol camp, where they
+received satisfactory answers concerning themselves with their families
+and dependents; hence they opened the gates of Samarkand to the
+conqueror; but they were driven from the city save fifty thousand who
+had put themselves under the protection of the cadi and the mufti.
+These fifty thousand were safe-guarded, the others were all
+slaughtered.
+
+The night following the surrender, Alb Khan, a Turk general, made a
+sortie from the citadel and had the fortune to break through the
+Mongols, thus saving himself and those under him. At daybreak the
+citadel was attacked simultaneously on all sides. That struggle lasted
+till the evening, when one storming party burst in, and the stronghold
+was taken. One thousand defenders took refuge in a mosque and fought
+with desperation. The mosque was fired then, and all were burned to
+death in it. The Kankalis who had yielded on the third day, that is the
+first day of fighting, were conducted to a place beyond the city and
+kept apart from others. Their horses, arms, and outfits were taken from
+them, and their hair was shaved in front, Mongol fashion, as if they
+were to form a part of the army. This was a trick to deceive them till
+the executioners were ready. In one night the Kankalis were murdered to
+the very last man.
+
+When vast numbers of the citizens had been slaughtered a census was
+made of the remnant: Thirty thousand persons of various arts,
+occupations and crafts were given by Jinghis to his sons, his wives,
+and his officers; thirty thousand more were reserved for siege labor;
+fifty thousand, after they had paid two hundred thousand gold pieces,
+were permitted to return to the city, which received Mongol
+commandants. Requisitions of men were made at later periods repeatedly,
+and, since few of those persons returned to their homes, Samarkand
+stood ruined and unoccupied for a long time.
+
+Jinghis Khan so disposed his forces from the first, that Shah Mohammed
+could not relieve any city between the two rivers; now all those cities
+were taken, and the forces defending them were slaughtered. The next
+great work was to seize Shah Mohammed himself, and then slay him, and
+with him his family.
+
+Thirty thousand chosen men were employed now in chasing the Kwaresmian
+ruler. Never had a sovereign been hunted like this victim of the
+Mongols. He fled like a fox, or a hare; he was hunted as if he had been
+a dreadful wild beast, which had killed some high or holy person, or as
+if he were some outcast, who had committed a deed which might make a
+whole nation shudder. But here we must say a few words concerning the
+hunted man, and explain his position.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FLIGHT AND DEATH OF MOHAMMED
+
+
+While the Mongols were ruining Northern Transoxiana Mohammed held aloof
+from every action, and was discouraged so deeply that his weakness
+affected all people of the Empire. While fortifying Samarkand he passed
+by the moat one day, and made this remark: “The Mongols are so many
+that they could fill this moat with their horsewhips.” When Jinghis had
+captured the northern line beyond the Oxus, Mohammed moved southward by
+way of Naksheb, telling all people to care for themselves, since his
+troops could not protect them. The diversity of opinions among his
+commanders and ministers increased his hesitation. The best warriors
+declared that Transoxiana was lost, but that Khorassan and Irak must be
+guarded; that troops must be concentrated, a general levy enforced, and
+the Amu Darya be defended at all costs. Others advised to fall back
+upon Ghazni, and there meet the Mongols; if beaten the Shah might
+retire beyond the Indus. This being the most timid course Mohammed
+favored and chose it; but, joined at Balkh by Amad ul mulk, the vizir,
+he altered that plan at the instance of Amad, who was prime minister of
+Rokn ud din, the Shah’s son who held Persian Irak as an appanage, and
+had sent Amad to his father hoping thus to be rid of him.
+
+The position of Amad was of this sort: He wished to be near Shah
+Mohammed, his protector, and he was drawn toward his birthplace, the
+home of his family; so he persuaded the Shah to change plans and go to
+Persian Irak, where he would find men and means to force back the
+Mongols. Jelal ud din, the best son of Mohammed, in fact the only brave
+man in the family, was opposed to both projects; he would not talk of
+retreat, he would stop the invasion at the Oxus. “If thou retire to
+Irak,” said he, “give me thy forces. I will drive back the Mongols, and
+liberate the Empire.” Every discussion, however, was fruitless; the
+Shah treated all his son’s reasons as folly. “Success,” said Mohammed,
+“is fixed from eternity, defeat is averted by a change in the stars,
+and not otherwise.”
+
+Before he left his position at Balkh Mohammed sent men to Pendjde, a
+point north of Termed, to collect information of the enemy’s movements.
+Tidings came quickly that Bokhara had been captured, that Samarkand had
+surrendered. Delaying his journey no longer, the Shah started off in
+hot haste through Khorassan. Most of the troops who went with him were
+Turks whose chiefs were his mother’s adherents and kinsmen; these
+formed a plot very quickly to kill him. Forewarned of their treachery,
+Mohammed left his tent during night hours; next morning it was seen to
+be riddled with arrows. His fears increased greatly, and he hastened on
+till he reached Nishap, where he halted, thinking that the Mongols
+would not cross the river Oxus in any case.
+
+From Samarkand Jinghis despatched Chepé with ten thousand, Subotai with
+a second ten thousand, and Tuguchar with a third corps of similar
+numbers. The order given these was to ride with all speed to the camp
+of the Shah. If they found him at the head of large forces to wait till
+reinforcements came up to them; if he had few, to attack and secure
+him; if fleeing, to pursue, and with Heaven’s help take and keep him;
+to spare cities which yielded; to ruin utterly those which resisted.
+
+The pursuing Mongols swept through Khorassan untiringly. This splendid
+province had four famous cities: Balkh, Herat, Merv and Nishapur.
+Besides these there were others of considerable, though minor,
+importance. When the Mongols were near Balkh that city sent forth a
+deputation with presents and submission. A Mongol governor was placed
+in it. Zaveh closed its gates and refused all supplies; unwilling to
+lose time there at siege work the Mongols pressed forward, but since
+people mounted the walls then, and stood beating drums and abusing
+them, they turned and attacked that foolish city which reviled them.
+They stormed the place, put to the sword every man in it, and burned
+what they had not the power to take with them.
+
+On and on rode the Mongols. People met on the way to Nishapur were
+seized and put to torture till they told what they knew of the fleeing
+Mohammed. Cities were summoned to surrender; those that surrendered
+were spared and received new commandants. If cities which resisted were
+weak, they were stormed; if strong, they were left till a later
+occasion, since the work then on hand was to capture Mohammed.
+
+When the Shah learned that the enemy had entered Khorassan he left
+Nishapur with a small escort under pretext of hunting. Consternation
+filled that place when the truth grew apparent. After the Shah deserted
+the city the vizir with the mufti and the cadi ruled, pending the
+arrival of a governor, who was on the way from Urgendj, the Kwaresmian
+capital. This man died when three days from the end of his journey; his
+household officials kept his death secret lest the escort might seize
+all his movable property. One of the regents went forth as if to meet
+him, and brought in his treasure. The escort, one thousand in number,
+would not stay in the city, but went in search of Mohammed. Next day
+those men, when nine miles from Nishapur, were met by a new host of
+Mongols who attacked very quickly and cut them to pieces.
+
+The city was summoned to open its gates and the three regents gave
+answer as follows: “When Shah Mohammed is captured, Nishapur will
+surrender.” The first Mongol party that demanded provisions received
+them and vanished. Day after day new bodies rushed up to the city,
+received what they asked for and rode away swiftly. At last Chepé came
+and commanded the vizir, the mufti and cadi to appear at headquarters.
+Three supposititious men were sent out to meet him with gifts and
+provisions. The general gave these men the Khan’s proclamation in Uigur
+characters, and this was its import: “O commandants, officials and
+people! Know ye that Heaven has given me the Empire of the earth, both
+the east and the west of it. Those who submit will be spared; woe to
+those who resist, they will be slaughtered with their children, and
+wives and dependents. Give provisions to all troops that come, and
+think not to meet water with fire, or to trust in your walls, or the
+numbers of those who defend them. If ye try to escape utter ruin will
+seize you.”
+
+The three bodies of Mongols, ten thousand each which were speeding on
+now in pursuit of Mohammed were rushing toward Irak. Subotai passed
+through Damegan and Simnan, and crossed the Kumus River. Chepé Noyon,
+who had gone by Mazanderan, rejoined Subotai at Rayi. This place they
+took by surprise, and then sacked it.
+
+From Nishapur Mohammed hastened on to Kazvin, where his son Rokn ud din
+had an army; there he took counsel with the leaders of that army which
+was thirty thousand in number, and sent for Hezerasp, prince of Lur,
+who advised a retreat across the mountain chain lying between Fars and
+Lur. The Shah wished to stay in Irak and increase his defense there; he
+had just stated that wish when news came that Rayi had been taken and
+plundered. Chiefs and princes fled straightway on hearing this. Each
+went his own road, and the whole army vanished immediately, so great
+was the terror inspired by the onrushing Mongols.
+
+The Shah fled for safety to his sons in Karun. On the way Mongol forces
+were in sight and almost caught him, unwittingly. They sent arrows at
+the fleeing man though not knowing who he was and wounded the horse
+which he was riding, but the beast held out and bore him safely to the
+fortress. Next morning he fled farther along the road lying westward
+toward Bagdad. Barely had he ridden away when the Mongols, who knew now
+whose horse they had wounded, rushed in, thinking to seize the hunted
+man surely. They attacked the fort furiously at first, but learning
+soon that the Shah had escaped they hurried after him. On the way they
+met men who professed to be guides dismissed by Mohammed; from these
+men they heard that he was fleeing to Bagdad. They took the guides then
+and rushed forward, but the Shah was on a new road at that time. The
+Mongols soon saw that they had lost his trail, and were tricked, so
+they cut down the guides and returned to Karun.
+
+Mohammed had fled to Serdjihan, a strong place northeast of Kazvin on a
+mountain. Seven days he remained there; he then fled to Gilan, and next
+to Mazanderan, where he appeared stripped of property and almost
+unattended. The Mongols had preceded him, having sacked two towns
+already, Amol the capital, and Astrabad a place of much commerce.
+“Where am I to find safety from Mongols? Is there no spot on earth
+where I can be free of them?” Such was the cry of Mohammed. “Go to some
+little island in the Caspian, that will be the safest place!” said some
+of his friends. This advice pleased Shah Mohammed, so he stopped in a
+village on the seashore, intending to follow it. He prayed five times
+each day in the mosque, had the Koran read to him and promised God
+tearfully that justice would reign in his Empire as never on earth up
+to that day, should power ever come to him a second time.
+
+While Mohammed was thus engaged in that village, Mongols appeared on a
+sudden. They were guided by Rokn ud din, a small prince of that region.
+This man’s uncle and cousin had been killed by Shah Mohammed, who
+seized their lands in the days of his insolence and his greedy
+ambition. Rokn ud din’s hatred had sent him as a guide to the Mongols,
+and thus he recovered his family inheritance. The Shah had barely time
+to spring into a boat and push out from shore when his enemies were
+upon him. Enraged at the loss of their victim, many horsemen sprang
+after the boat, but they failed to reach it and were drowned in the
+Caspian.
+
+Mohammed, who was suffering gravely from pleurisy and weakness,
+declared as he sailed from the shore, that after reigning over many
+kingdoms and lands he lacked even a few ells of earth for a resting
+place. The fallen man reached a small island and was childishly joyous
+at finding a safe place of refuge. His house was a tent with little in
+it, but the people of the coast brought him food, and whatever else
+might be pleasing to the monarch, as they thought. In return Mohammed
+gave them brevets of office, or titles to land which they wrote
+themselves frequently, since he had sent most of his small suite to
+bring his sons to him. Later on, when Jelal ud din had regained some
+part of his possessions he honored all gages of this kind.
+
+The Shah’s illness increased, and he lost hope of recovery. His sons
+came and then he withdrew from Oslag the inheritance. “Save Jelal ud
+din there is none of you who can recover the Empire,” declared
+Mohammed. The failing monarch took his own sabre which he girded on
+Jelal ud din, and commanded the younger brothers to show him obedience.
+Mohammed breathed his last some days later, January 10, 1221, and was
+buried on that island. There was no cloth for a shroud, so he was
+buried in another man’s shirt. His funeral was small and the ceremony
+scant at his burial. Such was the end which Jinghis gave a great
+sovereign who, till his attack on the Kalif of Islam, ruled over a vast
+country and found success everywhere save in the struggles with his
+mother.
+
+Before crossing the Oxus, Mohammed directed Turkan Khatun, who governed
+Urgendj, the modern Khiva, to retire to Mazanderan and live there in
+the mountains, taking with her his harem. Jinghis, informed clearly of
+the quarrels between the Shah and his mother, sent Danishmend, his
+chancellor, to that relentless, harsh woman, and this was his message:
+“Thy son is ungrateful, I know that. If thou agree with me I will not
+touch Kwaresm, which thou art ruling. I will give thee, moreover,
+Khorassan when I win it. Send a trusty man, he will hear this assurance
+from my own lips directly.”
+
+Turkan Khatun gave no answer, but left Kwaresm as soon as she heard
+that her son had fled westward. Before going, however, she put to death
+all the princes whom the Shah had despoiled and imprisoned; among these
+were both sons of Togrul, the last Seljuk sultan of Irak; the Balkh
+prince and his son, the sovereign of Termed; the prince of Bamian; the
+Vakhsh prince, the two sons of the lord of Signak, and the two sons of
+Mahmud, last prince of Gur. She had all these men thrown into the Oxus
+and drowned, sparing only Omar, Khan of Yazer, who could be of use on
+her journey, since he knew all the roads which led to his own land and
+birthplace. In fact he served the woman well, till they were near
+Yazer, when his head was cut off at her order, as she had no further
+use for him.
+
+When Mohammed had fled to Mazanderan he directed his mother, as we have
+seen, to live in Ilak, the best stronghold in all that great region of
+mountain. Later on Subotai, who was hunting Mohammed, left a body of
+men to invest that strong fortress. As Ilak was in a rainy, damp
+climate no reservoirs had been made for dry periods; while the place
+was invested that happened which came to pass rarely, a dry season.
+After a blockade of some months drought forced a surrender. But just
+after the Mongols had taken possession, the sky was covered densely
+with clouds which brought a great rainfall.
+
+Turkan Khatun and the harem were taken to the camp of Jinghis, who was
+before Talekan at that time and besieging it. She was held captive
+there strictly. All the sons of Mohammed found in the harem were put to
+death promptly. Two of his daughters were given to Jagatai, who made
+one of them his concubine, and gave the other as a present to his
+manager; a third was given as wife to the chancellor, Danishmend. The
+widow of Osman, Khan of Samarkand, she who had insisted on the
+execution of her husband, and was the daughter of the Gurkhan, was
+given in marriage to a dyer, but by another account she was given to
+Juchi, who had by her afterward several children. Turkan Khatun, the
+strong, brutal woman, was taken to Kara Kurum, the Mongol capital,
+where she died eight years later. Just before she was captured a eunuch
+had urged her to find refuge with Jelal ud din, her own grandson, who
+was near by, he declared, with a numerous army. Turkan replied that
+captivity of any kind was sweeter to her than salvation at his hand.
+Such was the hate which she felt toward her grandson. Nassir ud din,
+the vizir who had defied Shah Mohammed, was put to death at Talekan
+with a number of others.
+
+Mohammed’s three elder sons made their way to Mangishlak by the Caspian
+and thence to Urgendj, the Kwaresmian capital. Since the flight of
+their grandmother the capital had been without rule; in her haste she
+had left no governor there. Seventy thousand men gathered round the
+three princes immediately. The commanders, being Kankali Turks, were
+dissatisfied that Jelal ud din had succeeded his father; they feared
+his strong will and plotted to kill him. The new Shah saw very clearly
+that his one chance of safety was flight, and he seized that chance
+quickly. With three hundred warriors under Timur Melik, that Khodjend
+commandant who had escaped through the Mongol investment, he fled
+across the desert to Nessa.
+
+After the capture of Samarkand Jinghis stationed his troops between
+that place and Naksheb where they spent the spring of 1221 and also the
+summer. Toward autumn his forces were reorganized thoroughly. Having
+rested they were strong and now ready for action. The return of
+Mohammed’s sons at Urgendj and the gathering of forces there roused the
+Khan’s vigilance, so he despatched thither an army at once under his
+sons, Juchi, Jagatai and Ogotai. To cut off retreat toward the Indus he
+formed a cordon on the southern rim of the desert; a part of this
+cordon was already near Nessa when Jelal ud din and his party arrived
+there. He attacked this line of men valiantly, forced it to flight and
+pushed on without stopping. This was the first victory won over Mongols
+in the Kwaresmian Empire. The two younger brothers, hearing of the
+advance on Urgendj, set out three days later, but failed of such
+fortune as their brother, and perished near Nessa. Their heads fixed on
+lances were borne through Khorassan.
+
+When the Mongol troops arrived before Urgendj, Juchi, who was in
+command, sent to the capital a summons to surrender, informing the
+people that his father had given him the city and that he did not wish
+to injure it in any way. As no attention was paid to this summons the
+siege was begun at once. The Mongols endeavored to divert the waters of
+the Oxus above the town, but with no success, for the workmen were
+killed by the garrison. Quarrels between Juchi and Jagatai impeded
+siege work very greatly. Jinghis, angered by this delay, placed Ogotai
+in command. Juchi was enraged at being thus superseded by a younger
+brother, but he could not withdraw. The siege lasted seven months and
+gained great renown through the desperate defense made by citizens.
+After the general assault which decided the fate of the city the people
+continued resistance with fury; driven from one street they fought in
+the next. Women and even children took part in these struggles, which
+continued seven days and nights without ceasing. At last the
+inhabitants asked to capitulate. “We have felt thy wrath,” declared
+they to the Mongol commander, “thy time has come now to show favor.”
+“How!” exclaimed Ogotai. “They mention our wrath, they who have slain
+so many of our army? We have felt their wrath very heavily and now we
+will show them what ours is!”
+
+He ordered all the inhabitants to go forth from the city and wait on
+the plain; the artisans were to group themselves separately. These
+artisans were spared, but were sent to Mongolia. Some of them fearing
+such an exile, joined with the people and waited. Except artisans no
+one was spared unless youthful women, and also children; all were cut
+down by Ogotai, without mercy.
+
+After this slaughter the Mongols plundered Urgendj of everything which
+had value. Then they opened the sluices of the Oxus and flooded the
+city; those who were hidden there perished. In other places some
+persons saved themselves always, but here, those who escaped Mongol
+fury and hid themselves were drowned by the water let in on them.
+
+Jinghis camped that summer on the rich Naksheb steppes, where his vast
+herds of horses found rest and good pasture. In the autumn a new and
+great campaign was begun by the siege laid to Termed. This city, on the
+north or right bank of the Oxus, refused to surrender and was taken by
+storm on the tenth day of action. All the inhabitants were driven
+beyond the suburbs and massacred; a certain old woman stopped the sword
+above her head and promised a rare pearl if they spared her. When they
+asked for the treasure, she answered, “I have swallowed it.” They
+ripped her body open and found the costly pearl in her stomach.
+Thinking that others might have swallowed jewels in like fashion,
+Jinghis commanded to rip bodies open thenceforward.
+
+The Mongol Khan passed the next winter between Balkh and the Badakshan
+boundary, subduing, ravaging, destroying all cities of note, and every
+place of distinction or value. Before the winter had ended that whole
+region north of the Oxus was ruined, and was a horror to look upon. In
+spring he crossed the river at a ford and was met by a Balkh deputation
+with gifts and submission. Humility brought that rich famous place no
+salvation. Jinghis, who knew that Jelal ud din, the new sovereign, was
+at Ghazni with an army, would not leave a strong fortress behind him.
+Under pretext of making a census he directed the people in Balkh to
+assemble outside near the suburbs. They went forth and were slaughtered
+most brutally; the city was pillaged, then burned, and all its defenses
+demolished.
+
+The time of terror came next to Nusrat i kuh in the Talekan district.
+This place, strong by position, by its works, and its garrison,
+defended itself for six months with immense strength, and successfully.
+Prisoners in large numbers were forced to fight in the front lines of
+investment. Those who turned back were cut down without mercy by the
+Mongols behind them. A huge earth mound was reared and catapults placed
+on it; with these the besiegers battered the interior of the fortress.
+At last the brave garrison made a great sally on foot and on horseback;
+the horsemen escaped to the mountains, but the foot forces were like
+wild beasts at bay; they fought till the enemy had slain every man of
+them. The Mongols then burst into the city; they spared no living soul
+in it and left not one stone on another.
+
+While the Khan’s army was destroying Nusrat i kuh, Tului returned to
+his father after wasting Khorassan, the richest and most beautiful part
+of the Empire. When Tului had set out for this work of destruction
+Khorassan had been already ravaged by Subotai and by Chepé, who did the
+work only in part as they rushed along hunting Mohammed. These two
+chiefs left a commandant in each place which yielded. After they had
+passed, and when news came of victories won, as men said, by Mohammed,
+people hitherto terrified recovered their courage. For instance, the
+chief of militia in Tus killed the Mongol commandant and sent his head
+to Nishapur, the next city, as a trophy; but this chief suffered soon
+after for his levity and rashness. A strange captain came with a
+detachment to Tus, put nearly all native troops to the sword, and
+forced the Tus citizens to destroy their defenses.
+
+When Tului received the command in 1220 to march on Khorassan he sent
+forward ten thousand men, under Togachar, as a vanguard. This body went
+on toward Nessa and when approaching that city a part of it met with
+resistance. Belgush, its commander, fell in the action which followed.
+Togachar, to avenge the death of Belgush, besieged Nessa. Shah
+Mohammed, when fleeing, had sent an official to advise Nessa people:
+“The Mongols,” said he, “will abandon the Empire when they have
+plundered it, so flee to the desert, or to mountainous regions, unless
+ye wish to rebuild the old fortress, which was razed by my father.”
+They rebuilt the old fortress.
+
+Togachar attacked Nessa, using twenty catapults handled by captives,
+who, whenever they fell back, were massacred by Mongols behind them. On
+the sixteenth day at dawn a breach in the wall was effected; the
+Mongols burst through and drove out the inhabitants. On the plain near
+Nessa some were forced to bind others; when the hands of each man were
+bound behind his back the Mongols slaughtered all who were there,
+seventy thousand in number.
+
+The ancient city of Meru, or Merv, renowned in Persian story, and still
+more in Sanscrit poems, was the first place attacked by Tului with the
+main army. It was one of the four ruling cities, and the one which
+Melik Shah and Sindjar, the Seljuk Sultans, had favored. It stood on a
+broad, fertile plain through which flowed the Murghab, or Bird, River.
+When Mohammed fled from Jinghis he directed Merv troops and officials
+to retire on Meraga, a neighboring fortress. “All people who remain
+must receive Mongol troops with submission,” this was his order.
+Mohammed’s fear, not his counsel, remained in that city. His governor,
+Behai ul Mulk, did not think Meraga strong and found elsewhere a
+refuge; some chiefs returned to Merv, others fled to distant places.
+The new governor, a man of no value, declared for submission, and so
+did the mufti, but the judge and descendants of the Prophet demanded
+resistance. The governor lost his place soon and was followed in office
+by a former incumbent named Mojir ul Mulk, who managed Merv matters
+till Tului appeared with a force seventy thousand in number, made up in
+some part of captives. Next day he surrounded the outworks and within a
+week’s time his whole army had inclosed that doomed city, February,
+1221.
+
+The besieged made two sorties from different sides, but were hurled
+back each time with great violence. The assailants then passed the
+whole night near the ramparts, so that no living soul might escape
+them. Mojir ul Mulk sent a venerable Imam next morning to visit
+headquarters. This holy man brought back such mild words and fair
+speeches, that the governor himself went to visit the camp, bearing
+with him rich presents. Tului promised him the office of governor, and
+the lives of all citizens. He gave him a rich robe of honor and spoke
+of the governor’s friends and adherents: “I desire to attach them to my
+person,” said he, “and confer on them fiefs and high office.” The
+governor sent for his friends and adherents. When Tului had all these
+men in his power he bound them. He bound Mojir ul Mulk also and forced
+him to name the richest Merv citizens. A list was drawn up of two
+hundred great merchants and men of much property, who were sent to the
+Mongols with four hundred artisans. After this the troops entered the
+city and drove out the people. The command had been given that each man
+must go forth with his family and all he had of most value. The
+multitude spent four whole days marching out of the city.
+
+Tului mounted a gilded throne on a plain near the suburbs and had the
+war chiefs brought first to his presence. That done he commanded to hew
+off their heads in presence of the immense wailing multitude of people,
+for whom no better lot was in waiting.
+
+Men, women, and children were torn from one another never to meet in
+this life after that day. The whole place was filled with groans,
+shrieks and wild terror; the people were given in groups to divisions
+of the army whose office it was to cut them down to the last without
+pity or exception. Only four hundred artisans were set aside and some
+boys and girls intended for servitude. Wealthy persons were tortured
+unsparingly till they told where their treasures were hidden; when the
+treasures were found these men were slaughtered as well as the others.
+The city was plundered to the utmost; the tomb of the Sultan, Sindjar,
+was pillaged; the walls of the ancient city and the fortress were made
+level with the country about them.
+
+Before he left that city of carnage and terror Tului appointed a
+governor, one of the inhabitants whom he had spared for some reason,
+and then he joined a Mongol commandant to that man. When the army had
+marched away to destroy Nishapur, about five hundred persons crept
+forth from underground places of hiding, but short was the breathing
+space given them. Mongol troops following Tului wished also a share in
+the bloodshed. Halting outside the dark ruins, they asked that these
+ill-fated people bring wheat to their camp ground. The unfortunates
+were sent and were slaughtered.
+
+This corps cut down every man whom it met in the wake of Tului.
+
+Nishapur stood twelve days’ journey distant from Merv and in attacking
+it Tului was preparing to avenge Togachar, his sister’s husband, killed
+at Nessa. The Nishapur people had done what they could to the harm of
+the Mongols, and had prepared to defend themselves with all the
+strength of their souls and their bodies. They had mounted three
+thousand ballistas on the walls, and five hundred catapults.
+
+The siege was begun by laying waste the whole province, of which
+Nishapur was the capital. Three thousand ballistas, three hundred
+catapults, seven hundred machines to throw pots of burning naphtha, and
+four thousand ladders were among the siege implements. At sight of
+these, and of the vast multitude of savage warriors surrounding their
+city, the leaders felt courage go from them.
+
+A deputation of notables, with the chief judge of Khorassan, went to
+offer Tului submission, and an annual tribute.
+
+Tului refused every offer and held the judge captive. Next morning he
+rode round the walls and roused his troops to the greatest endeavor.
+They attacked all sides at once, fighting that day and the night
+following. In the morning the moats were full; in the walls were
+seventy breaches; ten thousand Mongols had entered. New assailants
+rushed in from every side, and there were desperate encounters at many
+points. Before that day had ended the city was occupied. The assailants
+took terrible vengeance. Togachar’s widow, one of Jinghis Khan’s
+daughters, rushed in herself with ten thousand warriors who cut down
+all before them. The slaughter continued four days without ceasing. The
+Mongols destroyed every living thing; even the cats and dogs in the
+city were killed by them (April, 1221).
+
+Tului had heard that in the destruction of Merv many persons had saved
+their lives by lying down among corpses, so now he ordained that all
+heads be cut from the bodies; of these three pyramids were constructed,
+one of men’s heads, a second from heads of women, and a third of
+children’s heads. Fifteen days did destruction of the city continue;
+the place disappeared altogether, and the Mongols sowed barley on the
+site of it. Of the inhabitants only a few hundred men were left living;
+these were skilled artisans. Lest some should find refuge in
+underground places, troops were left near the ruins to slay all who
+might creep out later on into daylight.
+
+The Mongol army marched now against Herat, the last city left in
+Khorassan. The governor, who had slain the envoy sent by Tului to
+summon the place to surrender, exhorted all men to fight desperately,
+to fight to the death. The struggle continued eight days, and Herat
+fought with immense resolution and fury; on that day the governor fell,
+and a small party sprang up which declared for submission. Tului
+knowing this state of mind in the city, promised to spare the people,
+if they would submit to him straightway. The offer was accepted. He
+spared all the citizens, excepting twelve thousand devoted to Jelal ud
+din, the new sovereign, and appointed a Mohammedan governor, with a
+Mongol commandant to help him.
+
+Eight days later Tului received from Talekan a command to go to his
+father.
+
+While Tului was ruining Khorassan, a small group of Turkmans,
+Khankalis, who were living near Merv, fearing the Mongols, moved
+westward, and after some wandering in Asia Minor, settled at last near
+Angora under Ertogrul their tribe chieftain. They numbered in those
+days four hundred and forty families. These Turkmans formed the nucleus
+of the Ottoman Empire, so famous in history until our day.
+
+After he had destroyed Talekan, Jinghis held his summer camp for a time
+in the neighboring mountains. His sons, Jagatai and Ogotai, returned
+from Urgendj and other ruined places on the Oxus. Juchi went north of
+Lake Aral and in deep and unquenchable anger began to establish the
+monarchy of Kipchak, known later as the Golden Horde, and never again
+saw his father. Jinghis learning, toward the autumn of 1221, that Jelal
+ud din had large forces in Ghazni, directed his march toward that city
+to crush him.
+
+The great Khan was detained a whole month at Kerduan, a firm fortress,
+but he destroyed it at last, with all its defenders. He crossed the
+Hindu Kush after that and besieged Bamian, where he lost one grandson
+stricken dead by an arrow; this was Moatagan, son of Jagatai. To avenge
+this death Bamian was stormed promptly, and taken. Jinghis would not
+have it in another way. The command was given to leave nothing alive,
+and take no booty of any kind. Every living creature had to die, and
+every thing of value was broken or burned. Bamian was renamed Mobalig
+(the city of woe), and the region about it was turned to a desert. A
+hundred years later it contained no inhabitants.
+
+Just after this destruction came the news of Jelal ud din’s victory
+over a Mongol division, commanded by Kutuku, who had been protecting
+the Khan’s operations and those of Tului on the south side. This
+victory was gained at Peruan, not far from the Bamian boundary. It
+brought more harm to the victor, however, than profit, for it caused a
+sudden rupture between his commanders, some of whom deserted and led
+away many warriors. With reduced ranks he was forced to fall back upon
+Ghazni, and thence farther south when he heard that Jinghis was
+advancing rapidly to avenge the defeat of Kutuku, his general.
+
+The Mongol army reached Ghazni fifteen days after its opponent had
+retreated. Jinghis left a governor in the city, and flew toward the
+Indus with all the speed possible to horses when men are sitting on
+them and urging them to the utmost. But this time the great Mongol had
+to do with a man of more mettle than he had met in his warfaring thus
+far. Jelal ud din had gathered in forces from all sides; he sent urgent
+messages to the chiefs who had left him, but, though willing to return,
+they had no chance to do so at that day. Jinghis was between them and
+their leader.
+
+The Mongols urged forward their horses with the energy of madmen. The
+great task was to stop the young Shah from crossing the Indus with his
+army and his harem—his wives and children were all with him. Time was
+in this case preëminent in value. The Mongols pressed Jelal ud din
+savagely, but he was, as ever, unterrified. Just before reaching the
+Indus he fell at night on the rear of his enemy’s vanguard, and cut it
+down to a man very nearly.
+
+On reaching the river there was no time to cross, so the Shah ranged
+his army for battle. The left wing was covered by a mountain, which
+ended sheer in the river. The mountain could not be turned, and could
+not be crossed, as the Shah thought; it protected the left from flank
+attack also; the Indus protected the right from flank movements, and
+Jelal ud din could be met straight in front only. His army was thirty
+thousand, while that of his enemy was many times larger.
+
+And now began the unequal and desperate encounter. The Shah’s right
+wing, to which he sent reinforcements repeatedly, repulsed the left
+wing of the Mongols, and he himself broke Jinghis Khan’s center. For a
+time the Mongol conqueror was in personal peril, since a horse was
+killed under him in the struggle. Jelal ud din would have held his own,
+and perhaps won a victory, had not Bela Noyon been sent with ten
+thousand picked men to pass the mountain at all costs. Over cliffs and
+on the edge of abysses the Mongols crept carefully, pushing forward
+till at last they were in the rear of the weakened left wing and the
+center which, attacked from rear and front, were pierced through and
+forced out of contact with each other.
+
+Rallying seven thousand men around him Jelal ud din made a desperate
+charge on the line of his enemy, which gave way for some distance, then
+he turned quickly, sprang on a fresh horse, threw off his armor and
+spurring to the Indus leaped from a bank given variously as from twenty
+to sixty feet higher than the plain of the water. His shield was at his
+shoulder, and his standard in his hand. Jinghis, who spurred to the
+river bank swiftly and gazed at his fleeing opponent, cried: “How could
+Shah Mohammed be the father of this man!”
+
+The eldest son of Jelal ud din was a lad of eight years. He with his
+brothers were tossed into the Indus and drowned like superfluous
+puppies. Jinghis disposed of the harem and treasures as pleased him.
+
+Jelal ud din vanished then for a time from the conflict to appear later
+on in various struggles till weakness, treachery and death put an end
+to him. Mongol generals crossed the river and pursued, but returned
+after fruitless endeavors.
+
+Jinghis marched up the right bank of the Indus in the spring of 1222,
+and sent his son Ogotai to take Ghazni and destroy it. Here, as in most
+other places, the inhabitants were sent from the city, as it were to be
+counted, but were slaughtered most brutally; none were spared except
+artisans. An army corps was sent also to ruin Herat, the one city left
+in Khorassan. Herat had risen in revolt on hearing of the Peruan
+triumph over Mongols; the people had had such action in view since the
+time of surrender, and had stored away arms and supplies under pretext
+that they were for Mongol use should the need come.
+
+Not far from Herat was the Kaliun fortress, known later on as Nerretu.
+To reach this strong place men had to pass single file on the high,
+narrow ridge of a mountain which resembled the back of a colossal hog
+of the razor-back species. The place was beyond reach of arrows, or of
+stones sent by catapults. Though they had attacked Kaliun twice, the
+Mongols had failed in their efforts to take it. The Kaliun men, fearing
+lest they might come a third time, and impress Herat people, had
+planned to involve that strong and wealthy city, which would then have
+one cause with them. They sent letters to the Mongol governors ruling
+in Herat stating: “We are ready to surrender, but fear Mongol rigor; we
+beg for a written safe-conduct.”
+
+The governors answered that they would give such a letter, and advised
+the petitioners to visit the city and come to them. This was all that
+the other men needed; so seventy strong warriors went down from Kaliun,
+disguised as simple huxters; they had arms covered up in the packs
+which they carried. They entered the city, each man by himself,
+combined later on and slew both the governors. Herat rose immediately,
+and killed every partisan of the Mongols.
+
+In addition to his own men the Mongol commander led now fifty thousand
+impressed from conquered places. A siege followed soon and a desperate
+resistance. Six months and seventeen days did it last till the fall of
+the city. The sword was turned then on all save the choice youth of
+both sexes. For one week the Mongols slew, pillaged, burned, ruined. It
+was said that one million six hundred thousand people perished in the
+conflict and subsequent slaughter. Jinghis received the richest of the
+plunder, and with it went several thousands of youthful captives.
+
+When Herat was destroyed the commander went back to the main army;
+somewhat later troops were sent to capture all who might have escaped
+and appeared in the ruins; they found about two thousand. These they
+slew, and then returned to those who had sent them.
+
+Sixteen persons took refuge on a steep mountain peak, and when they saw
+no Mongols coming back, they went down to Herat. A few others came also
+and joined them. There was then a new population, forty persons in
+number. Their only refuge was the chief mosque of the city.
+
+After its terrible ruin, Merv had been repeopled to some extent, but
+later five thousand Mongols were sent to that city and they slaughtered
+all whom they found in it. When these five thousand had done their work
+thoroughly a commandant, Ak Melik, was left with the order to kill all
+who might reappear in the ruins. This man did his best to find people
+and slay them. He sent muezzins to summon to prayer from the minarets.
+Whenever a Moslem crept out of his hiding place and entered the mosque
+he was seized and his life taken. Forty-one days did Ak Melik lurk
+there and wait for more people. The survivors were few when he left the
+ruins. Merv remained a sad desert till the days of Shah Ruk, son of
+Tamerlane.
+
+Jinghis cut down on the banks of the Indus all who had been faithful to
+Jelal ud din, the new Shah, and now he destroyed all who had deserted
+that sovereign and been foolishly treacherous. On deserting Jelal ud
+din, Agrak had gone with Azam to Bekerhar. After a visit there he set
+out for Peshawur, and from the first halting place sent back this
+message: “Let not my mortal enemy remain in thy country.” This enemy
+was Nuh Jaudar, the chief of five or six thousand Kolluj families. Azam
+sent back this answer: “Never has there been among Moslems such need as
+there now is not to quarrel.” And taking an escort of fifty, Azam
+followed to make peace between Agrak and Jaudar. He could not move
+Agrak or persuade him; they ate together and also drank wine; Agrak’s
+brain grew excited, he mounted, took one hundred men and rode to the
+camp of the Kollujes. Jaudar thinking that Agrak wished peace rode
+forth with his son to greet him. On seeing his enemy Agrak drew his
+sabre as if to strike, and was cut down by Jaudar’s men the next
+moment. When Agrak’s adherents heard that their leader had been slain
+they thought that Jaudar and Azam had plotted his ruin, and right away
+they slew Azam. Then they attacked Jaudar’s camp, where they massacred
+him and his children. Soon after this they encountered the Gur men and
+killed a great number. As a close to this tragic insanity of action a
+corps of mounted Mongols fell upon all and slew them indiscriminately;
+a small remnant fled in various directions.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+DEATH AND BURIAL OF THE CONQUEROR
+
+
+Jinghis had passed the winter of 1222–3 near the Indus, and in the
+spring of 1223 he resolved, rather suddenly as it seemed, to march up
+the Indus and return through Tibet to Tangut and China. The reasons
+given by historians for this move are various. There were troubles in
+Tangut and there was no imperative reason for remaining in Kwaresm,
+since that Empire was utterly helpless; it had been depopulated and
+ruined in most parts.
+
+Some people thought that Jinghis, if not horrified, was at least set to
+thinking by the boundless slaughters committed at his direction. We
+have two accounts touching this matter which are of interest, though
+both bear the myth stamp, and are opinions of other men as to Jinghis,
+not the great Khan’s own thoughts as expressed by his words or his
+actions. In the Chinese history “Tung Kian Kang Mu,” the following
+cause is given for his sudden decision: When Jinghis was at the Iron
+Gate of North India his guards saw a creature which resembled a deer,
+but its head was like that of a horse with one horn on its forehead,
+and there was green hair on its body. This creature had power of
+speech, for it said to the guards: “It is time for your master to
+return to his own land.” Jinghis, troubled by this message, consulted
+Ye liu chu tsai, who said: “That creature is Kotwan, it knows every
+language. It appears as a sign that bloodshed is needless at present.
+For four years the great army is warring in western regions. Heaven,
+which has a horror of bloodshed, gives warning through Kotwan. Spare
+the Empire for Heaven’s sake. Moderation will give boundless pleasure.”
+
+The other account is quite different in character and import: “I was,”
+says a Gurjistan cadi, “in Herat on a tower, which stood just in front
+of Tului’s headquarters. Arrows came in such numbers that I went down
+and was lost in the dust, among Mongols. They seized and took me then
+to Tului. When he heard my adventure he wondered: ‘An angel, or it may
+be a demon, is trifling with thee,’ said he. ‘Neither,’ replied I. ‘How
+then art thou here?’ asked he. ‘I looked at all things with the eye of
+a sovereign,’ was my answer, ‘hence no harm struck me.’ This answer so
+pleased Tului that he showed me much favor. ‘Take this gift,’ added he,
+‘for thou art a man of rare wisdom. Be true to Jinghis the great Khan,
+for thou wilt now serve him.’ He sent me then to his father, who
+received me in Talekan with high favor. Jinghis spoke to me of Turkish
+sufferings repeatedly. ‘Dost thou think,’ asked he one day, ‘that the
+blood which I have shed will be remembered against me by mankind?’ He
+held a dart in his hand while he looked in my face and put questions.
+‘I will answer,’ replied I, ‘if your majesty secures life to me.’
+‘Speak,’ said the Khan, and I answered: ‘If your majesty slays as many
+persons as you please, men will give you whatever fame pleases them.’
+His face colored at these words, and he shouted in rage till the dart
+dropped from his fingers. I felt death standing near me that moment,
+but he soon recovered and said: ‘I have thought on the wisdom of sages,
+and see that I have plundered and slain without the right knowledge in
+that region where Mohammed’s horse lost his way; but what care I for
+men?’ and he went from the chamber. I could remain in those places no
+longer, such was my fear in that horde, and I fled from it.”
+
+Before starting for home Jinghis gave command to kill all superfluous
+prisoners, that is, all who had done the work because of which they had
+been spared from death on the day when they were taken; only artisans
+were left, men needed for their skill in Mongolia. This command was not
+carried out, however, till the captives had hulled an immense store of
+rice for the Mongols; that done they were slain in one night without
+any exception.
+
+The Mongols took the road toward Tibet, but after some days they turned
+back from that difficult region and went to Peshawur, where were the
+roads along which they had come in the first place. As he passed Balkh
+on the Samarkand road Jinghis Khan issued orders to slay all who had
+made their way back to that city.
+
+After the death of Shah Mohammed, Chepé Noyon and Subotai, two of the
+three who had hunted him down to extinction, plundered Persian, that is
+Eastern, Irak and ruined it, and also the lands between that vast
+province and the Caspian. On the west they went great distances inland,
+including parts of Armenia, and also Georgia as far as Tiflis. In 1222
+those commanders received from Jinghis reinforcements with a command to
+conquer the Polovtsi, a people akin to the Mongols.
+
+These Polovtsi led a nomad life in that region which stretches westward
+from the Caspian to the Dnieper; they were neighbors of the Russians
+whom they had harassed for centuries. The Mongols had obtained from the
+Shirvan Shah ten guards to conduct them. The commanders began very
+strangely. They cut off the head of one of these ten and declared that
+the other nine would die by the same kind of death if they should
+deceive them or use any treachery. Despite this cruel act the guides
+led the army into ambush among northern foothills of the Caucasus, and
+slipped away safely.
+
+The Mongols, astray in mountains and woods, were attacked upon all
+sides by various strong peoples; among these were the Polovtsi, to whom
+they were bringing destruction. Pressed hard at all points they sent to
+those Polovtsi this message: “Ye and we are one people, why war with
+us? Make peace. We will give all the gold that ye need, and many rich
+garments. Ye and we can work together with great profit.”
+
+Seduced by these words and by presents the Polovtsi gave help and aid
+to the Mongols, gave them victory first, and then led them out to the
+open country. When towns in the Caucasus foothills and near them were
+ruined the Mongols turned on the Polovtsi, slew their chief men and
+numbers of others, took back the bribes to treachery, took every other
+thing of value and cut down and slaughtered on all sides. The Polovtsi
+fled and spread terror with their accounts of the Mongols. The whole
+people left the best pastures and moved toward their northern and
+western boundaries. Ten thousand families passed into Byzantine
+regions. John Ducas, the Emperor, took those people then to his service
+and gave them land in Macedonia and Thrace. Great numbers fled into
+Russia, which for two centuries had been scourged with their raids and
+their outrages. Among the fugitives was Kotyan, a Khan whose daughter
+had married the Galitch prince Mystislav the Gallant. Kotyan implored
+his son-in-law to help him: “To-day,” said he, “the Mongols have taken
+our land, they will take yours to-morrow. Assist us; if not we shall be
+beaten on one day and you the day following.”
+
+Mystislav called the Russian princes to a council, at which they
+resolved to give aid to the Polovtsi. “Unless we help them,” said
+Mystislav, “they will go with the Mongols and strengthen them.” A
+deputation went north to ask aid of the princes in Suzdal. Troops were
+collected and the Russian princes moved against the enemy in
+confidence. On the way they met Mongol envoys who delivered this
+message: “We have heard that, convinced by the Polovtsi, ye are
+marching against us, but we have not come to attack you. We have come
+against our own horse boys and slaves, the vile Polovtsi; we are not at
+war with you. If the Polovtsi flee to your country drive them out of
+it, and seize all their property. They have harmed you, as men tell us;
+they have harmed us also; that is why we attack them.” The Russian
+princes gave answer by killing the envoys.
+
+Some distance down that great river the Dnieper, a new Mongol embassy
+met the Russian princes with these words: “If through obedience to the
+Polovtsi ye have cut down our envoys, and are now bringing war on us,
+Heaven will judge your action; we have not harmed you.” This time the
+princes spared the envoys.
+
+When the Russians and Polovtsi had assembled at the Dnieper Mystislav
+crossed with one thousand men. He attacked the Mongol outposts and
+scattered them. After some hesitation the Mongols retired. Moving
+eastward, they lured on the Russians, who soon met a larger detachment
+of warriors. These they attacked and defeated, driving them far into
+the steppe land and seizing all their cattle. Encouraged by this
+success, the Russians moved forward eight days in succession till they
+neared the river Kalka. Then came an action with outposts and a third
+Russian victory. Mystislav ordered Daniel of Galitch, son of Roman, to
+cross the Kalka; after him went all the other princes and encamped on
+the steppe beyond the river. The Polovtsi were posted in advance, some
+of them serving as sentries. Mystislav rode forward to reconnoitre.
+Being satisfied with what was revealed to him he returned hastily,
+ordered out his own men and also Daniel, giving no command to other
+princes who were left in their camp awaiting orders; there was keen
+rivalry between him and them. Mystislav thought, as it seems, to win
+victory without them and believed that he had power thus to win it. He
+knew not that he was to meet Chepé Noyon who had hunted to death both
+Gutchluk and Mohammed, the sovereigns of two Empires; he knew nothing
+of the Mongols, their numbers, their power or their methods.
+
+The battle was opened by Daniel who, in the forefront himself, attacked
+with great valor and was wounded very early in the action, which was
+obstinate. Observing the danger, Mystislav supported him, and the
+Mongols were repulsed to some extent. At this point, for some unknown
+cause, the whole force of the Polovtsi stampeded, turned, rushed back
+in panic terror and filled the Russian camp with disorder. The Mongols
+rallied quickly, brought up fresh forces, and swept all before them.
+The Russians, not engaged for the greater part, were waiting near the
+river. The Polovtsi not only left the field, but in fact helped the
+enemy, hence victory was perfect for the Mongols. “Never in Russia,”
+states the chronicler, “was there a defeat so disastrous as this one
+(1224).”
+
+Three Russian princes, who had not taken part in the battle, held their
+ground firmly near the river, on a hill which they fortified with
+palisades. They fought there with two divisions of Mongols, which
+remained at the Kalka—the others followed Mystislav toward the Dnieper.
+Three days did those brave men fight at the river, till assured that
+they would be freed on surrender, if ransomed. They trusted the
+plighted word of the Mongols and yielded.
+
+The Mongol chiefs bound those three princes hand and foot, and laid
+them side by side on the ground at some distance one from another. They
+then placed a heavy platform upon them, sat on that platform and ate
+and drank while the princes were lying beneath in desperate torture.
+Thus the three Russians died while the Mongols were feasting above
+them.
+
+Six princes and a great number of their men perished while fleeing
+toward the Dnieper. Mystislav, and those in his company, including
+Daniel, reached the river and crossed it. The prince burned his boats
+on the west bank, or had them cut into pieces lest the enemy might
+follow him farther, but the Mongols turned back before reaching the
+Dnieper. The northern contingent, commanded by the Rostoff prince,
+Vassilko, heard at Chernigoff of the Kalka disaster and returned home,
+being too weak, as they thought, to face such an enemy.
+
+On their way eastward the Mongols used fire and sword without mercy
+wherever they found men and property. They filled southern Russia with
+terror; they swept through the Crimea and ravaged it; they captured
+Bulgar on the Volga and ruined that opulent city. Sated with bloodshed
+and laden with booty they returned that same year to headquarters east
+of the Caspian. Thus one division of Jinghis Khan’s great army overran
+an immense part of Europe without meeting effective resistance in any
+place.
+
+On leaving Samarkand for Mongolia Jinghis gave command to the mother,
+the widows and the kinsfolk of Shah Mohammed to stand at the roadside
+and take a farewell look at their native land. They did this and wailed
+in loud voices as they saw it for the last time.
+
+In February of 1225 the mighty manslayer had returned to his homeland
+between the rivers, where we may leave him for a time and turn to
+China:
+
+After Jinghis left the Kin Empire in 1216 the Kins reoccupied the land
+seized from them excepting Chong tu and the northern rim of Pe che li
+and Shan si. Mukuli, the great Mongol general, reëntered China in 1217.
+During that year and the five years which followed he conquered all the
+lands of the Kin dynasty excepting one province, Honan, which lies
+south of the Hoang Ho and extends from the bend of that river at Tung
+kwan to its mouth at the Yellow Sea. Mukuli died in April, 1223,
+leaving his title and command to his only son, Boru.
+
+After the death of this renowned warrior both Chinese dynasties became
+increasingly active and hostile. The king in Tangut followed also their
+counsel and influence. Beyond doubt, it was to meet this new growth of
+enmity that Jinghis had returned to Mongolia. The Kin Emperor had sent
+an embassy to Jinghis in the west with the offer to yield up all places
+north of the Hoang Ho, and to be a younger brother. This was refused.
+Jinghis answered that the Kin Emperor must be content with the title of
+Prince of Honan, and the position of a vassal. During the two years
+following there rose great and very active resistance. Tangut favored
+the Kins, and its monarch prepared for armed action against the
+Mongols.
+
+In view of this Jinghis toward the end of 1225 left his headquarters to
+make war on Tangut. His formal complaint was that foes of the Mongol
+Khan had been favored and taken into service by the King who had
+refused also to send his son as a hostage.
+
+Jinghis entered Tangut in 1226, during February. Between that time and
+the autumn following he passed from north to south, harassing the
+country most savagely. He laid siege to Ling chau, the capital. Li ti,
+the king, died in August, leaving the throne to Li hien, his son and
+successor. A new Tangut army was sent to strengthen Ling chau. Jinghis
+returned northward, put that new army to flight, stormed Ling chau,
+took the city, sacked it and slaughtered its inhabitants. Leaving a
+corps there he advanced to the south; seized Si ning with Lin tao and
+sacked both those cities. Establishing headquarters in Western Shen si
+he captured places all around in that region till the hot summer came
+when he retired to the Liu pan mountains and rested. The condition of
+the country at that time as described by Chinese annalists is as
+follows:
+
+“Men strive in vain to hide in caverns and in mountains. As to the
+Mongol sword, hardly two in a hundred escape it. The fields are covered
+with the bones of slaughtered people.”
+
+In the month of July, 1227, Li hien sent an embassy with submission. He
+asked merely one month in which to surrender his capital. The favor was
+granted, and Jinghis promised to regard him as his son in the future.
+
+Soon after, the Mongol manslayer was taken ill and died eight days
+later. He had time, however, to instruct his sons how to live, and his
+generals how to capture Nan king, and destroy the Kin dynasty. He told
+them also how to deal with Tangut and its sovereign.
+
+They were to hide the death of Jinghis very carefully, and when Li hien
+came out of his capital at the time fixed for surrender, they were to
+slay him and put all people of that city to the sword, without
+exception.
+
+Jinghis died August 18, 1227, when sixty-six years of age. He had
+reigned twenty-two years.
+
+The order to slay the Tangut sovereign and the people of the city was
+carried out strictly, and the kingdom of Tangut was added to the Mongol
+Empire.
+
+“Since the beginning of time,” writes the Chinese historian, “no
+barbarous people have ever been so mighty as the Mongols are at
+present. They destroy empires as a man plucks out herbs by the roots,
+such is the power in their possession. Why does Heaven let them have
+it?”
+
+The remains of the great Khan were taken back to his birthplace. Lest
+his death might be known the troops who conducted them slew every
+person whom they met as they traveled. Only when they arrived at the
+home of Jinghis was his death published to all men.
+
+As the life of Jinghis was unique and original, so were the
+circumstances of his death and the details of his funeral. A great
+number of causes were given for his death. It was ascribed to an arrow,
+to poison, to drowning, to lightning, to the witchery of Kurbeljin Goa
+the Tangut queen, who had the fame of great beauty, and whom Jinghis
+had taken as it seems from her husband and added to the number of his
+many wives. It is stated by some historians that he had more than 400
+wives and concubines. But Bortai, the mother of Juchi, Jagatai, Ogotai
+and Tului always held the first place. Ssanang Setzen, the chronicler,
+a descendant himself of Jinghis, describes the last days, death and
+funeral of his ancestor. This account reads like one of those myth
+tales which I found in Siberia. First we have the life and death
+struggle between Jinghis and the King of Tangut whose name in the
+chronicle is Shidurgo. Shidurgo opens the struggle by becoming a
+serpent, Jinghis becomes king of all birds, and then Shidurgo turns
+into a tiger, Jinghis changes at once to a lion; at last Shidurgo is a
+boy and Jinghis appears as chief of the Tengeri or heavenly divinities,
+and Shidurgo is at his mercy. “If thou kill me,” said Shidurgo, “the
+act will be fatal to thee; if thou spare me it will be fatal to thy
+children.” Jinghis struck, but the blow did not harm his opponent.
+“There is only one weapon in the world that can kill me, a triple
+dagger made of magnet which is now between my first and second boot
+soles.” With that the Tangut king drew forth the blade and gave it to
+his enemy. “Kill me; if milk comes from the wound it will foretoken ill
+to thee, if blood ill to thy posterity. Before taking Kurbeljin Goa, my
+wife, look to her previous life very carefully.”
+
+Jinghis stabbed Shidurgo in the neck, blood flowed and he died. Next
+the queen was brought in. All wondered when they saw her. “I had much
+greater beauty before,” said she. “I am grimy from dust now, but when I
+bathe in the river my beauty will come to me.” She went to the Kara
+Muren (the Hoang Ho) and plunged into it. When she returned she had all
+her former great beauty. The following night while Jinghis lay asleep
+she bewitched him; he grew feeble and ill and never gained strength
+again. She left him, went down to the Kara Muren and disappeared in
+that river.
+
+Jinghis lay helpless in bed and at last death was near him. He spoke
+then to Kiluken, his old comrade, the gray hero: “Be thou a true friend
+to my widow Bortai Fudjin, and to my sons Ogotai and Tului, be thou
+true to them fearlessly. The precious jade has no crust, the polished
+dagger no dirt on it; man born to life is not deathless, he must go
+hence without home, without resting place. The glory of a deed is in
+being finished. Firm and unbending is he who keeps a plighted word
+faithfully. Follow not the will of another and thou wilt have the
+good-will of many. To me it is clear that I must leave all and go hence
+from you. The words of the boy Kubilai are very weighty; note what he
+says, note it all of you. He will sit on my throne some day and will,
+as I have done, secure high prosperity.”
+
+Kiluken and many princes went to bear the corpse of their mighty leader
+back to the Kentei Khan region, through the greater part of Tangut and
+across the broad Gobi. A long, an immense train of people followed it.
+As they marched they wailed and raised their voices together lamenting,
+Kiluken leading, as follows:
+
+
+“In times which are gone thou didst swoop like a falcon before us.
+                    To-day a car bears thee on as it rumbles advancing.
+                                    O thou my Khan!
+Hast thou left us indeed, hast thou left wife and children,
+                                    O thou my Khan?
+Hast thou left us, hast thou left the Kurultai of thy nation,
+                                    O thou my Khan?
+Sweeping forward in pride, as sweeps forward an eagle thou didst lead
+                                                          us aforetime,
+                                    O thou my Khan,
+But now thou hast stumbled, and art down, like a colt still unbroken,
+                                    O thou my Khan.
+Thou didst bring peace and joy to thy people for sixty and six years,
+                                         but now thou art leaving them,
+                                    O thou my Khan.”
+
+
+When the procession had reached the Mona Khan mountains the funeral car
+stopped in blue miry clay and the best horses could not move it. All
+were discouraged and grief stricken, when a new chant rose, led by
+Kiluken the gray hero:
+
+“O lion of the Tengeri, thou our lord, wilt thou leave us? Wilt thou
+desert wife and nation in this quagmire? Thy firmly built state, with
+its laws and its much devoted people; thy golden palace, thy state
+raised on justice, the numerous clans of thy nation, all these are
+awaiting thee off there.
+
+“Thy birth land, the rivers in which thou didst bathe, all these are
+awaiting thee off there.
+
+“Thy subjects the Mongols devoted and fruitful are awaiting thee off
+there.
+
+“Thy chiefs, thy commanders, thy great kinsfolk are awaiting thee off
+there.
+
+“Thy birthplace, Deligun Bulak on the Onon, is awaiting thee off there.
+
+“Thy standard of Yak tails, thy drums, fifes and trumpets, thy golden
+house and all that is in it, are awaiting thee off there.
+
+“The fields of the Kerulon, where first thou didst sit on thy throne as
+Jinghis, are awaiting thee off there.
+
+“Bortai Fudjin, the wife of thy youth, Boörchu and Mukuli thy faithful
+friends, thy fortunate land and thy great golden mansion, that
+wonderful building, are awaiting thee off there.
+
+“Wilt thou leave us now here in this quagmire, because this land
+pleases thee? because so many Tanguts are vanquished? because Kurbeljin
+Goa was beautiful?
+
+“We could not save thy noble life in this kingdom, so let us bear thy
+remains to their last home and resting place. Let us bear thy remains
+which are as fair as the jade stone. Let us give consolation to thy
+people.”
+
+After this chant the car moved from the blue clay, went forward, passed
+over the mountain range easily and across the immense Gobi desert. It
+moved on amid wailing and chanting, and at last reached the home of the
+mighty and merciless manslayer.
+
+The body was buried in a Kentei Khan forest near a majestic tree which
+had pleased Jinghis Khan very greatly in his lifetime. There were many
+smaller trees near this single large one, but soon after the burial all
+trees in the forest had grown equal in size and appearance, so that no
+man knew or could learn where the body of the conqueror was hidden.
+
+Jinghis Khan is one of the great characters of history, perhaps the
+greatest that has appeared in the world to the present day. A man who,
+never hampered by conscience, advanced directly toward the one supreme
+object of his life,—power. His executive ability was wonderful, as was
+also his utter disregard for human life. Beginning with a few huts on
+the Kerulon he drew in tribe after tribe, country after country, till
+at his death he was master of more territory than had ever been ruled
+by one sovereign. He stands forth also as the greatest manslayer the
+world has ever known. From 1211 to 1223 in China and Tangut alone
+Jinghis and his assistants killed more than eighteen million five
+hundred thousand human beings. He demanded blind obedience from all
+men, the slightest infringement was punished with death; even his most
+distinguished generals submitted to the bastinado, or to execution.
+
+In Jinghis Khan’s Code of Laws the homicide, the adulterer, the cattle
+thief, and the person who for the third time lost a prisoner confided
+to his care was put to death. Torture was used to force confession.
+When an animal was to be slaughtered it must be thrown on its back, an
+incision made in its breast and the heart torn out. This custom
+prevails among the Mongols of the Baikal (the Buriats) to the present
+day when killing animals for sacrifice.
+
+Jinghis Khan left great possessions to each of his sons and heirs. To
+Juchi, the eldest, he left that immense region north of Lake Aral and
+westward to the uttermost spot on which the hoof of a horse had been
+planted by Mongols at any time. The dominions of Jagatai extended from
+Kayalik in the Uigur land to the Syr Daryá, or Yaxartes.
+
+Ogotai received the country watered by the Imil, while Tului, the
+youngest, inherited his father’s home places between Kara Kurum and the
+Onon River region.
+
+These dispositions, made somewhat earlier, agreed with Mongol custom
+and usage, by which elder sons received portions as they came to
+maturity; his father’s house and all that belonged to it fell to the
+youngest son always.
+
+When the last rites had been rendered, and the last honors paid to the
+great conqueror, each of the four sons returned to his possessions, and
+it was only after two years that the family held the Kurultai of
+election. In the spring of 1229 all assembled again on the Kerulon.
+They were met and received by Tului, acting as regent till they should
+choose a new sovereign.
+
+From the regions north and west of Lake Aral came the descendants of
+Juchi, that eldest son who had dared to defy his own terrible father.
+Jagatai brought his sons and grandsons from the Ili; and Ogotai came
+from the Imil near which he had been living.
+
+After three days of the Kurultai had been passed in feasting and
+pleasure, the assembly proceeded to choose a Grand Khan, or sovereign.
+Many were in favor of Tului, but Ye liu chu tsai, the great sage and
+minister, begged them to settle on Ogotai, the choice of Jinghis, and
+avoid all dissensions and discord. Tului did not hesitate in following
+this counsel and read immediately the ordinance of his father in which
+Ogotai was named as sovereign.
+
+The princes turned then to Ogotai and declared him the ruler; Ogotai
+answered that his brothers and uncles were far better fitted than he
+for the sovereignty. He mentioned especially as the right man Tului who
+had remained with his father, or near him at all times, and was trained
+beyond any in the wisdom of the conqueror. “Jinghis himself has chosen
+thee!” cried the others to Ogotai, “how act against his command and his
+wishes?”
+
+Ogotai still resisted, and forty days passed in feasting ere he
+yielded. On the forty-first day, which was pointed out by magicians as
+the time most propitious, he was conducted to the throne by Jagatai and
+by Utchuken his uncle, Jinghis Khan’s youngest brother. Tului gave him
+the goblet used on occasions of that kind, and then all who were in the
+pavilion, and those outside, bared their heads, put their girdles on
+their shoulders and fell prostrate. Nine times did they fall before
+Ogotai, invoke on him prosperity, and salute him with his title Kha
+Khan, or Khaan, the White Khan of the Mongols.
+
+The newly made monarch, followed by the assembly, went out then and
+bowed down three times to the sun in due homage. The immense throngs of
+people there present gave the like homage also. When Ogotai reëntered
+the tent a great feast was served straightway.
+
+In choosing Ogotai the family swore to adhere to his descendants, and
+the following strange words were used by them: “We swear not to seat on
+the throne another branch of our family so long as there shall be of
+thy descendants a morsel of flesh which, cast upon grass, might stop a
+bullock from eating, or cast into fat might stop a dog from devouring.”
+
+Jinghis Khan’s treasures were spoils from a great part of Asia, and
+Ogotai commanded to bring them before him; that done he distributed
+those precious objects to the princes, commanders, and warriors.
+
+During three entire days they made offerings to the shade of Jinghis,
+their great ancestor. Ogotai chose from the families of princes and
+commanders forty most beautiful virgins; he had them attired in the
+richest of garments, and adorned with rare jewels. These forty virgins
+were slain, and thus sent to attend the mighty conqueror in that world
+which he occupied. With the virgins were slain and sent also the best
+and the costliest stallions of northern Asia.
+
+The first work of Ogotai was to establish the code of Jinghis, and
+pardon offences committed since the death of the conqueror. Ye liu chu
+tsai, the sage who had exercised on Jinghis so much influence, and
+whose power still continued, prevailed then on Ogotai to fix the rank
+of each officer and official, and to define every difference between
+princes of Jinghis Khan’s house and other subjects. He wished also to
+restrain the boundless power of Mongol chiefs in conquered places.
+Those men disposed of human life as each whim of theirs shaped itself;
+whenever they chose to condemn a man he died, as did also his family.
+
+At Chu tsai’s advice Ogotai refixed all forms of action in cases of
+this kind. The amount of yearly tribute was settled for the first time
+since the Mongol conquest. In the west it was a tax on every male
+person of legal age. In China the system of the country was chosen and
+the tribute was levied on houses. Lands taken from the Kin dynasty were
+divided into ten provinces; in each of these was established a tribunal
+for assessment and collection of tribute. Chu tsai even proposed to the
+White Khan to use in governing his possessions the rules of Confucius.
+“The Empire has been conquered on horseback,” said the sage, “but no
+man can rule it from the saddle.”
+
+The advice was listened to with benevolence, and scholars were placed
+by degrees in public office.
+
+Now that the Mongols again had a sovereign they gave more force to
+their conquests along those vast lines of action which Jinghis had
+explained on his deathbed. Three great expeditions were arranged at the
+Kurultai of election: An army of thirty thousand was sent to destroy
+the rising power of Jelal ud din, who had returned from lands south of
+the Indus and regained some part of his father’s dominions. A second
+army of similar numbers was sent under Kuyuk and Subotai to conquer the
+Kipchaks and other peoples. This Juchi would have done had he followed
+the advice of his father. On the third expedition Ogotai the Grand Khan
+set out with Tului and other princes to end the Kin Empire. These
+expeditions we will follow in the order mentioned.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+PERSIA AT THE TIME OF JINGHIS KHAN’S DEATH
+
+
+When Jinghis had returned to his birthplace Persia was left as a desert
+behind him. This was true of all Eastern parts of it, especially. “In
+those lands which Jinghis Khan ruined,” exclaims the historian, “not
+one in a thousand is left of the people. Where a hundred thousand had
+lived before his invasion there are now scarce one hundred. Were
+nothing to stop the increase of population from this hour till the day
+of Judgment it would not reach one tenth of what it was before Jinghis
+Khan’s coming.”
+
+The ruin inflicted by that dreadful invasion spread terror on all
+sides. People stunned by the awful atrocities committed in Persia,
+believed that the Mongols were dog-headed and devoured human flesh as
+their daily and usual nourishment.
+
+Mohammed, the Shah of Persia, had three sons to whom portions had been
+given. Jelal ud din, the eldest of these sons, had sought a refuge at
+Delhi. At Sutun Avend Rokn ud din, the second son, had been slain by
+the Mongols, while Ghiath ud din, the third son, had retired to Karun,
+a Mazanderan stronghold, and saved himself.
+
+When the Mongols had gone from the country Persian Irak was the cause
+of a conflict between the two Turk leaders Edek Khan and Togan Taissi
+the Atabeg. These rivals divided the province between them at last,
+and, since Ispahan fell to the former, Ghiath ud din wished to win him
+as a vassal. He therefore promised Edek his sister in marriage, but
+while settling the terms of agreement Edek was slain by his rival, the
+Atabeg, Togan.
+
+Ghiath marched against Ispahan promptly, received Togan’s homage, and
+gave him the sister just promised to Edek. In quick time he thus found
+himself master of Irak, Mazanderan and Khorassan.
+
+Jelal ud din when defeated at the Indus, which he swam with such
+daring, had been pursued fiercely in India by Jinghis Khan’s warriors
+until he was very near Delhi.
+
+The sovereign at that capital was Shems ud din Iletmish, a Turkman and
+once a slave of the Sultan of Gur, the last ruler of his line in that
+country. When the Gur dynasty fell, Iletmish seized a good part of
+north India and was ruling unchallenged. He feared now the coming of so
+brave and incisive a man as Jelal ud din, hence he sent him rich gifts
+and declared that the climate of Delhi was unwholesome. Jelal would
+find, he felt certain, a far better residence in Multan and a much more
+salubrious climate. Jelal withdrew, but he gathered much booty of value
+as he traveled.
+
+Meanwhile from Irak came many generals who were enraged at Ghiath ud
+din, his brother. They brought with them warriors who were ready for
+service since service meant plunder. Jelal could meet now the Scinde
+prince, Karadja, whom he hated. He entered Karadja’s dominions, sacked
+many cities and routed his army. Hearing that Iletmish was advancing to
+strengthen Karadja he set out at once to encounter the Sultan of Delhi.
+
+But Iletmish offered peace, and the hand of his daughter instead of
+hostilities; Jelal took peace and the woman. Still Iletmish made a
+league with Karadja and others to drive out the Kwaresmian if need be.
+Jelal, who could not make head against all, took advice of his
+generals. Those who had quitted his brother wished a return to home
+regions. It would be easy, they told him, to snatch command from Ghiath
+his brother, a weakling, and foolish. But Euzbeg, one of the generals,
+declared that Jelal should remain where he was in full safety from
+Mongols who were more to be feared than all the princes in India. Jelal
+ud din, swept off by the hope of regaining his father’s dominion,
+decided on going to Persia. He left Euzbeg to watch over his fortunes
+in India and to Vefa Melik he gave the whole government of Gur and of
+Ghazni.
+
+While crossing the desert lying north of the Indus Jelal lost a part of
+his army by disease, exhaustion and hunger, and when he reached Kerman,
+his whole force had shrunk to four thousand. A Turk commander named
+Borak, with the surname Hadjib, that is Chamberlain, had won that whole
+region. Borak had served Shah Mohammed as chamberlain, hence the
+surname Hadjib from his service. Later on Ghiath ud din gave him office
+in Ispahan, making him governor, but, embroiled in the sequel with
+Ghiath’s vizir, Borak got permission to go to Jelal then in India.
+While crossing Kerman the Kevashir governor attacked him, incited to do
+so by Ghiath, who wished at that juncture to seize all the baggage and
+women belonging to Borak’s assistants.
+
+The aggressor was beaten, put to flight and driven into a neighboring
+fortress, where Borak killed him. Borak not satisfied yet with this
+outcome had attacked Kevashir where the son of the recent, but then
+defunct, governor was commanding. While thus engaged he heard all at
+once that Jelal was in Kerman. Borak sent rich gifts to his visitor
+straightway and hurried off to receive him. He offered one of his
+daughters while greeting the Sultan, who took her in marriage without
+hesitation. When Jelal stood before Kevashir the place yielded and
+opened its gates to him.
+
+The Sultan had passed a whole month in Kerman when he learned that his
+father-in-law was pondering treason. Orkhan, a general, advised the
+arrest of Borak and a seizure of all his possessions, but the vizir,
+Khodja Jihan, declared that if haste were exhibited in punishing the
+man who had been the first to acknowledge the Sultan many minds would
+be shaken, since there was no chance to prove clearly the existence of
+treason.
+
+Jelal chose to feign ignorance, and continued his journey. Borak
+remained master of Kerman. After him nine of his family during
+eighty-six years succeeded in authority. These formed the Kara Kitan
+dynasty of Kerman, so called because of this Borak, the Hadjib, its
+founder.
+
+Jelal advanced into Fars where for twenty-four years had been reigning
+the Atabeg, Sád, son of Zengwi, a prince who claimed his descent from a
+Turk chief named Salgar. Sankor, the grandson of Salgar, was
+established in Fars, and when the Seljuks had fallen he made himself
+master of that region, and princes descended from Salgar, that is the
+Salgarids, thus gained dominion.
+
+On nearing Shirez, Jelal announced his arrival to the Atabeg, who sent
+his son with five hundred horsemen to welcome the Sultan, and excused
+himself saying that he had once made a vow not to meet any person
+whatever. Jelal accepted the statement. He knew that the Atabeg was
+hostile to Ghiath, who had invaded his country a short time before and
+had even retained certain parts of it. Jelal gave back those parts then
+to Sád and to gain the man thoroughly married his daughter.
+
+The Sultan made a brief stay in Shiraz, being eager to win back Irak
+from his brother, for Ghiath could not restore peace to those countries
+given up to disorder and anarchy since the return of Jinghis to
+Mongolia. Each little district had its own cruel master and those petty
+tyrants completed in great part the ruin begun with such terror by the
+Mongols. Ghiath’s name was repeated at prayer in the mosques, but no
+man gave him tribute. Having no money to pay his Turk troops he was
+forced to permit them to take what they could from the people and thus
+strip the country. When an officer of rank came for pay to the Sultan,
+the man had to take the next higher title, an emir was made melik, and
+a melik made khan. That was the reward for his service. He was forced
+next to subsist by real robbery in some shape.
+
+After Jelal had reached Ispahan he set out very quickly with a picked
+band for Rayi near which his brother was recruiting an army. He had
+given all his horsemen white banners like those used by the Mongols.
+When Ghiath saw those white banners he thought that Mongols were
+advancing to attack him, and he took to flight straightway, but
+returned soon with a force thirty thousand in number. Jelal had
+recourse now to a stratagem. He sent to his brother, through an
+equerry, this message: “Having suffered cruel hardships I have come to
+find rest here, but since you meet me with swords, I withdraw to other
+places.”
+
+Ghiath believing this message, and thinking besides that his brother
+was powerless to harm him, came back to Rayi and dismissed his large
+forces.
+
+Jelal sent out an agent who gave immense promises to the generals of
+his brother, and gave them rings also in proof of his favor. Many
+yielded while others went promptly to Ghiath and showed the rings given
+them. He had his brother’s agent arrested. But Jelal, feeling that most
+of the warriors were with him, advanced with only three thousand picked
+horsemen. This advance was successful; Ghiath fled to a fortress but
+reassured by mild messages he left his asylum and went to his brother’s
+headquarters.
+
+The supremacy of Jelal was generally acknowledged; commanders came to
+him each with a shroud on his shoulders, and fell at his feet to win
+pardon. The Sultan treated these men with a kindness which scattered
+their fears and attached them to his fortunes. Soon he saw also at his
+court that entire horde of small tyrants who had sprung into power
+during anarchy in all parts of Persia. These men, in great dread lest
+they lose their sweet morsels, came of their own will to render him
+homage. Those who were best, or at least those whom he thought best for
+his own interests, got permission to return to their places.
+
+Jelal’s first campaign after securing power was against Nassir, the
+Kalif of Islam, and the enemy of his father. Marching to Kuzistan
+quickly he laid siege to Shuster, the chief place of that province. His
+army lacked all things and rushed through the country in various small
+parties to find what they needed. They drove back great numbers of
+horses and mules; they found what provisions were requisite, but at the
+end of two months the siege was abandoned, and the Sultan moved upon
+Bagdad directly. He halted at Yakuba, seven parasangs [9] distant from
+the capital.
+
+Kalif Nassir strengthened Bagdad. He gave one million dinars [10] to
+his troops before sending them to battle; that done he waited.
+
+Jelal begged by letter Moazzam, the Prince of Damascus and nephew of
+Saladin, to aid him in this struggle with Nassir who had brought, as he
+stated, savage people to Persia, and destroyed Shah Mohammed. Moazzam
+replied that he would make common cause with the Sultan in everything
+save only a struggle against the high chief of all Moslems.
+
+Kush Timur led the forces of Bagdad which were twenty thousand in
+number. A pigeon was sent to Mozaffar who was prince then in Erbil with
+an order to attack the Sultan’s rear guard and bar retreat to him.
+Since Jelal’s forces were small he sent a message to Kush Timur saying
+that he had not come as an enemy; he desired the good-will of the Kalif
+whose aid was to him indispensable in that great struggle with the
+enemy who menaced all Islam. If the Kalif would act and agree with him
+he, the Sultan, could be the safe-guard of Persia.
+
+Kush Timur’s single answer was to range his men in order of battle.
+Jelal, forced to fight with an enemy greatly superior, put a part of
+his small army in ambush; he charged thrice after that with a troop of
+five hundred and fled, as it were, in disorder. The enemy followed,
+fell into the trap, and were attacked on both flanks with great fury.
+Kush Timur was cut down in the struggle; his army was broken and then
+pursued to the gates of the capital.
+
+Jelal after winning this victory captured Dakuka (1225), and sacked it.
+Next he moved against Takrit, and learning that Mozaffar, the Prince of
+Erbil, was approaching with an army, and had gone ahead with a small
+force to surprise and take him, he set out with a handful of heroes and
+captured Mozaffar, whom he freed afterward on his promise to return to
+his own lands and stay in them.
+
+Jelal dropped all his plans against Bagdad; Azerbaidjan was the place
+which now lured him. Marching first to Meraga he fell to clearing away
+the ruins, but left that task quickly on hearing that Togan Taissi, his
+uncle on the mother’s side, and also his brother-in-law, was moving
+from Azerbaidjan to take Hamadan and the neighboring districts, the
+investiture of which had been given him by the Kalif. Togan had spent
+the whole winter in Arran and on his journey through Azerbaidjan he
+pillaged that country a second time.
+
+Jelal arrived about midnight near the camp ground of Togan, around
+which were gathered vast numbers of sheep, mules, horses, asses, and
+cattle.
+
+When this Turk general, who thought that the Sultan was then in Dakuka,
+saw his troops after daybreak, and knew by the regal umbrella that
+Jelal himself was there with them, he was so disconcerted that he
+forgot every idea save the single one of winning favor. He sent his
+wife, Jelal’s sister, to make peace if possible. She made it and Togan
+thereupon ranged his troops with the Sultan’s and under his banners;
+after that they returned to Meraga.
+
+Euzbeg, who was ruler in Azerbaidjan, had gone from Tebriz to Gandja
+the capital of Arran. In spite of the dangers which threatened his
+country he passed his time drinking, leaving all cares of State to his
+consort, a daughter of Sultan Togrul, the last Seljuk ruler in Irak.
+She had remained in Tebriz, and Jelal, who was eager to win that famed
+city, laid siege to it. After five days of fighting and just as he was
+ready to storm it, the inhabitants asked to surrender. The Sultan
+reproached them with murdering, a year earlier, certain warriors of his
+father, and sending their heads to the Mongols. They assured him that
+not they but their ruler had to answer for that; they had been
+powerless to stop him.
+
+The Sultan accepted this statement and spared them. They begged him to
+guarantee Euzbeg’s wife the possession of Khoï, and a few other places.
+Jelal consented, and sent an escort to convey her to Khoï.
+
+When Jelal had taken Tebriz he stayed for some days in that city.
+Meanwhile his men seized the neighboring districts. Then he set out on
+an expedition against Georgia (1226).
+
+Since Euzbeg was neglectful and indolent the Georgians made raids into
+Arran and Azerbaidjan; they ravaged Erzerum also, and later on Shirvan.
+They had scourged the Moslems of these regions severely. Eager for
+vengeance Jelal had no sooner made himself master at the Caspian than
+he declared war on the Georgians, who sent back this answer: “We have
+measured our strength with the Mongol, who took all his lands from thy
+father and destroyed him. He was a man of more courage and power than
+art thou. Those Mongols who killed him met us, and ended by fleeing.”
+
+Jelal began by the capture of Tovin, which the Georgians had seized
+some years earlier; next he marched against the main Georgian army,
+seventy thousand in number, attacked it in the valley of Karni near
+Tovin, and put it to flight with a loss of twenty thousand. Many
+generals were captured, among others Shalové, the master of Tovin. The
+chief commander, Ivane, escaped to the fortress of Keghe, which the
+Sultan invested while the rest of his army spread out over Georgia,
+bringing fire and the sword to all places. He would have begun a real
+conquest had he not thought that he must go to Tebriz. When ready to
+march into Georgia the Sultan got news from his vizir that a plot had
+been formed in Tebriz to give back the country to Euzbeg. The Sultan
+kept this knowledge secret and only when Georgia was crushed did he
+tell the whole tale to his generals. He gave then command of his army
+to Ghiath his brother, hastened back to Tebriz, put its mayor to death,
+and arrested the ringleaders of the conspiracy. When he had
+strengthened thus his authority he married Euzbeg’s wife, and while in
+Tebriz urged forward troops who took Gandja, the capital of Arran,
+whence Euzbeg made his way to Alandja.
+
+Tebriz and Gandja being brought to obedience, Jelal returned quickly to
+Georgia, whose people meanwhile had raised a new army in which were
+found Alans, Lesgians, Kipchaks and others. This army struck now by
+Jelal lost heavily and was scattered. After the victory Jelal marched
+on Tiflis, which he captured through aid from Mohammedans who lived in
+that city. All Georgians were put to the sword except those who
+acknowledged the supremacy of the Sultan. Women and children fell to
+the conquerors, the city was yielded to pillage. Jelal took full
+vengeance on the Georgians for all that they had done to Mohammedans.
+His troops were enriched by the property of Christians, he slew a vast
+number of those “infidels,” as he thought them, and drove their
+children and wives into slavery.
+
+Leaving Georgia, a desert in great part he turned his face next to
+Khelat on the north of Lake Van in Armenia. This city belonged to
+Ashraf, an Eyubite prince, lord over Harran and Roha. His brother,
+Moazzam, the prince of Damascus, who defended himself against Ashraf,
+and Kamil, his eldest brother, who was Sultan of Egypt, had sent his
+chief confidant, an officer, to Jelal then in Tiflis, and begged him to
+make an attack upon Khelat, and give in this way assistance. Moazzam
+admired the Kwaresmian Sultan immensely, and held it an honor to wear a
+robe which had come from him, and ride on a steed which Jelal had
+thought proper to send him. During night banquets Moazzam never swore
+except by the head of the Sultan.
+
+The Kwaresmian warriors laid siege to Khelat very willingly since the
+place promised booty in abundance. But they had barely arrived at the
+walls of the city when advice came to Jelal that Borak, the governor of
+Kerman, had withdrawn from allegiance, and even sent men to the Mongols
+to explain the increase and importance of Jelal’s new army.
+
+The Sultan abandoned the siege and set out for Kerman. Borak, who had
+learned that he was coming, withdrew to a stronghold and sent words of
+feigned loyalty and obedience. It would have been difficult to capture
+the stronghold, so Jelal thought it best to dissemble, to receive at
+their literal value the words brought to him; hence he sent a rich robe
+of honor from Ispahan to the faith-breaking Borak, and confirmed him in
+office.
+
+Meanwhile news came from Sherif ul Mulk, the vizir, of hostile action
+by Ashraf against a corps of Kwaresmians which he had beaten.
+
+The Sultan’s troops left in Georgia lacked almost everything. They made
+an incursion toward Erzerum, drove away flocks and herds and took many
+women. While on the way back from this forage they passed near Khelat;
+the commandant rushed out from his fortress and seized all their booty.
+The vizir in alarm begged the Sultan to hasten with assistance.
+
+Jelal moved to Tiflis by swift marches, and thence farther to Ani; he
+attacked this old city and Kars also with its very strong fortress.
+Returning soon to Tiflis he made a long march to Abhasia, October,
+1226, as it were to subdue it. This was merely a feint to rouse false
+security in Khelat. Ten days only did he stay in Abhasia and turned
+then with great speed toward Khelat, which he would have captured had
+not the commandant been advised two days earlier by his confidants who
+were serving in the suite of the Sultan.
+
+Jelal hurled his force on the city the day that he reached it; a second
+assault was made the day following. His troops took the outskirts which
+they pillaged, but were forced to withdraw from them. After some days
+of rest the assault was renewed, but resistance was so resolute that
+this plan was abandoned. The people knowing well the ferocity of
+Kwaresmians, and the deeds which they did in each captured city,
+resisted with desperate valor. Ashraf went to Damascus, moreover, and
+swore obedience to Moazzam, his brother, begging him meanwhile to stop
+Jelal from ruining Khelat, but Jelal remained till the cold and deep
+snow drove him from the place. Azerbaidjan also called him. A large
+horde of Turkmans were pillaging the people, and plundering caravans.
+
+The Sultan made a swift march and came on them suddenly, shutting off
+their retreat to the mountains. Surrounding the robbers he cut them to
+pieces. Their families and all the rich booty which they had taken fell
+to the Sultan who retired to Tebriz with his captives. The Kwaresmians
+had abandoned Tiflis for the winter, so the Georgians at Ani, Kars and
+other places united. They moved on Tiflis in a body and put to death
+all Mohammedans, and since they despaired of defending the city against
+Jelal they fired it.
+
+The Ismailians, that is, the Assassins of Persia, had just killed a
+general to whom the Sultan had given Gandja and the lands which went
+with it. To inflict vengeance for this act Jelal took fire and sword to
+the land of those death dealing sectaries. A division of Mongols
+meanwhile had moved westward toward Damegan. Against this force the
+Sultan marched swiftly; he repulsed and then hunted it for many days in
+succession.
+
+While Jelal on the east was thus occupied Hussam ud din Ali, Ashraf’s
+commander at Khelat, appeared in the west unexpectedly, invited to
+Azerbaidjan by those of the people who liked not the Sultan’s strange
+ways, and who were brought down to need by the greed of his warriors.
+Euzbeg’s former wife too was active. She had had her own way with her
+first husband. Fixed now to Jelal through marriage she could not endure
+the effacement that came from this union. She remembered the past and
+joining the people of Khoï took action. She invited Hussam to seize
+that whole region. He consented and took many places; that done, he
+marched back to Khelat, Jelal’s new, but dissatisfied, consort going
+with him.
+
+But there was need soon to face a more serious opponent. The Mongols
+were moving in force toward Irak and soon appeared at its border. Jelal
+sent four thousand horsemen toward Rayi and Damegan to watch them.
+Pressed by the Mongols these four thousand fell back upon Ispahan,
+where the Sultan had fixed his headquarters. The enemy following
+stopped one day’s march from the city, and east of it. The Mongol
+force, made up of five divisions, was commanded by Tadji Baku,
+Anatogan, Taimaz and Tainal. Astrologers counseled the Sultan to wait
+four days before fighting; he complied and showed confidence of a kind
+to rouse courage in all who came near him.
+
+At the first news of that Mongol approach his generals were alarmed and
+repaired to the palace in a body. He received them in the courtyard,
+and talked long of things which concerned not attack on the city, to
+show that he was in no way uneasy. Then he seated them and discoursed
+on the order of battle. Before the dismissal he made all take an oath
+not to turn from the enemy or prefer life to the death of a hero. He
+took the same oath himself, and appointed a day for the struggle.
+Command was then given the chief judge and the Ispahan mayor to review
+the armed citizens.
+
+Since Jelal did not move from the city the Mongols supposed that he had
+not strength or even courage to meet them, hence they prepared for a
+siege and sent two thousand horse into Lur to collect provisions. The
+Sultan hurried three thousand men after them. These took every defile
+in the rear of the foragers, and barred retreat; many Mongols were
+killed and four hundred were captured. Jelal gave some of these men to
+the populace, by whom they were massacred in the streets of the city.
+The Sultan cut off with his own hand the heads of others in the
+courtyard of his palace; and their bodies were hurled out to be eaten
+by vultures and dogs.
+
+August 26, 1227, was the day fixed for battle—Jinghis had died in
+Tangut eight days earlier. While the Sultan was ranging his men for the
+conflict Ghiath, his own brother, betrayed him,—deserted. Jelal did not
+seem to take note of the defection. Even when he saw the Mongols in
+order of battle he thought that his men were more than sufficient to
+conquer such an enemy, and ordered the Ispahan guards to reënter the
+city. At the beginning of the conflict the two wings of the Sultan’s
+forces were too far from each other for mutual assistance. During a
+fierce onset his right wing pierced the left of the enemy, and pursued
+it to Kashin. The left had not yet been in action. The sun was
+declining and Jelal was resting at the edge of a defile. Just then Ilan
+Buga, an officer, approached Jelal and said with animation: “We have
+long implored Heaven for a day such as this to take vengeance on those
+outcasts. Success is now with us, and still we neglect it. To-night
+this vile enemy will make a long two days’ journey, and we shall repent
+when too late that we let them escape us. Ought we not to make this
+day’s victory perfect?”
+
+Struck by these words the Sultan remounted, but hardly had he crossed
+the ravine when a chosen corps of the enemy hidden by a height, rushed
+on the left wing, rolled it back on the center and broke it. The
+generals of that wing now kept their oath faithfully and died weapons
+in hand, except three of them.
+
+The Sultan remained in the center, which then was surrounded
+completely. He had only fourteen of the guards near his person, and he
+slew with his own hand his standard bearer who was fleeing; then he
+himself cut a way through the enemy. Fugitives from the center and left
+rushed in every direction. Some fled toward Fars, others toward Kerman,
+while Azerbaidjan was a refuge for a third group. Those who had lost
+their horses in the battle went back on foot to the city. At the end of
+two days the right wing came from Kashan, believing the rest of the
+army victorious. When they heard of its defeat they disbanded at once.
+
+Though the Mongols won the battle, their sufferings and losses were
+greater than those of the Moslems. Advancing to the gates of the city
+they were repulsed and pursued with such speed that in three days of
+flight they reached Rayi whence by the Nishapur road they fled farther.
+On this retreat they lost many men both in killed and in prisoners.
+
+No one knew whither the Sultan had vanished. Some sought for his corpse
+on the battle-field, others thought that the enemy had captured him. At
+Ispahan people talked of a new sovereign, while the mob wished to seize
+the women and goods of the Kwaresmians. But the cadi prevailed upon all
+to wait a few days till the Bairam feast opened. He agreed, however,
+with the principal citizens that should the Sultan not come to the
+prayer on that feast day they would choose as ruler Togan Taissi, who
+through his virtues deserved supreme power before others.
+
+When the people had assembled on the feast day Jelal came to the prayer
+and caused great rejoicing. Fearing lest he might be besieged in the
+city he had not returned to it when the battle was over, but had waited
+on the Luristan side till the enemy had vanished. The Sultan now stayed
+some days waiting for fugitives and rewarding chiefs of the right wing
+by giving the title of khan to those who were meliks. He gave high rank
+also to simple warriors who had deserved fame for their action in the
+battle. Certain cowardly generals were led through the city with veils
+on their faces in the manner of women.
+
+Ghiath ud din, Jelal’s brother, had retired to the mountains and was
+striving to win back dominion through assistance from the Kalif. Hatred
+between the two brothers had been intensified by murder. Mohammed, son
+of Karmil, of a family illustrious in Gur, was in very high favor with
+Jelal who, charmed with his manners and speech, had admitted that youth
+to his intimate reunions. Some days before the late battle Mohammed had
+taken a few men to his service from the corps under Ghiath. These men
+had left Jelal’s brother since no pay had been given them. One evening
+when Ghiath and Mohammed were at a feast given by Jelal, Ghiath asked
+Mohammed if he would send back his guardsmen. “They desire food,” was
+the answer, “and serve him who will give it.” Ghiath was roused by this
+statement, and the Sultan, who noted his anger, asked Mohammed to
+withdraw from the table. The young man obeyed, but a few moments later
+Ghiath went out also, entered the man’s dwelling and stabbed him.
+Mohammed died some days later. The Sultan grieved greatly for his
+favorite, and sent this message to Ghiath: “Thou hast sworn to be a
+friend to every friend of mine, and an enemy of my enemies, but thou
+hast killed my best friend without reason. Thou hast broken thy oath
+and agreement. I am bound to thee no longer. I will let the law do its
+work, if the brother of thy victim comes to me begging for justice.”
+
+The Sultan commanded that the funeral procession move twice past the
+gate of the assassin. Tortured by this public punishment Ghiath took
+vengeance on the day of the battle by deserting. From his Kuzistan
+place of retirement he sent his vizir to Bagdad to declare that he had
+gone from his brother. He then proffered proofs that his reign had been
+friendly to the Kalif, while Jelal had acted with enmity, and had
+brought fire and sword to the suburbs of Bagdad. He begged aid of the
+Kalif in recovering his dominions, and promised true obedience to the
+heir of the Prophet.
+
+The vizir was received with distinction, and a subsidy of thirty
+thousand dinars was then given him, but after the retreat of the
+Mongols Ghiath did not think himself safe from his brother. Jelal sent
+a corps of mounted warriors to follow the Mongols to the Oxus, and
+hurried himself to Tebriz for a season. He was playing ball with a
+mallet on the square of the city when he heard that his brother was
+returning to Ispahan. He set out at once for that city, but learning on
+the road that Ghiath was on his way to the land of the Assassins he
+changed his route quickly to follow, and ask the Alamut chief to
+surrender the fugitive. “Your brother,” said the chief, “is here in
+asylum; he is a Sultan himself and his father was a Sultan,—we cannot
+surrender him, but he will not take your dominions, we guarantee that.
+Should he commit any act of hostility you are free to treat us as may
+please you.”
+
+This statement seemed satisfactory to Jelal, and an oath added strength
+to it. Jelal on his part swore to give the past to oblivion, and the
+question was ended. But Ghiath himself went from Alamut to seek refuge
+in Kerman. Some days after his arrival Borak showed a wish to marry
+Ghiath’s mother, Beglu Aï, who had come with him. They were both in
+Borak’s power and resistance would have been futile. Still the princess
+yielded only after much resistance. Conducted to Kevashir the capital
+of Kerman, the mother and son had hardly arrived when two relatives of
+Borak proposed to assassinate that governor and install Ghiath. Ghiath
+rejected the offer, but Borak, hearing that his relatives had made it,
+tortured the two men so cruelly that they confessed to him. They were
+then cut to pieces in the presence of Ghiath who, confined straightway
+in the citadel, was strangled with a bowstring. His mother, who had
+rushed in at his cries, met her death in the same way. The five hundred
+followers who had come with him were cut down every man of them.
+
+Borak sent the head of his victim to Ogotai Khan who received it with
+gladness. This gift secured Mongol friendship and Borak was confirmed
+in his Kerman possessions.
+
+The Kankali Turks and the Kipchaks had been closely connected with the
+reigning Kwaresmian family by marriages; because of this fact, Jinghis
+Khan had attacked both those peoples inflexibly, and Jelal now sought
+their friendship with growing endeavor. After his Ispahan failure the
+Sultan sent to get men and aid from the Kankalis. They agreed, as it
+seems, with much readiness to give them. Kur Khan, one of their
+leaders, embarked with three hundred men on the Caspian and passed the
+next winter with the Sultan on the plain of Mughan, a rich pasture land
+in that season. It was decided that Jelal was to gain the strong fort
+at Derbend with its one narrow pass and retain it. By this pass alone
+could large armies go south of the Caucasus from Kipchak. A force of
+fifty thousand from the north was to aid in securing this road near the
+sea, while Jelal was to give the prince ruling Derbend other fiefs in
+payment for it. The plan failed, however. Jelal secured now the
+district Gushtasfi between the rivers Kur (Cyrus) and Araxes. This land
+was a part of the Shirvan Shah’s kingdom, and he had given it to his
+son Jelal ud din Sultan Shah and sent him to Georgia to marry the
+daughter of Rusudan, the famous and beautiful queen of that country.
+Detained there perforce he was freed when Jelal took Tiflis and laid
+waste the country.
+
+Jelal claimed tribute now from the Shirvan Shah for all his
+possessions. This was done, since Jalal’s house had succeeded the
+Seljuks, to whom when in power those Shirvan Shahs had paid tribute.
+
+The unquiet ambition of Jelal had forced many people of the Caucasus to
+a league with the Georgians against him. An army made up from nine
+nations and forty thousand in number had gathered north of Arran. The
+Sultan marched against this army and pitched his camp at Mendur. Since
+his forces were greatly inferior in number to those of the enemy,
+Sherif ul Mulk, his vizir, advised at a council to limit all action to
+stopping provisions and meeting the enemy with advantage when want
+came. This advice enraged Jelal so seriously that he struck his vizir
+on the head with a writing case. “They are mere sheep; would a lion be
+troubled by the number of such weak little animals?” cried he, and he
+fined the vizir fifty thousand dinars for daring to offer such counsel.
+
+Next day the armies were facing each other. The Sultan, to encourage
+his men, gave them presents, and shared with some his best horses. From
+the top of a hill he saw two tumans of Kipchaks who had come to give
+aid to the Georgians. By an officer he sent bread and salt to those
+Kipchaks and told them that he had saved the lives of many of their
+people taken captive by his father. “Will you now raise the sword to
+repay me with bloodshed?” asked he.
+
+The Kipchaks withdrew on receiving this statement. The Georgians
+advanced, but Jelal sent this message to their leader: “Your men must
+be wearied by long marches; if they wish rest for to-day the best
+warriors from both sides may amuse themselves by trying their strength
+and address in the presence of the armies.” This proposition was
+accepted.
+
+One of the bravest of Georgia’s great veterans rode forth to the space
+between the two forces. The Sultan rushed to meet this strong champion,
+and pierced him through with one lance thrust. Three sons of the man
+came forth then to avenge him and were killed in succession by Jelal.
+Next came a fifth man, enormous in stature. The Sultan’s horse was
+wearied, there was no time for a change, and had it not been for his
+marvelous skill in escaping from blows and in parrying, Jelal would
+have seen his last hour in that conflict. But when the Georgian was
+rushing lance in rest at him, the Sultan sprang to the ground, disarmed
+the oncoming giant, and killed him. He gave with his whip then a signal
+for the onset, and, in spite of the truce, his whole army rushed at the
+Georgians, surprised and defeated them.
+
+Free of his enemies now Jelal marched in 1229 on Khelat to besiege it a
+second time. He remained all the winter before it, but was forced by
+keen cold and deep snow to lodge a great part of his troops in the
+villages of that region. To his camp came the Erzerum prince, Rokn ud
+din Jihan Shah, who belonged to a branch of the Seljuks of Rūm. This
+prince, having had quarrels before that with Jelal, wished now to
+arrange them, show homage, and give presents ten thousand dinars in
+value.
+
+The Sultan received him with every distinction, and in taking farewell
+asked for siege engines. Rokn ud din sent a great catapult, shields and
+many engines of value. The princes of Amid and Mardin sent their
+submission through envoys. Next came an embassy from Bagdad. Nassir,
+the Kalif, had died during 1225 in the forty-sixth year of his rule,
+the longest rule of any man in the whole line of Abbasids. Zahir,
+Nassir’s son and successor, had been only nine months in office when he
+died. Mostansir, his son, then succeeded. Mostansir now sent an envoy
+to make two demands upon Jelal; first that the Sultan would claim no
+rights of a sovereign in Mosul, Erbil, Abuye and Jebal whose princes
+were vassals of the Kalif; second that he would restore the name of the
+Kalif in all public prayers throughout Persia. Shah Mohammed, his
+father, had abolished this practice when he was marching on Bagdad, and
+had not restored it. The Sultan granted both requests straightway and
+commanded that in all his states every Moslem should pray for
+Mostansir. When the envoy returned a chamberlain of the Sultan went
+with him. This chamberlain came back with two officials, who brought
+from the Kalif a robe of investiture to Jelal, and splendid presents to
+him and his highest officials. Jelal asked earnestly for the title of
+Sultan. Bagdad refused, having given thus far, as was stated, that
+title to no ruler, but while investing him the Kalif gave the title
+Shah in Shah (Shah of Shahs). In letters after that Jelal styled
+himself servant of the Kalif whom he called lord and master.
+
+While besieging Khelat the Sultan commanded to adorn Ispahan with a
+college, and a domed mausoleum of rich structure. This building was to
+hold the sarcophagus of his father which meanwhile would rest on the
+Demavend mountain in Erdehan, a strong fortress three days’ journey
+from Rayi toward the Caspian. He requested by letter his aunt, Shah
+Khatun, a widow of the Mazanderan prince named Ardshir, to attend the
+“great Sultan’s” remains to the fortress. The chief men of her country
+and the Moslem Ulema were to go with her. Mohammed of Nessa, who
+indited the letter with this request, declares that he sent it
+unwillingly, since he knew well that Mohammed’s remains were far safer
+on that island in the Caspian than they ever could be in the fortress;
+for the Mongols burned the corpses of all kings whose graves they
+found, believing them of the Kwaresmian dynasty. They dug up in Gur the
+remains of Mahmud, son of Sebak Tegin, though this prince had been dead
+two whole centuries. “The event failed not to justify my fears,” adds
+Mohammed Nessavi. [11] “After Jelal had been slain the Mongols took the
+Erdehan stronghold and sent the body of Mohammed to Ogotai who burned
+it.”
+
+Before beginning the siege of Khelat, Jelal sent an envoy from Meraga
+to the Sultan of Rūm, Alai ed din Kei Kubad, with a letter expressing
+his wish for relations of friendship, and showing the need of close
+union, since they were one in the East and the other in the West, the
+two bulwarks of Islam against raging infidels. Kei Kubad read this
+letter with favor, and to strengthen an alliance proposed that Jelal
+give a daughter in marriage to his, Kei Kubad’s, son, Kei Kosru. Two
+envoys from Kei Kubad came bringing friendly expressions to Jelal while
+he was in front of Khelat, and besieging it.
+
+These envoys were forced to deliver their presents just as did subjects
+when bringing gifts to their sovereign. They asked a daughter of Jelal
+for Kei Kubad’s son, and received a refusal. They complained of
+hostility shown Kei Kubad by his cousin and vassal, the Erzerum prince,
+and asked that Jelal yield this prince up, and let Kei Kubad take his
+country. This request roused Jelal, who answered with spirit: “Though I
+have complaints against Jihan Shah, he has come to my court and now is
+a guest in it. It would not be proper for me to deliver him to an
+enemy.” Discontent in the envoys was heightened immensely by insolence
+from Jelal’s vizir.
+
+One day when Nessavi was visiting this minister he heard rude speech
+and boasting: “If the Sultan permitted I would enter your country and
+subject it with the troops at my order,” said Sherif. “When the envoy
+had gone I asked the vizir,” says Nessavi, “for the cause of his
+rudeness, since Kei Kubad had testified friendship. ‘The presents
+brought by those envoys.’ replied the vizir, ‘are not equal to two
+thousand dinars.’”
+
+The envoys, accompanied by three others from Jelal, went home little
+pleased with their mission. When they arrived at the boundary of Rūm
+the two hurried on in advance to their sovereign. On hearing their
+narrative Kei Kubad despatched one of them straightway to make an
+alliance with Ashraf.
+
+After six months of siege work Jelal stormed Khelat and took it April
+2, 1230. He wished that his men should not pillage and ruin the city,
+but his generals declared that the siege had been long, that the
+warriors had lost many horses with cattle and property, that if he
+forbade pillage no new campaign would be possible at any time; all
+might desert in a body. The generals insisted so firmly that Jelal had
+to yield to them.
+
+Khelat was given up for a time to the army; for three days and nights
+did wild, savage men work their will on it. A great many people expired
+under torture inflicted to force them to tell where their treasures
+were hidden. Women and children were saved for captivity. The Georgian
+wife of Prince Ashraf was taken by Jelal, who made her his concubine.
+
+Two younger brothers, Yakub and Abbas, fell into the power of the
+conqueror also. The Sultan now had the walls of the city repaired, and
+gave land in that region to his generals. Jelal was preparing to strike
+Manazguerd when the Erzerum prince, who during the siege of Khelat had
+given him provisions, and thus earned the hatred of Ashraf, came to
+inform him that Ashraf and the Sultan of Rūm were concluding a treaty,
+hence he advised with all earnestness to forestall the two princes by
+attacking their forces before they could possibly unite them.
+
+After the death of Moazzam of Damascus Ashraf had received from his
+brother Kamil, who was Sultan of Egypt, Damascus in barter for Surud,
+Harran, Roha and three other districts. When he heard of the fall of
+Khelat and the capture of his consort, Ashraf rushed away to his
+brother Kamil, who was at that time in Rakka. Ashraf met there that
+envoy from the Sultan of Rūm who was charged with concluding a treaty
+with him against Jelal. The Khelat Prince took advice from Kamil the
+Sultan of Egypt, who favored the alliance, but Kamil himself hurried
+back straightway to Cairo on learning that Salih, his son whom he had
+left there, was plotting to dethrone him.
+
+Ashraf set out with seven hundred horsemen for Harran. There he
+demanded contingents from Aleppo, Mosul and the lands lying between the
+Euphrates and Tigris. When those troops had appeared he went at the
+head of them to join Kei Kubad at Sivas whence they would march with
+combined armies on Khelat.
+
+Jelal had resolved to advance on Kharpert, hoping to attack the first
+of the armies which moved to join the other. He summoned his troops to
+Kharpert and went thither himself in advance of them, but falling ill
+at that place he was in such straits that the generals thought his life
+lost and were ready the moment breath left him to rush off and seize
+each man the province that pleased him. Jelal recovered, but meanwhile
+his enemies had united their forces. His army was small if compared
+with the troops ranged against it. He had not summoned in men from
+Arran, Azerbaidjan, Irak or Mazanderan who had gone on leave somewhat
+earlier. His vizir’s corps was at Manazguerd, another corps also was
+attacking Berkeri, still he moved on and in Erzendjan met the enemy.
+
+Kei Kubad’s force was twenty thousand, Ashraf’s only five, but all
+chosen warriors. Jelal was defeated most cruelly, and lost many
+warriors. Among prisoners was the Erzerum prince who had promised Jelal
+a good part of Kei Kubad’s kingdom, but who was forced then to yield up
+strong places and treasures of his own to his cousin. The victors
+beheaded all the Kwaresmian officers whom they captured.
+
+Jelal fled to Manazguerd, and taking the troops then besieging that
+fortress marched on Khelat which he stripped of all that had value and
+was movable; that done he burned the remainder. Then, taking with him
+the Georgian wife of Prince Ashraf and Ashraf’s two brothers, Yakub and
+Abbas, he moved into Azerbaidjan. The vizir with his troops was posted
+in Sekman Abad to follow the movements of the enemy; he himself halted
+near Khoï. His generals had deserted.
+
+Jelal’s enemies did not pursue. On the contrary his vizir got a letter
+from Ashraf, who had parted with Kei Kubad after the victory, and gone
+to Khelat, which he found a sad ruin and deserted. “Your master,” wrote
+he to Sherif, “is the Sultan of Moslems, the first rampart of Islam
+against Mongol enemies. We know that to weaken him signifies ruin to
+religion, that his losses will affect every Moslem. Why do you with
+your wonderful experience not give him peace-loving counsels? I
+guarantee to the Sultan true friendship with the strong aid of Kei
+Kubad, and my brother, the Sultan of Egypt.”
+
+These propositions were followed by discussion, and the two princes
+made peace. The Sultan agreed to cease all attacks upon Khelat, but
+despite every effort he would make no promise regarding Kei Kubad. He
+could not forgive him the alliance with Ashraf. He knew only later how
+his vizir had offended that prince’s envoys. But when he learned that
+the Mongols were entering Irak he swore to respect all the lands of Kei
+Kubad.
+
+This Mongol army, thirty thousand in number, was taken from all the
+troops under Ogotai. It was led by Chormagun, whom the Grand Khan had
+deputed to finish the conquest of Persia and establish himself there
+with his warriors. Chormagun, who wished first of all to hunt Jelal to
+death, as Jinghis the great Khan had hunted Jelal’s father, moved
+through Khorassan very swiftly by the Esferain road, and past Rayi.
+
+Jelal, who had gone from Khoï to Tebriz, hoped that these Mongols would
+winter in Irak; he needed delay of that length to gather in forces and
+concentrate. He despatched a Pehlevan straightway to Irak to watch all
+the movements of the Mongols. This man met a vanguard of the enemy
+between Zendjan and Ebher. He fled with fourteen men, all he had, and
+was the only survivor so fiercely did the Mongols rush after him. He
+came alone to Tebriz with his tidings to the Sultan.
+
+Jelal did not delay; he left the place at once for the steppes of Mugan
+on the Caspian to gather in forces. Not having time to secure proper
+safety for his harem, it remained at Tebriz. He spent that winter in
+Mugan and in Shirvan. Two officers of distinction from Mazanderan and
+Khorassan were sent forward to have a keen eye on the enemy, report to
+Jelal, and keep relays of good horses at Firus Abad and at Ardebil.
+
+While waiting for his warriors, summoned through heralds who presented
+red arrows, Jelal with a body-guard of only one thousand amused himself
+at hunts during daylight, and spent his evenings drinking with his
+intimates. One night two officers of the vanguard whom he had trusted
+to warn him let a Mongol division pass without challenge or notice.
+They surprised Jelal on a hill close to Shirkebut and he barely escaped
+from the peril by rushing on toward the river Araxes. The Mongols
+thought that he had crossed it and they hurried on farther toward
+Gandja, the capital of Arran, but Jelal had turned back toward
+Azerbaidjan and sent Prince Yakub his prisoner to explain to Ashraf,
+Yakub’s brother, the great need of sending men promptly to drive back
+the Mongols, whose plan was to crush down and ruin the whole world of
+Islam.
+
+Yakub was conducted to Sherif ul Mulk, Jelal’s vizir, who had been
+directed to send with him an envoy having proper instructions. Sherif
+ul Mulk, who was now a full traitor, had a vizir of his own whom he
+sent, but with orders entirely opposed to those given by the Sultan.
+Jelal’s harem left in Tebriz unprotected was sent now to Arran by
+Sherif and lodged in Sind Suruk, a strong fortress, while his treasures
+were hidden in various castles which belonged to the chief of the
+Turkmans of Arran. That done, Sherif went to Khizan and raised there
+the banner of rebellion. He was angry since the Sultan, because of
+Sherif’s immense outlays, had taken from him command of the taxes, and
+income of all sorts. Thinking Jelal lost when he had fled in Mugan and
+had been almost captured, he wrote to Kei Kubad and Ashraf declaring
+that if they would leave Azerbaidjan to him coupled with Arran he would
+render homage for both and have the two princes’ names mentioned at all
+public worship. “Fallen Tyrant” was the name given the Sultan in this
+letter. Many missives which were similar to this one in part went to
+governors to corrupt them. One of these was sent to the Sultan who knew
+now that Sherif stopped all Kwaresmian officers who came near his fort
+and wrung their possessions from them by torture. He learned also that
+Sherif had instructed the Turkman chief not to yield up the harem or
+treasures of the Sultan to any one, not even to Jelal himself should he
+come for them. In this letter also he styled him “Fallen Tyrant.” The
+Sultan, knowing now the vizir and his treason, had orders sent to
+disregard his authority.
+
+Jelal, who remained all the winter (1231) in Mugan, went to Arran in
+the spring upon hearing that the Mongols were moving from Odjan to find
+him. When near Sherif’s castle he sent for the traitorous vizir and
+feigned to know nothing of his treason. Sherif came with a shroud on
+his neck. Jelal had wine brought to him, an act not agreeing with
+etiquette, since the Kwaresmian sultans never admitted vizirs to their
+banquets. Sherif thought himself then at the summit of favor, but soon
+he had reason to think otherwise, for though he followed the Sultan the
+latter assigned him no duties.
+
+The bad condition of Jelal’s affairs affected the people of the two
+Caspian provinces recently subjected. In Tebriz the population, roused
+to anger by the men who commanded in the name of the Sultan, were ready
+to massacre all the Kwaresmians and thus win good grace from the
+Mongols. Revolts broke out in many places of Azerbaidjan and of Arran.
+Men in the service of the Sultan were killed and their heads carried
+off as presents to the enemy.
+
+Jelal wishing to assemble the troops of Arran, and unable to trust any
+Turkman in his service, prevailed on Mohammed of Nessa to accept this
+most delicate mission, which he carried out with such thoroughness and
+so deftly that Jelal soon had a strong force at his command. At report
+of this exploit the Mongol division which had marched into Arran
+withdrew to the main camp at Odjan. An envoy sent to the Bailecan
+governor to effect his surrender was brought before Jelal immediately.
+On being asked touching Chormagun’s army, and promised his life if he
+told the truth sacredly (the man was a Moslem), he declared that the
+army roll counted twenty thousand on the day of review near the Bokhará
+suburbs. Jelal, lest his troops lose their courage and scatter, had the
+man killed at once.
+
+Then, fearing that the vizir might rush away on a sudden and rouse many
+men to rebellion, the Sultan set out for Jaraper followed still by the
+traitor. He ordered then the commandant of the Jaraper fortress, a
+cruel old Turkman, to arrest the vizir and put him in irons the moment
+that he, the Sultan, moved farther. This was done, and soon after, the
+old Turkman sent six guards to take life from Sherif. The moment he saw
+the men coming the vizir knew that his last hour was present. He begged
+a short respite during which to implore the Almighty. He made his
+ablutions, then prayed, read some lines in the Koran, and said that the
+guards might enter. On reappearing they asked him which he preferred,
+the cord or the sabre. “The sabre,” answered Sherif. “It is not the
+usage that great people die by the sabre,” said the guard, “and death
+by the cord is far easier.” “The task is yours,” replied Sherif. “Do
+what seems best to you. I receive that which comes to him always who
+trusts the ungrateful.” These were the last words of Sherif. He was
+strangled.
+
+Jelal’s next move was a quick march on Gandja, where the populace had
+slain all Kwaresmians in the city. He pitched his camp at the wall and
+strove to persuade the seditious to obedience by pleasant messages and
+mildness; but the crowd grew more insolent and rushed forth to fall on
+him. The Sultan charged fiercely. The populace fled, and returned
+through the gate in disorder. The victors were eager for plunder, but
+the Sultan restrained them. He wished above all to discover the leaders
+of the outbreak. Thirty were named and Jelal cut their heads off.
+
+The Sultan remained fifteen days in the city, thinking on action. At
+last he resolved to ask aid a second time of Ashraf. He hated to do
+this, but yielded to counsel.
+
+Ashraf, on hearing that envoys were coming from Jelal, took a journey
+to Egypt. The envoys were made to delay at Damascus, where the Syrian
+prince forced them to loiter and amused them by letters declaring that
+he would return soon from Cairo with troops for their master.
+
+At last Jelal’s envoys sent word to him that Ashraf would stay in
+Egypt, as they thought, till the whole Mongol question was settled
+without him. Jelal sent his chancellor then to Mozaffer, who had
+received Khelat from Ashraf his brother. He invited this prince to come
+with his own troops and bring with him also the princes of Mardin and
+Amid, with their forces. He said that then he could win without Ashraf.
+His envoy was to explain to Mozaffer with all clearness possible that
+if they, with God’s favor, should conquer the Mongols he would put
+Mozaffer in a country compared with which Khelat and its lands were as
+nothing. This was said by Jelal in the presence of his generals, but to
+Mohammed of Nessa when alone with him his speech was as follows: “I
+have no faith in the people to whom you are going, but these here,”
+meaning his Turkman commanders, “are satisfied only with visions, and
+their highest desire is to escape serious fighting. Thus have they
+baffled every plan made by me. I send you now on this mission knowing
+well that you will bring back an answer taking from them all hope of
+aid.”
+
+The Sultan had fixed on Ispahan the capital as his stronghold. At his
+command six thousand men went to pillage in Rūm whence they drove back
+immense herds of cattle.
+
+When Mohammed of Nessa gave Mozaffer the message, that prince replied
+in this fashion: “If I have given an oath to Jelal, I have given one
+also to Kei Kubad; I know too that your sovereign has ravaged Kei
+Kubad’s country, and that is not what he promised on the day of the
+oath taking. Besides I am not my own master; I depend on my brothers,
+the Sultan of Egypt, and the ruler of Syria, I could not help any man
+unless those two permitted. Moreover what aid could my little army give
+Jelal, or others? As to the princes of Mardin and Amid, they are not my
+dependents. They are discussing with the Sultan touching aid. I know
+that, I know too that he is trying them. He will find soon that they
+are not truthful, while Ashraf is eager in the interest of the Sultan,
+and is faithful to promises. His only object in going to Egypt is to
+get troops and lead them back with him.”
+
+At the end of some days Mohammed took leave of Mozaffer while declaring
+that whatever the end was the latter would regret his decision. “If
+Jelal triumphs,” said he, “you can never be reconciled; if he is
+conquered the Mongols will bring bitter grief on you if not
+destruction.” The Khelat prince answered that he doubted not the words
+of the envoy, but added, “I am not my own master.”
+
+A letter borne by a pigeon from Perkri announced that the Mongols were
+searching for the Sultan, and had passed by that city. Jelal went to
+Hany, but finding there only the women and baggage, he set out for
+Jebal Jor without waiting. A Mongol escaping from punishment had come
+to the Kwaresmians and declared that the Mongols were advancing. The
+man was a commander of one thousand who would not endure reprimands
+from superiors, hence had fled from them. Following the advice of this
+runaway Jelal left his baggage at the wayside, and settled in ambush
+near by to fall on the Mongols while they were pillaging it. Otuz Khan,
+one of his generals, with four thousand horsemen, was to move on the
+enemy, engage and then flee after fighting, thus luring them on into
+ambush. Otuz Khan being neither keen nor courageous, came back and
+declared that the Mongols had gone toward Manazguerd. On hearing this
+false statement the Sultan came out of his ambush and went on to Hany
+where he was met by Mohammed of Nessa whom he commanded to report in
+the presence of all, on the outcome of his mission.
+
+Convinced after listening to this report that no help would come from
+any one, all resolved straightway to fall back on Ispahan, taking only
+those of their children and wives who were dearest to them.
+
+Two days later, came an envoy from Prince Massud of Amid. That prince
+wished the Sultan to make himself master in Rūm, a conquest which he
+declared would be easy. Master of Rūm and strong through the Kipchaks
+who were firmly attached to him, Jelal could make himself terrible to
+the Mongols. Massud promised to strengthen the Sultan with four
+thousand horsemen and stay with him till Rūm should be conquered.
+
+This entire plan of that Amid prince was caused by his rage at Kei
+Kubad, who had snatched away some of his castles.
+
+Jelal’s ambition was roused to activity. He abandoned the Ispahan
+journey and started off toward Amid without waiting. Pitching his camp
+near that city he passed the whole evening in drinking. At midnight a
+Turkman rushed in with tidings that he had seen foreign troops at the
+place where the Sultan had passed the night previous. Jelal declared
+this a lie, and a trick of the Amid prince to force him from the
+country at the earliest. But at daybreak the Mongols were present. They
+surrounded the Sultan’s pavilion while he was still sleeping off his
+carousal. One general, Orkhan, galloped up with his troops and drove
+the enemy away. The officers of Jelal’s own household strove hard in
+this trial; they had barely time to give Jelal a light colored tunic,
+and put him on horseback. He thought at that moment of one of his wives
+who was with him, a daughter of the Fars prince, and commanded two of
+his principal officers to guard her while fleeing.
+
+Seeing that the Mongols were terribly swift in pursuing, Jelal ordered
+Orkhan to rush in another direction with his forces, and draw off the
+enemy. He himself took the road to Amid with one hundred horsemen. The
+gates of that city were closed to him. Persuasion was powerless to open
+them, hence he fled on toward the Tigris, but soon turning aside he
+rushed back, and thus followed the counsel of Otuz Khan, who declared
+that the best way to flee from the Mongols was to double back and be
+behind them. He reached a small village in the region of Mayafarkin and
+stopped for the night at a granary. While he was sleeping Otuz Khan
+slipped away, and deserted. At daybreak the Mongols caught up with the
+Sultan, who had barely the time to mount and be off while his guards
+fought the enemy.
+
+Most of Jelal’s men were slain while defending their master that
+morning. Fifteen of the Mongols, on learning that he who had fled was
+the Sultan, rushed along after him madly. Two reached the swift rider,
+but he slew both of them. The others could not come up with the
+fugitive whose horse beyond doubt was superior.
+
+Jelal hurried on alone now, and made his way into the mountains. There
+he was captured by Kurds, whose work was to strip every wayfarer and
+slay him. They stripped the Sultan at once and were going to kill him
+when he told their chief secretly who he was, asking the man to conduct
+him to the Erbil prince, Mozaffer, who would load him with benefits for
+doing so; if not to conduct him to some place in the Sultan’s own
+kingdom. The Kurd chose the latter and taking with him to his own
+habitation the Sultan, whom he left in the care of his wife, he went
+out to find horses. Meanwhile another Kurd came in, and inquired of the
+woman who the Kwaresmian was, and why they had not killed him. She
+replied that he was under her husband’s protection, and added, that he
+was the Kwaresmian Sultan. “How know that he is telling you the truth?”
+asked the Kurd. “But if he is the Sultan, he killed at the siege of
+Khelat my own brother, a far better man than he is.” With that he
+sprang at Jelal ud din, pierced him with his javelin, and killed him.
+Aug. 15, 1231.
+
+With Jelal ud din perished the Kwaresmian dynasty.
+
+“Jelal ud din,” says Mohammed of Nessa, “was of medium stature. He had
+a Turk face, his complexion was very dark, for his mother was from
+India. He was brave to excess, calm, grave and silent, never laughing
+except at the points of his lips. He spoke Turkish and Persian.” Jelal
+ud din was no statesman, he had neither foresight nor wisdom; attached
+to his whims he reconciled no man. Music and wine gave him most of his
+pleasure. He always went to bed drunk, even at times when the Mongols
+were hunting him like bloodhounds. He did not retain the affection of
+his warriors, who receiving no pay had to live on the country and ruin
+it. Reckless conduct estranged from him those who might have upheld
+him. A wise and strong leader could have raised up and directed a
+resistance which would have stopped Hulagu in his conquests. What might
+have come afterwards is of course a new problem.
+
+Soon after the death of this Sultan, Prince Mozaffer sent men to
+collect his effects. They found his horse, saddle and sabre. These,
+being shown to his generals, were recognized. Mozaffer then had his
+corpse brought and put in a mausoleum.
+
+In after years report ran that Jelal had been seen in various places of
+Iran. A man at Ispidar gave himself out as the Sultan. The Mongol
+commanders called in men who had seen Jelal ud din. The imposter was
+discovered and put to death promptly. Twenty-two years after this death
+of the Sultan a poor man dressed as a fakir while crossing the Oxus
+spoke to the boatmen as follows: “I am Jelal ud din the Kwaresmian Shah
+reported as killed by the Kurds in the mountains of Amid. It was not I
+who was killed then, but my equerry. I have wandered about many years
+without letting men know me.” Taken by the boatmen to an officer of the
+Mongols close to that river he was tortured, but insisted till death
+that he was Jelal ud din the Kwaresmian Sultan.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CONDITION OF PERSIA IN 1254, WHEN HULAGU CAME TO CONQUER AND TO
+SLAUGHTER
+
+
+Sad was the fate of the people in Rūm through disunion, stupidity and
+thoughtlessness. After Jelal ud din lost his life in the mountains his
+warriors dispersed and were finished by land tillers, by Kurds, and by
+Beduins. The Mongols fell straightway to ravaging Amid, Erzerum and
+Mayafarkin. After a siege of five days they captured Sarad, two days’
+journey from Mardin, and east of it, and though the city had
+surrendered they slaughtered its inhabitants to the number of fifteen
+thousand, as is stated. Tanza met the same fate as also did Mardin,
+whose sovereign took refuge in the fortress. The district of Nisibin
+was changed to a desert, though the city itself was not taken by the
+Mongols who, entering the country of Sinjar sacked El Khabur and
+Araban. One division of them took the road to Mosul and hastened to
+pillage El Munassa, on the road between Mosul and Nisibin. The people
+of that place and the flat country around it took refuge in a building
+near the middle of the city where all save desirable women were
+massacred. A man of that region being hidden in a house looked out
+through a cranny and saw what was happening and afterward told Ibn al
+Athir, the historian. “Each time the Mongols slew some one they shouted
+‘La illahi.’ This massacre finished, they pillaged the place and
+departed leading away the women selected. I saw them,” said the hidden
+man, “rejoicing on horseback. They laughed, sang songs in their
+language and shouted while mocking the Moslems.”
+
+Another Mongol division marched on Bitlis. Some of the people fled to
+the mountains, others took refuge in the citadel. The Mongols set fire
+to the city and burned it. They stormed Balri, a fortified place in the
+region of Khelat, and slaughtered all the inhabitants. The large city
+of Andjish met a similar destruction.
+
+A third Mongol force now laid siege to Meraga. This city surrendered on
+condition that the lives of all citizens be respected. The Mongols gave
+a promise to spare them, but notwithstanding this promise they slew a
+great number. They sacked Azerbaidjan, passed into Erbil, attacked
+Kurds and Turkmans, slaying every one whom they could reach with a
+weapon. They took fire and sword to all places, and committed
+atrocities without parallel.
+
+Mozaffer, prince of Erbil, assembled his troops with great speed and
+got aid from Mosul. The Mongols withdrew then and marched on Dakuka.
+The prince thought it best not to pursue them.
+
+During those two months which followed the death of Jelal ud din and
+the scattering of his army, the Mongols pillaged all lands between the
+Euphrates and Tigris; Diarbekr, Khelat and Erbil, without finding a
+single armed warrior to oppose them. The princes of those petty states
+hid away carefully, and the people were stupefied so great was the
+terror which had seized upon mankind. Deeds were done in that period
+which beggar belief. For example a lone Mongol horseman rode into a
+populous village and fell to cutting down people; no man had the
+courage to defend himself.
+
+Another time a Mongol without weapons wished to hew off the head of a
+prisoner whom he had taken; he commanded the man to lie down and wait
+for him. The Mongol went off for a sabre, came back and killed the
+unfortunate, who was waiting obediently. Still a new tale from a third
+man: “I was on the road with seventeen comrades when a Mongol on
+horseback rode up to us, and commanded that each man tie the hands of
+another. My comrades thought it best to obey. ‘This man,’ said I to
+them, ‘is alone, let us kill him.’ ‘We are too much afraid,’ said they.
+‘But he will kill us. Let us kill him, God may then save us.’ No man of
+them had the courage to do this. I killed him then with a knife thrust,
+and we fled and in that manner saved ourselves from other Mongols.”
+These cases are but three out of thousands.
+
+Three months after the death of Jelal ud din, people in general knew
+not whether he had been killed, or was hiding, or had gone to another
+country. Azerbaidjan was now seized by the Mongols. Their leader fixed
+his camp near Tebriz and summoned that city to surrender. It offered a
+large sum of money, many fabrics, wine and other products. The chief
+judge and the mayor with the principal people went to the Mongol
+commander, who ordered to send out to him weavers since he wished to
+have certain stuffs made for his sovereign. They obeyed and the
+citizens paid for those costly fabrics. He asked also a tent for his
+master. One was made for him of a kind that had never been equalled in
+that city. It was covered with silk embroidered in gold and ornamented
+with sable and beaver. Tebriz agreed to an annual tribute in stuffs and
+in silver.
+
+The Mongols were sacking the lands of Erbil, a fief of the Kalif,
+Mostansir, who had summoned to assist him Mohammedan sovereigns as well
+as the Arabs. Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, whose dominions beyond the
+Euphrates were also threatened, had set out from Cairo at the head of
+an army and arrived at Damascus whence he moved eastward very promptly.
+His army being numerous, took various roads in crossing the desert.
+Since water was lacking, many horses died on that journey, and many men
+also. On learning at Harran that the Mongols had gone out of Khelat,
+Kamil besieged Amid. The capture of this place, which belonged to a
+grandson of Ortok, was the real cause of his coming from Egypt. With
+him was Ashraf, his brother, who had persuaded him to make the
+expedition. The Eyubite princes and the Sultan of Rūm marched also with
+Kamil.
+
+The siege lasted five days altogether. Prince Massud, a weakling and a
+man enamoured of pleasure, surrendered his capital to Kamil, who gave
+it as an appanage (1232) to his faithless son Salih, who previously had
+wished to dethrone him. Massud received certain lands lying in Egypt;
+to those lands he went and settled down ignominiously as became him.
+Master of Amid Kamil attacked Hóssn-Keifa, which yielded also. He had
+now gained his object.
+
+Mongol troops under Chormagun’s orders, and after that general’s death,
+under Baidju, continued during two entire decades to slaughter, rob,
+pillage and devastate lands west of Persia. They ruined whole regions,
+and cut down the people in wantonness and by thousands. In 1236–7 they
+made a second invasion of the districts near Erbil, and advanced to the
+Tigris. Next they took Erbil and found there rich booty. They burned a
+great number of houses, but could not take the fortress where the
+inhabitants had rallied, and though perishing from thirst fought with a
+marvelous valor. At the end of forty days the Mongols retired on
+receipt of large sums in gold from the people.
+
+They ravaged after that the north edge of Arabian Irak as far as Zenk
+Abad and Sermenraï, which they pillaged. The Kalif made Bagdad
+defensible and in 1237 in his wish to rouse every Moslem, he asked the
+Ulema: “Which gives more merit, a pilgrimage to Mecca, or a war on the
+infidel?” “The holy war,” answered all as one person. The war was
+proclaimed then. Great persons, men of law, common people, all went out
+daily to learn the art of wielding weapons. The Kalif himself wished to
+march with the forces, but prudent advisers dissuaded him. His troops
+met the enemy at Jebel Hamrin north of Tacrit, on the bank of the
+Tigris, put them to flight, cut down many, and freed all the captives
+seized at Dakuka and Erbil a short time before. In 1238 fifteen
+thousand Mongols invaded the territory of Bagdad, and advanced to
+Jaferiye, but retired at approach of the forces of the Kalif made up of
+Turks and Arabs.
+
+That same year, Arabian Irak was reëntered by Mongols from ten to
+fifteen thousand in number. They advanced to Khanekin, a place some
+leagues south of Heulvan. The Kalif sent seven thousand horsemen
+against them under orders of Jemal ud din Beïlek. The Mongols,
+employing their old stratagem successfully, lured on the forces of
+Bagdad and attacked them from ambush. They put to the sword nearly all
+the detachment. Beïlek, their leader, disappeared without tidings.
+
+In 1235 the Mongols took Gandja the capital of Arran, giving the city
+to flames and the people to slaughter. The year following, 1236,
+Chormagun left Mugan and swept through Armenia, Albania and Georgia,
+sacking all the best cities. Georgia had so recently been plundered by
+Jelal ud din that unable to defend themselves against the Mongol
+invaders, the princes and people sought refuge in the mountains. Queen
+Rusudan, a woman famous for her beauty and her lack of virtue, chose as
+asylum the impregnable fortress of Usaneth in Imeretia.
+
+Chormagun seized the country between the Araxes and the Cyrus. One of
+his generals, Gadagan, took Kedapagu and Varsanashod. Another one,
+Mular, seized Shamkar and every stronghold around it. Chormagun’s
+brother Jela took the fortress of Katchen. Jelal, the master of the
+place, fled to Khok Castle near Kandzassar. When summoned to surrender
+he gave the Grand Khan allegiance with tribute and military service.
+Jagatai, another leader of Mongols, took Lori which belonged to Shah in
+Shah, prince of Ani, sacked the city and slaughtered the people. Next
+after this, and in 1239, the Mongols burst into Georgia and captured
+Tiflis with many other places. When Jagatai had made all his circuits
+through the country with terror in front of him and ruin behind, he
+swept again through Armenia, besieging now the old capital Ani. When
+the ancient city was summoned to yield, the authorities answered that
+without Shah in Shah they could not surrender, since he was prince of
+that region. The envoy was returning with this statement when the
+populace grew furious and killed him. Chormagun laid siege immediately
+to Ani. Not having supplies, the people learned soon the full meaning
+of famine. To escape from it many went out and surrendered. Chormagun
+met all those people with kindness, and gave them provisions; this
+enticed others till more than one half had gone out of Ani. After that
+those men, captured thus by their stomachs and Chormagun’s cunning,
+were drawn up in companies and delivered to warriors, who cut them down
+to the very last person. Ani could not defend itself longer, so pillage
+and fire destroyed the old city.
+
+On hearing of the dread destruction which had fallen upon Ani, and the
+slaughter of all who had lived in it, the inhabitants of Kars fearing
+the doom which, as they thought, would meet them unless they could
+avert it, carried the keys of their city to the Mongol commander.
+Notwithstanding this voluntary submission and surrender, a dreadful
+massacre followed, for Chormagun gave direction to put all to the sword
+except children, desirable women, and artisans of skill, who were
+needed by the Mongols.
+
+When Kars had been ruined the invaders returned to the plains of Mugan,
+which abounded in rich winter pastures.
+
+In 1240 Prince Avak of Tiflis and his sister Tamara went to give homage
+at Ogotai’s court, and were met there with kindness. The Grand Khan
+gave them an order commanding Chormagun to reinstate them and other
+Georgian princes; a second command was sent also to take from them only
+the tribute agreed on already. When people north of the Euphrates and
+Tigris had been thinned out sufficiently and enlightened by slaughter,
+the Mongols turned to take Rūm and subdue it.
+
+Rūm had been ruled for a century and a half by a branch of the Seljuks.
+Asia Minor was conquered about 1080 by Suleiman Shah, whom his cousin
+Sultan Melik, Shah of Persia, had sent toward the west with eighty
+thousand Turkman households to bring down the infidel. Suleiman seized
+the central provinces of that region from the Byzantine Empire, and
+made Konia the capital of his newly won kingdom, which was called Rūm
+in the Orient, but in the west with another vowel, Rome. From that
+period on, the Turkman swarms which followed the banners of the Seljuks
+spread over those conquered lands widely. Most places were given them
+as fiefs, and the Christians of that entire region passed under the
+yoke of unsparing and insolent nomads.
+
+The Sultan Ghiath ud din Kei Kosru, eighth successor of Suleiman the
+first conqueror, had ruled over Rūm for five years when in 1243 the
+Mongols set out to subject it. Chormagun was now dead and Baidju, who
+succeeded him, had come with an army, in which were Armenian and
+Georgian contingents, to invest Erzerum where Sinan ud din Yakut was
+commandant. This Yakut was a freedman of Sultan Kei Kubad, the father
+of Kei Kosru. At the end of two months the walls were destroyed by
+twelve catapults; the city was taken by storm, and one day later the
+citadel met with a similar misfortune. The commandant and also his
+warriors were put to the sword without exception. Artisans, workmen,
+desirable women and children were spared to be driven into slavery.
+When the city had been plundered and ruined the Mongols withdrew to
+their winter camp on the plain of Mugan.
+
+Mongol warriors were sent in 1244 toward Syria. While they were
+approaching Malattia, where news of the sack of Cesaraea had spread
+dismay through every hamlet and corner, the prefect and other officials
+of the Sultan took during night hours all the silver and gold of the
+treasury, divided it among themselves and set out to find refuge in
+Aleppo. At the same time the chief citizens, both Moslem and Christian,
+tried to save themselves by flight, but these, after journeying one
+day, were overtaken by Mongols who slaughtered the old men and women;
+the young of both sexes were spared and driven on into slavery.
+
+The Mongols waited not to lay siege to Malattia, they sped forward at
+command of Noyon Yassaur to Aleppo, demanded a ransom, received it, and
+vanished. On his way back, Yassaur made a halt at Malattia and feigned
+an attack on it. The prefect collected much plate, also gold from
+church pictures, besides other treasures taken from the Nestorian
+cathedral; the value in all reached forty thousand gold pieces. After
+receiving this ransom Yassaur continued his march toward the boundary
+of Persia. Yassaur was the Mongol chief, probably, who in 1244, toward
+the end of the summer, summoned Bohemond V., Prince of Antioch, to
+level the walls of his cities, send in all the revenue of his
+princedom, and give besides three thousand maidens. The prince refused,
+the Mongol commander refrained from attacking, but later on the Antioch
+prince furnished tribute to the Mongols.
+
+The Grand Khan’s lieutenant had summoned all sovereigns in Western Asia
+to obedience. Shihab ud din in 1241 got a letter from an envoy of the
+Mongols. The letter sent to other princes as well as to him began in
+this way: “The lieutenant on earth, of the Master of Heaven, commands
+all the following princes to acknowledge his authority and level their
+defences;” the names then were given. The prince answered that he was a
+weak, petty ruler if compared with the sovereigns of Rūm, Syria and
+Egypt. “Go to them first,” said he, “I will follow their example.”
+
+Hayton, the king of Cilicia, had promised to bring to the Sultan of Rūm
+a whole corps of Armenians; he delayed marching, however, and awaited
+developments. The kingdom of Rūm was now subject to Mongols, and Hayton
+thought it well to win Mongol favor if possible. On securing consent
+from the chief men of his kingdom he sent envoys in 1244, during
+spring, with rich presents to Baidju. The envoys turned to Jalal, an
+Armenian prince then in Katchen, who presented them to Baidju, to
+Chormagun’s widow, and to Mongol commanders. Baidju asked first that
+Hayton deliver the wife, daughter and mother of Kei Kosru, who were
+then in Cilicia. That request made, he took leave of the envoys, and
+sent with them men of his own to their sovereign. The conditions were
+grievous to Hayton, but he yielded the women to Baidju’s officials and
+sent on new envoys. The Mongol commander was satisfied, and concluding
+an alliance with Hayton, giving him a diploma which affirmed his
+position as vassal to the Grand Khan. The Mongols during 1245 took
+regions north of Lake Van, among others Khelat, which through an order
+of Ogotai had been given to Tamara of Georgia. After this they marched
+into regions between the Euphrates and Tigris, taking Roha, Nisibin and
+other cities which the people abandoned at approach of the dread enemy.
+But great summer heat brought down most of their horses, hence the
+Mongols were forced to withdraw very speedily to save themselves.
+
+Mongol dominion was extending continually. Bedr ud din Lulu the Prince
+of Mosul declared in a letter to the Prince of Damascus that he had in
+his own name concluded a treaty by which the inhabitants of Syria would
+give the Mongols a fixed tribute according to wealth and ability. The
+tax of the rich would amount to ten dirhems, medium men would pay five,
+and poor people one dirhem. This letter was published at Damascus, and
+officials began to collect the taxes decreed by it.
+
+The same year, 1245, news came to Bagdad, by pigeons, that the Mongols
+had entered Sheherzur, eight days’ travel northward from Bagdad, and
+sacked the whole city, whose prince, Melik ud din Mohammed, had fled to
+a stronghold.
+
+The Mongols advancing in 1246 to Yakuba were attacked and driven off by
+Bagdad troops, and some of them were captured. Baidju did not feel
+himself master of Georgia while Queen Rusudan remained in Usaneth and
+refused all submission. In vain did he send her rich presents, and ask
+for an interview during which she and he might arrange, he declared, an
+alliance with friendship. The queen would not go from her stronghold,
+and gave no better answer to a message from Batu, who since Ogotai’s
+death, in December, 1241, was the first among Jinghis Khan’s grandsons.
+She sent her son David, however, to Batu as hostage, and placed him
+under that strong Khan’s protection. Baidju, wrathful at Rusudan’s
+stubbornness, resolved to give Georgia a ruler subservient to Mongols.
+Rusudan’s brother, Lasha, had a son born outside wedlock whom the queen
+had despatched into Rūm when her daughter went thither to marry Kei
+Kosru. This son of Lasha, named David, was detained for ten years in
+Cesaraea. Freed now for this special state trick, he was brought to the
+camp of the Mongols where certain princes proclaimed him, and took the
+oath of allegiance. Georgian troops and Armenians went with David to
+Mtskhete the seat of the Patriarch, who anointed him.
+
+David, the new king and tool of the Mongols, in 1246 attacked Rusudan
+in her fortress where, reduced to extremities, she took poison and in
+dying recommended her son to Batu the Khan of the Kipchaks and master
+at that time in Russia.
+
+The young King of Georgia set out to be present at the installation of
+Kuyuk (1246). The names given of subject rulers present at this great
+Kurultai show how far-reaching was the power of the Mongols: the Prince
+of Fars; the ruler of Kerman; Bedr ud din Lulu, Prince of Mosul;
+Yaroslav, Grand Prince of Russia; Ambassadors from the Kalif of Bagdad;
+the Prince of the Assassin Kingdom; and many other noted rulers. There
+were present also two monks who came from the Pope—one of whom, Du
+Plano Carpino, has left us an account of the Kurultai—and Rusudan’s
+son.
+
+The rivalry of the King of Georgia and Rusudan’s son brought about a
+division of their country. David got Georgia proper and Rusudan’s son,
+Imeretia, Mingrelia and Abhasia. Both men were called kings, but David
+was the Suzerain. The Cilician King Hayton who sent Sempad, his
+brother, to be present at Kuyuk’s enthronement, received from the Grand
+Khan more cities seized from Cilicia by the Sultans of Rūm.
+
+In 1249 fresh alarm rose in Bagdad, for the Mongols advanced to Dakuka
+and killed Bilban the prefect. In 1250–1 Nassir the Prince of Damascus
+got a letter of safe-conduct from the Grand Khan and bore it in his
+girdle. Splendid gifts were a proof of his gratitude and pleasure.
+Lands between the Euphrates and Tigris were again visited by the
+Mongols. The districts of Diarbekr and Mayafarkin with Reesain and
+Sarudj were given over to pillage. The invaders cut down in this raid
+more than ten thousand people. A caravan which had set out from Harran
+for Bagdad was attacked by those Mongols, who massacred every man in
+it. They took a large booty; among other objects they got six hundred
+camel loads of sugar and cloth stuffs from Egypt, besides six hundred
+thousand dinars in money. After such splendid robbery they went back to
+Khelat for enjoyment.
+
+A corps under Yassaur, who eight years before that had struck at
+Malattia, attacked now this city’s environs and slew all the people
+whom it could reach with a weapon. Kei Kosru had died in 1245. Yzz ud
+din Kei Kavus with his two brothers, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, and
+Alai ud din Kei Kubad, had succeeded their father. The names of all
+three appeared on the coinage, and were mentioned in mosques at public
+service. Some great lords of Rūm wished Rokn ud din as chief sovereign.
+Shems ud din of Ispahan, the grand vizir, put many of those partisans
+to death. He married Yzz ud din’s mother and, wishing to eliminate Rokn
+ud din, had him sent to the court of Kuyuk with the tribute and
+presents agreed on in the treaty of submission made recently.
+
+When Rokn ud din had appeared at the court of the Grand Khan he and an
+officer of his suite, Behai ud din Terjuman, accused the vizir of doing
+to death powerful people who favored Rokn ud din, of marrying the late
+Sultan’s widow, and of raising a sovereign to the throne without
+consent or command of the Grand Khan. On hearing this statement, Kuyuk
+commanded that Rokn ud din take Yzz ud din’s place, and that Terjuman
+take Shems ud din’s office. When the latter heard of this change he
+despatched to Kuyuk, Rashid ud din, the prefect of Malattia, with much
+gold and many jewels. The new order destroyed him and he hoped now that
+the Grand Khan would revoke it. But when his envoy was nearing Erzerum
+the newly made Sultan with his vizir were approaching that city.
+Overcome by the greatness of his task the weak envoy placed his
+treasures in the stronghold of Kemash and fled with all speed to
+Aleppo. Terjuman appeared at Malattia very promptly with two thousand
+Mongols, and proclaimed the new Sultan.
+
+Shems ud din wished to take Yzz ud din to the seacoast from Konia, but
+he was seized and held captive before he could do so. Terjuman then
+sent Mongols to Konia to torture that active vizir and thus learn where
+his treasures were hidden; by these men he was finally killed.
+
+Meanwhile it was settled that Rūm must go to both brothers. All that
+lay west of the Sivas was given to Yzz ud din, and everything east of
+that river fell to Rokn ud din, but the officials of the latter wished
+him to have all that Kuyuk had first given him. Yzz ud din’s partisans
+declared that their sovereign was resigned to the will of the Grand
+Khan, and would take whatever appanage his brother might give him. Rokn
+ud din credited this statement and went to a meeting place. He was
+seized with his vizir and taken to Konia. No harm was done him,
+however. Yzz ud din joined in the sovereignty Alai ud din his third
+brother.
+
+Kuyuk died in 1248; Mangu his successor was inaugurated July, 1251. In
+1254, three years after Mangu’s elevation, Yzz ud din was called to
+Mongolia, but he feared to absent himself, knowing that Rokn ud din had
+many partisans, hence he decided to send Alai ud din the third brother,
+who set out, with many presents, traveling along the Black Sea and the
+borders of Kipchak. Yzz ud din craved forgiveness from Mangu for
+sending his own younger brother instead of appearing in person. This,
+he said, he regretted most keenly, but he was forced to remain and
+defend his possessions from Greeks and Armenians, his most implacable
+enemies; he hoped soon, however, to offer homage in person.
+
+Rokn ud din’s partisans now sought means to uphold the claims of their
+master in the presence of the Grand Khan. They forged a letter from Yzz
+ud din to Tarantai and his colleague, in which the Sultan commanded to
+confide Alai ud din and the presents to the chancellor Shems ud din and
+the Emir Seif ud din Jalish, the bearers of the letters, who would go
+with the prince to Mongolia. Tarantai and his colleague were summoned
+to Konia.
+
+The Emir and the chancellor set out with this letter and overtook Alai
+ud din at Sarai, Batu’s capital. Batu gave them an audience and to him
+they explained how Yzz ud din had discovered Tarantai’s evil plotting
+and also that of his colleague. On a time, as they said, Tarantai had
+been stricken by lightning, hence should not stand in the presence of
+Mangu. Shuja ed din, his associate, was a leech greatly skilled in all
+magic, and had with him poison to use for the Grand Khan’s undoing;
+hence the Sultan had sent them to replace those two envoys, who must go
+back immediately to Konia.
+
+Batu commanded to search the effects of the envoys; certain roots were
+found in them, among other things scammony. They directed Shuja to
+swallow the drugs in his baggage. He swallowed parts of each except
+scammony. Batu thought this last to be poison, but his doctor declared
+it a plant used in medicine. After that the Khan decided that Alai ud
+din must go with the new envoys, while the two others must take with
+them the presents.
+
+Each party went its own way. Alai ud din died on the journey. When they
+arrived at the court of Mangu, the opposing officials defended each two
+of them their own cause. The Grand Khan decided that Rūm must be given
+to both brothers, Yzz ud din getting everything west of the Sivas, and
+Rokn ud din all that lay east of that river, as far as the Erzerum
+border. The tribute was fixed, which each Sultan must send in annually.
+
+After Alai ud din had set out for Mongolia, Rokn ud din’s partisans,
+thinking that Yzz ud din wished to be rid of this brother, had him slip
+away from the capital where agents were watching him. He went to
+Cesaraea, gathered troops there and led them to Konia where, defeated
+in battle, he was captured and imprisoned.
+
+In 1255, one year later, Baidju being impatient at Yzz ud din’s
+loitering with the tribute, entered Rūm, marched against Konia, and met
+the Sultan’s forces between Ak Serai and the capital where he scattered
+them. Yzz ud din fled and found refuge in the stronghold Anthalia.
+
+Baidju then took Rokn ud din out of prison and installed him as Sultan
+in all the Rūm provinces. Yzz ud din fled now a second time and found
+refuge with the Byzantine Emperor who was visiting Sardis. This
+emperor, Theodore Lascaris, fearing Rokn ud din’s partisans, as well as
+the Mongols, advised the fleeing Sultan to return to his kingdom. Yzz
+ud din took the advice, and offered submission to Hulagu, who upheld
+the division of Rūm between the two brothers.
+
+When Mangu became Grand Khan in 1251 the Cilician king, Hayton, begged
+Batu to recommend him to the new Mongol sovereign. Batu counseled him
+thus wise: “Go to Mangu and stop on the way to confer with me.” The
+Armenian, alarmed by the length of the journey, and knowing that evils
+might happen to the country in his absence, was fearful to leave it.
+Meanwhile Argun, the collector, with a great horde of Moslem
+assistants, appeared in Armenia. These men caused immense hardship to
+Christians. “Whoso could not pay,” declares an Armenian historian,
+“suffered torture. Owners of land were driven from their places, their
+children and women were sold into slavery. Any man trying to emigrate
+and caught in the act was stripped, beaten and torn to pieces by raging
+dogs kept for that purpose.”
+
+The King, learning of these savage deeds in Armenia, decided to go to
+the Grand Khan and intercede for the people of his nation, but the
+death of his queen, Isabella, detained him. He set out at last in 1254
+and, traveling in disguise, crossed Asia Minor. He passed through
+Derbend to the court of Batu, and to that of Sartak, Batu’s son, said
+then to be a Christian. From Batu’s Horde he spent five months in
+reaching Mangu, who received him with distinction. Letters patent were
+given the King. These were to serve as a safeguard to him and his
+country, and as a charter of freedom to the church in Armenia. He
+remained fifty days at the court, and returned in 1255 to Cilicia
+through Transoxiana and Persia. Hulagu had at this time arrived with
+his army.
+
+Great was the ruin effected by Mongols in Asia Minor between Jelal ud
+din’s death and the coming of Hulagu. Great too were the ravages
+wrought by Jelal through his various adventures. Though Chormagun’s
+army and that under Baidju were vastly inferior to those of the princes
+in Western Asia, the dissensions of those princes were so hopeless and
+their wretched self-seeking so pitiful and paltry that the enemy
+brought most of them down to death or submission, and thousands upon
+thousands of people to destruction or torture.
+
+After Jinghis Khan had returned from the west to Mongolia his eldest
+son, Juchi, left Chin Timur in Kwaresm as its governor. When Chormagun
+was sent out by Ogotai against Jelal ud din, Chin Timur was commanded
+to march with the troops of Kwaresm, and keep guard in Khorassan while
+Chormagun was destroying the Sultan. Chin Timur remained in Khorassan
+as governor, having as colleagues four officers appointed by the heads
+of the four groups in Jinghis Khan’s family, namely: Kelilat by the
+Grand Khan; Nussal by Batu; Kul Toga by Jagatai, and Tunga by the widow
+and sons of Tului. Those countries west of the Transoxiana, and south
+of it, were the undivided inheritance of Jinghis Khan’s family. Despite
+all the horrors committed in Khorassan there was something still left
+there to pillage. Many districts had escaped through ready submission,
+and at their first coming the Mongols knew not precisely the value of
+treasures, but Chin Timur knew the value of jewels and gold, and was
+eager to get them. People were tortured by him to disclose hidden
+wealth, and on learning where it was he killed them very promptly. The
+few who were spared had to buy back their homes. Besides there was
+still another misery. Kwaresmian bands ravaged actively in Khorassan.
+They killed all the prefects whom Chormagun the Mongol general sent to
+various places, and searched out and slew Kwaresmians who were faithful
+to Mongols. These bands were parts of a corps of Kankalis, ten thousand
+in number, or thereabouts, who occupied chiefly the Tus and the
+Nishapur mountains. Togan Sangur and Karadja, two of Jelal ud din’s
+lieutenants, commanded them.
+
+Chin Timur attacked thrice these Kankalis, but did not master or crush
+them. At last, Kelilat, his lieutenant, succeeded at Sebzevar, after
+three days of desperate fighting. In this struggle he lost two thousand
+warriors. Karadja fled to the Sidjistan country to save himself, while
+Sangur sought refuge in the Kuhistan mountains. Three thousand Kankalis
+went to find safety in Herat. Kelilat sent four thousand horsemen to
+end them. After three days of hard struggle those four thousand forced
+the grand mosque where the three thousand had hoped to find safety, and
+there every man died at the sword edge. Of course the attackers lost
+heavily.
+
+Sair Bahadur who commanded at Badghis had been commissioned by the
+Grand Khan to march against Karadja and take fire and sword to all
+rebels. He was on the road when he heard that Karadja, defeated by
+Kelilat, had shut himself up in Arak Seistan. Sair invested the place,
+but only after two years of hard toil did he take it.
+
+This general now informed Chin Timur, that the Grand Khan had given him
+Khorassan to govern, and that he, Chin Timur, had no further power in
+that country.
+
+Chin Timur reproached Kelilat with seeking those districts of Khorassan
+which had been recovering from ruin, and whose people were innocent of
+Karadja’s excesses, and forewarned Sair that he was sending a report to
+the Grand Khan through an officer, and would wait for his orders.
+Meanwhile Chin Timur and the others received from Chormagun a command
+to march with their forces and join him, leaving Mazanderan and
+Khorassan to Sair Bahadur. Chin Timur thereupon counseled with his
+officers. It was settled at last that Kelilat should go to Ogotai, and
+get Mazanderan and Khorassan for Chin Timur. As this officer served the
+Grand Khan directly, he was chosen as the best man for the mission. To
+secure a good hearing he took from those two great regions various
+small princes who had given their submission.
+
+Kara Kurum now beheld for the first time princes of Iran. When Ogotai
+heard of their coming he was gratified greatly. He compared Chin
+Timur’s methods with Chormagun’s action. Chormagun, master in rich and
+broad countries, had never sent to his sovereign even one from among
+vassal rulers. Chin Timur was made governor, and with him was
+associated Kelilat; both were free of Chormagun and every other
+commander. Ogotai gave feasts to honor the Persian princes, his
+vassals. He showed them many marks of high favor, and when they were
+going he confirmed each one of them in his own region.
+
+Chin Timur made Sherif ud din of Kwaresm his sealkeeper, and Behai ud
+din Juveini the minister of Finance. Commanders of troops belonging to
+the three other branches of Jinghis Khan’s family had each one an agent
+in the ministry of Finance.
+
+Chin Timur dying in 1235 was succeeded by Nussal, a Mongol commander
+who was nearly one hundred years old when he took up his office, and
+soon he gave way to Kurguz, Chin Timur’s chancellor and favorite. It is
+said that Kurguz had organized honestly and well the affairs of
+Khorassan and had repressed a whole legion of fiscal extortioners. This
+of course made him enemies among whom were Sherif ud din, the vizir,
+and Kelilat, the commander, who were working at Ogotai’s court to
+destroy him.
+
+Kurguz was an Uigur and a Buddhist and had risen mainly through merit.
+Born in a village not far from Bishbalik, the Uigur capital, he had
+striven in early life to master Uigur letters and penmanship. That
+done, he began service with an officer attached to Prince Juchi. One
+day while the prince was out hunting a letter was brought him from his
+father. None of his secretaries were present, so search was made for a
+man to read Uigur. Kurguz was brought in and he read Jinghis Khan’s
+letter to Juchi; he was the only man in that party who could read it.
+Juchi took him then to his service. Since his penmanship was beautiful,
+Kurguz was sent to teach letters and writing to the children of Juchi
+which he did till Chin Timur was made governor of Khorassan. Kurguz was
+then attached to him as secretary; he soon won his confidence and was
+made minister. He kept his office under Nussal, but was summoned to
+Mongolia to explain the affairs of Khorassan. Danishmend Hadjih, an
+enemy of Chinkai, Ogotai’s minister and the special friend of Kurguz,
+was toiling at that time to put Ongu Timur, Chin Timur’s son, in the
+place held before by his father, while Chinkai was using every effort
+to make Kurguz master, hence, choosing a moment when he was alone with
+the Grand Khan, Chinkai explained that the chief men of Khorassan were
+anxious that Kurguz should manage their country, and he obtained an
+ordinance from Ogotai, by which Kurguz was sent to collect for a time
+all the taxes and make a census of Mazanderan and Khorassan. While this
+task was in progress no man was to trouble him for any cause. If Kurguz
+did his work well he would be rewarded.
+
+Kurguz came back to Khorassan with this patent and commenced work with
+vigor. Nussal, set aside by this document, was old and quite powerless,
+but Kelilat, his aid, being a man of capacity and keenly ambitious,
+raised his voice in opposition. Kurguz showed his patent: “Here is the
+order that no man may trouble me in my labor.” Kelilat found no answer
+on that day. Kurguz reorganized Mazanderan and Khorassan, putting down
+as he did so a whole army of extortioners and tyrants.
+
+Meanwhile Sherif ud din, the vizir, and Kelilat, who were powerless
+against Ogotai’s patent and Kurguz, with his strong will and purpose,
+urged Ongu to ask with insistence for the place of his father. The
+vizir, while feigning to be the fast friend of Kurguz, was rousing up
+every power possible against him. Swept away by these efforts, Ongu
+sent a nephew to Ogotai with false accusations, incriminating Kurguz.
+These accusations were upheld with activity by all who were hostile to
+Chinkai. Ogotai now sent Argun with two others to investigate and
+report to him. Kurguz, on learning that Ongu had sent an agent to
+Ogotai, set out himself to explain the position, leaving Behai ud din
+to manage in his absence. At Tenakit he came on the members of Argun’s
+commission, who declared that he must go back to Tus with them. He
+refused. Thereupon there was violence and he lost one tooth in a
+personal encounter. He returned, but before starting he sent a trusty
+friend in the night time to Ogotai, bearing one of his garments which
+was blood stained.
+
+When the commission arrived at Khorassan the commanders of troops with
+Kelilat, Ongu and Nussal, expelled from the residence of Kurguz his
+secretaries and other assistants. Kurguz himself wanted simply to hold
+the position till his messenger returned from Mongolia. This man came
+at last with an order to the civil and military chiefs to state each
+man his case before Ogotai, who had been incensed by the bloody
+garment.
+
+Kurguz communicated this order to his enemies, and set out at once
+without waiting for their answers. Many persons of distinction went
+with him. Kelilat, Ongu and others followed quickly and both parties
+reached Bukhara simultaneously. In the time of a feast which was given
+them by the governor, Kelilat was assassinated.
+
+When the opponents reached Ogotai’s capital the Grand Khan wished to
+dine in a beautiful tent which Ongu had just given him. After the meal
+he went out for some minutes, intending to reënter, but as soon as he
+had left the pavilion a blast of wind overturned it. The Grand Khan,
+through annoyance and superstition, commanded to rend the tent in
+pieces immediately.
+
+Some days later a tent was erected which with its contents Kurguz had
+given Ogotai. Inside were displayed curious things of many kinds and
+much value; all these were gifts to the Grand Khan. Among other objects
+was a girdle set with stones known as yarkan. When Ogotai put on this
+girdle he was freed from a pain in the loins which had troubled him
+somewhat. He drank that day freely and was in excellent humor. Kurguz
+might consider his cause as triumphant. Chinkai, his protector, had
+been appointed with other Uigurs to examine all statements of the
+rivals. On one side was Kurguz, helped by persons of value, position
+and substance; he himself had much keenness. On the other, since
+Kelilat’s death, there were only that general’s sons, who were still
+little children, and Ongu, a young man devoid of experience. But at the
+end of some months the affair was still pending. Ogotai, wishing peace
+between the two rivals, commanded Ongu and Kurguz to live in one tent
+and drink from the same goblet. Care had been taken to remove every
+weapon. This plan proved resultless, and Chinkai and his aids gave in
+their report to the sovereign.
+
+Ogotai summoned the two sides before him. When he had questioned each
+one he condemned both Ongu and his partisans. “But,” said he to Ongu,
+“since thou art under Batu I will refer the whole matter to him; he it
+is who will punish thee.”
+
+Chinkai, taking pity on Ongu, approached him, whispered, and then spoke
+aloud to the Grand Khan: “Ongu Timur has said this to me. ‘The Grand
+Khan is higher than Batu. Should a dog, such as I am, cause these two
+sovereigns to deliberate? Let the Grand Khan fix my fate; he can fix it
+in one moment.’”
+
+“Thy words are wise,” replied Ogotai, “Batu would not pardon his own
+son had he acted as thou hast.”
+
+Ongu’s adherents were punished. Some were bastinadoed immediately while
+others were given to Kurguz with the wish that he put the kang on each
+man of them, and all had to go back with the victor. “Let them learn,”
+said the Grand Khan, “that according to Jinghis Khan’s Yassa and
+justice, calumny brings with it death for the sake of example, but
+since their children and wives are awaiting them I bestow life on those
+people, if they offend not a second time. But tell Kurguz too that he,
+like those who are punished, is also my servitor, and should he cherish
+hatred toward any he himself will be subject to punishment.” After that
+he gave Kurguz rule over all the lands south and west of the Oxus.
+
+Persian lords also begged patents, but Kurguz convinced Chinkai that if
+others got patents of any kind they would assume independence of the
+governor. It was settled then that no patent should be issued save the
+one given Kurguz.
+
+Sherif ud din continued double dealing; he feigned friendship for
+Kurguz while working as an enemy in secret. On noting Ogotai’s action,
+an adherent of Ongu gave Kurguz certain papers in Sherif’s own hand,
+which proved the entire recent trouble to be the sole work of that
+trickster. When he learned this, Ogotai did not wish the vizir to go
+back to Persia lest he suffer from Kurguz. Sherif was rejoiced to
+escape, but some friend warned Kurguz not to lose sight of an enemy who
+would take the first chance to destroy him. Kurguz got permission to
+take with him Sherif, whose presence, as he said, was important. The
+taxes had not yet been brought to Khorassan and collectors might charge
+some of these to Sherif in his absence.
+
+Kurguz went back to Tus and there fixed his residence. He summoned
+promptly the chief men in Khorassan and Irak, as well as the Mongol
+commanders, and marked his accession to power by a festival which
+lasted some days, during which the new ordinances were issued.
+
+He sent his son with officials of finance to take from Chormagun’s
+officers control over districts in Azerbaidjan and in Irak which they
+were ruining by exactions. Every noyon, every officer acted with
+absolute power in the region or city where he functioned, and seized
+for himself the main income of the treasury. These petty despots lost
+their places and were forced to restore even large sums of money.
+
+Kurguz protected the lives and the property of Persians against Mongol
+officers, who now could not bend people’s heads when they met them. The
+warrior lost power to vex peaceful people along roads over which he was
+marching. Kurguz was both feared and respected. He raised Tus again
+from its ruins. On the eve of his coming there were only fifty
+inhabited houses within its limits. When he had chosen it as a
+residence Persian lords came to live in that capital and within a week
+land rose a hundred-fold as to value.
+
+Herat too reappeared out of ashes and fragments. After the ruin and
+sack of that city in 1222 its site had been occupied by very few
+persons, but in 1236, when Ogotai commanded to raise up Khorassan, it
+was planned to repeople Herat, once so prosperous. An Emir, Yzz ud din,
+whom with one thousand families Tului had transported to Bishbalik from
+Herat, received now command to come back with one tenth of his
+following. These people at first had much difficulty in finding
+subsistence, through lack of draught cattle. Men of all ranks had to
+draw ploughs in the manner of oxen. Earth tillers were forced to
+irrigate land out of water pots, all canals being choked up and ruined.
+When the first harvest was gathered, twenty strong men were chosen to
+bear each twenty menns of cotton to the country of the Afghans, and
+sell it. They did so and brought back implements for tillage.
+
+In 1241 the chiefs of this settlement sent to the Grand Khan for more
+people. At the end of five months two hundred new families were added
+to Herat. A census taken the year following showed the city as having
+six thousand nine hundred inhabitants. In following years the increase
+became rapid.
+
+On arriving at Tus Kurguz put a kang on his enemy Sherif. He drew from
+him afterward confessions which were sent to the court in Mongolia. His
+messenger learned on the road that the Grand Khan was dead. Kurguz
+himself had set out to explain the whole system introduced by him
+recently in Persia. While passing through Transoxiana he had a quarrel
+with an officer of Jagatai’s household. Threatened with complaint
+before that prince’s widow he replied that he cared not. This answer
+when taken to the widow roused wrath and keen hatred. Alarmed by the
+quarrel and hearing of Ogotai’s death with the loss of protection, he
+judged best to turn back and he did so.
+
+Meanwhile the wife of Sherif had sent people promptly to the Jinghis
+Khan princes imploring protection for her husband. Those messengers had
+been seized on the way save one among all of them. This man escaped and
+reached Ulug Iff, the chief residence of Jagatai, whose wives and sons
+sent Argun out with orders to bring them Kurguz of his own will or, if
+need be, in spite of him. On hearing this order Kurguz, who had given
+Sherif to the prefect of Sebzevar who was to kill him, sent command
+straightway to stay the execution. When Argun was approaching, Kurguz
+found retreat in a storehouse. Since the governor would not yield
+himself willingly, Argun required aid of the district commanders and
+got it. These men were all foes of Kurguz since he had fought their
+abuses. When they were ready to burst in and take him, he threw the
+gates open declaring that he was no enemy.
+
+Kurguz was taken to Jagatai’s sons and examined. After that he was sent
+to the court of Turakina, Ogotai’s widow, who was regent in Mongolia.
+Chinkai, his protector, was gone. He had fled from the hatred of the
+regent which intrigue had roused wrongfully against him. To crown his
+misfortune, the governor of Persia was penniless, hence had no power to
+establish his innocence. He was sent back at command of the regent to
+Jagatai’s sons to be judged by them. He answered straightforwardly all
+questions which they put to him, nevertheless, Kara Hulagu adjudged
+death to the governor. His mouth was crammed then with earth and in
+that way they strangled and killed him.
+
+Kurguz being dead, Sherif had a chance now to prove himself, and he did
+so; he engaged to collect four thousand balishes due, as he stated,
+from Mazanderan and Khorassan. This Sherif, destined to death by Kurguz
+very recently, was the son of a porter of Kwaresm. He became page to
+the governor of the country, who chose him because of his personal
+beauty. When Chin Timur was commanded to enter Khorassan and assist
+Chormagun in that country he wanted a secretary. No man wished that
+office because the incumbent must act against Moslems, and the issue of
+the enterprise seemed doubtful. The governor of Kwaresm, whose feelings
+had cooled toward Sherif, who by that time had lost youthful freshness
+and was acting only as secretary, gave him to Chin Timur. Sherif had
+learned the Mongol language already and, being the only man able to
+interpret, all business passed through his hands and he became greatly
+important.
+
+When Argun went as governor to Khorassan many agents of Turakina, the
+regent, went with him. These he left in the province to gather the
+imposts and taxes, going himself into Azerbaidjan and to Irak to rescue
+those countries from Mongol commanders, who acted as if the whole
+conquest had been made by them only, and for their sole personal
+profit. At Tebriz he received envoys from Rūm and from Syria, who
+implored his protection. He sent men to those countries to gather
+tribute.
+
+All this time Sherif, who had received from Argun perfect liberty of
+action, wrested taxes from people with unparalleled audacity and
+harshness. Each collector was bound and instructed to spare no man. To
+extort from the victims all that was humanly possible, armed warriors
+of the garrison were quartered in houses; people were seized and
+imprisoned, kept without food or even water, nay more, they were
+tortured. Moslem ulemas, exempt from all tribute to Mongols and
+hitherto treated respectfully, came to ask mercy for themselves and for
+others. Widows and orphans, exempt by the laws of Jinghis and Mohammed,
+came to implore simple justice. These people were treated with the
+utmost contempt, and were flouted by Sherif’s assistants. Men pledged
+at Tebriz their own children, and sometimes they sold them to find
+means to pay taxes. One collector on entering a house where a dead man
+was laid out for burial, and finding no other property to seize, had
+the shroud stripped from the body, and took it.
+
+Sherif’s agents assembled at Rayi after passing through Irak on their
+great round of robbery. They brought the fruits of their merciless
+activity and extortion to the chief mosque, and placed them in piles
+there. Beasts of burden were driven into that edifice, which was sacred
+for most of the people. Then the carpets of the mosque were taken and
+cut into sizes that suited the robbers. In those pieces they wrapped
+all the wealth which they had gathered and took it away on the backs of
+pack animals. Happily for Persia, and for most people in it, Sherif ud
+din met his death some months later (1244).
+
+Argun did what he could, as it seems, to correct those abuses. He
+remitted taxes not paid before Sherif’s death, and freed all who were
+in prison for non-payment. Argun had been summoned to the Kurultai
+which elected Kuyuk and there an important abuse became prominent.
+Since Ogotai’s death the various princes of Jinghis Khan’s family had
+given to some orders on the revenue of districts in Persia, and given
+also orders of exemption to others. Argun collected these orders and
+delivered them to the Grand Khan in person. Of all presents brought to
+Kuyuk this was the one which gave him most pleasure. The orders were
+delivered in the presence of the princes who had issued them. Kuyuk
+continued Argun as the governor of Persia, and those whom Argun favored
+obtained whatever offices he asked for them.
+
+On returning to Persia, Argun was received in Merv splendidly. But he
+saw very soon that powerful opponents at court were intriguing against
+him, hence he set out again for Mongolia. While on the road he learned
+of Kuyuk’s death and turned back to make barracks for troops sent by
+that Grand Khan to reduce populations not subject as yet to the
+Mongols. Now arrived also agents of various princes with orders on the
+revenues for years in advance of collection. This abuse, which was
+ruinous, endured till the interregnum was ended.
+
+Argun reached the court only after the election of Mangu in July, 1251.
+He complained of those orders on the income and he condemned the great
+hordes of officials who went to collect them. These people lived on the
+country, he said, and they ruined it. It was decided at last that each
+man in Persia should pay in proportion to his property. This tax was
+varied from one to ten dinars, and was to maintain the militia and post
+routes; also envoys of the Grand Khan. Nothing more would be asked of
+the people.
+
+Argun retained his high office of governor. Persia was divided into
+four parts; in each was a lieutenant under Argun. Evil doers were
+punished, at least for a season, and here is a striking example of this
+justice: Hindudjak, a general and chief of ten thousand, who had taken
+life from a melik of Rūm without reason, was put to death, though a
+Mongol, outside the Tus gate by direction of Mangu. His property,
+family and slaves were divided among the four parts of the Jinghis Khan
+family.
+
+When he had fixed administration in Persia, Argun at command of the
+Grand Khan went back to Mongolia to explain the position.
+
+East Persia had been given by Mangu as a fief to Melik Shems ud din
+Mohammed Kurt, lord of the castle of Khissar in Khorassan. Osman
+Mergani, his grandfather, had been made governor of this stronghold by
+his brother, Omar Mergani, the all-powerful vizir of Ghiath ud din of
+the Gur line of princes. When Osman died Abu Bekr succeeded him. Abu
+Bekr married a daughter of Ghiath ud din; from this union came Melik
+Shems ud din Mohammed, who in 1245 lost his father and inherited the
+Gur kingdom. He went to the Kurultai and arrived on the day of
+election. He was presented by Mangu’s officials, who informed the Grand
+Khan of the merits of the father and grandfather of the man then before
+him, not forgetting, of course, Shems ud din’s own high qualities.
+
+Mangu received Shems ud din with distinction and invested him with
+Herat and its dependencies which extended from the Oxus to the Indus,
+including Merv, Gur, Seistan, Kabul, and Afghanistan. Mangu commanded
+besides, that Argun deliver to his agents fifty tumans as a present.
+
+Next day at an intimate audience the Grand Khan gave the favorite a
+robe from his own shoulders, three tablets, and objects of the value of
+ten thousand dinars; a sabre from India, a club with the head of a bull
+on it, a battle axe, a lance and a dagger. Shems ud din then set out
+for Herat attended by one of the Grand Khan’s own officers. He turned
+aside on arriving in Persia to go with a salutation to Argun, to whom
+the commands of Mangu were exhibited. The governor treated him with
+great respect, and had fifty tumans delivered to his agents.
+
+Shems ud din reigned in Herat as a sovereign and took many strongholds
+in Afghanistan, Guermsir, and other places.
+
+Kerman was held at that time by the son of Borak Hadjib. After slaying
+Ghiath ud din, the brother of Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Persia,
+Borak asked the title of Sultan from the Kalif, and received it. Kutlug
+Sultan was the name which he gave himself. When Sair Bahadur laid siege
+to Seistan at the head of a Mongol division, he summoned Borak to show
+the Grand Khan obedience and furnish troops also. Borak declared that
+he could take the place with his own men, the Mongols might spare
+themselves trouble. His great age, he added, hindered him from going to
+the Grand Khan, but his son would go thither instead of him.
+
+In fact he sent Rokn ud din Khodja. While on the road to Mongolia this
+young prince heard of the death of his father, and the usurpation of
+power by Kutb ud din his own cousin. He continued the journey, however,
+and was received well by Ogotai, who, to reward him for coming so far
+to look on the face of the Grand Khan, gave him Kerman which he was to
+hold in his character of vassal with the title and name of his father,
+Kutlug Sultan.
+
+Kutb ud din now received a summons to appear at the court in Mongolia.
+Shortly after his arrival he was sent to China under command of
+Yelvadji. After Ogotai’s death Kutb ud din went to that Kurultai at
+which Kuyuk was elected, and strove then to get Kerman, but met only
+failure. Chinkai, the minister, was the firm friend of his rival, and
+he himself was commanded to go back to Yelvadji. Soon after, he went
+with this governor from China to the new Kurultai, which chose Mangu
+from whom, and with the aid of Yelvadji, he obtained the throne of
+Kerman. When Kutb ud din was approaching Kerman, Rokn ud din was
+departing with treasures to Lur where he asked an asylum from the
+Kalif. The Kalif, not wishing to anger the Mongols, refused it, and now
+Rokn ud din resolved to repair to the court of Mangu to find justice.
+
+The two rivals were summoned to the Grand Khan’s tribunal. Rokn ud din
+lost his case and was given to his cousin, who struck him down with his
+own hand, and killed him. Kutb ud din ruled in Kerman till his death in
+1258. He was son of that Tanigu the treacherous prefect of Taraz under
+the last sovereign of Kara Kitai. Tanigu was Borak Hadjib’s own
+brother.
+
+When Hulagu came with his army to Persia, Kutb ud din met him at Jend
+to show homage and honor.
+
+This was the position in Persia in 1254 when Hulagu went to that
+country to conquer, to slaughter, and to regulate. His very first task
+was to root out and destroy the Ismailians who had formed the famed
+mountain Commonwealth of Assassins, and then he was to bring to
+obedience or ruin the successor of Mohammed the Abbasid Kalif at
+Bagdad.
+
+That the importance of this expedition may be understood a brief sketch
+of the origin and history of the Assassins must be given.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE ASSASSIN COMMONWEALTH AND ITS DESTRUCTION BY THE MONGOLS
+
+
+The Ismailians, known later by their enemies as Molahids (lost ones),
+and by all Europe in the sequel as Assassins, were an offshoot from one
+of the two great divisions into which Islam ranged itself after the
+death of the Prophet in 632. These divisions were caused by the problem
+of finding a successor to Mohammed—a Kalif.
+
+The founder of Islam had died without saying whom he wished to succeed
+him. The first of the Kalifs, Abu Bekr, father-in-law of Mohammed, was
+elected by Medina, only one voice opposing. Abu Bekr on his death bed
+named Omar, who was confirmed by the people of Medina in 634. The
+second Kalif, when mortally wounded by a murderer, named electors to
+choose the third Kalif. Those electors chose Othman and when he was
+slain by insurgents, Aly, the son-in-law and cousin of Mohammed, was
+elected by Medina directly. A.D. 656.
+
+Various and intricate causes brought about civil war, and deep hatred
+followed quickly; after that came the election in Damascus of Muavia,
+the governor of Syria, as a Kalif to overthrow Aly, whom many
+Mohammedans would not acknowledge. The father of Muavia had been one of
+the most bitter enemies of the Prophet. This hatred was shared fully by
+the son, who left nothing undone to rouse Syria to the utmost against
+Aly; he even had the blood-stained clothes of Othman exhibited in the
+principal mosque of Damascus. A fierce but drawn battle at Siffin
+between these two Kalifs was fruitless; an arbitration as to who should
+be Kalif settled nothing and pacified no man.
+
+Next came the winning of Egypt by Muavia as the first Ommayad Kalif.
+There were two Kalifs now ruling de facto in Islam, Muavia at Damascus,
+and Aly at Kufa. In 661 Aly fell by the hand of an assassin. Aly’s son,
+Hassan, succeeded him, but resigned after six months of rule, and
+retired to Medina where one of his many wives poisoned him, incited, as
+partisans of Aly insisted, by Muavia. Muavia was now the sole Kalif of
+Islam.
+
+Election had been attended with peril; there was danger of outbreaks
+and slaughter. In three cases the chance had been narrow, and the
+fourth choice had brought bitter warfare. Three elections had been held
+at Medina, and made by the men of that city; the fifth, that of Hassan,
+at Kufa. Muavia had been chosen at Damascus. Since Medina was no longer
+the capital really, it could not choose a Kalif or confirm him.
+Election must be at the chief place of government, if anywhere.
+
+Troubles such as those which had followed the election of Aly might
+recur in the future and threaten, or even cut short the existence of
+Islam. The system of election was unsafe in that turbulent society. To
+avoid these great perils Muavia planned to choose a successor while he
+himself was still ruling. His own son Yezid was the candidate. If he
+could win for Yezid an oath of allegiance from most of the Moslems he
+would secure power for his family and prevent a contested election.
+After working a time with great industry and keenness Muavia succeeded.
+Deputations from all the chief cities, also from each province,
+appeared at Damascus to do the hidden will of Muavia.
+
+These deputations all named Yezid as heir of the Kalif and chose him.
+They gave then an oath of allegiance and homage. Arabian Irak and Syria
+also joined in this oath.
+
+Muavia went next to the two holy cities as it were on a pilgrimage, but
+his great ruling purpose was to win or to force the consent of Medina
+and Mecca to the recent election. The chief dissentients in Medina were
+Hussein, son of Aly, Abd al Rahman, son of Abu Bekr and both Abdallahs,
+sons of Omar and Zobeir. Muavia treated them so rudely that to avoid
+offense they departed immediately for Mecca. The rest of the people
+accepted Yezid and gave him the oath without waiting. Muavia went on
+then to Mecca, where he bore himself mildly toward all men, but near
+the end of his visit he spoke to the city concerning an heir to the
+Kalifat. It was answered that the election of an heir was opposed to
+precedent but Mecca men offered to accept any one of three methods:
+first, that of the Prophet who left the election to Medina, or that of
+Abu Bekr who chose a Kalif from the Koreish, or of Omar who appointed
+electors to choose from among themselves a candidate; the Kalif
+omitting, like Omar, his sons and the sons of his father.
+
+“As for the earliest method,” said Muavia, “there is no man among us
+who is like Abu Bekr to be chosen by the people. As to the other two
+methods I fear the bloodshed and struggles which will follow if the
+succession be not settled while a Kalif is living.”
+
+Since all his reasons proved powerless, Muavia summoned his attendants
+and forced Mecca men at the sword point to give the oath of allegiance
+to Yezid.
+
+The example of Syria, Irak and the two holy cities was followed
+throughout the whole Empire, and this new method conquered in large
+measure afterward.
+
+The theory of a right of election residing in the people existed in
+form, but the right was not real. In practice the oath of allegiance
+was obtained by the sword against every refusal.
+
+After the days of Muavia, the Kalif in power proclaimed as his heir or
+successor the fittest among all his sons—that one of course who most
+pleased him. To him as the heir an oath of allegiance was given. To
+increase the assurance of safety two heirs were sometimes created, one
+of whom was elected to follow the other. This method begun by the
+Ommayed line was continued by the Abbasids.
+
+Muavia died in 680. Yezid, who succeeded, made those first of all take
+the oath to him who had refused it at Medina. The sons of Omar and
+Abbas gave this oath straightway, but Hussein, son of Aly, and the son
+of Zobeir went to Mecca asking time to consider. No one had dared to
+attack that holy city since its capture by Mohammed, and there in full
+safety every plotter could work out his plan against the Kalif or
+others.
+
+Ibn Zobeir, as Muavia had noted, was eager for dominion, but while
+Hussein was living he feigned to work only for that grandson of the
+Prophet. Offers of support went from Kufa to Hussein with advice to
+appear there immediately. True friends of Hussein at Mecca distrusted
+these offers and strove to dissuade him from going, but Ibn Zobeir, who
+in secret burned to be rid of this rival, urged him on always. Hussein
+yielded at last and set out for Kufa. Muslim, his cousin, had been sent
+ahead to prepare for his coming. This move became known at Damascus, so
+Yezid summoned hastily to Kufa Obeidallah, then governing in Bussorah
+with unpitying severity. On arriving he sought and found Muslim, who
+was lodging with Hani, an adherent of the Alyite family.
+
+At first a majority of the people sided with Hussein and rose promptly
+against Obeidallah. They attacked him in his castle and came very near
+killing him, but their ardor cooled quickly. Obeidallah was triumphant,
+Muslim was taken and killed with his co-worker Hani.
+
+Toward the end of 680 Hussein rode out of Mecca with his family and a
+small band of followers, all kinsmen. When the desert was crossed, and
+he was advancing on Kufa, news came to him that Muslim’s life had been
+taken. He might have turned back then to Mecca, but Muslim’s kinsmen
+were clamorous for vengeance. Besides there remained the wild hope that
+those who had invited him might rally at last; but each man whom he met
+gave darker tidings.
+
+Farazdak the poet, who had left Kufa recently, had only these words to
+offer: “The heart of the city is on thy side, but its sword is against
+thee.”
+
+The Beduins, ever ready for warfare, had been coming to Hussein, but
+when they saw his cause weakening they fell away quickly, and no one
+was left except the original party. A chance chieftain passing
+southward advised him to turn to the Selma hills and to Aja. “In ten
+days,” said the man, “the Beni Tay and twenty thousand lances above
+them will be with thee.”
+
+“How could I take these children and women to the desert?” asked
+Hussein, “I must move forward.”
+
+And he rode northward till a large troop of horsemen from Kufa, under
+an Arab named Horr, stood before him.
+
+“Command has been given me,” said Horr, “to bring thee to the governor.
+If thou come not, then go to the left, or the right, but return not to
+Mecca.”
+
+Leaving Kufa on his right, Hussein turned to the left and moved
+westward. Obeidallah soon sent a second man, Amr, son of Sad, with four
+thousand horse, and a summons. Hussein now fixed his camp on the plain
+of Kerbala near the river, five and twenty miles above Kufa. There he
+denied every thought of hostility and was ready to yield if he might
+take one of three courses: “Let me go to the place whence I came, or
+attend me to the Kalif of Damascus. Place my hand in the hand of Yezid,
+let me speak face to face with him. If not, let me go far away to the
+wars and fight against enemies of Islam.”
+
+Obeidallah insisted on absolute surrender, and directed that Amr stop
+every approach to the river, thus taking water from the party. Hussein,
+fearing death less than the governor of Kufa, adhered to his
+conditions. He even brought Amr to urge Obeidallah to lead him to the
+Kalif. Instead of agreeing, Obeidallah sent a certain Shamir to urge
+action. “Hussein,” said he, “we must have dead or living in Kufa
+immediately; if Amr loiters, Shamir must depose him.”
+
+Amr then encircled the camp very closely. Hussein was ready to fight to
+the death, and the scenes represented as following swiftly are retained
+in the minds of believers to this day with incredible vividness.
+
+Hussein received a day’s respite to send off his family and kinsmen,
+but not one person left him.
+
+On October 10th of 680 the two sides faced each other, and opened a
+parley. Hussein’s offer was repeated, Obeidallah rejected it. Hussein
+slipped down from his camel, his kinsmen gathered round him, and the
+whole party waited. From the Kufa attackers at last came an arrow which
+opened that struggle of tens against thousands. One after another
+Hussein’s brothers, sons, nephews, and cousins fell near him. No enemy
+struck Hussein till tortured by thirst he turned toward the river, and
+Shamir cut him off from his people; then, stricken down by an arrow, he
+was trampled by horses. Hussein’s attendants were slain every man of
+them. Two sons of his perished and when the action was over, six sons
+of Aly were corpses, also two sons of Hassan and six descendants of Abu
+Talib, Aly’s father. The camp was plundered, but no harm inflicted on
+the living, mainly women and children, who with seventy heads of the
+slain were taken to Obeidallah. A shudder ran through the multitude of
+people as the bloody head of the Prophet’s grandson was dropped at the
+feet of the governor. When he turned the head over roughly with his
+staff an aged man cried to him: “Gently, that is the grandson of the
+Prophet. By the Lord I have seen those lips kissed by the blessed mouth
+of Mohammed.” Hussein’s sister, his two little sons, Aly Ashgar and
+Amr, with two daughters, sole descendants of Hussein, were treated with
+seeming respect by the governor, and sent with the head of their father
+to the Kalif. Yezid disowned every share in the tragedy. Hussein’s
+family were lodged in the Kalif’s own residence at Damascus for a time,
+and then sent with honor to Medina, where their coming caused a great
+outburst of grief and lamentation. Many objects in that city made the
+day of Kerbala seem dreadful. The deserted houses in which had dwelt
+those kinsmen of Mohammed who had fallen; the orphaned little children,
+and the widows, gave great reality to every word uttered. The story was
+told to weeping pilgrims in that city of the Prophet by women and by
+children who with their own eyes had looked at the dead and the dying
+and had lived through the day of Kerbala. The tale, repeated in many
+places, was heightened by new horrors; retold by pilgrims in their
+homes and on their journeys from Medina, it spread at last to every
+village of Islam.
+
+The right of Aly’s line to dominion had been little thought of till
+that massacre, but compassion for Aly’s descendants, who were also the
+great grandsons of Mohammed, sank into men’s minds very deeply after
+that dreadful slaughter on the field of Kerbala. The woeful death of
+the grandsons of the Prophet seized hold of the Arab mind mightily, and
+fascinated millions of people. This tragic tale helped greatly to ruin
+the Ommayed dynasty and when, through it and other causes, the Abbasids
+rose to dominion and hunted to death or to exile the descendants and
+kinsmen of Muavia, that same tale affected the Abbasids and made it
+possible to raise up against them a nation in Persia and a dynasty in
+Egypt. So strong were men’s feelings on this point in Islam and so many
+the people who favored the descendants of Aly that Mamun, the son of
+Harun al Rashid, made an effort to consolidate the Alyite and Abbasid
+families. Moreover the teaching of Persian adherents of Aly had such
+influence that they captured this Kalif intellectually.
+
+In Mamun’s day the Moslem world became greatly imbued with ideas from
+Persia and India, and with Greek theories and learning. The Koran was
+treated as never before till that period. Opinions and systems of all
+sorts were brought into Islam. A time of tremendous disturbance
+succeeded as the fruit, or result, of these teachings and these were
+all connected, both in life and in politics with views touching Aly.
+
+One Babek, a man of great energy, appeared in 816 of our era as a
+leader in religion, in practical life, and in management of people,
+preaching indifference of action and community of property. Through
+various mystic doctrines most cunningly compounded with incitements to
+robbery and lust and dishonor, he rallied multitudes to his standard,
+and during twenty whole years he visited many parts of the Empire with
+ruin and slaughter. He had fixed himself firmly in those strong
+mountain places west and south of the Caspian, and thence scattered
+terror in various directions through sudden attacks which were ever
+attended by terrible bloodshed, till at last his forces were defeated
+in great part and driven westward.
+
+In 835 Motassim, the Kalif, sent Afshin, one of the best among all his
+Turk generals, to seize this arch enemy and destroyer at all costs.
+Only after two years of most desperate fighting and many deceitful
+devices, were Babek’s strong places all taken and his own person
+captured. Thousands of women and children were taken with him, and
+restored to their families; and all the treasures which during two
+decades had been gathered by this murderous deceiver fell now to the
+Turk general, Afshin.
+
+Babek had defeated six famous generals of Islam and slain, as some
+state, a million of people during twenty years of rebellion. One of his
+ten executioners declared that he alone had taken the lives of twenty
+thousand men; so merciless was the struggle between the partisans of
+the Kalifat and the advocates of freedom and equality.
+
+The prisoner was brought by his captor to Samira in chains and confined
+there. Motassim went in disguise to the prison to look at this demon of
+Khorassan, this “Shaitan” (Satan), as they called him. When the Kalif
+had gazed at Babek sufficiently the captive was exhibited through the
+city as a spectacle, and brought at last to the palace where Motassim,
+surrounded by his warriors, commanded Babek’s own executioner to cut
+off the arms and legs of his master, and then plunge a knife into his
+body. The executioner obeyed, Babek meanwhile smiling as if to prove
+his own character, and the correctness of his surname, “Khurremi” (The
+Joyous). The severed head was exhibited in the cities of Khorassan, and
+the body impaled near the palace of the Kalif.
+
+In the ninth century, and contemporaneous with these horrors, there
+lived in Southern Persia, at Ahwas, a certain Abdallah, whose father,
+Maimun Kaddah, and grandfather, Daisan the Dualist, had taught him
+Persian politics and religion. This Abdallah conceived a broad system,
+and planned a great project to overturn Arab rule in his country and
+reëstablish the ancient faith and Empire of Persia. This involved
+complete change in the structure of Islam, and all its present ideals.
+He could not declare open war against the accepted religion and
+dynasty, since all the military power was at their command; hence he
+decided to undermine them in secret.
+
+From Ahwas he went to Bussorah and later to Syria where he settled at
+Salemiya, whence his teachings were spread by Ahmed, his son, by two
+sons of that Ahmed, and also by his Dayis, men who performed each of
+them all the various duties of spy, secret agent, and apostle. The most
+active of those Dayis was Hussein of Ahwas, who, in the province of
+which Kufa was the capital, instructed many agents in the secrets of
+revolt and in perversion of the teachings of Islam. Among these agents
+the most noted was one famous later as Karmath. This man delayed not in
+showing his character and principles “through torrents of blood, and
+destruction of cities.” Crowds of men rallied to his war cry.
+
+The Karmathites declared that nothing was forbidden, everything was a
+matter of indifference, justified by the fact of its existence, hence
+should receive neither punishment nor reward. The commands of Mohammed
+were pronounced parables disguising political maxims and injunctions.
+They differed from Abdallah’s disciples in that they began action
+immediately, and, in most cases, openly, while the others were
+preparing for a new throne in Islam to be occupied by a man of their
+own, a true and zealous co-believer.
+
+The Karmathite outbreak was more terrible, continuous, and enduring
+than that begun twenty years earlier by Babek, and far more dangerous.
+The Karmathites fought savage battles in the East and the West, in Irak
+and Syria. They plundered caravans and destroyed what they found with
+tiger-like fury unless it was valuable and they could bear it away with
+them. They attacked the holy city of Mecca and captured it through
+desperate fighting. More than thirty thousand true Moslems were slain
+while defending the temple. The sacred well, Zemzem, was polluted by
+corpses hurled into it by people to whom nothing whatever was sacred.
+The temple was fired, and the black, holy stone of the Kaaba, which in
+Abraham’s day had come down from heaven into Mecca, was borne off to be
+ransomed for fifty thousand gold coins two and twenty years later.
+
+This Karmathite madness, after raging at intervals for a century and
+torturing most parts of Islam, was extinguished in bloodshed. The
+career of the Karmathites proved the wickedness and folly of their
+method. Its turn came now to the system of Abdallah.
+
+Ismailian teaching had spread through the Empire of Mohammed and
+reached even Southern Arabia. About 892 a certain Mohammed Alhabib, who
+claimed his descent from Ismail, son of Jaffar es Sadik, sent one Abu
+Abdallah to the north coast of Africa. Abu Abdallah impressed the
+Berber tribes greatly, and his success was so enormous that they drove
+out the Aglabid dynasty then ruling them. He roused expectations to the
+highest degree by announcing a Mahdi, or infallible guide for
+believers. He then summoned in Obeidallah, a son of that Mohammed
+Alhabib, who had sent him to Africa.
+
+Obeidallah, after many strange deeds and adventures, and finally an
+imprisonment from which Abu Abdallah released him, was put on a throne
+in 909 and made the first Fatimid [12] Kalif at Mahdiya, his new
+capital near Tunis. Abu Abdallah, the successful assistant and
+forerunner, was assassinated soon after at command of Obeidallah, who
+owed him dominion, but who now had no wish for his presence. The new
+Kalif, since this man knew, of course, many secrets, might well think
+him safer in paradise. Obeidallah now proclaimed himself the only true
+Kalif, a descendant of the Prophet through Fatima his daughter, and
+became a dangerous rival of the Abbasids. By 967 his descendants had
+won Egypt and Southern Syria. A fortified palace was built near the
+Nile, and called Kahira. [13] Around this palace rose the city known
+later as Cairo.
+
+In 991 Aleppo was added to the Fatimid Empire which, beginning at the
+river Orontes and the desert of Syria, extended to Morocco. In view of
+this great success and its danger to the Abbasids the world was
+informed now from Bagdad that the Fatimid dynasty was spurious; that
+the first Kalif installed at Mahdiya was no descendant of the Prophet,
+he was merely the son of that Ahmed who was a son of Abdallah, son of
+Maimun Kaddah, son of Daisan the Dualist, his mother being a Jewess.
+Hence he was son of that Ahmed whose emissary, Hussein of Ahwas, had
+raised up and trained the detestable Karmath, whose crimes, and the
+crimes of whose followers, had tortured all Islam for a century.
+
+That society, or order, which met at the famed House of Science in
+Cairo, was dreaming of power night and day and struggling always to win
+it. Power it could reach by supplanting the Abbasids, but not in
+another way, hence this order aimed at the overthrow of the Abbasids.
+It also spread secret doctrines by its Dayis (political and religious
+missionaries) continually. Through this activity the Fatimids were
+rising. Meanwhile the Abbasids were failing till Emir Bessassiri, a
+partisan of the Fatimids, seized and held for one year the two highest
+marks of dominion in Islam, the mint and the pulpit at Bagdad in the
+name of Mostansir the Kalif at Cairo, and would have held them much
+longer had not his career been cut short in 1058 by Togrul the first
+Seljuk Sultan, who hastened to the rescue of the Abbasids. Meanwhile
+the Dayis from Cairo and their aids filled a great part of Asia with
+their labors.
+
+One of these Dayis, Hassan Ben Sabah, founded a sect, the Eastern
+Ismailites, renowned later as the Assassins. This Hassan was son of
+Ali, a Shiite of the old city Rayi, who claimed that his father, Sabah
+Homairi, had gone from Kufa to Kum and later to Rayi. People from Tus
+in Khorassan, and others insisted that his ancestors had passed all
+their lives in Khorassan. Ali, suspected of heresy, made lying oaths
+and confessions to clear himself; since his success was but partial he
+strove to increase it by sending Hassan, his son, to the Nishapur
+school of Movaffik, a sage of eighty years at that period, and the
+first scholar among Sunnite believers.
+
+This sage, it was said, brought happiness and good fortune to all whom
+he instructed. His school was frequented by multitudes, and the success
+of his pupils was proverbial. Among his last students were three
+classmates, later on very famous: Omar Khayyam, the astronomer and
+poet; Nizam ul Mulk, the first statesman of the period, and Hassan Ben
+Sabah, who founded a sect upon sophisms, and a State upon murder.
+
+Hassan’s ambition was active from the earliest; while in that Nishapur
+school he bound both his classmates by a promise. Nizam ul Mulk himself
+tells the story: “‘Men believe,’ remarked Hassan one day to us, ‘that
+the pupils of our master are sure to be fortunate; let us promise that
+should success visit one of us only, that favored one will share with
+the other two.’ We promised.” Years later when Nizam ul Mulk was grand
+vizir to Alp Arslan, Sultan of the Seljuks, he showed Omar Khayyam
+sincere honor and friendship, and offered him the dignity of second
+vizir, which the poet rejected, but at his request the vizir gave him
+one thousand gold pieces each year instead of the office. Thenceforward
+Omar Khayyam was enabled to follow his bent and do great work, as
+astronomer and poet.
+
+Hassan Ben Sabah lived on in obscurity till the death of Alp Arslan in
+1072.
+
+Nizam ul Mulk retained his high office with Melik Shah the new Sultan.
+Hassan Sabah went now to his friend and quoting bitter words from the
+Koran reproached him with forgetting sacred promises, and mentioned
+their agreement of school days. The vizir, who was kind, took his
+classmate to the sovereign and gained for him favor.
+
+Hassan Sabah, who had reproached his old friend out of perfidy, soon
+won great influence through cunning, feigned frankness and hypocrisy.
+In no long time Melik Shah called him frequently to his presence,
+advised with him, and followed his counsels. Soon Nizam ul Mulk was in
+danger of losing his office. Hassan had resolved to ruin his benefactor
+and classmate; in one word to supplant him. Each apparent omission of
+the great man was reported by tortuous ways to the sovereign, whose
+mind was brought to doubt the vizir, and to test him. The most painful
+blow of all, according to Nizam ul Mulk’s own statement, was given when
+Hassan promised to finish in forty days the whole budget of the Empire.
+Nizam ul Mulk needed ten times that period for the labor.
+
+Melik Shah gave all the men called for by Hassan, and with their aid
+the work was accomplished. But to defeat the vizir was not easy; Nizam
+ul Mulk had abstracted certain pages, hence Hassan’s budget was
+imperfect. He could not explain why the pages were lacking, and he
+could not restore them, so he went on a sudden to Rayi and to Ispahan
+somewhat later. In the latter city he lived in concealment at the house
+of Abu Fazl, the mayor, whom he converted, and who became his most
+intimate adherent.
+
+One day in 1078, when complaining of Nizam ul Mulk and the Sultan,
+Hassan added: “Had I but two friends of unbending fidelity I would soon
+end this rule of the Turk and the peasant (Sultan and vizir).” These
+words describe Hassan’s forecast completely, and show the germ of the
+Assassin creation, which was cold-blooded murder, carefully pondered,
+thought out with slowness, but executed on a sudden. Abu Fazl could not
+credit that statement, and thought Hassan demented. To restore his
+mental balance he placed on the table before him meat and drink mixed
+with saffron which was believed at that time in Persia to be a mind
+strengthening herb. Hassan noted his meaning immediately, was angry,
+and would not remain longer. Abu Fazl did what was possible to detain
+the apostle of murder, but every effort on his part was fruitless;
+Hassan left Ispahan quickly for Egypt.
+
+The Ismailite mysteries of atheism and immorality had been taught to
+Hassan Ben Sabah by a Fatimid apostle in Persia. He had also conversed
+long and intimately with others. He knew all the secrets of Cairo, and
+had been tried and found worthy to spread the beliefs of the great
+House of Science. The fame of his learning and gifts, and the high
+position which he had held at the court of Melik Shah, went before him.
+Mostansir desired to show honor to a servant who might help him to
+wider dominion. The chief of the new House of Science was therefore
+sent to the boundary with greetings; a residence was assigned to the
+visitor, while through ministers and dignitaries he was loaded with
+favors until a great quarrel broke out on a sudden in Egypt.
+
+Mostansir had declared his son, Nesar, as his successor, and heir to
+the Kalifat; thereupon rose a faction. The commander-in-chief of the
+war forces was at the head of it. He insisted that Mosteali, another
+son of Mostansir, was the only one fitted for the dignity. Hassan was
+in favor of Nesar, and this enraged the commander, who had Hassan
+imprisoned in Damietta. The apostle was barely in prison when a great
+tower fell in the city without evident reason. The amazed and terrified
+people saw in this accident a miracle performed by Hassan, so his
+enemies and admirers joined straightway in bearing him off to a vessel
+just ready to sail for West Africa. Soon after starting a storm rose
+and terrified every man on the ship except Hassan. When asked why he
+was not alarmed he answered: “Our Lord has promised that no harm shall
+meet me.” The sea became calm soon after. All on board turned then to
+Hassan, accepted his teaching and became devoted and faithful
+disciples. As the voyage continued a contrary wind drove the vessel to
+Syria where the apostle debarked and went to Aleppo. Thence he traveled
+farther, to Bagdad, Ispahan, Yezd, Kerman and many other places,
+publishing his doctrines with the greatest industry.
+
+In Damegan Hassan spent three years, and made numerous converts. Rayi
+he could not visit since Nizam ul Mulk had instructed the governor to
+seize him. Dayis converted by Hassan and attached to him personally had
+gone to Kirdkuh and many other fortresses and cities in that marvelous
+region. He passed now through Sari, Demavend, Kazvin and Dilem and
+halted at last at Alamut.
+
+Hussein Kaini, one of Hassan’s devoted and skilful Dayis, had been sent
+some time before to Alamut to secure an oath of allegiance and fidelity
+to Kalif Mostansir. Most of the inhabitants had already given the usual
+oath, but the commandant, Ali Mehdi, who held the fortress in the name
+of Melik Shah, refused, declaring that he would acknowledge the
+spiritual dominion of no one save the Kalif of Bagdad of the family of
+Abbas, and submit to no sovereign but Melik Shah of the family of the
+Seljuks. Hassan then offered to pay him three thousand ducats for the
+fortress, but Mehdi refused this bribe. Finding all persuasion useless
+Hassan took possession by force and Mehdi was driven out. As if to show
+his great influence and authority Hassan then gave Mehdi a letter to
+Reis Mosaffer, commander of the fortress of Kirdkuh, instructing him to
+pay Mehdi three thousand ducats. Mehdi, knowing well the confidence
+placed in Mosaffer by the Seljuk Sultan, was amazed when the three
+thousand ducats were paid to him. He learned then that Mosaffer was a
+devoted follower of Hassan Ben Sabah, and one of his earliest
+adherents.
+
+Alamut [14] was the largest and strongest of fifty castles in that
+country. It was built in 860 by Hassan Ben Seid Bakeri, and now in 1090
+Hassan Sabah, who had hitherto sought in vain for a stronghold, was in
+possession of it. He at once began to build walls and ramparts around
+his fortress and had a canal dug which would ensure a water supply.
+Gardens and orchards were planted in the surrounding country and the
+inhabitants were soon engaged in agricultural pursuits. Men of power in
+the Seljuk country Hassan won by secretly placing Assassins at their
+service; whoso wished in those days to ruin any man had but to accuse
+him of connivance with Hassan Ben Sabah. Informers increased, suspicion
+was general. Melik Shah distrusted his most intimate associates and
+servants whom ill-will or envy strove to ruin. But now an Emir to whom
+Melik Shah had given Rudbar in fief, that is the whole region in which
+Alamut was the main stronghold, stopped every road to the fortress and
+cut off all supplies. The inhabitants were ready to abandon the place,
+but Hassan assured them that fortune would soon show them favor, as in
+fact it did, and the name “Abode of Good Fortune” was bestowed on the
+castle. Melik Shah, who hitherto had treated Ismailians with contempt,
+resolved now to crush them. He commanded Arslan Tash, his Emir, to
+destroy Hassan Sabah with all his followers.
+
+Though Hassan had only seventy men, and not much food to give them, he
+defended the fortress with great courage till Abu Ali, his Dayi,
+hastened up in the night time with three hundred men. These, with the
+seventy of the garrison, attacked the besiegers and dispersed them.
+
+Melik Shah who was greatly alarmed by this defeat sent troops from
+Khorassan against Hussein Kaini, Hassan Sabah’s main agent, who was
+spreading heresy in the Kuhistan province. Hussein retreated to a
+castle in Mumin where soon he was besieged and in no less danger than
+Hassan had been very recently in Alamut.
+
+Up to this time Hassan had acted as a political agent and religious
+nuncio in the name of Mostansir, but now he saw an opportunity for
+securing power for himself and he did not hesitate. Knowing well that
+lawlessness of the people brought destruction to the throne, he
+established a system of religion and politics based upon atheism and
+absolute freedom of action which became the tenet of the Assassins,
+known, however, to but few and concealed under the veil of religion.
+
+Hassan determined to deliver his first great blow at this juncture and
+begin his career of surprises. He had resolved to rid himself of
+opponents unsparingly, and to terrify those of his enemies whom he left
+living. His first victim was Nizam ul Mulk, his classmate, friend and
+benefactor, a statesman renowned throughout one half of Asia as chief
+vizir under three Seljuk Sultans, the first of their dynasty, a man of
+profound wisdom and keen foresight, whose Treatise on the Principles of
+Government was written for Melik Shah and adopted as his code. In this
+code the wise vizir explains in the clearest terms the duties of a
+sovereign. Melik Shah, the most famous and best of the Seljuk Sultans,
+died three weeks later (1092). The sudden deaths of these two great men
+filled Western Asia with terror. The vizir was cut down by Hassan
+Sabah’s Fedavi, or devoted assistants. Melik Shah died of poison. His
+loss was greatly lamented for he had ruled with justice and made his
+country prosperous. He was both a statesman and a warrior. To extend
+commerce he had built bridges and canals; to ensure the safety of
+merchants and all who traveled he had made each village and hamlet
+responsible for the crimes committed within its precincts. In this way
+the entire population assisted in the suppression of robbery, one of
+the great evils of that time. Hassan had made a notable beginning—he
+had alarmed all Asia.
+
+What were the doctrines of the Ismailians, used by Hassan Ben Sabah?
+
+The Ismailian apostles trained in the House of Science in Cairo, which
+had been founded and developed in the Fatimid interest, taught their
+secret doctrines to a few chosen followers. These doctrines were
+communicated slowly and with many precautions. The chiefs or apostles
+at Cairo, the prime masters of all sacred wisdom, initiated disciples.
+There were nine degrees through which those of the faithful had to pass
+to receive the great mystery. But before giving the first degree to any
+novice whatever the Master took from him an oath devoting the applicant
+to the greatest calamities of this life, and the keenest sufferings of
+the next, if he kept not strict silence touching that which was
+revealed to him, or if he ceased to be the friend of all friends of the
+Ismailians, and the enemy of all their enemies. When the oath was
+accepted the Master took a fee for that which he was going to
+communicate, and he never advanced any novice from degree to degree,
+till he saw that the man had assimilated to the utmost everything
+taught him.
+
+The first step in instruction was that God has at all times given the
+task of establishing His worship, and preserving it, to Imams, his
+chosen ones, who are the sole guides of the faithful. As God has
+created the most beautiful of all things and the noblest, by sevens,
+such as the heavens and the planets, he has fixed the number of Imams
+at seven, namely: Aly, Hassan, Hussein, Ali Zayn al Abidin, Mohammed
+Bakir, Jaffar es Sadik, and Ismail, or Mohammed, the son of Ismail, who
+surpasses all other Imams in occult wisdom and in knowledge of the
+mystic sense of things visible. He explains these mysteries to those of
+the initiated who inquire, for he has been instructed by God himself,
+and he communicates his marvelous gifts to the Dayis, or Ismailian
+apostles, to the exclusion of all other sectaries of Ali.
+
+Like the Imams, the word-endowed prophets sent to establish new
+religions were seven in number. Each prophet had one vicar (siwes) as
+aid who upheld true religion after the death of his principal, and six
+other vicars, who appeared after him among men. In distinction to the
+word-endowed prophets the vicars were called “the dumb,” because they
+merely walked in the way which had been traced for them previously.
+When these seven vicars pass from the earth, a new prophet comes who
+sets aside the preceding religion and is followed by seven mute vicars.
+These changes follow one another till the coming of the seventh
+word-endowed prophet, who is the lord of the present, that is, lord of
+the age in which he is manifest.
+
+The first prophet was Adam, for whom his son Seth served as vicar;
+after Adam his religion had seven successive vicars. Noah was the
+second prophet, and his vicar was Sem; Abraham was the third prophet,
+his son, Ismail, was his vicar; Moses, the fourth, had Aaron his
+brother first as vicar, after Aaron’s death Joshua, son of Nun, was his
+vicar. The last of his vicars was John, son of Zachary; Jesus, son of
+Mary, the fifth prophet, had Simeon as vicar. With the sixth prophet,
+Mohammed, was associated Aly. After Aly were six mute chiefs of Islam.
+These are the Imams whom we have named from Hassan to Ismail. Ismail is
+the seventh and most recent prophet. When he appeared preceding
+religions were abolished. Endowed with an all-knowing wisdom he alone
+can explain sacred teaching. All people owe him obedience, and it is
+only through his guidance that man can advance in salvation.
+
+These were the doctrines taught in the first four degrees. In the fifth
+degree the disciple learned that the Imam, as supreme priest, should
+have apostles to visit all places. The number of these was fixed by
+Divine wisdom at twelve like the months of the year, the tribes of
+Israel, the companions of Mohammed, for God in all he does has views of
+deep wisdom.
+
+In the sixth degree the Master commenced by explaining the mystic
+significance of the precepts of Islam touching prayer, alms,
+pilgrimages, and all other practices which were, as he showed, to turn
+men from vice to perfection. He recommended the study of Aristotle,
+Pythagoras, and Plato; he warned against blind belief in tradition,
+against yielding credit to simple allegations, and against taking
+accepted proof unless it be rational.
+
+In the seventh and the eighth degree the Master taught that the founder
+of every religion requires an associate, a vicar to hand down his
+precepts; the latter is the image of the world here below enveloped by
+that which is above it; one precedes the other as cause does effect.
+The first principle has neither attribute nor name; one may not say
+that it exists, or does not exist, that it is ignorant, or knowing. And
+thus farther on with all its attributes, for every affirmation
+regarding it implies a comparison with things that are created, every
+negation tends to deprive it of an attribute; it is neither eternal nor
+temporal, but its commandment, its word is that which exists from
+eternity. The disciple—that is, he who follows—aspires to the height of
+the one who precedes him, and he who is endowed with the word on earth
+aspires to be one with him who is master of the word in heaven.
+
+In the ninth degree, which is the last, the teacher restates all that
+he has taught up to that time, and on seeing that the disciple
+understands he removes the last veil, and says to him in substance: All
+that is said of creation and of a beginning, describes in a simile the
+origin and changes of matter. An apostle delivers to mankind that which
+heaven has revealed to him. For the sake of justice and order, he
+adapts his religion to the needs of the race. When this religion is
+needed for the general welfare it is binding, but the philosopher is
+not bound to put it into practice. The philosopher is free, is bound to
+nothing; knowledge for him is sufficient, since it contains the truth,
+that towards which he is striving. He should know its whole meaning,
+all that it binds men to execute, but he need not be subject to
+vexations, which are not intended for sages. Finally it is explained to
+the disciple that if word endowed apostles have the mission to uphold
+order among mankind in general, sages are charged to teach wisdom to
+individuals.
+
+From all that has been preserved by the chroniclers of those days
+regarding the Assassin kingdom, it is clear that in great part these
+teachings were borrowed from Greece, Palestine, and Persia.
+
+The Fatimid Kalifs of Egypt had many secret agents in Persia and Syria.
+The Assassins went to Syria about the same time as the Crusaders. In
+the first year of the XIIth century Jenah-ed-devlet, then Prince of
+Emesa, died by their daggers while he was hastening to the castle of
+the Kurds, Hosn Ak Kurd, which the Count of St. Gilles was besieging.
+He had been attacked four years earlier in his palace by three Persian
+Assassins, but had succeeded in saving his life. Risvan, the Prince of
+Aleppo, was suspected of causing this attack. There was reason to
+suspect him, since he was a bitter enemy of Jenah-ed-devlet, and a
+friend of the Assassins.
+
+Risvan had been won to the Order by one of its agents who was very
+persuasive; an astrologer and a physician, who had the power to attract
+by methods of his own, which were separate from those of the Order.
+Four and twenty days after this unsuccessful attempt, the astrologer
+died, but his place was soon filled by a goldsmith from Persia named
+Abu Tahir Essaigh, who roused Risvan to still greater activity. This
+Prince of Aleppo was hostile to every Crusader, and to his own brother,
+Dokah, the Prince of Damascus. He was anxious for a new influx of
+Assassins, since their acts favored his policy.
+
+Abul Fettah, the nephew of Hassan Sabah, was at that time Grand Prior
+in Syria; his chief residence was Sarmin, a fortified place one day’s
+journey from Aleppo.
+
+Some years later, when the people of Apaméa implored aid of Abu Tahir
+Essaigh, the goldsmith, now the commandant in Sarmin, against Khalaf,
+their governor from Egypt, he had Khalaf slain by Assassins under Abul
+Fettah, and took Apaméa for Risvan, but he could not hold it against
+Tancred, who seized the place and took Abu Tahir to Antioch where he
+kept him till ransomed. Abul Fettah expired under torture. Other
+captives were given to Khalaf’s sons. Tancred took from the Assassins
+the strong castle of Kefrlana.
+
+Abu Tahir on returning to the Prince of Aleppo used all his influence
+to kill Abu Harb Issa, a great Khojend merchant, who had come to Aleppo
+with five hundred camels bearing much merchandise. This man had done
+what he could to cause harm to the Order. A man named Ahmed, who was
+secretly an Assassin, had been present in the caravan from the boundary
+of Khorassan, and was watching to avenge his brother slain by the
+people of that merchant. On reaching Aleppo he went to Abu Tahir and
+Risvan, whom he won through accounts of Abu Harb’s immense wealth, and
+his hatred of the Assassins. On a day, while the merchant was counting
+his camels, the murderers fell upon him, but his slaves, who were near,
+showed their courage and slew the attackers before they could injure
+Abu Harb. The merchant complained to Syrian princes and they reproached
+Risvan bitterly, but he denied every share in that action. No one
+believed him, however. Abu Tahir, to save himself from punishment, fled
+to North Persia and remained there for a season.
+
+Hassan’s policy swept through the country, selecting its victims from
+the powerful and the rich. In 1113 Mevdud, then Prince of Mosul, fell,
+stabbed to death while walking with Togteghin of Damascus through the
+forecourt of the great mosque in that prince’s capital. The Assassin
+who killed him was decapitated straightway. That same year died Risvan,
+Prince of Aleppo, who had long protected the murderous Order most
+carefully, and had used it effectually in extending his own dominions.
+
+Risvan’s son, Akhras, succeeded him. This youth of sixteen was assisted
+in governing by Lulu, a eunuch. He began rule by condemning to death
+all people belonging to the Assassin Order. By this sentence more than
+three hundred men, women and children were slain, and two hundred were
+thrown into prison. Abul Fettah, a son of Abu Tahir the goldsmith, and
+his successor as head of the Assassin Order in Syria, met with a death
+no less terrible than that of his namesake, the nephew of Hassan Ben
+Sabah. The trunk of his body was hacked into pieces at the gate looking
+eastward toward Irak, his legs and arms were burned, and his head was
+borne through Syria as a spectacle. Ismail, a brother of that
+astrologer who had brought the Order into friendship with Risvan, died
+with the others. Many Assassins were hurled into the moat from the top
+of the fortress. Hossam ed din, son of Dimlatsh, a Dayi who had just
+come from Persia, fled from the rage of the people to Rakka where death
+found him promptly. Many saved themselves by flight, and were scattered
+in towns throughout Syria; others, to avoid all suspicion of belonging
+to the Order, denounced their own brothers, and killed them. The
+treasures of the Order were searched out and taken. Thus did Akhras,
+Prince of Aleppo, take vengeance on the Assassins for their evil
+influence over his father.
+
+Later on the Order avenged this “persecution” in various ways, and most
+cruelly. In an audience given by the Kalif of Bagdad to Togteghin, the
+Atabeg of Damascus, three murderers attacked and killed the Emir, Ahmed
+Bal, then governor of Khorassan, whom they mistook, as it seems, for
+the Atabeg. The Emir was their enemy, but not the enemy whom they had
+come to destroy with their daggers,—though of this they were ignorant.
+
+In 1120 Ilghazi received a command from Abu Mohammed, the chief of the
+Assassins in Aleppo, to surrender the castle of Sherif. Ilghazi, who
+feared the Order, feigned to yield up the castle, but ere the envoy
+could return with this answer the people had pulled down the walls,
+filled the moats, and joined the castle to Aleppo. Khashab, who had
+thought out this exploit and saved a fortress from the Assassins, paid
+with his life for the service. Bedü the governor of Aleppo became their
+victim, as did also one of his sons. His other sons cut down the
+murderers, but a third slayer sprang forward and gave one of them,
+wounded already, his death blow. When seized and taken to Togteghin the
+surviving Assassin was punished with simple imprisonment, for Togteghin
+did not dare to mete out justice.
+
+A few years later Nur ed din, the famous Prince of Damascus, received
+from the Assassins a command to surrender the castle of Beitlala. He
+yielded apparently and then roused up the people in secret to prevent
+the Order from gaining the fortress. They did this by destroying it
+hastily. So greatly did the princes fear the Assassins that they dared
+not refuse to obey their commands; they would promise obedience, and
+then rouse the people to pull down their own strongholds.
+
+Governors of provinces both in Persia and Syria were the chief agents
+in keeping peace and good order, hence were opposed to the Assassins,
+and were exposed to their daggers more than all other men.
+
+In Persia as in Syria the Assassins murdered many of the most
+distinguished men, men whom the Order feared or whom they removed to
+win favor or money. Sindjar, Sultan of the Seljuks, sent troops to
+retake Kuhistan castles which the Ismailians had seized. Hassan Sabah
+sought peace more than once with this Sultan through envoys. When all
+efforts proved futile, he won over officers of Sindjar’s own household
+who spoke in his favor, and even prevailed on a servant of that prince
+to thrust a dagger into the floor before his bedside while he was
+sleeping. When Sindjar woke and saw the dire weapon he resolved to say
+nothing, but soon he received from Hassan Sabah a note with the
+following contents: “Were I not well inclined toward Sindjar, the man
+who planted that dagger in the floor would have fixed it in the
+Sultan’s bosom. Let him know that I, from this rock, guide the hands of
+the men who surround him.”
+
+This letter made such an impression on Sindjar that he ceased to
+disturb Ismailians. His reign thereafter was the period of their
+greatest prosperity.
+
+Hassan Ben Sabah died thirty-four years after his entrance into Alamut,
+and during that time he never came down from the castle, nay more, he
+never left, except twice, his own dwelling. He passed his life studying
+and writing on the dogmas of his system, and in governing that
+murderous Commonwealth which began in his brain, and was of his own
+invention.
+
+He showed the truth of his doctrine by concise, captious arguments. “As
+to the knowledge of God,” said he, “one of two courses must be
+followed: Claim to know God by the sole light of reason, or admit that
+one cannot know him by reason, but that men need instructors. Now he
+who rejects the first statement may not reject another man’s reason
+without admitting thereby the necessity of guidance.” Hassan combated
+in this way the claims of Greek sages. “The need of a guide being
+admitted we must know if every teacher is good, or if we must have
+infallible instruction. Now he who maintains that every teacher is good
+may not reject his opponent’s instructor without acknowledging the need
+of a teacher deserving the obedience and confidence of all men. It is
+shown,” added he, “that mankind has need of a true and infallible
+teacher. This teacher must be known so that men may accept his
+instruction with safety. He must have been designated and chosen; he
+must be installed; his truth must be proven. It would be folly to go on
+a journey without a skilled guide and director. This guide must be
+found before starting on the journey.
+
+“Variety of opinion is a real proof of error, accord in opinion shows
+truth, and unity is the sign of it. Diversity is a clear sign of error;
+unity comes from teaching obedience, diversity from freedom of thought;
+unity indicates submission to an Imam, freedom of thought goes with
+schism, and many leaders.”
+
+Apparently austere in his morals and respecting the Koran, Hassan Sabah
+forced all his subjects to live just as he did. The sternness of his
+methods may be known from these examples. He had one son clubbed to
+death for mere suspicion of being connected with the slaying of the
+Kuhistan governor without orders; the other for wine drinking and
+dissolute conduct. In the execution of his elder son he gave to his
+subjects an example of the penalty paid for interfering with the
+prerogative of the Grand Prior. The execution of the younger showed
+them the result of disobedience to principles—the principles ruling at
+Alamut.
+
+Just before his death in 1124 Hassan Sabah made his old comrade Kia
+Busurgomid his successor. Under this second chief murder increased very
+greatly; not merely enemies of the sect fell now by the dagger, but any
+prince or man who had an enemy could hire one of the Order to murder
+him. Rather than expose themselves to death, sovereigns and men of
+authority lived in apparent accord with the Assassins and obtained from
+the chief as a price of good-will a number of his devotees as aids in
+carrying out their own evil schemes for aggrandizement. Those men slew
+all pointed out to them, frequently, however, whole populations were
+punished for these crimes of their co-religionists. Kia Busurgomid was
+a man of great activity who followed the methods of Hassan, destroying
+the most illustrious leaders of the enemy.
+
+Mahmud, the successor of Sindjar, at first met the Assassins with their
+own tactics of murder and deceit; but, for an unknown reason, after
+being in open war with Kia Busurgomid for some time, he asked that an
+envoy be sent to discuss terms of peace. The envoy from the Assassins
+was received courteously by the Sultan, but upon leaving the presence
+of Mahmud he was seized and murdered by the enraged populace. The
+Sultan sent an envoy to Alamut immediately to assure Kia Busurgomid
+that this unfortunate incident was due wholly to the hostility of the
+citizens, and that he himself was in no way to blame.
+
+Kia Busurgomid replied that he had believed in the assurances of safety
+which the Sultan had given. If the Sultan would deliver the murderers
+of the man to the Assassins there would be no difficulty, otherwise he
+would take revenge for the death of his envoy. Mahmud fearing the rage
+of the people gave no reply, and was shortly after attacked by a large
+number of Assassins who killed four hundred men and carried off many
+horses and camels.
+
+In 1129 the Sultan got possession of the Alamut fortress, but was soon
+forced to relinquish it. Not long after Mahmud died, probably by poison
+administered by a member of the Order.
+
+In Risvan’s time, as already stated, the Assassins enjoyed immense
+influence at Aleppo, but under his son they were hunted down and
+slaughtered. A somewhat similar fate struck them in Damascus where
+during Busi’s time, Behram, an Assassin from Astrabad, won over to his
+side the vizir who gave him in 1128 the castle of Banias, which
+immediately became the center of influence in Syria, and so remained
+until twelve years later when the Assassins made Massiat their capital.
+On gaining a firm foothold in Syria by possession of Banias, the
+Assassins flocked to their new capital from all sides. No prince now
+had courage to give any man protection against them. But the career of
+Behram the shrewd Assassin was of short duration.
+
+Dohak, the chief man in Taim, a part of the district of Baalbek,
+determined to avenge the death of his brother who had been murdered at
+command of Behram, hence he summoned the warriors of Taim with
+assistance from Damascus and places around it. Behram planned to
+surprise Dohak and his army and crush them, but he fell into their
+power unwarily, and they killed him. His head and hands were taken to
+Egypt, where the Kalif had them borne in triumph to Cairo, and gave a
+rich gold embroidered robe to the man who brought them. Those Assassins
+who escaped fled from Taim to Banias, where before the expedition
+Behram had given chief command to Ismail, an Assassin from Persia.
+
+Tahir, the vizir, was as ready to negotiate with Ismail as he had been
+with Behram. Ismail had as aid Abul Wefa, a man without faith or
+principle, but adroit and successful. The Crusaders, whose power was
+then rising in Syria, seemed to Abul Wefa the best allies possible for
+Assassins. Enemies of Mohammedanism, they were friends to its
+opponents. Attacked from without by Crusaders and corrupted from within
+by Ismailian teachings, Abbasid Mohammedanism seemed nearing its
+downfall. Abul Wefa now made a treaty with the King of Jerusalem,
+through which he engaged to give him Damascus on a certain Friday.
+While Busi, the Emir, and his great men, were assembled in the mosque
+at devotion all approaches were to be opened to the king and his
+forces. In return for this service the king was to give Abul Wefa the
+city of Tyre on the seacoast. The Templars’ earliest Grand Master, Hugo
+De Payens, appears as main agent, it is stated, in urging the king to
+this arrangement.
+
+During a decade of years after its organization, the Order of Templars
+remained in obscurity, observing vows of poverty, chastity, and
+obedience, and performing the labor of protecting all pilgrims. It was,
+however, merely a private society at that time without distinguishing
+habit or statutes. Rules given by St. Bernard and confirmed by the Pope
+raised it to be a great Order created to defend the Holy Sepulchre and
+pilgrims.
+
+During this year, 1129, Hugo arrived in Jerusalem with a numerous
+escort of pilgrims and knights, who through his influence had taken the
+cross and raised arms in defence of Christ’s sepulchre.
+
+The winning of Damascus was now decided upon, but marvelous events
+happened meanwhile to prevent the carrying out of this plan. Tahir Ben
+Saad, the vizir, who, as we have seen, exercised supreme power at
+direction of Tajul Muluk Busi, Prince of Damascus had arranged with
+Abul Wefa, the surrender of Damascus in secret. Tajul Muluk Busi,
+discovering the treachery of his vizir and the plot of the Assassins to
+get possession of Damascus, had Tahir Ben Saad put to death
+immediately, and then commanded a slaughter of all the Assassins in the
+city. It is stated that “six thousand fell by the sword which thus
+avenged many victims of the dagger.”
+
+While this was taking place a strong Christian army was rapidly
+approaching Damascus to take possession of the city. Of this army a
+large number, while marching, went with knights to plunder villages and
+obtain provisions, permitting, as was customary, a considerable force
+of pilgrims to accompany them. They advanced without order and were in
+great part cut down by a picked corps of warriors from Damascus. On
+hearing of this disaster the rest of the Christian army hurried forward
+to attack those men of Damascus. While they were thus hastening
+dreadful darkness appeared on a sudden, darkness broken only by flashes
+of lightning; then came a tempest with the roaring of thunder and a
+downrush of rain which overspread everything. When the roads were all
+flooded and the whole country covered with water, a great cold set in
+quickly; frost of amazing severity turned flood and rain into ice and
+snowflakes. When light came again it disclosed winter scenery. The
+disaster, storm, change and frost were considered by the Christians as
+manifestations of Heaven’s terrible anger because of their great sin in
+making a compact with murderers.
+
+The only advantage obtained from this league with criminals was the
+restoration of the castle of Banias. Ismail remembering the fate of
+Damascus Assassins restored Banias, but three years later, in 1132, he
+retook it, and the Christians in the end gained nothing whatever.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HULAGU DESTROYS THE ASSASSIN COMMONWEALTH
+
+
+The valiant and powerful Prince of Mosul, Aksonkor Burshi, was one of
+the first victims of the second Grand Prior. He was just and daring, a
+man greatly feared not only by the Assassins but also by the Crusaders
+with whom he had recently fought a battle. Shortly after his return
+from this encounter he was attacked by eight Assassins who, disguised
+as dervishes, fell upon him in the chief mosque of Mosul while he was
+taking his place on the throne. Protected by armor he defended himself
+with immense courage. Three of the Assassins he killed, but before his
+assistants could come to his aid he received a wound which soon proved
+fatal. All the other Assassins were slain save one who fled and escaped
+from the wrath of the people. When the mother of this man learned of
+Aksonkor’s death she adorned herself immediately through pride in the
+success of the onset for which, as she supposed, her son had given his
+life. But when he came home uninjured she cut off her hair and
+blackened her face in deep sorrow, since he had not died with his
+comrades in honor—such was her view of honor.
+
+Busi the Prince of Damascus was marked for destruction. Tahir the
+friend of the Assassins had been executed and six thousand of the Order
+had been massacred in 1129 at that prince’s command; therefore there
+was no escape for Busi. Within two years of that massacre he was
+attacked by a band of Assassins and escaped with difficulty; the year
+following, however, brought death to him from the effects of wounds
+received in that encounter.
+
+The vengeance of the Assassins continued for years; it waited for time,
+opportunity, and place, nay more, it passed from one generation to
+another. They never forgot and never forgave. Shems ul Muluk, son of
+Busi, as well as many other people of renown fell under the daggers of
+the Order. The mufti of Kasvin and the mayors of Ispahan and Tebriz
+were among those who perished. Besides rulers and great men a multitude
+of merchants and ordinary men were murdered by the tools of Hassan Ben
+Sabah and his successors the so-called apostles of Islam.
+
+But in spite of the bitter enmity between the Abbasids and the Fatimids
+and the fact that the Assassins, an offshoot of the Fatimids, had
+worked long and industriously to overthrow their opponents, the throne
+of the Kalif of Bagdad had not been stained with the blood of its
+occupants thus far. But the time had now come when the Order dared to
+murder even the successor of the Prophet. Through a strange
+retribution, however, Kalif Abu Ali Mansur the tenth of the Fatimid
+dynasty was the first to die by the hand of an Assassin, but whether
+this death was effected by the policy of the Order or by private
+revenge is unknown. It was thought by many that the murderer was
+employed by the family of Efdhal, the grand vizir.
+
+Efdhal had been as dangerous for the Kalif at Cairo through the immense
+power which he wielded in Egypt as for the Crusaders because of his
+hatred for them and the great energy with which he warred against them.
+He was cut down by two men who belonged to the Order. No one knew who
+had employed those two persons, whether the murderers were the tools of
+the Crusaders, or of the Kalif. At first suspicion fell on the Kalif.
+The son of Efdhal, Abu Ali, who was imprisoned immediately upon the
+death of his father, was set free after the assassination of the Kalif
+and given the office and titles of the vizir. But Assassins soon
+attacked and killed Abu Ali. It may be that all three murders were
+caused by the machinations of unknown enemies.
+
+Egypt from this time on presents scenes of turmoil and disorder
+produced by great struggles between partisans of the Kalifs of Bagdad
+and Cairo, or in other words between the Abbasids and the Fatimids.
+
+Mostershed the twenty-ninth Abbasid Kalif held power from 1118 to 1135,
+but his power was limited and his throne most insecure. When they made
+themselves guardians of the Kalifs at Bagdad the Seljuk Sultans took
+from them all marks of temporal power except the Friday prayers from
+the pulpit, and the coinage of money. When Massud became Sultan he
+immediately took this last evidence of authority from the Kalif and
+appointed Friday prayers in his own name. This encroachment was
+tolerated by Mostershed but he did not accept it. Some time later a
+number of officers with the men under them left Massud and joined the
+Kalif’s army. These officers assured the Kalif that it would not be
+difficult to conquer Massud. Deceived by their statements Mostershed
+marched against the Sultan, but, deserted by his warriors in the first
+onset, he was captured by Massud and taken to Meragha. He was freed
+however on his promise to remain thereafter in Bagdad and pay a yearly
+tribute to the Sultan.
+
+The Ismailians had hoped that this war would end the Abbasids; hence
+they were bitterly disappointed, and determined to take the work into
+their own hands at once and at all costs. When Massud left Mostershed
+in his camp near Meragha, the Assassins cut down the Kalif and his
+attendants. Then not satisfied with the murder, they mutilated the
+corpses by cutting off their ears and noses.
+
+People had scarcely recovered from the terror caused by this slaughter
+of Mostershed when they learned that his successor Rashid had been
+killed. The Assassins had thought that by the murder of Mostershed they
+would bring about the ruin of the Kalifat. But hope deceived them.
+Rashid on taking the throne planned his own policy and determined to
+begin his rule by avenging the death of his father. He went first,
+however, on a journey to Ispahan, intending when he returned to deal
+with the Assassins. The Order ever alert and watchful discovered his
+purpose. Four active adherents followed Rashid, and at last when the
+chance came they stole into his tent and stabbed him. He was buried in
+Ispahan, and the warriors whom he had assembled to march against the
+Order scattered at once.
+
+When news of the Kalif’s death came to the Grand Prior there was great
+joy in Alamut. For seven days and nights kettledrums sounded to
+announce the happy event to that whole mountain region. This murder
+brought alarm and terror to the Abbasid world. It is said that after
+the death of Rashid Abbasid Kalifs very rarely, if ever, showed
+themselves in public. Agents of the Order now went in crowds through
+Asia. Fortresses already held by them were strengthened while new ones
+were built or else purchased. In Syria they obtained Kadmos in 1134,
+Kahaf four years later, and Massiat in 1140. The first and the second
+they bought, the third they took by the strong hand, with violence, and
+made it the center of their activity in Syria.
+
+Kei Busurgomid had ruled the Assassin kingdom for fourteen years when,
+realizing that his last hour was near, he made his eldest son, Kia
+Mohammed, Grand Prior. The ruler at Alamut while increasing the power
+of the Order and extending its influence in every direction did not
+call himself sovereign or claim sovereign power. He ruled in the name
+of an invisible Imam of whom he called himself an apostle, an Imam who
+was to appear in the future and establish his rule over mankind. The
+real tenets of the Order were known only to the Grand Prior and to his
+chosen and tested associates who were bound to secrecy by the most
+dreadful oaths. The vast majority of people who were under the control
+of the chief of Alamut thought themselves devout followers of Mohammed
+the Prophet whose teachings they observed with the utmost fidelity.
+They looked upon the Grand Prior as an apostle whose wisdom was beyond
+question and obeyed his commands with willingness and the most implicit
+confidence. Those of his his disciples whom he employed as tools to
+carry out political schemes or private revenge requiring the removal of
+men by the use of the dagger thought they were working for a holy cause
+and removing enemies of their faith and their country. As the books and
+manuscripts of Hassan Ben Sabah and of those Alamut chiefs who
+succeeded him were destroyed at the coming of the Mongols it is
+difficult to obtain at this time much information regarding the
+internal government of the Assassin kingdom. Their real doctrine was
+carefully concealed and its supporters appeared only as upholders of
+Islam. This is shown by answers given the Sultan Sindjar who sent an
+envoy to Alamut to gain information concerning the doctrine of the
+Order.
+
+“The Ismailian doctrine is as follows,” replied the Prior. “We believe
+in one God and recognize that alone as true wisdom which accords with
+His holy word and the commands of His Prophet, Mohammed. We obey these
+as given in the sacred Koran; we believe in all that the Prophet taught
+touching creation and the last day, rewards, punishments, the judgment
+and the resurrection. To believe thus is needful for salvation, and no
+man may give an opinion on God’s commands, or alter one letter in them.
+These are the rules on which rests our religion, and if they please not
+the Sultan let him send a theologian to talk with us.”
+
+In 1138 began the rule of Kia Mohammed, a man not only lacking in wit
+and ability but wholly untrained in the art of governing. The power of
+the Order had now reached its height. Its authority and influence were
+apparent in many countries of Asia. There was need of a strong man at
+Alamut. Nearly fifty years had passed since Hassan Ben Sabah began his
+career of murder; years during which all the teachings of Islam were
+observed with the greatest strictness by the common people who believed
+in their rulers and yielded ready obedience. But Kai Mohammed did not
+win the confidence of his subjects; they greatly disliked him. Hassan,
+his son, was a man of unlimited ambition, and early in life gained the
+love of the people and the reputation of having keen insight and much
+learning, a reputation which he used for the attainment of his own
+objects and not for the advancement of the Order. He knew and did not
+contradict the report which his partisans spread very carefully that he
+was the Imam whom Hassan Ben Sabah had promised. But the Prior of
+Alamut heard of his son’s action; of the opinions of the people and the
+report that Hassan was the long looked for Imam, and he declared his
+displeasure at once. “Hassan is my son,” said he. “I am not the Imam
+but one of his precursors; whoever thinks differently is an infidel!”
+and he ordered the immediate execution of two hundred and fifty of
+Hassan’s associates and partisans; others were banished. Hassan through
+fear for his own safety wrote against his adherents and supported his
+father. He avoided punishment thus by removing suspicion. Since he
+drank wine in secret, however, and practised many things which were
+forbidden, his adherents thought him surely the promised Imam whose
+coming was to end prohibition of all kinds.
+
+
+
+But now appear the men destined to destroy the Fatimid dynasty of
+Egypt,—Nur ed din Mahmud Ben Amed Es Zenky, son of Zenky, son of Ak
+Sunkur, and Saladin, son of Eyub the friend of Zenky. Ak Sunkur, a
+slave whom Melik Shah made his court chamberlain and later the governor
+of the Province of Aleppo, died in 1094 leaving a son, Zenky, ten years
+of age. Not long after his father’s death Zenky was summoned to the
+court of Kur Buga then Prince of Mosul. He soon became a favorite and
+companion of the prince and accompanied him on his campaigns. In 1122
+the prince gave him Wasit and Basra in fief. When in March of the
+following year the Arabs, led by Dubeg a renowned Emir of the Asad
+tribe, marched against Bagdad, Mostershed the Kalif crossed the river
+with his army and was received on the bank by his vassals the Prince of
+Mosul, Zenky of Basra, and others. The combined armies then attacked
+Hilla the enemy’s stronghold, and though Dubeg’s army was much larger
+than that of the Kalif’s the Arabs were defeated owing chiefly to the
+skilful movements of Zenky. Somewhat later Zenky went to Hamadan to the
+court of the Seljuk Sultan, Mahmud, and soon married the widow of
+Kundughly, the richest noble of the court. In 1124 he returned to Basra
+and Wasit where he ruled with great severity. In a battle between the
+Sultan and the Kalif, Zenky took the part of the Sultan and sent him
+reinforcements, thus obliging the Kalif to make peace. When after this
+victory the Sultan took up his abode in Bagdad Zenky received a high
+office. In 1127 he was made governor of Mosul and Jezira and took upon
+himself the task of defending the country against the Crusaders. Not
+long after this he became master of Aleppo. In 1131 the Seljuk Sultan
+died and there was a bitter conflict over the succession. Zenky now
+determined to get possession of Damascus but his attempt, made four
+years after the death of the Sultan, brought him no success. In 1144 he
+besieged and captured Edessa held at that time by the Crusaders. Two
+years after this great victory he died by the hand of one of his own
+attendants, leaving a son, Nur ed din, to finish his work by becoming
+master of Damascus.
+
+In 1132 when fleeing from Karaja by whom he had been defeated in
+battle, Zenky was saved by Eyub commandant of the castle of Tenkrit on
+the bank of the Tigris. This service was never forgotten. In 1138 on a
+night when Eyub, who had been driven from the castle of Tenkrit, was
+seeking an asylum with Zenky at Mosul a son was born to him. This son
+he named Yessuf Salal ed din (Saladin). A year later Zenky took
+possession of Baalbek and Eyub was made governor there. Saladin was
+nine years old when Zenky was murdered. Zenky’s possessions were shared
+by his two sons, Seif ud din who received Mosul, and Nur ed din who
+ruled the Syrian province.
+
+Nur ed din was a wise and just ruler, as well as a brave and fearless
+warrior, and a resolute defender of Islam. Being master of Mosul and
+Aleppo he was also master of North Syria, but in the south he lacked
+power through not having Damascus. Mejr ed din Abak the last of the
+Seljuks of Damascus ruled there, or more correctly, his vizir ruled at
+his commission. After Zenky’s death Damascus sent troops to retake
+Baalbek. Eyub made terms and surrendered the city receiving in return
+ten villages in that region. A few years later he became
+commander-in-chief of the Damascus army, a position which he held when
+Nur ed din marched against Damascus in 1154. Shirkuh, brother of Eyub,
+had meanwhile taken service with Nur ed din. When the Syrian army
+appeared before the city Shirkuh opened negotiations with his brother
+and Eyub surrendered the place to the son of his old friend. Thus
+Damascus abandoned its hereditary sovereign and Mejr ed din withdrew
+from the city. He received in exchange Emesa, then Balis, and went
+finally to Bagdad.
+
+An earthquake had nearly ruined Damascus, but Nur ed din restored the
+city and made it his capital. During his reign of twenty-eight years he
+captured fifty castles or more and established mosques and schools in
+every city of his dominion. Policy as well as religion caused Nur ed
+din to favor the Abbasid line instead of the Fatimids of Cairo. The
+time seemed to him ripe then to end Cairo helplessness, a genuine
+helplessness since civil war raged there between Dargham a commander
+and Shawer the vizir who under the Kalif were struggling for mastery.
+
+Early in 1163, the year following that in which Nur ed din had
+conquered Haram and taken possession of many Syrian fortresses, Shawer
+who had been driven from Cairo came to Damascus and promised not only
+to pay the cost of an invasion but afterward to yield up one third of
+the income of Egypt if Nur ed din would give him certain aid against
+Dargham. Nur ed din was not opposed to obtaining a foothold in the
+country, still he withheld assistance till April of the following year,
+when he sent his able and ambitious governor of Emesa, Essed ed din
+Shirkuh, with an army into Egypt. Dargham was slain and Shawer was
+restored to his former position. Freed from his enemy and safe, as he
+thought, he refused to fulfil the conditions he had made. Shirkuh
+enraged by his treachery seized the eastern province, Sherkiya, and the
+chief town, Belbeis.
+
+Shawer, who was an artful unprincipled man, false to his friends, to
+his warriors and to his own interests, then called in Amalric, Count of
+Askalon and king of Jerusalem, to act with the Crusaders against
+Shirkuh. The friend of the Egyptian vizir was now his foe, and the
+Crusaders had become the ally of their erstwhile enemy. Between Amalric
+and Nur ed din there was keen rivalry, for neither man would permit the
+other to become master in Egypt.
+
+Shirkuh fortified Belbeis and for three months resisted all attacks
+from his opponent. Nur ed din now made an expedition to Palestine and
+Amalric had need to hasten home to protect his own kingdom. An
+armistice was arranged and both armies left Egypt.
+
+But in 1167 Amalric again advanced at the head of a large army. Rumors
+of this advance having reached Nur ed din he at once sent Shirkuh to
+Egypt with a force of two thousand horsemen. He had barely crossed the
+Nile when Amalric appeared on the opposite bank. Shirkuh halted at
+Giza, and Amalric took up his position at Fustat. Shawer allied himself
+with Amalric, who dictated his own terms and insisted that the Kalif
+should ratify the treaty.
+
+Shirkuh, alarmed by the strength of the combined armies, retreated to
+Upper Egypt. Pursued by his opponent, he turned and gave battle, April
+18, 1167, at a place a few miles south of Minya. The Egyptians were
+defeated, but Shirkuh, not having troops sufficient for a march on
+Cairo, withdrew to Alexandria, where he left Saladin in command with
+one-half of the army, and moved toward the South to collect
+contributions. Alexandria was soon besieged and blockaded. Provisions
+were lacking in the city and there was talk of surrender when news came
+that Shirkuh was advancing rapidly to their relief. He halted before
+Cairo and invested that city. Amalric then raised the siege of
+Alexandria and a peace was made by which Shirkuh and the king promised
+to withdraw their troops from Egypt. It is stated that Shirkuh received
+fifty thousand ducats, and the king twice that amount from the revenues
+of Egypt. There remained at Cairo, moreover, a general of Crusaders
+with a large number of men as a guard against Nur ed din.
+
+But peace was of short duration; the advantage which came to the King
+of Jerusalem by the terms of the treaty induced him to violate his
+promise in the hope of eventually getting control of the country.
+Incited by the Hospitalers, whose chief wished to keep his Order in
+Belbeis which he had charged with a debt of more than one hundred
+thousand ducats, Amalric advanced early in the winter of 1168 but this
+time he entered Egypt as an enemy.
+
+He arrived at Belbeis in November, captured that city and slaughtered
+its inhabitants. He then besieged Cairo. A wall at which women and
+children were toiling both by day and by night had been raised around
+the city. November 12th Fustat the most ancient part, called usually
+Old Cairo, was by command of Shawer set on fire to hamper the enemy,
+and it continued to burn for fifty-four days and nights. Adhad, the
+Kalif, despatched courier after courier with letters to Syria imploring
+Nur ed din to help him, and to picture the greatness of his need he
+inclosed locks of hair from the heads of his wives, as if saying: “The
+enemy are dragging our women by the hair. Come and rescue!”
+
+Nur ed din was in Aleppo and Shirkuh at Emesa. Nur ed din, however, at
+no time indifferent to the importance of gaining influence and power,
+gave two hundred thousand gold ducats to Shirkuh and sent him to Egypt
+immediately (December, 1168). Six thousand chosen Syrians marched with
+him and two thousand picked Turkman warriors from Damascus. Saladin,
+urged by his uncle, accompanied the expedition.
+
+Meanwhile Shawer and Amalric were negotiating—the former to liberate,
+the latter to win Cairo. Shawer promised a million of ducats in the
+name of the Kalif, and the King of Jerusalem was glad to receive fifty
+thousand in ready money. The Crusaders withdrew when the Syrians under
+Shirkuh appeared before Cairo in January, 1169. The Kalif went to the
+camp on a visit immediately, and complained very bitterly of Shawer who
+had brought the Crusaders into Egypt, burned Fustat, and ruined the
+country. He begged Shirkuh to obtain for him the head of the vizir, he
+himself being unable to get it.
+
+Shawer felt now his own danger, and, while feigning friendship for the
+Syrians, resolved to destroy, under cover of a banquet, both Shirkuh,
+and Saladin, his nephew, with the princes of their suite. The plot
+became known in good season, however, and when Shawer was approaching
+on a visit to Shirkuh, he was seized and killed, and his head was sent
+to the Kalif.
+
+Shirkuh took Shawer’s place as vizir and the Kalif gave him the title
+of Al Melik Al Mansur (The Victorious King).
+
+Shirkuh died two months later, March 26, and his nephew Yussuf Salah ed
+din, now thirty-one years of age, was invested with the same dignities
+of office and received the same title.
+
+Saladin was now the vizir of the Kalif, and Nur ed din’s commander,
+thus his position was peculiar; he was the vizir of a Shiite Kalif and
+the commander of a Sunnite king. He therefore caused the name of Nur ed
+din to be mentioned in public prayers every Friday after that of the
+Kalif,
+
+Nur ed din thought that the time had come to abolish the Fatimid Kalif
+at, but Saladin delayed since the people clung to Adhad, the last
+representative of the dynasty. Adhad fell ill, however, and died
+opportunely. Saladin transferred the prerogative of prayer then from
+the Fatimid line to that of the Abbasid September 10, 1171. In this way
+Saladin delivered the blow which destroyed the main branch of the
+Western Ismailites. The Abbasid Kalif at now prevailed over that of the
+family of Ali for which the Ismailites had taught and conspired and in
+whose name they had deceived the people for nearly three centuries.
+
+This was an event of vast importance in the history of the East, as
+well as in that of the Assassin Order before whom Saladin, now a famous
+warrior and an ardent champion of the Abbasids, stood forth as a
+powerful and dangerous enemy.
+
+Eight years before the fall of the Fatimid dynasty Mohammed the Grand
+Prior of the Assassins died, and Hassan II assumed power. As we have
+seen, Hassan began his career during his father’s life, by winning
+partisans and spreading the belief that he was the promised Imam. In
+his youth he had spent many years in acquiring a thorough knowledge of
+philosophy and history, and in receiving instruction regarding the
+mysteries of the Order. Unprincipled and profligate he now determined
+not only to indulge without limit in every vice but to favor a like
+indulgence in others. To cast aside all concealment and give the
+secrets of the Ismailians to the world. To announce the same license to
+the leaders of the Order and favor impunity of vice not merely by
+example but by preaching from the pulpit that crime is permissible and
+innocent. In Ramadan of the 559th year of the Hegira—1163—the
+inhabitants of Rudbar were assembled at Alamut by his command. A pulpit
+was placed at the foot of the castle and looking toward Mecca to which
+all professors of Islam turn when praying.
+
+Hassan ascended the pulpit and made known to his hearers the maxims of
+a renewed and strengthened religion. He announced to them that they
+were freed from all obligations of the law, for they had come to an era
+in which they were to know God by intuition; they were released from
+the burden of every command and brought to the day of Resurrection,
+that is to the manifestation of the Imam before whom they were now
+standing. They were no longer to pray five times each day, or observe
+other rites of religion. Then, after he had explained that an
+allegorical sense should be given to the dogmas of Resurrection, Hell,
+and Paradise, he descended from the pulpit and the people held a great
+banquet, yielding themselves to pleasures of all kinds, to dancing, to
+music, to wine and to sport in celebration of the day of Resurrection,
+the day when the Imam was made manifest.
+
+From that hour when all things were lawful according to Hassan the name
+Molahids, or the Lost Ones, which previously had been given to the
+Karmathites and other great criminal disturbers, was given not only to
+the disciples of Hassan but to all the Ismailians. Through their Grand
+Prior the Order after concealing its true doctrine from mankind for
+years had revealed it on a sudden and exposed to the world a society
+founded on atheism, assassination and immorality. Thenceforth the Order
+was doomed to rapid internal destruction.
+
+The Ismailians had adopted the view that the universe had never begun
+and would never end. The end in their eyes meant merely a phase, the
+close of an epoch in existence which would be followed by another whose
+length would depend upon the movements and position of the heavenly
+bodies. By Resurrection was meant the presence of men before God at the
+close of an epoch, and when that term came every practice of religion
+was included, since man’s one concern is the estimate of his actions.
+
+The 17th Ramadan was celebrated with banquets and games, not only as
+the feast of the manifestation, but as the true date of publishing
+their doctrine. As the followers of Islam reckon their time from the
+flight of the Prophet, so did the Molahids from the manifestation of
+the Imam, the 17th of Ramadan in the 559th year of Hegira. As
+Mohammed’s name was never mentioned without adding “The Blessed,” so
+after that day the words “Blessed be his memory” were added to Hassan’s
+name. The Grand Priors had called themselves simply missionaries or
+precursors of the Imam, but Hassan insisted that he was the Imam; in
+him lay all power to remove the restrictions of the law. By this claim
+he appeared before the people as a lawgiver. In this spirit he wrote to
+the different princes. His letter concerning Reis Mossafer, the Grand
+Prior of Kuhistan, a namesake of whom had been Grand Prior in Irak
+under Hassan Ben Sabah, was as follows:
+
+“I, Hassan, declare to you that on earth I am God’s vice-gerent. Reis
+Mossafer is my vice-gerent in Kuhistan. The men of that province will
+obey him; they must listen to his words as to mine.”
+
+Reis had a pulpit erected in the Mumin Abad castle, his residence. From
+the pulpit he read this epistle to the people, most of whom listened to
+it with pleasure. There was a great festival with music and sports;
+they fell to dancing, they drank wine at the foot of the pulpit, and in
+every way possible made known their joy at liberation from the bonds of
+the law. A few who remained faithful to Islam withdrew from the Order;
+others who did not believe but could not decide to take this step
+remained and shared the reputation of the “Lost Ones.”
+
+Profligacy, atheism, infidelity and freedom from all restraint now
+ruled supreme, and Hassan’s name was heard from every pulpit of the
+Order as that of the real successor of the Prophet, the long waited for
+Imam.
+
+But it was much easier for Hassan to make himself a teacher of atheism
+and immorality than to assume the character of Imam.
+
+To convince the people that he was the Imam Hassan was driven to prove
+himself descended from the Fatimid Kalifs. He was declared to be a son
+of Nesar and a grandson of the Kalif Mostansir during whose reign
+Hassan Ben Sabah had been in Cairo, and in the political disputes of
+the day had taken the side of Mostansir’s elder son Nesar. For this he
+had been ordered by Bedr Jimali, the commander-in-chief, to leave
+Egypt. A certain Abul Hassan Seid, a favorite of the Kalif, had come to
+Alamut a year after the death of Mostansir, and had brought with him a
+son of Nesar whom he confided to Hassan Ben Sabah. Hassan treated the
+envoy with great respect and gave the young man, also called Nesar, a
+village near the castle as a residence. Nesar married and had a son to
+whom the name “Blessed be his Memory” was given. When Nesar’s wife was
+delivered of her child the wife of Mohammed, the Grand Prior of Alamut,
+also had a child. A nurse carried “Blessed be his Memory” into the
+castle and substituted him for the son of Mohammed.
+
+This tale instead of satisfying the people was received with ridicule
+and declared to be untrue. Then as, according to new Ismailite
+teaching, all was indifferent and nothing forbidden, the builders of
+Hassan’s genealogy found it best to maintain that Nesar had met
+Mohammed’s wife in secret, the result being Hassan, the Grand Prior,
+Imam, and Kalif, “Blessed be his Memory.”
+
+Ismailites who in this way tried to prove that Hassan was a descendant
+of Nesar were called by their opponents “the Nesari,” a title which
+involved extreme obloquy.
+
+Crime and immorality now reigned wherever the Order had power or
+influence. Men who had hitherto been Assassins through obedience to
+those in power and in the belief that they were fulfilling a religious
+duty by removing persons who were harmful to Islam, now murdered people
+wantonly.
+
+Hassan II died in the fourth year of his reign by the dagger of his
+brother-in-law at the castle of Lamsir.
+
+Disorders caused through the revelation by Hassan were not stopped by
+his murder. Crimes of every kind increased greatly during the reign of
+his son and successor, Mohammed II, whose first act was to avenge the
+murder of his father. Nanver, the late Prior’s brother-in-law and
+assassin, died by the axe of the executioner, and with him died all his
+kindred, male and female.
+
+Mohammed II preached and taught with even more insistence than had
+Hassan, his father, the doctrine of license, crime, and vice, and like
+him claimed to be the Imam. Deeply read in philosophy he thought
+himself unequalled in this and other forms of knowledge. He was a man
+devoted to evil, and though he reigned for forty-six years there is but
+little information to be obtained regarding the Order during that
+period.
+
+In the eyes of the Orthodox the Assassins were a band of vile heretics,
+an assemblage of outcasts; but that Order was still defiant and mighty.
+Fakhr ul Islam of Ruyan was the first doctor of the law to pronounce it
+impious. This he did in Kazvin by a fetva. On his return from Kazvin to
+Ruyan he fell by an Assassin. A doctor of greater reputation was
+treated more tenderly: Fakhr ud din Rasi, a professor of theology at
+Rayi, never failed in his lectures to refute all their doctrines,
+adding as he did so: “May God curse and destroy them.” The Ismailian
+Prior sent an agent to Rayi. This man appeared as a student, heard
+lectures and bided his time. At last, finding that Fakhr ud din was
+alone in his cabinet, he walked in, shut the door, placed the point of
+a dagger at the breast of his master and waited. “What is this?” cried
+the latter in terror. “Why do you curse the Ismailians and their
+doctrines unceasingly?” asked the Assassin. “I will speak of them no
+more,” said the teacher, “I swear this to you most solemnly.” “Will you
+keep this oath?” After strong assurance the agent was satisfied, drew
+back his dagger, and continued: “I had no command to kill you; if I had
+nothing could have turned me from duty. My master salutes you and says
+that he cares not for common men’s words, but he regards your
+discourses, since they will live in the memory of people. He invites
+you to visit him at Alamut, for he wishes to prove his high esteem to
+you in person.”
+
+Fakhr ud din would not go, but promised silence. The agent then put
+down a purse of three hundred miskals, and said: “You will receive
+every year a purse such as this. I have brought you two tunics of Yeman
+besides; they are now in my lodgings.” That said the man disappeared.
+Some time after this a disciple of the teacher asked why he did not
+curse the Ismailians. “How can I curse them?” replied Fakhr ud din,
+“their arguments are so trenchant.”
+
+In Arslan Kushad, the Ismailians surprised in the night a castle two
+leagues from Kazvin on the top of a high mountain. The people of that
+place were in despair at having such neighbors, and implored various
+princes to free them but in vain, till a certain Sheikh, Ali, persuaded
+the Kwaresmian Sultan, Tagash, to assist him. The Sultan laid siege to
+the castle, took it, allowed the Ismailians to withdraw, and placed a
+small garrison on the mountain. Barely had the investing troops gone
+when the Ismailians reëntered the stronghold at night through an
+underground passage known to them only and slew the whole garrison. The
+Sheikh Ali implored Tagash again and he came now in person. The people
+of Kazvin joined his forces and after a siege of two months the
+Ismailians yielded the castle on condition that they should be allowed
+to retire unmolested. They promised to leave in two divisions. If the
+first passed in safety the second would follow, if not it would keep up
+the struggle. The first party descended, rendered homage to the Sultan
+and vanished. The besiegers waited for the second division, waited long
+and discovered at last that the garrison had gone in one party. The
+castle was then razed at command of the Sultan. But the Ismailians took
+vengeance on Sheikh Ali. While returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca he
+was slain by one of their Assassins in a mosque at Damascus.
+
+Syria and Egypt at this time demand attention since it was there that
+the enemies of Saladin were acting.
+
+In Cairo was the Sultan’s great palace where for two hundred years the
+Fatimids had been collecting the wealth not only of Egypt, but of Syria
+and Arabia. When after the death of the Sultan, Saladin took possession
+of this palace, he found there jewels of a value beyond estimate. There
+were magnificent pearls; an emerald “a span long and as thick as a
+finger,” there was furniture of ebony and ivory, there were coffers
+inlaid with gold and ornamented with precious stones. There was wealth
+of every kind. There was also a splendid library containing, as some
+historians state, 2,600,000 volumes, others mention a much smaller
+number but it was, in any case, at that time the largest library in
+Europe.
+
+Some of those treasures Saladin gave to the officers of his army, some
+he sent to Nur ed din and others were disposed of to obtain sums needed
+for campaigns against the Crusaders and for erecting fortifications,
+mosques and schools.
+
+Though there was a strong party in Cairo hostile to Saladin, a party
+composed of officers in the Egyptian army, palace dependents and even
+some of the Syrian officers who were embittered by the rapid advance of
+so young a man, still his adherents were increasing. Nur ed din saw
+with alarm the influence and power of his lieutenant but he knew well
+that embroiled with the Crusaders and the Sultan of Rūm he could not
+recall the master of Cairo. Hence though alert and watchful he remained
+in apparent friendship, and Saladin was prudent enough to render him
+homage as ruler of Syria and Egypt. Meanwhile to secure his own
+position he gathered his family around him, made his brothers, his
+nephews, and his relatives commanders in the army; and strengthened the
+fortifications of Cairo.
+
+In June, 1173, by the Atabeg’s command he laid siege to Karak, but
+scarcely were his troops in position when news came that Nur ed din was
+approaching with his Syrian army. Saladin withdrew hastily and returned
+to Cairo, giving his father’s illness as a reason for the withdrawal.
+In 1174 he sent his elder brother, Turan Shah, with an army against
+Yemen, a place which he thought would be convenient for defence in case
+he were attacked by the Atabeg of Syria.
+
+Abdennebi, a follower of the impious Karmath, was master of that region
+and had done much to oppress and demoralize his people. Turan Shah soon
+conquered the Yemens and for more than fifty years the province
+remained in the possession of the Abbasids.
+
+Nur ed din died May 6, 1174, and was succeeded by his son Salih, a boy
+eleven years of age. The young prince, incapable of governing, was
+under control of guardians among whom was the eunuch Gumushtegin, a man
+greatly disliked by the Syrians of Aleppo. Master of Egypt and with a
+large army at his command Saladin could have seized power had he so
+wished, but he remained true to the interests of Salih and at once
+ordered that the name “es Salih, son of Nur ed din” should be mentioned
+in the Friday prayers and engraved on the money.
+
+But trouble began immediately. The Prince of Mosul seizing the
+opportunity threw off allegiance, and annexed Edessa. The Crusaders
+ever anxious to get possession of Damascus threatened the city and
+withdrew only when the governor, Ibn al Mokadden, gave them a large sum
+of money. In August Gumushtegin took Salih to Aleppo where the
+commander of the army assumed the guardianship of the young prince. The
+people of Damascus alarmed by the proximity of the Crusaders, and in
+dread of an attack from Aleppo, now begged aid of the Prince of Mosul.
+When he refused they turned to Saladin, who moved by quick marches
+across the desert and entered the city on the 27th of November. Making
+his brother Governor of Damascus he set out for Aleppo.
+
+Upon his arrival at that place he sent to assure the prince that he was
+in Syria to defend cities threatened by Crusaders and by Seif ed din of
+Mosul. When the governor and Gumushtegin closed the gates and refused
+him entrance Saladin laid siege to the city, declaring that he did so
+to rescue his sovereign.
+
+The eunuch now had recourse to the Assassins. Rashid ed din Sinan, the
+Grand Prior in Syria lived in those days at Massiat, the strongest of
+the fortresses belonging to the Ismailians of that country.
+
+He was the most politic and learned as well as one of the worst of the
+rulers of the Assassin Kingdom and was at this moment all-powerful in
+the mountains of North Syria. Saladin as a strong champion of the
+Abbasid Kalifs and a man who seemed likely to become sovereign was the
+natural enemy of the Order, hence Sinan was willing to assist
+Gumushtegin especially as his request that Saladin should die at the
+earliest was accompanied by a large sum of money. Three Assassins were
+sent at once who although they reached Saladin’s tent and even his
+presence failed of their purpose and were cut down by his attendants.
+
+At this critical moment the Christians made an attack upon Emesa where
+a part of the Egyptian troops were stationed. Saladin was obliged to
+raise the siege of Aleppo and march to Emesa where he soon had
+possession both of the town and the citadel. A few days later he
+occupied Baalbek.
+
+The Prince of Mosul and his brother alarmed by the success of Saladin
+now joined their forces to those of Aleppo and advanced against him.
+The armies met April 13, 1175, near Hamath. The troops of Aleppo and
+Monsul were routed most thoroughly and pursued even to the gates of
+Aleppo.
+
+Saladin, now the greatest power in Egypt and Syria, waited no longer;
+he at once proclaimed himself King and named the dynasty which he
+founded “The Eyubite dynasty” in honor of his father. Twelve months
+later the Prince of Mosul, who had brought together a numerous army,
+met Saladin near Aleppo where a fierce battle was fought April 22,
+1176. Seif ed din was defeated and lost his camp and his army.
+
+Very soon after this victory Saladin took three important fortresses:
+Bosaa, Manbidj, and Azaz, the latter only after a siege lasting nearly
+a month. During this siege the king was again attacked by Assassins;
+the first struck at his head with a knife but Saladin seized the man’s
+hand and an attendant rushed forward and killed him. A second and even
+a third murderer sprang forth but met with no better success.
+
+Saladin, greatly alarmed by these repeated attacks, determined to
+destroy the Assassins, or at least drive them out of Syria. In 1177,
+after peace was established with Mosul and Aleppo, he advanced with a
+large force and blockaded Massiat which was built on an almost
+inaccessible peak commanding a deep ravine. Moslem historians assure us
+that he would have captured this all-important fortress and thus ended
+the Order in Syria had not his uncle, Shihab ed din, Lord of Hamath,
+begged him to make peace on the assurance of Sinan that the king would
+thereafter be protected from Assassins. Other historians assert that he
+was terrified by the threats of Sinan and relate how on a night Saladin
+awoke and found by his bed some hot scones of a size and shape peculiar
+to the Assassins. Near them, pinned down by a dagger, was a paper
+containing a threat and a warning. Whatever the cause may have been
+Saladin withdrew to Damascus without capturing the Assassin stronghold.
+Then leaving Turan Shah in command of Syria he returned to Cairo after
+an absence of two years.
+
+Thereafter Saladin campaigned both in Egypt and Syria, took possession
+of the principal cities held by the Crusaders, and won the Holy Land
+for Mohammedans, but was never again attacked by Assassins.
+
+
+
+Mohammed II died at Alamut in 1213 from poison, as is stated, leaving a
+son, Jelal ud din Hassan, who was twenty-five years of age at that
+time. From boyhood he had been opposed to the practices of the
+Assassins. As years passed this opposition became so intense that
+father and son feared each other and when Mohammed died suddenly
+suspicion rested on Jelal. As soon as the new Grand Prior assumed
+command he announced his return to the true tenets of Islam, and gave
+notice to the Kalif at Bagdad, the Kwaresmian Shah and the Governor of
+Irak of this change in the teachings at Alamut, undertaking at the same
+time to bring all Ismailians to follow his example. Belief seems to
+have been given to these assurances, for when his wife and mother went
+on a pilgrimage to Mecca they were received with distinction at Bagdad
+and the party of pilgrims who marched under the banner of the Alamut
+ruler preceded all others. He lived only twelve years after coming to
+the throne but during those years he built mosques, established schools
+and called in learned men to teach his people the true faith. Some
+historians consider Jelal ud din a shrewd politician rather than a
+reformer and assert that he remained an apostle of atheism. Be this as
+it may he did for a short time suppress assassination but it reinstated
+itself quickly when poison removed him and his son, Alai ed din
+Mohammed, a boy nine years of age, reached the throne. During Alai ed
+din’s reign women of the harem ruled at Alamut. Every law established
+by Jelal ud din, his father, was abolished and atheism and the dagger
+held sway as in the days of Hassan Ben Sabah. When nearing manhood Alai
+ed din showed symptoms of mental disorder but no man had the courage to
+say that the chief was in need of assistance. Had a physician dared to
+tell the truth on that subject he would have been torn limb from limb
+by the rabble at Alamut. As his illness increased his conduct became
+almost beyond sufferance, though his associates declared that what he
+said and did was divine in its origin. When Alai ed din was eighteen
+years of age a son was born to him. This son he named Rokn ud din
+Kurshah and made him his successor.
+
+From childhood the Ismailians looked upon Rokn ud din as their future
+Grand Prior and showed him honor equal to that given his father. This
+roused anger in Alai ed din and he resolved to depose his son and
+appoint another successor. When his advisors declared that the
+nomination was final he was enraged and from that time on annoyed and
+tormented his son, till at last Rokn ud din disclosed his whole mind to
+those courtiers who were as much dissatisfied with his father as he
+was. He declared that Alai ed din was ruining the Commonwealth, and
+that Mongol arms would destroy it because of his conduct. “I will
+withdraw from my father,” said he, “send envoys to the Grand Khan and
+make terms with him.”
+
+The greater number of the chief men agreed with Rokn ud din and
+promised to defend him to the utmost, but in case of attack by his
+father the person of the chief, as they said, must be sacred. A short
+time after this pact and agreement, Alai ed din when drunk fell asleep
+in a thatched wooden building near one of his sheep pens, a place which
+he visited whenever he indulged in his favorite amusement of acting as
+shepherd. He was found dead in that house about midnight, his head cut
+from the body. A Turkman and a native of India were found wounded near
+him.
+
+At the end of eight days, after many had been tortured on suspicion,
+they discovered the murderer. He was a certain Hassan of Masanderan,
+the late chief’s nearest intimate, his inseparable companion, a man
+whom he loved till his death though tormenting him in every way
+possible.
+
+Rokn ud din instead of bringing this Hassan to trial had him slain
+quickly, an act which confirmed the suspicions which rested on the
+youthful chief, who gave an additional example of savagery by burning
+with the body of Hassan two sons and one daughter of the Assassin. Of
+course they were innocent, though not only is it possible but probable,
+that they possessed knowledge which Rokn ud din would suppress at all
+hazards. Thus Alai ed din was murdered by an Assassin hired by his own
+son.
+
+The first act of this new ruler was to order his subjects to observe
+every practice of Islam, and next he took measures to suppress robbery
+and murder. But only one year had passed when the Mongol tempest came.
+Though Rokn ud din and the Ismailians could not foresee it the doom of
+Alamut and all who belonged to it had been settled. The Grand Khan had
+instructed Hulagu to destroy them, and the master of Persia was
+advancing to the execution.
+
+Rokn ud din sent an officer to Yassaur, at Hamadan to assure him of his
+submission to the Mongol Empire. This general advised him to visit
+Prince Hulagu, who had just come to Persia. Rokn ud din, alarmed for
+his own safety, answered that he would send his brother, Shahinshah, in
+advance. Yassaur consented to this and charged his own son to go with
+Shahinshah. But meanwhile he entered the Alamut region with an army
+corps of Persians and Turks, and attacked that great fortress June,
+1256. After a sharp struggle his men were forced back, and out of
+revenge he destroyed all the harvest, and ravaged the country.
+
+Hulagu had commissioned Guga Ilga and Kita Buga to finish the conquest
+of Kuhistan which the latter had begun two years earlier. He had made
+rather slow progress alone, but aided by Guga Ilga he captured Tun and
+slew all the people, excepting young women and children. This done both
+commanders joined Hulagu.
+
+After Hulagu had received Shahinshah at headquarters he sent Rokn ud
+din this message: “Since thou hast sent thy brother with expressions of
+submission we will forgive the crimes committed by thy father. Raze thy
+castles and come to our camp. No harm will be done to the country.”
+
+When Rokn ud din had demolished several castles and dismounted the
+Alamut gates with those of Meimundiz and Lemsher, Yassaur left
+Ismailian territory. But Rokn ud din, while giving assurances of
+obedience, and receiving a Mongol governor, asked the term of one year
+in which to do homage to Hulagu.
+
+Hulagu sent envoys a second time to induce the Alamut ruler, through
+promises and threats, to visit him. When these envoys were returning
+Rokn ud din sent with them a cousin of his father, and his own vizir
+Shems ud din Kileki, who were to present his excuses and obtain the
+delay which he asked for. He begged also to retain the three castles,
+Alamut, Lemsher and Lal, engaging in this case to surrender all others.
+He hoped by this yielding to win the delay which he needed. He was
+merely waiting for winter, which would stop every action in that entire
+mountain region.
+
+The only answer given by Hulagu, who had just captured the castle of
+Shahdiz, was a summons to his camp pitched at that time near Demavend.
+He added that if Rokn ud din needed a few days to bring his affairs
+into order he might have them, but he must send his son straightway.
+
+Rokn ud din, in great dread on receiving this message, replied that he
+was sending his son, and also a contingent of three hundred warriors.
+He declared that he would demolish castles if the land were not
+invaded. But instead of his son he sent his half brother, a boy of
+seven years, the son of his father and a Kurdistan woman. Hulagu saw
+the trick, but dissembled, was kind to the boy and sent him back saying
+that the child was too young. He required of Rokn ud din now his second
+brother, Shahinshah. The Alamut chief sent this brother, hoping that
+his own presence would not be demanded. Later on winter would come, as
+he thought, and confine him to his castle; it would also ward off every
+enemy.
+
+At this juncture Hulagu sent Shaninshah to Rokn ud din with the
+following message: “Thou must destroy Meimundiz, and come quickly. If
+thou come thou wilt find here good treatment, if not God knows and He
+alone what will happen.”
+
+Rokn ud din repeated his worn out excuses. Hulagu would not receive
+them, and commanded his troops to march into Rudbar from various points
+simultaneously. The right wing moved from Mazanderan, the left by the
+Khar route and over Lemnan, while the center went by the Talekan
+highway. By order of Hulagu, who advanced with the center, the three
+hundred men sent by Rokn ud din were cut down near Kazvin, slain in
+secret. Reaching Meimundiz he made a tour of the fortress and summoned
+a council. Five days were given Rokn ud din for surrender. If he
+yielded in that time no harm would be done him or his subjects, but
+after that term an assault would be ordered.
+
+It was answered that Rokn ud din was then absent, that without his
+command no man could surrender. The Mongols prepared for immediate
+action. Trees were cut down and shaped into beams of right size, borne
+by men to the neighboring summits and made into catapults. Hulagu fixed
+his tent on the highest position. On the morrow the conflict had
+already begun when Rokn ud din sent a message declaring that since he
+knew now where the prince was he asked that all action be suspended,
+and on that day, or the morrow, he would visit headquarters. Next day
+he desired to surrender in writing. The vizir Ata ul Mulk Juveini was
+deputed to frame the surrender. The paper was sent to Rokn ud din and
+he promised to yield up the stronghold, but when his brother was
+leaving the fortress such a tumult arose that he was stopped, and every
+man threatened with death who declared for surrender.
+
+Rokn ud din informed Hulagu of this trouble, and the peril in which he
+then found himself. In answer Hulagu begged him not to expose his life
+needlessly. Meanwhile the catapults were mounted and the following
+morning an attack was begun from all points. The combat lasted till
+evening and was strenuous on both sides. At a season when tempests and
+snow had till that year made all mountain places impassable the weather
+was favorable for siege work and a new attack. The fourth day was
+opening when Rokn ud din thought it best to abandon the fortress. He
+sent his chief men with his son to the camp of the Mongols, and went
+himself the next morning to fall prostrate in presence of Hulagu. With
+him went his minister, the famous astronomer, Nassir ud din, and two
+great physicians, who had always advised a surrender.
+
+Next day the Mongols marched into Meimundiz. Hulagu treated Rokn ud din
+kindly, but Mongol officers watched him and he was forced to direct
+Ismailian commandants to surrender their fortresses. He himself had to
+go with Hulagu’s agents to effect every transfer. More than forty
+strong castles surrendered; all were destroyed when their garrisons had
+withdrawn. Alamut and Lemsher were the last strongholds left standing
+and their commandants declared that they would yield only when Hulagu
+came in person, and Rokn ud din ordered the transfer.
+
+Hulagu set out for Alamut and halted nine days at Sheherek, the ancient
+residence of the Dilem rulers, where he celebrated the happy end of his
+enterprise. After that he appeared before Alamut and sent Rokn ud din
+to summon his people to surrender. The commandant refused. Hulagu sent
+now a large corps of men to lay siege to the fortress. At this the
+garrison offered to yield, and sent deputations repeatedly to Rokn ud
+din to intercede in their favor, and save them.
+
+Three days were given to remove what belonged to the garrison
+personally. On the fourth day the Mongols and Persians marched in,
+seized what was left and set fire to the buildings. Hulagu, it is said,
+himself visited the fortress and was amazed at the height of the
+mountains around it.
+
+The library of Alamut was renowned in those regions, but the vizir and
+historian, Ata ul Melik Juveini, who asked and obtained Hulagu’s
+permission destroyed every manuscript which related to Ismailian
+opinions and teaching.
+
+The foundations of this famed fortress were laid in 860, and the
+castle, enormously strong through its works and position, was richly
+provisioned. This was the true head and capital of that kingdom of
+murder. Connected with the castle were great apartments cut into the
+rock, for storage of provisions both solid and liquid; of the latter
+there was wine, honey and vinegar. It was said that those stores had
+been put there one hundred and seventy years earlier, in the days of
+Hassan Ben Sabah, and were preserved perfectly owing to the cleanliness
+of the place, and the pure mountain air of that region. The waters of
+the river Bahir, conducted to the foot of the fortress, filled a moat
+which inclosed half the stronghold.
+
+A Mongol officer of Persian and Mongol militia now received the command
+to raze Alamut. Much time and great labor were needed to do this.
+
+Hulagu then went to Lemsher, but as that fortress would not yield he
+left Tair Buga with a strong corps to take it, and returned to
+headquarters where he gave a great feast, eight days in duration.
+
+Rokn ud din followed Hulagu to Hamadan whence he sent officers with
+those of Hulagu to Syria to order the commandants of Ismailian castles
+in that country to surrender to the Mongols. While in Hamadan the late
+master of Alamut became enamored of a Mongol maiden of low origin.
+Hulagu gave the girl to him and he married her. Thus far the fallen
+chief had been useful to the Mongol who had treated him with kindness
+while commanding him to deliver up strongholds which might have stood
+the siege for years had the Ismailians resisted. When he had no further
+use for the man he wished to be rid of him, but he had given such a
+promise of safety that he did not like to break his word openly. Rokn
+ud din saved him from embarrassment by expressing a wish to visit the
+court of Mangu, the Grand Khan. Hulagu beyond doubt suggested this idea
+very deftly through others. He sent the fallen chief with nine
+attendants of his own people under an escort of Mongols (1257).
+
+When Rokn ud din reached the Mongol court Mangu would not see him, and
+said that the authorities in Persia should not have permitted the
+journey, which wearied post horses for nothing. Rokn ud din turned
+homeward, but when near the mountain Tungat, the escort cut him down
+with his attendants. According to Rashid, Mangu had him killed on the
+way to Mongolia, not while returning.
+
+Since the Grand Khan had given orders to exterminate the Ismailians,
+Rokn ud din’s subjects had been distributed among Mongol legions. When
+the Assassin chief had set out on this journey, which was ignominious
+and doleful, command was given Mongol officers to slay the Assassins,
+and spare no man, woman or child; hence all were massacred. Infants at
+the breast were not spared any more than their mothers. Not a child or
+a relative of Rokn ud din was left living.
+
+This last ruler of the Assassins was among the most loathsome of
+characters in history—a pitiless coward who had caused the death of his
+own father, killed the murderer of that father without trial lest he
+tell what he knew of his master’s evil doing, and burned the children
+of the murderer with the corpse of their father lest they too might
+expose him. He gave away power without an effort to save it, and lost
+his own life with indignity.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+DESTRUCTION OF THE KALIFAT
+
+
+Hulagu had destroyed the Assassins: he was now to extinguish the line
+of the Abbasids. In August, 1257, this Mongol master of Persia sent his
+envoys to Bagdad, with a letter to Mostassim, the Kalif then in office,
+who was a grandson of Nassir, that successor of the Prophet who had
+invited Jinghis Khan to destroy Shah Mohammed.
+
+After certain introductions and complaints in the letter, Hulagu warned
+against resistance substantially as follows: “Strike not the point of
+an awl with thy fist, mistake not the sun for the glowing wick of a
+flameless taper. Level the walls of Bagdad at once, fill its moats;
+leave government to thy son, for a season, and come to us or, if thou
+come not, send thy vizir with Suleiman Shah and the chancellor. They
+will take to thee our counsels with precision; thus wilt thou use them
+correctly and we shall not be forced then to anger. If we march against
+Bagdad thou wilt not escape us, even shouldst thou hide in the deepest
+earth, or rise to highest heaven.
+
+“If thou love thy own life and the safety of thy house give ear to
+these counsels; if not the world will behold Heaven’s anger without
+waiting.”
+
+The answer to this letter showed no sign of fear or humility. “Young
+man,” replied the Kalif, “seduced by ten days of favoring fortune thou
+art in thy own eyes High Lord of the universe, and thinkest thy
+commands the decisions of destiny. Thou requirest of me that which will
+never be given.
+
+“Knowest not that from the West to the East all who worship God and
+hold the true faith are my servitors? Had I the wish I could make
+myself master of Iran. With what is left of its people I could go
+beyond Iran and put every man in his real position. But I have no wish
+to rouse war, that scourge of all nations. I desire not that troops
+should at my command wring curses from my subjects, especially as I am
+a friend to the Grand Khan, as well as to Hulagu. If thou sow seeds of
+friendship how canst thou be concerned with the moats and ramparts of
+Bagdad? Walk in the ways of peace and return to Khorassan.”
+
+Three officers carried this answer; they went with Hulagu’s envoys, who
+were met outside Bagdad by an immense mass of people who covered them
+with insults, tore their clothes, spat in their faces, and would have
+slain them all had not guards rushed out and saved the men promptly.
+
+“The Kalif is as crooked as a bow,” said Hulagu on receiving
+Mostassim’s sharp answer, “but I will make him as straight as an arrow.
+Heaven has given the Empire of the earth to Jinghis Khan and his
+descendants. Since your master refuses submission to this power,” added
+he to the envoys at parting, “war is all that remains to him.”
+
+Mostassim in doubt what to do turned to his vizir who advised him to
+send precious gifts to the Mongols. “There is no better use for
+wealth,” said he, “than to spend it in defending the Kalifat.”
+
+The chancellor accused the vizir of high treason, and added: “We hold
+every road touching Bagdad; if gifts are sent out to the enemy we will
+seize them.” The Kalif told the vizir that his fears were unfounded,
+that the Mongols would merely threaten; that should they make bold to
+move on the Abbasids they would rush to their own certain ruin.
+
+Suleiman Shah, the chief general, and others hastened to the vizir and
+stormed against the Kalif, saying: “Given over to buffoons and to
+dancers he has no mind left for warriors or seriousness. If measures be
+not taken immediately we shall see the foe at our gates, and Bagdad
+will suffer the fate of all cities taken by Mongols; neither high nor
+low, rich nor poor will escape death by massacre. We are able to
+collect a large army; we hold all approaches; we may fall on the enemy
+and triumph, or if fortune should fail us we can at least die with
+honor.”
+
+These words were brought to the Kalif and roused him. He charged the
+vizir to make levies, strengthen Suleiman, and guard with all power the
+safety of Bagdad. The vizir made the levies, but made them very slowly.
+The troops were ready only at the end of five months. Even then the
+neglectful Mostassim would not give the coin needed. Mongol spies knew
+what was happening at all points. There was no chance at that day to
+stop Hulagu’s armies, or surprise them.
+
+The Kalif sent envoys a second time to warn Hulagu against war on the
+Abbasids whose house would endure, as he said, till the end of all
+ages. Cases were cited of those who had touched that sacred house to
+their own ghastly ruin, the last being Shah Mohammed, who died in dire
+misery on an island of the Caspian. “Keep their fate in mind if thou
+hast their plans in thy counsel.” This was the Kalif’s sharp warning.
+
+Hulagu paid small attention to warnings of that kind. He was preparing
+troops to besiege a great city which might have many defenders. His
+chief camp was at Hamadan, and Bagdad must be taken, hence his first
+point was to seize all the roads between those two cities. One road,
+that over which the left wing of his army must travel, lay among
+mountains and over high passes, snow-covered almost at all times. In
+these difficult districts was the fortress Daritang which commanded a
+defile and guarded Arabian Irak at its boundary. In Daritang the
+commandant Aké was a man who had griefs of his own brought about by the
+Kalif. Hulagu sent for this person, seduced him with favors, engaged
+him to yield his own fortress, and win over other commandants if
+possible.
+
+Once at home Aké felt his heart change; he repented. Through a friend
+he made known at Bagdad the plans of the enemy, and declared that if
+the Kalif would send him one corps of trained horsemen he would furnish
+a hundred thousand good warriors, Turkmans and Kurds; with these he
+would stop every Mongol advance against Bagdad. This offer was laid
+before the vizir, but the Kalif refused it. Hulagu knew all these
+details soon after and sent a strong mounted force to settle with the
+Daritang commandant. The Mongol on nearing the fortress called out the
+commandant to consult with him, as he said. Aké appeared and was seized
+that same moment. “If thou wish to save life for thyself, and save also
+thy office, call out all thy people; we are taking a census.” Aké was
+submissive and called out the people. “If faithful, thou wilt tear down
+the fortress.” The commandant saw that he had been discovered, still he
+obeyed calmly and had the fortress demolished. Then he was slain with
+all the men under him, and also his household. Emir Saïd, Aké’s son,
+fled quickly and wandered about in the mountains, but he sought safety
+in Bagdad at last where they killed him.
+
+The Daritang road once secured, Hulagu called in the astrologer whom
+the Grand Khan, his brother, had given him, to choose days propitious
+for action of all sorts. This man, a religious adherent of the Kalif,
+and bribed perhaps also, predicted six great calamities should Mongols
+lay siege to the capital of Islam. Nassir ud din, the astrologer of
+Alamut, a Shiite, was summoned. Hulagu asked him: “Will these six
+things predicted come true?” “Surely not one of them.” “What then will
+happen?” “The city of the Kalif will be taken by Hulagu,” replied the
+adherent of Ali. Nassir then met the other astrologer and overcame him
+by naming the Kalifs who had been killed without causing calamity to
+mankind.
+
+Command was now given the Mongols to converge upon Bagdad. Those in Rūm
+and the West were to march through Mosul, halt somewhat west of the
+capital and encamp there. These men would form the right wing of
+Hulagu’s army. The left wing would march on the road by Daritang to
+camp northeast of the capital. Hulagu himself was to be in the center,
+hence he took the road through Heulvan by which Mohammed Shah had
+advanced when he met his disaster. From Essed Abad new envoys were sent
+to the Kalif inviting him to visit headquarters. Mostassim refused
+this, but promised an annual tribute if Hulagu would lead away all his
+warriors. The prince answered that being so near he could not go back
+without seeing the Kalif. But before going farther Hulagu despatched a
+third embassy asking to send the vizir, with the chancellor.
+
+Meanwhile Luristan in greater part had been taken by the Mongols. When
+the right wing was drawing near on the southern bank of the Tigris a
+real panic seized all people who were living in that region and immense
+crowds sought refuge in Bagdad. Such was the panic that men and women
+rushed into the water in their great anxiety to cross the river. Rich
+bracelets, or all the gold coins which a hand could grasp, were given
+gladly to boatmen for a passage to the city.
+
+Now the chancellor who with the general, Feth ud din, had an army
+disposed on the Heulvan roadway, moved to meet this strong Mongol
+division. He attacked the vanguard which was beaten, and then pursued
+till it reached the main army. There the Mongols faced the pursuers and
+a second battle began which continued till nightfall. The two armies
+camped face to face until daybreak. During the night the Mongols opened
+canals from the Tigris and submerged a great plain in the rear of their
+opponents, thus making retreat very difficult, and in places
+impossible. At daybreak a fresh battle followed in which most of the
+Bagdad men perished. The chancellor fled to the city with a very small
+party. Only then did the Kalif’s advisers set about strengthening the
+walls and defending the capital. Some days later the right Mongol wing
+touched the suburbs along the west bank of the Tigris. Hulagu himself
+attacked the eastern side of the city. Just after the chancellor had
+fled from the field to the city defences the Kalif sent his vizir to
+headquarters; with him went the Nestorian patriarch. The vizir took
+this message: “I have yielded to Hulagu’s wishes, and hope that the
+prince will remember his promise.” Hulagu gave this answer: “I made my
+demand when in Hamadan. I desired then to see the vizir and the
+chancellor. I am now at the gates of the capital, and my wish may be
+different.”
+
+Next day the vizir, the home minister, and many among the chief
+citizens went in a body to Hulagu. He would not receive them. The
+attack was renewed then and lasted six days in succession. At the end
+of that period the whole eastern wall had been seized by the Mongols.
+The investment was absolute, escape by the river was impossible either
+down with the current, or upward against it. The chancellor tried to
+escape but was met by a tempest of stones, burning naphtha and arrows.
+He was driven back after three of his boats had been captured and the
+men in them slaughtered.
+
+The Kalif saw now that he must bend to the Mongols, and he bent in his
+own foolish fashion: He sent two officials with presents, not too rich
+or too many lest the Mongols might think him over timid, and become too
+exacting. Hulagu refused these envoys an audience. Next the youngest
+son of the Kalif and the Sahib Divan went to the camp of the enemy
+bearing this time rich presents, but they gained no sight of the great
+Mongol. The eldest son of the Kalif took the vizir and with him made a
+new trial, but these two had no more success than the others. On the
+following day Hulagu sent two messengers into the city with this order:
+“Bring to me Suleiman Shah with the Chancellor. The Kalif may come, or
+not come, as he chooses.” These two men were brought, and then sent
+back to the city to say to all people with whom they had contact that
+they would be taken to Syria, and were to issue forth through the gates
+without hindrance. In the hope of finding safety in some place many
+persons left Bagdad. These people were all parceled out among Mongol
+divisions, and died by the sword every man of them. The Chancellor was
+put to death first, then Suleiman was led with bound hands into
+Hulagu’s presence. “Since thou hast knowledge of the stars, why not see
+the fatal day coming, and give to thy sovereign due notice?” asked the
+Mongol. “The Kalif was bound by his destiny, and would not hear
+faithful servants,” replied the commander. Suleiman was put to death,
+and his whole household died with him, seven hundred persons all
+counted. The son of the Chancellor died with the others.
+
+It was the Kalif’s turn then; he went forth with his three sons from
+Bagdad, three thousand persons went with him, high dignitaries and
+officials. When he appeared before Hulagu the prince asked about his
+health very affably, and then said that he must proclaim to the city
+that all men were to lay down their arms, and come out to be counted.
+Mostassim returned and proclaimed to the people of Bagdad that whoso
+wished for his life had to lay down his arms and repair to the camp of
+the Mongols. Then all people, both warriors and civilians, pressed in
+crowds toward the gates of the city. When outside they were
+slaughtered, slain every one of them, save the Kalif and his sons who
+were taken to the army on the left wing, and guarded there strictly.
+From that moment the high priest of Islam could see his own fate very
+plainly.
+
+Three days later on began the sack and the pillage of Bagdad. The
+Mongols rushed in from all sides simultaneously; they spared only
+houses of Christians and those of a few foreigners. On the second day
+of the city’s undoing Hulagu went to the palace in Bagdad and gave a
+great feast to his commanders; toward the end of that feast the Kalif
+was brought in to stand before Hulagu. “Thou art master of this house,”
+said the conqueror, “I am the guest in it. Let us see what thou hast
+which might be a good and proper gift to me.”
+
+The Kalif had two thousand rich robes and ten thousand gold dinars
+brought and many rich jewels also. Hulagu would not look at them. “Our
+men,” remarked he, “will find all wealth of that kind, which is for my
+servitors. Show hidden treasures.” The Kalif described then a place in
+the courtyard. Men went to work straightway and dug till they came to
+two cisterns filled with gold pieces, each piece a hundred miskals. In
+various parts of the palace the Mongols found gold and silver vessels;
+of these they made no more account than if they had been tin or copper.
+
+Hulagu desired then that all persons in the harem be counted. Seven
+hundred women and slave girls were found there, and one thousand
+eunuchs. The Kalif begged to have those women given him who had never
+been under sunlight or moonlight directly. The conqueror gave him one
+hundred. Mostassim chose relatives and they were led forth from the
+palace. All the Kalif’s best treasures were taken to Hulagu’s camp
+ground. Around the immense tent of Jinghis Khan’s grandson were piled
+up great masses of wealth, being a portion of that which the Abbasids
+had taken from men during half a millennium.
+
+The sack of the city continued seven days and nights in succession;
+most of the mosques were burned during that time. A deputation came
+then to beg pity of the conqueror. Seeing that the place if he spared
+it might yield him some profit he relented after eight hundred thousand
+human beings had been slaughtered. Those who had hidden from death came
+forth now into daylight with safety; few were they in number and
+pitiful to look at. Many Christians had assembled in a church strongly
+guarded and were saved from death and every evil by the Mongols. The
+Nestorian Patriarch had power to effect this. A few wealthy Moslems had
+entrusted the best of their treasures to the Patriarch to keep for
+them; they had hoped to survive, but all perished.
+
+Hulagu withdrew to the village of Vakaf, some distance from Bagdad,
+because the air of the city had grown pestilential and loathsome. He
+summoned Mostassim. The trembling Kalif asked Ibn Alkamiya if there was
+no way of salvation. “My beard is long,” replied the vizir, referring
+to a taunt of the chancellor. [15] The Kalif and his eldest son were
+placed each in a felt sack, and trampled to death under horse hoofs.
+Mostassim’s attendants were cut down, and slaughtered by various
+methods. Next day the youngest son of the Kalif died, and all of the
+Abbasids whose names were on the list of that ruling family were then
+put to death.
+
+The Kalif, whose mother was an Ethiopian slave, was the thirty-seventh
+of his line. He was forty-six years of age when he died, February 21,
+1258, after a reign of fifteen years. Hulagu appointed new dignitaries
+for Bagdad. The old vizir, Ibn Alkamiya, was continued in office. Among
+new men was one quite deserving of notice; this was Ben Amran, prefect
+of a place east of Bagdad and touching it. This man had been a servant
+to the governor of Yakuba. One day when stroking the soles of that
+governor’s feet to bring sleep to him Ben Amran himself began to
+slumber. Roused by his master he said that he had just had a marvelous
+vision. “What was it like?” asked the governor. “I thought that
+Mostassim and the Kalifat were gone, and that I was the governor of
+Bagdad.” His master gave him in answer a kick of such force that he
+fell over backward. Being in Bagdad during the siege days Ben Amran
+heard that provisions were scarce in the camp of the Mongols. He tied a
+letter to an arrow and shot it over the wall with this message: “If
+Hulagu would learn something of value let him send for Ben Amran.” The
+letter was taken to the Mongol, and he sent for Ben Amran. The Kalif,
+who was foolish in all things, permitted the man to go from the city.
+When brought to the chief of the Mongols he declared that he could
+obtain a great stock of provisions. Hulagu, though not greatly
+believing his phrases, sent him off with an officer; Ben Amran took the
+man to large underground granaries near Yakuba where there was wheat
+enough to supply all the Mongols for a fortnight, and thus he enabled
+Hulagu to continue the siege without trouble. Ben Amran received the
+reward of his treachery, and now was made prefect.
+
+Ibn Alkamiya, the vizir, was accused of treason both before the fall of
+the city, and afterward. For a long time the books used in schools bore
+this sentence: “Cursed of God be he who curses not Ibn Alkamiya.” On
+the Friday next after the death of the Kalif these words were
+pronounced in place of the usual invocation: “Praise to God who has
+destroyed high existences, and condemned to nonentity dwellers in this
+abode (of humanity). O God, assist us in woes such as Islam has never
+experienced: but we belong to God and return to Him.”
+
+Hulagu was now master of Bagdad, and he proposed to the Ulema this
+question: “Which man is better as sovereign, an unbeliever who is just,
+or a Moslem unjust in his dealings?” The assembled Ulema gave no answer
+till Razi ud din Ali, a sage esteemed greatly, wrote as follows: “The
+unbeliever who is just should be preferred to the unjust believer.” All
+the Ulema subscribed to this answer.
+
+Every place from the Persian Gulf to Bagdad was subjected. And it is of
+great interest to note the conduct of some and the fate that befell
+them. The story of Ben Amran, the prefect, is in strong contrast with
+that of Teghele, son of Hezerasp, who had given good advice in his day
+to Shah Mohammed. Teghele had joined the Mongol forces, but expressed
+regret at the ruin of Bagdad, and the death of the Kalif. Hulagu heard
+of this and grew angry, Teghele, informed of his peril, left the camp
+without permission and withdrew to his mountains. A force was
+despatched to Luristan to bring back the fugitive, whose brother, Shems
+ud din Alb Argun, set out to appease Hulagu and gain pardon. Argun was
+met on the Luristan border by Mongols who put him in chains, and slew
+his whole escort. The Mongols went on then and summoned Teghele to
+yield himself. At first he refused through distrust of their promises,
+but he made no active resistance. When at last they gave him Hulagu’s
+ring as a token of favor he believed, and they took him to Tebriz where
+Hulagu had him tried, and put to death on the market place.
+
+The throne of Luristan was then given to Alb Argun the brother of the
+dead man. About this time appeared at headquarters the rival Sultans of
+Rūm, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, and Yzz ud din Kei Kavus; the latter
+had come with some fear since he had roused Hulagu by resistance. When
+admitted to audience he offered the Mongol a pair of splendid boots
+with his own portrait painted inside on the soles of them. “I hope,”
+added he, “that the monarch will deign to show honor with his august
+foot to the head of his servitor.” These words, and the intercession of
+Dokuz Khatun, Hulagu’s wife, obtained the grace which he needed and was
+seeking. The brothers were reconciled and Rūm was divided between them.
+
+Hulagu now summoned Bedr ud din Lulu of Mosul to his presence. This
+prince was then more than eighty years old and very crafty. He had been
+a slave of Nur ud din Arslam, Shah of Diarbekr, who at death left him
+as guardian to his son Massud. Lulu governed Mosul for this Massud who
+died in 1218 leaving two sons of tender years. These boys followed
+their father to that other existence before two years had passed, and
+the former slave became sovereign. He had reigned in Mosul forty years
+lacking one, before coming to Hulagu’s presence with splendid gifts and
+apparently unlimited obedience. When leaving Mosul, Lulu’s friends were
+in dread for his safety, but he calmed them, and gave this assurance:
+“I will make the Khan mild, and even pull his ears while I speak to
+him.”
+
+Lulu was received by Hulagu very graciously and when the official gifts
+had all been delivered he added: “I have something for the Khan’s
+person specially,” and he drew forth a pair of gold earrings in which
+were set two pearls of rare beauty. When Hulagu had admired them Lulu
+continued: “If the Khan would but grant me the honor to put these two
+jewels in their places I should be exalted immediately in the eyes of
+all rulers, and in those of my subjects.” Permission was granted, so he
+took the Khan’s ears and put the two rings in them very deliberately.
+Then he glanced at his own suite, thus telling them that he had kept
+his strange promise.
+
+The fate of both Christians and Jews had been painful and bitter under
+Abbasid dominion. Favor and solace now came from the Mongols. The
+invaders cared no more at that time for Christians than for the
+followers of Mohammed, but when attacking new lands it was to their
+interest to win populations which were hostile to the dominant nation.
+The protection of the conquerors, and the shattered condition of Islam,
+weakened by such dire devastation, had roused hopes among Christians to
+dominate those who had trampled them for centuries. Upon the choice
+which the conqueror would make between the religions their fate was
+depending, and the issue of that struggle to win the Mongols was for
+some time uncertain, but surely momentous. Christians of the Orient, as
+well as Crusaders, were rejoiced to see Hulagu making ready to march
+upon Syria, and to them it seemed sure that they saw in advance the
+destruction of Islam in regions where Christian blood had been shed so
+abundantly.
+
+On the eve of this Mongol invasion Syria was ruled by Salih, a
+descendant of Saladin, but Saladin’s grand-nephews had lost Egypt a
+little before that. While the army of Saint Louis was in Damietta the
+Sultan, Salih, died (1249). His death was kept secret till his son
+Moazzam Turan Shah should arrive from his appanage between the two
+rivers, that is the Euphrates and Tigris. The French army was ruined,
+and Saint Louis was captured. Three weeks later on Turan Shah fell by
+the daggers of men who had been Mameluk chiefs in the reign of his
+father. He had wished to replace these by friends of his own, so they
+slew him. After this deed the chiefs gave allegiance to Shejer ud dur,
+the late Sultan’s slave girl and concubine. She had enjoyed his full
+confidence, and was governing till Turan Shah might reach Cairo.
+
+Eibeg, a Mameluk chief, was elected commander. Shejer ud dur now
+married Eibeg and when three months had passed she resigned in his
+favor. In mounting the throne the new Sultan took the title Moizz, and
+chose as associate El Ashraf, an Eyubite prince six years old, the
+great-grandson of Kamil the Sultan. This revolution, which placed a
+Mameluk chief on the throne of the Eyubites, shows how powerful these
+warriors had become then in Egypt. Saladin, on gaining power in 1169,
+had disbanded the troops of the Fatimid Kalifs. Those troops were negro
+slaves, Egyptians, and Arabs, and he put Kurds and Turks in their
+places. This new force was formed of twelve thousand horsemen. Saladin,
+and the Sultans who followed him, were fond of buying young Turks, whom
+they reared very carefully to military service, but Salih, ruling sixth
+after Saladin, preferred Mameluks to others. Before coming to power
+this prince had tested the Mameluks and esteemed them; when Sultan he
+increased the number of them greatly, by purchase. These new men were
+brought from regions north of the Caucasus and the Caspian, from those
+tribes known in the Orient as Kipchak, and as Polovtsi by the Russians.
+At first it was difficult to obtain them, but after the Mongol invasion
+of Russia young prisoners were sold in large numbers into Egypt and
+Syria. Salih had a thousand, whom he lodged in the fortress of Randhat,
+on an island in front of Cairo; he called them the Bahriye, or men of
+the river. These young slaves were brought up in the practice of arms,
+and in the religion of Islam. The guard of the Sultan was composed
+wholly of Mameluks. Salih chose from their chiefs the great officers of
+his household, and his most trusted advisers. They attained the highest
+military offices, enjoyed the richest fiefs, and received the best
+revenues; they saved Egypt at Mansura, and did most to destroy the
+French army; their power lay in esprit de corps and ambition. Their
+chiefs rose to dominion in Egypt, and then put a check on the Mongols.
+
+Syria belonged now to Nassir Salah ud din Yusseif, who from his father,
+Aziz, a grandson of Saladin, inherited the principality of Aleppo in
+1236, and took in 1250, after the slaying of Turan Shah, the
+principality of Damascus, which belonged to the Sultan of Egypt. Master
+now of the best part of Syria, Nassir Salih undertook to drive from the
+throne of Egypt the Turkish freedman, who had recently usurped it, but
+he was beaten by Eibeg, and an envoy of the Kalif proposed mediation;
+peace was made, and Nassir 1251 ceded to the Sultan Jerusalem, Gaza and
+the coast up to Nablus. Faris ud din Aktai, a great chief among
+Mameluks, was assassinated at command of Eibeg, whom he had offended.
+Seven hundred troopers of this chief and some Bahriye officers fled,
+among others Beibars and Kelavun, both of whom occupied the Egyptian
+throne later on. They left Cairo in the night, went to Syria, and
+obtained of Prince Nassir permission to appear at his court. They
+received money, robes of honor, and then they advised him to march on
+Cairo. Nassir was distrustful of these men, against whom Eibeg had
+roused his suspicions by letter, but he made use of the incident to
+demand back the lands which he had ceded to Egypt, because the Mameluks
+who had received them as fiefs were now in his service.
+
+Eibeg gave back the lands, and Nassir confirmed the Mameluks in the use
+of them. But those river Mameluks did not remain faithful to Nassir,
+since they thought him too feeble for their projects. They went to
+another Eyubite, Mogith Omar, Prince of Karak, and asked him to aid in
+the attack upon Eibeg, alleging falsely that they had been called to
+that action by generals in Cairo.
+
+Mogith, a son of the Sultan Adil, had been confined by Turan Shah in
+the castle of Shubek, when Turan had been slain Mogith was set free by
+the castle commandant. In 1251 this same Mogith became sovereign of
+Karak and also of Shubek. Circumstances seemed to favor a descent upon
+Egypt. The Prince of Karak marched against Egypt, but was beaten by
+Kutuz, Eibeg’s general, who seized many Bahriye chiefs captive and cut
+their heads off immediately.
+
+Some years before his defeat by Eibeg Prince Nassir had sent to Hulagu
+his vizir, Zein ud din el Hafizzi, who brought back with him letters of
+safety to his master. The immense progress of Hulagu’s arms and his
+menacing plans disturbed Nassir, who grieved now that he had not sent
+homage earlier to the conquering Mongol. In 1258 he despatched his son,
+Aziz, still a boy, with his vizir, a general, and some officers, giving
+also a letter to Bedr ud din Lulu, the aged and crafty Mosul prince,
+whom we know as having pulled Hulagu’s ears at an audience.
+
+When Nassir’s envoys were received by Hulagu, he inquired why their
+master had not come with them. “The Prince of Syria fears,” said they,
+“that should he absent himself his neighbors, the Franks, who are also
+his enemies, would invade his possessions, hence he has sent his own
+son to represent him.” Hulagu feigned to accept this false answer. The
+envoys, it is said, requested Mongol aid to save Egypt from the
+Mameluks. Hulagu detained Aziz some months, and when at last he
+permitted the boy to take leave and return to his father, the vizir
+received a message for Nassir, which was in substance as follows: “Know
+thou, Prince Nassir, and know all commanders and warriors in Syria,
+that we are God’s army on earth. He has taken from our hearts every
+pity. Woe to those who oppose us, they must flee, we must hunt them. By
+what road can they save themselves, what land will protect them? Our
+steeds rush like lightning, our swords cut like thunderbolts, our
+warriors in number are like sands on the seashore. Whoso resists us
+meets terror; he who implores us finds safety. Receive our law, yours
+and ours will then be in common. If ye resist, blame yourselves for the
+things which will follow. Choose the safe way. Answer quickly, or your
+country will be changed to a desert. Ye yourselves will find no refuge.
+The angel of death may then say of you: ‘Is there one among them who
+shows the least sign of life, or whose voice gives out the slightest of
+murmurs?’ We are honest, hence give you this warning.”
+
+Since Nassir had no hope of aid to fight Hulagu he chose to make common
+cause with every Mohammedan, and sent back a brave answer. These are
+some words of it: “Ye say that God has removed from your hearts every
+pity. That is the condition of devils, not sovereigns. But is it not
+strange to threaten lions with bruises, tigers with hyenas, and heroes
+with clodhoppers? Resistance to you is obedience to the Highest. If we
+slay you our prayers have been answered; if ye slay us we go into
+paradise. We will not flee from death to exist in opprobrium. If we
+survive we are happy; if we die we are martyrs. Ye demand that
+obedience which we render the vicar of the Prophet, ye shall not have
+it; we would rather go to the place in which he is. Tell the man [16]
+who indited your message that we care no more for his words than for
+the buzz of a fly or the squeak of a Persian fiddle.”
+
+Hulagu gave command to his army to march into Syria. He summoned Bedr
+ud din Lulu, who, excused because of great age, had to send his son,
+Melik Salih Ismail, with the troops of Mosul. When this young man
+arrived at the camp of the Mongols Hulagu made him marry a daughter of
+Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Kwaresm. Kita Buga went with the
+vanguard, Sinkur, a descendant of Kassar, and Baidju led the right
+wing, the left was commanded by Sunjak. Hulagu set out with the center,
+September 12, 1259. He passed Hakkar, where all Kurds whom they met
+were cut down by the sword, not one man being spared. On entering
+Diarbekr Hulagu took Jeziret on the Tigris, and sent his son Yshmut
+with Montai Noyon to take Mayafarkin, an old and famous town northeast
+of Diarbekr, whose Eyubite prince, Kamil Nasir ud din Mohammed, he
+wished to punish for hostility to the Mongols. He was all the more
+angry since this man had been received well years before that by Mangu
+the Grand Khan, and given letters which put his lands under that
+sovereign’s protection. Hulagu accused Kamil now of crucifying a Syrian
+priest, who had come to his court with the Grand Khan’s safe-conduct;
+with having expelled Mongol prefects, and with having sent a corps of
+troops to help Bagdad at demand of the Kalif—these troops when they had
+gone half the distance turned back on learning that the capital had
+fallen. To finish all, Kamil had been in Damascus asking Prince Nassir
+to march on the Mongols. It was at this time that Hulagu sent his son
+to punish Prince Kamil, who had barely returned with vain promises when
+he found himself sealed in at Mayafarkin securely.
+
+Hulagu summoned next to obedience Saïd Nedjmud din el Gazi, Prince of
+Mardin. That prince sent his son, Mozaffer Kar Arslan, his chief judge,
+and an emir with presents, and a letter in which he alleged severe
+illness as his excuse for not giving personal homage. Hulagu sent the
+following answer, making the judge go alone with it to his master: “The
+prince says that he is ill, he says this because he fears Nassir of
+Syria, and thinks that if I should triumph he must be friendly with me
+hence he feigns this illness, and if I fail he will be on good terms
+with Nassir.”
+
+The son of Bedr ud din Lulu was sent against Amid. Hulagu himself took
+Nisibin. He had encamped close to Harran, and received the submission
+of its people, who were spared, as were also the inhabitants of Koha,
+who followed the example of Harran; but the people of Sarudj, who sent
+no deputation to beg for their lives, were cut down with the sword
+every man of them.
+
+Hulagu’s march spread dismay throughout Syria. Prince Nassir had spent
+his time thus far in discussing with Mogith. The year before a corps of
+three thousand horsemen came to Syria; these were deserters from
+Hulagu’s army, so called Sheherzurians, doubtless Kurds of Sheherzur.
+Nassir took these men to his service, and gave them good treatment; on
+hearing that they wished to desert him for Mogith he doubled his
+bounty, but still they passed over to Mogith. With these men and the
+Mameluks Prince Mogith considered that he could master Damascus. Nassir
+went out to meet him and camped near Lake Ziza. He staid there six
+months discussing conditions with Mogith, through envoys. It was agreed
+at last that the latter would yield up his Mameluks to Nassir, and
+discharge the Bahriyes.
+
+This treaty concluded, Nassir went back to Damascus. On learning that
+Hulagu was at Harran, he consulted his generals and resolved on
+resistance. Nassir fixed his camp at Berze, a short distance north of
+Damascus, but he could not confide in his army; volunteers, Turks and
+Arabs, he knew that his generals and soldiers greatly feared Hulagu’s
+victors. He himself was a man of weak character who roused no respect
+in his army.
+
+Seeing Nassir’s alarm, Zein ud din el Hafizzi, the vizir, extolled
+Hulagu’s greatness and counseled submission. Indignant at this an emir,
+Beibars Bundukdar, sprang up one day, rushed at the vizir, struck the
+man, cursed him, and said that he was a traitor seeking the destruction
+of Islam. Zein ud din complained to Nassir of these insults. Nassir
+himself was assailed that same night in a garden, by Mameluks, who had
+determined to cut him down immediately, and choose a new Sultan; he
+barely succeeded in fleeing to the citadel, but returned later on to
+the camp at the prayer of his officers. Beibars left for Gaza whence he
+sent an officer named Taibars to Mansur the new sovereign of Egypt with
+his oath of fidelity.
+
+At a council, held to discuss coming perils, it was settled without any
+dissent, that the prince, his officers, and his warriors should send
+their families to Egypt. Nassir sent thither his wife, a daughter of
+Kei Kobad, the Seljuk Sultan, he sent also his son, and his treasures.
+Next followed the wives, sons and daughters of officers, and a great
+throng of people. The fears of individuals were communicated to the
+army, officers went, as if to take farewell of their families, but many
+of those officers never returned to their places. Thus Nassir’s army
+was disbanded.
+
+Nassir now asked assistance of Mogith, and besides sent Sahib Kemal ud
+din Omar to Cairo to obtain aid from the Sultan. Eibeg had just been
+slain by the hands of Shejer ud dur, his wife, who, convinced that he
+was ready to slay her, had been too quick for him. Prompt punishment
+was inflicted: Shejer was given to the widow of Sultan Aziz, who,
+assisted by eunuchs and females, beat her to death, stripped her body
+and hurled it over the wall to the moat of the fortress, where it lay
+several days without clothing or burial.
+
+Eibeg’s son, Mansur, a boy fifteen years of age, was raised to the
+throne, with Aktai, a former comrade of his father, as guardian, or
+Atabeg, to be followed soon by Kutuz, who had once been a slave of his.
+When Nassir’s envoy arrived the Egyptian general held council in
+presence of the Sultan. At the council this question was put to the
+chief judge and the elders: “Is it possible to levy a legal war tax on
+the nation?” The answer was that after needless objects of value had
+been taken from people, and sold, a tax might be levied. This was
+accepted by the council. The Sultan was a boy who had been spoiled by
+his mother, hence was unfitted for rule at that terrible period. Kutuz
+desired supreme power and was ready to seize it as soon as the generals
+would start for Upper Egypt. When they had gone he imprisoned the
+Sultan with his brother and mother, and was then proclaimed sovereign.
+
+Captured by Mongols in boyhood, Kutuz had been sold in Damascus, and
+later in Cairo. He declared himself a nephew of the Kwaresmian ruler,
+Shah Mohammed. Manumitted by Moizz ud din Eibeg he added El Moizzi to
+his name, thus following the Mameluk custom.
+
+When generals condemned Kutuz for taking the dignity from Mansur he
+referred to Hulagu, and the fear caused by Prince Nassir of Syria. “All
+I wish is to drive out the Mongols. Can we do that without a leader?
+When we have driven out this enemy, choose whom you please as the
+Sultan.” Thus he pacified his rivals and, feeling sure in his power,
+removed Mansur with his mother and brother to Damietta. In the
+following reign they were sent to Stambul, the Turkish capital, and
+remained there.
+
+The new Sultan imprisoned eight generals, then, receiving the oath of
+the army, he prepared his campaign against the Mongols. First he sent
+an assuring epistle to Nassir, swearing that he would lay no claim to
+that prince’s possessions; that he looked on himself as Nassir’s
+lieutenant in Egypt, that he would put him on the throne if he would
+come at that juncture to Cairo. If the prince wished his services he
+would march to his rescue, but if his presence was disquieting the army
+would go with the chief whom Prince Nassir might indicate.
+
+This letter, borne to the prince by an officer from Egypt, who went
+with the envoy whom the prince had sent to Egypt asking for aid,
+allayed the suspicions of Nassir. Danger was imminent, Hulagu had just
+marched into Syria. Master of all lands between the Euphrates and
+Tigris, Hulagu laid siege to El Biret on the first of these rivers, and
+took it. In that citadel Saïd, the Eyubite prince, who had been nine
+years in prison, was freed by Hulagu and put in possession of Sebaibet
+and Banias. The Mongol then crossed the Euphrates by bridges of boats
+at Malattia, Kelat ur Rūm, El Biret, and Kirkissia; he sacked the city
+Mahuj, and left garrisons in El Biret, Nedjram, Joaber, Kallomkos, and
+Lash, having put to the sword their inhabitants. After that he marched
+with all his armed strength on Aleppo.
+
+The terror which preceded the Mongols drove multitudes of people from
+the city to seek shelter in Damascus, while still greater numbers were
+fleeing from Damascus to Egypt. The season was winter, many perished
+from cold on the journey, the majority had been robbed of their
+property, and to complete their distress and great wretchedness the
+plague was then raging throughout Syria and worst of all in Damascus.
+
+One Mongol division came now and camped near Aleppo, a part of it
+marched on the city from which the garrison sallied forth followed by
+volunteers from among the lowest people. These, finding the enemy
+superior in numbers, and resolute, returned through the gates very
+quickly. Next day the bulk of the Mongol division approached the walls
+closely. The chiefs of the garrison went out to the square where they
+counseled. Though Prince Moazzam Turan Shah, the governor, had
+forbidden attacks on an enemy so evidently superior, a part of the
+troops, and with them a crowd of common people, marched out to the
+mountain Bankussa which they occupied. Seeing Mongols advancing, some
+of those on the mountain hurried down to attack them. The Mongols
+turned to flee, the others pursued for the space of an hour and fell
+into an ambush. Those who escaped from the trap fled back toward
+Aleppo, pursued by the enemy. When abreast of Bankussa the people who
+had remained on the mountain rushed down toward the gates of the city,
+and a great number perished. That same day the Mongols appeared at
+Azay, a town somewhat north of Aleppo, and took it.
+
+In a few days Hulagu came and summoned Prince Moazzam, its governor, to
+surrender: “Thou canst not resist us,” said Hulagu. “Receive a
+commandant from us in the city, and one in the citadel. We are marching
+now to meet Nassir; should he be defeated the country will be ours, and
+Moslem blood will be spared by thee. If we are beaten thou canst expel
+our commandants, or kill them.” The Prince of Erzen ur Rūm bore this
+summons to which Moazzam answered: “There is nothing between thee and
+me but the sabre.”
+
+The walls of Aleppo were strong, and inside was a good stock of
+weapons. The besiegers made in one night a firm counter wall; twenty
+catapults were trained on the city, which was taken by assault on the
+seventh day of investment January 25, 1260. When Aleppo had been sacked
+during five days and nights, and most of the inhabitants had been cut
+down, Hulagu proclaimed an end to the massacre. The streets were
+blocked up with corpses. Only those men escaped who found refuge in
+four houses of dignitaries, in a Mohammedan school, and a synagogue,
+all these were safe-guarded. One hundred thousand women and children
+were sold into slavery. The walls of Aleppo were leveled, its mosques
+were demolished, its gardens uprooted and ruined. One month later on
+the citadel yielded. The victors found immense booty in the stronghold
+and also many artisans whom they spared for captivity.
+
+Prince Nassir was in his camp at Berze near Damascus, when he received
+news of the sack of Aleppo. His general advised to retreat upon Gaza
+and implore the Sultan Kutuz for assistance. Nassir left Damascus
+defenseless and set out for Gaza with the Hamat Prince, Mansur, and a
+few others who had clung to him. By Nassir’s command all who could go
+to Egypt were to start immediately. Terror reigned in Damascus;
+property was sold for a song, while the value of camels was fabulous.
+
+Nassir halted a short time at Nablus, and when on the way from that
+city to Gaza two officers whom he had left there with troops were
+captured by Mongols and slaughtered. This swift approach of the enemy
+made him retire to El Arish, whence he sent an envoy to Sultan Kutuz,
+imploring him to send succor quickly.
+
+After Nassir had gone Zein ud din el Hafizzi, the vizir, closed the
+gates of Damascus, and decided with the notables to surrender to the
+envoys who had been sent by Hulagu to see Nassir at Berze. Hence a
+deputation of the most distinguished men went with rich presents and
+the keys of the city to Hulagu’s camp near Aleppo. Hulagu put a mantle
+of honor on the chief of these men, and made him grand judge in Syria.
+This cadi returned to Damascus immediately and called an assembly.
+Appearing in the mantle, he read his diploma, and an edict which
+guaranteed safety to all men. But in spite of grand words of this kind
+consternation and dread were universal.
+
+Two commandants came now, one a Mongol, the other a Persian, who gave
+orders to follow the wishes of Zein ud din el Hafizzi, and treat the
+inhabitants with justice. Soon after this Kita Buga arrived with a body
+of Mongols, safety was proclaimed at his coming, and respect for life
+and property. The citadel refused to surrender but was taken after
+sixteen days of siege labor. The commandant and his aid were beheaded
+at Hulagu’s direction. Ashraf, the Eyubite prince and grandson of
+Shirkuh, who after the departure of Nassir for Egypt went to give
+homage to Hulagu near Aleppo, had been reinstated in the sovereignty of
+Hims, which Nassir had taken from him twelve years before, giving
+Telbashir in exchange for it. Hulagu now made Ashraf his chief
+lieutenant in Syria. Ashraf arrived at Merj-Bargut and Kita Buga
+commanded Zein ud din el Hafizzi and the other authorities of Damascus
+to yield up their power to him.
+
+After reducing Aleppo Hulagu moved against Harem, a fortress two days’
+journey toward Antioch. The garrison was summoned to surrender with a
+promise under oath that no man would be injured. The defenders replied,
+that the religion which Hulagu held was unknown to them, hence they
+knew not how to consider his promise, but if a Moslem would swear on
+the Koran that their lives would be spared, they would surrender the
+castle. Hulagu asked whom they wished as the man to give oath to them;
+they replied Fakhr ud din Saki, last commandant in the citadel of
+Aleppo. Hulagu sent this man with directions to swear to everything
+asked of him. On the faith of his oath the place was delivered. All
+then were ordered to go forth from Harem. Hulagu, angry that his word
+had been questioned, put Fakhr ud din to death straightway, and
+slaughtered the whole population, not pitying even infants. He spared
+one person only, an Armenian, a jeweller of skill, whom he needed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+VICTORY OF KUTUZ, SULTAN OF EGYPT
+
+
+Hulagu received news now of the death of Mangu, the Grand Khan, and
+deciding at once to return to Mongolia, he made Kita Buga commander of
+the armies in Syria, and when departing ordered him to level the walls
+of Aleppo and its citadel. A deputation of Crusaders came at this time
+to Kita Buga.
+
+It is said by historians, that Hulagu had resolved to take Palestine
+from the Moslems, and give it to Christians, and that he was about to
+do this when news came of Mangu’s demise in Mongolia. He turned
+homeward immediately, intending to strive for his own elevation, but he
+learned in Tebriz that his brother, Kubilai, was elected, and this
+stopped his journey.
+
+From El Arish Nassir had hastened on toward Kathia, but Kutuz, now in
+Salahiyet, not desiring an Eyubite prince as a ruler for Egypt, wished
+to render him harmless. He wrote to the chiefs under Nassir’s command,
+among others the false Sheherzurians, and requested them to enter his
+service, offering high places, and money as he did so. Seduced by these
+offers the Turks and Kurds deserted Nassir. There remained with the
+prince, but his brother and a very few other men. On reaching Kathia he
+dared not go farther toward Egypt, so changing his road he went on by
+the desert toward Shubek; when he arrived there, he and the men with
+him had naught but their horses and two or three servants. He held on
+farther toward Karak; the sovereign of that place sent horses, tents,
+and all needed articles to Nassir with the statement that he might stay
+with him or go to Shubek. Nassir would do neither; he continued his
+journey to Balka, but, betrayed by two Kurd attendants who informed
+Kita Buga of his whereabouts, he was seized near Lake Ziza by Mongols
+and taken to their general, who was laying siege then to Ajalon. The
+general forced Nassir to order the commandant to surrender that
+fortress to the Mongols. The commandant obeyed after certain resistance
+and Ajalon, that stronghold built by Iziz ud din, one of Saladin’s
+emirs, was leveled to the ground. The Mongols had a short time before
+taken possession of Baalbek and ruined that city and its citadel. Kita
+Buga now sent Nassir to Tebriz with his brother and Salih, son of the
+Hims prince. Mogith, Prince of Karak, sent his son Aziz, a boy six
+years of age, with him. When they passed through Damascus Nassir was
+greatly affected and when he saw the ruins of Aleppo he wept, unable to
+restrain his grief.
+
+Hulagu received Nassir well and promised to reinstate him in Syria when
+he should subdue Egypt.
+
+Egypt, up to that time a refuge for those who were fleeing from
+Mongols, now felt the terror of a threatened invasion. The Mongols had
+conquered all lands invaded by them thus far, hence most men felt
+certain that they would take Egypt. The Africans living in Cairo
+returned to their distant homes because of this conviction. Soon after
+Hulagu’s departure for Persia envoys announced themselves in Cairo, and
+summoned the Sultan to obedience; war was threatened in case of
+refusal. Kutuz called a great council immediately to decide upon final
+action. Nassir ud din Kaimeri, a Kwaresmian general who had just left
+the service of Nassir, favored war and declared for it. “No one,” he
+said, “could believe Hulagu who has broken faith with the Alamut chief,
+with the Kalif, with Aké, commandant of Daritang, and with the Prince
+of Erbil.” Beibars, the emir from Damascus, called for war also. After
+some debate every chief present agreed with the Sultan. “It is well,”
+said Kutuz. “We take the field. Victors or vanquished we shall do our
+whole duty, and Moslems hereafter will never make mention of us as of
+cowards.”
+
+It was then decided that Hulagu’s envoys must die, hence they were
+thrown into prison to await execution. The Sultan made immense efforts;
+he levied tribute, illegal in Islam; he taxed revenues, he taxed heads,
+but that was still insufficient; then he seized the goods of all who
+had deserted Nassir for his sake. Nassir’s wife had to yield up a part
+of her jewels; other women were forced to make similar sacrifices.
+Those who did not part with their jewels willingly were ill-treated.
+When ready for marching Kutuz took an oath of fidelity from his
+generals, and set out from his castle called the Castle of the Mountain
+July 26, 1260. His forces of a hundred and twenty thousand strong were
+composed of the army of Egypt, of Syrians who had passed to his
+service, of Arabs, and also of Turkmans. On the day of departure he had
+the chief Mongol envoy and the three next in dignity beheaded, one in
+each quarter of Cairo. The four heads were exposed at the gate of
+Zavila; of the twenty-six envoys remaining he spared only one, a young
+man whom he placed in a company of Mameluks. A summons was issued
+throughout Egypt for every warrior to march in that struggle for Islam.
+All had to go, if any man tried to hide himself the bastinado was used
+on him without mercy.
+
+Kutuz sent an envoy to demand aid of Ashraf of Hims, the chief governor
+of Syria under Hulagu’s orders, and Saïd, who had been liberated from
+prison in El Biret and had received Sebaibet and Banias as his portion.
+Saïd abused the envoy, but Ashraf received him, and in private
+prostrated himself in his presence through respect for Kutuz, who had
+sent him, and added in answer to the message: “I kiss the earth before
+the Sultan, and say to him, that I am his servant, and subject to his
+orders. I am thankful that God has raised up Kutuz, for the succor of
+Islam. If he combats the Mongols our triumph is certain.”
+
+At Salahiyet Kutuz held a council; the greater part of the leaders
+refused to go farther; they wished to wait at Salahiyet. “O chiefs of
+Islam,” said the Sultan, “I march to this holy war, the man who is
+willing to fight in it will follow me; he who is unwilling may return,
+but God will not take his eye off that recreant. On his head will be
+counted the dishonor of our women and the ruin of our country.” From
+every leader who liked him he took an oath then to follow and next
+morning he sounded the signal to march against the Mongols. The chiefs
+who had wished not to go were borne away now by the example of others;
+the whole army moved forward and entered the desert. Beibars, who
+commanded the vanguard, had, with other Bahriyan chiefs, quitted Nassir
+and joined Kutuz, who gave him the district of Kaliub as an income.
+Beibars found the Mongols at Gaza, but they left the place straightway,
+and he entered it unopposed. The Sultan made only a brief halt at Gaza,
+and moved along near the coast line. Kita Buga, who heard at Baalbek of
+this hostile advance, sent his family and baggage to Damascus,
+collected his troops, and set out to encounter the forces of Egypt.
+
+The two armies saw each other first on the plain of Ain Jalut (Fountain
+of Goliah), between Baissan and Nablus. Before the battle Kutuz spoke
+with great feeling to his generals, and strengthened them for the
+conflict. He mentioned the peoples whom the Mongols had ruined, and he
+threatened his hearers with the same lot unless they won victory. He
+roused them to liberate Syria, and vindicate Islam; if not they would
+earn Heaven’s wrath and dire punishment. Moved by his words they shed
+tears, and swore to do all that was in them to hurl back the enemy.
+
+The two armies met September 3, 1260. The Egyptians entered the battle
+without confidence. At first they were timid and confusion appeared in
+the left wing which turned to flee; at that moment the Sultan cried
+out: “O God, give Thou victory to thy servant Kutuz.” He charged then
+in person, cut into the thick of the enemy, and performed miracles of
+valor. He charged again and again, encouraging others to meet death,
+and fear nothing.
+
+Meanwhile the left wing had rallied, re-formed, and reappeared on the
+battlefield. These warriors fought now with invincible fury, and
+stopped not till they had broken the ranks of the Mongols, who fled
+after having lost most of their officers. Kita Buga was killed in the
+action. A Mongol division entrenched on a neighboring height was
+attacked, and cut to pieces. The emir, Beibars, surrounded the
+fugitives, of whom only a very small number escaped. Some hid among
+reeds near the battle-ground; Kutuz set fire to the reeds and all those
+men perished. When the great battle was over the Sultan came down from
+his horse, and returned thanks to God in a prayer of two verses. Prince
+Saïd, who had fought on the side of the Mongols, came now to surrender.
+On dismounting he went to the Sultan to kiss his hand, but Kutuz kicked
+his mouth, and commanded an equerry to cut his head off immediately.
+
+In the rage of that terrible battle the young Mongol placed by Kutuz
+among Mameluks found a chance, as he thought, to avenge his father; but
+one of those near him seized his hand in time to turn aside the missile
+which, missing Kutuz, killed the horse on which he was riding.
+
+The camp of the Mongols, their women, and children, and baggage fell
+into the hands of the conquerors. Hulagu’s commandants were slaughtered
+wherever the Moslems could seize them. Those in Damascus were able to
+save themselves. News of the Mongol defeat arrived there September 8 in
+the night between Saturday and Sunday. The commandants rushed off
+immediately. Seven months and ten days had they occupied Damascus.
+September 9 the Sultan sent from Tiberias a rescript to Damascus,
+announcing the victory which God had given Islam. This news caused a
+joy all the greater since Moslems had despaired of deliverance from the
+Mongols, deemed until that day invincible. Their delight was unbounded,
+hence they rushed straightway to the houses of Christians where they
+pillaged and slew all unhindered. The churches of Saint James and Saint
+Mary were burned. Jew shops were plundered most thoroughly, and the
+houses of that people with their synagogues were saved only by armed
+forces. Next the turn came to Moslems who had been partisans and agents
+of the Mongols; these too were massacred without pity.
+
+Kutuz arrived at Damascus with his army, and entered the city two days
+later. He hanged a number of Moslems, who had favored the Mongols,
+among others the Kurd who had betrayed Nassir; he hanged also thirty
+Christians and forced the remainder to contribute one hundred and fifty
+thousand drachmas.
+
+Beibars, who was sent to pursue the fleeing Mongols, hurried forward to
+Hamath. The fugitives, when almost overtaken, abandoned their baggage,
+let their prisoners go free, and rushed toward the seacoast, where they
+were captured, or slain by the Moslem inhabitants. Noyon, who was
+powerless to resist the Egyptians, withdrew to Rūm with the remnant of
+his warriors.
+
+Kutuz, who had saved Egypt and become master of Syria as far as the
+Euphrates, was the only man of that period who could have turned back
+the tide of Mongol conquest. He now gave fiefs and rewards to whomever
+his good-will selected. He gave the government of Damascus to Sindjar;
+and of Aleppo to Mozaffer, a son of Bedr ud din Lulu; Prince Mansur was
+confirmed in possession of Hamat; Ashraf, Prince of Hims, Hulagu’s
+chief lieutenant in Syria, asked grace of the Sultan and got it. When
+he had named all his lieutenants in Syria Kutuz left Damascus for Egypt
+Oct. 5th. Beibars, who had shown immense valor in battle, asked for the
+government of Aleppo, and failing to get it, conceived such resentment
+that with six other malcontents he formed a plot to assassinate the
+Sultan.
+
+Between Koissem and Salahiyet the Sultan left his road for a short
+hunting trip; the conspirators followed till they found him unattended.
+Beibars then approached Kutuz and begged for a favor which was granted;
+he took the Sultan’s hand to kiss it; that moment one of the six struck
+Kutuz on the back of the neck with a sabre, a second man pushed him
+down from the horse, a third pierced his body with an arrow, and
+Beibars with a last blow took life from the Sultan, October 25, 1260,
+The assassins left the body of Kutuz where he died and hastened on to
+his camp at Salahiyet. They entered the Sultan’s pavilion and
+immediately set about enthroning Bilban, an emir, the most considerable
+person among them. Fari ud din Aktai, the Atabeg, ran in and asked what
+they were doing. “Taking this man for Sultan,” said they as they
+pointed at Bilban. “What is the Turk usage in cases of this kind?”
+inquired Aktai. “The slayer succeeds,” was the answer. “Who slew the
+Sultan?” “That man,” said they pointing to Beibars. The Atabeg took
+Beibars by the hand and led him to the throne of the Sultan. “I seat
+myself here in the name of the Highest,” said Beibars, “now give your
+oath to me.” “It is for thee to swear first,” said the Atabeg, “to
+treat them with loyalty and give them advancement.” The new Sultan made
+promises in that sense and swore to them, the others then gave their
+oath of allegiance.
+
+After this unexpected enthronement Beibars started for Cairo where he
+arrived just at midnight. The city had been adorned at all points for
+Kutuz, the deliverer of Islam. The people were waiting and expecting to
+see their famed ruler, and rejoice at the victory of the faithful. What
+was their wonder and amazement when heralds at daybreak passed through
+all Cairo and shouted: “O people, implore divine favor for the soul of
+El Mozaffer Kutuz, and pray for Ez Zahir Beibars your new Sultan.”
+
+All were in great consternation for they feared the Bahriyans and their
+tyranny. Beibars, a man of the Kipchak, or Polovtsi Turks, had been
+sold at Damascus for eight hundred drachmas, but the purchaser found a
+white spot on his eye and broke the bargain. He was bought then by Emir
+Eidikin Bundukdar; following Mameluk usage he called himself Beibars el
+Bundukdari. In 1246 the Eyubite Sultan, Salih, disgraced Eidikin, took
+his Mameluk, and advanced Beibars until he became one among the highest
+Bahriyans.
+
+Beibars now made his old owner a general, and gave him the government
+of Damascus. Hulagu had given Damascus and its province to Prince
+Nassir, and had sent him from Hamadan, with an escort of three hundred
+Syrians, on the eve of the day when news came that the Mongols were
+crushed at Ain Jalut. It was suggested to Hulagu then by a Syrian that
+Nassir on getting Damascus would join Kutuz surely. Thereupon Hulagu
+sent three hundred Mongols on horseback to follow Nassir. They came up
+with the prince in the mountains of Salmas where they killed him, and
+spared no man of his suite except the astrologer, who gave the
+historian Bar Hebraeus the details of this slaughter. Hulagu was
+impatient to avenge the defeat of Ain Jalut, but, occupied greatly by
+the death of Mangu, he could not begin an expedition at that time.
+
+As we have stated, Mayafarkin had been summoned to surrender and then
+besieged by Yshmut while his father, Hulagu, was advancing on Aleppo.
+Prince Kamil of Mayafarkin gave this answer to the summons: “I have
+learned from the fate of other sovereigns to put no trust whatever in
+Mongols and will fight to the utmost.” Inflaming the courage of his
+people, he opened all his supplies and every treasure, not wishing, as
+he said, to act like the Kalif of Bagdad who lost life and an Empire
+through avarice. He began by a sortie, in which he slew many besiegers.
+He had in his service a man of rare skill in hurling great stones with
+catapults. This man did immense harm to the assailants; they too had a
+man of much art in this matter whom they got from Bedr ud din Lulu,
+late prince of Mosul. It is said that once the two men discharged their
+engines at the very same instant and the two stones from their
+catapults met in the air and shivered each other to fragments. Two
+champions of wonderful strength came out of Mayafarkin each time with a
+sortie, and never retired till they had left on the plain many Mongols.
+The siege turned in time to a blockade, and with the blockade appeared
+famine. The besieged were forced to eat dogs, cats, shoes, and at last
+they ate people. After the blockade had continued a full year and
+resistance was exhausted, the inhabitants sent to Yshmut declaring that
+there were no more defenders in Mayafarkin. He sent Oroktu Noyon, who
+found only seventy half famished people. The Mongols rushed in to
+pillage. The two champions went to a house top whence they killed men
+as they passed them; surrounded at last they refused to surrender and
+died fighting desperately. In the spring of 1260 the famous old town of
+Mayafarkin was in the possession of Mongols. Prince Kamil and nine
+Mameluks were captured, taken to Telbashir, and led into the presence
+of Hulagu, who put Kamil to death in a horrible manner: bits of flesh
+were torn from his body and thrust down his throat until life left him.
+His head, cut off and fixed on a lance, was borne from Aleppo to
+Hamath, and taken finally to Damascus. There it was carried through the
+streets and tambourines and singers moved before it. At last it was
+tied to the wall next the gate El Feradis (Paradise) where it hung till
+Kutuz made his entry after the victory of Ain Jalut. The Sultan had
+this head placed in the mausoleum of Hussein, son of Ali.
+
+Of the nine Mameluks in Mayafarkin eight were put to death. The last
+man was spared because he had been chief hunter for the Prince of
+Mayafarkin, and Hulagu took him into his service.
+
+Yshmut now attacked Mardin at command of his father. Hulagu had invited
+Saïd of Mardin to come to him, but Saïd was distrustful, and sent his
+son Mozaffer, to render homage at Aleppo; Hulagu sent him back to
+Mardin and said: “Tell thy father to come; prevent his revolt and thus
+save him.” The father would not listen and imprisoned Mozaffer; then
+Hulagu sent troops against Mardin. The place was on a height beyond
+reach of projectiles, and the attackers were forced to blockade it. At
+the end of eight months an epidemic and famine had produced fearful
+ravages; Prince Saïd died of the malady or, as some historians state,
+of poison administered by his son. Mozaffer was set free then and
+surrendered; Hulagu gave him Mardin which he kept till his death in
+1296.
+
+After the capture of Bagdad and the destruction of the Kalifat Abul
+Kassin Ahmed, an uncle of the Kalif Mostassim, had succeeded in
+escaping and had found a refuge among Beduins in Irak till 1261, when
+he went to Damascus attended by Arabs. Beibars sent orders at once to
+treat this descendant of Abbas with distinction, and conduct him to
+Egypt. When Kassin Ahmed approached Cairo, June 19, 1261, the Sultan
+went out to meet him with a great suite of military leaders, also
+cadis, ulema and an immense throng of people, followed by Jewish Rabbis
+bearing their Scriptures, and Christian priests bearing with them the
+Gospels.
+
+Four days later the chief functionaries and the ulema assembled in the
+palace, and Ahmed’s genealogy was established. Taj ud din the chief
+justice gave him the oath of allegiance, next the Sultan pledged his
+homage and faith in case the new Kalif acted always according to the
+Divine law of Islam, and all traditions of the Prophet, commanded what
+the law commands, forbade what the law forbids, and walked in the ways
+of the Almighty. Also that he received legally in the name of God the
+contributions of the faithful and gave them to those who had the right
+to receive them. The Kalif then invested Beibars with the sovereignty
+of countries submitted to Islam, and those which God might permit him
+to free from unbelievers. This act of investiture was fixed in a
+diploma, which was given to the Sultan. Then every man present pledged
+faith to the Kalif, now called Al Mostansir Billahi, and gave him
+homage. The Sultan sent an order to every prefect in the provinces to
+have the new Kalif recognized, his name mentioned in public prayers and
+stamped on new coinage. The Kalif gave the Sultan a mantle of the House
+of Abbas. Some days later this successor of Mohammed rode forth in
+public on a white steed with black trappings. He wore a black turban, a
+violet mantle, a collar of gold, and the sabre of a Beduin. On the day
+of installation the Kalif invested the Sultan with robes of office, and
+put a gold chain on his neck. After that the vizir read the diploma
+conferring sovereign power upon Beibars. The Sultan now mounted and
+rode through the city with great pomp and the utmost solemnity,
+preceded by the vizir and the grand marshal, who carried alternately
+above their heads the diploma given by the Kalif. All houses were
+decorated, and the Sultan’s horse walked on the richest of stuffs which
+had been spread on the streets of his passage.
+
+The following Friday the Kalif preached in the mosque of the citadel;
+the Sultan, uncertain of the effect which he might produce, and to be
+sure of results in every case, so arranged as to shower gold and silver
+coins from above on his person, and thus interrupt the discourse which
+he was giving.
+
+Beibars now formed for the Kalif a household with all the officers,
+horsemen and servants which were requisite. He added one hundred
+Mameluks, each having three dromedaries and three horses; he gave also
+two thousand mounted warriors, and a body of Beduins.
+
+The Sultan and the Kalif left Cairo for Damascus September 4th, 1262.
+On the 10th of October the Kalif took the road for Bagdad, attended by
+the generals Seïf ud din Bilban and Sonkor of Rūm who had been deputed
+to go with him to the Euphrates, and to hold themselves ready to follow
+into Irak at the first signal from the Kalif.
+
+The three sons of Bedr ud din Lulu, then princes of Mosul, Jeziret and
+Sindjar, set out with the Kalif, but halted at Rahbah despite his
+entreaties, leaving with him, however, sixty Mameluks. Mostansir was
+joined at that place by Yezid, an emir who was chief of the Al Fazl,
+and had with him four hundred Beduins, and by Eidikin, an emir who
+brought with him thirty horsemen from Hamath.
+
+Advancing by the western bank of the Euphrates they met at Ana the
+Abbasid Iman, Al Hakim, attended by seven hundred Turkmen; Al Burunli,
+the Mameluk chief who had seized command of Aleppo in spite of the
+Sultan, had made Al Hakim set out with these horsemen. The Kalif
+overtook Hakim and his party at the river where the seven hundred
+Turkmen deserted.
+
+Thereupon Hakim adhered to Mostansir, and was ready to assist in
+installing him at Bagdad. The people of Ana had refused to receive
+Hakim. The Sultan of Egypt, they said, had recognized a Kalif who was
+coming; to him alone would they open the gates of their city.
+
+When Mostansir appeared he was met with due homage. Haditse acted like
+Ana, but Hitt refused sternly to open its gates and was taken by
+violence. The Kalif entered the city November 24 with his warriors, who
+plundered both Christians and Jews without mercy.
+
+Kara Buga, the commander of those Mongols who guarded Arabian Irak,
+hearing of Mostansir’s approach marched against Anbar with five
+thousand cavalry. Anbar was friendly to the Kalif and might give him
+aid. Kara Buga entered the city on a sudden and cut down the people on
+all sides. Bahadur Ali, governor of Bagdad, went hither also with the
+troops in his garrison. These two commanders after joining their forces
+near Anbar encountered the new Kalif who, ranging the Turkmans on his
+right, the Arabs on his left, charged himself in the center. Bahadur’s
+troops took to flight and the greater part threw themselves into the
+river. Kara Buga put some of his forces in ambush and waited. When the
+Turkmen and Arabs met the Mongols they fought very little, and rushed
+off in panic. The center, now left unsupported, was surrounded and
+overpowered, crushed into disorder and cut to pieces. The Kalif was
+lost in that chaos, and was never seen again. According to some he was
+killed, others said that he escaped to Arabs and died of his wounds
+while among them.
+
+Mostansir was, as is said, a man of great strength and good courage,
+with a loftiness of bearing very different indeed from Mostassim, the
+last Kalif of the Kalifat, who was trampled to death under horsehoofs
+at Hulagu’s camp ground. But whatever his merits this adventure reached
+the acme of folly. It is difficult to explain how the Sultan of Egypt
+with all his shrewd management could have spent so much treasure on a
+journey foredoomed beyond doubt to disaster, unless he had a sinister
+motive in the enterprise, and wished it to end in the destruction of
+that Kalif whom he had perhaps inaugurated through diplomacy and for
+his own aggrandizement. One historian declares that Beibars was sending
+ten thousand warriors to set up the Kalif in Bagdad, and giving him as
+aids the Prince of Mosul and his brothers, when one of these warned the
+Sultan that the Kalif if settled in Bagdad might take Egypt from him.
+We may well suppose that Beibars wished simply to establish his own
+power with firmness, and give himself freedom in Islam, and that he
+wished to be rid of the new Kalif so as to put in his place a man who
+could not be strong, and who would be obedient. Hakim, who met the late
+Kalif at Anbar, claimed to be fourth in descent from Mostershed who was
+slain in 1135 by the Assassins. This Hakim now fled to Egypt, where
+Beibars received him with distinction and gave him a residence in the
+palace called Munasir al Kebesh. His duties were simply to legitimize
+with the holiness of Islam the Sultan of Egypt, and ward off all
+Fatimid pretensions. His power beyond that was as nothing. He was
+styled “Shadow of God upon Earth, Ruler by command of God.” He lived
+this life for forty years and was first in that line of Egyptian Kalifs
+who were puppets of the Mameluke sovereigns. An end was put to that
+line only when Egypt was conquered by Selim I. and the Turkish Sultans
+took to themselves the Kalifat, and became the successors of Mohammed.
+
+Salih, the eldest son of Bedr ud din of Mosul, met a worse fate by far
+than the Kalif. Soon after the accession of Beibars Salih’s brother
+Saïd, who had been driven from Aleppo by the Mamelukes, went to Egypt,
+whence he wrote to his brother advising a visit to Beibars, who when he
+had conquered the Mongols could make Salih ruler not of some petty
+place in the West but of great Eastern regions. This letter was kept
+very carefully by Salih, who took it to bed with him. Ibn Yunus, an
+official who had been a great personage in Bedr ud din’s day, stole it
+from under the coverlet while Salih was sleeping. He set out
+immediately for Baashika his birthplace in the province of Nineveh.
+
+On missing the letter Salih sent two slaves to Baashika. Ibn Yunus,
+fearing dire punishment if caught, turned toward Erbil and at Bakteli,
+on the way, he advised one Abad Ullah to flee with all his people
+without waiting, for Salih would destroy every Christian and escape
+straightway to Egypt. He fled then to Erbil.
+
+Meanwhile Salih, fearing lest Ibn Yunus might give the letter to the
+Mongols, withdrew with his son, Alai ul Mulk, toward Syria. Turkan
+Khatun, his wife, would not go with him. She remained in Mosul with
+Yasan, the Mongol prefect. She and Yasan shut the gates and prepared a
+defence for the city. One of Salih’s officers, Alam ud din Sanjar, left
+him while journeying and returned to occupy Mosul. He found the gates
+closed and began to attack them. This attack lasted several days
+unsuccessfully. At last a number of citizens threw the gates open and
+he entered. The prefect and Salih’s wife fled to the citadel.
+
+Sanjar killed all the Christians who would not accept Islam, hence many
+renounced their religion to save themselves.
+
+Meanwhile the Kurds attacked places in the surrounding country, and
+slew a great number of Christians. They took the Kudida convent by
+storm and put to death many of its inmates. The monastery of Mar
+Matthew they besieged during four months with warriors on foot and one
+thousand on horseback. They attempted to storm it, but the monks
+repelled every effort, and burned all scaling ladders with naphtha. The
+Kurds now let down two immense rocks from a neighboring mountain top.
+One of these remained fast in the wall and was fixed there like a stone
+in its setting; the other passed through and left a wide breach behind
+it. When the Kurds tried to rush through the opening the monks met them
+with a desperate valor, using stones, darts, and every weapon in the
+monastery. They kept the Kurds out and filled up the great breach. The
+Abbot, Abunser, fought with the foremost and lost one eye in that
+venomous struggle. But in time the defenders were failing and would
+have been forced to surrender had the attacks been continued. But the
+Kurds too had their weakness. They greatly feared an attack from the
+Mongols, though this they concealed very cleverly, and even extorted a
+ransom. The monks gave the silver and gold of the churches, and all the
+treasure which they could get from the people, after which the Kurds
+left them.
+
+At Erbil the Mongol emir, Kutleg Beg, cut down men and women without
+mercy. Salih’s officer, Sanjar, having heard that the Mongols were
+moving on Mosul, marched out and engaged them; he was killed and his
+forces defeated. Salih, the Melik of Mosul, and his son had gone
+meanwhile to Beibars who was then at Damascus with the new Kalif. He
+was received with great pomp by the Sultan, as were also his brothers.
+Horses and banners and robes of honor were presented to them, also
+diplomas confirming their titles. These diplomas were strengthened
+further by the Kalif. The three brothers then escorted the Kalif to
+Rahbah, as has been already stated, where they left him, each going
+back to his own place.
+
+Salih returned to Mosul which was at that time invested by Mongols.
+Samdagu, the commander, having learned from a spy that Salih was
+coming, withdrew to a point not remote from the city where he waited.
+When Salih had passed the gate, Samdagu reinvested it with two tumans
+of warriors and twenty-five catapults. He then began siege work which
+lasted from December till summer.
+
+Salih gave good gifts to his garrison, and promised that the Sultan
+would send reinforcements. The defence was a brave one and effective.
+One day eighty Mongols succeeded in scaling the bulwarks, but were
+killed every man of them and their heads shot out from catapults to
+their comrades.
+
+Samdagu felt need of reinforcements which came to him promptly from
+Hulagu. At last the Sultan commanded Akkush, who was governing Aleppo,
+to march on Mosul and relieve it. He set out, and sent a pigeon with
+news of his coming. This bird settled down, by a wonderful chance, on a
+catapult in Samdagu’s army, was caught, and through the letter attached
+to it gave notice not to the Prince of Mosul but to Samdagu.
+
+Samdagu sent straightway a strong corps of warriors to beat Akkush back
+and destroy him if possible. The Mongols were placed in three ambushes
+where they waited. The Egyptians suffered partly from these ambushes
+and partly from a fierce wind which blew in their faces, and hurled
+clouds of sand at them. The Sultan’s army was slaughtered except a mere
+remnant. The Mongols attacked then the people of Sinjar, killed nearly
+all the men and seized captive the women and children. Next they put on
+the clothing of Akkush’s dead warriors and moved toward Mosul. When
+nearing that city they were seen from the watch-towers by the people,
+who mistook them for forces sent by the Sultan, and went out in large
+numbers to meet them. These citizens were surrounded immediately by the
+Mongols and slain to the very last person.
+
+When the siege had continued six months the fierce heat of summer was
+raging and each side ceased its action. The Mongol commander made a
+promise to spare all and send Salih to Hulagu with a request for full
+pardon. Thereupon Salih yielded and sent to Samdagu a letter containing
+the terms of surrender.
+
+He went to the Mongol camp from the city June 25, 1262, with presents
+and dainties, preceded by dancers, musicians and harlequins. The Mongol
+commander, forgetting all promises, would not receive Salih, or look at
+him, nay more, he put the prince under a strong guard immediately.
+
+But Samdagu reassured the people; they were to be of good cheer he
+declared and fear nothing. Meanwhile they must tear down the walls and
+remove them. They did this work straightway, and when all was cleared,
+and the whole place was laid open, a massacre began in that woebegone
+city. Nine days did that terrible slaughter continue, till the sword
+had finished every one. Mosul was deserted, not a soul now remained
+there. It was only when the Mongols had moved far away that eight or
+ten hundred people who had hidden in the hills and in caverns crept out
+and came back to inhabit the city.
+
+The first governor of this spectral and death-stricken Mosul was that
+Ibn Yunus who had stolen the letter from Salih and betrayed him.
+
+Salih was sent to Hulagu for a judgment. The sentence was revolting and
+hideous. The late Prince of Mosul was deprived of his clothing and
+wrapped in a sheepskin just stripped from the animal. This skin was
+fastened firmly round Salih who, exposed to the sun of July in that
+climate, suffered terribly. The skin was soon covered with a life most
+repulsive and the all conquering worm now lived with Salih. The Prince
+had passed a whole month in that horrible sheepskin when death came to
+him.
+
+His son, Alai ud din, a boy of three years, was sent back to Mosul and
+put to death there. They made the child drunk, tied cords around his
+middle very tightly in such fashion as to force upward his entrails;
+they then cut his body across into two pieces and hung one on each bank
+of the Tigris, on a gibbet. Mohai, son of Zeblak, who with others had
+opened the gates to Salih, was beheaded.
+
+Samdagu after his triumph at Mosul marched on to Jeziret to which he
+laid siege all the following winter and spring and a part of the summer
+of 1263. This place was saved from destruction by the bishop, Hanan
+Yeshua (Grace of Jesus), a Nestorian, who through his knowledge of
+alchemy was a favorite of Hulagu, to whom he went straightway and
+obtained a yarlyk, or decree securing their lives to the people. The
+gates were thrown open to Samdagu, who had the walls leveled at once.
+Gulbeg, an officer of the Jeziret prince, was made governor, but
+Samdagu on learning soon after that Gulbeg had given the late prince’s
+messenger gold which that prince himself had secreted, put Gulbeg to
+death promptly.
+
+About this time Salar of Bagdad, a deserting emir, went from Irak to
+Egypt. This man was a native of Kipchak and had once been a Mameluk of
+Dhahir, the Kalif, and from him received rule over Vassit, Kufat and
+Hillet; this he retained under Mostassim and Mostansir. After the ruin
+of Bagdad by Hulagu, Salar joined his forces with others in resisting
+the Mongols, but finding that they had not strength to do anything
+effective he went to the desert of Hidjaz and was six months in it when
+a message from Hulagu bestowed former rule on him. He went and took it.
+When Beibars became Sultan he wrote to Salar repeatedly inviting him to
+Cairo. Salar was inclined to the visit but deferred it; he wished to
+secure all his treasures.
+
+Meanwhile the Sultan said one day to Kilidj of Bagdad: “Salar thy
+friend is coming to see me.” “I do not think he will come,” said the
+other, “he is ruling in Irak, why leave what he has which is certain
+for something in Egypt?” “Very well,” said the Sultan, “unless he comes
+of himself I will force him.” Beibars then sent a messenger to Salar
+with letters, as it were in reply to some others; he sent a second man
+also to kill the first as soon as he crossed Salar’s boundary, and
+leave the man where he fell with the letters upon him. All this was
+done as Beibars had commanded. Mongol outposts discovered the body and
+searched it. The letters were sent to the court for perusal. In
+Hulagu’s service there were sons of former Mameluks of the Kalif. These
+men told Salar directly what had happened and he knew straightway that
+Beibars had tricked him. He received soon an order to appear at the
+Mongol court, but fearing death there from Hulagu he fled to the Sultan
+of Egypt, leaving behind both his family and property.
+
+Beibars received him with distinction and bestowed on the fugitive a
+military command with a fief of good value.
+
+Hulagu was stopped now very seriously in his plans against Syria and
+Egypt by the Golden Horde Khan, Berkai, his cousin, son of Juchi. The
+death of Batu, 1255, was followed quickly by that of Sartak his son and
+successor. Next after Sartak came Sartak’s infant son, Ulakchi, under
+the care of his mother. The child died some months later and Berkai,
+the third son of Juchi, was put on the throne in 1256. Berkai had been
+converted to Islam and was spreading its doctrines effectively. Strong
+through support of Mangu, the Grand Khan, whom he had helped to the
+Empire, Berkai now reproached Hulagu with needless cruelties, with
+slaughter of both friends and enemies; with the ruin of many cities;
+with the death of the Kalif, brought about without sanction of the
+Jinghis Khan family. There were still other causes of complaint. Three
+descendants of Juchi had marched into Persia with Hulagu: Balakan and
+Tumar, a grandson and great grandson of Juchi. These two at the head of
+Batu’s contingent, and Kuli, also a grandson of Juchi. Kuli led the
+contingent of Urda’s, his father. Tumar was accused before Hulagu of
+attempting to harm him, through witchcraft. He confessed guilt when
+examined while in torture. Hulagu out of respect for Berkai sent Tumar
+to him attended by Sugundjak, a commander. Berkai, thinking that
+Tumar’s offence had been proven, sent him back to Hulagu, who had the
+prince put to death without waiting. Balakan died soon after as did
+also Kuli. Berkai supposed these deaths caused by poison and was
+enraged. The families of those princes escaped then from Persia. Policy
+may have played a large part in these murders, for Berkai and the
+descendants of Juchi desired the election of Arik Buga, while Hulagu
+favored Kubilai in the contest for Grand Khanship. Hulagu, tired of
+excessive reproaches from Berkai, was ready for warfare. On hearing
+this, Berkai declared his intention of avenging the blood of his
+relatives and many thousands of others. He sent southward an army of
+thirty thousand commanded by Nogai, a cousin of Tumar, who marched on
+and camped near Shirvan beyond the Caucasus. When the troops of the
+princes descended from Juchi saw war breaking out between their own
+sovereign and Hulagu they left Persia quickly. One part went home
+through Derbend, another, pursued by Hulagu’s warriors, passed through
+Khorassan to seize upon Gazni and lands touching India.
+
+Hulagu left Alatag, his summer camp ground, and marched at the head of
+an army gathered in from all Persia. On November 11, 1262, his vanguard
+commanded by Shiramun was thoroughly defeated near Shemaki, but some
+days later Abatai repaired this reverse by a victory near Shirvan.
+
+Hulagu advanced to continue this victory and met the enemy north of
+Derbend near the Caspian. Nogai was put to flight and pursued by a
+large force of warriors who seized a camp left by him north of the
+Terek in which were vast numbers of cattle and of women and children.
+Hulagu’s army remained at that camp and for three days continued to
+drink, and to yield themselves up to every indulgence accessible.
+
+All on a sudden Nogai reappeared with his army. Hulagu’s men were
+surprised near the river and thoroughly defeated (January 13, 1263).
+The only escape for survivors was to cross the frozen river. They tried
+this, the ice broke and immense numbers sank in the Terek. Hulagu
+returned to Tebriz greatly grieved and cast down by the overthrow, but
+he summoned at once a new army and avenged his wrath on those merchants
+of Kipchak whom he found in Tebriz at his coming. He put them to death,
+and then seized their property. Berkai answered straightway by killing
+all traders within his reach who were subjects of Hulagu, and living in
+Kipchak. Hulagu next killed Bokhara people. Population had grown in
+that city, though not greatly, since its ruin. It reached seventeen
+thousand according to a census. Of these five thousand were subjects of
+Kipchak, three thousand belonged to Siurkukteni, the mother of Hulagu,
+and the rest to the Grand Khan. Hulagu commanded that those five
+thousand subjects of Berkai be driven to the plains near the city;
+there the men were slaughtered with swords; the women and children were
+reduced to captivity.
+
+In 1264, the year following, report ran that Nogai was to lead an
+attack on lands south of the Caucasus. While Hulagu was preparing to
+meet this, Jelal ud din, son of the second chancellor to the late
+Kalif, told Hulagu that there were thousands of Kipchaks then living in
+Persia who would serve in the vanguard with readiness. They knew
+northern methods of warfare, and would be, as he said, of use beyond
+others in the campaign against Berkai. Hulagu sent this man to summon
+those warriors, and commanded that supplies, arms, and money be given
+him in sufficiency, and that no one should thwart him.
+
+When Jelal had assembled those people of Kipchak he declared that
+Hulagu would put them in the vanguard to be slain there. “I do not wish
+this,” said he. “Follow me and we will free ourselves from Mongols.” He
+gave the men money and arms from the treasury and arsenals of Bagdad;
+then, he told the commandant of the city that to gather provisions he
+was making a raid against Kafadje Arabs, at war with Hulagu; that done,
+he would march toward Shirvan. He crossed the Euphrates, all his men
+following, taking with them their families and baggage. Then he
+declared to them that he was going to Syria and Egypt. Hulagu was
+beside himself with anger when he learned of Jelal’s treachery.
+
+Beibars, the shrewd Sultan of Egypt, noting Hulagu’s alertness, and the
+movements of Berkai, which might mean, as he thought, an invasion of
+Syria, sent mounted men toward the boundary of Persia to reconnoitre.
+Later on he commanded the people of Damascus to move to Egypt with
+their families for safety, and thus leave more food for his warriors.
+He instructed the governor of Aleppo to burn all the grass in the
+regions toward Amid. This was done to the width of ten days’ journey.
+Information came next to the Sultan that a Kipchak detachment had
+appeared in his territory. These men, people told him, were subjects of
+Berkai and were from the contingent given Hulagu on his coming to
+Persia. Berkai had recalled them, if stopped they were to take refuge
+in Egypt.
+
+The Sultan commanded his officials to treat these men well, to give
+them provisions and clothing. They came to Cairo about two hundred
+strong and under four captains. Each captain received the land given to
+commanders of a hundred. Beibars gave also clothing, horses and money.
+All became Moslems. This generous treatment induced others to seek an
+asylum in Egypt.
+
+When he had talked with these strangers concerning their sovereign and
+country the Sultan resolved to send envoys to Berkai. He chose for this
+office Seïf ud din Keshrik, a man who had once served Jelal ud din the
+Kwaresmian Sultan; he knew the country to which he was sent and its
+language. Madjd ud din, a juris-consult, went with him. Two men of the
+Kipchaks who had received hospitality from Beibars were attached to the
+party. The envoys bore a letter from Beibars assuring Berkai of the
+Sultan’s good feeling and urging him to act against Hulagu.
+
+The Sultan’s troops made up of many nations were lauded; his vassals,
+Mohammedan and Christian, were mentioned; the letter ended by stating
+that a body of warriors had visited Cairo and declaring themselves
+subjects of Berkai, had been received gladly because of him. To this
+letter the pedigree of the new Kalif, Hakim, was added.
+
+The envoy and his associates set out for the Volga, but were stopped in
+Greek regions by the Emperor Michael [17] who had complaints against
+Berkai whose troops had been raiding his possessions. Michael had sent
+some time before a Greek document in which he had sworn peace and amity
+to the Sultan.
+
+Beibars summoned straightway the Patriarch and bishop to get their
+decision on oath breaking. They declared that by breaking an oath a
+sovereign abjures his religion. Beibars sent to the Emperor this
+document signed by the Patriarch and bishops; he sent also a letter to
+Berkai, in which he implored him to stop all attacks on the Empire.
+
+Michael now freed the envoys, who sailed over the Black Sea and landed
+at Sudak whence they crossed the Crimea and went to Sarai situated
+somewhat east of the Volga. They were twenty days making that journey.
+Berkai’s vizir, Al Furussi, went out to meet them. When instructed in
+Sarai ceremonial they were taken to Berkai, who was in a tent large
+enough for five hundred persons. They left behind every weapon and were
+careful not to touch the threshold while entering. Presented on the
+left of the throne they were taken with the suite to the right of it,
+after the letter from Beibars had been read before Berkai. At the right
+of the Khan sat his principal wife. Fifty or sixty high officers
+occupied stools near him.
+
+The Khan addressed several questions to the envoys. He did not detain
+them at Sarai without need and sent with them envoys to the Sultan at
+Cairo where Seïf ud din arrived after an absence of two years.
+
+About six months after the Sultan’s men had started from Cairo two
+envoys from Berkai arrived in that city; both men were Mussulmans and
+had passed through the Byzantine capital. One was an officer, Jelal ud
+din el Kadi, the other a Sheik, Nur ud din Ali. Beibars, who had just
+come from Syria after the taking of Karak, gave them an audience in the
+Castle of the Mountain in presence of his commanders and a numerous
+assembly.
+
+Berkai announced in a letter that he with his four brothers had
+received Islam. He proposed an alliance against Hulagu, asking to send
+a corps of Egyptians toward the Euphrates. He expressed also interest
+in one of the Rūm Sultans, Yzz ud din, and asked Beibars to aid him.
+
+The Sultan gave these envoys from Berkai many proofs of munificence,
+and when they were going he added his envoys to the company. These
+envoys took with them an answer on seventy pages half margin. Rich
+presents went also to Berkai, a copy of the Koran, made, as was stated,
+by Osman the Kalif, with Osman’s pulpit and prayer carpet; tunics,
+candelabras and torches from Barbary; all kinds of linen from Egypt;
+cotton stuffs, morocco, tapestry, sabres, bows, arms, helmets, breast
+pieces, saddles, bridles, boxes filled with arrow heads, vases of dried
+grapes, gilded lamps, black eunuchs, women who could prepare delicate
+dishes, Arab horses, dromedaries, white camels, wild asses, a giraffe,
+and some balsam. A turban which had been in Mecca was added also, for
+Beibars had sent an officer in Berkai’s name on a pilgrimage to the
+holy city, and messengers to Medina and Mecca to put the Khan’s name
+next his own in the public prayer of each Friday; this was done also in
+Jerusalem and Cairo. He sent to Berkai the first Friday sermon of the
+new Kalif.
+
+Beibars sent back with the Berkai envoys the two hundred warriors from
+Kipchak.
+
+Three months after the envoys had gone thirteen hundred Kipchaks set
+out for Cairo. Beibars commanded to treat them well on the way, and he
+went out to meet them. They dismounted and bowed to the earth when they
+saw him. Soon after a second and a third party came. Among these were
+ten officers of distinction with the title of Aga. All were treated
+most liberally. Beibars asked them to accept Islam. This they did,
+accepting the faith in his presence.
+
+The Sultan received also in Cairo a number of high officers from Fars,
+chiefs of the Arab tribe, Kafadje, and the emir of Arabian Irak. These
+came to seek an asylum in Egypt, and he gave them fiefs. The next year
+he sent Shuja ud din, one of his chamberlains, to Berkai, begging him
+to stop his people from raiding the lands of the Byzantine Emperor, who
+had asked his good offices. He sent at the same time three turbans to
+Berkai which he had worn while making the pilgrimage to Mecca, two
+marble vases and other presents.
+
+While Hulagu was defending his northern frontier against Berkai’s
+armies Hayton, the King of Cilicia, attacked Egyptian regions. Hayton
+when returning from Hulagu’s court saw at Heraclea Rokn ud din, the Rūm
+Sultan, with whom he formed a close friendship. On reaching home he
+summoned troops and marched against Aintab.
+
+Beibars, informed always with accuracy of what was happening near his
+borders, had already commanded troops in Hamat and Hims to march on
+Aleppo. Egyptian troops followed quickly. The Armenians were surprised,
+and put to flight with some loss. Hayton summoned in seven hundred
+Mongols, who were in Rūm at that juncture, and advancing, was joined by
+one hundred and fifty from Antioch. This little army encamped on the
+steppes of Harem where it suffered from rain, snow and scant food and
+was at last forced to retreat, losing meanwhile many warriors.
+
+Hayton had a thousand Mongol coats and caps which he put on his men to
+make it seem that Mongol troops had come to him. This trick merely
+brought more Egyptians against him. They attacked Hayton in force and
+dispersed his small army; after that the Sultan’s men rushed into
+Antioch lands, and committed great havoc.
+
+Beibars was informed now by secret servants in Irak that Hulagu had
+sent two agents to corrupt leading officers of Egypt, and that these
+men would visit Siss as they traveled. This news was confirmed by his
+agents in that capital of Armenia. The Sultan learned afterward from
+Acre that those two agents had gone to Damascus; he commanded to arrest
+them directly. Brought to Cairo they could not deny the accusation, so
+Beibars hanged them promptly.
+
+The Egyptians intercepted this same year a letter from Hulagu to
+Mogith, Prince of Karak; this seemed an answer to some communication,
+from which it might be inferred that the prince had been asking the
+Mongols to take Egypt, and also Syria to Gaza. Beibars set out
+straightway for Gaza, and feigning great friendship for Mogith invited
+him to Gaza. Mogith made the visit, but the moment he entered the camp
+he was seized.
+
+Beibars next summoned the chief judge of Damascus, the princes,
+feudatories, commanders and notable persons, also European ambassadors,
+and had Hulagu’s letters to Mogith read in their presence. He declared
+thereupon that this letter was the cause of the prince’s detention.
+After that he seized Karak and returned to Cairo where he took Mogith’s
+life without waiting.
+
+Hulagu was interested greatly during the last year of his rule in
+building a palace at Alatag, and in finishing the observatory at
+Meraga. Though not a scholar himself he liked to converse with learned
+men, especially astronomers and alchemists, but beyond all the latter,
+who had known how to captivate his fancy, and on whom he expended large
+sums of money.
+
+Administration had now, (1264), become greatly important. Hulagu’s rule
+extended from the Oxus to Syria and the Byzantine Empire. He gave his
+eldest son, Abaka, Mazanderan, Irak and Khorassan; to Yshmut his third
+son, Azerbaidjan and Arran; to Tudan, one of his commanders, Diarbekr
+and Diarrabiat up to the Euphrates; Rūm he gave to Moyin ud din
+Pervane; to the Melik Sadr ud din, the province of Tebriz, and Fars to
+an emir, Ikiatu. According to Rashid he gave Kerman to Turkan Khatun,
+but this is questioned by some historians. In 1263 he had put to death
+his vizir Seïf ud din Bitikdji while on the march from Shemaki to
+Derbend, and put in his place Shems ud din Juveini, whose brother, Alai
+ud din, Ata ul Mulk, was made governor of Bagdad. This same year Hulagu
+condemned to death Zein ud din Muyyed Suleiman, son of the emir El
+Akarbani, better known as El Hafizzi, a name which he had taken from
+his former master, Prince Hafizzi. He was accused of having turned to
+his own profit a part of the income from the province of Damascus.
+Hulagu reproached him for his perfidy. “Thou hast betrayed me,” said
+he, “thou didst betray also Prince Nassir, and before him Prince
+Hafizzi, and earlier than all the Baalbek prince.”
+
+The death sentence which struck down El Hafizzi included his family,
+his brothers, his relatives and clients, fifty persons in all. Only two
+escaped, one was his son, and the other his nephew.
+
+The troubles in Fars at this time roused Hulagu’s attention very
+keenly. The princes of that region were subject to Mongol dominion from
+the first. After the death, in 1231, of the Atabeg of Fars, Saïd Abu
+Bekr, his son and successor, sent his brother Tehemten with his homage
+to Ogotai and also rich presents. The Grand Khan gave a patent of
+investiture with the title Kutlug Khan. Fars had been saved by prompt
+submission from every Mongol hostility. Its sovereign paid the Grand
+Khan each year thirty thousand gold dinars, a small sum if the wealth
+of that region be considered; presents also were given.
+
+When Hulagu came to the Transoxiana Abu Bekr’s nephew, Seljuk Shah,
+came with rich presents to greet him. Seljuk Shah was befittingly
+received at the Oxus by Hulagu; but was afterward imprisoned.
+
+Abu Bekr died in 1260, after a reign of thirty years. His son Saïd
+succeeded him but died twelve days after reaching the throne, leaving a
+son of tender years in the care of his mother, Turkan Khatun. This
+child, named Mohammed, died in 1262, and the Fars throne fell to
+Mohammed Shah, one of his uncles, a son of Salgar Shah and grandson of
+Saïd, son of Zengwi. This prince had commanded the contingent of Fars
+in Hulagu’s great campaign against Bagdad. Brave, but unsparing and
+dissolute, his tyranny had roused great complaints upon all sides.
+Called to the camp by Hulagu, who feigned a desire to consult him
+concerning Fars matters, the prince delayed him under various excuses
+till Turkan Khatun, now his wife, who was displeased with his conduct,
+but especially with his treatment of herself, had the man seized as he
+was passing the harem and taken to Hulagu, whom she informed that
+Mohammed Shah was unfitted to govern. This decision of the princess
+found favor with Hulagu, so she had her husband’s brother, Seljuk Shah,
+freed from prison, and though his temper was untamed and fiery, she
+married him soon after.
+
+One night when flushed with wine at a banquet Seljuk Shah was taunted
+with having risen through the favor of his wife, and not through any
+other cause, and when besides her conduct was described, a fit of fury
+seized the man. He commanded a eunuch to cut her head off immediately
+and bring it to him. When the black man brought the head of the
+princess, Seljuk Shah tore two splendid pearls from the ears, and threw
+them to musicians who were playing at the banquet.
+
+When this raging man heard that Hulagu’s prefects in Shiraz, Ogul Beg
+and Kutluk Bitikdji, disapproved of this horrible action, instead of
+trying to appease them he killed one with his own hand, and cut down
+the other through his servants; he murdered also the people attached to
+them. At news of these horrors Hulagu commanded to execute Mohammed
+Shah, to whom he had just given permission to return to his country,
+and ordered his generals, Altadju and Timur, to march against Seljuk
+Shah. Their two divisions were to be strengthened by troops from
+Ispahan, Yezd, Itch and Kerman.
+
+Altadju sent Seljuk a message from Ispahan, stating that if he repented
+he might yet obtain pardon, and that he would act in his favor. The
+raging prince maltreated the messenger cruelly. Altadju marched after
+that into Fars with the forces of the sovereign of Kerman, the Atabeg
+of Yezd, Seljuk’s brother-in-law, and other forces. Seljuk Shah retired
+to the Persian Gulf border. The magistrates and notables bearing flags,
+food and copies of the Koran went forth to meet Altadju. He reassured
+them, and commanded his troops, who were eager for pillage, not to harm
+them in any way. He marched with speed after Seljuk, who met him at
+Kazerun and displayed wondrous valor, but yielded to necessity at last
+and fled to the tomb of the holy Sheik Morshed, which the Mongols
+surrounded.
+
+At bay and in his last refuge Seljuk rushed to the sepulchre of the
+saint and broke with one blow of his club the flat covering of stone
+which was over the body. “O Sheik, give thy aid!” cried the fugitive.
+It was known in that region that the saint had declared, “When peril
+threatens, give notice on my tomb and I will save you.”
+
+The Mongols burst in the door and killed many of Seljuk’s people who
+had sought refuge there also. They then seized the fleeing Seljuk whom
+they killed at the tomb. No Salgarid was left save two daughters of the
+Atabeg Saïd, son of Abu Bekr. One of these, Uns Khatun, whose mother
+Seljuk Shah had beheaded, was placed on the Fars throne by Hulagu
+(1264).
+
+When Seljuk Shah’s life was ended Timur wished to put all Shiraz men to
+death, and thus give a warning to people such as Seljuk and his
+partisans, but Altadju insisted that the citizens were innocent, and
+that punishment like that might be given only at Hulagu’s order. The
+army was dismissed, and Altadju taking the most notable people of Fars
+went to Hulagu’s court with them.
+
+In 1265 another storm made its appearance in Fars: Sherif ud din, the
+Grand Kadi, a chief man among the descendants of the Prophet, who had
+lived many years in Khorassan and won signal fame by his piety, tried
+now to use this reputation to further his ambition. He had the people
+show him homage, and many joined him in each town and village which he
+visited. Multitudes believed him to be that Madhi expected in the
+fulness of time by the Shiites, and thought that he had the power to
+work wonders. Assuming the insignia of royalty he advanced from
+Shebankiare towards Shiraz with his followers who already formed a
+small army.
+
+The Mongol commander at Shiraz and Uns Kahtun’s chief minister took
+proper measures and marched against this descendant of Mohammed. They
+met near Guvar. Many thought that the “Madhi” was assisted by spirits,
+and that whoso attacked him would be paralyzed. For some time no man in
+the army of Shiraz would raise a hand against Sherif. At last two
+warriors ventured to discharge arrows at him, others followed this
+example. The Mongols then charged the insurgents, who fled; Sherif was
+killed in the mêlée with most of his followers.
+
+At the first news of this uprising Hulagu commanded to bastinado
+Altadju for sparing the people of Shiraz, and he ordered a tuman of
+warriors to punish them. When he learned, however, that Sherif ud din
+had been slain, and that the people of Shiraz were innocent, for the
+greater part, he recalled his first order.
+
+When Uns Khatun had ruled for one year she was sent to the Ordu to
+marry Mangu Timur, son of Hulagu, to whom she brought a rich dowry.
+Fars was managed thenceforth by the Divan, though in the name of Uns,
+who died during 1287 in Tebriz. With her died the Salgarid dynasty.
+
+At the end of 1264 the Mongols laid siege to El Biret. This place was
+considered the master stronghold of Syria. Akkush commanded for the
+Sultan of Egypt. The Mongols filled up the fosse of the fortress with
+wood. The besieged made a tunnel to that fosse and burned all the wood
+which then filled it. The Mongols worked with seventeen catapults, but
+they met firm and active resistance, women showing more courage than
+men in that struggle.
+
+News had reached Beibars earlier that Franks were advising the Mongols,
+by letter, to march into Syria during spring when the troops were at
+home, and their horses were out grazing. As soon as he heard that the
+Mongols were attacking El Biret, the Sultan sent a corps of four
+thousand to oppose them. He sent four days later another four thousand,
+who were to reach El Biret by forced marches. The Sultan himself set
+out January 27, 1265, and by February 3 was at Gaza, where he learned
+that the enemy had raised the siege and retreated.
+
+The Mongols at approach of their opponents had removed all their
+catapults, sunk their boats, and fled quickly. Beibars gave command to
+bring in arms and supplies for a siege that might last a whole decade.
+Three hundred robes of honor and a hundred thousand drachmas in money
+were sent out by him to reward those who had fought in El Biret.
+
+Hulagu died suddenly February 8, 1265, at the age of forty-eight. He
+was buried on the summit of that mountainous island called Tala in the
+lake of Urumia where a fortress had been built to contain his chief
+treasures. According to the custom of Mongols much gold and many gems
+were placed in the grave with him. Youthful maidens of rare beauty,
+richly dressed and adorned to the utmost, were buried alive to go with
+him. Four months and eleven days later died Dokuz Khatun, his chief
+wife, who was a Christian. She was the granddaughter of Wang Khan and
+so wise a woman that Mangu had in 1253 enjoined on Hulagu to take no
+step without consulting her. Rashid ud din states that through her
+influence Hulagu had favored the Christians and permitted them to build
+churches in many parts of the Empire.
+
+The death of Hulagu and his consort was deplored by the Christians, to
+whom both had shown great respect. Near the entrance of Dokuz Khatun’s
+palace was a church with its bell which tolled at all seasons. Hulagu
+had five wives; from these, not counting other women, he had thirteen
+sons and seven daughters.
+
+Accounts have come down to us of interesting judgments connected with
+Hulagu. On a time certain people came to him for justice; a file-maker
+had killed a near relative of theirs, and they asked that the criminal
+be given them for punishment. “Are file-makers numerous in the
+country?” asked Hulagu. “They are few,” was the answer. Hulagu thought
+a moment and answered: “I will give you a maker of pack saddles; since
+there are many of these we can spare one more easily than a
+file-maker.” The friends of the dead man declared that they wanted the
+murderer. Hulagu would not yield, and gave them a cow as an equivalent.
+
+A man lost his eye in a quarrel with a weaver, and came to get justice:
+The prince put out the eye of a maker of arrows in satisfaction. Some
+one asked why he did this. “A weaver,” said he, “needs both his eyes,
+while one is enough for the arrowsmith; he always closes the other when
+he tests the straightness of an arrow.”
+
+A letter without signature or date was sent to Hulagu from a Pope,
+supposed to be Alexander IV, though assigned to 1261. In this letter
+the Pope declared his delight on hearing that Hulagu wished to be a
+Catholic. “Think,” continued he, “how your power to subjugate Saracens
+will be increased if Christian warriors assist you openly and with
+force, as with God’s grace they would, sustained by Divine power under
+the shield of Christianity. In shaping your actions by Catholic
+teaching you will heighten your power and acquire endless glory.”
+Hulagu is credited not only with favoring Christians, but learned men
+of all creeds.
+
+In the spring of 1266 Berkai began a second campaign in lands south of
+the Caucasus. Abaka, who was Hulagu’s eldest son and successor, held
+the right bank of the Kur with his forces. Abaka sent forward Yshmut,
+his brother, who met Berkai’s first army commanded by Nogai. A stubborn
+engagement took place near the Aksu. Nogai’s army was forced to retreat
+on Shirvan in disorder, Nogai himself being wounded. Abaka now crossed
+the Kur, but hearing of Berkai’s advance with a numerous army, he
+recrossed and destroyed all the bridges.
+
+Berkai came up with his forces and the two armies camped on opposite
+sides of the river. They remained fifteen days in their places
+discharging arrows at each other, and sending words of defiance and
+ridicule. Neither could cross, hence no battle was possible. At last
+Berkai marched up the river intending to cross at some point east of
+Tiflis, but he died on the road, and that ended hostilities. His body
+was taken to Sarai, and there it was buried, 1266. His army disbanded.
+
+We must now return to the Kin Empire.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+DESTRUCTION OF THE KIN EMPIRE
+
+
+Nin Kia Su, the Kin Emperor (his Chinese name was Shu siu), had sent to
+Ogotai in 1229 his ambassador Ajuta with offerings to Jinghis Khan’s
+spirit, but the new sovereign would accept naught from a ruler who had
+refused to acknowledge Jinghis as his overlord.
+
+The Mongols, not regarding the death of Jinghis, had continued their
+warfare in China and pushed on through Shen si to the edge of the Sung
+Empire. At the end of 1227 they besieged Si ho chin, a city southeast
+of Kong chang and thirty leagues distant. The commandant defended the
+place with great valor, but, seeing that the Mongols would conquer at
+last, and then seize him, he invited Li shi, his wife, to think on her
+destiny. “We have enjoyed the good will of our sovereign,” said the
+woman, “we should die for the dynasty;” thereupon she took poison. Two
+of his sons and their wives followed her example. When he had burned
+the five bodies the commandant stabbed himself. Twenty-eight of his
+dependents died with him.
+
+In 1228 the Mongols pushed still farther south and Wanien Khada, the
+Kin general, sent to oppose them a mounted force under Cheng ho shang,
+who crushed a detachment eight thousand in number. This was the first
+triumph won by the Chinese in three decades, and roused the desire of
+resistance very greatly.
+
+In 1228 the Mongol general Tukulku invested King yang fu, when a second
+Kin envoy was sent to Mongolia with presents, which were not accepted.
+Ogotai now gave command over all Chinese troops in his service to three
+generals of that race, and made two of them governors.
+
+In 1230 the Mongols were beaten a second time by Yra buka, a Kin
+general, who stopped the siege of King yang by a victory. Elated by
+success, Yra buka freed from confinement an envoy whom during his
+regency Tului had sent with peace messages. While dismissing him the
+Kin general boasted unwisely in the following phrases: “We have had
+time to make ready. If ye wish battle now ye have only to come to us.”
+This challenge was taken to Ogotai who acted at once and set out with
+his brother Tului for China. They crossed the Hoang Ho and pushed on
+toward the southern part of Shen si, where they took sixty forts and
+laid siege to Fong tsiang, a large city.
+
+The Kin government now saw the error in their treatment of the envoy,
+and sent new terms of peace to the Mongols. The Grand Khan tried to
+persuade this envoy to visit Fong tsiang and obtain its surrender, but
+though threatened with death the man was immovable. Ogotai had the
+beard of the envoy cut off and then he imprisoned him. The siege of
+Fong tsiang was continued with vigor.
+
+The Kin emperor, seeing that his generals were slow in sending aid,
+hurried off Bai kua, his assistant, to urge them. They replied that
+their troops were too few to challenge the great Mongol army. The
+Emperor commanded to take men from Tung kwan, the strong fortress, give
+battle at once to the enemy, and force the relief of Fong tsiang which
+was sorely beleaguered.
+
+An attack was made soon, but the battle was indecisive. The Kin forces
+fell back the night following, however, and left the place to its own
+strength and fortune. Antchar, who commanded the Mongols, blockaded
+that city, captured places around it, kept out all provisions, and when
+food and supplies were exhausted Fong tsiang had no choice save
+surrender.
+
+Master of Shen si, Ogotai was eager now for Honan, the last land of the
+Kin Emperor, but this region was difficult to capture. On the north it
+was bounded by the Hoang Ho, on the west it was guarded by high rugged
+mountains, and the strong Tung kwan fortress. The Mongol officers were
+seeking for means to overcome or elude these great obstacles when Li
+chang go, a Kin officer, who had joined Ogotai’s service only after
+Fong tsiang had surrendered, proposed to enter Honan from the south,
+and traced out a route for the conquest. Tului saw that the plan was
+the same as that traced by Jinghis on his death bed, and commended it
+to Ogotai, his brother, immediately. Ogotai consulted his generals,
+accepted the plan, and commissioned Tului to follow it.
+
+It was agreed that the armies of the north and the south should meet at
+Nan king in the following February. Ogotai sent Chubugan to the Sung
+Emperor for permission to pass through a part of his country, but the
+envoy was killed after crossing the boundary. The deed astounded the
+Mongols, since the Sung court had requested their alliance somewhat
+earlier. This killing gave a good pretext later on, however, for
+attacking the Empire.
+
+Tului marched straightway on Pao ki where he assembled thirty thousand
+mounted warriors. First he captured the fortress Ta san kuan, destroyed
+the city Fong chin and opened a way through the Hwa mountains, though
+with immense labor. This mountain chain divides the Hoai water system
+from the Han and formed for some distance the boundary between the two
+Empires in China. Tului crossed this chain and thus entered Kin
+regions. When he had taken one hundred and forty towns and strong
+places, slain people in vast numbers, and driven others to barren
+regions where they perished, he fixed his camp near the Han and there
+he rested.
+
+On seeing the enemy at the southern border the Kin Empire was
+terrified. At the council called by the Emperor to find means of
+defence the majority were in favor of placing the army in towns near
+Nan king, where great stores must be gathered in quickly. The Mongols,
+worn out by long marching, could not attack in the open and would be
+forced back by sure famine. This plan did not please the Kin Emperor.
+He declared that his subjects had made every sacrifice for the army, he
+would not leave them then in that peril. He must defend Honan on the
+north and the south at its boundaries; that was his final decision.
+
+In view of the Emperor’s wishes an army corps was formed north of the
+Hoang Ho, and another at Teng chu on the southern border. This second
+army was composed of the forces of Wanien Khada and Yra buka who
+arrived at Teng chu in 1232 during January, and were joined by Yang wu
+yan, Cheng ho shang, and Wu shan, three Kin generals. While these
+generals were discussing whether they were to fall on Tului at the
+crossing of the Han, or after he had crossed it, they learned that he
+was on their side already. They marched immediately and discovered the
+enemy at the foot of Mount Yui in a chosen position. The Kin forces
+attacked and a sharp struggle followed. The Mongols were inferior in
+numbers and withdrew, but withdrew unmolested.
+
+After some days the Kin generals were informed that the enemy had
+retired to a forest. They resolved to return to Teng chu, subsist on
+the provisions of the city, and spare their own rations. They passed by
+mere chance near the forest; the Mongols sallied forth and attacked,
+but only feigned serious fighting. Meanwhile the Kin cavalry seized the
+Mongol baggage.
+
+On reaching Teng chu the Kin generals reported that they had won a
+great victory. Rejoicings at the court were sincere, but very short in
+duration.
+
+While Tului was advancing Ogotai was besieging Ho chung, or Pu chiu, a
+strong city on the Hoang Ho, in Shan si near its southwestern corner. A
+pyramidal tower two hundred feet high, immense earth mounds, and
+tunnels were among the works used in attacking. Soon the towers and
+wooden works on the walls of the city were ruined. Besieged and
+besiegers had fought hand to hand fifteen days when the city was taken.
+Thirty-five days had the place been invested. The governor Tsao ho was
+captured arms in hand and put to death at direction of Ogotai. Bau tse,
+the commandant, escaped by the river with three thousand men, and went
+to Nan king, where the Kin Emperor killed him.
+
+Ogotai received now, through a courier, an account from Tului of the
+Honan situation and crossed the Hoang Ho without waiting. He ordered
+Tului to meet him. On hearing of this movement by Ogotai, the Kin
+Emperor gave orders to cut dikes near the capital, flood the country
+about it, and thus stop the enemy. Thirty thousand men were sent to
+guard the great river, but when Kia ku saho, the commander, learned
+that Ogotai was already on the south side he retreated. In their march
+forward the Mongols came on the men cutting dikes, attacked them,
+stopped their work, and slew many thousands.
+
+Tului divided his army into numerous detachments. With these he covered
+a great stretch of country, and watched the Kin army as it moved
+northward slowly. Harassed on their march, retarded by wind, rain, and
+snow, exhausted by marching and hunger, the Kin troops were met finally
+by a eunuch of the Emperor with an order to move to the capital
+speedily and succor it. They had hardly touched food for three days,
+and were mortally weary. While preparing to encamp, they were
+surrounded on a sudden by Ogotai and Tului, who had just brought their
+forces together.
+
+The Kin generals charged on the Mongols and strove to cut through them.
+Many chiefs fell while leading their warriors. Wanien Khada forced his
+way to Yiu chiu. Tului laid siege to that city immediately; dug a moat
+round the walls, took the place, and found Wanien Khada. When captured
+Wanien asked to be brought before Subotai. “Thou hast but a moment to
+live,” remarked Subotai, “why wish to see me?” “Heaven, not chance,
+gives us heroes. Now that I have seen thee, I close my eyes without
+sorrow,” replied the Kin general.
+
+When Subotai’s fury had calmed somewhat Cheng ho shang, who was also in
+the city, came out of his hiding and asked to be taken to the chief of
+the Mongols. “If I had perished in the rush of defeat,” said he to
+Tului, “some men might declare me a traitor; now all will see how I
+die, and must know that I am honest.” He would not submit, though the
+Mongols tried long to induce him to do so. To make the man kneel they
+chopped both his feet off, and split his mouth to the ears to force
+silence; but he ceased not to say in his keen ghastly torment that he
+would not befoul himself by treason. Struck by his fortitude and elated
+by kumis (their liquor distilled from mare’s milk) the Mongols called
+out to him: “If thou art ever recalled to this life, splendid warrior,
+be born in our company!”
+
+Yra buka was seized on the road to the capital while fleeing. They took
+him to Ogotai: “Submit and be saved,” said the Emperor. To every
+proposal the answer was: “I am a lord of the Kin Empire, I must be true
+to my sovereign.” Yra buka suffered death like the others. Thus
+perished the Kin generals, nobly, but without any profit. The best of
+the army had already perished.
+
+Some days after the capture of Yiu chiu Ogotai visited Tului at his
+camp ground and listened with delight to his narrative of the march
+from Fong tsiang, during which immense difficulties had been overcome,
+especially lack of food, which was such that his men had been forced to
+eat grass, and the flesh of human beings.
+
+The Grand Khan applauded his brother for skill in that perilous
+enterprise. Tului replied, that success was due mainly to the valor and
+endurance of his warriors, and the fortune attendant on the sovereign
+of the Mongols.
+
+When he heard of Tului’s achievement, the Kin Emperor summoned to his
+capital all troops entrusted with defending Honan on its western
+border; hence the two generals commanding on that side, and the
+governors of Tung kwan, the great fortress, united their forces, which
+amounted to one hundred and ten thousand foot with five thousand
+horsemen, and moved toward Shan chiu, a city south of the Hoang Ho. Two
+hundred barges were to bear supplies eastward, but the Mongols seized
+those supplies before they were laden, and when their forces appeared
+at Tung kwan the man left in command there delivered that mighty
+defence of Honan to them, and betrayed all the movements about to be
+made by his Emperor’s army.
+
+The Mongols advanced on Shan chiu, without obstacle. The Kins retired
+toward the mountains of Thie ling followed by vast crowds of people of
+every age and both sexes, who had hoped for a shelter in the mountains.
+As they advanced melting snow made the roads very difficult and
+sometimes impassable. Pursued by the victors, their aged people and
+children who lagged behind were cut down without mercy. One Kin general
+surrendered, but still the captors beheaded him; the others were
+overtaken and slain as was also the chief Tung kwan governor.
+
+Defence in the west of Honan collapsed utterly. Fourteen cities fell;
+only two held out bravely. One of these, Ho yang, or Ho nan fu, became
+famous. This place was defended by three thousand men who remained from
+the western army. After a furious bombardment, continuing some days,
+the Mongols made a breach in the walls of Ho yang. The governor deemed
+the place lost, and, since he would not survive the disgrace of
+surrender, he sprang into the moat and thus drowned himself. The
+defenders then chose Kiang chin, a real hero, to lead them. Under him a
+most desperate resistance was organized. The place held out for three
+months, till the Mongols, still thirty thousand in number, grown sick
+and weary of attacking, left that brave city after one hundred and
+fifty assaults had been made on it.
+
+Ogotai, now master of nearly all places around the Kin capital, fixed
+his camp fourteen leagues to the west of it, and sent Subotai to finish
+the struggle.
+
+Nan king (Southern capital) at that time was twelve leagues in
+circumference. Inside the walls a hundred thousand men were assembled
+to defend it. Desiring to rouse public feeling to the highest the
+Emperor gave out a stirring appeal to the people written by Chao wun
+ping, a great scholar. The siege had begun when Ogotai sent an envoy to
+persuade the Kin Emperor to submit himself. Ogotai asked that the
+following people be sent first of all to him as hostages: Chao wun
+ping, a sage of distinction; Kung yuan tse, a descendant of Confucius,
+with some other great scholars, and twenty-seven families among the
+most noted; all families of men who had submitted to the Mongols; the
+wife and children of Yra buka, the heroic Kin general; young women
+skilled in embroidery, and also men trained well as falconers. The Kin
+Emperor accepted every condition and offered Uko, his nephew, besides,
+as a hostage while Egudeh, his procurator, was discussing final peace
+with the Khan of the Mongols.
+
+In spite of these marks of submission Subotai continued the siege with
+great vigor. The command had been given him, he said, to capture the
+capital and he was obeying it. He had planted long lines of catapults;
+captive women, young girls, old men, and children were carrying
+fascines and bundles of straw to fill moats and ditches. Fearing to
+stop negotiations, the Kin general commanding forbade to reply to
+attacks of the Mongols. This order roused indignation. The Kin Emperor
+showed himself in the city to the people, attended by a few horsemen
+only. A body of officers came to him complaining that they were not
+allowed to defend themselves, though the moat was already half filled
+by the enemy: “I am ready to be a mere tributary and a vassal to
+safeguard my subjects,” said the Emperor. “I send my one son this day
+as a hostage, so be patient till he has gone from me. If the enemy does
+not retire there will be time then for a life and death struggle.”
+
+The young prince set out that same day with Li tsi, a state minister,
+but as the attack was continued, the Kin ruler indignant at Mongol
+duplicity gave the signal for action.
+
+Subotai had set up an immense line of catapults and hurled large,
+jagged millstones with dreadful impetus. At the end of some days of
+ceaseless hurling, stones were piled up at points almost to the top of
+the ramparts; the towers, though built of strong timber from old
+palaces, were broken. To deaden the effect of these millstones the
+towers were backed with huge bags filled with wheat-straw, and horse
+dung, covered with felt and tied with cords very firmly, also planks
+faced with untanned hides of buffaloes. The Mongols hurled fire with
+ballistas to burn the defences. No projectile, however, could injure
+those strange massive walls of the fortress, which were mainly of clay
+grown as solid as iron.
+
+The besieged made use of inflammable projectiles, that is, iron pots
+filled with powder of some kind. These pots hurled out by ballistas or
+let down by strong chains burst with great noise, maiming men or
+destroying them a hundred feet from the place of explosion. Attack and
+defence were original and vigorous. Some of the Mongols, well shielded
+by raw hides of buffalo, approached, dug holes in the walls and
+remained there at work safe from all missiles. The besieged hurled
+spears carrying fireworks which exploding burned everything within
+thirty feet of them. These two kinds of projectiles were greatly feared
+by the Mongols.
+
+After assaults which continued sixteen days, almost without interval,
+during which time it was said, though of course incorrectly, that a
+million of men fell, Subotai sent a message declaring that as
+discussions for peace were in progress hostilities would cease
+altogether, and he prepared to withdraw to some distance.
+
+The Emperor in answer sent rich parting presents to the Mongol general
+and his officers. One month after this truce a plague broke out in the
+capital, and during fifty days coffins to the number of nine hundred
+thousand, as the account runs, were borne from the city; besides there
+were corpses of indigent people which were put in the earth without
+coffins or boxes.
+
+During discussions for peace, a Mongol envoy, Tang tsing, with a suite
+of thirty persons, was slain in Pien king by the populace. This deed
+went unpunished and unnoted by the Chinese, hence command was given
+Subotai to attack the Kin capital a second time. Ogotai had also
+another complaint against the Kin sovereign: Nin kia su had taken into
+his service, and even rewarded, a general of the Mongols who, not
+enduring his chief, had passed to the Kin side and yielded up cities
+which were under his control.
+
+When his capital was invested a second time the Kin Emperor summoned Wu
+shan, a commander who, after defeat, had retired on Nan yang, where he
+had formed a new army. Two governors were summoned in also by the
+Emperor, one from the south, the other from the west. Wu shan advanced
+to a place twenty leagues from the capital. He saw Mongol forces at
+that point and sent to the governor who was nearest to join him, but
+the governor would not come and marched on alone till he also met
+Mongols. Then his troops broke and fled without fighting. On receiving
+news of this flight Wu shan and his forces fell back on Nan yang very
+speedily. Chiga Katrika was sent with a corps to give aid to Wu shan,
+but when he learned what had happened he left all his baggage and fled
+to Nan king in the night time.
+
+These defeats destroyed in the Emperor every hope of resistance. Want
+increased daily, communications were cut for the greater part, and at
+last Nin kia su resolved to abandon his capital, leaving behind the two
+Empresses and the whole reigning family. Before going he intrusted
+command to San ya pu and gave precious gifts both to officers and
+soldiers to rouse them to the utmost.
+
+That day the Kong chang commandant marched into the capital with his
+army corps, and declared that the country was ruined for thirty leagues
+westward, so the Emperor went to the east,—he could not go elsewhere.
+When twenty leagues from Nan king he crossed the Hoang Ho near Tsao
+hien with the hope of exciting Shan tung to assist him in saving the
+capital.
+
+Barely was the Emperor on the northern bank with a part of his army
+when such a wind rose that the troops on the south could not follow. On
+the southern bank of the river appeared now a Mongol division sent out
+by Subotai, and a fierce conflict followed in which the Kins lost two
+generals; one was taken captive, the other surrendered. One thousand
+men perished, drowned for the greater part.
+
+When he heard of his lieutenant’s victory, Subotai invested the capital
+with every possible severity. The Emperor now despatched Baksan, a
+prince of the blood, and a descendant of Ho li pu, to secure the city
+Wei chiu. Baksan let his men pillage all that they came on while
+marching. This enraged the inhabitants who, instead of assisting the
+Emperor, fled to Wei chiu and closed its gates to his warriors. After
+some days Baksan heard of a hostile advance and withdrew, but was
+followed by She tian tse, a Mongol commander. He himself carried news
+of his failure to the Emperor, whom he urged to recross the Hoang Ho,
+retreat to Kwe te fu and be safe there. The Emperor crossed in the
+night with seven officers, and found refuge in the place pointed out to
+him. The troops heard of their Emperor’s flight the day following, and
+scattered immediately.
+
+The people of Pien king lost courage greatly, but still they resisted.
+The Mongols closed in on them; food soon rose to fabulous prices,
+people perished of hunger, officials of the Empire begged on the
+streets; there were even men who ate their own wives and children.
+Houses were torn down for fuel. The Emperor sent an official to conduct
+out his consort and the dowager Empress in secret, but he failed in the
+effort. This attempt roused the populace: “He has left us to our fate,”
+said they, in despair.
+
+At this evil juncture Tsui li, who commanded the eastern side of the
+capital, made himself master of the city in all parts. He had the
+governor of the palace, the minister of state and ten other high
+dignitaries killed in his presence. Immediately afterward he proclaimed
+them as worthy of death for their failure in duty. He entered the
+palace with armed hand, held a council and proclaimed Prince Wa nien
+tsung ko as regent. He sent men in the name of the Emperor’s mother to
+bring that prince to the city. He came without delay and was now
+regent. Tsui li made himself first minister, chief commander and head
+of the Imperial Council. One of his brothers was made city governor,
+and another one prefect of the palace. All his dependents had places.
+He judged now that he needed the Mongols to protect him in office, and
+he sent his submission to Subotai. That commander approached the main
+gate of the city. Tsui li, arrayed in royal fashion, went out with a
+brilliant attendance to the Mongol, as he might to a father. On
+returning Tsui li, to prove his submission to Subotai, burned the
+outlooks and the wooden towers on the walls of the city. A little later
+he had the regent, the Empresses, and all members of the reigning
+family assemble in a palace which was guarded by his confidants. He
+went himself then to live in the Emperor’s palace. He sent jewels and
+other precious objects to Subotai from the treasury; he sent even the
+state robes of the Emperor and Empress as gifts to the Mongol
+commander.
+
+Tsui li summoned now to his palace the daughters and wives of all those
+great lords who had gone with the Emperor, and detained those of them
+who pleased him. Next came an edict compelling the people to bring
+their silver and gold to the palace. After this came domiciliary
+visits, and many men perished under torture while striving to save even
+some of their wealth from Tsui li’s endless rapacity. During a visit
+made by this man and his wife to the Empresses, who recompensed him for
+services alleged but never rendered, the two helpless women gave Tsui
+li the most precious effects in their possession. He brought the
+dowager to write to her son, the Emperor, urging him to submit to the
+Mongols. This letter was taken to Nin kia su by his nurse, an old
+woman. Tsui li now seized the two Empresses, the regent, all members of
+the reigning family, male and female, to the number of five hundred,
+and sent them to Subotai’s camp ground in chariots; he sent Kung yuan
+tse, a very wise person, a descendant of Confucius; he sent men learned
+in law and philosophy, and in the Taoist religion; he sent also
+physicians, artists, actors and embroiderers.
+
+All men of the reigning family were put to death straightway by
+Subotai. The two Empresses and the princesses were sent to Mongolia;
+while traveling to Kara Kurum they suffered want and privations of
+every kind.
+
+Foreseeing the fall of the capital Subotai made a statement to Ogotai,
+the Grand Khan, substantially as follows: “The city has made such
+resistance, so many warriors and officers of the Mongols have fallen,
+that, by the law of Jinghis, we should pillage it.” Ye liu chu tsai
+hurried to the Khan and explained that those people would be his
+subjects, that among them were many men of great skill and value, that
+by killing them he would ruin the profit of his conquest. Ogotai
+hearkened to the wise counsel of Ye liu, and ordered that none should
+suffer death except members of the Kin family. Thus the kind minister
+saved many people. He also had the law canceled which ordained death to
+inhabitants of cities taken by storm, or by siege operations.
+
+And now let us find the Kin sovereign. Soon after his arrival at Kwe te
+fu the fleeing Emperor, to satisfy his troops, who declared that Baksan
+had caused the defeats in Shan tung, had the man tried by a council of
+war and then executed.
+
+Fucha kuan nu, a certain general, seized control of Kwe te fu after
+killing Li tsi with three hundred mandarins, and also the governor.
+Kuan nu’s mother had been captured after Baksan’s defeat. Temutai, a
+Mongol commander, was besieging a town twenty leagues south of Kwe te
+fu; the Emperor charged Kuan nu to insinuate to Temutai that if his
+(Kuan nu’s) mother were restored he would bring the Emperor to accept
+peace conditions. Temutai sent back the woman, and began to negotiate.
+Kwan nu and Temutai had held many meetings. Meanwhile Kwan nu prepared
+a secret attack, and surprised the Mongol camp during night hours;
+arrows with fireworks increased the confusion. Temutai’s forces fled,
+and he lost more than three thousand men in crossing a river. Kwan nu,
+made chief commander because of this victory, now obtained complete
+control, and left not a trace of authority to the Emperor.
+
+At this juncture Uku lun hao, governor of districts in Southern Honan,
+proposed that the Emperor make Tsai chiu his capital. Nin kia su was
+quite willing, but Kuan nu would not hear of a change which would cost
+him control of the Emperor’s person. There was no outcome now for the
+Emperor but to be rid of the minister, so one day Kuan nu was killed
+while entering his sovereign’s chamber. The falling monarch had still
+one hope left in connection with Tsai chiu: Wu shan, a general in the
+south of Honan, had a force seventy thousand in number. Ogotai the year
+previous had made a treaty with Li tsong, the Sung Emperor, and the
+latter, thinking it time to destroy the ancient foe of his dynasty, had
+agreed to send troops to Honan on condition that after the fall of the
+Kins that whole region be restored to his Empire. Meng kong, who led
+the Sung army, now attacked and defeated Wu shan in the Ma teng group
+of mountains. He captured, moreover, nine forts which that general had
+held there, receiving besides the surrender of all that was left of his
+army.
+
+The Kin Emperor had set out for Tsai chiu before this disaster. His
+escort was nearly three hundred men; of these only fifty were mounted.
+On arriving he placed at the head of affairs Hu sha hu, a member of his
+family, a general of skill and a statesman. This minister made every
+possible effort to form a new army; soon he had ten thousand mounted
+men, as the nucleus of his forces. It was his plan to convey the
+Emperor to Kong chang, a safe place in Shen si, and act then with
+vigor, but the sovereign’s intimates were opposed to this journey, and
+prevailed on him to stay in Tsai chiu to the ruin of himself, and his
+dynasty.
+
+The apparent remoteness of the Mongols gave confidence for the moment,
+but the Mongols soon made their appearance. Small parties came from the
+army of Tatchar, who was only waiting for the capture of Lo yang to
+surround the Kin sovereign’s last refuge. Lo yang had sustained a long
+siege, and had forced the Mongols to raise it. Tsi yang shen, who had
+rendered great service in regions north of the river, was still in
+command. His forces, however, were few, and long resistance was this
+time impossible; hence he put himself now at the head of a chosen party
+and strove to break through the enemy, but was seized arms in hand
+fighting valiantly. Tatchar tried to win over so splendid a warrior,
+and implored him most earnestly to show homage to Ogotai, to prostrate
+himself with face looking northward, but he bowed toward the south,
+saluting in this way Nin kia su, his own Emperor, and suffered death
+for his action.
+
+Tatchar was the son of Boroul, one of Jinghis Khan’s four great heroes,
+and now being free he moved on Tsai chiu to end the Kin dynasty. His
+army was reinforced by twenty thousand good warriors under Meng kong
+and Kiang hai, whom the Sung Emperor had sent because of his alliance
+with Ogotai. The two commanders brought with them three hundred
+thousand sacks of rice for the Mongols. After two months’ blockade
+provisions were so scarce in the city that human flesh was used as food
+and disease ravaged terribly. The defenders armed every man who could
+labor. All young women who had strength enough dressed in men’s
+clothes, and carried fagots and stones to defend the last refuge of the
+Emperor. After many attacks the Sung forces and the Mongols made a
+fierce assault, and seized a small part of the bulwarks. To their
+astonishment they found a new wall in the rear of the first one, and a
+broad moat between them.
+
+Nin kia su, when he saw hostile flags on the outer wall, lost courage,
+and said as he turned to the friends who were near him, “I have ruled
+for ten years and shown no great crimes or failings, still the fate of
+wicked princes is ready to strike me. Death has no terror for me, but
+to be the last sovereign of a line which has flourished for more than a
+century, and to think that history may confound me with rulers who have
+ruined their dynasties by wickedness,—this is the one thing which
+tortures me. Sovereigns who survive loss of power are kept in
+confinement, or despised by men generally; I would not survive to be
+treated in either way. Heaven knows my decision.”
+
+Nin kia su, however, made one more attempt to save himself. He gave all
+his goods to men of the garrison, took a few followers, and sallied
+forth in disguise during night hours, but he could not elude the keen
+watch of the enemy, and was forced to return to the city. He yielded to
+fate then and had his horses all killed to be food for the garrison. On
+the day of the new year the besieged heard songs and sounds of music;
+the Mongols were celebrating their festival. In distress and dire need
+the besieged had boiled and eaten all the hides and leather in the
+city, also old drums, boots and saddles, and they had left to them a
+meal of grass and weeds with the pounded bones of dead men and
+animals—they had eaten already the old and decrepit inhabitants, the
+captives and the wounded, and now they would eat the crushed bones of
+those people when the flesh was all stripped from them.
+
+Meng kong, the Sung general, informed by deserters of this terrible
+hunger, resolved to surprise the failing city. His men with their
+mouths gagged moved to the storm in safe silence. With ladders they
+entered through live breaches made in the western walls of the city,
+and fought with desperation till sunset when they were forced out
+decisively, but the besieged had lost their first chiefs and best
+warriors. During the night Nin kia su yielded the throne to Ching lin,
+brother of Baksan who was put to death for the Shan tung disaster. This
+prince, descended directly from the Emperor Ho li pu, was charged with
+defending the Eastern side of the city. Ching lin had no wish to accept
+the sad gift, and fell prostrate with weeping. “I give thee the throne
+during terrible need and disaster,” said the Emperor. “The size of my
+body prevents me from fleeing on horseback, but thou mayest save
+thyself, thou art courageous and swift; thou mayst rescue the dynasty
+and bring back dominion; this is the real position.”
+
+Ching lin took the seal, and was raised to the throne on the morrow.
+But even while this ceremony was in progress the western gate was
+broken down and Meng kong rushed into the city. Kiang hai and Tatchar
+rushed in with him. Hu sha hu fought in the streets at the head of a
+chosen thousand of warriors. Nin kia su, seeing no escape possible on
+any side, announced to his intimates that he was ready to die and
+charged them to burn his dead body. After that he hanged himself.
+
+Hu sha hu now told his officers that further resistance was useless,
+and, lest some ignoble hand might take life from him, he sprang into
+the river and drowned himself. Five officers with five hundred men
+followed his example, and died in that river. The palace officials
+burned the Emperor’s body immediately. Ching lin, when he learned what
+had happened, hurried to pay the last tribute to the body; he had
+barely finished all needful libations when the city was taken.
+
+Meng kong shared with Tatchar everything belonging to the Emperor,
+besides all the jewels which they could find in the palace. Ching lin
+was slain that same day by his own warriors. In this way the Kins were
+deprived of dominion in China May, 1234. Their dynasty of nine
+sovereigns reigned one century and eighteen years. Excepting Kong chang
+fu all places which belonged to that dynasty surrendered. The Sung
+Emperor rejoiced much and gave many festivals while thus rejoicing at
+the fall of an enemy. He offered the ashes and bones of the last of the
+Kins to his ancestors. Foolish man, he had given aid to a much greater
+and more terrible enemy than the one who had vanished, and had assured
+the near destruction of his own house and dynasty.
+
+Ogotai, the Grand Khan, and Tului, his brother, returned to Kara Kurum
+two years before the Kin downfall. After Ogotai had crossed the Hoang
+Ho, and Tului had passed through Honan, the completion of the work was
+left to the competent Subotai. Tului died in October, 1232, soon after
+his return to Mongolia. He was forty years of age. Juveini states that
+his life was shortened by excessive drinking. He was the favorite son
+of Jinghis under whom he had learned war in all its phases and details.
+His campaign in Honan was admired with much reason. When still a boy
+his father had him married to Siur Kukteni, a niece of Wang Khan, and
+daughter of Jagambu his brother, a woman noted for wisdom. From this
+princess Tului had four sons: Mangu, Kubilai, Hulagu and Arik Buga.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+EXPEDITION AGAINST CHINA AND DEATH OF OGOTAI
+
+
+In 1234 a great Kurultai was summoned by Ogotai at Talantepe, and one
+at Kara Kurum, his new capital, the year following. At the second
+Kurultai it was decided to make three great expeditions: One against
+the Sung Empire; another to bring down Corea, which had shaken off
+Mongol rule; a third to countries north of the Caspian, the Caucasus
+and the Black Sea, and westward indefinitely. The Grand Khan wished to
+march himself with this last expedition, but at the instance of princes
+of his family he yielded, and appointed Batu, second son of Juchi, to
+chief command in those regions.
+
+An army under Hukatu was sent to the borders of Cashmir and India.
+Persia had been reconquered by Chormagun. Jelal ud din had perished in
+1231, there was no male descendant of the Kwaresmian Shah, and Iran was
+governed by Mongol officials.
+
+The attack on Corea was of easy execution, but the expedition against
+China was difficult, and to it we will turn in advance of the others.
+
+After the destruction of the Kin dynasty the Mongols disregarded their
+agreement with the Sung sovereign and yielded up merely a small part of
+Honan, a southeastern bit of that province, joining all the rest to
+their own immense Empire. Chao fan and Chao kwe, two Imperial princes,
+were indignant at this perfidy, and explained to their Emperor, that
+the Hoang Ho was the true northern boundary of the Empire, to which
+southern Shen si should be added; they urged the need of using force to
+win that which had been refused them, that which was theirs, both by
+right and agreement. They must regain their ancient capitals: Pien
+king, Lo yang, and Si ngan fu. Members of the council declared that
+this policy would bring back the Mongols, that it would be disastrous
+to send warriors from afar to hold ruined cities which they would have
+to provision, moreover the Empire lacked money, trained troops, and
+good generals. The Emperor Li tsong was deaf to these arguments, and
+gave command promptly to march on Pien king with a corps of ten
+thousand.
+
+Meanwhile Tsui li, who had given Pien king to the Mongols, was made
+master in that capital. The three chiefs, who served under him, were so
+incensed at his arrogance, that they swore to destroy the vile traitor.
+The moment these men heard that a Sung general was advancing with an
+army they declared to him their submission by letter, feigning
+meanwhile to work in accord with Tsui li the deceiver and tyrant. To
+carry out their plot better Li po yuan, one of the three, had fire set
+to a gate of the city, Tsui li hurried to the place and when he arrived
+there Li po yuan, who had gone with him, plunged a dagger blade into
+his body so deftly that Tsui li fell from his horse and died near the
+feet of the animal. Soldiers posted at the gate for the purpose
+attacked the attendants of the dead man and finished them promptly.
+
+Tsui li’s body was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged to the
+palace, where Li po yuan spoke to the people in these words: “Tsui li
+was a murderer, a robber, a tyrant, a debauchee, and an infamous
+traitor. No man so evil as he has lived in old times, or in our day.
+Did he merit death?” “To chop such a man into bits while alive would be
+very small punishment!” shouted out thousands. His head was exposed to
+the people and his body was made a burnt offering to the spirit of Nin
+kia su, the late Emperor. Tsuan tse tsai, the Sung general, occupied
+Pien king, and his force was strengthened soon by another of fifty
+thousand. From these two armies reinforcements were sent to Lo yang
+without waiting.
+
+On hearing that Li tsong had invaded Honan Ogotai began action
+immediately. His troops surprised, near Lo yang, a second Sung corps
+fifteen thousand in number, which marching from Pien king to Lo yang
+had pitched its camp at the Ho on the bank of that river. The Mongols
+scattered this corps and camped near the walls of the city. The Chinese
+issued forth and engaged them. Neither side won, but the Sung troops
+were forced to abandon Lo yang through a dearth of provisions. Through
+lack of food also the Sung generals left Pien king and turned
+southward. The cities of Northern Honan were nearly deserted, and all
+of them suffered from hunger.
+
+Ogotai recalled Subotai, whom he destined for Europe, and sent to the
+Sung court an envoy to reproach it with oath breaking. Li tsong sent
+his envoy to Kara Kurum to allay the coming tempest, but the journey
+was useless, war had been fixed at the Kurultai. Three army corps were
+now to attack the Sung Empire, one under command of Prince Kutan,
+Ogotai’s second son, aided by Tagai, a general who was to invade Su
+chuan, that great western province; a second, under Prince Kutchu, the
+third son of Ogotai, while the generals Temutai and Chauju were to
+march on Hu kuang and subject it. In Kiang nan a third army was to act
+under Chagan and Prince Khon Buga.
+
+Kutan marched through Shen si and, while passing Chung changan,
+received from the governor the submission of that city, the only one in
+all the Kin Empire which had not yielded to the Mongols. Kutan left the
+governor in office, but commanded him to march with his warriors who
+were placed in the vanguard. Kutan passed through Han chong
+southwestward, took Mian chiu, whose commandant Gao kia was killed
+during battle. Chao yan na, the governor of Han chung, hastened to
+occupy Tsing yen, the key of Su chuan, and was besieged there by
+Mongols, but Tsao yuan, the commandant of Lu chiu, hurried forward to
+help him, and drove the Mongol chief northward. Next Tsao threw himself
+on Ta an, besieged by Wang shi hien, saved that city, at least for a
+season, and retired, after defeating a large Mongol force in the
+neighborhood.
+
+These successes were gained over Kutan’s advance guard. When his main
+forces appeared the Chinese, who were greatly inferior in numbers, met
+them between Su chuan and Shen si, in wild mountain defiles, but had to
+flee near Yang ping and cease their resistance. After this victory the
+Mongols entered Su chuan without serious effort. In one month they took
+many cities, seized the best parts of the province, and massacred
+multitudes of people. The governor of Wen chau, unable to defend the
+place, poisoned his family, cremated their bodies, burned up what
+belonged to the treasury, burned his own property, his diploma of
+office, and then stabbed himself as the Mongols were bursting into the
+city. His lieutenant was chopped into bits by the victors, who put to
+the sword every soul that remained, both of troops and inhabitants.
+
+When he had ruined Su chuan in the west Prince Kutan went back to Shen
+si, and the Chinese returned to their ruins. In 1237 Ching tu was
+reoccupied by the Chinese, but in 1239 Tagai, Kutan’s assistant,
+reëntered Su chuan, captured many places, took Ching tu and sacked it a
+second time. He wished now to enter Hu kuang, the next province, by
+Kwei chiu, a city on the north bank of the river Yang tse, but Meng
+kong, the Sung general, had put western Hu kuang into such a good state
+of defence, that this plan was a failure; he even took Kwei chiu from
+the Mongols.
+
+Meanwhile Prince Kutchu, whose chief camp was at Teng chu in Honan,
+entered Hu kuang in 1236. To him the commandants of Siang yang fu
+surrendered the city with immense stores in it. Kutchu took Tsao yang,
+he took also Li ngan, but died shortly after.
+
+Prince Kutchu was beloved greatly by Ogotai, and to him he had destined
+the Empire.
+
+Temutai laid siege now to King chiu, but Meng kong, who was sent by the
+governor of the province, defeated him at the walls of the city and
+freed twenty thousand Chinese who were captives.
+
+At the end of 1237 Khon Buga, the Mongol prince, captured three cities
+abandoned by their commandants, and advanced to Hoang chiu on the river
+Yang tse and besieged the place, but was forced later on to withdraw
+from it. He laid siege to another large city the year following but
+failed to take it.
+
+In 1238 the Mongol general, Chagan, invested Liu chiu, a city of Kiang
+nan; a sudden and vigorous sortie forced his withdrawal, and he lost
+some part of his force while retreating. In 1239 Meng kong gained three
+victories over the Mongols and captured four cities. In February, 1240,
+Wang tsie, the Mongol envoy, appeared at the Sung court for the fifth
+time, with offers of peace which were rejected. Wang tsie died before
+his mission was ended, and the Sung governor delivered his body to the
+Mongols. In the beginning of 1240 also a number of Mongol army corps
+marched by various roads into China. No further mention, however, of
+fighting is made till after Ogotai’s death the year following.
+
+While Mongol armies were attacking Corea, ravaging China, devastating
+Russia, Hungary, and Poland, and spreading dismay throughout Western
+Europe, Ogotai was passing his time in delights, enjoying the chase,
+and his own taste for drinking. At Kara Kurum, where he had built a
+magnificent palace called the Ordu Balik and by thirty-seven relays of
+posts connected the city with China, he passed only one month of the
+springtime, the rest of that season he lived a day’s journey from the
+capital, in a palace called Kertchagan built by Persians, who strove to
+outdo or to rival those architects from China who at Kara Kurum had
+shown what their skill was. From Kertchagan he went back to Kara Kurum
+for some days and then passed the summer at Ormektua where he held
+court in a white Chinese tent, lined with silk embroidered with gold
+very deftly. In this tent, known as the Sarai Ordu, or Golden Horde,
+there was room for one thousand persons. The Grand Khan spent forty
+days at Lake Kosa. From there he went to Ongki near the Great Gobi
+desert where he lived all the winter; that was the time of grand
+hunting and field sports. In this region Ogotai had an enormous corral,
+or inclosure of earth and stakes called chehik. It was six miles in
+circuit, and had many doors to it. Troops stationed at long distances
+on all sides had orders to advance on this central inclosure and urge
+forward beasts, driving them through the doors into this immense
+roofless prison. Game was killed first by the Grand Khan and then by
+his family, permission going down by degrees till common men had their
+chance finally.
+
+Ogotai drank to excess, for which Jinghis had reprimanded him
+frequently. Jagatai, to whom he deferred very notably, charged an
+official to see that he drank only a given number of cups each evening.
+Ogotai dared not disobey his elder brother, but he eluded the order by
+using larger cups, and the officer was silent.
+
+One day Ye liu chu tsai brought in an iron ring greatly rusted by wine.
+“If wine acts on iron in this way, how must it injure the stomach?”
+said Chu tsai. This example struck Ogotai greatly, but he could not
+shake off the habit. One day in March, 1241, he fell ill after hunting.
+Turakina, his wife, alarmed very seriously, turned to Chu tsai hoping
+that he might bring Heaven to restore the Grand Khan to her. Chu tsai
+counseled just deeds and benevolence. “Power has been given by the
+Khan,” said he, “to men who sell places, and traffic in justice.
+Innocent people are groaning in prison because they have revolted
+against the wrongs done them. Let an amnesty be issued.” Turakina
+wished to have the amnesty published immediately, but the minister told
+her that this could be done only at Ogotai’s order.
+
+When the Khan came again to his senses all men imprisoned, or exiled,
+were pardoned. He regained his health that time, but a new attack came
+some months later. Against Chu tsai’s advice he had hunted five days in
+succession. On the way from the field he sat drinking till midnight.
+The sixth morning his body was lifeless. This Grand Khan had reigned
+nearly thirteen years, and was fifty-six years of age at his death
+hour, December 11, 1241. He was mild for a Mongol of that time, fond of
+luxury and generous in gift giving. He was tolerant of the various
+religions, and in general very amiable considering his position. He was
+fond of hunting and wrestling, often sending to Persia for renowned
+wrestlers. He was a statesman as well as conqueror, and framed laws
+which held the Mongol Empire together for a long period.
+
+After Ogotai’s death all the roads to his residence were guarded
+immediately, so that no man might leave the place and couriers were
+sent off in every direction to stop travelers wherever they might find
+them, till the members of the Grand Khan’s family had officially
+received the tidings of his death.
+
+Ogotai had appointed Kutchu, his third son, to be his successor, but
+this young prince died in Hu kuang five years earlier, 1236. Shiramun,
+son of Kutchu, had been at the court, and Ogotai destined him also to
+Empire. But Turakina, a self-willed and determined woman, wished Kuyuk,
+her own eldest son, to be chief of all Mongols. Kuyuk, born in 1206,
+had served against the Kin Empire; later he had gone to the west with
+Batu. Ogotai had ordered him back very recently, and he was on the way
+home when he heard of the death of his father.
+
+Princes of the blood and chiefs of the army received invitations from
+Ogotai’s widow to assemble for the Kurultai; meanwhile at the instance
+of Jagatai and others the regency was given to Turakina. The regency
+began by ejecting Ching kai the grand chancellor, an Uigur. A
+Mohammedan, Abd ur Rahman, who had come some time earlier to Mongolia
+with merchandise, had won the good-will of Turakina completely; a short
+time before Ogotai’s death he had offered to farm all the revenues of
+China. Chu tsai had fixed the income of parts lying north of the Hoang
+Ho at five hundred thousand ounces of silver. After Honan had been
+conquered the receipts rose to one million one hundred thousand. Abd ur
+Rahman offered two million two hundred thousand; Chu tsai replied that
+five millions might be collected, but that sum, he said, would be
+grievous to tax payers. Turakina, putting aside the advice of Chu tsai,
+now gave Abd ur Rahman control of the finances of the Empire. It is
+stated that Chu tsai, foreseeing the destruction of all that he had
+labored for, grew despondent and died of grief. In any case this
+remarkable man died June, 1244, at the age of fifty-five years. By his
+influence over Ogotai he had saved many lives. He had also founded two
+colleges, one at Yan King, the other at Pin Yan in Shan si, and
+published a work on astronomy.
+
+Soon after Ogotai’s death Temugu, his uncle, who was Jinghis Khan’s
+youngest brother, approached the Khan’s residence with his army, and
+made a faint move toward a seizure of the Empire. Turakina sent to ask
+why he came to “his daughter” so numerously attended, and sent him his
+son, who had been living at Ogotai’s residence. On hearing that Kuyuk
+had arrived from the west and had reached the Imil where his yurta was
+established Temugu dropped his plan, and replied that he wished to
+condole with his daughter on the loss of her husband; after that he
+withdrew to his own place.
+
+The assembly to elect a new sovereign was to be at Talantepe, but did
+not meet till 1246, because of Batu’s endless loitering. Batu liked
+neither Kuyuk, nor the regent, his mother, and feigned to have a sore
+leg which prevented his traveling. As he was the eldest prince of the
+family the other members were loath to elect a new sovereign in his
+absence.
+
+At the prayer of the regent Batu at last gave his word to be present at
+the Kurultai, but he came not, so the Kurultai was assembled without
+him, and Kuyuk was elected.
+
+Turakina died two months after Kuyuk was made Grand Khan, thereupon the
+many enemies of Fatima, a Persian woman, the adviser and intimate of
+Turakina, conspired to destroy her. She was accused by a Samarkand
+Moslem, named Shira, of having brought on Prince Kutan, Kuyuk’s
+brother, the disease from which he was suffering at that time. Kutan
+sent an officer to Kuyuk to complain of Fatima, and demand that she be
+punished should his illness prove fatal. Kutan died, hence Kuyuk
+commanded the trial of Fatima. She was bastinadoed and tortured till
+she declared herself guilty. Every opening of her body save her nose
+was sewed up and closed tightly; after suffering dreadful anguish for a
+time she was wrapped in felt blankets firmly and thrown into a river;
+her friends were put to death also. The turn came soon to Shira himself
+who, accused of bewitching a son of Kuyuk, was put to death with his
+wife and whole family.
+
+Kuyuk, suffering from gout, the result of drink and dissipation, set
+out in 1248, during spring, for his own domains to find a more favoring
+climate. Siur Kukteni, Tului’s widow, fearing lest Kuyuk might be
+hostile to her nephew Batu, who had not come to do homage, warned the
+latter to be on his guard at all seasons. There was no reason, however,
+for this caution, since Kuyuk died on the road, being seven days’
+journey from Bish Balik, the Uigur capital.
+
+After Kuyuk’s death, which took place in his forty-third year, the
+usual precautions were taken to keep back the news till the principal
+chiefs of the family were informed of it. All ways were stopped and
+information was sent to Siur Kukteni, and to Batu.
+
+Batu had set out at last from the banks of the Volga to give the new
+sovereign due homage, and had come to Alaktak when news of Kuyuk’s
+sudden death reached him. He halted at once under pretext of resting
+his horses and, observing the national usage, gave his consent to the
+regency to Ogul Gaimish, who held the first place among Kuyuk’s
+consorts. She was the daughter of Kutuk, chief of the Uirats. Meanwhile
+Batu called a Kurultai at Alaktak. The descendants of Ogotai refused to
+attend, since the Kurultai should be held, as they said, in the land of
+the Mongols. They sent, however, Timur Noyon, governor of Kara Kurum,
+with full powers to act for them, and to confirm the decisions of Batu,
+and the majority of princes.
+
+At this Kurultai, composed mainly of Juchi’s descendants and those of
+Tului, that is descendants of Jinghis Khan’s youngest and eldest sons,
+Ilchi Kidai of the Jelairs declared that they had engaged to choose no
+man as sovereign unless a descendant of Ogotai so long as that branch
+remained living. “Yes,” answered Kubilai, son of Tului, “but ye were
+the first to infringe Jinghis Khan’s laws, and disregard Ogotai’s will.
+Ye put Altalun, Jinghis’ daughter, to death without reference to
+Jinghis Khan’s statute that no descendant of his may suffer death until
+judged by an assembly of his or her equals. Ye put Kuyuk on the throne
+in defiance of Ogotai, who had appointed Shiramun to succeed him.”
+
+These two complaints were brought up by those who had determined to
+take the throne from descendants of Ogotai. Batu, who was also their
+enemy, had agreed with Siur Kukteni, to elect her eldest son, Mangu.
+This widow of Tului had an all powerful support in the army. The
+arrangements by which Jinghis had given the greater part of his troops
+to Tului assured preponderance to this branch. When the throne held an
+Emperor the combined army was under the sovereign, but in time of
+interregnum each part of it recognized the authority of that prince to
+whom it belonged, and who was its only commander. After the death of
+Tului his army of one hundred and one thousand out of a total of one
+hundred and thirty passed to his four sons by his chief wife Siur
+Kukteni: Mangu, Kubilai, Arik Buga and Hulagu. During the minority of
+these princes their mother, sure of the commander whom she had bound to
+her, governed with rare judgment the numerous tribes which were subject
+to her children. Honored by Batu and many other princes it was easy for
+her to place one of her sons on the throne, since the candidates among
+Ogotai’s descendants were too young in years yet to be personally
+considered.
+
+Mangusar, a general, was the first in the assembly to propose Prince
+Mangu, whose courage and wit he extolled, giving instance of his
+brilliant career, under Kuyuk, in China, and in western lands under
+Batu.
+
+But princes offered the throne first of all to Batu, as the eldest of
+his family. When he refused they begged him to point out a candidate
+and promised in writing to choose him. Batu refused to do this, but,
+changing his mind in the night, he deferred the next day to their
+wishes, and said in the meeting, that to govern the Empire a prince of
+ability was needed, and one who knew Jinghis Khan’s yassa in all
+points. In view of this he proposed to them Mangu as his candidate.
+
+This prince refused the great honor, and resisted the prayers of the
+Kurultai for many days in succession, till his brother rose, and said:
+“We have all promised to follow Prince Batu’s decision. If it be
+permitted Mangu to break his word now, other princes may follow his
+example in future.” Batu applauded these words, and Mangu ceased
+resistance. The moment he accepted, the whole assembly saluted him. A
+new Kurultai was appointed for the following spring to be held in
+Jinghis Khan’s home land near the sources of the Onon and the Kerulon
+when Mangu was to be recognized by all princes, and by the chiefs of
+the army.
+
+Ogul Gaimish, Kuyuk’s widow, was to be regent in the meanwhile assisted
+by her two sons: Khodja and Nagu. The only, or at least the main care
+of this regency was to dispose of tribute by giving orders in advance
+on the provinces. Ogul Gaimish was given greatly to sorcery and spent
+much of her time with magicians. The Mongol Empire was thus left to
+many evil influences.
+
+Khodja and Nagu disavowed the agents who in their names had voted for
+Mangu. They informed Batu, that they could not hold to decisions of a
+Kurultai assembled far from the land of Jinghis, and moreover
+imperfect. Batu enjoined on them to visit the coming Kurultai, and
+added that the princes had chosen the man whom they held the best
+fitted to govern the Empire, and that their choice was now made and
+irrevocable.
+
+The rest of the year passed in fruitless discussions between Mangu’s
+partisans, who strove to bring the malcontents to their way of
+thinking, and the competitors of Mangu who protested against the
+election. Batu sent his two brothers, Berkai and Togha Timur, with a
+strong corps of troops to escort the new Grand Khan to the Kurultai,
+and seat him on Jinghis Khan’s throne. The descendants of Ogotai, and
+the son and successor of Jagatai refused to appear there, declaring
+that the election of Mangu was illegal, and that the throne belonged by
+right to a descendant of Ogotai. Agents sent time after time by Batu
+and Siur Kukteni implored them not to rend the Empire through
+factiousness. Batu informed them that children were incompetent to
+manage Jinghis Khan’s great possessions.
+
+The princes persisted, however, in refusing. Berkai, after waiting a
+year, asked for orders from Batu, who commanded to install Mangu
+without further discussion, declaring that those who made trouble would
+pay with their lives for so doing. The princes descended from Juchi and
+Tului, with the nephews of Jinghis, met at Koitun Ola, the place
+designated, and made a last effort to bring the heads of the houses of
+Ogotai and Jagatai to share in the meeting. An officer sent to Ogul
+Gaimish, and another to Yissu, son of Jagatai, announced that the other
+princes had assembled, and were waiting. Khodja and Nagu, seeing that
+opposition was fruitless, gave a promise to come, and fixed the date of
+arrival. The term passed, but they came not. An order was given to
+astrologers to name the day and the hour for installation. The
+installation took place July, 1251, with the ceremonies which were
+usual and proper. When the princes inside the Imperial pavilion put
+their girdles on their shoulders and prostrated themselves nine times
+before Mangu, their example was followed by ten thousand warriors
+ranged round the tent on the outside.
+
+The Grand Khan commanded that no man should work on that day, that all
+should forget every quarrel and yield themselves up to rejoicing. He
+wished to make Nature participate in the festival, and enjoined that no
+man was to sit on a horse, or put a burden on anything living. No
+person was to kill an animal, hunt, fish, wound the earth by digging,
+or otherwise, or trouble the calm of the waters, or their purity.
+
+On the morrow a rich feast was given by Mangu in a tent of rare stuffs
+and great splendor. At his right sat the princes descended from
+Jinghis, at his left the princesses. A similar feast was given each day
+for seven days in succession. Each day every guest wore a dress of new
+color; each day three hundred horses and bullocks with five thousand
+sheep were eaten, while two thousand cart loads of wine and kumis were
+drunk to drive away thirst and console the great company.
+
+In the midst of this feasting and pleasure a man, known as Kishk, made
+his way to the Grand Khan’s pavilion with the statement that he had
+discovered a plot against Mangu and the princes assembled. He declared
+that while looking for a mule which had strayed from him he fell in
+with a body of men going forward with carts, which at first he had
+thought to be filled with supplies for the Kurultai. He came on a lad
+and walked for a time with him. The lad mistook Kishk for one of the
+party, and asked the mule owner to help him in fixing his cart which
+was injured. Kishk turned to assist; and seeing the cart filled with
+arms asked the lad why he was taking them. “I have the same as the
+others,” replied he. Kishk was astonished at this, and after some
+cautious inquiries discovered that the princes Shiramun, Nagu and
+Khodja were going to the Kurultai to make use of the moment when all
+would be drunk to finish Mangu and his followers. Kishk declared that
+through eagerness to tell what he knew at the earliest he had made in
+one day three days’ journey.
+
+The story was received with astonishment at first, and seemed
+altogether unreal. Kishk was asked to repeat it, so he told all the
+details again and in such fashion this time that every doubt vanished.
+Each prince wished to go himself and look into the matter. It was
+decided to send Mangusar, the chief general, and the first person who
+in the Kurultai proposed that Mangu should be raised to the throne;
+with him went two or three thousand men. The princes were not more than
+two days from the Ordu.
+
+Mangusar reached their camp very early in the morning and, having
+surrounded it, approached the tent of the princes with one hundred
+horsemen. He called to them that it had been reported to Mangu that
+they were coming with evil intentions. If that were false they could
+clear themselves quickly by going to the Ordu at once. If they would
+not go, he had orders to take them. The princes came out of their tent,
+and, seeing that their camp was surrounded, said that they were on the
+way to give homage to Mangu, and were about to continue their journey.
+They were forced, however, to follow Mangusar, and were permitted to
+take only twenty men with them as an escort.
+
+Arriving at the Ordu they offered their presents by nines according to
+Mongol custom. The first two days they took part in the festival
+unquestioned, but on the third day the three princes were arrested when
+ready to enter the Grand Khan’s pavilion. Next day Mangu himself
+questioned them. He began by saying that, though the charges might seem
+improbable, he was bound to convince himself and thus destroy all
+suspicions against them, and punish their accusers.
+
+The princes denied the whole story with firmness. Mangu questioned
+Shiramun’s governor, who was forced by the bastinado to avow the
+conspiracy, but it was made, he declared, by him and his officers
+without knowledge of the princes; after these words he drew his own
+sabre and killed himself. A commission of generals under Mangusar was
+formed to report on the confessions of the officers of the three
+princes from whom the avowal of a plot was at last forced.
+
+Mangu wished to pardon these officers, but his generals and relatives
+declared that he should not let slip that chance to be rid of his
+enemies. Yielding to this advice he had the officers put in irons;
+still he wavered and again asked advice of his chief men. They advised
+him one after another, but even then he continued irresolute. At last
+seeing Mahmud Yelvadje, the one man who till then had kept silence, he
+summoned him and asked why he said nothing. Yelvadje cited Alexander,
+who sent a confidant to ask Aristotle how to treat a detected
+conspiracy. Aristotle took the man to a garden; while they were walking
+he ordered to pull up some well rooted trees and plant feeble saplings
+instead of them. No other answer was given. The man went back and told
+Alexander, who understood; he had all the conspirators slain, and sent
+their young sons to replace them.
+
+Mangu, struck by the story, put to death seventy officers. Among them
+were two sons of Ilchi Kidai then in Persia. Stones were forced into
+the mouths of these sons who were stifled in that way; the father was
+arrested in Khorassan and conveyed to Batu who took life from him. The
+three princes were pardoned through the intercession of Mangu’s mother.
+
+In February, 1252, Mangu lost his mother, Siur Kukteni. She was a niece
+of Wang Khan and a Christian; they buried her next to her husband,
+Tului. In August, 1252, Mangu went to Kara Kurum to judge hostile
+princes and princesses. With Ogul Gaimish, he was especially angry,
+since she, when summoned to render him homage, had answered that Mangu
+and the other princes had sworn not to choose a Grand Khan unless from
+among the descendants of Ogotai. Both hands and arms of Ogul Gaimish
+were sewed up in a leather bag, and she with Shiramun’s mother was
+taken to the residence of Siur Kukteni. Mangusar stripped her there of
+all clothing and then proceeded to interrogate. She reproached him
+indignantly with exposing her body, which had never been seen by any
+man save a sovereign. Both women were declared guilty of trying to kill
+Mangu by magic. They were rolled up in felt rugs and drowned
+immediately. The sons of these two women confessed that their mothers
+had incited them not to recognize Mangu. Kadak and Chinkai, the chief
+counsellors of Ogul Gaimish, were put to death also. Buri, the grandson
+of Jagatai, was delivered to Batu, who had him killed in revenge for
+words used when in liquor.
+
+The three princes were spared by Mangu in view of their kinship: Khodja
+was sent to Suligai, east of Kara Kurum; Nagu and Shiramun were ordered
+to the army. When Kubilai was going, some time later, to China, Mangu
+as a favor let him take Shiramun on that journey, but when Mangu
+himself went to China he had Shiramun drowned, through mistrust of this
+young man, who had been destined to the throne by his grandfather. The
+greater part of Ogotai’s descendants were sent to various places and
+deprived of the troops which were theirs by inheritance. Mangu gave
+those troops to other princes devoted to his person. He spared only
+Kadan Melik and the sons of Prince Kutan, who had come with good grace
+to give homage. He not only left them their troops, but gave each man
+one of Ogotai’s ordus, and one of his widows.
+
+Not content with punishing the highest, Mangu wished to strike down
+throughout the empire all who had signified attachment to Ogotai. He
+had the power to act thus, for his armies formed one immense chain from
+Eastern Mongolia to Otrar. Belu, a judge, was despatched to discover
+offenders, and punish them with death, in the countries of Jagatai,
+while a second inquisitor was sent to the armies in China. Two corps
+were sent at the same time to the Kirghis and the Kemjuts.
+
+Strong now on his throne through destruction of enemies, Mangu
+dismissed all the princes and generals who had come to the Kurultai.
+Berkai and Togha Timur received splendid gifts for themselves, and for
+Batu, their brother. Kara Hulagu received the inheritance of Jagatai,
+his grandfather, and was charged to put to death Yissu, his uncle,
+placed on the throne by Kuyuk, the late sovereign. Kara Hulagu died on
+the way to his possessions, but Organa, his widow, carried out the
+sentence on Yissu, and took the inheritance.
+
+Mangu, to reward the mule driver Kishk, made him a Terkhan, and gave
+him much treasure.
+
+The fate of the Uigur sovereign shows how Mongol Khans treated their
+vassals. We remember Bardjuk, the Idikut, very well in connection with
+Jinghis, whom he followed most faithfully. As recompense Jinghis gave
+the Idikut his daughter Altun Bighi in marriage. This marriage was
+deferred by the death of the conqueror. Ogotai wished to carry out the
+desire of his father, but before he could do so Altun Bighi herself
+died, and Bardjuk died soon after. Bardjuk’s son Kishmain went to
+Ogotai’s court and received his father’s title of Idikut, or sovereign
+among the Uigurs. He too died soon after, and Turakina, the regent,
+appointed her brother Salendi to the Uigur dynasty.
+
+This new Idikut, who was a Buddhist, made haste to give homage to Mangu
+at the time of his accession, but just after he had started a slave
+accused him of planning to slay all Mohammedans, not only in the
+capital, but throughout the whole Uigur kingdom, when assembled in
+their mosques on a Friday. One of Mangu’s officials received the
+accusation and sent a messenger straightway for the Idikut. Salendi
+returned without delay to Bish Balik and was confronted with the slave,
+who told the whole plan minutely. Salendi denied every point with great
+firmness. The slave demanded to take the affair to Mangu to be judged
+by him. Seif ud din, the official, sent him to the Grand Khan, and soon
+after the Idikut was summoned for trial. Questioned and put to torture,
+he ended by confessing that he was guilty. The Grand Khan sent him back
+to Bish Balik for execution. On a Friday his head was cut off by his
+own brother, Okendji. Two of his higher officials, condemned as
+accomplices, met death by having their bodies cut in four pieces
+crosswise. A third man, named Bela, was condemned to death also, but
+Mangu, wishing to win from High Heaven the cure of his mother,
+reprieved all who were sentenced to death upon that day. Bela was
+already at the place of execution and stripped of his garments when
+grace came, but his children and wives and his possessions were taken
+and he was sent on a mission to Syria and Egypt.
+
+When Mongol princes granted life to a criminal he was either sent to
+the army, where he might die with some profit to his sovereign, or he
+was employed on a perilous mission, or was sent to some country with a
+death-dealing climate.
+
+The slave who had accused Salendi got his recompense and became a
+Mohammedan. When he returned to Bish Balik after the death of the
+Idikut, he roused so much terror in the Uigurs who would be endangered
+by his ill-will that they hastened to pay court to him and offer rich
+presents.
+
+After Mangu had rid himself of all the Uigurs who might favor Ogotai’s
+descendants he gave the kingdom to Okendji, who had been his own
+brother’s executioner.
+
+After Ogotai’s death the Mongol forces, disposed on the southern border
+of what had been once the Kin Empire, made attacks from time to time on
+Su chuan, Kiang nan and Hu kuang; they merely ravaged, took cities, and
+retired then with booty. It might be said that in Mangu’s reign the
+only thing favorable to Mongols was the death of Meng kong, the
+greatest general of China, the man who had frequently stopped them, and
+often defeated their forces.
+
+In 1252 Mangu gave Honan to Kubilai, his brother, as an appanage, and a
+part of Shen si with it also. In the same year, having previously
+consulted Chinese sages as to all needful and proper details, he made a
+great sacrifice to Heaven from a mountain top. The year following he
+directed that a census be taken of the people in Russia. Yun nan was
+made up at that time of several small kingdoms, independent for the
+greater part. Toward the end of 1252 Wang te chen, a commander of
+Mongols, made some advance in Su chuan. He pillaged Ching tu, and took
+Kia ting fu, thirty leagues to the south of it, thus opening Kubilai’s
+way to him. Kubilai in October, 1253, marched from Lin taow, where he
+had assembled an army. Under him was Uriang Kadai whose father,
+Subotai, had done most toward Mangu’s elevation. Uriang Kadai was
+charged by the Grand Khan with the real command of this expedition.
+
+Kubilai traversed all Su chuan, and after a march of great trials, over
+mountains which seemed quite impassable for an army, he crossed on
+rafts the Kin sha (Golden Sand), a large river. The king of the Mussu
+man, the first people beyond the Kin sha, submitted. The sovereign of
+the next people, the Pe man, made no resistance, but his nephew
+defended the capital. Kubilai took the city, and put the nephew to
+death, but he spared the inhabitants.
+
+Tali, the capital of Nan chao, received Mongol rule without fighting.
+Yao shu, his adviser, told Kubilai how Tsao pin, sent by a Sung Emperor
+to seize Nan shan, did the work without killing a person, and even
+without stopping any traffic in the city. Kubilai declared that he
+would show a like wonder. Shortly after this he mounted his stallion,
+and arriving at the walls of Tali, he unfurled silk banners, on which
+it was written in large characters that to kill man or woman was
+forbidden under penalty of death. In virtue of this statement on the
+flags, and possibly for some other cause also, Tali opened its gates,
+and this conquest cost only five lives, those of the city’s two
+commandants, who slew the three officers sent to ask for surrender.
+
+Kubilai did not go beyond Tali; he returned to Mongolia and left Uriang
+Kadai to master those southern regions. After Nan chao, the Mongol
+chief attacked and subjected the Tupo or Tibetans, a war-loving people,
+between one and two millions in number. Many of these entered his army,
+which was thereby strengthened greatly. Some even served in the
+vanguard and acted as scouts in attacking.
+
+Towards the end of 1254 Uriang Kadai left his armies in the field, and
+returned to Mongolia to report to Mangu the work done in the south
+beyond China. Sent back the next year, he entered through Lower Tibet,
+and continued his conquests. The kingdom of Ava as well as two others,
+was either subjected or terrified into yielding. Two years later, in
+1257, the Mongol general appeared on the edge of Tung king (Gan nan)
+and summoned its sovereign, Chen chi kung, a vassal of the Sung
+Emperor, to own himself tributary to Mangu. Since his envoys did not
+return to him the general entered Gan nan and marched to the Tha River,
+which runs through the whole kingdom lengthwise. On the opposite bank
+he saw the enemy’s army with an immense force of elephants in order of
+battle. The Mongols, disposed in three parts, crossed and routed the
+enemy. The king hurried into a boat, sailed with the current and fled
+to an island; a part of his army escaped in boats also.
+
+Uriang Kadai ordered Che she tu to lead a division to the other bank of
+the river, but not to give battle till the rest of the army had crossed
+over. Che she tu was to seize all the boats, or take a stand between
+them and the enemy. Instead of obeying he put the enemy to flight
+before the other divisions could cross and prevented thereby the
+capture of the army. Uriang Kadai in his rage gave a biting reproof and
+threatened a trial, whereupon Che she tu immediately took poison and
+died.
+
+Kiao chi, the Gan nan capital, surrendered, and now Uriang Kadai found
+his envoys in prison. They had been bound with bamboo cords so firmly
+that the bonds had entered their flesh, and one of the men died the
+same hour in which he was liberated. Uriang Kadai was so enraged at
+this spectacle, that he gave up the city to be sacked by his warriors.
+
+After his troops had taken nine days of rest, he turned northward for a
+time to escape the great heat of the region. In 1258 the Gan nan king,
+Chen chi kung, resigned in favor of his eldest son, Chen kuang ping.
+The latter now sent his son-in-law and many great lords on an embassy
+to Mangu, who at that time was marching against the Sung empire.
+
+In 1256 Mangu had assembled a Kurultai at a place called Orbolgetu.
+During two months he treated the princes of his house with
+magnificence. All other guests summoned thither he met in the same way,
+and gave them rich presents. At this time came the submission of Corea,
+which, since 1247, had ceased to pay tribute. The success of Mongol
+arms in that country forced the king to render homage in person.
+
+Kubilai’s kindness and justice made him very popular in China. Because
+of this, and of calumny, Mangu became jealous, thinking that his
+brother wished empire. Hence in 1257 Kubilai was recalled, and replaced
+straightway by Alemdar. Alemdar arrested a number of Kubilai’s fiscal
+agents and put them to death, saving two, touching whom he was waiting
+for the Grand Khan’s decision. Kubilai suffered keenly, his life was in
+danger, and he hesitated seriously in action. The sage Yao shu, his
+adviser, declared that since he was the first subject of his sovereign,
+he should give an example of obedience. This Chinese sage advised a
+return to Mongolia with his family as the best way to soften the
+suspicions of his brother and remove every danger. This advice was
+regarded and followed. When they met the two brothers could not
+restrain tears. No reference was made to Chinese matters. Alemdar was
+recalled, and his commission was ended.
+
+Mongol conquests in the south encircled the Sung Empire; the one
+question now was to completely subdue that country. There was an old
+pretext for attacking the Empire: In 1241 Turakina, the regent, had
+sent an envoy, Yuli massa, to make peace proposals and discuss them.
+This envoy was arrested as soon as he touched Sung territory, and
+imprisoned in a fortress with his suite of seventy persons. The envoy
+died shortly after, but the members of his suite were detained in the
+fortress until 1254. That year the Mongols besieged Ho chiu, before
+which they were defeated by Wang kian, the city governor. The Chinese,
+to show how much peace was desired by them, freed the suite of the late
+envoy, or at least those who were still living.
+
+In October, 1257, Mangu set out for the Sung Empire, leaving government
+at home to Arik Buga, his brother, with Alemdar as an assistant. In May
+of the following year he marched to Shen si and fixed his camp near the
+Liu pan mountains, made famous by the death of his grandfather. In
+August, three months later, he advanced to Su chuan, his first field of
+action.
+
+Mangu had adopted an elaborate plan by which Su chuan, Hu kuang and
+Kiang nan would be attacked simultaneously. He would march against Su
+chuan with an army in three divisions; a second army, under Kubilai,
+would lay siege to Wu chang, where Uriang Kadai was to join him after
+marching directly from Gan nan (Tung king) through the provinces of
+Kuang si and Kwei chiu. Togachar, son of the Utchugen, was to strike
+King shan in the province of Kiang nan with a third army.
+
+Niuli with a strong force, preceding the Emperor, moved on Ching tu,
+where Adaku, a Mongol commander, was besieged by Liu ching, a Sung
+general, whom Niuli defeated, thus relieving the city. After that he
+marched forward, but no sooner had he gone than the place was attacked
+by Pu ko chi, the Su chuan governor. Adaku was killed in the action
+which followed, and the city was taken by the governor. Niuli turned
+back then and thrust in his forces between Ching tu and the Sung army
+outside it. Through lack of provisions the city surrendered a second
+time, but now to the Mongols, and the Sung army then retreated. Niuli
+received the submission of many places in that region and the rank of
+general-in-chief was conferred on him as reward.
+
+Meanwhile the Grand Khan arrived at Han chung and wished greatly to
+capture Ku chu yai, a fortress twenty leagues west of Pao ning and
+commanding the road through the mountains. Niuli left at Ching tu a
+strong garrison and marched to take this mountain stronghold. Chang
+shi, a Sung general captured recently, was sent in advance to persuade
+the commandant of Ku chu yai to surrender. Chang shi entered the city,
+but, instead of persuading the commandant to surrender, or trying to
+persuade him and then returning to Niuli, he remained in the
+stronghold.
+
+Mangu himself now marched against the place and, overcoming all
+obstacles, brought his army up to it. After ten days of siege work one
+gate of the city was surrendered by Chao chung, a traitorous officer of
+the garrison. The Mongols entered in secret, but there was soon a
+fierce and keen struggle in the streets, during which Yang li, the
+commandant, was killed and the garrison scattered. The house of Chao
+chung, the traitor, was spared in the looting and destruction which
+followed; he himself was rewarded with a rich robe of honor, and the
+command of a city. Chang shi, the Sung general who did not, or would
+not persuade the city to surrender, was captured a second time, and
+next day the Grand Khan had him quartered, that is, his body was cut
+lengthwise and crosswise. After this, much of Western Su chuan was
+subjected. The struggle was stubborn and desperate in some parts; in
+others there was only indifference, or treason. On February 18, 1259,
+the Mongol New Year, a great feast was given by Mangu, near the
+mountain Chung kwe. At this feast Togan, a chief of the Jelairs,
+declared that South China was dangerous through its climate, and that
+the Grand Khan should go northward for safety. Baritchi of the Erlats
+called this advice cowardly, and advised the Grand Khan to remain with
+his army. These words pleased Mangu, who remained, wishing greatly to
+capture Ho chiu. Tsin ko pao was sent to the city with a summons, but
+Wang kian had him slain as a traitor immediately.
+
+Now began the siege of Ho chiu, very famous for stubbornness on both
+sides. Yang ta yuan, the investing commander of the Mongols, began the
+action, but Mangu himself arrived soon with the bulk of his forces and
+took his position in front of this city, which stood between the Kia
+ling and Fiu Rivers. During March and April a number of assaults were
+delivered. In May there was a dreadful tempest and rain poured down for
+three weeks without ceasing. Each side tried to cut off supplies from
+the other and harass it. After desperate struggles a division of the
+Sung forces destroyed a bridge of boats built on the Fiu by the
+Emperor. Over this bridge the besiegers were bearing provisions. A Sung
+corps, ascending the Kia ling on a thousand barges, was attacked from
+both banks by the Mongols, a hundred barges were sunk and the rest
+driven back to Chung king, whence they started.
+
+In June assaults were very frequent, but with no profit to either side.
+One night in July a Mongol general scaled the ramparts with picked
+warriors and held his position till daybreak. Then, seeing Wang kian,
+the Sung commander, who was about to begin action again, he shouted:
+“Wang kian, life is granted to warriors, as well as to citizens; it is
+better to surrender in season.” Barely had he uttered the words when a
+stone from a catapult killed him. His men on the ramparts were now left
+unsupported and fled. This was the last attack made on Ho chiu by the
+Mongols at that time. Their assaults had been many and resolute, and
+they had lost thousands of men in them; dysentery was raging, Mangu
+himself had fallen ill of it, and he resolved now to defer all attacks
+and blockade the position. Leaving three thousand picked men, he led
+the rest of his troops to Chung king, which he intended to capture, but
+twelve days later he died (Aug., 1259) at Tiao yu, a mountain one
+league from Ho chiu, and to the east of it. The chiefs of the army
+decided to raise the siege and retire toward the north, taking with
+them the body of their sovereign. Mangu’s son Assutai conducted the
+corpse to Mongolia, where it was buried, near the graves of Jinghis and
+Tului.
+
+Mangu was generous but stern by nature. He often distributed largess
+freely among his troops, but insisted that they should be held under
+severe discipline at all times. In the Su chuan campaign he strictly
+forbade his men to plunder. On learning that Assutai, while out
+hunting, had destroyed a wheatfield, he reproved him sternly and had
+several of his companions punished. He carried discipline so far that
+once, when a soldier disobeyed orders and forcibly took an onion from a
+peasant, he was put to death immediately. Though tolerant of all
+religions he was superstitious, and under the influence of shamans, an
+influence apparently baneful. A story is told of one of Mangu’s wives,
+who, having given birth to a son, summoned a shaman to read the boy’s
+horoscope. The man predicted long life, but the child died in a few
+days. Severely censured by the mother, the shaman for self-protection
+accused a nurse, recently executed for causing by sorcery the death of
+a princess. The mother, to avenge the death of her child, had the son
+and daughter of that nurse killed, the first by a man, the latter by a
+woman. This so angered Mangu that he imprisoned his wife for seven
+days, and banished her from his presence for a month. He commanded that
+the man who killed the boy of the nurse should be decapitated and his
+head hung around the neck of the woman who had killed the girl, then
+that she should be beaten with blazing firebrands, and put to death.
+
+When Mangu died so unexpectedly, his brothers were far apart. Hulagu
+was in Syria, Arik Buga was at Kara Kurum, the Mongol capital, and
+Kubilai, the successor according to the Mongol system, was in China.
+
+Wu chang fu, built along the south bank of the Yang tse directly in
+front of the Han, must be taken by Kubilai, such was the order which
+Mangu had given him. In 1258 Kubilai set out for this work from Shang
+tu, a city which he had founded recently, and which was famed later on
+as his capital in summer. He advanced slowly, and only in August, 1259,
+did he halt at the Ju in Honan. He moved thence toward Wu chang fu, and
+captured strong places near the line of his marching. It was while on
+this march that he heard of the death of his brother. He made no delay
+for that reason, however, but crossed the Yang tse in the face of a
+numerous and active flotilla.
+
+He laid siege at once to Wu chang fu and sent a division of troops to
+Kiang si, where they captured two cities. These brilliant actions
+roused fear in Lin ngan (Hang chau), the Sung residence. The Emperor up
+to this time had not known of the Mongol invasion; for his minister had
+deceived him systematically, and now he received a vast number of
+petitions from all sides, declaring the minister a traitor and
+demanding that death be inflicted for his treason. The Emperor removed
+the man promptly and replaced him by Kia se tao. Command was given Kia
+se tao to advance on Wu chang at the head of an army and succor that
+city. Immense levies were ordered and the Emperor distributed silver
+and silk to those who took part in making them. The new minister, a man
+given only to letters, knew nothing of war, or the problem of
+governing. Moreover, he was desperately reckless, without conscience,
+and remarkably cunning. His one object was to keep power by all means
+which his mind could invent. The time favored him greatly, since the
+Emperor was weak and the court had small honor. The army had no respect
+for Kia se tao, but he had no thought to save the Sung Empire by
+fighting, hence disregarded the army. He made offers in secret to
+Kubilai, who was attacking Wu chang with much vigor. Kia se tao engaged
+that the Sung Emperor would own himself a vassal of the Grand Khan, the
+sovereign of the Mongols. Kubilai had received an official account of
+the death of Mangu, still he rejected the minister’s proposal. But when
+letters came from his partisans, who urged him to hasten and prevent
+the attempts to be made by Arik Buga, he consulted his generals, and
+Hao king, one of them, explained very clearly that Arik Buga, master at
+Kara Kurum, the home capital, and Duredji, governor of Yen king (now
+Pekin), the capital of China, would act as one man to exclude him, who
+as first prince of the blood should be regent and preside at the
+Kurultai; hence the urgent need that he go to Mongolia immediately.
+Arik Buga wished supreme rule and Kubilai knew that Alemdar and Duredji
+would help him to win it in every way possible. Because of all this
+Kubilai decided to accept the conditions just offered by Kia se tao,
+which, moreover, were favorable. It was agreed then that the Sung
+Emperor was to own himself a vassal of the Grand Khan, and give two
+hundred thousand ounces of silver, with two hundred thousand rolls of
+silk yearly as tribute. The Yang tse was to be the boundary of his
+lands.
+
+These conditions concluded, Kubilai marched northward with the best of
+the cavalry, leaving orders with his generals to await Uriang Kadai.
+Uriang Kadai had been commanded by Mangu to join Kubilai’s army at Wu
+chang, bringing with him the thirteen thousand men furnished by subject
+nations on the south, beyond China. After he had defeated, on the
+border, armies more numerous by far than his own, he laid siege to Kwei
+tiu, the capital of Kiang si, defeated a second Chinese army, and
+reached Southern Hu kuang, where he laid siege to Chang shi. The treaty
+now made by Kubilai forced him to desist and cross the Yang tse with
+his forces.
+
+The two southern generals in command of auxiliaries, reduced now from
+thirteen to five thousand, led the rear guard of the army, and were
+crossing the river on a bridge built of boats when Kia se tao broke
+this bridge by sending barges in full sail against it. One hundred and
+seventy men left on the southern bank were cut down by the minister.
+
+Kia se tao kept the Sung Emperor in ignorance of the treaty, and
+attributed the Mongol retreat to his own splendid valor and management.
+The massacre of Uriang Kadai’s rear party was exhibited as a triumph
+and Kia se tao was summoned to the court to be honored by a brilliant
+reception.
+
+Kubilai encamped outside the walls of Yen king, and complained to Arik
+Buga of the levies of men, beasts and money which the latter was
+making. Arik Buga gave quieting answers; he wished to attract Kubilai
+and his partisans to the Kurultai which had been summoned. Beyond doubt
+he either had taken means to assure a majority on his side, or he
+wished to get Kubilai into his clutches and kill him.
+
+Duredji, who was then at Pekin, urged that Kubilai and the princes in
+his army proceed to the Kurultai. It was answered, that Kubilai must
+post his troops first on their cantonments. Duredji sent this answer to
+Arik Buga, and remained with Kubilai, who went to Shang tu, the place
+fixed by his adherents for a special election.
+
+Kubilai’s party met, and since the position was so serious as to brook
+no delay, it was impossible for them to wait for Juchi’s and Jagatai’s
+descendants or for Hulagu, who was then in Persia. Kubilai was elected
+immediately and without opposition and placed on the throne with the
+usual formalities, 1260.—This election was the beginning of a contest
+which in the sequel destroyed the Mongol Empire.—A deputation of one
+hundred was now sent to inform Arik Buga of Kubilai’s election and
+enthronement. Duredji tried to flee, but was arrested and forced to
+reveal the intrigues of Arik Buga; he was then put in prison. Kubilai
+appointed Apishga, son of Buri, as successor to Jagatai, and sent him
+home with his brother, but both these princes were seized in Shen si
+and taken to Arik Buga, who kept them in prison.
+
+Meanwhile at Kara Kurum Arik Buga was not idle. He sent Alemdar to levy
+troops among tribes in the north, and distribute silk and silver among
+them; he sent two other men to Shen si, and these two were able to
+induce certain governors and generals in China to declare for Arik
+Buga, who, supported in this way, did not hesitate to take the
+sovereign title. At the head of his party was Kutuktai, once the chief
+wife of Mangu. With her were associated Mangu’s sons: Assutai,
+Yurungtash and Shireki, also several of Jagatai’s grandsons.
+
+The two claimants continued to send envoys to each other all that
+season without reaching an agreement. In the autumn Arik Buga sent out
+an army commanded by Karadjar, and by Chumukur, a son of Hulagu. This
+force was defeated by Kubilai’s vanguard. Discouraged by this check,
+Arik Buga’s troops scattered, and he himself sought Kirghis regions for
+protection after he had put to death Apishga and his brother—those two
+Jagatai princes friendly to Kubilai—and the deputation of one hundred
+sent with news of that emperor’s election.
+
+In Shen si Arik Buga made no better progress: Straightway after his
+election Kubilai sent to that province and to Su chuan as governor Lien
+hi hien, an Uigur by birth, one among the best of his generals. This
+new governor hastened to Si ngan fu and made Kubilai’s authority
+triumphant very quickly. Arik Buga’s agents had arrived two days
+earlier, and were striving to win all that region for their master. The
+new governor seized those two men and cast them into prison. Learning
+meanwhile that Kubilai had issued an amnesty which would arrive very
+soon, he had the two put to death while in prison, and published the
+edict after its arrival. Three corps of troops led by Prince Kadan were
+now sent by the governor against Kundukai, Arik Buga’s commander, who,
+unable to take Si ngan fu and needing reinforcements, withdrew
+northward to meet Alemdar, who was bringing fresh troops from Mongolia.
+After these two generals had joined forces, they turned toward the
+south and were met by Kubilai’s army in Middle Shen si, somewhat east
+of Kin chau. The battle which followed was stubborn to the utmost, and
+for some time the issue was doubtful, but at last Arik Buga was
+surrounded and suffered so bloody and crushing a defeat that the
+campaign was ended. Kundukai and Alemdar were both killed in this
+battle, and China was secured to Kubilai, who now moved north and,
+entering Mongolia, established his camp at the river Ungki for that
+winter. Kara Kurum lacked supplies and, since it received them from
+China, Kubilai determined to stop every movement to Mongolia and had
+means to enforce this decision. Want soon appeared in the capital. Arik
+Buga was in need of arms and provisions; still he persisted, and
+transferring to Algu, who was with him, the inheritance of Jagatai, he
+directed the new Khan to send arms and supplies, and to guard the west
+strictly, so that no aid might reach Kubilai from Hulagu, or from
+Berkai. Arik Buga was still in the Kem Kemdjut region, and fearing to
+make an attack in his weakness, he sent a message to Kubilai saying
+that he repented and acknowledged him as the sovereign, that he would
+stand before him at once were his horses in condition to travel, though
+he would prefer to await the arrival of Berkai and Hulagu, whom he had
+asked with other princes to arrange the affairs of the Empire.
+
+Kubilai answered that he would be glad to see Arik Buga even earlier
+than other princes. Then, leaving his cousin, Yessugka, in command of
+the capital to await the arrival of Arik Buga and escort him to the
+main camp, Kubilai went to Kai ping fu, and sent his army to its
+cantonments.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+KUBILAI KHAN DESTROYS THE SUNG DYNASTY
+
+
+The summer and autumn of 1261 were passed very quietly. Arik Buga’s
+horses recovered; he assembled large forces and set out for Kara Kurum,
+the chief capital of Mongolia. To put Yessugka off his guard and lull
+all suspicions, he sent a message announcing his visit and with it
+submission. After that he appeared on a sudden and fell upon Yessugka’s
+men, whom he crushed. Hurrying southward at once to strike Kubilai, he
+met him at some distance northeast of Shang tu, on the eastern rim of
+the great Gobi desert. Arik Buga was beaten and fled northward.
+
+Kubilai, thinking his brother defeated most thoroughly, forbade to
+pursue him, and turning, marched southward. Arik Buga on hearing of
+this changed his course, followed quickly, and made a second and more
+desperate trial. The battle was envenomed and lasted till night put an
+end to it. Both parties withdrew from the field, and Arik Buga fought
+no more that year, for just after this battle he learned of Algu’s
+defection.
+
+Algu, made Khan of Jagatai’s Horde by Arik Buga, took the government
+from Organa, Kara Hulagu’s widow. His sway then extended from Almalik
+to the Syr Darya, and soon he had an army of one hundred and fifty
+thousand. Arik Buga, poor and weak after such numerous reverses, sent
+three agents to Algu to levy a contribution in cattle, arms, and money.
+The abundant proceeds of this levy tempted Algu. He seized Arik Buga’s
+men, since, as he stated, they had made offensive discourses against
+him. After that Algu met his advisers, who hinted that it would have
+been better to counsel ere he moved against Arik Buga so actively, but
+since it was late to retrieve the error, he must acknowledge Kubilai as
+sovereign and take his side openly.
+
+Algu put the three agents to death, seized all the wealth which they
+had gathered, and gave the greater part of it to his army. Astonished
+at this act, Arik Buga resolved to march against Algu at the earliest.
+He went back to Kara Kurum, gave permission to the heads of the various
+religions to accept Kubilai should the need come, and then he moved
+westward very quickly.
+
+Kubilai appeared soon after his brothers’ departure, received the
+submission of people, and was about to pursue Arik Buga when couriers
+brought tidings of trouble in China, hence he turned and marched back
+to that Empire. Kara Buga, who commanded Arik Buga’s advance, met Algu
+near the city of Pulad, and lost his life in the battle which followed.
+Algu thought himself safe through this victory. He returned to his home
+on the Ili and very foolishly dismissed his forces. But Assutai, at the
+head of a second division, passed the Iron Gate, crossed the Ili,
+captured Almalik, and seized even the private lands of Algu, who
+retired toward Khodjend and Kashgar with his right wing, which thus far
+had been idle. At this time appeared Arik Buga and took up winter
+quarters on the Ili near Almalik while Algu was retreating toward
+Samarkand. Arik Buga plundered ruthlessly all winter, and killed every
+warrior of Algu’s whom he captured. When spring came vast numbers
+perished from hunger. Arik Buga’s own officers were furious at his
+treatment of prisoners and most of them joined Yurungtash. Yurungtash,
+son of Mangu, the late Emperor, was leading at that time Kubilai’s
+forces in the Altai. Only a handful of men were left Arik Buga, who,
+knowing that Algu was ready to attack him, tried to make terms with
+this enemy.
+
+When Arik Buga arrived the year previous, Kara Hulagu’s widow, Organa,
+came to his camp and declared that she had been dispossessed at his
+order, and was then waiting for recompense. Thereupon Arik Buga sent
+Organa with Massud Bey to effect an agreement with Algu. When Organa
+appeared before Algu and told him the cause of her coming he married
+her; Massud Bey he placed at the head of his finances. This minister
+levied large contributions on Bokhara and Samarkand. Algu had great
+need of money at that juncture, since Kaidu, the grandson of Ogotai,
+aided by Berkai, the successor of Batu, was advancing to seize his
+possessions. He now had the strength to repel him.
+
+Arik Buga, left without friends, troops or resources, decided in 1264
+to appeal to the mercy of his brother, and went to him. On appearing at
+Kubilai’s tent men threw the curtain of the entrance around him; thus
+covered he made his prostrations. Such was the usage in cases of that
+kind. Admitted to the interior, he stood in the place given usually to
+secretaries. Kubilai looked at him long, and, seeing that he wept,
+could not repress his own tears and emotion. “Ah, my brother,” said he
+at last, “who was right, thou or I?” “I at first, but to-day the right
+is on thy side,” replied Arik Buga.
+
+At this moment Atchigai, brother of Apishga, approached Assutai and
+asked: “Is it thou who killed my brother?” “I killed him at command of
+Arik Buga, at that time my sovereign. He did not wish that a prince of
+our house should die by the hand of some common man. Kubilai is my
+sovereign now; should he command, I would kill even thee in like
+manner.”
+
+Kubilai imposed silence, and added: “This is not the time for such
+speeches.”
+
+Togachar, a nephew of Jinghis, rose then and said: “The Khan desires no
+mention to-day of the past. He wishes you to feel nothing but
+pleasantness.” Turning to Kubilai then, he added: “Arik Buga is
+standing; what place dost thou give him?” He was seated with Kubilai’s
+sons and they passed that day in company. On the morrow, however, Arik
+Buga’s officers were all put in irons, and Kubilai appointed a
+commission of four princes and three generals to interrogate Arik Buga
+and his partisans. Arik Buga declared that he alone was responsible,
+that his officers were not guilty in any way. “How not guilty?” asked
+Kubilai. “The generals opposed to Mangu drew no bow against him; still
+it is known to thee how they were punished, simply for intentions. Ye
+who have begun civil war and slain so many princes and warriors, what
+are your deserts?” The officers made no reply. “My friends,” said Tuman
+Noyon, the most aged among them, “do ye not remember, that in raising
+Arik Buga to the throne we swore to die for his cause should the need
+come? The moment has come to make good that promise.”
+
+Kubilai praised this fidelity and asked Arik Buga again, who had roused
+him to the enterprise. He declared at last that Alemdar and Bolga had
+said to him: “Hulagu and Kubilai are on distant expeditions, and our
+late sovereign has left you at the head of the principal ulus of the
+Mongols. Why hesitate? Make yourself Grand Khan immediately.” He had
+consulted with the other officers; all held that opinion together. The
+officers present confirmed what Arik Buga had stated, and ten of them
+were sentenced to pay the death penalty. But to judge Arik Buga himself
+Kubilai wished the presence of Hulagu, Berkai, and Algu. After waiting
+a long time for them, princes of the blood and generals then present in
+Mongolia met to determine the fate of Assutai and Arik Buga. Through
+regard for Kubilai they decided with one mind to grant life to both
+princes. This decision was taken to Hulagu, Berkai and Algu for their
+approval. Algu replied, that, since he held power and office with
+Kubilai’s consent, he would give no opinion; the other two confirmed
+the decision.
+
+Arik Buga and Assutai were set at liberty to render homage to the Khan
+and move about freely. One month later Arik Buga died of illness and
+was buried near Jinghis and Tului (1266).
+
+The death of Arik Buga, his brother, did not save the great Emperor
+from civil war, and a long and terrible contest: Kaidu, a grandson of
+Ogotai, had his claim to the headship of the Mongols. He brought that
+claim forward and pushed it with such power, skill and resource that
+Kubilai had not strength enough to suppress him.
+
+This struggle between the descendants of Ogotai and Tului was the
+greatest and by far the most striking event in the history of Jinghis
+Khan’s family. Though Kubilai was able to conquer all China and Burma
+he could not conquer Kaidu. He met him and held him in check,—he had
+power to do that, and to found at the same time a dynasty in China, but
+he could not crush him.
+
+We will consider first the subjection of China, and then turn to Kaidu
+and his exploits.
+
+Kubilai, now Grand Khan, had decided to conquer all China and he began
+that great work with seriousness. During 1260 he had sent an envoy
+named Hao king to inform the Sung Emperor of his election. This envoy
+was to see in addition that the treaty concluded at Wu chang fu with
+Kia se tao was respected. As soon as the envoy set foot on Sung
+territory he was cast into prison with all his attendants. This was
+done at direction of Kia se tao, the real author of the treaty by which
+the Sung Emperor was made a vassal of Kubilai. Kia se tao had removed
+from this world every person who knew of that treaty and its various
+provisions. He was the only man living at that time in China who knew
+of it. The great point for Kia se tao was that the Sung Emperor must
+continue in ignorance of his thraldom. This man, whose sacred duty it
+was to explain the position, used his best power to conceal it, and
+adhered to his own direful policy at all costs. No one knew the great
+tragedy of China’s position save Kia se tao, first minister of the
+Empire.
+
+The arrest of his envoy called forth from Kubilai a statement in 1261:
+“Since my coming to the throne,” declared he, “I have striven to secure
+peace to my subjects, hence I sent an envoy to the court of the Sung
+Emperor to make a firm agreement of amity. That court, little mindful
+of the future, has become more incursive and insolent. There is no day
+in which some of its warriors do not harass our borders. I commanded my
+generals last spring to be ready, but, remembering the sad fruits of
+warfare, and trusting that Hao king, my new envoy, would return with
+the results which I hoped for, I waited. I found myself duped very
+sorely. My envoy was arrested, against all the rules which exist
+between sovereigns, and during six months I looked in vain for his
+coming. Hostilities continue, and thus it is clear, that the Sung
+government wishes no longer for peace with us. Ought a nation, which
+for so many years has vaunted its wisdom and observance of the rules of
+good government, to treat us in this way? Its conduct is little in
+accord with the laws which it boasts of, and resembles that shade in a
+picture which, giving contrast, brings out the light with more
+brilliancy, and causes the shade to seem darker. Thus the beauty of
+China’s laws is in contrast with its government; hence we see the bad
+faith of the latter more clearly.” Then he notified all to prepare
+horses and weapons for action, and added: “The truth of my intentions,
+and the justice of my cause assure victory.”
+
+But the war which the Grand Khan had to wage with his brother, forced
+him to loiter in action against the Sung sovereign. Barely had he come
+to Yen king after those two stubborn battles with Arik Buga on the
+eastern edge of the desert when he heard that one of his commanders, Li
+tan, had revolted. This general in Shan tung, seizing Se tian che and
+Itu, slew Mongol garrisons in these and other cities, and declared for
+the Sung Emperor. Kubilai sent Prince Apiche and General Se tian che
+against Li tan. They invested him closely in Tsi nan, where the defence
+grew most stubborn. When provisions were exhausted the besieged ate the
+flesh of the citizens. After four months of bitter struggle Li tan
+killed his wife and his concubines and then sprang into Ta ning, a
+shallow lake, from which he was rescued, and immediately Se tian che
+cut his head off. As was known, this revolt was upheld by the Sungs,
+although timidly. Notwithstanding Sung action Kubilai delayed serious
+war for a time.
+
+When he had reigned forty years and lived sixty-two Li tsong, the Sung
+Emperor, died, November, 1264. Having no son, he left the throne to his
+nephew, Chao ki, who took the name Tu tsong when made Emperor.
+
+It was only in 1267 that Kubilai moved against Southern China. In
+planning the campaign he made use of the knowledge of Liu ching, one of
+China’s best officers, who had left the Sung cause and gone over to the
+Mongols. Liu ching had been governor of Lu chiu in Su chuan some time
+previous and had been calumniated before Kia se tao, the chief
+minister, by the Su chuan governor. Fearing for his life, he took
+service with the Mongols. In 1261 he appeared before Kubilai, who made
+him governor of Kwei chiu, a city on the Hu kuang and the Su chuan
+border. War being decided, through his advice it was planned to begin
+by the siege of Siang yang on the northern bank of the Han; the
+possession of this city would facilitate the conquest of the great Yang
+tse region.
+
+Kia se tao, either wishing to win back Liu ching, or to discredit this
+dignitary with the Mongols, made him prince of Yen, and sent him a gold
+seal with the diploma and insignia of this office. Liu ching arrested
+the official who brought the emblems, and went with him to the
+residence of Kubilai, before whom he renewed his expressions of
+fidelity. The Emperor treated him with honor and cut off the head of
+the Chinese official.
+
+At command of Kubilai, Liu ching and At chu, son of Uriang Kadai, went
+with seventy thousand good men to besiege Siang yang in October, 1268.
+She tian tse was made commander-in-chief of all forces directed against
+the Sung Empire, and many men of distinction from various lands of the
+great Mongol Empire, such as Uigurs, Persians, Arabs, Kipchaks and
+others, offered their services to this renowned general.
+
+It was decided that the city could sustain a long siege, and that they
+must reduce it by famine. All communication by land was cut off, but
+the Chinese had a numerous flotilla and could receive arms and
+reinforcements by the river. The besiegers constructed fifty great
+barges on which warriors were exercised daily at warfare on the water;
+still they could not prevent a well manned flotilla which was laden
+with arms and provisions from reaching the city in the following autumn
+(1269) during very high water. At chu punished the Chinese while they
+were nearing Siang yang, and on their way back he seized five hundred
+boats from them.
+
+After a blockade of one year the Mongols saw the need of investing Fan
+ching, on the opposite side of the river. The cities were connected by
+bridges of boats; both sides of the river were dotted with posts and
+intrenchments, while the river was barred with strong chains and armed
+barges. Siang yang seemed abandoned to its fate, for Kia se tao did
+nothing to succor it, but he took immense pains all this time to hide
+from his sovereign what was happening in the Empire. Despite his
+precautions the Emperor heard in 1271 that the Mongols were besieging
+Siang yang, that being the third year of the investment. He demanded
+information; the chief minister declared that the siege had been
+raised, and the enemy was retreating. The minister at first was unable
+to learn who had enlightened the Emperor, but later on he discovered
+the man and had him put to death for some other cause. Still the
+Emperor’s questions roused the minister from torpor, and he sent an
+army under Fan wen hu to relieve the two cities.
+
+On his part Kubilai assembled troops to strengthen the besiegers. He
+opened the prisons of North China, and thus obtained twenty thousand
+new warriors. These men gave good service and some of them reached high
+positions. They marched in three corps and by different routes, and met
+on the bank of the Han below the point where the flotilla of the Sungs
+had been stationed. These new troops joined both banks by a boat
+bridge, and captured nearly all the flotilla. At chu came upon the army
+of a hundred thousand led by Fan wen hu and sent by the minister. The
+two vanguards met, and that of the Chinese was cut to pieces, or
+scattered.
+
+This check spread such a terror among the Sung warriors that the whole
+army fled, leaving standards and baggage behind it. Still the besieged,
+whose chiefs were not cast down by reverses, stood firm, and at the end
+of four years the city was still well supplied with provisions, though
+salt and a few other articles were needed. The commandant of Ngan lo, a
+town twenty leagues lower down on the river, undertook to supply what
+was lacking. He had boats built in a side stream of the Han and he held
+forth high rewards to all men who would handle them. Three thousand
+came forward to enter the city of Siang yang, or perish in trying. The
+boats went in threes; one boat was laden, and a second and a third tied
+firmly to each side of the laden one. These two were filled with armed
+warriors, who shot blazing arrows, and with small engines hurled stones
+and burning coals. They passed both divisions in this manner, breaking
+through every obstacle by fighting, and entered Siang yang amid endless
+shouts of delight from the people.
+
+This new flotilla was commanded by Chan shun and Chang kwe, two very
+brave warriors. Chan shun was killed before reaching the city. Chang
+kwe in returning to Ngan lo was met by the Mongols, and a desperate
+hand to hand conflict resulted; every man near Chang kwe was killed,
+and he was seized. All wounded and blood-covered, he would not
+acknowledge the Mongols. They slew him immediately and sent four
+prisoners back to Siang yang with his body. Engineers of great skill in
+constructing ballistas appeared now in action. These men had been
+summoned from Persia by Kubilai, and in 1273 they raised engines which
+breached the walls quickly. The Mongols took the suburbs after terrible
+slaughter, and then burned the bridge which connected the cities; that
+done, they turned on Fan ching and stormed it. Fan tien chun, the
+commander, killed himself, saying that he would die a Sung subject. His
+colleague, Niu fu, took a company of desperate followers, and fought in
+the streets against terrible odds, setting fire to the houses, while
+driven gradually back; the time came when covered with wounds, he threw
+himself into the flames which his own hands had kindled. The men who
+fought with him died as he died.
+
+The Mongols master Fedan ching during February, 1273. Kia se tao now
+offered to lead men himself and give aid to the cities, but, through
+the Emperor, he commanded himself to remain, declaring his presence at
+court indispensable. Kao ta, a great enemy of Liu wen hoan, was
+appointed to lead instead of the wonderfully adroit minister.
+
+The catapults were turned on Siang yang, but the attack began only in
+November. The machines made a terrible noise; the enormous stone
+missiles crushed all that they fell upon. The besieged rushed away from
+exposed spots in terror. Fear spread through the city. Liu ching, who
+knew Liu wen hoan, the commandant, asked now for parley, and got it,
+but the two men had barely begun to converse when Chinese warriors sent
+arrows from the fortress and Liu ching was saved only by the goodness
+of his armor.
+
+The Mongols, indignant at this action, wished to storm the place
+straightway, but were stopped by the generals, who informed the
+besieged that a message had just come to them from Kubilai. It was read
+in a loud voice and its import was as follows: “A splendid defence, of
+five years, covers you with great glory. Each faithful subject should
+serve his own sovereign with his life blood, but to sacrifice thousands
+of people through stubbornness, only think, is that reasonable or
+proper, especially for you who are exhausted, without aid, or even hope
+of it? Submit and no harm will meet any one. We promise to give each of
+you honorable employment. Ye will be satisfied. We pledge our true word
+of an Emperor that ye will be satisfied.”
+
+Liu wen hoan accepted these promises, and surrendered the city. He went
+with Alihaiya then to Kubilai, who showed him clear marks of esteem and
+named him commandant of troops in Siang yang. The officers under him
+were given good places in the armies of Kubilai.
+
+The defection of Liu wen hoan produced a colossal sensation. His family
+was one of the best in the Empire, and many of his relatives sent in
+their resignations since they had the evil fate to be connected by
+blood with that traitor. Kia se tao, who was a friend of the family,
+did not present even one resignation to the Emperor.
+
+Kubilai, exercised by the war in his own family, was inclined to cease
+action on the Yang tse for the present, but his generals explained the
+great value of the capture of Siang yang in continuing the struggle and
+urged that he strike his enemies while the advantage was on his side.
+The Emperor, Tu tsong, had just died, August, 1274, and had left all
+affairs to Kia se tao, and others as indifferent as that minister to
+the interests of China. The chief men wished to put on the throne Chao
+she, eldest son of Tu tsong, but Kia se tao considered that he himself
+would hold power more completely, and longer, by choosing the second
+son, Chao hien, a child of four years. This boy was chosen. The new
+Emperor received the name Kong tsong, and the Empress Siei shi, a widow
+of Tu tsong’s father, was raised to the regency.
+
+While preparing to continue the conquest of China most effectively,
+Kubilai, to explain and to justify his action, issued a rescript
+declaring that Jinghis, Ogotai and Mangu had striven to establish firm
+peace with the Sung Empire, and that he himself when only a prince and
+commander of armies had made a treaty with the Sung court, but that the
+court broke every promise as soon as he had withdrawn his forces. On
+ascending the throne he had sent an envoy to reinforce peace and good
+feeling, but the envoy had been seized and imprisoned with all his
+attendants, and was held in confinement till that day.
+
+After this declaration had been made, Kubilai appointed She tian tse
+and Bayan to command all the armies invading Hu kwang and he gave them
+as lieutenants At chu, Alihaiya, and Liu wen hoan. Another army was to
+act in Kiang nan under Polo hwan and four other commanders. These two
+great groups of warriors reached perhaps two hundred thousand. She tian
+tse died soon after his appointment and the whole command of that first
+group was given to Bayan, the best leader among all the Mongols.
+
+Bayan was of the Barin tribe. He had passed his youth in Persian
+regions, and had come on an embassy from Abaka the Ilkhan. Kubilai was
+so pleased with Bayan’s speech and bearing that in 1265 he took the man
+into his service, and made him Minister of State very quickly.
+
+From Siang yang, Bayan sailed down the Han toward Ngan lo with a
+numerous flotilla, but the river was blocked firmly with chains, with
+piles lashed together, and with barges on which were large forces of
+warriors well armed and using ballistas. Moreover Ngan lo itself was
+protected by walls of stone strong and massive in structure. Bayan
+judged that he could not take such a place without losing much time and
+many warriors, hence he pondered well over the problem. A Chinese
+prisoner showed a way out of the trouble, and Bayan took the city. The
+Mongols made track of strong beams from the river to Lake Teng into
+which they dragged all their vessels and barges. From this lake they
+sailed to the Han by an outlet, thus passing Ngan lo without battle.
+Having taken Sin hing chau and Sha yang, two cities on the right bank
+of the Han, they sailed down to its mouth, where in command of Hia kwe
+a strong flotilla was posted to guard the great river. Bayan attacked
+this line of boats and feigned to force on the left flank a way at all
+costs through it, but while the battle was raging on that side he
+seized Sha fu kwe on the other flank, took one hundred war barges, and
+reached the Yang tse on its north bank, taking nearly all his boats
+with him. He sent at once a strong fleet across the Yang tse under At
+chu. Hia kwe, the Chinese general, fearing lest he might be cut off,
+sailed down with all his flotilla, thus leaving Bayan perfect freedom
+of action.
+
+Yang lo on the north bank was captured. Han yang surrendered. Bayan
+crossed the great river with his army, and was preparing a siege for Wu
+chang fu when Chang yen kien and Ching pong, the commandants of that
+city, surrendered and passed with their men to the service of Kubilai.
+Bayan left a strong garrison under Alihaiya and moved toward the east
+with the rest of his forces.
+
+Ching pong had been charged by Bayan with effecting the submission of
+Chin y, the Hoang chiu commandant. Chin y demanded a good office. Bayan
+promised to make him chief inspector of lands along the Yang tse. Chin
+y then opened the gates of Hoang chiu to the Mongols; he induced the
+governor of Ki chiu to join also and surrender his city. Many
+commandants along the Yang tse had served under Liu wen hoan, or men of
+his family, and these surrendered without waiting for a summons. Chin
+yen, a commandant in Kiang nan, and son of Chin y, followed the example
+of his father. The governor of Kiu kiang opened his gates to Bayan, who
+received in this city the surrender of Nan king, Te ngan fu, and Lu
+ngan. The kindly reception given by Bayan to all Chinese facilitated
+his conquests immensely.
+
+Kia se tao, now master of the Sung Emperor, had collected meanwhile a
+great army, and brought to Wu hu, or to a point near it, a great river
+fleet which was joined by Hia kwe’s large flotilla. The first minister
+sent now to Bayan a Mongol captive as envoy, bearing presents of
+beautiful fruits and proposals of peace on the basis of his first
+treaty with Kubilai at Wu chang in 1260. Bayan answered by letter that
+Kia se tao should have spoken before he (Bayan) had crossed the Yang
+tse, that if he wished peace with sincerity he should seek it in
+person. This letter was left without answer.
+
+Chi chiu on the Yang tse had also surrendered to the Mongols, and Kia
+se tao commissioned Sun hu chin to occupy with large forces an island
+lower down than that city, and give two thousand five hundred boats to
+Hia kwe to bar the Yang tse to the Mongols. He chose for himself, and
+the bulk of his army, a position still nearer the sea.
+
+Bayan moved down both banks of the river with infantry and cavalry, but
+when he was opposite Sun hu chin’s island he opened on the Chinese with
+ballistas, and ordered an attack by some of his warriors. The Chinese
+fled in great haste to their vessels, but storms of missiles from both
+banks sank many of their barges and killed such a large number of men
+that their blood reddened the river.
+
+This triumph gave immense booty to the Mongols. Kia se tao, informed of
+the issue by Hia kwe, sailed down the river with all his flotilla. He
+stopped at the island Kin sha, where he counseled with Sun hu chin and
+Hai kwe. Nothing could be done, they declared, with warriors who
+trembled at sight of the Mongols. Kia se tao retired down the river
+still farther to gather new forces, but in vain; all had lost courage
+and no man would serve the vile minister. As a result of this last
+defeat many cities in Kiang nan, whose governors had fled from them,
+were seized by the Mongols; others were surrendered by the commandants.
+At the approach of Bayan, Wan li sin, who was governor then of Nan
+king, despaired of his country, and wishing to die still a Sung
+subject, invited his relatives and friends to a banquet at which he
+took poison; the city then fell to the Mongols.
+
+As the time of great heat was approaching, Kubilai wished to spare
+Mongol forces and instructed Bayan to desist till the autumn. But Bayan
+expressed his conviction that when one has an enemy by the throat it is
+not the time to give him a breathing spell. Hao king, Kubilai’s envoy,
+was still in confinement, and the man’s brother had been sent to obtain
+his release from Kia se tao. The mission succeeded; Hao king and his
+suite were set free, but he fell ill on the road, and died after
+reaching Yen king (Pekin), the capital of the Empire.
+
+Kubilai sent an embassy soon after this to make new peace proposals.
+Lien hi kien, the chief of this embassy, stopped at Nan king, Bayan’s
+headquarters, and obtained five hundred men as an escort. Bayan forbade
+hostile acts on the part of his army, and thus avoided all pretexts for
+violence to the embassy. In spite of this, Lien hi kien was attacked on
+the way by Chinese troops, who wounded him and killed his colleague.
+They took him to Lin ngan, where he died of his injuries. The Sung
+court sent an officer to Nan king in all haste with a letter declaring
+that the attack had been made without its knowledge; that the authors
+of the violence would be discovered and punished; that the Emperor was
+ready to declare himself Kubilai’s vassal.
+
+Bayan was distrustful, and received all these statements very coolly.
+He sent to Lin ngan with the bearer of this letter Chang yu, his own
+officer, to treat for peace formally, but really to see the condition
+of the capital. Chang yu was assassinated on the journey. Bayan,
+indignant at such treachery, demanded permission of Kubilai to continue
+hostilities. The Grand Khan, in answer, recalled him at once to the
+North to take command against Kaidu, who at that time was pressing him
+sorely.
+
+Kao shi kie, governor of Yu chau in Hu kwang, planned an attack on Wu
+chang fu. He manned several thousand large boats and seized the straits
+of King kiang. Alihaiya, the Wu chang commandant, advanced with a fleet
+against Kao shi kie, who, fearing the risk of a battle, raised anchor
+and retired to the great Tong ting lake, where he made his boats ready
+for action. Alihaiya formed his fleet into several squadrons, which put
+the Chinese to flight with great promptness. They seized Kao shi kie’s
+boat, took him prisoner and then cut his head off. The head was fixed
+on a lance point and shown beneath the walls of Yu chau, which
+surrendered when summoned.
+
+Alihaiya now attacked Kiang ling. The governor of this city, Kao ta,
+was among the best officers in China. Dissatisfied with the court which
+had put other men above him irregularly, he surrendered his city. After
+some days he wrote to commandants within his jurisdiction advising
+surrender, and soon fifteen of them yielded. Alihaiya left all who
+surrendered in command of their cities. Alihaiya was a favorite of
+Kubilai, who now sent this general a letter of thanks for his action,
+and gave Kao ta that same office which the Sung government had refused
+him.
+
+Southern Su chuan was still unconquered, but now Wang liang chin, the
+Mongol governor, defeated Tsan wan chiu, the Sung general commanding,
+and besieged him in Kia ting, his capital. Tsan wan chiu surrendered,
+giving also an account of every place in his province. He was retained
+then in office. Still Su chuan did not submit altogether till 1278. The
+great question now for the government was to be rid of Kia se tao, who
+had grown odious to all men, and in 1274 the regent deprived him of
+office. This did not sate public hatred, however. Ten accusations were
+leveled against this vile minister, but the regent whom he had created
+could not make up her mind to destroy the man, so she confiscated his
+property, and assigned Fu kien to him as a place of life exile. An
+official whose father the minister had banished was given the task of
+conducting the condemned man. This official made it his pleasure to
+torment the fallen minister as he traveled, and finished by killing him
+near the end of the journey. For this act he was put to death
+straightway.
+
+At chu resolved now to attack Chang shi kie, who had a vast fleet of
+boats on the river. In front of his own fleet he arranged his largest
+boats and placed upon them one thousand crossbowmen who discharged
+blazing arrows to fire the opposing flotilla. He followed closely
+behind to sustain them.
+
+The Mongol fleet bore down with all force on the Chinese. The thousand
+bowmen sent burning arrows in every direction, and soon the great river
+was covered with blazing barges and boats. To avoid being burned or
+taken captive by Mongols many Chinese hurled themselves into the river
+and perished. Chang she kie fled, leaving more than seven hundred boats
+in the hands of the Mongols.
+
+Bayan saw the Grand Elan at Shang tu, and convinced him that harm alone
+could result from stopping operations in China for even a short time.
+Bayan was sent back to his office and the plan of campaign was fixed
+promptly. Bayan was to march straightway (1275), and take the Sung
+capital. His assistants were to operate on the right and the left in
+the Hoai nan and Kiang si provinces. His own army was divided into
+three parts and its action repeated in some sense the movements of the
+combined Mongol forces. The part of this army in which Bayan, the great
+chief, was present marched through Chang chan; Liu wen hoan led its
+vanguard.
+
+The Sung court sent corps after corps to succor the city. Bayan crushed
+all that he met in the field, and then summoned Chang chau to
+surrender. When both threats and promises proved useless he destroyed
+the suburbs, and raising a rampart to the height of the walls, he then
+captured the city. Of the four chiefs who commanded three fell, while
+the fourth fled and saved himself. The inhabitants were put to the
+sword without pity. Bayan’s generals, Argan and Tong wen ping, carried
+everything before them; people were fleeing to Lin ngan in thousands;
+there was panic in all parts, and terror in the capital. Chin y chong
+the first minister forced to the ranks every male above fifteen years
+of age. The Empress sent an envoy to Bayan to explain that the evil
+done had been done by Kia se tao, whom she had punished, that the
+sovereign was still in tender years, and that all would be remedied.
+
+Bayan answered that Kia se tao had not murdered Lien hi hien, and bade
+her remember that when the Sung dynasty won its dominion, the last of
+the Cheu line, from which the Sungs had snatched Empire, was also an
+infant. “Think it not strange if your infant is treated as you treated
+that one.”
+
+Bayan advanced farther. The same envoy appeared from Chin y chong and
+the Empress to declare that the young Emperor would agree to call
+himself the nephew of Kubilai, and pay tribute. This too was rejected.
+Now the Empress sent to say that the Emperor would own himself a
+subject of Kubilai, and pay yearly tribute. This offer was made without
+the knowledge of Chin y chong, who wished the court to remove to
+southern regions and fight to the end there with valor. The Empress
+would not hear of this project. Bayan was approaching the capital
+irresistibly; nothing could stop him. The Sung princes advised now to
+send Ki wang and Sin wang, the Emperor’s half-brothers, to more remote
+regions, and preserve in this manner the dynasty. The Empress consented
+and, changing the title of Ki wang to Y wang, and Sin wang to Kwang
+wang, sent them both to Fu kien, but to different places in the
+province.
+
+Bayan was met near Lin ngan by the two other parts of his army. In sign
+that she submitted the Empress now sent him the grand seal of Empire,
+which he transmitted to Kubilai immediately. Next he summoned Chin y
+chong to discuss terms of settlement, but this minister, who was
+opposed to the Empress, hurried off southward. Chang shi kie retired
+also with his troops to Ting hai, and when Bayan sent an officer of
+distinction to invite him to surrender Chang shi kie cut the man’s
+tongue out, and hacked him to pieces. The Empress now made Wen tien
+siang her first minister, gave him U kien as a colleague, and sent the
+two men to Bayan on a mission.
+
+The minister told the great general that if the Northern Empire wished
+China to be on the footing of other kingdoms subdued by the Mongols, he
+would ask him to retire, at least to Kia hing, where they would settle
+on the tribute in silver and silk to be paid every year, and on the
+places to be occupied. “But if your plans,” added he, “are farther
+reaching, and you think to destroy the Sung dynasty, be assured that
+the road to your object is long, and you will fight many battles ere
+you reach it. The south is not in your power yet. We shall defend
+ourselves; the issue of arms is ever changing. Who knows that the whole
+position will not be reversed utterly?”
+
+Bayan dismissed U kien and detained Wen tien siang under pretext of
+arranging a peace with him; the minister protested against this. Seeing
+Chinese officers who had gone over to the Mongols, he reproached them
+for their infamy very sharply, not sparing even Liu wen hoan among
+others. Bayan sent him to Kubilai, but the minister escaped from his
+guards on the way.
+
+To govern Lin ngan Bayan now appointed a council of Mongols and
+Chinese, under presidence of Man hu tai and Fan wen hu; he charged also
+Ching pong to obtain from the Empress an order to all governors of
+provinces to submit to the Mongols, and, to render this more emphatic,
+the great functionaries signed it at his instance. All obeyed except
+one, Kai hiuen hong, whom no threats could intimidate.
+
+Four Mongol officers, at command of Bayan, took the seals of
+departments, and seized every register book, historical memoir, and map
+in each archive; these were all carefully placed under seal. Troops
+were stationed in every part of the capital and exact order continued.
+Bayan, whom the Emperor and Empress demanded to see, excused himself
+under pretext that he knew not the right ceremonial on such an
+occasion, and next day he left the city. Two Chinese dignitaries were
+charged with watching the palace, for no reason whatever were they to
+lose sight of the Empress. This was done under guise of showing
+boundless respect for her.
+
+Very soon after, Atahai, a general, with a large suite of officers,
+appeared at the palace. His first act was to abolish all etiquette
+observed with the Emperor and Empress. Meanwhile he invited the Emperor
+and his mother to set out for Kubilai’s court in Shang tu, without
+waiting. After this notice had been given, the Empress with streaming
+eyes embraced her little boy, lately heir to the Empire: “The son of
+Heaven spares thy life,” said she. “It is proper to thank him.” This
+heir of seven years, a creation of the dead Kia se tao, fell on his
+knees at the side of his mother; their faces were turned toward the
+north, toward Shang tu; nine times did they strike the floor with their
+foreheads in saluting Kubilai the Grand Mongol.
+
+The son and mother were then placed in an equipage and left Lin ngan
+and their Empire forever. With them went a great company containing all
+the princes and princesses of the Sung family who were in the capital
+at that time, besides ministers, high functionaries, men of letters of
+great note and marked influence. All these took the road northward, and
+surely a mournful procession followed the Emperor.
+
+The regent, the Emperor’s grandmother, fell ill and was left in Lin
+ngan for recovery. A number of Chinamen, desperate at seeing their
+Emperor led captive with the chief men of the government and some of
+the best minds of China, made efforts to save them. Twice did they rush
+at the escort of Mongols which was led by Atahai and Li ting, but the
+escort was too strong to be broken; the Mongols repelled the Chinese
+after a desperate encounter in each case.
+
+When the young Emperor was reaching Shang tu, Kubilai sent his first
+minister to meet him. Orders had been given to treat all captives
+properly. The Emperor was reduced to be a kong, or prince of the third
+order; Hiao Kong was the title accorded him. The Empress mother and the
+regent were stripped of their titles. Jambui Khatun, the Grand Khan’s
+chief wife, tried to soften the lot of the mother by delicate
+attention.
+
+Lin ngan, the capital of the Emperor, is said to have been very large
+and magnificent. It was built amid lagoons and had twelve hundred
+bridges, some having piers of such great height that vessels of two
+hundred tons could sail under the bridge. In the city was a beautiful
+lake surrounded with palaces and mansions. On the islands of this lake
+were pleasure houses where marriage feasts were held and great banquets
+given. There were three thousand baths in Lin ngan, each large enough
+to accommodate one hundred persons at a time. Marco Polo states that
+the Emperor’s palace was the largest in the world. It contained twenty
+halls, the most capacious of which was used as a state banquet room;
+aside from these there were one thousand chambers richly decorated in
+gold and colors. The city contained ten large markets; 1,600,000 houses
+and seven hundred temples. The inhabitants dressed richly, all, except
+the lowest class of laborers and coolies, wearing silk.
+
+The Grand Khan had received the gold, silver and other precious objects
+taken in Lin ngan from the palace. The princes and princesses of
+Kubilai’s court gazed with delight on these spoils of a mighty dynasty,
+but Jambui Khatun could not keep back her tears as she turned to the
+Grand Khan and said to him: “It has come to my mind at this moment that
+the Empire of the Mongols also will finish in this way.”
+
+South China remained still unconquered. While Bayan was moving on Lin
+ngan invincibly, Alihaiya was advancing through Hu kuang and had laid
+siege to Chang cha. He attacked with such vigor that after some days
+the city suffered excessively. The Mongols delivered a general assault,
+won the rampart, and the fate of the place was decided; a part was on
+fire, and the fall of the whole was a question of hours at the utmost.
+At this juncture an official from a city of importance, who chanced to
+be there with two sons who had just come of age, made those sons put
+hats on their heads (the hat being a symbol of manhood). That done, he
+cast himself into the flames with them and his household; Li fu, the
+governor of Chang cha, honored greatly the memory of this visitor, and
+feeling sure that every official would be true to the dynasty, he
+summoned a certain Chin tsong and said to him: “I will not dishonor my
+blood by surrender; I ask you to despatch all my family, and then show
+to me the same service.” In vain did Chin tsong strike the earth with
+his forehead, in vain did he beg of the governor to relieve him from
+such a terrible service. Li fu was unbending, and as he insisted, Chin
+tsong, weeping bitterly, agreed to obey him. Wine was given all who
+were ready to die, and while under its influence death touched them
+easily. When Li fu presented his head it was swept from him with one
+blow of a sabre. Chin tsong set fire to the palace immediately; then he
+ran to his house, where he slew his own wife and children; that done,
+he killed himself. All the officials, save two, and a great number of
+officers and people followed the governor; some sprang into wells,
+others hanged themselves, or took poison. On entering Chang cha the
+Mongols were astonished to find the place almost deserted.
+
+Alihaiya then summoned the other cities of Southern Hu kuang; nearly
+all of them surrendered without raising a weapon to defend themselves.
+At the same time in Kiang si Sung tu kai made great progress. Eleven
+cities of this province submitted, and Fu chau also was taken. Bayan
+had been summoned to appear at Shang tu immediately. Sung tu kai told
+him at parting, that the Sung princes had assembled many troops in Fu
+kien and Kuang tung, and that they intended to enter Kiang si. Bayan
+enjoined on Argan and Tong wen ping, whom he left in command near Lin
+ngan, to leave those princes no time to strengthen their armies.
+
+When the Sung princes, brothers of the Emperor, came to Wen chau from
+Lin ngan, the officers who followed or joined them, made Y wang, the
+elder, chief governor of the Empire, and associated with him his
+brother Kwang wang. These brothers entered Fu kien, where the two
+leading cities were on the point of submitting to Hoang wan tau, whom
+Bay an had made governor of that province very recently. The new
+governor had guaranteed to reduce the whole province. The Sung
+partisans seized arms immediately. The Mongol governor was defeated and
+driven out of the province; his troops deserted and joined the Sung
+forces.
+
+The two princes arrived at Fu chau, the capital, and Y wang, who was
+nine years of age, was made Emperor with all needful ceremony. The
+sovereign had a numerous army divided into four corps, which were to
+operate in the south and along the Yang tse, on both sides of that
+river. At this juncture appeared Wen tien siang, who had escaped from
+the Mongols during the second attack on the men who were taking the
+young Emperor to Shang tu. To him was now given the conduct of the
+struggle, and he strove to rally the Chinese, and rouse their love of
+country. A proclamation of the young Emperor stirred up the nation, and
+great levies were made, which disquieted the Mongols.
+
+When Bayan obtained a command from the Empress, the Emperor’s mother,
+requiring every Sung subject to submit to the Mongols, At chu sent a
+copy to Li ting shi, who had tried to rescue the Emperor and who was
+defending Yang chiu with great stubbornness. Li ting shi answered from
+the ramparts, that he knew no command save that to defend the place
+assigned him by the Empress through a document from her own hand. At
+chu obtained a new command in still stronger language, and addressed to
+Li ting shi directly. Li ting shi discharged arrows at the man bringing
+this document.
+
+At chu redoubled his efforts to cut off supplies from his opponent. In
+despair that he could not conquer one city, while Bayan had reduced a
+whole province so quickly, and with it the capital of the Empire, he
+tried other methods. He sent Li ting shi a letter in which Kubilai
+promised to grant every wish of his. Li ting shi burned this letter,
+and cut off the head of the man who had brought it. All other cities
+besieged in those regions had fallen by famine, if not conquered
+otherwise; hunger was reaching Yang chiu, but how closely was not known
+to the Mongols at that time.
+
+At At chu’s request Kubilai wrote to Li ting shi as follows: “If you
+will obey even at this hour, I am willing to carry out former promises,
+and pardon the murder of my envoy.” Li ting shi would not receive this
+new letter, and learning that Y wang was Sung Emperor, he left the
+defence of Yang chiu to Chu hwan and set out with his colleague, Kiang
+tsai, and seven thousand men to join his new sovereign. Barely had he
+gone from the city when Chu hwan surrendered.
+
+At chu sent a strong corps of cavalry to hunt down the two fleeing
+commanders. One thousand Chinese were slain in this labor, and Li ting
+shi was forced into Tai chiu, where he was surrounded immediately. Two
+leading officers in that city betrayed it to the Mongols. Li ting shi,
+seeing that his last hour was near, sprang into a pond which proved to
+be very shallow. He was dragged out of it promptly and with Kiang tsai
+hurried back to Yang chiu. At chu left nothing undone to win these two
+men to Kubilai, but since both were unbending he killed them.
+
+Tong wen ping and Argan made progress in Che kiang. They won a victory
+over the Sung army in Chu chiu, and in Fu kien took a fortress, called
+Sha u. These Mongol successes were followed by Chinese defections and
+the surrender of cities. This constrained the Sung court to think of
+its safety. Chin y chong and Chang shi kie assembled a very large
+fleet, and a considerable army. The Emperor embarked with his court and
+the army and sailed away southward to Tsuen chiu (the Zaitun of Marco
+Polo). This port was the seat of much commerce; the harbor was crowded
+with vessels at all times. The commanders now seized certain ships
+which they needed. These, as it seemed, belonged mainly to the
+governor, a very rich merchant. The governor was so greatly enraged at
+this action that he attacked all who landed, and even forced the fleet
+to sail out of the harbor; that done, he delivered his city to the
+Mongols.
+
+Alihaiya had laid siege for three months, with great vigor, to Kwe lin
+fu, the capital of Kuang si, but failing to conquer the desperate
+resistance of the governor Ma ki, he tried softer methods. He obtained
+from Kubilai a diploma appointing Ma ki commander-in-chief of Kuang si,
+and sent him the document by an officer. Ma ki burned the diploma, and
+cut down the officer. Kwe lin fu, built at the meeting of two rivers,
+was exposed at one side alone, where the whole garrison could face any
+enemy. The Mongol general dug out new beds for the rivers and turned
+them; the city was assailable now upon every side and he stormed it.
+His army swept over the walls like a torrent, but Ma ki met the foe
+worthily. He fought from street to street, from one square to another,
+till at last, when covered with wounds, and bleeding his life out, that
+brave man was captured, but died shortly afterward. All the inhabitants
+were put to the sword without pity.
+
+The capital taken, Alihaiya divided his army into various detachments,
+which he sent to seize the chief cities of that province.
+
+Ki wang, or Y wang, the young Emperor, sailed to Hweï chiu, not far
+from the present Hong Kong, and sent one of his officers to Sutu, the
+Mongol commander, with a letter for Kubilai, in which he offered
+submission. Sutu sent his son to Shang tu with the bearer of this
+letter. Meanwhile operations continued, and soon the whole province of
+Kuang tung, attacked the year previous, had submitted.
+
+At this juncture Kubilai summoned Bayan from South China, directing him
+to leave there only those who were needed to guard conquered places. Li
+heng would command troops of that kind. All others were to strike in
+the North at his enemy Kaidu. After Bayan’s departure the Sung party
+attacked and retook many cities in the four southern provinces. Chang
+shi kie made great levies in Fu kien, equipped a large fleet and laid
+siege to Tsuen chiu, but Sutu forced him afterward to raise it. Sutu
+declared that the Chinese were not to be trusted, and fell back on the
+old Mongol method of slaughter. City after city was put to the sword
+without mercy or favor. Since many southern cities had been retaken by
+Sung forces Kubilai in 1278 sent fresh troops to that part of the
+Empire, and ordered Ta chu, Li heng, and Liu se kwe to cross the Ta yn
+ling mountains, while the fleet, under Sutu and others, would attack
+the Sung squadron.
+
+Sutu now swept all things before him till he reached Chao chiu, where
+he met firm resistance. Not wishing to delay, lest he be late in the
+south, he sailed on, and joined the land forces near Canton, which
+surrendered. After this success he returned to Chao chiu and laid siege
+to it regularly. The place was built strongly, and Ma fa, the
+commandant, was so active and resolute that after battering it for
+twenty days and storming it repeatedly Sutu could show only small
+progress. Then the commandant made a sortie in which he burned the
+battering engines of the Mongols, but surrounded at last by greater
+forces, he perished in a murderous struggle. His men broke and fled to
+the city; the enemy ran with them, rushed in throngs to the gates,
+swept through them after the Chinese, took the place, and put all to
+the sword without exception.
+
+The young Emperor had no port in which to anchor his vessels with
+safety. Hence he wandered about on the sea without a resting-place,
+till in May, 1278, at the age of eleven, he died, on Kang chuen, a
+desert island. Most of the officials and high personages who followed
+him were averse to this wandering existence, and were ready to submit
+to Kubilai, but Liu sin fu opposed them with the uttermost vigor. “We
+have,” said he, “a son of Tu tsong with us yet and we must make him the
+Emperor. We shall find warriors and officers in plenty. If Heaven has
+not decreed ruin to the Sungs, do ye doubt that it can raise their
+throne to its former magnificence?”
+
+These words roused the chiefs; they placed Kuang wang on an earth
+mound, knelt, and rendered homage. Ti ping was the name given the new
+Emperor. Liu sin fu and Chang shi kie were his ministers. The Chinese
+headquarters were mainly on water, their fleet was very great, and
+carried large forces. This fleet retired to straits in the Gulf of
+Canton which lay between the mountain Kiche and the island of Ya i. The
+position, as it seems, was a good one. In every case it was the last
+refuge and stronghold of the Sung dynasty. Chang shi kie had built on
+the summit of the island a modern palace for the Emperor, and barracks
+for the warriors. He worked with great zeal to revictual the vessels
+and provide all that was needful for every one. Provisions came from
+Canton and other places, from cities which were subject to the Mongols,
+as well as the Chinese. Wen tien siang, in spite of his losses,
+recaptured Canton, and held it, at least for a season.
+
+At this time Chang hong fan explained to Kubilai in a letter that to
+end the great struggle successfully Kuang wang must be mastered.
+Kubilai sent him a sword set with jewels, and made him
+commander-in-chief of the armies appointed to subdue the new Emperor.
+The first act of the general was to crush the land forces; as these
+were mainly new levies and the Mongols were veterans, they fled at the
+earliest onset and their officers were taken captive. Among them were
+Wen tien siang, chief commander, with Liu tse tsiun and Tsiu fong. The
+last of these killed himself and the second was burned to death over a
+slow fire. Wen tien siang begged for death earnestly, but Chang hong
+fan would not grant it. After asking him in vain to give homage by
+bowing northward, Chang hong fan sent him to Kubilai, and freed all his
+friends and relatives who were captive.
+
+The armies of the Sung Emperor were destroyed. The last blow remained,
+that against the sea forces. Chang hong fan put his army in ships and
+sailed in past the island called Ya i. The Chinese land troops were
+intrenched on the island very firmly, and the Chinese fleet seemed
+secure from attack on the north side, since the water in that part was
+too shallow, as they thought, for the large Mongol vessels.
+
+Chang hong fan reconnoitred his opponents, and saw that their vessels
+were unwieldy, so he took a number of his light boats, filled them with
+straw soaked in oil and ignited them. Favored by a strong southern
+wind, he sent these burning boats forward to strike on the Chinese. But
+Chang shi kie had covered all his front barks and their rigging with
+mud, hence they were not fired and the attack proved fruitless.
+
+Canton had been taken by the Mongols a second time and occupied. Chang
+hong fan now received thence a reinforcement of men, and also of
+vessels. These latter he posted north of Ya i, and prepared to attack
+the Sung fleet, which was west of the island, between it and the
+mountain. Attacks were made on the north and the south simultaneously.
+The battle continued all day. The Chinese were unbroken in the evening,
+but in the fleet there was something approaching a panic; the
+commanders had lost control for the greater part. Chang shi kie and his
+colleague determined to reach the open sea under cover of a mist which
+was present in every place. The Chinese emerged from the straits with
+sixteen bulky vessels and there formed the front of the squadron. Liu
+sin fu boarded the Emperor’s vessel to save him; that ship was larger
+than others and more difficult to manage. They sailed on, however, till
+they came to the mouth of the channel, which was blocked by Mongol
+barges lashed one to another securely. There was no chance to move
+forward and to return was impossible.
+
+Liu sin fu, seeing this, had his children and wife hurled into the
+water. Then, telling Ti ping that a Sung sovereign should prefer death
+to captivity, he put the boy Emperor on his shoulders and sprang into
+the sea with him. Most of the dignitaries followed this example, and
+drowned themselves.
+
+More than eight hundred ships fell into the power of the Mongols. Later
+on Chinese corpses in thousands were floating on those waters. Among
+them was that of Ti ping, and on it was found the seal of the Empire.
+When Chang shi kie heard that his sovereign was dead he went to the
+ship of the Empress and tried to induce her to aid him in choosing some
+relative of the Sung family and making him Emperor. But when she
+learned of the death of her young son she sprang into the sea without
+further discussion, and was followed by the ladies of her service.
+Chang shi kie found her body and buried it on the mainland. He then
+sailed away for Tung king, where he had faithful allies with whom he
+intended to return and install a new Emperor if possible. But in
+crossing the Gulf of Tung king, Chang shi kie was met by a terrible
+tempest, and perished.
+
+Meanwhile Su liu i, his colleague, fell, slain by his own men. When he
+was dead all people in China submitted, and Kubilai Khan found himself
+master of an Empire, for which the Mongols had been fighting for more
+than five decades. Thus the Sung family vanished after ruling three and
+one-fifth centuries over China.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+KUBILAI’S ACTIVITY IN CHINA AND WAR WITH KAIDU
+
+
+The struggle of Kubilai Khan against Arik Buga, his brother, has been
+described in some detail already, as well as the downfall and death of
+the latter. Next came Kaidu, a more dangerous opponent, who claimed
+Mongol sovereignty through descent from his grandfather Ogotai. Ogotai
+had been designated by Jinghis to the khanship of the Mongols, and when
+this choice was confirmed at the first Kurultai of election the dignity
+was fixed among Ogotai’s descendants. By the election of Mangu, a son
+of Tului, this pact was rejected and broken. Long and stubborn
+struggles and ruin were entailed on the Mongols by that change.
+
+The war with Kaidu lasted from the death of Arik Buga to the end of
+Kubilai’s life and somewhat beyond it. Before touching on this bloody
+conflict it will be perhaps better to show what Kubilai Khan did after
+conquering China (January 31, 1279).
+
+No sooner had the Grand Khan ended the Sung dynasty than he turned to
+Japan, which had paid tribute formerly to China. In 1270 he had invited
+the Japanese monarch, through an envoy, to acknowledge as his suzerain
+the master of the earth, who was also the son of Heaven, but the envoy
+was given no audience. Other envoys, sent later, were put to death
+promptly by the Japanese. Kubilai resolved now to conquer those eastern
+islands, though his best counsellors tried to dissuade him. They saw
+the perils of the enterprise and did not believe that success would in
+any case pay for the outlay, but Kubilai was inflexible, and the order
+was given to send an army one hundred thousand strong to conquer the
+islands. The troops embarked at Lin ngan and Tsuen chiu fu toward the
+end of 1280; the fleet bearing them sailed for Corea to be joined by a
+contingent of that country composed of nine hundred ships, which
+carried ten thousand warriors. This immense fleet with its forces was
+struck near the Japanese coast by a tempest; the ships went ashore for
+the greater part, and the men were taken prisoners. Sixty thousand
+Chinese were seized and of Mongols thirty thousand were slain by the
+Japanese. In the autumn of 1281 a feeble remnant and wreck of this
+great army made its way back to China.
+
+When the Sung family had fallen the King of Cochin China rendered
+homage to Kubilai and sent him tribute. Not content with the tribute
+thus brought him, Kubilai sent to that country a ruling council
+composed of his own officers. After two years the heir of Cochin China,
+indignant at the sight of foreign men ruling his country, moved his
+father to arrest them. To punish this rebellion, as he called it,
+Kubilai sent a fleet from South China with an army under General Sutu,
+who landed in 1281 at the capital, which he captured. The king’s son
+retired toward the mountains, and occupied Sutu with phrases of
+submission. Meanwhile he was preparing to defeat him if possible. Sutu
+learned shortly after that men were advancing from many directions to
+cut him off from his vessels. He found it well for this reason to
+return to Canton.
+
+Western Yun nan was formed of two princedoms, Laï liu and Yung chang,
+which must be brought to obedience, such was the order of the Emperor.
+The King of Mien tien, the Burma of our day, to whom, as it seems, the
+two princedoms paid tribute, set out in 1277 to drive back the Mongols.
+He advanced with a force sixty thousand in number formed of horsemen
+and infantry. His first line was of elephants bearing towers which held
+archers.
+
+At approach of this Burmese army, the Mongols, whose flank was
+protected by a forest, rode out from behind their intrenchments to
+charge on the enemy then advancing, but their horses ran in terror from
+the elephants, and for some minutes no man could check the beast under
+him. When the panic was over Nassir ud din commanded his men to
+dismount, put their beasts in the forest, and, advancing on foot,
+attack the first line of elephants with arrows. The elephants,
+unprotected by armor of any kind, were covered with wounds very
+quickly. Maddened by pain, they turned and rushed through the ranks
+just behind them. Many fled to the forest, where they broke the towers
+on their backs and hurled down the men who were in them.
+
+Free of the elephants, the Mongols remounted, attacked the Burmese with
+arrows, and next with their swords at close quarters. The unarmored
+Burmese were put to flight promptly. Two hundred elephants were seized
+by the Mongols, who pursued the enemy until intense heat drove them
+back. After this brief and striking campaign Kubilai retained elephants
+in his army. In 1283 Kubilai sent a large army under command of Sian
+kur to force the king of Mien tien to submission, that is to become
+tributary and permit Mongol officials to reside in the country. After a
+short siege Tai Kung, the capital, was taken and the whole kingdom
+agreed to pay tribute to Kubilai. The Kin shi, a people of Yun nan, who
+till that time had been kept by the king from submission to the
+Mongols, declared obedience.
+
+The great Emperor planned now a second attack on the Japanese islands,
+to repair the disaster which happened to the first one. Atagai was
+named chief of the expedition. The Corean king was to give five hundred
+ships to it. In Kiang nan, Che kiang and Fu kien, ships were built, and
+new levies made, to the great harm of commerce in those places. Workmen
+in the docks, and also sailors, forcibly levied, deserted in crowds,
+and robbed on the highway, or became pirates along the coast regions.
+The army was dissatisfied and most men in the Emperor’s own council
+opposed the expedition, but Kubilai’s attention was soon drawn
+elsewhere. The King of Cochin China after the withdrawal of Sutu in
+1281 had sent ambassadors to appease Kubilai, but the Emperor refused
+them an audience, and commanded Togan, his son, then governing Yun nan
+of the East, to march through Tung king, and attack Cochin China; Sutu
+was to aid in planning this action. Tung king had submitted to Kubilai
+on his advent to power, and Ching koan ping, its ruler, had engaged to
+pay once in three years a given quantity of gold, silver, precious
+stones, and drugs useful in medicine, also horns of rhinoceros, and
+ivory. At the same time an agent from Kubilai came to reside at the
+capital. Ching koan ping had for successor in 1277 his son, Chin ge
+suan, who hated the Mongols and was waiting to attack them. When Togan
+on his way to Cochin China demanded provisions, Chin ge suan raised
+false objections, and Togan, seeing his active hostility, knew that he
+must first of all bring Tung king down to obedience. He entered the
+country in 1285 during January and on rafts crossed the Fu liang River.
+At the other bank stood the enemy in order of battle, but they fled,
+and their hostile King vanished. Togan thought the war ended, but the
+enemy rallied and harassed his marches. The great heat of summer and
+the rains brought disease to his northern warriors. The army was forced
+to fall back on Yun nan and was harassed continually while retreating.
+Li heng, who commanded under Togan’s direction, was wounded with an
+arrow, and died very soon, for the arrow had been poisoned.
+
+Sutu, who was twenty leagues distant from this army and had no account
+of its trouble, was cut off by Tung king men, and perished in a battle
+at the Kien moan River. Kubilai grieved much for the loss of so gifted
+a general. To this loss was added the death of Chingkin, that son whom
+he had declared his successor, a man of great wisdom, instructed in all
+Chinese learning, esteemed for his probity and his love of justice.
+Chingkin was forty-three years of age when he died. He left three sons:
+Kamala, Dharma Bala, and Timur of whom we shall hear much hereafter.
+
+In 1286 the Japanese expedition was still pending. All forces were
+ready, however, and the ships were to meet in September at Hupu, the
+great rendezvous. Meanwhile the president of the tribunal of mandarins
+dissuaded the Emperor from so hazardous a project. He left Japan in
+peace, but a new expedition was sent to Cochin China. Alihaiya was to
+take troops from South China garrisons, and fall on Tung king with the
+uttermost vigor. Prince Togan, who had command of this army, entered
+Tung king in 1287 during February; he had under him the generals Ching
+pong fei and Fan tsie. Meanwhile a fleet from Kuang tung bore a second
+good army under Situr, a great Kipchak leader who brought with him
+officers and warriors of his people.
+
+Kubilai’s forces beat the Tung king men in seventeen engagements,
+ravaged a part of the country, pillaged the capital, seized immense
+wealth, and retired on Yun nan with rejoicing. The King, Chin ge suan,
+had sailed away, no one knew whither, but now, when the Mongols had
+gone, he appeared with large forces a second time.
+
+Togan reëntered the country in 1288, and found the inhabitants armed
+and ready for action. The campaign was continued till summer, which
+brought much disease, and forced Togan to fallback on Kuang si for a
+period. Chin ge suan now attacked him and strove to stop his retreat
+altogether. Togan lost many men in various battles, among others the
+generals Fan tsie and Apatchi, and was saved only by the valor of
+Situr, who put himself at the head of the vanguard and opened a way for
+the army.
+
+Notwithstanding his victory the king thought it wise now to offer
+submission; he begged Kubilai to forget past events and with his
+prayers sent a gold statue. Kubilai, in punishment for defeat, took Yun
+nan rule from Prince Togan, forbade him the palace, and assigned him
+Yang chiu as a residence.
+
+In 1285 Kubilai had charged Yang ting pie to visit the islands south of
+China and inform himself secretly of the forces and the wealth on them.
+The mission was successful, for in October of 1286 the ships of ten
+kingdoms sailed into Tsuen chiu, a port of the Fu kien province,
+bearing tribute, as was stated. It is quite likely, however, that these
+ships brought simply presents.
+
+The chief and perhaps the one reason why Kubilai dropped his campaign
+against the Japanese islands was the menacing action of Kaidu, who had
+struggled two decades to win headship in the Empire. Kaidu, the
+grandson of Ogotai, claimed the Mongol throne as a right which no man
+might question, or venture to take from him, since it came from the
+will of Jinghis, and also from the solemn decision of the first Mongol
+Kurultai. For many years, and under varying pretexts, Kaidu had avoided
+appearing at Kubilai’s court and now he declared himself openly
+hostile. The Emperor reckoned on the support of Borak, whom he had made
+Khan of Jagatai, and whose dominions touched those of Kaidu on the
+western border.
+
+These two rulers did, in fact, begin war by a battle on the Syr Darya
+or Yaxartes. Borak gained the victory through an ambush. He made many
+prisoners, and took rich booty. Later on Kaidu got assistance from
+Mangu Timur of the Golden Horde, a descendant of Juchi, who sent an
+army commanded by Bergatchar, his uncle. With his own and these forces
+Kaidu met Borak and defeated him in a murderous battle. The defeated
+man then withdrew to Transoxiana and recruited his army, which he
+welded together again through treasures obtained from Bokhara and
+Samarkand, those famous old cities between the two rivers. He was
+preparing for a second struggle when peace proposals were brought him
+from Kaidu by Kipchak Ogul, a grandson of Ogotai, and friendly to both
+these opponents. The proposals were agreeable to Borak, who immediately
+accepted them. He formed an alliance then with Kaidu and each man
+became to the other a sworn friend or “anda.”
+
+This union gave control to Kaidu of the Jagatai country made up of
+Turkistan and Transoxiana. Borak died in 1270, and his successor,
+Nikbey, son of Sarban, and grandson of Jagatai, having taken arms
+against Kaidu was attacked in 1272, and killed in a battle. Next came
+Toga Timur; after his death Kaidu put on the throne Dua, son of Borak,
+his own “anda.” In 1275 Kaidu and Dua invaded the country of the Uigurs
+with an army a hundred thousand in number and laid siege to the
+capital. These allies wished to force the Idikut to join in the war
+against Kubilai, but at this juncture the Idikut received aid from the
+Emperor’s troops, which appeared in that region.
+
+That same year Kubilai sent westward a numerous army commanded by his
+son Numugan, who had under him as general Hantum, a minister of State,
+and a descendant of Mukuli, Jinghis Khan’s most beloved and perhaps his
+most gifted commander. Guekji, Numugan’s brother, and Shireki, son of
+Mangu, went also with his army, as well as Tok Timur and other princes
+with their warriors. Numugan was appointed chief governor of Almalik at
+the outset.
+
+In 1277 Tok Timur, dissatisfied with Kubilai, proposed to put Shireki,
+son of Mangu, on the throne of the Mongols. Shireki accepted the offer;
+Kubilai’s two sons and the general, Hantum, were seized in the night
+time. Both princes were delivered to Mangu Timur, the sovereign of
+Kipchak; Hantum was given to Kaidu. Sarban, son of Jagatai, was won for
+the cause somewhat later, and other princes of this branch as well as
+that of Ogotai. At this juncture Kubilai summoned Bayan from South
+China and put him at the head of an army to crush the above
+combination. Bayan found his foes well entrenched on the Orgun. He cut
+off their supplies and they, dreading hunger, accepted the wager of
+battle. The conflict on which such great interests depended was
+stubborn to the utmost. For hours it raged with equal chances, till
+Bayan’s skill turned the scale finally. Shireki was defeated and
+withdrew toward the Irtish. Tok Timur fled to the land of the Kirghis,
+where Kubilai’s forces surprised him and seized all his camp goods. He
+sent to Shireki for succor, but Shireki failed to give it. Tok Timur
+took revenge for this by offering the throne of the Mongols to Sarban.
+Shireki tried to conciliate him, but Tok Timur gave answer as follows:
+“Thou hast not the courage for this dignity, Sarban is more worthy.”
+Shireki was forced to give way, and had even to send his own envoys
+with those of other princes to Mangu Timur and to Kaidu to declare that
+Sarban had been chosen.
+
+Tok Timur now wished to force Yubukur to acknowledge the sovereign just
+created. Yubukur assembled his forces to oppose, but before he had a
+chance to begin battle Tok Timur’s warriors deserted to his enemy. Tok
+Timur, thus abandoned, took to flight, but was seized and given to
+Shireki, who had him killed at Yubukur’s order. Tok Timur was renowned
+for splendid bravery and for skill as a bowman; he always rode a white
+horse during battle, and said that men choose dark horses lest blood
+from wounds might be apparent on their bodies, but to his mind the
+blood of the horse and the rider ornamented the latter, as rouge does
+the cheeks of a woman.
+
+Sarban, who was now without effective aid, went to Shireki, and begged
+to be forgiven for letting Tok Timur wheedle him. Shireki took Sarban’s
+troops and soon after sent the man under an escort of fifty warriors to
+Kotchi Ogul, a grandson of Juchi, but while passing the district of
+Jend and Ozkend he was rescued by his own men, who were quartered just
+then in those places. Putting himself at the head of them, he advanced
+on Shireki. When the two forces met Shireki’s men deserted to Sarban,
+who captured him. Yubukur, who had come to give aid to Shireki, was
+also abandoned by his own troops and captured by Sarban, who, giving
+each of these princes to a guard of five hundred, set out on a visit to
+Kubilai. Yubukur, while passing near the Utchugen’s land, sent gifts of
+silver and jewels to the prince who was ruling at that time and begged
+for deliverance. Sarban was attacked on a sudden by the Utchugen’s
+descendants and his force taken captive. He himself escaped unattended,
+and made his way to the Emperor, who gave him both lands and warriors
+in sufficience, but Shireki, when taken to Kubilai, was sent to an
+island where the climate was pestiferous and he died in due season.
+Yubukur, after serving a time with Kaidu, made his peace with the
+Emperor and later on Kubilai’s son, Numugan, who had been seized by
+Shireki was set free.
+
+Ten years after these struggles Kaidu formed a new league against the
+Emperor. This time he drew to his side men descended from Jinghis
+Khan’s brothers, namely: Nayan, fifth in descent from the Utchugen,
+youngest brother of Jinghis Khan; Singtur, descended from Juchi Kassar;
+and Kadan, who was fourth in descent from Kadjiun, also a brother of
+Jinghis. These princes were all in the present Manchuria. Nayan had
+forty thousand men under him and was waiting for Kaidu, who had
+promised to bring one hundred thousand picked warriors. To prevent the
+meeting of these forces the Emperor sent Bayan to the west, where he
+was to hold Kaidu in check while Kubilai himself was crushing Nayan and
+the others.
+
+Kubilai, who had sent forward provisions by sea to the mouth of the
+river Liao, moved on Nayan by forced marches, and found him near that
+same river, at some distance south of Mukden in Manchuria. The Emperor
+had sent scouts far ahead of his forces so that no knowledge of his
+movements might reach the man against whom he was marching. Kubilai
+divided his army into two parts, one composed of Chinese, under Li
+ting, a Manchu, the other of Mongols, under Yissu Timur, a grandson of
+Boörchu, one of Jinghis Khan’s four great heroes.
+
+After consulting his astrologers, who promised a victory, the Emperor
+gave the signal for action. He had thirty regiments of cavalry, in
+three divisions. Before each regiment were five hundred infantry with
+pikes and sabres. These foot-soldiers were trained to mount behind
+horsemen and thus advance swiftly; when near the enemy they slipped
+down, used their pikes and next their sabres. If the cavalry retreated,
+or moved to another part those footmen sprang up behind them. Kubilai’s
+place was in a wooden tower borne by four elephants; these beasts were
+covered with cloth of gold put on above strong leather armor. The
+Imperial standard with the sun and the moon on it waved over this
+tower, which was manned and surrounded by crossbowmen and archers.
+
+When the two armies were drawn up in order of battle the whole space
+which they occupied, and a broad belt around it, was filled with a
+great blare of trumpets and the music of many wind-instruments. This
+was followed by songs from the warriors on both sides, and then the
+great kettledrum sounded the onset. The air was filled with clouds of
+arrows; when the opponents drew nearer spears were used deftly, and
+they closed finally with sabres and hand to hand weapons. Nayan’s army
+showed great resolution, fighting from dawn until midday, but at last
+numbers triumphed. Nayan, when almost surrounded, strove to escape, but
+was captured. Kubilai had him killed on the field without waiting; he
+was wrapped in a pair of felt blankets and beaten to death without
+bloodshed. It is said that he was a Christian and bore on his standard
+a cross in contrast to the sun and moon of the standards of Kubilai.
+
+The Emperor returned to Shang tu after this great encounter and
+triumph. The princes Singtur and Kadan were still in arms, hence
+Kubilai sent his grandson, Timur, against both with the generals Polo
+khwan, Tutuka, Yissu Timur and Li ting shi. After a toilsome campaign,
+which took place in the following summer, Timur defeated Singtur and
+Kadan, and received the submission of Southern Manchuria.
+
+The chief enemy who had raised the whole conflict remained in the West,
+and against him the Emperor now turned his efforts. To guard western
+frontiers most surely, Kubilai gave Kara Kurum to Bayan as
+headquarters. This great commander received power without limit, since
+he was to watch all home regions and hold them securely. Before Bayan
+had arrived at the army Kamala, a son of Chingkin, led a corps in
+advance and tried to stop Kaidu from crossing the mountains of Kang
+kai. Kamala, Kubilai’s favorite grandson, was defeated and surrounded
+near the river Selinga. He was barely rescued by Tutuka and his Kipchak
+warriors.
+
+Affairs now seemed so serious that the Emperor, despite advanced age,
+thought it best to march forward in person. He sent for Tutuka to act
+with him, and praised the recent exploit of that general. Kubilai left
+Shang tu for the West July, 1289, but returned without meeting Kaidu,
+or coming near him.
+
+For four years now Bayan held Kaidu in check, till at length being
+accused of inaction, and even of connivance with the Emperor’s rival,
+Kubilai recalled the great general, and gave command to Timur, his own
+grandson. But before Timur came to take over the office Bayan had gone
+forth to meet Kaidu and had defeated his army. On returning to
+headquarters he yielded command and gave Timur a banquet at which he
+made him rich presents. Bayan then departed for Tai tung fu, assigned
+him already as a residence. On arriving he found there an order to
+stand before Kubilai. The Emperor, who had shaken off all his prejudice
+in the meanwhile, received the famed leader with every distinction,
+praised him in public, exalted his zeal and his services, made him
+first minister and commander of the guards and other troops in both
+capitals (Shang tu and Ta tu).
+
+Kubilai liked to send envoys to various countries south of China whence
+ships came in large numbers bearing rare objects as presents. He sent
+once a Chinese minister to visit the sovereign of a land called Kuava
+(Java). This ruler for some unknown reason had the minister branded on
+the face, and sent him home with great insult. Kubilai felt the
+outrage, and all his officers demanded sharp vengeance. In 1293 a
+thousand ships with thirty thousand men on them and provisions for a
+twelvemonth set sail for Kuava. Chepi, a Chinese, who knew the language
+of Java, commanded this squadron. The King of Kuava gave pretended
+submission and persuaded Chepi to conquer Kolang, a near kingdom at war
+then with Kuava. Chepi won a great victory over the King of Kolang whom
+he seized and killed straightway. The King of Kuava tried now to get
+rid of the Chinese, and strove to cut them off from their vessels.
+Chepi reached the fleet, thirty leagues distant, with difficulty, after
+some serious encounters in which he lost three thousand warriors,
+though he brought away much gold and many jewels. On arriving at court
+he gave these to the Emperor, but Kubilai, enraged because Chepi had
+not conquered the kingdom of Kuava, condemned him to seventy blows of a
+stick, and took one third of his property.
+
+On coming to the throne Kubilai had confided his finances to Seyid
+Edjell, a Bukhariote, and an adherent of Islam, a man who had a great
+reputation for probity. This minister died in 1270. Next came Ahmed, a
+native of Fenaket, a city on the Syr Darya. Ahmed’s good fortune came
+from his intimacy with Jambui Khatun, the first and favorite wife of
+the Emperor; this intimacy began when Jumbui was still in the house of
+her father, Iltchi Noyon, a chief of the Kunkurats. Ahmed became
+attached to the court of the Empress, and adroit, insinuating, rich in
+expedients, he had the chance of winning favor from Kubilai, who after
+the death of Seyid Edjell put the wealth of the Empire into his
+keeping.
+
+Kubilai needed money at all times, he needed much of it, and Ahmed
+found means to get money. Invincible through the Emperor’s favor, he
+exercised power without limit; at his will he disposed of the highest
+offices in the Empire. He brought down to death whomsoever he accounted
+an enemy, and no man, whatever his rank or position, had the courage to
+brave Ahmed’s hatred. He amassed boundless wealth by abuses of all
+sorts; no man obtained any office without giving great presents to this
+minister. He had twenty-five sons, all holding high places. No woman of
+beauty was safe from his passion; he left no means unused to satisfy
+his greed and ambition and lust.
+
+For twelve years this man proved invincible, though his secret enemies
+were an army in number, and he was hated by the people for his endless
+abuses. Those learned Chinese who were intimate with the Emperor strove
+in vain to open his eyes to the real character of Ahmed. At last they
+were able to expose him to Chingkin well and clearly and Chingkin
+became Ahmed’s most resolute enemy. This son of Kubilai was so angry
+one day at the minister, that he struck him on the face with his bow,
+and laid his cheek open. Kubilai, seeing the minister wounded, inquired
+what the cause was. “I have been kicked by a horse,” replied Ahmed.
+“Art thou ashamed to tell who struck thee?” asked Chingkin, who was
+present. Another time Chingkin pummeled him with his fists before the
+eyes of the Emperor.
+
+At last, in 1282, appeared Wang chu, a Chinese, a man of high office in
+the ministry. Wang chu resolved to deliver the Empire from this
+greatest of miscreants. To carry out his plan he chose the time when
+Kubilai and Chingkin were at Shang tu, their residence in summer. As
+Ahmed had remained in the capital for business of his ministry Wang chu
+brought in one day the false news that Chingkin was coming. All the
+great functionaries hastened to the palace to greet him. Ahmed went at
+the head of the mandarins; just as he was passing the gate Wang chu
+struck him down with a club and thus killed him. At news of this deed
+Kubilai was terribly enraged. He had Wang chu and his associates
+seized, judged, and executed. A large sum of money was assigned for a
+funeral of great splendor, and Kubilai commanded all his most
+distinguished officers to be present. But grief at the tragic death of
+his favorite was followed soon by furious anger. Seeking to find a
+large diamond for his own use, as an ornament, he discovered that some
+time before two merchants had brought him a stone of rare size and
+quality which they had left for delivery with Ahmed. This same stone
+was now found in possession of the principal wife of the late minister.
+The Emperor’s wrath was so excited by this and by other disclosures,
+and intensified by Chingkin’s strong speeches, that he ordered that
+Ahmed’s body be dug up immediately, and the head cut from it and
+exposed as a spectacle. When all this was done the body was hurled to
+the dogs to be eaten. That one of Ahmed’s widows who had worn the
+diamond was put to death with her two sons; his forty other wives and
+four hundred concubines were distributed as gifts to various people.
+Ahmed’s property was confiscated, and his clients to the number of
+seven hundred suffered variously in proportion as they had shared in
+his abuses, and assisted him in deceiving the Emperor.
+
+The ministry of finance was given now to an Uigur named Sanga, whose
+brother was the principal Lama. Sanga had occupied his dignity eight
+years, following closely the example of Ahmed, when one of Kubilai’s
+officers undertook to expose the evil deeds of the minister. In time of
+a hunt he spoke with the Emperor about Sanga. Kubilai thought him a
+vilifier and had the man beaten. Later on the Emperor tried to force
+from this officer a confession that he was serving the hatred of men
+who were envious of Sanga. The officer declared that he was in no way
+opposed to the minister and was only trying to render service to his
+sovereign, and benefit the country. Kubilai found on inquiry that the
+officer had spoken the truth, and if no one before him had reported the
+evil doings of Sanga, it was because people dreaded the merciless
+revenge of that minister. At last Sanga was destroyed in the mind of
+the Emperor.
+
+One day Kubilai asked pearls of the minister; the latter declared that
+he had none. A Persian who was favored by Kubilai, and who detested the
+minister, made haste to declare that he had seen a great quantity of
+pearls and precious stones in possession of Sanga, and if the Emperor
+would deign to occupy Sanga some moments he would bring those same
+pearls from that minister’s mansion. The Emperor agreed, and in a short
+time the Persian returned, bringing with him two caskets filled with
+pearls of great value. “How is this?” cried the Emperor to Sanga; “thou
+hast all these pearls and art unwilling to give me even a few of them?
+Where didst thou find such great riches?” The minister answered that he
+got them from various Mohammedans who were governors of provinces in
+China. “Why have these men brought me nothing?” asked Kubilai. “Thou
+bringest me trifles and for thyself keepest all that is most precious.”
+“They were given me,” said the minister. “If it is thy wish I will
+return them to the donors.”
+
+Kubilai in his rage had Sanga’s mouth filled with excrement and
+condemned him to death without waiting for further inquiry. His immense
+fortune was seized and the Emperor, incensed at those functionaries
+whose duty it had been to expose the excesses of the minister, demanded
+of the censors of the Empire what punishment they had merited. By
+decision of the censors they were stripped of office. Two Mohammedan
+governors lost their lives, as did many others involved in the recent
+abuses.
+
+Thus after the death of Seyid Edjell, for about one fifth of a century
+the chiefs of finance in China were men from other countries, as were
+most of their agents. These persons kept themselves in power by
+revolting exactions. Kubilai, ever greedy of money since he needed
+endless sums of it, chose as agents in finance men who were ready to
+increase the state income if physically possible, and gave power to
+persons who stopped before nothing. Extortion, false witness,
+confiscation, and even murder were means used by them frequently.
+Oldjai followed Sanga as minister.
+
+Kubilai died in 1294 during February, in Ta tu, the Pekin of the
+present day. He was eighty years old at the time of his death and
+sovereign over the largest domain ever ruled by one person.
+
+Besides building his beautiful city Kubilai did much to improve the
+general condition of China. Among other great public works which he
+carried out was the building of the Grand Canal which joined his
+capital with the more fertile districts of the country. He also
+extended an excellent post system. According to Marco Polo all the
+principal roads met at Ta tu. Along those roads at intervals of
+twenty-five or thirty miles were well equipped post houses, at some of
+which four hundred horses were kept, two hundred for immediate use and
+two hundred at pasture. Three hundred thousand horses were engaged in
+this service, and there were ten thousand post stations.
+
+Two systems of carriers were maintained by the government. The foot
+messengers wore belts with bells attached and were stationed at
+intervals of three miles apart. When the bells announced the approach
+of a runner a fresh man prepared to take his place at once. Each man
+ran at his greatest speed. The mounted couriers by a similar system of
+relief could travel four hundred miles in twenty-four hours, the
+distance covered at night being much less than that during day, for at
+night footmen with torches accompanied the mounted courier.
+
+Kubilai built his capital near the ancient capital of the Kin Emperors.
+Marco Polo states that it was twenty-four miles in circuit. Its
+ramparts were fifty feet in width and fifty feet high; at each corner
+was an immense bastion and on each side were three gates, each gate
+garrisoned by one thousand men. The palace itself was surrounded by two
+walls, the outer one being a mile square and ornamented with battle
+scenes painted in bright colors. Between the two walls were parks and
+pleasure grounds through which were paved roads raised two cubits above
+the level of the ground. In the center of the enclosure rose the
+magnificent palace.
+
+His summer palace was at Shang tu and was similar to the one in Ta tu.
+In a grove not far from the palace was a beautiful bamboo dwelling
+supported by gilt and lacquered columns, a resort for the Emperor
+during the warmer days. This bamboo palace was stayed by two hundred
+silk ropes and could very easily be put up and taken down.
+
+Kubilai enjoyed hunting. In March of each year a great hunt was
+organized. Marco Polo says that there were two masters of the hunt,
+each having under him ten thousand men, five thousand dressed in red
+and five thousand in blue. These men surrounded an immense space and
+drove in the animals. When everything was ready the Khan set out with
+his ten thousand falconers. He traveled in a palanquin carried by four
+elephants. This palanquin was lined with gold and covered with lion
+skins. Ten thousand tents were erected near the hunting ground. The
+Emperor’s great tent where receptions were held accommodated one
+thousand persons. Near by was his private tent and the tent in which he
+slept. Each one of these Imperial tents was covered with lion skins and
+lined with ermine and sable. There were many ropes to these tents and
+all were of silk.
+
+The magnificence and luxury of the Mongol court would be remarkable
+even in our time. On his name-day Kubilai held a reception and received
+many presents. On New Year’s Day also was held a festival when gifts
+were presented to the Grand Khan. If possible a multiple of nine, the
+sacred number, was chosen for the number of the articles given. On one
+of these great feast days Kubilai was presented with a hundred thousand
+horses with rich coverings. During the day his five thousand elephants
+were exhibited in their housings of bright colored cloth on which birds
+and beasts were represented. These elephants bore caskets containing
+the Imperial plate and furniture and were followed by camels laden with
+things needful for the feast.
+
+Only the princes and higher officers assembled in the hall, other
+people remained outside. When every one was seated an official rose and
+cried: “Bow and pay homage!” All then touched the ground with their
+foreheads. This was repeated four times. A similar obeisance was made
+before an altar on which was a tablet bearing the great Khan’s name.
+
+At the banquet the table of the Khan was raised above the others and so
+placed that he sat facing the south. At his left hand sat his chief
+wife and on his right princes of the Imperial family, but lower down,
+so that their heads would not be above the level of the Emperor’s feet.
+Lower still sat the chief officers. Ordinary guests and warriors seated
+themselves on the carpet. Two large men stood at the entrance of the
+hall to punish those who were so unfortunate as to step on the
+threshold, such offenders were immediately stripped and beaten severely
+with rods. Various household officials moved about to see that the
+guests were properly served. Near the Khan’s table was a magnificently
+carved stand in which was inserted a golden vessel holding an enormous
+quantity of spiced wine. Besides this there were many golden vessels,
+each holding wine for ten persons. There were large wine bowls on the
+tables with handled cups from which to drink. One of these bowls was
+placed between every two persons. The men who served the Khan had their
+mouths and noses covered with delicate napkins of silk and gold, that
+their breath might not offend him. Whenever he raised the wine cup to
+his lips the musicians began to play, and princes and officials went
+down on one knee.
+
+Kubilai had five principal wives the chief of whom was Jambui Khatun.
+Each wife had her own court and was attended by not fewer than three
+hundred damsels as well as by many pages and eunuchs. The Kunkurats
+were celebrated for the beauty of their women and supplied most of the
+wives and concubines of the Khan. Officials were often sent to select
+several hundred girls and pay their parents for them, estimating their
+value according to their beauty. The girls were sent to the court and
+examined by a number of matrons. Polo states: “These women make the
+girls sleep with them in turn to ascertain that they have a sweet
+breath and are strong of limb.” The few who passed this examination
+attended the Khan, the rejected married officers or became palace
+employees.
+
+It is stated by chroniclers of that time that Kubilai became, through
+the influence of Jambui Khatun, a Lamaist. Still, to secure good
+fortune, he prayed to Christ, Mohammed, Moses and Buddha, whom he
+revered as the four great prophets of the world.
+
+Kubilai was a man of medium stature. He had a fair complexion and keen
+black eyes, and was of a kindly disposition. He had designated as heir
+his fourth son, Numugan, but while that prince was a prisoner in the
+war with Kaidu he chose Chingkin, his second son, as successor. Some
+time after this Numugan was set free, and as he criticized the
+appointment of his brother he incurred Kubilai’s wrath, and was
+banished. He died soon after. Chingkin died also before his father.
+
+In 1293, eight years after the death of Chingkin, his widow, Guekjin,
+urged the great general, Bayan, to remark to the Emperor that he had
+not named a successor. Thereupon Kubilai appointed his grandson, Timur,
+whom he had sent to Kara Kurum as its governor, and charged Bayan to
+announce to that prince his appointment, and install him as heir with
+due festivals and ceremonies.
+
+After Kubilai’s death, February, 1294, a Kurultai of election was held
+at Shang tu, the summer capital. Timur went to that city from his army
+and, though he was formally heir, his elder brother, Kamala, aspired to
+the Empire. The princes of the family wavered for a time, but the
+generals and the Chinese officials gave Timur their adherence. At last
+Bayan, who by character and office had the greatest influence in that
+meeting, took his sabre and declared that he would suffer no man on the
+throne save him whom Kubilai had selected. This ended debate, and
+Kamala knelt to his brother; the other princes followed his example,
+and Timur was proclaimed then Grand Khan of the Mongols.
+
+The first work of Timur was to give Imperial rank to his parents, and
+next to rear a monument to Kubilai, Jambui, the late Empress, and
+Chingkin, his own father. Kamala was made the chief governor of
+Mongolia with Kara Kurum as his residence. Guekdju and Kurguez, Timur’s
+brothers-in-law, received command over troops opposed to Kaidu and Dua
+on the northwestern border. Timur’s cousin, Prince Ananda, was made
+governor of Tangut, that region west of the Yellow River. Bayan
+Fentchan kept the ministry.
+
+Bayan, the chief commander and greatest general of Kubilai’s reign,
+died early in 1295, at the age of fifty-nine years. He and Ye liu chu
+tsai, Ogotai’s faithful adviser, were renowned for lofty character and
+justice beyond all men in the history of Mongols. Both tried to spare
+human blood, and both were endowed with rare modesty.
+
+Only two events of note came to pass in Timur’s time: a war in the
+regions which lie between China and India, and a war in the west
+against Kaidu.
+
+Once on the throne, Timur made peace with the King of Ngan nan and
+opened communication with India, which had been stopped by the war and
+operations against Java. For several years Titiya, King of Mien tien
+(Burma), had failed to send tribute, and Timur was preparing large
+forces against him when Titiya’s son, Sinhobati, came with both homage
+and tribute in the name of his father. Through a patent Timur then
+declared Titiya king, with his son Sinhobati as successor, and gave to
+the prince a square seal with the figure of a tiger. Mongol generals on
+the borders of Burma received the command to respect that vassal State
+and protect commerce between it and the Empire.
+
+Three years later on Titiya was dethroned, and then killed by Asankoye,
+his brother. His son went to beg the assistance of China. Timur sent
+this command to Seitchaur, then governing in Yun nan for the Empire:
+“March into Mien tien; seize and bring me Asankoye.” Seitchaur met many
+checks and returned to Yun nan, spreading meanwhile the statement that
+he had quelled all rebellion, but a number of his officers were
+punished with death because they had been bribed by the rebels; this
+had been proven. The Emperor degraded Seitchaur and seized all his
+property.
+
+While the war in Mien tien was progressing Timur learned that Pape si
+fu, which lies west of Yun nan, had refused China’s calendar, and would
+not obey that great Empire. He took the advice of Li yu chin, whom he
+sent with a force of thirty thousand to bring all to obedience. This
+army was reduced very soon to one third of its numbers by difficult
+marches and the tropical climate. Demands in Yun nan for provisions and
+horses roused revolt among hill tribes, whom the Chinese called
+barbarous. Song long tsi, a chief among these people, put himself at
+the head of their forces, surrounded Li yu chin, the Imperial
+commander, and would have cut his whole army to pieces had not the
+viceroy Hugatchi, Timur’s uncle, marched very quickly from Yun nan and
+saved him.
+
+The Emperor at this juncture commanded his generals Liu kwe kie and
+Yang sai yu pwa to assemble all troops available in Su chuan, Yun nan
+and Hu kuang and advance to support Li yu chin, who, pressed by Song
+long tsi most unsparingly, was retreating, or rather, fleeing to a
+place of protection. He had abandoned his baggage and lost many
+warriors.
+
+The revolt spread now on all sides, and many new tribes joined it.
+Detached bands plundered towns, and ravaged loyal places. Liu kwe kie
+held his own till fresh men came by swift marches to strengthen him;
+with these new forces and his own he pushed into the country of the
+rebels, and defeated them. Large numbers were captured, and among them
+Che tsi we, a woman who had led mountain men from the first in that
+struggle. She was killed without hesitation or pity.
+
+In the North the long war continued. The Imperial troops led by
+Chohaugur, who in 1297 succeeded his father Tutuka, won advantages over
+Kaidu and Dua, who in their turn gained a victory, thanks to neglect on
+the other side. A division of Dua’s army attacked the cordon which
+stood against him and his ally. This cordon was of cavalry placed on a
+line from southwest stretching northeastward; contact between the
+groups was kept up by couriers. When an enemy was sighted mounted men
+dashed away to notify the next group. One night the commanders of three
+posts met for a drinking feast. News came at midnight that the enemy
+was approaching, but they were too drunk to mount, rush away, and give
+notice. Kurguez, the general in charge, did not know of this and
+marshalled his warriors, six thousand in number. The attack was a
+fierce one, Kurguez fought as best he was able, but waited in vain for
+assistance; he fled at last, was pursued and taken captive. “I am the
+Emperor’s brother-in-law,” said he. With these words he saved his life,
+for they spared him. Timur had the three men, who had failed through
+their drinking, put in irons, but the loss caused by their feasting
+soon found a recompense. Wishing, as they said, to serve the Emperor,
+two princes, Yubukur and Ulus Buga, with one general, Durduka, taking
+twelve hundred men with them, abandoned Dua. These same three had
+deserted the Empire in Kubilai’s day, hence Timur, distrusting such
+persons, sent troops, who arrested them.
+
+Ulus Buga from Kara Kurum sent his men out to pillage and was seized
+for such action. Friends saved him, however, from punishment, but Timur
+would not give him employment. Yubukur, on the contrary, was treated
+with kindness by the Emperor. Durduka, who had deserted twice before,
+received this time a death sentence. He wept while defending his
+action, and declared in reply to this sentence, that fear had forced
+him to go from the service of Kubilai, that he had never raised arms
+against that sovereign, that seeing Timur on the throne he had
+persuaded the two others who were with him to rally to the Emperor,
+that he had brought back more troops than he had taken, and had brought
+them to march against Timur’s opponents.
+
+Timur pardoned Durduka and sent him with an army against Dua. Yubukur
+was permitted to go with him. These two men, who knew Dua’s strength
+well, wished to win distinction by crushing it. After his recent
+triumph Dua was marching home by slow stages. He intended to fall on
+the troops of Ananda, Achiki and Chobai when he came to them, disposed
+as they were along Tangut on the border as far as Kara Kodja toward
+Uigur regions. But while Dua’s troops were preparing to pass a certain
+river, Durduka, coming up on a sudden, defeated them and slew or
+drowned a great number.
+
+In 1301 Kaidu was leading the largest army that he had ever assembled.
+With him went Dua and forty princes descended from his grandfather and
+from his grand-uncle Jagatai. Khaishan, Timur’s nephew, who had come a
+short time before to learn war under Yuetchar and Chohaugur, summoned
+promptly the five army corps stationed in that region and gave battle
+between Kara Kurum and the Tamir River. The historian Vassaf describes
+the battle as resulting in victory for Kaidu, who died while his troops
+were marching homeward, but this westward march seems to prove that the
+victory, if there was one, could not have been on his side decisively.
+
+Kaidu had assumed the title Grand Khan, thus claiming the headship of
+the Mongols, which belonged to him by the will of Jinghis, and the
+solemn oath of the earliest Kurultai. Could he have lived some years
+longer he might have obtained the great primacy, since after Timur the
+Mongol sovereigns of China deteriorated and became not merely paltry
+but pitiful and wretched, while Kaidu was a genius and also a hero. He
+was loved in the West very greatly, and his veterans were renowned even
+among Mongols. Kaidu was exalted by his people for magnanimity and
+kindness. His boundless bravery and strength of body roused admiration
+and wonder. He had forty sons and one daughter, named Aiyaruk (Shining
+Moon), whom Marco Polo states was famous for beauty and still more
+famous for the strength of her body; she surpassed every warrior of
+that day, not only among Mongols, but all surrounding nations. This
+young princess declared that she would marry no man save him who could
+conquer her in wrestling. When the time came notice was given to every
+one that Kaidu’s only daughter would marry the man who could throw her
+in wrestling, but if he were thrown by the princess he would lose a
+hundred horses. Man after man came till the princess had thrown a
+hundred suitors and won ten thousand horses. After this hundred came
+the best man of all, a young hero from a rich remote kingdom, a man who
+had never met an equal in any land. He felt sure of victory, and
+brought with him a forfeit of not one hundred, but one thousand horses.
+Kaidu and the young lady’s mother were charmed with this suitor when
+they saw him, and, being the son of a great and famous sovereign,
+begged their daughter to yield in case she were winning in the
+struggle, but she answered: “I will not yield unless he can throw me.
+If he throws me, I will marry him.” A day was appointed for the
+meeting, and an immense audience came to witness the trial. When all
+the great company was ready the strong maid and the young man came into
+the courtyard and closed in the struggle. They wrestled with great
+skill and energy and it seemed for a long time that neither could
+conquer the other, but at last the damsel threw the young hero. Immense
+was the suitor’s confusion as he lay in the courtyard, but he rose and
+hurried off with all his attendants, leaving the one thousand horses
+behind him as forfeit.
+
+Kaidu’s warriors mourned the death of their ruler with loud intense
+wailing. Dua, to whom he had told his last wishes, proposed to the
+princes who stood round the bier of the sovereign to choose as
+successor the eldest among the dead man’s forty sons, namely, Chabar,
+who was then absent. Dua on his part owed much to Chabar. When, after
+the death of Borak, the members of his family repaired to the court of
+Kaidu, as custom commanded, Dua, though not the eldest of Jagatai’s
+descendants, obtained his succession through the influence of Chabar.
+All present agreed with Dua, and each of the princes sent officers to
+attend Kaidu’s body to its resting-place.
+
+Chabar arrived very soon, and the princes, with Dua at the head of
+them, rendered him homage as Kaidu’s successor. When Chabar was
+installed in Ogotai’s dominion, Dua proposed to acknowledge
+overlordship of Timur, grandson of Kubilai, and thus end the strife
+which had raged for three decades in Jinghis Khan’s family. This advice
+was accepted by Chabar and all other princes, and they sent envoys
+immediately to offer submission. This pledge of peace was received with
+great gladness by Timur, who now saw his authority recognized by every
+member of his family.
+
+But this agreement was short-lived. In the year following, disputes
+burst forth between Chabar and Dua which involved the two sides of
+Jinghis Khan’s family. In 1306, at Dua’s persuasion, Timur, who was
+watchful, of course, and suspicious, attacked Chabar, the son of Kaidu
+his recent opponent. Chabar was deserted immediately by most of his
+adherents. He turned in distress then to Dua to support him. Dua
+treated his guest with distinction, but took that guest’s states from
+him, and joined Turkistan to Transoxiana. He thus reëstablished
+well-nigh in completeness the dominions of Jagatai, which Kaidu had
+dismembered.
+
+So Chabar, the successor of Kaidu of Kuyuk and of Ogotai, was the last
+real sovereign descended from Ogotai, son of Jinghis; that Ogotai to
+whom the great conqueror had given supreme rule in the world of the
+Mongols; Ogotai, whose descendants, despoiled by Batu, son of Juchi,
+had won for themselves immense regions through the fruitful activity
+and genius of Kaidu.
+
+Dua, son of Borak, died in 1306; his son, Gundjuk, who succeeded him,
+held power one year and a half only. After Gundjuk’s death supreme
+power was next captured by Taliku, who through Moatagan was descended
+from Jagatai. Taliku had grown old in combats; a Mohammedan by
+religion, he strove to spread his belief among Mongols.
+
+Meanwhile two princes, descended from Jagatai, insisted, weapons in
+hand, that the throne belonged by right to a son of Dua; these two were
+vanquished. Many others were preparing to avenge the defeat which these
+men had suffered when Taliku was killed at a banquet by officers who
+wished to raise a son of their former sovereign, Dua, to dominion. The
+conspirators then proclaimed Dua’s youngest son, Gebek (1308). This
+prince was barely installed when Chabar, leagued with other princes
+descended from Kaidu, attacked him. Chabar being vanquished in this
+struggle, crossed the Ili. Only a few followers went with him, and he
+and they found a refuge in the lands of the Emperor. After this victory
+over Chabar, which destroyed every hope among Ogotai’s descendants, the
+Jagatai branch held a Kurultai at which they chose Issen Buga, a
+brother of Gebek, as their ruler. This prince, who was then in the
+territory of the Grand Khan, came for the sovereignty, which Gebek gave
+him with willingness. After Issen Buga’s death,—we know not when it
+happened,—Gebek received power and used it.
+
+Bloody quarrels of this kind brought ruin to Turkistan regions and to
+Transoxiana. Prosperity could not exist long with such sovereigns. When
+the fruit of any labor grew evident it was pounced upon straightway.
+The whole life of that land was passed in confusion, bloodshed and
+anarchy.
+
+Timur, the Grand Khan at Ta tu, was forty-two years of age when he died
+in 1307, after a reign of thirteen years. During his last illness a
+decree was issued forbidding the killing of any animal for forty-two
+days; still he died. He was a sovereign well liked by the Chinese, who
+praised his humanity and prudence. Humane he seems to have been to some
+extent. Princes and princesses of the Jinghis Khan line had held
+boundless power over vassals and people who served them till Timur
+declared that no prince whatever should put to death any one without
+his confirmation. He founded an Imperial College at Ta tu and built a
+magnificent palace in honor of Confucius.
+
+Before he mounted the throne Timur, like so many men of his family and
+race, had been an unrestrained, boundless drinker; his grandfather,
+Kubilai, reprimanded him frequently and bastinadoed him thrice for his
+conduct. At last physicians were sent to see that he ate and drank
+within reason, but an alchemist, whose duty it was to attend him in the
+bathing house, filled his bath tub with wine or other liquor instead of
+water. Kubilai heard of this trick, and when Timur clung to his
+favorite, Kubilai had the man exiled and then killed on the journey.
+But Timur, when made Emperor, forsook his intemperance and became as
+abstemious as he had been irrestrainable aforetime.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+EXPULSION OF THE MONGOLS FROM CHINA
+
+
+The late Emperor was childless. His widow, Bulagan, who toward the end
+of her husband’s reign had great influence, wished to put on the throne
+Ananda, a son of Mangkala and grandson of Kubilai. He was living at
+that time in Tangut as its viceroy. Tangut in those days included Shen
+si, with Tibet and Su chuan also in some part. While Timur lay on his
+death-bed Bulagan warned Ananda in secret to hasten to the capital. She
+wished to keep the throne from Khaishan and Ayurbali Batra, the two
+sons of Chingkin’s son Tarmabala; she had had the mother of these two
+princes sent to Corea as an exile. Khaishan was on the northwestern
+border at that time, commanding an army of observation, and had won
+high repute through discretion and bravery in the struggle with Kaidu.
+Batra was with his mother in exile.
+
+Bulagan, now the regent, was sustained in supporting Ananda by Agutai,
+the first minister, and by others. She disposed troops along the roads
+of Mongolia to hinder Khaishan in reaching Ta tu. There was, however, a
+party which favored the sons of Tarmabala. Karakhass, who was chief of
+this party, sent secretly to hurry Khaishan on his journey and
+mentioned the route by which he should travel to avoid meeting enemies.
+He urged Batra also to be in Ta tu, and Batra did not fail to come
+promptly with his mother. Meanwhile Ananda’s adherents had settled the
+day on which to install him.
+
+Khaishan’s party saw that there was no time for loitering. They could
+not wait for their candidate; he was too far from the capital. So
+Prince Tulu brought in a large army corps which he was commanding, and
+acted. Melik Timur, a son of Arik Buga, was one of Ananda’s chief
+partisans. He had served in the army of Chabar, had revolted, and then
+fled to China; this Melik Timur was put in chains, conveyed to Shang
+tu, and immured there securely. Agutai and other partisans of Ananda
+were arrested and condemned to die for endeavoring to dispose of the
+throne arbitrarily, but the execution was deferred till Khaishan’s
+arrival. Bulagan and Ananda were guarded in the palace. The princes of
+the blood asked Batra to proclaim himself Emperor, but he refused,
+saying that the throne belonged to his elder brother. Batra now sent
+the seal of the Empire to that brother, and took the title of regent
+till Khaishan’s arrival, holding down meanwhile the partisans of the
+Empress.
+
+Khaishan hurried to Kara Kurum, where he took counsel with princes and
+generals. The army, in which he was a great favorite, desired to
+proclaim him in the homeland. Khaishan refused and started for Shang tu
+with a picked force thirty thousand in number. He sent a message to his
+mother and brother inviting them to assist at his installation. Batra
+set out at once for Shang tu, where Khaishan was saluted as sovereign
+by the princes and generals assembled in a Kurultai. He took the name
+Kuluk Khan, raised his mother to be Empress and gave his dead father
+the title of Emperor. He acknowledged at the same time the services of
+his brother by making him heir, though he had heirs in his own sons.
+
+Khaishan’s first act was to give homage to his ancestors in the temple
+devoted to their service. Next he carried out the judgment passed by
+Batra against the adherents of Ananda. Ananda himself, with Melik
+Timur, his close intimate, and Bulagan, the Empress had to die
+according to sentence. They had broken the laws of the Yassa by their
+efforts to dispose of the throne without winning consent from Jinghis
+Khan’s family.
+
+Khaishan’s acts as a ruler were not merely paltry, they were harmful,
+except this, that he had one work of Confucius translated into Mongol,
+and also many sacred texts of the Buddhists. He angered the Chinese by
+favoring Lamas beyond measure. A law was passed that whosoever struck a
+Lama his hand should be cut off, and whoso spoke against a Lama should
+have his tongue cut out. Given to women and wine, Khaishan died at the
+age of thirty-one, in the year 1311. His brother Batra was then
+proclaimed Emperor, but with the condition that a son of Khaishan
+should be his heir. The feast of installation lasted for a week. At an
+hour designated by astrologers he ascended the throne and was saluted
+under the name Bayantu. The first act of this sovereign was to punish
+those ministers who, taking advantage of Khaishan’s incompetence, had
+acquired wealth for themselves through injustice; he put to death some
+of these, and sent others to exile.
+
+Notwithstanding an ordinance made by Kubilai, examinations of scholars
+had not been reëstablished. Bayantu brought them now into use, thus
+winning good will from the learned. He prohibited the employment of
+eunuchs in every office, though he infringed his own law the year
+following (1315), by making a eunuch Grand Mandarin. Bayantu was
+himself a scholar and encouraged learned men. Among many who are
+mentioned as being guests at his court is Chahan, one of the most
+celebrated scholars of his time.
+
+Now comes the great cause, and beginning of ruin for the ruling line of
+the Mongols in China: the struggle among members of that line for
+dominion. Though Bayantu was made heir on condition that he appoint to
+that dignity one of his nephews, he removed his nephew, Kushala, the
+eldest son of Kuluk Khan (Kaishan) the late Emperor, and sent him to
+live in Yun nan as its governor. The officers of Kushala’s household
+looked upon this as exile, and in crossing Shen si they persuaded many
+Mongol commanders in those parts to take arms in Kushala’s favor. But
+when Kushala saw himself abandoned soon after by those very officers,
+he fled to the Altai for refuge among the Khans of Jagatai. Thereupon
+the Emperor appointed as heir his own son Shudi Bala.
+
+Bayantu died in February, 1320, his age being somewhat beyond thirty
+years.
+
+His first minister was a Mongol named Temudar, who made himself odious
+by countless deeds of injustice. Accused by the censors of the Empire,
+he was driven from office, and given a death sentence, but the Empress
+delayed the execution. While the case was still pending Bayantu died,
+and the Empress reinstated her favorite in all former dignities. Shudi
+Bala, or Gheghen Khan, the new Emperor, mourned sincerely for his
+father, fasted long and gave large sums in charity. Through regard for
+his mother he did not act against Temudar, but he gave his confidence
+to Baidju, a descendant of Mukuli, Jinghis Khan’s great commander.
+Temudar took revenge on many of his enemies, but after his death which
+took place in 1322 a host of accusers attacked this oppressor. Fear
+restrained them no longer, hence they called loudly for justice and
+obtained it as far as was possible at that time. The Emperor degraded
+the dead minister by cancelling his titles, destroying his tomb, and
+seizing his property. Those who had shared in Temudar’s crimes, among
+others his adopted son Tekchi, formed a plan to assassinate Shudi Bala
+and Baidju, his first minister, and give the throne then to Yissun
+Timur, a son of Kamala, brother of Kuluk Khan.
+
+Tekchi, being military inspector, had immense power in the army, and he
+sent off in secret to Yissun Timur, who was then at the Tula, an
+officer named Walus. This man bore a letter with sixteen names affixed
+to it. In this letter the plan was explained, and Yissun invited to be
+Emperor. The prince had Walus arrested and sent at once an account to
+the Emperor of the plot against his person. The couriers were late in
+arriving. The conspirators, fearing lest the plot be discovered,
+resolved to finish all without waiting for an answer. Shudi Bala had
+set out from Shang tu, his summer residence, for Ta tu, the chief
+capital, and while he was spending the night at Nanpo, the conspirators
+killed Baidju in his tent to begin with, and then forced the guard of
+the Emperor’s pavilion. Tekchi himself slew his sovereign. Shudi Bala
+was only twenty-one years of age when his death came. This was the
+first death by assassination that there had ever been in the Imperial
+family of the Mongols. Two princes, Antai Buga and Yesien Timur, seized
+the great seal, with other insignia of dominion, and bore them to
+Yissun Timur, son of Kamala, who proclaimed himself Emperor at the
+Kerulon River, and granted a pardon to all men.
+
+At first he intended to place at the head of affairs those who had
+brought him dominion through their murders; but when experienced
+advisers explained to the new sovereign clearly that if this were done
+the whole nation might suspect him of complicity, he had Yesien Timur
+with two other conspirators arrested and executed in the place where
+the Emperor and his minister had been murdered. He then sent two
+officers bearing an order to put to death Tekchi with his accomplices,
+also their families, and then to confiscate their property.
+
+Sonan, son of Temudar, had been condemned simply to exile, but when the
+ministers remarked that he had cut off Baidju’s shoulder with a sabre
+stroke, Sonan suffered death with the others. Those princes of the
+blood who had joined the conspiracy were sent to various places of
+exile.
+
+Yissun Timur entered Ta tu in December, 1323, and early the following
+year he appointed as heir his son Asukeba. This paltry monarch did
+nothing of note while in power, and died when thirty-six years of age.
+Though Asukeba, who was eldest among the four sons of the Emperor, was
+heir by appointment, his right to the Empire was challenged. It will be
+remembered that when Bayantu had succeeded Kuluk Khan he did so on
+condition that he make a son of the latter his heir. Instead of doing
+that he kept the place for his own son and removed to a distance
+Kuluk’s sons, Tob Timur and Kushala. When the conspiracy against Shudi
+Bala, or Gheghen Khan, had succeeded, the second of Kuluk’s sons was in
+Southern China, the first in the west far beyond the Altai.
+
+It was easy for Yissun Timur to seize power in their absence, and he
+did so. Five years later he died in Shang tu, where he had gone to pass
+the summer.
+
+The Empress now sent Upetala, a minister of State, to Ta tu to seize
+each department seal. Her son Asukeba, at that time nine years of age,
+had been declared heir when in his fifth year, but Yang Timur, governor
+of the capital, was the chief of a party which wished a son of Kuluk
+Khan to be Emperor. Yang Timur, son of Choahugur, was distinguished as
+a warrior, while his position was strengthened by the fame of his
+father and grandfather. Raised to high dignities through Kuluk Khan, by
+whom he was favored, this governor felt himself bound to the sons of
+that Emperor by gratitude, as well as self-interest. When setting out
+for Shang tu some months earlier Yissun Timur had given him power in
+the capital. Yang Timur now summoned high officials to the palace and
+proposed the elevation of one of Kuluk’s sons to Empire, threatening
+with death all who showed opposition. After this declaration he
+arrested Upetala, and other high functionaries; these men he replaced
+by others in whom he had confidence. The troops, who had no knowledge
+yet of his intentions, were ordered to kneel, looking southward, and
+touch the earth with their foreheads. This was to indicate that through
+them Yang Timur had proclaimed Tob Timur Emperor. That prince was then
+in Nan king. The minister had urged him to hasten, and now announced
+his early arrival.
+
+Three descendants of Jinghis with fourteen high officials conspired to
+slay the first minister for his unparalleled daring. Yang Timur,
+learning of their plot, seized the seventeen and put to death every man
+of them.
+
+Meanwhile the Empress had Asukeba proclaimed at Shang tu, and chose
+Prince Wan tsin, a grandson of Kamala, as first minister. She chose as
+commander of the army Taché Timur, a son of the minister Toto, a
+Kankali, and gave him the word to attack Yang Timur, who was trying to
+cut off Shang tu by seizing other places of importance.
+
+Tob Timur appeared now in Ta tu, assumed power and made appointments to
+office. He put to death Upetala, the minister, and sent Toto to exile
+with other persons whom Yang Timur had imprisoned. The governor urged
+the prince to proclaim himself Emperor, but he insisted that power
+belonged by right to his elder brother, Kushala, who besides had more
+merit because of his services. At last, however, he agreed to the
+installation, and promised to act till the coming of Kushala, but he
+declared that he would yield up the throne on his arrival.
+
+The Empire once established, Yang Timur marched toward Liao tung to
+meet an army moving in the interest of Asukeba, but learning that Wan
+tsin had seized a fortress on the way from Shang tu to the capital, he
+wheeled about quickly, fell on Wan tsin, and forced him to retreat
+toward Mongolia. Other generals in the interior declared for Asukeba.
+Temuku advanced from the south on Honan with considerable forces, while
+Prince Kokohoa, leading troops from Shen si, took possession of Tung
+Kwan, the great fortress. Yessen Timur proclaimed Asukeba in that same
+province, and advanced on the capital. Yang Timur faced all these
+enemies and conquered. He met Yessen Timur when four leagues from Ta tu
+and vanquished his army completely.
+
+Buka Timur, uncle of Yang Timur and commander-in-chief of all forces at
+the Liao tung border, on hearing of Tob Timur’s accession invited
+Prince Yuelu Timur to join forces and march on Shang tu with him. Tao
+la chu, who commanded at the summer palace, sallied forth repeatedly
+with partisans of Asukeba, to battle with besiegers, but reduced
+finally, he yielded. He surrendered the seal of the Empire and gave up
+also the rich jewels belonging to Asukeba. The young Emperor died
+shortly after, no one knows in what manner. Temuku, the Liao tung
+governor, was killed during battle, weapons in hand. Yuelu Timur, now
+master of Shang tu, and possessing the seal of dominion, conducted the
+Empress mother to the capital. The minister Tao la chu traveled with
+her. Yessen Timur and many other titled prisoners went also. The
+Empress was exiled to a place in Pe che li, and Tao la chu, Wan tsin,
+Yessen Timur and other lords of their party suffered death at the
+capital.
+
+News of this tragedy at Shang tu spread soon throughout China, and
+caused the partisans of Asukeba to cease all resistance.
+
+Tob Timur sent officers now to Kushala beyond the Gobi desert, to
+declare what had happened and urge him to hasten. Kushala, as if
+distrusting his brother, and feeling that danger was before him,
+advanced very slowly, but when near the Mongol capital he proclaimed
+himself sovereign. Tob Timur sent his first minister to Kara Kurum to
+Kushala with the great seal of State, as well as the robes and regalia
+of Empire. Kushala was courteous and genial in meeting his brother’s
+first minister, and charged him at parting to tell Tob Timur that he
+would confirm his appointments. At the same time the new Emperor named
+his own ministers, and sent one of them to inform Tob Timur that the
+throne was made his in succession.
+
+Tob Timur and his first minister set out for Shang tu now without
+loitering, and met the new sovereign a little north of the city. That
+same evening, while at a feast, Kushala became ill on a sudden and died
+some days later (1329). A report went abroad that he had been poisoned;
+suspicion touched Yang Timur, the first minister. Kushala was thirty
+years old when he died, and was entitled Ming tsong in Chinese.
+
+Eight days after the death of Kushala, Tob Timur was made Emperor the
+second time.
+
+Tob Timur’s reign, however, was brief, and during his day nothing
+happened of importance, except the personal plotting and treason of
+Tukien, a prince of the blood, and governor in the Yun nan province,
+who in 1330 took the title of King of Yun nan, and revolted. He was put
+down by force the year following this action, 1331. Like Yissun Timur
+and Kuluk, who preceded him, Tob Timur favored Buddhism greatly. He
+appointed large sums to build temples, and brought from Uigur regions a
+renowned Lama, Nien chin kilas, whom he called “Instructor of the
+Emperor.” Tob Timur commanded the highest personages to advance to meet
+this great Lama. All persons whom he addressed bent the knee to him, by
+order, and served wine to the Lama, who received it without any
+answering civility. Shocked at his haughtiness, the chief of the great
+Chinese college in presenting wine spoke thus to him: “You are a
+follower of Buddha and chief of all the Ho Chang. I am a follower of
+Confucius, and chief of all scholars. Confucius is not less illustrious
+than Buddha, and there is no need of this ceremony between us.” The
+Lama smiled, rose and received as he stood there the cup which the
+chief held before him. Notwithstanding these marks of the Emperor’s
+favor Lamas and Uigurs conspired with powerful Mongols to put on the
+throne Yuelu Timur, a son of Ananda. The plot was discovered and the
+conspirators died for their treason. Yuelu Timur died with the others.
+
+The Emperor was anxious to please learned men and thus win the Chinese;
+hence he decreed new honors to the father and mother of Confucius, as
+well as to some of his disciples. Having ordered the college of Han
+lin, in which were found the best scholars of the Empire, to describe
+Mongol history and manners, he visited that body one day, and conferred
+long on history; he commanded to bring then the memoirs of his own
+reign. The officers of his suite went to bring them. No opposition was
+offered till Liu sse ching, a subaltern in the college, fell at Tob
+Timur’s feet and explained that that tribunal was bound in all
+sacredness to write down exactly the good and bad deeds of Emperors,
+princes and great men, and write them down without favor, that these
+records were not to be seen by any one save high officials of the
+College of Historians until after the death of the Emperor. During time
+immemorial no sovereign had violated the annals of his dynasty, much
+less those of his own reign, and he hoped that the Emperor would not be
+the first to infringe on this sacred and long honored usage. Tob Timur
+yielded, and even praised the official for his courage and honesty.
+
+Occupied with his own pleasures mainly, and leaving State cares to his
+minister, Tob Timur became a nonentity. He died in 1332 at Shang tu,
+being twenty-nine years of age when his life ended.
+
+Though the throne had been appointed to a son of Kushala, Yang Timur
+proposed to the Empress Putacheli to inaugurate a son of the late
+Emperor. Tob Timur had so loved the first minister that he gave him his
+one son to educate, bestowing on the youth the new name Yang Tekus, and
+took Targai, the minister’s son, to be reared in the palace. The
+Empress wished to enthrone a boy of seven years, Ylechebe, second son
+of Kushala, who had been named heir by the late sovereign. She had this
+boy proclaimed, and then became regent, but the health of Ylechebe was
+feeble, and he died some months afterward. The Chinese name Ning tsong
+was bestowed on him.
+
+Yang Timur now made fresh efforts in favor of Yang Tekus, but the
+Empress objected that this prince was too young; Tob Timur, she
+declared, had promised Kushala to leave the throne to a son of his, and
+she informed the ex-minister that she had sent an officer to visit
+Kuang si and bring Togan Timur, Kushala’s eldest son, to Ta tu at the
+earliest.
+
+The prince was thirteen years of age at that period. At the beginning
+of Tob Timur’s reign, Putacheli had put to death the Empress Papucha,
+wife of Kushala, and sent her son, Togan Timur, to an island off the
+coast of Corea with the command to let no man whatever approach him.
+When a year had passed the report ran that Togan Timur had been exiled
+because he was the true and rightful heir to the Empire. Tob Timur
+declared in reply, that Kushala had had no children in Mongolia, hence
+Togan Timur was no son of his. But he brought the boy back and sent him
+to live at Kuang si in South China
+
+When Togan Timur was some leagues from the capital, Yang Timur, with
+princes and persons of distinction, set out to meet him. But, little
+satisfied with the reception given him by Togan and the persons
+accompanying him, Yang Timur delayed the enthronement. The coming
+Emperor saw his fault, and tried to repair it by marrying Peyao, Yang
+Timur’s daughter. While discussing this matter, and settling its
+details, death struck the minister. Since Tob Timur’s advent to
+authority this minister had been all-powerful; no person or combination
+of persons however mighty had been able to successfully oppose him; he
+had done what he wished in all cases; he had forced the widow of Yissun
+Timur, an Empress, to marry him, and had dared to take forty princesses
+descended from Jinghis, the great conqueror, and make them his
+concubines; some of them he retained for three days only. His death,
+hastened by incontinence and drink, assured the throne to the son of
+Kushala. The Empress published the last will of the late Emperor, and
+Togan Timur was made sovereign immediately, with the promise to demand
+of the Empress that Yang Tekus, her son, would succeed him.
+
+The new Emperor’s bent was toward luxury and pleasure, and he did
+nothing of service to any one. Peyen became minister, and Satun chief
+commander of the army. Satun, Yang Timur’s eldest brother, died soon
+after he had entered on his office, and was succeeded by Tang Kichi,
+the eldest son of that renowned minister, and therefore brother of
+Peyao, the young Empress. Togan Timur, wishing now to win Yang Timur’s
+powerful family, had raised Peyao to the highest rank possible to a
+woman. Tang Kichi, fiery and envious by nature, was enraged at seeing
+Peyen decide by himself the highest questions, hence he formed a plot
+to raise to the throne Hoan ho Timur, a grandson of Mangu the Emperor
+and a son of Shireki.
+
+The conspirators, among whom with Tang Kichi were Targai, his brother,
+and Talientali, Tang Kichi’s uncle, planned to secrete troops and seize
+the Shang tu summer palace. Peyen, informed of this plot by a prince of
+the blood, gave command to arrest Tang Kichi and Targai in the palace.
+Tang Kichi, who strove to defend himself, was cut down and killed where
+they found him. Targai fled to the apartment of his sister, the
+Empress, who tried to conceal him with her garments; but she failed for
+the men hunting Targai cared not for her modesty, hence he was
+discovered and sabred to death in her presence. Peyao herself fared no
+better, for Peyen obtained from the Emperor an order to kill her, and
+charged himself with the office of headsman.
+
+When Peyao saw him enter her apartments she divined what he wanted, and
+rushing to the Emperor’s chamber, begged life of him. Little touched by
+the tears of his consort, Togan Timur replied very coolly that her
+uncle and her brothers had plotted against him, and he would do nothing
+to save her. She was taken from the palace to some house where Peyen
+himself killed her. Talientali defended his life arms in hand till he
+fled to Hoan ho Timur’s mansion, where the blood hunters slew him. Hoan
+ho was forced to raise hands on himself, and be his own executioner.
+Thus the great family of Yang Timur, the late minister, was
+extinguished.
+
+Emperors of a day, palace tragedies, murders, civil war, and weakness
+roused up the Chinese at last, and they began to cast off the Mongol
+yoke. Revolts broke out in Honan, Su chuan, and Kuang tung
+simultaneously; they were stifled at the very inception. The Mongol
+court became thoroughly suspicious of the Chinese. In 1336 it
+prohibited them from having horses and arms and forbade them to use the
+language of the Mongols, their masters.
+
+Peyen, the all-powerful minister, had reached now the acme of his
+influence, and was approaching his ruin and his doom. This man had the
+boldness to put to death without the Emperor’s knowledge a prince of
+the blood of Jinghis, and to exile two others. Ambitious and merciless,
+greedy and insolent to the utmost, he had drawn to his person the
+hatred of all save the Emperor and his own tools and creatures. Togan
+Timur knew nothing whatever of Peyen’s activity, being guarded most
+strictly by that minister’s servants, who owed all they had to their
+master. The blow came in 1340 from Peyen’s own nephew, Toktagha. This
+man, a mere officer of the guards, undertook to explain to the Emperor
+the real condition of the country and succeeded. Measures taken in
+secret secured Peyen’s downfall. The moment was chosen when the
+minister was absent on a hunting trip; when he returned he was not
+permitted to reëenter the capital. He was driven to an exile in South
+China, and died, as exiles usually died, while on the way. His brother,
+Machartai, took his place as first minister.
+
+This same year, 1340, the Emperor removed from the hall of Imperial
+ancestors Tob Timur’s tablet, and excluded from his court the Empress
+widow. He exiled also, to Corea, Yang Tekus, treated as heir up to that
+time. This action was explained by an edict which was worded thuswise
+in substance: “At the death of Kuluk Khan the Empress, yielding to
+intrigues, excluded from court Kushala Khan, my own father, and made
+him prince of Yun nan to be rid of him. When Shudi Bala (Gheghen Khan)
+was slain, the throne was given to Kushala, who for safety had
+withdrawn beyond the Gobi desert. While my father was returning rule
+was tendered Tob Timur, who accepted on condition of yielding to
+Kushala on the latter’s arrival. Meanwhile he sent the seal of Empire
+to the coming Emperor, who was journeying toward his capital. My
+father, to reward his brother’s apparent zeal, appointed him successor.
+In pay for this Tob Timur and his adherents went to meet the Emperor,
+and caused his death, while showing him great marks of kindness. Then
+my uncle took the throne a second time. False to the word which he had
+given my father, he appointed his own son successor. He put to death
+the Empress Papucha, and sent me as an exile to distant regions. He
+even tried to prove that I was not Kushala’s son. Heaven punished well
+this man for so many offenses by taking his life from him. Putacheli,
+through abuse of authority, placed on the throne to my prejudice a
+child of seven years, my own brother. When he died the great men and
+princes gave me that dominion which was due me as eldest son of the
+Emperor Kushala. My first care has been to purge the court of those
+intriguers, who breathe only murder and dissensions. Filled with
+gratitude for Heaven’s favor I cannot uphold those whom its justice has
+abandoned. Let the right tribunal repair to the hall of Imperial
+ancestors and remove thence Tob Timur’s tablet; let Putacheli be
+deprived of her title and appanage of an Empress, and be conveyed to
+Tong ngan chiu; let Yang Tekus go to Corea as an exile; let all others
+who have shared this mystery of crime and are still living get the
+punishment befitting their offenses.”
+
+Yang Tekus was sent to Corea under Yue Kusar, a mandarin, who took his
+life on the journey. Putacheli was sent to the exile appointed, and
+died there soon after. Fearing lest people might impute these cruel
+acts to his counsels, Machartai the minister, who disapproved them,
+resigned, and his place was taken by Toktagha, his son, and by Timur
+Buga.
+
+At this time were completed annals of the Liao, the Kin, and the Sung
+dynasties. Kubilai at beginning his reign had commanded to write
+memoirs of the first and second of these dynasties, the memoirs being
+officially established, and after its fall memoirs of the Sung dynasty
+also. He wished too that the data on which they were founded should
+form a part of those annals. These labors, neglected, notwithstanding
+his orders and those of his immediate successors, were but slightly
+advanced when Togan Timur became Emperor. To finish them he
+established, under Toktagha, a commission of the most eminent scholars
+in the Empire. These men produced annals of those three dynasties.
+Besides there were in these works calendars; methods of astronomical
+research; lists of great men and their biographies; lists of books
+published by scholars; and in the Sung history a library of books on
+all subjects. There were also statistics touching several foreign
+countries, and detailed description of States paying tribute to the
+dynasties.
+
+At the end of three years Toktagha, disgusted with court life, retired
+from office. When consulted about a successor he recommended Alutu, a
+descendant in the fourth generation from Boörchu, the first man of
+Jinghis Khan’s comrades and one of his four bravest warriors. Alutu
+when in office exiled Machartai and Toktagha. In 1347 his place was
+taken by Pierkie Buga, son of the minister Agutai, who had been put to
+death by Kuluk Khan’s order. This last man held the place only a few
+months. Turchi, his successor, demanded as colleague Tai ping who
+obtained the recall of Toktagha, whose father, Machartai, had died
+while in exile. Toktagha was not slow in regaining the Emperor’s favor,
+which he made use of to send Tai ping of whom he was jealous into
+exile.
+
+All this time the insurrection was spreading rapidly in Southern China.
+In 1341 two private persons had raised troops in Hu kuang, and seized
+many cities. Discontent had grown rife in Shan tung, while robber bands
+ravaged other regions. A pirate chief, Fang kwe chin, harried the
+coasts of Che kiang and Kiang nan. This man sailed up southern rivers,
+plundered cities, and ruined commerce, turning specially to vessels
+filled with grain, rice and various provisions intended for the
+capital. The Mongols seemed to disregard these the earliest attacks,
+and disorders increased very rapidly. Those who raised them made use of
+the great public works undertaken in 1351 by the government.
+
+The damage wrought by Hoang Ho floods caused the plan of opening a new
+bed for a part of the river. An embankment eighty leagues long was
+undertaken. More than seventy thousand men were employed at this labor,
+either warriors, or men who lived on both banks of the river, or near
+them. The insurgents enrolled some impressed laborers, as well as men
+whose lands had been taken for the new river bed, and who were to find
+land in other places. Fresh taxes imposed to carry out those works
+increased dissatisfaction.
+
+Han chan tong, an obscure private person, seeing the ferment of minds,
+raised the report that Fohi (Buddha) had now appeared to deliver the
+Chinese from Mongol oppression. He roused rebellion in Honan, Kiang
+nan, and Shan tung, but the chief leaders, knowing that this story
+would not be accepted unless strengthened, gave out to the world that
+Han chan tong was of the Sung dynasty, and eighth in descent from Hwei
+tsung. They took an oath to him, sacrificing a black bull, and a white
+stallion. They chose then a red cap as ensign. This pretender to Sung
+blood had very poor fortune, however. Attacked by the Mongols, he was
+captured and killed by them, but his wife, and his son, Han lin ulh,
+fled and continued the struggle.
+
+The first reverse did not cast down those rebels. Their principal
+chief, Liau fu tong, captured cities in Kiang nan and passed over then
+to Honan with a numerous army. Other chiefs enrolled malcontents in
+Kiang nan and Hu kuang and gave them the red cap as ensign. One rebel
+chief, Siu chiu hwei, was proclaimed Emperor at Ki chiu, a city in Hu
+kuang, and he gave the title Tien wan to the dynasty which he was
+seeking to establish.
+
+After a feeble resistance the Mongols abandoned the whole Yang tse
+region. A comet appeared now, and a report was spread widely by the
+rebels that this heralded Togan Timur’s early downfall. The Mongol
+Government to conciliate men who had the most influence over people
+admitted to offices of all kinds those Chinese scholars in the south,
+who till then had been able to act only in matters touching literature
+and commerce, and were wholly unfitted for military command.
+
+The government despatched to Honan an army commanded by Yessen Timur, a
+brother of Toktagha, the prime minister, and exiled to the distant
+north Yng kwe, a true descendant of the Sung family, with an order not
+to let him communicate with any man. This was done since most rebel
+chiefs hid their plans of ambition under pretext of putting the prince
+on the throne of his fathers.
+
+Siu chiu hwei continued his triumphs, and to attach men to his fortunes
+more surely, he let them pillage all cities which he captured. He took
+Han yang, and Wu chang in Hu kuang, as well as Kiu kiang in the north
+of Kiang si. He defeated Fan chi king and mastered Hang chau, which the
+Sung dynasty had once made its capital, but the Mongol general, Tong pu
+siao, crossed the Yang tse, and laying siege to Hang chau, regained it
+after desperate carnage. Yessen Timur, who had been sent to put down
+rebellion in Honan, defeated by Li fu tong, retired to Kai fong fu, and
+thus left the field to the rebels. This incompetent general was
+reprimanded and soon after the increase of the uprising caused the
+Emperor to replace him by his brother Toktagha. Toktagha, leading Honan
+forces, defeated the insurgents near Pe sui chiu, but Sing ki, who
+commanded all Imperial troops in Yang tse regions, was defeated and
+lost his life in a battle against a new rebel army.
+
+Fang kwe chin, the pirate chieftain, was very active. He continued to
+capture ships sailing northward, and thus deprived Ta tu of supplies
+from South China, and also of tribute. Besides this, he killed most
+perfidiously Tai Buga, a general. Hence the government, greatly anxious
+to win the bold, active pirate, charged Tie li Timur to confer with
+him. The pirate gave assurance that he would submit and disband his
+forces if he, with his brothers, two in number, were made mandarins of
+the fifth class. Tie li Timur, delighted at this offer, gave the three
+brothers Hiu chin, Kuang te, and Siu chiu in the Che kiang province.
+The pirate, however, for reasons which he alone knew, refused the
+places when the time came to take them, raised sail, and disappeared
+with his ship and his cutthroats.
+
+In 1354, Chang se ching, a new rebel, appeared in Kiang nan and though
+his troops were all levies he routed Tachi Timur, who had been sent out
+to crush him. At this juncture, the first minister, Toktagha, fell on
+Chang se ching, beat him thoroughly, and retook the cities which he had
+captured. But while Toktagha was retrieving the losses of his
+sovereign, his own colleague at the capital was working his ruin. Hama
+and Sue sue, two brothers, notorious for dissolute conduct, had become
+mighty in the Emperor’s councils. They were Kankali Turks, adventurers
+in the worst sense, hardened profligates, and thoroughly perfidious.
+When he had reached power Toktagha gave Hama occupation, and then
+appointed him minister. Very soon this new minister made himself
+independent of Toktagha and rose every day to greater influence. In due
+time he found support in Ki, the Empress, a Corean princess by origin.
+She was Togan Timur’s favorite wife, and mother of the heir apparent.
+Hama applied himself quickly also to serving the worst inclinations of
+his sovereign, and peopled the palace with his creatures, youthful
+debauchees given to every disorder, and Tibetan Lamas, who practised
+all sorts of magic, and held immensely grotesque superstitions. At this
+man’s instigation the censors of the Empire accused Toktagha of taking
+for his own use, or giving to his favorites, funds intended for war and
+public service. Toktagha, the victor, so greatly needed at this crisis,
+was stripped of his dignities and ordered to Hoai nan into exile, and
+before going was forced to yield his command to the generals Yué yué
+and Yué Kutchar.
+
+Meanwhile Siu chiu hwei, who called himself Emperor, was master of Wu
+chang, the chief city of the great Hu kwang province. Wishing also to
+capture Mien yang, he charged with this service Ni wen tsiun, one of
+his best leaders. The prince of Wei chun, who commanded that region,
+sent his son, Poan nu, to oppose that rebel chieftain, but Poan nu’s
+barks being weighty were stranded in the Han chuen shallows, where the
+rebels burned the flotilla with fire bearing arrows. Poan nu perished
+with a number of his warriors—and Mien yang was lost to the Mongols.
+
+The year following (1356), Ni wen tsiun took Siang yang and conquered
+the region of Tchong ling, after he had beaten Tur chi pan, a Mongol
+general.
+
+Because of great distance these reverses in the South roused at first
+slight attention in Ta tu, or any other place, but when Honan rebels
+raided regions north of the Hoang Ho there was lively dread at the
+capital. Troops were sent to Honan, Shen si and Shan tung at the
+earliest. Liau fu tong, chief of Honan red caps, thought that he was
+increasing his partisans by proclaiming Han lin ulh, son of Han chan
+tong, the first pretender, as the legal Sung Emperor. This prince took
+the designation Ming wang, and established his court at Po chiu in
+Honan.
+
+The Mongol court, fearing lest the name Sung, so dear to the Chinese,
+might rouse them, hurried off an army under Taché Bahadur, against the
+pretender. This general met Liau fu tong and was defeated. Liu hala
+Buga, who had been sent with a second corps to support the defeated
+man, attacked the rebel leader and vanquished him. He received chief
+command now because of his victory, and marching directly toward Po
+chiu, he overtook and again defeated Liau fu tong, who fled for relief
+toward Ngan fong and took his Emperor with him.
+
+After Toktagha’s disgrace Hama was created first minister and Sue sue,
+his brother, chief censor of the Empire. All power now was in those two
+brothers. Since Hama had nothing to fear, as he thought, save the
+return of Toktagha, he had the late minister killed at the place of his
+banishment. But noting soon that the Empire was decaying very swiftly,
+and the sovereign was depraved beyond repentance, a result to which
+Hama himself had contributed immensely, he thought of means to cure the
+evils around him, and decided to raise to the throne the heir apparent,
+a person of some wit and a self seeker. This design was discovered and
+Hama was sentenced to exile and in 1356 his enemies had him strangled.
+
+In 1355 appeared the man destined to destroy Mongol rule in China and
+found the Ming dynasty.—Chu yuan chang, a Buddhist, and also a priest
+who cast off his habit in Kiang nan to become a simple warrior under Ko
+tse ling, a rebel chieftain. This Chu was not slow in creating a party.
+Continual success, with moderation, brought him many supporters, and
+his renown increased daily. Advancing to the river Yang tse he was met
+by the people in Tai ping as their saviour. After he had captured Nan
+king, Yang chiu and Chin kiang he laid siege to Chang chiu near the
+mouth of the river. This city was held by the troops of Chang se ching,
+who himself was not present. This rebel leader, though defeated by
+Toktagha, had recovered through Mongol remissness, and made himself
+master of many cities. Chang se ching sent his brother Chang se te to
+succor Chang chiu, but this brother was defeated and captured.
+
+Chang se ching wrote now to the future Emperor of China and entreated
+him to cease his siege labor and liberate Chang se te, promising in
+return to become his vassal and pay a large yearly tribute in grain,
+gold and silver. Chu, convinced of Chang se ching’s thorough perfidy,
+held firmly to his prisoner and captured the city.
+
+In the North the adherents of Ming wang, the pseudo Sung Emperor who
+desolated Shen si and Honan, were beaten in Shen si by Chagan Timur,
+the Mongol general. Liau fu tong, Ming wang’s first minister, had
+mastered Honan for the greater part, and now wished to capture Kai fong
+fu, the capital of Honan, and establish in that place the court of his
+sovereign. Two army corps which he had sent to Shan tung committed
+great ravages. Pe pu sin, chief of one corps of these warriors, entered
+Shen si somewhat later, captured Tsin long with Kong chang, and laid
+siege to Fong tsiang. Chagan Timur, who hastened to rescue this city,
+surprised Pe pu sin and captured his baggage. Pe pu sin fled to Su
+chuan and thus saved himself. The rebel force which had burst into Shan
+tung and taken many cities defeated Talima che li and laid siege to Tsi
+nan, the chief city of Shan tung and its capital.
+
+When Tong toan siao arrived from Honan with a Mongol division he
+defeated the rebels at the walls of Tsi nan and then left the place;
+but barely had he gone when Mao kwe, who commanded the pseudo Sung
+forces, attacked this central city of Shan tung and captured it. Then
+he pursued Tong toan siao, closed with his forces, and killed him in
+battle. After this victory in 1357 Mao kwe seized the city of Ho kien
+and made raids to the very edge of Ta tu, the capital of the Mongol
+Empire. It was thought by some members of the council, that the Emperor
+should immediately withdraw from Ta tu, but the minister, Tai ping,
+opposed this, and summoned Liu kara Buga, a good general, who defeated
+Maok we, and forced him back on Tsi nan, which he had taken. While one
+of his detachments was threatening the capital in this way Liau fu tong
+seized Kai fong fu, from which the governor had withdrawn on a sudden.
+Liau fu long then established his Emperor in that city, which had been
+a residence of the Kin dynasty just previous to its downfall. Then he
+sent north of the Hoang Ho two divisions of warriors under Kwan sien
+seng and Po te u pan, who had ravaged Shan si for the greater part. The
+first of these leaders took a long turn northward to Liao tung, whose
+capital, Liao yang, he plundered, and even touched the border of Corea
+while ravaging. Doubling back, he made the long march to the Emperor’s
+great summer residence, Shang tu, which he captured and pillaged; and
+his warriors burned Kubilai Khan’s splendid palace in that city.
+
+In the South Siu chiu hwei had made himself master of most of Hu kwang
+and a part of Kiang si. Chu yuan chang, the coming Emperor,
+strengthened his position in Kiang nan, and set about conquering Che
+kiang in its Eastern division. He received the submission of the
+pirate, Fang kwe chin, who, threatened in the West by Chang se ching
+and in the south by Chin yiu ting, master in Fu kien, preferred to be
+vassal of a man whom he trusted. The pirate agreed to surrender Wen
+chau, Tai chu, and King yuen in southern Che kiang when they came to
+him; he sent also his son Fang kwan as a hostage. Chu, believing the
+word of this pirate, sent his son back to him, and on receiving the
+above mentioned districts he returned to Nan king, where he formed a
+strong council to govern those newly won places.
+
+While Chu yuan chang was thus increasing and strengthening his power,
+division was rapidly weakening the other two parties. The life of Mao
+kwe, the Sung general, was taken by his colleague, Chao kiun yong. To
+avenge Mao kwe, Siu ki tsu set out at once from Liao yang and overtook
+Chao kiun yong at Y tu, where he struck him down straightway and killed
+him. Dissensions were still more rife among Siu chiu hwei’s partisans.
+Chin yiu liang, a general of this founder of the Tien wan would-be
+dynasty, had just captured Sin chiu (Kuang sin) on the eastern border
+of Kiang si after a siege which was famous for desperate resistance
+(1358). The defenders were led by Ta chin nu of the blood of Jinghis,
+and by Beyen Buga, a descendant of the Idikut of the Uigurs. Both these
+men perished in the deadly encounter. The provisions in the garrison
+became so reduced that the warriors ate the flesh of those of their
+comrades who had perished. At last they killed all of the inhabitants
+who through age or weakness could not aid in the defence and used them
+for food. The place was finally captured by means of an underground
+passage. At this juncture Siu chiu hwei wished to transfer his capital
+from Han yang to Nan chang fu, a recent conquest, though the general
+who was with him opposed it lest his influence might be lessened.
+
+The pretender went by way of Kiu kiang. Chin yiu liang went out to meet
+him under pretext of showing great honor, but when Siu chiu hwei had
+entered Kiu kiang, the gates were closed quickly behind him, and
+troops, waiting silently in ambush, cut down his attendants. Chin,
+master now of the Emperor’s person, spared his life and his title, but
+he confined him, and called himself Prince of Han. Somewhat later he
+marched on Tai ping, with his prisoner, and when he had captured that
+city he beat the Sin chiu to death in his barge, with a crowbar.
+
+Chin now proclaimed himself Emperor, named his dynasty the Han, and
+returned to Kiu kiang, whence he had set out on his enterprise.
+
+Chagan Timur, the Mongol general, seeing the Sung party divided,
+planned now to capture Nan king with Liau fu tong and his Emperor. He
+so arranged the march of his three army divisions that they arrived
+over different roads simultaneously. Nan king thus found itself
+invested on a sudden. He cut off all provisions, intending to weaken
+the city, or perhaps take it by famine. When he saw that provisions in
+Nan king were exhausted, he delivered a general assault in the night
+time, scaled the walls, and took the place. Liau fu tong escaped to
+Ngan fong with his Emperor.
+
+In 1353 Togan Timur had made Aiyuchelitala his heir, and published a
+general amnesty. Seven years later the heir in accord with Ki, the
+Empress, his mother, wished that Tai ping, the first minister, should
+prevail on Togan to resign and leave him dominion. The minister would
+not try this experiment, hence they strove to destroy him. The heir had
+poisoned a number of the minister’s partisans to weaken him. Tai ping,
+exposed then to every blow and attack of a daring conspiracy, retired
+from his office. Power passed after that to a eunuch, Pa pu hwa, and to
+Cho se kien, two infamous men who had no thought except to increase
+their own wealth and authority, and who kept the weak and debauched
+Emperor in complete ignorance of all things around him.
+
+A quarrel between two Mongol military chiefs at this critical moment is
+of interest: Chagan Timur, acting in Shan si, had retaken Tsin ki from
+the rebels. Polo Timur, the Tai tung fu governor, declared that this
+district belonged to his province, and should not be detached from it.
+He advanced with troops therefore to take the place. Chagan protested.
+The Emperor settled the boundaries and the generals withdrew, each man
+to the region assigned him. Hardly had they obeyed when the Emperor
+commanded Chagan to yield up Ki ning to his rival, but Chagan replied
+that Ki ning was needed to defend Kai fong fu, and reassembling his
+warriors he moved now against Polo. Again orders came from the Emperor;
+the movement was stopped, and the governors laid down their weapons,
+though unwillingly.
+
+This same year (1360) a storm rose in the North, which at first seemed
+more dangerous by far than the rebellion in China. More than once had
+the Emperor ordered princes of his family to aid him with troops in
+defending his dominions; but now one of these princes, Ali hwei Timur,
+seventh in descent from Ogotai, tried to seize the throne for his own
+use, instead of helping its occupant. This prince was advancing with
+aid, but when some days march from the Great Wall of China, he declared
+that Togan Timur the Emperor was powerless to preserve that which he
+had received from his ancestors; that he had lost more than half of it
+already. Ali hwei then invited the Emperor to yield what remained of
+the inheritance. Tukien Timur, whom the Emperor sent to crush this bold
+rebel, was beaten and withdrew on Shang tu to find refuge. The Mongol
+court was in terror and hurried on forces, but at this juncture the
+rebel prince was betrayed by his own men, and delivered to the
+Emperor’s general who commanded him to be put to death immediately.
+
+Chagan Timur, having won back Honan, put garrisons in the principal
+cities and passed over then to Shan tung to restore it to the Mongols.
+On reaching this province he received the submission of Tien fong and
+Wang se ching, two chiefs of the rebels. He divided his army into
+several corps and sent these into action on all sides. He himself went
+to Tsi nan, the chief city, or capital, to besiege it, and took the
+place after three months’ investment. After that he attacked Y tu, the
+only place left those insurgents at that time, 1362. Tien fong and Wang
+se ching repented now of having aided this shrewd leader of the
+Mongols, so they plotted death to him. Tien fong invited the general to
+a review of his army, and Chagan Timur, who accounted Tien fong as the
+best among all of his intimates, took with him only a dozen attendants.
+Barely had he entered the tent of his host when Wang se ching gave him
+a death blow. The two friends hurried then with their forces and
+entered Y tu as had been agreed with the governor. Kuku Timur, the
+murdered man’s son by adoption, inherited his dignities and title, and
+continued the siege of Y tu in obedience to the Emperor. He attacked
+the place eagerly, and finding resistance as brave as the onset, he
+turned to dig tunnels, and dug till he worked himself into that city
+and took it. The chief of the rebels he sent to the Emperor, but Tien
+fong and Wang se chin he reserved for his personal and exquisite
+vengeance. He brought them bound and alive to the coffin of Chagan
+Timur, and there tore their hearts out, those hearts he then offered to
+the spirit of his father. All the troops of these men who had followed
+them into the city were put to the sword without exception.
+
+A new Emperor appeared now in Su chuan, an officer named Ming yu chin,
+who had been sent to conquer this province by Siu chiu hwei just before
+he was beaten to death with a crowbar. Ming yu chin, having learned of
+the murder of his master, made conquests for himself and finished by
+capturing the Su chuan capital, where he proclaimed himself Emperor and
+called his dynasty the Hia.
+
+Now began war between Chu yuan chang, the coming Emperor of China, and
+Chin yiu liang, that seeker for Empire who, when a general, had beaten
+to death with a crowbar his own would-be Emperor, Siu chiu hwei. Chin
+had taken Tai ping and advanced to the lands of Nan king. Chu yuan
+marched against him, and when he had taken Nan king he found Chin near
+Kiu kiang and cut his army to pieces. Chin fled to Wu chang. Chu yuan
+captured Kiu kiang, and then Nan chang fu. Master of this capital, he
+received submission from the principal cities of Kiang si. Chin,
+wishing to win back Nan chang fu at all hazards, equipped a vast number
+of vessels and laid siege to the city, which he pressed cruelly, hoping
+to take the place before Chu yuan chang could appear with relief for
+it; but those in command made a gallant defence and were able to notify
+Chu yuan of their peril. Chu yuan sailed away from Nan king to assist
+them with his flotilla, bearing on it a numerous army. To cut off
+retreat from his enemy he ranged all his craft near Hu kiu, where Lake
+Poyang joins the Kiang si through a channel. Chin, who had besieged Nan
+chang eighty-five days in succession, raised the siege straightway, and
+entered the lake, where he met Chu’s flotilla. The battle raged for
+three days, when Chin, who had lost most of his vessels, was killed by
+an arrow. Chin chan ulh, his eldest son, named by him successor, was
+captured, and his principal officers yielded to the victor. Chin li,
+the second son, fled to Wu chang and proclaimed himself Emperor; but
+besieged, and seeing his cause in utter chaos, he yielded without
+asking conditions. The surrender of this capital of Hu kuang was
+followed by that of the province. Conquest was made easy now by Chu
+yuan changes reputation for leniency, and the discipline of his army.
+
+Before this campaign which destroyed the would-be new dynasty of Han,
+Chu yuan, learning that Chang se ching and Liu chin had captured Ngan
+fong, where the Sung Emperor was living, and that they had slain Liau
+fu tong, his commander in that city, advanced toward it and defeated
+Liu chin. Giving up command of his army then to his general, Su ta, Chu
+charged him in 1366 with the investing of Hiu chiu. The Mongols
+recaptured Ngan fong after Chu yuan chang had departed.
+
+Now new troubles burst forth among the Mongols, and first that which
+seemed most serious: After the murder of Chagan Timur, the one man who
+might have restored Mongol authority in China, Polo Timur, his
+opponent, strove to capture Tsin ki, and, in spite of repeated commands
+from the Emperor, he sent troops to take the place. These troops were
+defeated by Kuku Timur, son of Chagan. Polo Timur then desisted, but
+another event armed him soon against even the Emperor. The weakness of
+the sovereign favored factions, and the heir, who was unprincipled and
+ambitious, took active part in the struggles of rivals. Cho se kien,
+the first minister, persuaded the heir that many great persons, whom he
+named, were ready to rise in rebellion; he then induced him to ruin
+them. The prince accused these men to his father, and through his power
+of insistence brought death to two leading persons.
+
+Cho se kien and the eunuch, Pa pu hwa, bound to each other by criminal
+plotting, now feared lest Tukien Timur, a friend of the two men just
+done to death without reason, might avenge them, hence they decided to
+destroy Tukien also. They brought a criminal action against him. Polo
+Timur roused a defender to act for him. The heir, enraged by this
+daring, accused Polo himself of complicity with Tukien and had him
+stripped of his office. Polo refused to yield up command and his enemy
+Kuku Timur was sent to constrain him. Polo knew that this order had
+been given without the Emperor’s knowledge, and induced Tukien to make
+a feint on the capital, hence he seized the Kiu yong kwan fortress.
+They wished to bring the Emperor to banish the man who had taken
+possession of him. Ye su, who commanded the place next that fortress,
+attacked Tukien Timur, but his forces were utterly broken. Thereupon
+the heir, not feeling secure in the capital, fled northward for safety.
+Tukien now advanced to the river Tsing ho, where he halted to wait for
+the Emperor’s decision. He declared that Polo Timur, by whose orders he
+was acting, had no dream of failing in duty to the Emperor, he merely
+desired to deliver his sovereign from Cho se kien and Pa pu hwa the two
+traitors; he would retire the moment these direst foes of the Emperor
+were given to him. They meditated long at the court over this
+proposition, counter proposals were made, but Tukien remained firm and
+retired only when the two ministers were put in his possession and Polo
+Timur was reinstated in office.
+
+Mongol dominion had fallen in China and civil war was raging around
+Shang tu. The heir, a rebel also, was ordered back to Ta tu by the
+Emperor. He obeyed, but if he did it was simply to assemble an army and
+send it under Kuku Timur to fall upon Polo at Tai tung fu, his
+headquarters. Polo, leaving men to defend the place, hastened on to Ta
+tu with the bulk of his army. The heir advanced to the river Tsing ho,
+but at sight of Polo’s large army his forces fled to Ta tu, and not
+feeling safe even in that place, went out through the western gate to
+join Kuku Timur, then near Tai yuen fu, the Shan si capital. The heir
+followed them. When they had gone Polo entered Ta tu, and going with a
+party of his generals to the palace fell at the feet of the Emperor and
+received pardon for those acts to which, as he said, he had been
+driven.
+
+Togan Timur made him commander-in-chief and first minister. Polo now,
+1364, put to death Tolo Timur, the Emperor’s favorite and companion in
+debauchery; he drove from the palace a legion of parasites, among
+others a real cohort of eunuchs and the whole throng of Lamas. At his
+request the Emperor sent courier after courier to the heir demanding
+his return to the palace. The heir, far from obeying, resolved to try
+arms against Polo, his now all-powerful opponent. The recent example of
+Tukien Timur was in this case most apposite.
+
+When Polo learned that the heir was advancing he arrested Ki, the
+Empress, and forced her to send in her own hand an order by which she
+recalled her son to the capital. This done he sent Tukien toward Shang
+tu to oppose the heir’s Mongol partisans on that side. He sent Ye su, a
+general, to attack Kuku Timur and the heir, who was with him. Ye su had
+not marched seven leagues to the south beyond Ta tu when he saw that
+the officers in his army were dissatisfied with Polo, so he assembled
+the chief ones, and in counsel it was resolved to obey that first
+minister no longer. They therefore turned back toward Yong ping a short
+distance, from which point Ye su informed Kuku Timur and the princes in
+Mongolia of the resolve they had taken.
+
+Polo Timur in despair at this defection sent against Ye su Yao pe yen
+Buga, his best general. Ye su surprised this man, cut his army to
+pieces, took him prisoner, and killed him. Polo Timur took the field
+now himself, but a rain storm which lasted three days and nights
+prevented all immediate action, and he returned to the capital. The
+opposition which he met rendered him so distrustful that he put several
+officers to death on suspicion. Seeking to drown in wine his sad humor,
+and the grief which had seized him, he grew both ferocious and
+pitiless. More than once, while in those moods he killed men with his
+own hand, and he soon became odious to every one.
+
+Ho chang, son of the Prince of Wei chun, got a secret order from the
+Emperor to put an end to Polo and his partisans, and soon he found the
+occasion to do so.
+
+Polo receiving news of the capture of Shang tu, a victory over Mongol
+adherents of the heir, hurried on to inform the Emperor, but just as he
+was entering the palace he was stopped by Ho chang’s men who opened his
+skull with a sabre stroke. When news of this death reached Tukien’s
+army the officers deserted their general. Tukien was arrested, and put
+to death straightway. The Emperor sent Polo’s head to the heir at Ki
+ning and an order for him to appear at the palace. The prince returned
+now with Kuku Timur, who became commander-in-chief and first minister.
+The heir strove to force Kuku Timur to persuade the Emperor to resign
+in his favor, and not finding the minister compliant grew enraged at
+him. The Emperor was unwilling to abdicate, but he gave his son power
+almost equal to that which he himself had, making him lieutenant in the
+Empire. Kuku Timur tried to prevent this, but failed, and was stripped
+of his dignities. Thereupon, he retired to Shang si, where he lived in
+a stronghold.
+
+While the Mongol court was thus torn asunder by dissension Chu yuan
+chang was extending his Empire continually. He lived at Nan king,
+working always to establish a government on justice and order, as
+recommended by ancient philosophers of China. Meanwhile his generals Su
+ta and Chang yu chun attacked Chang si ching, who was master yet of a
+part of Che kiang and Kiang nan. In 1366 these two distinguished chiefs
+won a great victory over Chang si ching, took Hiu chiu, one of the
+wealthiest cities in Che kiang, and also Hang chau, the capital of that
+province. The next year they captured Chang si ching in Ping liang, and
+took him to Nan king directly. Chu yuan gave the man liberty in return
+for his word that he would not go from the city in any case. Chang gave
+his word to remain in it, and then hanged himself.
+
+Ming yu chin, who had declared himself Emperor of the Hia dynasty, died
+in 1366. Min ching, his son, who was ten years of age, succeeded, with
+his mother as regent. This same year Han lin ulh, who claimed to be of
+the Sung dynasty, vanished, and with him went his adherents.
+
+Fang kwe chin submitted at last. This faith-breaking pirate had refused
+not only to appear before Chu yuan chang, and send tribute, but he had
+acted against him in the North in alliance with Kuku Timur, and in the
+South with Chin yiu ting, who held a part of the Fu kien province. Chu
+then sent his general, Tang ho, to take the cities Wen chau, Tai chu
+and King yuen. At the approach of his forces the pirate retired to an
+island in the sea. When all those cities soon after opened their gates
+to Tang ho the pirate sent his son with submission, and put himself
+also at command of the general, who sent him off to Nan king under
+escort.
+
+Chu yuan chang undertook now the liberation of all China. Su ta, his
+great general, and Chang yu chun marched northward with an army which
+numbered one fourth of a million. While Hu ting shui, a third general,
+reduced Fu kien and Kuang tung, Yang king took Kwang si and held it.
+These southern provinces, tired of oppression from strangers, made no
+resistance whatever. First of all Su ta and his colleague took the
+country between the Hoai and Hoang Ho, then they crossed the latter
+river and entered Shan tung, proclaiming that barbarians, like the
+Mongols, were unfitted to rule a polished people from whom they
+themselves should receive law and order; that the Mongols had conquered
+the Empire, not by their merit, but through Heaven’s aid given
+purposely to punish the Chinese. Heaven, roused now by the crimes of
+the Mongols, had taken power from them to give it to a warrior filled
+with virtue and greatness, a warrior loved and respected by all men who
+knew him.
+
+The generals met no resistance in any place. When all Shan tung had
+submitted they passed to Honan, where they had success of the same
+kind—the gates of every city were opened to their standards.
+
+Togan Timur, who was terrified at the swiftness of these conquests,
+sent courier after courier for Kuku Timur, but that general did nothing
+to rescue the capital; he held aloof and marched away toward Tai yuen.
+
+Master of China, Chu yuan chang proclaimed himself Emperor at Nan king
+on the first day of the Chinese year, February, 1368. He gave the name
+Ming to his dynasty, which means light, and to the years of his reign
+Hung wu (lucky war), a term applied also to this emperor himself, who
+after his death received the title Tai tsu, founder or great ancestor,
+which in China is usually given to the founder of a dynasty.
+
+Chu yuan chang, the new Emperor, left Nan king in August, 1368, crossed
+the Hoang Ho at Ping lien, and marched on the capital; all cities
+submitted to him willingly. At the same time his two generals entered
+Pe che li from Shan tung. At this juncture Che li nien, one of Togan
+Timur’s ministers, took from the temple of ancestors all tablets of the
+Mongol Emperors and fled to the north, the heir fleeing with him. Togan
+Timur decided to follow immediately, and naming Timur Buga his
+lieutenant, he appointed King tong as defender of the capital. Then,
+assembling the princes, princesses and high officials, he declared his
+resolve to retire to Mongolia. He set out that same night for Shang tu
+with his family. The new Emperor of China was soon at the gates of Ta
+tu, which he entered after a very slight struggle. Mongol dominion in
+China was ended.
+
+Nearly all China now received the Ming Emperor, and he set about
+winning what was still under control of the Mongols. That done he
+intended to follow them to their birthland and take it. The fleeing
+Mongol Emperor, Togan Timur, did not think himself safe in Shang tu,
+hence he hurried northward to Ing chang on the bank of Lake Tal, where
+in 1370 his life came to its end. He had reigned thirty-five years, and
+was fifty-one years of age.
+
+The Ming forces seized Ing chang and captured Maitilipala, Togan
+Timur’s grandson, as well as many princes and princesses and
+distinguished persons who were all taken back to China. The heir
+escaped safely to Kara Kurum, which now became the one capital of the
+Mongols. On learning that this prince had mustered troops in his
+homeland and was about to invade China the Ming Emperor in 1372 sent a
+strong force, under Su ta, to stop him. Su ta marched to the Kerulon
+River and the Tula, but gained no decided advantage. Kuku Timur, the
+great Mongol general, died in 1375.
+
+The Mongol heir who died in 1378 had taken the title of Kha kan, White
+khan, that is Grand Khan. He was followed by his son Tukus Timur, who
+was complimented by the Ming Emperors on his accession to the
+sovereignty of the Mongols now driven back to their original home. In
+succeeding years the troops of this Khan advanced frequently to violate
+Chinese borders, but in 1388 the new Emperor sent an army against Tukus
+Timur which defeated him at Buyur lake very thoroughly. His wives, his
+second son and more than three thousand officers were captured. Tukus
+Timur was assassinated near the Tula while seeking safety in flight.
+Yissudar, who did the deed, was a prince of the Emperor’s family, and
+seized the throne left by him. The ambition of others roused civil war
+which seemed permanent. After long quarrels and short reigns a prince
+named Goltsi gained supreme power in 1403. His reign was brief also,
+for he fell by an assassin and Buin Shara was made Khan to succeed him.
+
+When in 1408 the Emperor of China invited Buin Shara to declare himself
+a vassal, he refused. A Chinese army now invaded Mongolia, but was
+defeated near the Tula. Yung lo, the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty,
+advanced with a large army in 1410 to the Kerulon River. Prince Olotai,
+Buin Shara’s lieutenant, deserted him through ambition, retiring
+eastward to the Hailar River. Yung lo defeated both the prince and his
+lieutenant, the first on the Onon, the second on the eastern boundary
+of Mongolia.
+
+Buin Shara was killed in 1412 by Mahmud, prince of the Uriats, who put
+Dalbek on the throne of the Mongols.
+
+During two centuries Mongol princes strove unceasingly to regain lost
+dominion; yielding to China when sufficient force was sent against
+them, or attacking border provinces of the Empire when those provinces
+were left unguarded.
+
+Toward the middle of the seventeenth century, when the Ming dynasty was
+nearing its downfall, the Mongols were divided into groups under
+various small chieftains, each of whom bore the title Khan.
+
+The Kalkas were in the North in the birthland of the Mongols. West of
+them the lands of the former Naimans and the Uigurs were occupied by
+the Eleuts; the Chakars, and the Ordos lived in the country between the
+Great Wall and the Gobi desert. The Manchu dynasty which during 1644
+won dominion in China took under its protection first the easternmost
+Mongols and the Kalkas. Strengthened by them, it conquered the Chakars,
+and later the Ordos. The Kalkas had preserved thus far independence,
+but attacked by the Eleuts they found themselves forced to seek aid
+from the Manchu sovereign of China. In 1691 the Emperor Kang hi
+received homage from the three Kalka Khans forty leagues north of the
+Great Wall. At last toward 1760 the Eleuts themselves were reduced, so
+that most of the Mongols proper are to-day subject to China, while the
+rest are under the control of Russia.
+
+Remarkable as has been the part played by the Mongols in history the
+part to be played by them yet may be far greater. How great and how
+varied it may be and of what character is the secret of the future.
+
+
+                                THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+[1] A village or community.
+
+[2] 1161.
+
+[3] 1175.
+
+[4] A tuman is ten thousand.
+
+[5] Great King in Chinese.
+
+[6] The Altai.
+
+[7] Golden Khan, the title of the Kin Emperor in Mongol.
+
+[8] One of the faults with which Jinghis reproached Juchi was
+tenderness.
+
+[9] About twenty-seven miles.
+
+[10] A dinar is the fiftieth part of a cent.
+
+[11] Mohammed of Nessa. Nessavi means of Nassa and applies specially to
+the historian.
+
+[12] Called Fatimids because they professed to trace their descent to
+Fatima the daughter of the Prophet (Mohammed).
+
+[13] The Victorious.
+
+[14] Eagle’s nest.
+
+[15] “Long beard, short wit,” an Arabic proverb.
+
+[16] This man was Nassir ud din the astronomer who had been at Alamut,
+and had confounded the astrologer favorable to the Kalif.
+
+[17] Michael Palæologus.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONGOLS: A HISTORY ***
+\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/72183-h/72183-h.htm b/72183-h/72183-h.htm
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONGOLS: A HISTORY ***</div>
+<div class="front">
+<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure cover-imagewidth"><img src="images/frontcover.jpg" alt="Original Front Cover." width="502" height="720"></div><p>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 frenchtitle"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first center large">THE MONGOLS
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb.ii">[<a href="#pb.ii">4</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 frontispiece"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure frontispiecewidth"><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="Jeremiah Curtin." width="582" height="720"></div><p>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure titlepage-imagewidth"><img src="images/titlepage.png" alt="Original Title Page." width="447" height="720"></div><p>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="titlePage">
+<div class="docTitle">
+<h1 class="mainTitle">THE MONGOLS</h1>
+<h1 class="subTitle">A HISTORY</h1>
+</div>
+<div class="byline">BY<br>
+<span class="docAuthor">JEREMIAH CURTIN</span>
+<br>
+<span class="small">AUTHOR OF “MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF IRELAND,” “HERO-TALES OF IRELAND,” “MYTH AND FOLK-TALES
+OF THE RUSSIANS, WESTERN SLAVS, AND MAGYARS,” “CREATION MYTHS OF PRIMITIVE AMERICA,”
+ETC.</span>
+<br>
+<i>With a Foreword by<br>
+THEODORE ROOSEVELT</i></div>
+<div class="docImprint">BOSTON<br>
+LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br>
+<span class="docDate">1908</span></div>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pageNum" id="pb.iv">[<a href="#pb.iv">6</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="div1 copyright"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first center"><i>Copyright, 1907</i>,<br>
+<span class="sc">By A.&nbsp;M. Curtin</span>.
+</p>
+<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i>
+</p>
+<p class="center">Published December 1907
+</p>
+<p class="center">Printers<br>
+<span class="sc">S.&nbsp;J. Parkhill &amp; Co., Boston, U.&nbsp;S. A.</span>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb.v">[<a href="#pb.v">v</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 dedication"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"><i>Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, I dedicate to you the
+present volume entitled “The Mongols, a History.” I do this because on September 5th,
+1901, in the city of Burlington where you addressed Vermont veterans, I asked permission
+to make the dedication and you gave it. You were Vice-President at that time.</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>I made this request because I have great respect and admiration for you as a man,
+as a leader of men, and a scholar; and because of the way in which I came first to
+know you.</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>In 1891 you, as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, were in Washington. I had
+just returned to that city from a work of two years among Pacific Coast Indians. Of
+these, two tribes in California had asked me to intercede for them with the President,
+who in those days was Benjamin Harrison. These Indians were among the truly wretched
+and suffering. One tribe of them had been almost exterminated through a massacre inflicted
+by white men. The other reduced to a feeble remnant through various man-killing processes.
+Still they were worthy of earnest attention. Their myths have a beauty and a value
+which should preserve them till literature perishes. These two tribes were the Wintu
+and the Yana whose account of the world and its origin I published later on in “Creation
+Myths of Primitive America.”</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>On reaching Washington I went to Frederick T. Greenhalge, my classmate, who then represented
+a part of Massachusetts in Congress, but afterward was one of that Commonwealth’s
+renowned governors. Greenhalge tried to induce a strong man or two from the Senate
+or House to assist us to act on the President, but, though promises were made, no
+man came with support, and we went alone to the White House. The case had been stated
+clearly on two pages which I held ready for delivery. When I had given the reason
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb.vi">[<a href="#pb.vi">vi</a>]</span>of my coming the President answered: “I see no way to help you. What can I do in this
+matter?” “You can give,” replied I, “the executive impulse. Send this statement to
+the Secretary of the Interior, and direct him to act on it.” “That will suffice,”
+added Greenhalge. “I will do it,” said the President, after thinking a moment. He
+took my paper, jotted down the directions I had suggested, and sent them to the Secretary.</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>We came away greatly satisfied, and halted some moments at the head of the staircase.
+The President’s chamber was on the second story. All at once in the large room below
+us I saw a young man, alert in his bearing and perfectly confident. He gazed at the
+ceiling and walls of the room, and was thoroughly occupied. There was no one else
+in the apartment. I asked Greenhalge to look at him. “That man,” said I, “looks precisely
+as if he had examined this building, and finding it suitable has made up his mind
+to inhabit it.” “He is a living picture of that purpose,” replied Greenhalge. “But
+do you not know him? That is Theodore Roosevelt, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission,
+I must make you acquainted. But first listen to a prophecy: That man down there who
+wants this house will get it. He will live here as President.”</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>On reaching the foot of the staircase Greenhalge met you and made us acquainted. We
+conversed for some moments, and then you were called to the President. You and I did
+not meet for some years after that day at the White House. You were toiling at problems
+of government and service, looking ahead always, looking to things over which you
+are brooding and toiling this moment. Some of the problems have been solved, others
+still demand solution.</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>My work led me to various parts of the earth, and around it. But at home or abroad
+I watched your activity with care and deep interest. Not very long after that prophecy
+I read for the first time this statement concerning you: “We need just such a man
+to be President.” These words, uttered casually at that juncture, were like the still
+small voice, their might was in their quality.</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>When a few years of service, unique in many ways, had brought you to the Navy you
+accomplished your task in that place and went farther immediately. By this time your
+name and the office of President were associated in the minds of many people. Next
+came the Cuban war with experience and triumph. And then you <span class="pageNum" id="pb.vii">[<a href="#pb.vii">vii</a>]</span>were governor at Albany. While still in that office you were named for Vice-President,
+and elected. Later you were President. But only when elected by the people could you
+act as seemed best to you and not as antecedents commanded.</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>I have watched and studied your career with deeper interest than that of any man who
+has ever been President of the United States. There is no case in our history of such
+concordance between the judgment of a people and the acts of a man. “Thou hast been
+faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.”</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signed"><i>Jeremiah Curtin.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="dateline"><span class="sc">St. Hyacinthe, P. Q.</span>, <i>September 6, 1906</i>.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb.ix">[<a href="#pb.ix">ix</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 foreword"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">FOREWORD</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The death of Jeremiah Curtin robbed America of one of her two or three foremost scholars.
+Mr. Curtin, who was by birth a native of Wisconsin, at one time was in the diplomatic
+service of the Government; but his chief work was in literature. The extraordinary
+facility with which he learned any language, his gift of style in his own language,
+his industry, his restless activity and desire to see strange nations and out of the
+way peoples, and his great gift of imagination which enabled him to appreciate the
+epic sweep of vital historical events, all combined to render his work of peculiar
+value. His extraordinary translations of the Polish novels of Sienkiewicz, especially
+of those dealing with medieval Poland and her struggles with the Tartar, the Swede
+and the German, would in themselves have been enough to establish a first class reputation
+for any man. In addition he did remarkable work in connection with Indian, Celtic
+and other folk tales. But nothing that he did was more important than his studies
+of the rise of the mighty Mongol Empire and its decadence. In this particular field
+no other American or English scholar has ever approached him.
+</p>
+<p>Indeed, it is extraordinary to see how ignorant even <span class="pageNum" id="pb.x">[<a href="#pb.x">x</a>]</span>the best scholars of America and England are of the tremendous importance in world
+history of the nation-shattering Mongol invasions. A noted Englishman of letters not
+many years ago wrote a charming essay on the Thirteenth Century—an essay showing his
+wide learning, his grasp of historical events, and the length of time that he had
+devoted to the study of the century. Yet the essayist not only never mentioned but
+was evidently ignorant of the most stupendous fact of the century—the rise of Genghis
+Khan and the spread of the Mongol power from the Yellow Sea to the Adriatic and the
+Persian Gulf. Ignorance like this is partly due to the natural tendency among men
+whose culture is that of Western Europe to think of history as only European history
+and of European history as only the history of Latin and Teutonic Europe. But this
+does not entirely excuse ignorance of such an event as the Mongol-Tartar invasion,
+which affected half of Europe far more profoundly than the Crusades. It is this ignorance,
+of course accentuated among those who are not scholars, which accounts for the possibility
+of such comically absurd remarks as the one not infrequently made at the time of the
+Japanese-Russian war, that for the first time since Salamis Asia had conquered Europe.
+As a matter of fact the recent military supremacy of the white or European races is
+a matter of only some three centuries. For the four preceding centuries, that is,
+from the beginning of the thirteenth to the seventeenth, the Mongol and Turkish armies
+generally had the upper hand in any contest with European foes, appearing in Europe
+always as invaders and often as conquerors; while no ruler of Europe of their days
+had to his credit such <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xi">[<a href="#pb.xi">xi</a>]</span>mighty feats of arms, such wide conquests, as Genghis Khan, as Timour the Limper,
+as Bajazet, Selim and Amurath, as Baber and Akbar.
+</p>
+<p>The rise of the Mongol power under Genghis Khan was unheralded and unforeseen, and
+it took the world as completely by surprise as the rise of the Arab power six centuries
+before. When the thirteenth century opened Genghis Khan was merely one among a number
+of other obscure Mongol chiefs and neither he nor his tribe had any reputation whatever
+outside of the barren plains of Central Asia, where they and their fellow-barbarians
+lived on horseback among their flocks and herds. Neither in civilized nor semi-civilized
+Europe, nor in civilized nor semi-civilized Asia, was he known or feared, any more,
+for instance, than the civilized world of <span class="corr" id="xd32e234" title="Source: today">to-day</span> knows or fears the Senoussi, or any obscure black mahdi in the region south of the
+Sahara. At the moment, Europe had lost fear of aggression from either Asia or Africa.
+In Spain the power of the Moors had just been reduced to insignificance. The crusading
+spirit, it is true, had been thoroughly discredited by the wicked Fourth Crusade,
+when the Franks and Venetians took Constantinople and destroyed the old bulwark of
+Europe against the Infidel. But in the crusade in which he himself lost his life the
+Emperor Barbarossa had completely broken the power of the Seljouk Turks in <span class="corr" id="xd32e237" title="Source: Asia-Minor">Asia Minor</span>, and tho Jerusalem had been lost it was about to be regained by that strange and
+brilliant man, the Emperor Frederick II, “the wonder of the world.” The Slavs of Russia
+were organized into a kind of loose confederacy, and were slowly extending themselves
+eastward, making settlements like Moscow in the midst of various Finnish <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xii">[<a href="#pb.xii">xii</a>]</span>peoples. Hungary and Poland were great warrior kingdoms, tho a couple of centuries
+were to pass before Poland would come to her full power. The Caliphs still ruled at
+Bagdad. In India Mohammedan warred with Rajput; and the Chinese Empire was probably
+superior in civilization and in military strength to any nation of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>Into this world burst the Mongol. All his early years Genghis Khan spent in obtaining
+first the control of his own tribe, and then in establishing the absolute supremacy
+of this tribe over all its neighbors. In the first decade of the thirteenth century
+this work was accomplished. His supremacy over the wild mounted herdsmen was absolute
+and unquestioned. Every formidable competitor, every man who would not bow with unquestioning
+obedience to his will, had been ruthlessly slain, and he had developed a number of
+able men who were willing to be his devoted slaves, and to carry out his every command
+with unhesitating obedience and dreadful prowess. Out of the Mongol horse-bowmen and
+horse-swordsmen he speedily made the most formidable troops then in existence. East,
+west and south he sent his armies, and under him and his immediate successors the
+area of conquest widened by leaps and bounds; while two generations went by before
+any troops were found in Asia or Europe who on any stricken field could hold their
+own with the terrible Mongol horsemen, and their subject-allies and remote kinsmen,
+the Turko-Tartars who served with and under them. Few conquests have ever been so
+hideous and on the whole so noxious to mankind. The Mongols were savages as cruel
+as they were brave and hardy. There were Nestorian <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xiii">[<a href="#pb.xiii">xiii</a>]</span>Christians among them, as in most parts of Asia at that time, but the great bulk of
+them were Shamanists; that is, their creed and ethical culture were about on a par
+with those of the Comanches and Apaches of the nineteenth century. They differed from
+Comanche and Apache in that capacity for military organization which gave them such
+terrible efficiency; but otherwise they were not much more advanced, and the civilized
+peoples who fell under their sway experienced a fate as dreadful as would be the case
+if nowadays a civilized people were suddenly conquered by a great horde of Apaches.
+The ruthless cruelty of the Mongol was practised on a scale greater than ever before
+or since. The Moslems feared them as much as the Christians. They put to death the
+Caliph, and sacked Bagdad, just as they sacked the cities of Russia and Hungary. They
+destroyed the Turkish tribes which ventured to resist them with the merciless <span class="corr" id="xd32e246" title="Source: thoroness">thoroughness</span> which they showed in dealing with any resistance in Europe. They were inconceivably
+formidable in battle, tireless in campaign and on the march, utterly indifferent to
+fatigue and hardship, of extraordinary prowess with bow and sword. To the Europeans
+who cowered in horror before them, the squat, slit-eyed, brawny horsemen, “with faces
+like the snouts of dogs,” seemed as hideous and fearsome as demons, and as irresistible
+by ordinary mortals. They conquered China and set on the throne a Mongol dynasty.
+India also their descendants conquered, and there likewise erected a great Mongol
+empire. Persia in the same way fell into their hands. Their armies, every soldier
+on horseback, marched incredible distances and overthrew whatever opposed them. They
+struck down the <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xiv">[<a href="#pb.xiv">xiv</a>]</span>Russians at a blow and trampled the land into bloody mire beneath their horses’ feet.
+They crushed the Magyars in a single battle and drew a broad red furrow straight across
+Hungary, driving the Hungarian King in panic flight from his realm. They overran Poland
+and destroyed the banded knighthood of North Germany in Silesia. Western Europe could
+have made no adequate defense; but fortunately by this time the Mongol attack had
+spent itself, simply because the distance from the central point had become so great.
+It was no Christian or European military power which first by force set bounds to
+the Mongol conquests; but the Turkish Mamelukes of Egypt in the West, and in the East,
+some two score years later, the armies of Japan.
+</p>
+<p>In a couple of generations the Mongols as a whole became Buddhists in the East and
+Moslems in the West; and in the West the true Mongols gradually disappeared, being
+lost among the Turkish tribes whom they had conquered and led to victory. It was these
+Turkish tribes, known as Tartars, who for over two centuries kept Russia in a servitude
+so terrible, so bloody, so abject, as to leave deep permanent marks on the national
+character. The Russians did not finally throw off this squalid yoke until thirty years
+after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, the power of the Tartars
+waning as that of the Ottomans approached its zenith. Poland was now rising high.
+Its vast territory extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It was far more important
+than Muscovy. In the “Itinerary” of that widely travelled Elizabethan, Fynes Morrison,
+we learn that the Turks dreaded the Polish armies more than those of Germany, <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xv">[<a href="#pb.xv">xv</a>]</span>or of any other nation; this was after the Hungarians had been conquered.
+</p>
+<p>The scourge of the Mongol conquests was terrible beyond belief, so that even where
+a land was flooded but for a moment, the memory long remained. It is not long since
+in certain churches in Eastern Europe the litany still contained the prayer, “From
+the fury of the Mongols, good Lord deliver us.” The Mongol armies developed a certain
+ant-like or bee-like power of joint action which enabled them to win without much
+regard to the personality of the leader; a French writer has well contrasted the great
+“anonymous victories” of the Mongols with the purely personal triumphs of that grim
+Turkish conqueror whom we know best as Timour the Tartar, or Tamerlane. The civil
+administration the Mongols established in a conquered country was borrowed from China,
+and where they settled as conquerors the conduct of the Chinese bureaucracy maddened
+the subject peoples almost as much as the wild and lawless brutality of the Mongol
+soldiers themselves. Gradually their empire, after splitting up, <span class="corr" id="xd32e257" title="Source: past">passed</span> away and left little direct influence in any country; but it was at the time so prodigious
+a phenomenon, fraught with such vast and dire possibilities, that a full knowledge
+of the history of the Mongol people is imperatively necessary to all who would understand
+the development of Asia and of Eastern Europe. No other writer of English was so well
+fitted to tell this history as Jeremiah Curtin.
+</p>
+<p class="signed"><span class="sc">Theodore Roosevelt.</span>
+</p>
+<p class="dateline"><span class="sc">Sagamore Hill</span>, <i>September 1, 1907</i>.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb.xvii">[<a href="#pb.xvii">xvii</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="toc" class="div1 contents"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">CONTENTS</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum xs">PAGE</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch1" id="xd32e278">CHAPTER I</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Geographical spread of the word Mongol.—Beginning of the Mongol career.—Mythical account
+of Temudjin’s origin.—Kaidu, ancestor of the great historical Mongols.—Origin of the
+Urudai and Manhudai tribes.—Family of Kaidu.—Origin of the Taidjuts.—Bartan, grandfather
+of Temudjin.—Yessugai, father of Temudjin.—Kabul’s visit to China.—Capture and escape
+of Kabul.—Shaman killed for the death of a patient.—Death of Ambagai.—Death of Okin
+Barka.—March of Kutula against China.—Kaidan, Tuda and Yessugai hold a council.—Attack
+of the Durbans.—Bartan, the father of Yessugai, dies.—Triumph of Yessugai &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">1</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch2" id="xd32e287">CHAPTER II</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Rivalry between descendants of Kabul and Ambagai.—Kidnapping of Hoelun by Yessugai.—Birth
+and naming of Temudjin.—Yessugai finds a wife for Temudjin.—Death of Yessugai, 1175.—Neglect
+of Hoelun.—Targutai draws away Yessugai’s people.—Temudjin begins his career by the
+murder of his half-brother.—Capture of Temudjin by the Taidjuts.—Temudjin’s escape
+from captivity.—Assistance rendered by Sorgan Shira.—Marriage of Temudjin to Bortai.—Friendship
+of Temudjin and Boörchu.—Alliance of Togrul and Temudjin.—Chelmai, son of Charchiutai.—Capture
+of Bortai by the Merkits.—Pursuit of Temudjin.—Origin of the worship of Mount Burham.—Assistance
+of Togrul in recovering Bortai.—Ancestors of Jamuka.—Temudjin made Khan.—Appointment
+of officers.—Temudjin’s first victory in battle.—Temudjin’s brutal punishment of prisoners.—Juriats
+join Temudjin’s forces.—Marriage of Temudjin’s sister to Podu.—Marriage of Temudjin’s
+mother to Munlik.—Barins withdraw from alliance.—Efforts of Temudjin to win the friendship
+of Jamuka &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">16</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch3" id="xd32e296">CHAPTER III</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Attack of Temudjin and Togrul upon the Lake Buyur Tartars.—Togrul is given the title
+of Wang Khan.—Attack of Temudjin upon the Churkis.—Origin of the Churkis.—Death of
+Buri Buga.—Adopted sons of Hoelun, mother of Temudjin.—Temudjin and Wang Khan attack
+the Merkits, 1197.—Desertion of Wang Khan.—Wang Khan’s men routed by Naimans.—Rescue
+of Wang Khan by Temudjin.—<span class="pageNum" id="pb.xviii">[<a href="#pb.xviii">xviii</a>]</span>Second defeat of the Naimans.—Temudjin and Wang Khan become as father and son to each
+other.—Wang Khan and Temudjin march against the Taidjuts, 1200.—Taidjuts are joined
+by several neighboring tribes.—Offering made by Taidjuts and their allies when taking
+oath.—Defeat of Taidjuts and Merkits by Temudjin.—Jamuka is made Khan.—Effort of Jamuka
+to surprise and kill Temudjin, 1201.—Shamans cause wind and rain to strike Temudjin.—Defeat
+of Jamuka.—Punishment of Temudjin’s brother, Belgutai, for exposing plans.—Temudjin
+marches against the Tartars.—Marriage of Temudjin to Aisugan.—Defeat of Tukta Bijhi,
+a Merkit chief.—Temudjin asks for Wang Khan’s granddaughter for Juchi.—Efforts of
+Jamuka to rouse the jealousy of Sengun, son of Wang Khan.—Sengun tries to break the
+alliance between his father and Temudjin.—Discovery of a plot to kill Temudjin.—Attack
+of Wang Khan and Sengun upon Temudjin.—Victory of Temudjin.—Death of Huildar.—Message
+of Temudjin to Wang Khan.—Message of Temudjin to Sengun.—Message of Temudjin to Jamuka.—Attack
+of Temudjin upon Wang Khan.—Defeat of Wang Khan and Sengun.—Temudjin rewards his warriors.—Temudjin
+takes as wife the daughter of Jaganbo, Wang Khan’s brother.—Death of Wang Khan and
+Sengun, 1203 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">37</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch4" id="xd32e307">CHAPTER IV</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Attack upon Temudjin by Baibuga, his father-in-law.—Council held by Temudjin, 1204.—Battle
+with the Naimans, autumn of 1204.—Capture of Kurbassu, the wife of Baibuga.—Surrender
+to Temudjin of tribes allied to Jamuka.—Subjection of the Merkits.—Marriage of Temudjin
+to the daughter of Dair Usun.—Revolt and pursuit of the Merkits.—Death of Tohtoa.—Defeat
+and capture of Jamuka.—Death of Jamuka.—Temudjin is made Grand Khan, takes the title
+Jinghis.—Temudjin rewards his officers.—Temudjin gives his wife to Churchadai.—Temudjin
+distrusts his brother, Kassar.—Defence of Kassar by his mother, Hoelun.—Death of Hoelun.—Temudjin
+alarmed at the power of Taibtengeri, a Shaman.—Murder of Taibtengeri.—Jinghis Khan’s
+(Temudjin) campaign against Tanguts.—Jinghis Khan’s position secured in Northeastern
+Asia.—Kara Kitai, geographically.—The Uigurs.—Triumphs of Jinghis alarm China.—Mission
+of Jinghis’ envoys to the Uigurs.—Indignation of the Uigurs.—Mongols invade Tangut,
+1207.—Tangut King gives his daughter in marriage to Jinghis.—Return of Jinghis.—Arslan
+Khan of the Karluks gives homage to Jinghis.—Marriage of Arslan to Altun Bijhi, Jinghis’
+daughter &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">62</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch5" id="xd32e316">CHAPTER V</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">China, 618 to 907, <span class="asc">A.D.</span>—Fall of Tang dynasty.—The Kitans.—Parin proclaims himself Emperor, 916.—House of
+Sung unites nearly all China, 960.—Tribute paid by the Sung Emperor to the Kitans,
+1004.—Victory over the Kitans by Aguta in 1114.—Founding of a new State, Kin kwe,
+by Aguta.—Death of Aguta.—Invasion of North China by Kin Emperor, 1125.—Kin Emperor
+besieges Kai fong fu, 1126.—Sung Emperor seized and sent to Manchuria.—Message of
+Jinghis Khan to the sovereign of China.—Jinghis sets out to subdue the Chinese Empire,
+1211.—Sons of Jinghis.—Army equipment.—Advance of 1,200 miles to the Great Wall of
+China.—Friendship of the Onguts.—Insurrection of the Kitans.—Chong tu invested.—Jinghis
+sends Subotai against the Merkits.—Jinghis <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xix">[<a href="#pb.xix">xix</a>]</span>resumes activity in China, 1213.—Attack of Tangut on China, 1213.—Mongols attack lands
+bordering on the Hoang Ho, 1214.—Defence of Chong tu.—Mongols attack Nan king.—Defeat
+of the Merkits.—Corea’s submission to Jinghis, 1218.—Death of Boroul, 1217.—Origin
+of Mukuli, one of Jinghis’ greatest generals.—Jinghis’ fourth attack on the Tanguts,
+1218.—Origin of Kara Kitai.—Victory of Yeliu over Kashgar.—Invasion of Kwaresm by
+Yeliu.—Treachery of Gutchluk.—Execution of Gutchluk by <span class="corr" id="xd32e327" title="Source: Chepe">Chepé</span>.—Kara Kitai attacked by Shah Mohammed.—The World-Shaking Limper (Tamerlane).—Attack
+of Kara Kitans by Mongols.—Death of the Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, 1136 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">79</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch6" id="xd32e334">CHAPTER VI</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Addition of Kara Kitai to Mongol domains.—End of Seljuk rule.—Kutb ud din Mohammed
+made Kwaresmian Shah.—Mohammed seizes Balk and Herat.—Invasion of the lands of the
+Gurkhan by Mohammed, 1208.—Defeat and capture of Shah Mohammed.—Mohammed and Osman
+make an attack on the Gurkhan.—Success of the Kwaresmian Shah.—Mohammed gives his
+daughter in marriage to Osman, ruler of Samarkand.—Kwaresmians killed by Osman.—Storming
+of Samarkand by Mohammed.—Death of Osman.—Seizure of a part of the Gur Kingdom.—Assassination
+of Ali Shir by command of Mohammed, his brother, 1213.—Winning of Ghazni by Mohammed,
+1216.—Discovery of letters from the Kalif warning the Gurs against Mohammed.—Efforts
+of Nassir the Kalif to stop Kwaresmian growth.—Limited power of the Kalif.—Envoy sent
+by Mohammed to the Kalif.—Ali ul Muluk is recognized as Kalif.—Murder of Ogulmush
+by command of the Kalif.—Annexation of Irak by Mohammed.—Mohammed advances on Bagdad.—Retreat
+of Mohammed.—Mohammed alarmed by Mongol movements.—Mohammed receives envoys from Jinghis
+Khan, 1216–17.—Sunnites and Shiites.—Determination of the Kalif to ask Jinghis to
+defend the Sunnites.—Invitation to Jinghis branded on the head of the envoy.—Message
+of Jinghis to Shah Mohammed.—Arrest of Mongolian merchants.—Second message from Jinghis
+to Mohammed.—Murder of Bajra, Jinghis Khan’s envoy.—Turkan Khatun, the mother of Shah
+Mohammed.—Trouble caused by Turkan Khatun.—A Mongol tempest.—Conspiracy of Bedr ud
+din.—Arrangement of the Mongol army.—Investment of Otrar, November, 1218.—Capture
+of Otrar, April, 1219.—Slaughter of the Turk garrison at Benakit.—Escape of Melik
+Timur.—Investment of Bokhara, June, 1219.—Surrender of Bokhara.—Feeding of Mongol
+horses in the Grand Mosque.—Storming of the fortress.—March of Jinghis on Samarkand.—Surrender
+of Samarkand.—Pursuit of the Kwaresmian ruler &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">93</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch7" id="xd32e343">CHAPTER VII</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Indecision of Shah Mohammed.—Escape of Mohammed to Nishapur.—Submission of Balkh.—Proclamation
+of the Shah to Nishapur.—Pursuit of Mohammed.—Withdrawal of Mohammed from Nishapur.—Sack
+of Nishapur.—Flight of Mohammed to an island in the Caspian.—Death of Shah Mohammed<span class="corr" id="xd32e348" title="Not in source">,</span> January 10, 1221.—Escape of Turkan Khatun to the mountains.—Succession of Jelal ud
+din.—Surrender of Ilak and of Turkan Khatun.—Siege and capture of the Kwaresmian capital.—Attack
+made on the Talekan district by Jinghis.—Siege of Ghazni.—March of Tului against Khorassan,
+1220.—Attack on Nessa.—Attack and capture of Merv.—Revenge of <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xx">[<a href="#pb.xx">xx</a>]</span>Togachar’s widow.—March of the Mongols against Herat.—Turkmans near <span class="corr" id="xd32e352" title="Source: Nerv">Merv</span> escape and form the nucleus of the Ottoman Empire.—Jelal ud din at Ghazni, 1221.—Death
+of a grandson of Jinghis.—Revenge of Jinghis.—Retreat of Jelal from Ghazni.—Pursuit
+of Jelal by Jinghis.—Battle at the Indus between Jelal and Jinghis.—Leap of Jelal
+into the Indus.—Siege of Herat, 1222.—Mongol army marches on Herat a second time
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">113</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch8" id="xd32e359">CHAPTER VIII</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Jinghis passes the winter near the Indus, 1222–23.—Resolve of Jinghis to return to
+Mongolia, 1223.—Myths regarding this resolution.—Command of Jinghis to kill useless
+prisoners.—March of <span class="corr" id="xd32e364" title="Source: Chepe">Chepé</span> Noyon to Tiflis.—Command of Jinghis to <span class="corr" id="xd32e367" title="Source: Chepe">Chepé</span> Noyon to exterminate the Polovtsi.—March of <span class="corr" id="xd32e370" title="Source: Chepe">Chepé</span> to Tiflis.—<span class="corr" id="xd32e373" title="Source: Chepe’s">Chepé’s</span> alliance with the Polovtsi.—Betrayal of the Polovtsi, their flight to Russia.—Mystislav
+aids the Polovtsi against the Mongols.—Defeat of the Russians on the Kalka, 1224.—Terror
+of Southern Russia.—Jinghis at his home on the Kerulon, 1225.—Mukuli’s conquest of
+lands belonging to the Kin dynasty, 1216.—Death of Mukuli, 1223.—Jinghis enters Tangut,
+1226.—Siege of Ling chau.—Submission of Ling chau.—Death of Jinghis Khan, 1227.—Burial
+of Jinghis.—Jinghis Khan’s disposal of his Empire.—Kurultai of election held on the
+Kerulon, 1229.—Accession of Ogotai. His plans of expeditions.—Offerings made to the
+shade of Jinghis.—First work of Ogotai &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">131</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch9" id="xd32e380">CHAPTER IX</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Condition of Persian Irak at the time of Jinghis Khan’s death.—Flight of Jelal ud
+din to Delhi.—Marriage of Jelal to the daughter of Iletmish.—Effort of Jelal to take
+possession of his inheritance.—Founding of the Kara Kitan dynasty of Kerman.—Marriage
+of Jelal to the daughter of Borak.—Advance of Jelal into Fars.—Marriage of Jelal to
+the daughter of the Atabeg of Shiraz.—Effort of Jelal to overcome his brother, Ghiath.—Jelal
+marches against Nassir, Kalif of Islam.—Capture of Dakuka by Jelal, 1225.—Possession
+of Tebriz by Jelal.—Expedition against Georgia, 1225.—Second march of Jelal to Tiflis,
+1226.—Conquest of Georgia.—Jelal attacks Kars.—Defeat of a Mongol division by Jelal.—Attack
+of the Mongols on Jelal in Ispahan, 1227.—Murder of Mohammed, a favorite of Jelal.—Ghiath
+ud din strangled by Borak.—Jelal demands tribute from the Shirvan Shah.—Attack of
+Jelal on the combined armies of Georgia and Armenia.—Second siege of Khelat by Jelal.—Death
+of Nassir the Kalif, 1225.—Succession of Zahir as Kalif and then of Mostansir.—Jelal
+invested with the title of Shah in Shah.—Capture of Khelat by Jelal, 1230.—Defeat
+of Jelal at Kharpert.—March of Jelal on Khelat.—March of Jelal on Gandja.—Attack and
+defeat of Jelal by Mongols.—Death of Jelal, 1231.—End of Kwaresmian dynasty &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">145</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch10" id="xd32e389">CHAPTER X</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Ravage of Amid and Mayafarkin by Mongols.—Devastation of Azerbaidjan.—Capture of Erbil
+by Mongols.—Mongols in Arabian Irak, 1238.—Capture of Gandja by Mongols, 1235.—Capture
+of Tiflis by Mongols, 1239.—Mongols advance to the Tigris.—Visit of Prince Avak and
+his sister, Tamara, to Ogotai, 1240.—Mongols in Syria, 1244.—<span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxi">[<a href="#pb.xxi">xxi</a>]</span>Capture of regions north of Lake Van.—Sheherzur sacked by Mongols.—The Mongols driven
+off from Yakuba by Bagdad troops.—Refusal of Queen Rusudan to leave Usaneth.—Death
+of Rusudan.—Installation of Kuyuk, 1246.—Death of Kei Kosru, 1245.—Struggle of Rokn
+ud din for rule in Rūm.—Death of Alai ud din.—Mangu Grand Khan of the Mongols, 1251.—Visit
+of Rokn ud din to Sarai.—Entrance of Baidju into Rūm.—Great ruin effected by Mongols
+in Asia Minor.—Appointment by Juchi of Chin Timur as Governor of Kwaresm.—Ravaging
+by Kwaresmian bands in Khorassan.—Attack upon the Kankalis by Chin Timur.—Visit of
+the Prince of Iran to Ogotai.—Authority transferred from Chin Timur to Sari <span class="corr" id="xd32e396" title="Source: Bahadar">Bahadur</span>.—Reinstatement of Chin Timur.—Chin Timur’s choice of Kurguz as chancellor.—Death
+of Chin Timur, 1235.—Visit of Kurguz to Ogotai.—Kurguz appointed to collect taxes.—Residence
+of Kurguz at Tus.—Command of Ogotai to raise up Khorassan, and repeople Herat.—Struggle
+between Sherif and Kurguz.—Death of Kurguz.—Succession of Sherif.—Sherif’s oppression
+of the people of Tebriz.—Death of Sherif, 1244.—Visit of Argun to the Kurultai which
+elected Kuyuk, 1251.—Election of Mangu, 1251.—Argun’s reception in Merv.—Shems ud
+din’s reign in Herat.—Death of Rokn ud din.—Death of Shems ud din, 1244.—Death of
+Kutb ud din, 1258.—Position of Persia in 1254 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">172</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch11" id="xd32e404">CHAPTER XI</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">The Ismailian known in Europe as Assassins.—Death of Mohammed, 632.—Omar made Kalif,
+634.—Murder of Aly, 661.—Election of Muavia in Damascus.—Winning of Egypt by Muavia.—Yezid,
+son of Muavia, named heir.—Death of Muavia. Succession of Yezid, 680.—Death of Muslim.—Hussein
+camps on the plain of Kerbala.—Death of Hussein, October, 680.—Babek, 816.—Seizure
+of Babek by Motassim, 835.—Execution of Babek.—Origin of Abdallah.—Spread of the peculiar
+beliefs of Abdallah.—Amed, son of Abdallah.—Rise of Karmath.—Fights in the East and
+West.—Obeidallah, first Fatimed Kalif, 909.—Winning of Egypt and Southern Syria by
+descendants of Obeidallah, 967.—Addition of Aleppo to the Fatimed Empire, 991.—Founding
+of the Eastern Ismailians, or Assassins, by Hassan Ben Sabah.—Omar Khayyam and Nizam
+ul Mulk.—Death of Alp Arslan.—Seizure of the fortress of Alamut by Hassan Sabah, 1090.—Rivalry
+of Hassan and Nizam ul Mulk.—Death of Nizam ul Mulk and Melik Shah, 1092.—Peculiar
+belief of Hassan Sabah.—Assassins in Syria.—Friendship of Risvan, Prince of Aleppo,
+for the Order.—Assassination of the Prince of Mosul, 1113.—Death of Risvan.—Akhras
+attempts to exterminate the Assassins.—Revenge of the Assassins.—Surrender of the
+fortress of Sherif, 1120.—Death of Hassan Sabah, 1124.—Kia Busurgomid succeeds Hassan
+Sabah.—Possession of Banias by Assassins.—Hugo De Payens, Grand Master of the Templars
+in Jerusalem, 1129.—Death of Togteghin.—Succession of his son, Tajulmuluk.—Efforts
+to murder Tajulmuluk.—Execution of the Assassins &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">197</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch12" id="xd32e413">CHAPTER XII</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Murder of Aksonkor Burshi, Prince of Mosul, 1126.—Murder of Busi, Prince of Damascus.—Murder
+of Sindjar’s vizir by Assassins, 1127.—Vengeance of Assassins.—Death of a Fatimid
+Kalif by the daggers of the Assassins, 1134.—Death of Kia <span class="corr" id="xd32e418" title="Source: Busugomid">Busurgomid</span>, 1138.—Appointment of Mohammed to succeed his father.—Murder of <span class="corr" id="xd32e421" title="Source: Mostereshed">Mostershed</span>.—Death <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxii">[<a href="#pb.xxii">xxii</a>]</span>of Rashid, his successor.—Assassin doctrine as delivered to Sindjar.—Succession of
+Mohammed, 1138.—Nur ed din in Syria.—Attack against Damascus, 1154.—Friendship of
+Nur ed din for the Abbasids.—Triumph of Nur ed din in Haram.—Arrival of Shawer in
+Damascus.—Shawer’s request for aid against the Crusaders.—Plot of Shawer to destroy
+Shirkuh.—Death of Shirkuh, 1169.—Saladin’s origin.—Saladin first vizir of the Kalif.—Exposure
+of the secrets of the Assassins by Hassan II.—Efforts of Hassan to <span class="corr" id="xd32e426" title="Source: established">establish</span> his descent from Kalifs of Egypt.—Death of Hassan.—Death of Nur ed din, 1174.—Egypt
+governed by Saladin in the name of Salih.—Defeat of the troops of Aleppo, by Saladin,
+1175.—End of the Fatimid Kalifat.—Saladin attacked by Assassins.—Attack of Massiat
+by Saladin.—Compromise of Sinan.—Death of Mohammed II.—Succession of Jelal ud din
+Hassan, son of Mohammed, 1213.—Jelal’s return to the true faith.—Death of Jelal ud
+din, 1225.—Succession of his son, Alai ed din.—Death of Alai ed din.—Succession of
+Rokn ud din.—Attack of Hulagu upon the Assassins.—Surrender of Rokn ud din.—Visit
+of Rokn ud din to the court of Mangu, 1257.—Death of Rokn ud din &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">222</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch13" id="xd32e433">CHAPTER XIII</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Message of Hulagu to Kalif of Bagdad, 1257.—Kalif rebukes Hulagu.—Hulagu’s envoys
+insulted by the people.—Second message of the Kalif to Hulagu to warn him against
+making war on the Abbasids.—Attempted treason of Aké, commandant of Daritang.—Possession
+of the Daritang road by Hulagu.—Prediction of the astrologer.—Capture of Luristan
+by the Mongols.—Advance of Feth ud din to meet the Mongol division.—Opening of canals
+from the Tigris by the Mongols.—Triumph of Hulagu.—Submission of the Kalif of Bagdad.—Bagdad
+sacked by the Mongols.—Death of Kalif of Bagdad, 1258.—Appointment of Ben Amran as
+prefect.—Alb Argun’s accession to the throne of Luristan.—Summons of Hulagu to Bedr
+ud din, Prince of Mosul.—Presents given by the Prince of Mosul to Hulagu.—Death of
+Salih, 1249.—Death of Turan Shah, successor of Salih.—Accession of Eibeg to the throne
+of Egypt.—Attempt of Nassir to drive Eibeg from the throne.—Message of Hulagu to Nassir.—Advance
+of Hulagu’s army into Syria.—Accusation of Hulagu against Kamil, the Eyubite prince.—Summons
+sent by Hulagu to the Prince of Mardin.—Message of Nassir to Mogith.—Succession of
+<span class="corr" id="xd32e438" title="Source: Mensur">Mansur</span>, son of Eibeg.—Kutuz becomes Sultan.—Siege of El Biret.—Mongols camp near Aleppo.—Assault
+and capture of Aleppo, January 25, 1260.—Damascus left defenceless by Nassir
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">247</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch14" id="xd32e445">CHAPTER XIV</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">News of the death of Mangu, 1259.—Desire of Kutuz to take the field against the Mongols.—Imprisonment
+of Hulagu’s envoy.—Meeting of the two armies on the plain of Ain Jalut, 1260.—Defeat
+of the Mongols by Kutuz.—Arrival of Kutuz in Damascus.—Pursuit of the Mongols by Beibars.—Death
+of Kutuz, 1260.—Enthronement of Beibars.—Youth of Beibars.—Yshmut, son of Hulagu,
+demands the surrender of Mayafarkin.—Death of Kamil.—Attack of Yshmut on Mardin.—Kalif’s
+investiture of Beibars with the sovereignty.—Departure from Cairo of the Sultan and
+the Kalif, 1262.—Entrance of Mostansir into Hitt.—Attack of Sanjar on the Mongols
+who were <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxiii">[<a href="#pb.xxiii">xxiii</a>]</span>moving against Mosul.—Death of Sanjar.—Siege of Mosul.—Slaughter of the inhabitants
+of Mosul.—Death of Prince of Mosul.—Death of Salih.—Visit of Salih, the Melik of Mosul,
+to Beibars in Egypt.—Enthronement of Beibars.—Berkai’s criticism of Hulagu.—Defeat
+of Hulagu by Nogai.—Return of Hulagu to Tebriz.—Letter of Beibars to Berkai.—Detention
+of envoys by Michael <span class="corr" id="xd32e452" title="Source: Palaelogus">Palæologus</span>.—Desire of Berkai for an alliance against Hulagu.—Attack of Hayton, King of Cilicia,
+on Egyptian territory.—Death of Seif ud din Bitikdji, 1263.—Troubles in Fars.—Reception
+of Seljuk Shah at the Oxus, by Hulagu.—Death of Abu Bekr, 1260.—Accession of Mohammed
+Shah to the throne of Fars, 1262.—Death of Seljuk Shah.—Uns Khatun placed on the throne
+of Fars, 1264.—Sherif ud din claims to be the Mahdi promised by the Shiites.—March
+of the Mongols against Sherif ud din.—Siege of El Biret, 1264.—Death of Hulagu, 1265.—Death
+of Hulagu’s wife Dokuz Khatun.—Berkai’s second campaign to the Caucasus, 1264.—Death
+of Berkai, 1266.—Nogai’s army retreats on Shirvan &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">267</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch15" id="xd32e459">CHAPTER XV</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Kin Emperor sends offerings to the spirit of Jinghis Khan, 1229.—Mongols continue
+warfare in China.—Siege of Li ho chin by Mongols, 1227.—King Yang attacked by Mongols,
+1229.—Defeat of the Mongols by Yra buka, 1230.—Advance of Ogotai and Tului on China.—Ogotai
+anxious to seize Honan.—Surrender of Fong tsiang.—Arrival of Yra buka, the Kin general
+at Teng chu, 1234.—Tului’s report to Ogotai of the situation in Honan.—Siege of Yiu
+chin by Tului.—Capture and death of Yra buka.—Ogotai visits Tului.—Ogotai asks the
+Kin Emperor to submit.—Advance of Mongols on Shan chiu.—Fall of Honan.—Siege of Nan
+King.—Appearance of the plague.—Flight of the Emperor from his capital.—Attack of
+the capital by Subotai.—Defence of Pian king.—Surrender of Pian king.—Execution of
+Baksan.—Appearance of Mongols near Tsai chiu.—Attack of Tsai chiu by Tatchar, son
+of Boroul.—Nin kia su yields the throne to Ching lin.—Death of Nin kia su.—Death of
+Ching lin.—Death of Tului, October, 1232.—End of dominion of the Kins in China, 1234
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">295</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch16" id="xd32e468">CHAPTER XVI</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Kurultai summoned by Ogotai at Talantepe, 1234.—Kurultai summoned by Ogotai at Kara
+Kurum, 1235.—Batu marches West.—An army sent to Cashmir and India.—Expedition against
+China.—Assassination of Tsui li.—Recall of Subotai.—Reoccupation of Ching tu by the
+Chinese<span class="corr" id="xd32e474" title="Not in source">,</span> 1239.—Sack of Ching tu by Mongols.—Entrance into Hu kuang of Kutchu, 1236.—Death
+of Kutchu.—Attack on Liu chiu by Chagan, a Mongol general, 1238.—Withdrawal of Chagan.—Three
+victories of Meng kong over Mongols, 1239.—Offers of peace by Wang tsie, a Mongol
+envoy.—Death of Ogotai, 1241.—Influence of Abd ur Rahman over the widow of Ogotai.—Delay
+of Batu in coming to the Kurultai.—Election of Kuyuk as Emperor.—Death of Turakina,
+Ogotai’s widow.—Death of Fatima, a favorite of Turakina.—Batu learns of the death
+of Kuyuk, 1248.—Kurultai called by Batu.—Mangu, son of Tului, saluted as Emperor,
+1251.—Refusal of Ogotai’s sons to recognize the legality of the Kurultai which appointed
+Mangu.—Discovery of a plot to assassinate Mangu.—Death of Siurkukteni, mother of Mangu,
+1252.—Desire of Mangu to <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxiv">[<a href="#pb.xxiv">xxiv</a>]</span>kill the partisans of Ogotai’s sons.—Removal of all Uigurs favorable to Ogotai’s descendants
+by Mangu.—Mangu gives Honan to Kubilai, 1252.—Tali the capital of Nan chao under Mongol
+rule.—Return of Kubilai to Mongolia.—Journey of Uriang Kadai to Mangu’s court to report
+on work done in the South, beyond China.—Return of Uriang Kadai, 1254.—Summons of
+Uriang Kadai to Chen chi kung, sovereign of Tung king (Gan nan), to own himself tributary
+to Mangu.—Surrender of Kiao chi, the Gan nan capital, to Uriang Kadai.—Chen chi kung
+resigns in favor of his son, 1253.—Popularity of Kubilai in China.—Jealousy of Mangu.—Recall
+of Kubilai, 1257.—March of Mangu to the Sung Empire.—March of Mangu against Ku chu
+yai, a fortress west of Pao ning.—Mangu’s conquest of Western Su chuan.—Death of Mangu,
+1259.—Kubilai at Ju in Honan, 1259.—Effort of Arik Buga, master at Kara Kurum, to
+usurp power.—Treaty of Kia se tao and Kubilai.—Encampment of Kubilai outside the walls
+of Pekin.—Election and enthronement of Kubilai.—Battle between Kubilai and Arik Buga.—Defeat
+of Arik Buga &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">310</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch17" id="xd32e482">CHAPTER XVII</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">March of Arik Buga to Kara Kurum.—Attack of Arik Buga on Kubilai northeast of Shang
+tu.—Defeat of Arik Buga.—Reverses of Arik Buga.—Appeal of Arik Buga to the mercy of
+his brother, 1264.—Death of Arik Buga, 1266.—Claim of Kaidu, grandson of Ogotai, to
+headship of the Mongols.—Decision of Kubilai to conquer all China.—Revolt of Litan,
+one of Kubilai’s generals.—Death of Litan.—Kubilai moves against Southern China, 1267.—Kubilai’s
+command to At chu to besiege Siang yang, 1268.—Attack of Mongols on Fan ching, 1273.—The
+Emperor’s discovery of the siege of Siang yang by the Mongols.—Control of Fan ching
+by the Mongols.—Surrender of Siang yang by Liu wen hwan.—Death of Tu tsong, the Emperor,
+August, 1274.—Surrender of many cities to Bayan.—Surrender of Su chuan, 1278.—Bayan
+advises Kubilai to continue operations in China.—Arrival of the Emperor and Empress
+at Kubilai’s court.—March of Bayan against Lin ngan.—Election of Y wang as governor
+of the Empire.—Command obtained from the Emperor, by Bayan, ordering Sung subjects
+to submit to the Mongols.—Chinese defections follow Mongol successes.—Effort of Alihaiya
+to bribe Ma ki to surrender Kwe lin fu, the capital of Kiang se.—Defeat and capture
+of Ma ki.—Death of Toan tsong, 1278.—Kuang Wang is made Emperor under the name Ti
+ping.—Destruction of the army of the Sung Emperor.—Blocking of Chinese vessels by
+Mongol barges.—Capture of more than 800 Chinese vessels.—Death of Chang shi kie.—Kubilai
+finds himself master of China, January 31, 1279 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">336</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch18" id="xd32e491">CHAPTER XVIII</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Struggle of Kubilai with Kaidu lasting from the death of Arik Buga to the death of
+Kubilai.—End of the Sung dynasty.—Departure of troops for Corea.—Mongol fleet encounters
+a storm.—Return of the fleet.—Attack and defeat of the King of Burma.—Death of Sutu,
+a distinguished Mongol general.—Kubilai plans a second Japanese expedition.—Victory
+of Kubilai’s forces over the Tung king men in seventeen engagements.—Visit of Yang
+ting pie to the islands south of China, 1285.—Arrival of the ships of ten kingdoms
+in Tsinan chiu.—Desire of Tok Timur to put Shireki, son of Mangu, on the throne, <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxv">[<a href="#pb.xxv">xxv</a>]</span>1277.—Tok Timur attacked by Bayan.—Flight of Tok Timur.—Tok Timur asks aid of Shireki;
+failing to get it he sets up Sarban.—Forming of a new league against Kubilai by Kaidan
+with Nayan as leader.—Capture and death of Nayan.—Gift of Kara Kurum to Bayan, as
+headquarters.—Kubilai’s departure from Shang tu for the West.—Recall of Bayan.—Kubilai
+sends a thousand ships to attack Java.—Effort of Wang chu to free the Chinese Empire.—Death
+of Ahmed, Kubilai’s Minister of Finance.—Execution of Wang chu.—Execution of Sanga.—Death
+of Kubilai, February, 1294.—Election of Timur.—Death of Bayan at the age of fifty-nine.—Treaty
+of Timur with the King of Tung king.—Spread of revolt.—Death of Kaidu, 1301.—Daughter
+of Kaidu.—Homage rendered Chabar as Kaidu’s successor.—Timur acknowledged as overlord.—War
+between Chabar and Dua, 1306.—Death of Dua.—Gebek, son of Dua, proclaimed successor.—Attack
+of Chabar on Gebek.—Defeat of Chabar &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">361</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocHead"><a href="#ch19" id="xd32e502">CHAPTER XIX</a>
+</p>
+<p class="tocArgument">Accession of Ananda, grandson of Kubilai.—Removal of Ananda.—Succession of Khaishan,
+under the name of Kuluk.—Death of Khaishan, 1311.—Batra is proclaimed under the name
+Bayantu.—Cause and beginning of the ruin of Mongol power in China.—Appointment of
+Shudi Bala as successor of Bayantu.—Death of Bayantu in 1320.—Assassination of Shudi
+Bala. The first death by assassination in the Imperial family.—Succession of Yissun
+Timur.—Appointment of Asukeba as heir.—Death of Yissun Timur.—The widow of Yissun
+Timur proclaims Asukeba.—Effort of Tob Timur to secure the throne for his brother,
+Kushala.—Defeat of the partisans of Asukeba.—Exile of the Empress.—Sudden death of
+Kushala while feasting, 1329.—Tob Timur is made Emperor.—Death of Tob Timur.—Death
+of the young son of Kushala.—Accession of Togan Timur, Kushala’s eldest son.—Revolt
+in Honan, Su chuan and Kwang tung.—Removal of Tob Timur’s tablet from the hall of
+Imperial ancestors, 1340.—Completion of the annals of the Liao, the Kin, and the Sung
+dynasties.—Insurrection in South China, 1341.—Fang kwe chin, a pirate, harries the
+coast of Che kiang.—Declaration of Han chan tong of the appearance of Buddha to free
+China from the Mongol yoke.—Death of Han chan tong.—Departure of Mongols from the
+Yang tse region.—Capture of Han yang and Wu chang in Hu kwang by Siu chiu hwei.—Recapture
+of Hang chiu by the Mongol general, Tong pu.—Appearance of Chang se ching in Kiang
+nan.—Siu chiu hwei proclaims himself Emperor.—Defeat of a Mongol general by Ni wen
+tsiun.—Appearance of Chu yuan chang, the man destined to destroy Mongol rule, and
+found the Ming dynasty.—Capture of Nan king, Yang chiu and Chin kiang by Chu.—Defeat
+of adherents of Ming wang, the pseudo Sung Emperor, by Chagan Timur, a Mongol general.—Control
+of Hu kwang and Kiang si by Siu chiu hwei.—Chin proclaims himself Emperor.—Plans of
+Chagan Timur to capture Nan king.—Aiyuchelitala named as heir by Togan Timur.—Invitation
+of Ali hwei to Togan Timur to yield what is left of Mongol power.—Defeat of Tukien
+Timur.—Assassination of Chagan Timur by Wang se ching.—Appearance of Ming yu chin
+as Emperor.—March of Chu, the coming Emperor of China, against Chin yiu liang.—Defeat
+of Chin yiu liang.—Surrender of cities to Chu.—Effort of Polo Timur to capture Tsin
+ki.—Defeat of Polo Timur by Ku ku Timur.—The heir of the Mongol throne acts against
+the Grand <span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxvi">[<a href="#pb.xxvi">xxvi</a>]</span>Khan, his father.—Polo Timur made commander-in-chief by Togan Timur.—News of the capture
+of Shang tu.—Death of Ming yu chin, 1366.—Disappearance of Han lin ulh.—Efforts of
+Chu to liberate China.—Surrender of all cities to Chu’s generals.—Terror of Togan
+Timur caused by conquests of Chu.—Chu proclaimed Emperor, the name Ming is given to
+his dynasty.—Entrance of Chu into Ta tu, 1368.—Death of Togan Timur.—Capture of Togan
+Timur’s grandson by Ming forces.—Advance of Su tu, the Ming general, to the Kerulon.—Death
+of the Mongol heir. Succession of his son Tukus Timur, 1378.—Defeat of Tukus Timur
+by Chu forces.—Assassination of Tukus Timur.—Civil war roused by Yissudar.—Invitation
+of the Emperor of China to Buin Shara to declare himself vassal.—Invasion of Mongolia
+by a Chinese army.—Yung lo’s advance to the Kerulon.—Defeat of the Mongols.—Death
+of Buin Shara, 1412.—The Manchu dynasty.—End of Mongol power &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">384</span>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb.xxviii">[<a href="#pb.xxviii">xxviii</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 last-child map"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure map-imagewidth"><a href="images/maph.png"><img src="images/map.png" alt="THE EMPIRES OF THE MONGOLS" width="720" height="510"></a><p class="figureHead">THE EMPIRES OF THE MONGOLS</p>
+<p class="first">XIII–XIV CENTURIES</p>
+</div><p>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb1">[<a href="#pb1">1</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="body">
+<div id="ch1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e278">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="super">THE MONGOLS</h2>
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER I</h2>
+<h2 class="main">CLASSIFICATION, MYTH AND REALITY</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">From an obscure and uncertain beginning the word Mongol has gone on increasing in
+significance and spreading geographically during more than ten centuries until it
+has filled the whole earth with its presence. From the time when men used it at first
+until our day this word has been known in three senses especially. In the first sense
+it refers to some small groups of hunters and herdsmen living north of the great Gobi
+desert; in the second it denotes certain peoples in Asia and Eastern Europe; in the
+third and most recent, a worldwide extension has been given it. In this third and
+the broad sense the word Mongol has been made to include in one category all yellow
+skinned nations, or peoples, including those too with a reddish-brown, or dark tinge
+in the yellow, having also straight hair, always black, and dark eyes of various degrees
+of intensity. In this sense the word Mongol co-ordinates vast numbers of people, immense
+groups of men who are like one another in some traits, and widely dissimilar in others.
+It embraces the Chinese, the Coreans, the Japanese, the Manchus, the original Mongols
+with their near relatives the Tartar, or Turkish tribes which hold Central Asia, or
+most of it. Moving westward from China this term covers the Tibetans and with them
+all the non-Aryan nations and tribes until we reach India and Persia.
+</p>
+<p>In India, whose most striking history in modern ages is Mongol, nearly all populations
+save Aryans and Semites are classified with Mongols. In Persia where the dynasty is
+Mongol that race is preponderant in places and important throughout the whole kingdom,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb2">[<a href="#pb2">2</a>]</span>though in a minority. In Asia Minor the Mongol is master, for the Turk is still sovereign,
+and will be till a great rearrangement is effected.
+</p>
+<p>Five groups of Mongols have made themselves famous in Europe: the Huns with their
+mighty chief Attila, the Bulgars, the Magyars, the Turks or Osmanli, and the Mongol
+invaders of Russia. All these five will have their due places later on in this history.
+</p>
+<p>In Africa there have been and are still Mongol people. The Mamelukes and their forces
+at Cairo were in their time remarkable, and Turkish dominion exists till the present,
+at least theoretically, in Egypt, and west of it.
+</p>
+<p>Not restricted to the Eastern hemisphere the word Mongol is still further used to
+include aboriginal man in America.
+</p>
+<p>Thus this great aggregation of people is found in each part of both hemispheres, and
+we cannot consider the Mongols historically in a wide sense unless we consider all
+mankind.
+</p>
+<p>In the first, that is the original and narrowest sense of the word it applies to those
+Mongols alone who during twelve centuries or longer have inhabited the country just
+south of Lake Baikal, and north of the great Gobi desert. It is from these Mongols
+proper that the name has at last been extended to the whole yellow race in both hemispheres.
+</p>
+<p>The word Mongol began, it is said, with the Chinese, but this is not certain. It is
+certain, however, that the Chinese made it known to the great world outside, and thus
+opened the way to that immense application now given it. The Tang dynasty lasted from
+618 to 907 and left its own history. In that history the term Mongol appears as Mong-ku,
+and in the annals of the Kitan dynasty which followed the Tang Mong-ku-li is the form
+which is given us. The Kitans were succeeded by the Golden Khans, or Kin Emperors,
+and in the annals of their line the Mong-ku are mentioned very often.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols began their career somewhat south of Lake Baikal where six rivers rise
+in a very remarkable mountain land. The Onon, the Ingoda and the Kerulon are the main
+western sources of that immense stream the Amoor, which enters the Sea of Okhotsk
+and thus finds the Pacific. The second three rivers: the Tula, Orhon, and Selinga
+flow into Lake Baikal, and thence, through the <span class="pageNum" id="pb3">[<a href="#pb3">3</a>]</span>Lower Angara and Yenissei, are merged in Arctic waters directly in front of Nova Zembla.
+</p>
+<p>These two water systems begin in the Kentei Khan mountains which have as their chief
+elevation Mount Burhan. The six rivers while flowing toward the Amoor and Lake Baikal
+water the whole stretch of country where the Mongols began their activity as known
+to us. There they moved about with their large and small cattle, fought, robbed, and
+hunted, ate and drank and slew one another during ages without reckoning. In that
+region of forest and grass land, of mountains and valleys, of great and small rivers
+the air is wholesome though piercingly cold during winter, and exceedingly hot in
+the summer months. There was subsistence enough for a primitive life in that country,
+but men had to fight for it savagely. Flocks and herds when grown numerous need immense
+spaces to feed in, and those spaces of land caused unending struggle and bloodshed.
+The flocks and herds were also objects of struggle, not flocks and herds only, but
+women. The desirable woman was snatched away, kidnapped; the good herd of cattle was
+stolen, and afterward fought for; the grass covered mountain or valley, or the forest
+with grass or good branches, or shrubbery for browsing was seized and then kept by
+the men who were able to hold it.
+</p>
+<p>This stealing of cattle, this grabbing of pasture and forest, this fighting, this
+killing, this capture of women continued for ages with no apparent results except
+those which were personal, local, and transient till Temudjin the great Mongol appeared
+in that harsh mountain country. This man summed up in himself, and intensified to
+the utmost the ideas, strength, temper and spirit of his race as presented in action
+and life up to his day. He placed the Mongols on the stage of the world with a skill
+and a power that were simply colossal and all-conquering. The results which he won
+were immediate and terrifying. No man born of woman has had thus far in history a
+success so peculiar, so thorough and perfect, so completely acknowledged by mankind
+as the success won by Temudjin. There is in his career an unconquerable sequence,
+a finish, a oneness of character that sets it apart among all the careers of those
+mighty ones in history who worked for this life and no other, and strove for no object
+save that which is tangible, material and present; success of such kind and success
+so enormous that a common intelligence might yearn for it, but have no <span class="pageNum" id="pb4">[<a href="#pb4">4</a>]</span>more chance of winning than of reaching the stars, or of seeing the sun during night
+hours.
+</p>
+<p>The career of this Mongol is unique in the world, unapproachable, since its object
+was unmixed and immediate and his success in attaining it was so great that it seems,
+we might say, super-human.
+</p>
+<p>The account which is given us of Temudjin’s origin is a myth tale, excepting a few
+generations directly preceding him. Genealogy in the form of a myth tale is no exception
+in the case of any people,—no wonder. It is the rule and inevitable, the one method
+used by each primitive folk to explain its own origin. All early men in their own
+accounts are descended from gods who are either divine mythic animals, or elements,
+or forces, or phenomena which become later on the progenitors of nations, or their
+totems.
+</p>
+<p>The first mythic parents or founders of Temudjin’s family were a blue wolf and a gray
+doe. These two swam across a lake, reached the river Onon near its sources and settled
+down permanently at the foot of Mount Burhan, where a son called Batachi was born
+to them. Ninth in descent from Batachi were Duva Sohor, and Doben. The former had
+only one eye which was fixed in the middle of his forehead, but with that eye he saw
+beyond three mountain ranges. Once these two brothers climbed up Mount Burhan, and
+were gazing at the world from the top of it when Duva Sohor beheld many people moving
+down the Tungeli. “There is the wife for my brother, unless she is married,” thought
+Duva. “Go and see her,” said he then to Doben. Doben went to the new people straightway
+and learned that the woman was single and that her name was Alan Goa. The moving people
+were dependents of one Horilartai.
+</p>
+<p>In time before that Bargudai, who owned Bargudjin on Lake Baikal, had a daughter whom
+he gave to Horilartai of Horntumadun. From this marriage came Alan Goa, born at Alih
+Usun. They had left their old place since the hunting of ermine and squirrels had
+been stopped there. Horilartai removed to Mount Burhan, where game was abundant. He
+joined Shinchi Boyan, the master of Mount Burhan, and began the clan Horilar. Thus
+Doben found Alan Goa, who bore him two sons, Bugundai and Bailgun Etai.
+</p>
+<p>Duva the one-eyed had four sons. The two brothers and their <span class="pageNum" id="pb5">[<a href="#pb5">5</a>]</span>six sons lived in one company till Duva’s death; after that Duva’s four sons deserted
+their uncle, and founded the clan known as Dorbian.
+</p>
+<p>One day while Doben was hunting he found in the forest a man roasting <span class="corr" id="xd32e558" title="Source: vension">venison</span> and straightway asked meat of him. The man kept one flank and the lungs, and gave
+the remainder to Doben who tied what he got to his saddle, and started off homeward.
+He met on the road a poor man and a small boy. “Who art thou?” inquired Doben. “I
+am of the Malish Boyandai,” said the poor man, “I am in need, give me venison, I pray
+thee, I will give thee my son in return for it.” Doben gave the man a deer leg, took
+the boy home, and made him his attendant.
+</p>
+<p>Some years passed, the boy grew, and Doben died. The boy, now a man, served the widow.
+While a widow Alan Goa bore three sons; the eldest was Buga Hatagi, the second Tusalchi,
+the third Boduanchar. The two sons born of Doben said once to each other: “Our mother
+has no husband, no brother of our father has ever been in this yurta, still she has
+three sons. There is only one man in the house, he has lived with us always; is he
+not their father?”
+</p>
+<p>Alan Goa learned that the two elder brothers were curious concerning the other three,
+so one day she called in her five sons and seating them together gave each one an
+arrow and told him to break it. Each broke his arrow. She then bound five arrows firmly
+together and commanded to break them—not one of the brothers could break the five
+arrows when tied in a bundle.
+</p>
+<p>“Ye are in doubt,” said she then to her eldest and second son, “as to who is the father
+of my third, fourth and fifth sons. Ye wonder, and with reason, for ye know not that
+a golden hued man makes his way to this yurta. He enters through the door by which
+light comes, he enters in through the smoke hole like sunshine. The brightness which
+comes from him fills me when I look at him. Going off on the rays of the sun or the
+moon he runs like a swift yellow dog till he vanishes. Cease talking idly. Your three
+youngest brothers are children of Heaven, and no one may liken them to common men.
+When they are khans ye will know this.”
+</p>
+<p>Alan Goa instructed her sons then, and said to them: “Ye all are my children, ye are
+all sons of mine. If ye stand apart like those five broken arrows it will be very
+easy to break you, but if ye <span class="pageNum" id="pb6">[<a href="#pb6">6</a>]</span>keep one mind and one spirit no man on earth will be able to injure you, ye will be
+like those five arrows in the bundle.”
+</p>
+<p>Alan Goa died soon after this talk with her children. Four of the brothers took what
+belonged to all five of them, counting the youngest a weakling and simple they gave
+him no property whatever. He, seeing that they would not treat him with justice, said
+in his own mind: “I will go from this place, I will leave them.” Then mounting a sorry
+roan horse with galled back and mangy tail he left his four brothers and rode away
+up the Onon to live at some new spot in freedom. When he reached Baljunala he built
+a small yurta, or hut at the place which seemed best to him and lived in it. One day
+he saw a falcon swoop down on a woodcock and seize it there near his yurta; he plucked
+hairs from the mangy tail of his horse, made a snare, caught the falcon, and trained
+it. When the wolves drove wild beasts toward the yurta in hunting he killed them with
+arrows, or took for himself and the falcon what the wolves left uneaten. Thus he lived
+the first winter. When spring came the falcon caught ducks and geese in great numbers.
+</p>
+<p>Beyond the ridge of Mount Duilyan, which was there near his yurta, flowed the Tungeli,
+and at the river lived a new people. Boduanchar, who went to hunt daily with his falcon,
+discovered this people and drank in their yurtas, mare’s milk which they gave him.
+They knew not whence he had come, and he asked not who they were, though they met
+every day with good feeling.
+</p>
+<p>At last Boduanchar’s eldest brother, Hatagi, set out to find him if possible and reached
+the Tungeli, where he saw the new people with whom Boduanchar was in friendship.
+</p>
+<p>“Have ye seen a young man with a mangy tailed horse?” asked he. “On the horse’s back
+are white spots which are marks of old gall sores.” “We have seen the young man with
+that horse—he has also a falcon. He comes here each day to drink mare’s milk, but
+we know not the place of his yurta. Whenever wind blows from the northwest it drives
+hither as many duck and goose feathers as there are flakes in a snowstorm. He must
+live with his falcon northwest of us. But wait here a while and thou wilt see him.”
+Soon they saw the young man coming. Boduanchar became reconciled and went home with
+Hatagi.
+</p>
+<p>“A man is complete who has a head on his body,” said Boduanchar <span class="pageNum" id="pb7">[<a href="#pb7">7</a>]</span>to himself. And aloud he said as they traveled, “A coat is complete when a collar
+is sewed to it.” The brother said nothing on hearing these words for the first time;
+Boduanchar repeated the saying. “What dost thou mean?” asked Hatagi. “Those men on
+the river,” said Boduanchar, “have no head in their company; great and small are all
+one to them. We might take their ulus<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e577src" href="#xd32e577">1</a> very easily.” “Well,” replied Hatagi, “when we reach home we will talk of this; if
+we agree we will take the place.”
+</p>
+<p>The five brothers talked over the plan and were willing. Boduanchar led them back
+to the village. The first person seized by him was a woman. “Of what stock art thou?”
+asked Boduanchar. “I am of the Charchiuts,” answered the woman. The five brothers
+led all the people to their own place; after that they had cattle; they had also attendants
+to wait on them, when eating. Boduanchar took his first captive as wife and she bore
+him a son from whom the Balin clan was descended. Boduanchar took another wife and
+by her begat Habichi, who in time had a son Mainyan Todan who took as wife Monalun,
+from whom seven sons were born to him; the eldest of these was Katchi Kyuluk, and
+the youngest, Nachin.
+</p>
+<p>Monalun loved command; she was harsh in her household and severe to all people. With
+her Mainyan Todan gained great wealth of all kinds, and lived at Nush Argi. Though
+there was no forest land near his yurta he had so many cattle when the herds were
+driven home, that not five ells of ground within eyesight could be found with no beast
+on it.
+</p>
+<p>Mainyan Todan departed from life while his seventh son was an infant. At this time
+the Jelairs, that is, some descendants of Doben and Alan Goa, who had settled on the
+Kerulon near the Golden Khan’s border, warred with his people very often. On a time
+the Golden Khan sent his forces against them; the Jelairs thinking the river impassable
+sneered at the enemy, and taking their caps off fell to mocking and shouting: “Would
+ye not like to come over and take all our horses and families?” Roused by this ridicule
+and banter the enemy made rafts under cover, and crossed the Kerulon quickly. They
+rushed forward and defeated the Jelairs. They slew all whom they met or could find,
+not sparing even children. Most of the Jelairs were slain, except some who <span class="pageNum" id="pb8">[<a href="#pb8">8</a>]</span>had camped in a place where the enemy did not reach them. These survivors found refuge
+at Monalun’s settlement, where they fell to digging roots for subsistence, and spoiled
+a large space used in training young horses.
+</p>
+<p>The widow was enraged at this trespass. She was riding in a cart when she saw it.
+Rushing in with attendants she trampled down some of the people, and dispersed them.
+Soon after this those same Jelairs stole from the sons of the widow a large herd of
+horses. When they heard of this robbery those sons hurried off to recover the animals.
+In their great haste they forgot to take armor. Monalun sent their wives on in carts
+with the armor, and she herself followed. Her sons were lying dead when their wives
+brought the armor. The Jelairs then slew the women, and when she came up they killed
+Monalun also.
+</p>
+<p>The descendants of Katchi Kyuluk were all dead now except the youngest son, who was
+living apart from the others at Bargudjin on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, and
+Kaidu his eldest son’s only offspring, a small boy who was saved by his nurse, who
+hid with the child under firewood.
+</p>
+<p>When news came to Nachin that his family had been slaughtered he hurried on to Nush
+Argi and found there some wretched old women with the little boy Kaidu, and the nurse
+who had saved him. Nachin was anxious to examine the Jelair country, recover some
+part of his brothers’ lost property, and take a stern vengeance on the Jelairs, but
+he had no horse to ride on this journey. Just then a sorrel stallion from the herd
+that had been stolen by the Jelairs wandered back to Nush Argi. Nachin took this beast
+and set out alone to reconnoitre. The first men to meet him were two hunters on horseback,
+a son and his father, who were riding apart from each other. Each had a hawk on his
+wrist, and Nachin saw that both birds had belonged to his brothers.
+</p>
+<p>“Hast thou seen a brown stallion, with mares, going eastward?” asked he of the younger
+man. “I have not,” said the stranger, “but hast thou seen ducks or geese on thy journey?”
+“I have seen many;” replied Nachin; “come, I will show them to thee.” The man followed
+Nachin, who at his own time well selected turned on this Jelair and killed him. He
+fettered the horse, tied the hawk to the saddle, turned and rode toward the second
+man; upon reaching him he asked if he had seen a brown stallion, and mares going <span class="pageNum" id="pb9">[<a href="#pb9">9</a>]</span>eastward. “No,” said the man, “but hast thou seen my son who is hawking here near
+us?” “I have seen him,” said Nachin. “He is bleeding from the nose and that delays
+him.” Nachin then killed the second man and rode along farther, taking with him the
+hawks and the horses. He came at last to a valley where many horses were grazing;
+some boys were herding the beasts, and throwing stones for amusement. Nachin from
+a high place examined the country and since there was no one in sight he went into
+the valley, killed the boys and urged on the herd to Nush Argi, leading the two hunters’
+horses and bringing the hawks with him. Nachin then took his nephew, and the old women
+with the nurse, and drove all the horses to Bargudjin. There he lived for some years,
+and reared and trained his young nephew, who when old enough was made chief over two
+groups of Mongols; later on other groups were connected with these two. The Jelairs
+were crushed and enslaved by Kaidu and Nachin, who returned at the right time to Nush
+Argi. In that chief place of his family he acquired many cattle, and laid the foundation
+of Mongol dominion.
+</p>
+<p>Nachin, as Mongol story depicts him, is one of the few men in history who were not
+self-seeking. He saved the small remnant of his family which escaped from the Jelairs,
+and was for some time the real guardian of the Mongols. He saved the boy Kaidu, and,
+seeking no power for himself, turned every effort to strengthening his nephew.
+</p>
+<p>From that nephew, Kaidu, are descended the greatest historical men of his people,
+men without whom the name Mongol might not have risen from obscurity to be known and
+renowned as it now is.
+</p>
+<p>Nachin had two sons, Urudai and Manhudai, from whom are descended the Uruts and Manhuts,
+two tribes which under Kuildar and Churchadai saved the fortune of Temudjin in his
+most desperate battle at Kalanchin.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidu had three sons; the eldest was Boshin Kordokshin, the second Charaha Lingu,
+the third Chao Jinortaidji. Kaidu’s eldest son had one son named Tumbinai, and died
+soon after the birth of that single descendant. Kaidu’s second son had a son named
+Sengun Bilghe, who had a son Ambagai, and from this strong son, Ambagai, were descended
+the Taidjuts.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidu’s second son took his eldest brother’s widow, and from her had a son, Baisutai,
+from whom came the Baisuts. Kaidu’s <span class="pageNum" id="pb10">[<a href="#pb10">10</a>]</span>third son had six sons, who were the founders of six clans among Mongols. Tumbinai,
+son of Boshin, Kaidu’s eldest son, had two sons, Kabul and Sinsaichilai. Kabul had
+seven sons; the second of these, Bartan, had four sons; the third of these four sons
+was Yessugai.
+</p>
+<p>Kabul was made khan, and though he had seven sons he did not wish to give rule to
+any one of them. So he gave it to Sengun Bilghe, the father of Ambagai. Kabul the
+Khan, son of Tumbinai, was renouned for great courage. His fame reached the Emperor
+of China, who had such regard for this chief that he sent envoys inviting him to the
+court as an evidence of friendship, and with the concealed hope of making a treaty
+through which the Mongols might act with North China. Kabul made the journey. The
+Emperor received him with honor, and entertained him with the best food and drink
+in the country. But, since the Chinese were given to deceit very greatly, as Kabul
+thought, and attacked each opponent from an ambush, he feared wiles and most of all
+poison; hence he avoided food and drink and withdrew from a feast under pretexts,
+but returned later on when relieved of suspicion, and fell to eating and drinking
+with very great relish. The Chinese were astounded at sight of his thirst and his
+hunger. “High Heaven must have made him to rule,” exclaimed they, “else how could
+he drink and eat so enormously, and still have an appetite and be sober.” But after
+a time he seemed tipsy, clapped his hands, reeled toward the Emperor, seized his beard
+and stroked his ear, to the horror of ministers, who cried out at once, and were ready
+to rush at the Mongol.
+</p>
+<p>The Khan turned then to the Emperor and smiled very coolly. “If the Golden Khan holds
+me guilty,” said he, “let him know that the will of my hand is to blame, not my own
+will. My hand has done that which displeases my own will and I condemn my hand’s action.”
+</p>
+<p>The Emperor was calm and deliberate; at that time he wished above all things to wheedle
+his visitor, so he reasoned in his mind as follows: “If I punish this man his adherents,
+who are many, may rise and begin a long war with me.” Hence he kept down his anger,
+and commanded to bring from his treasure house silken robes, embroidered in gold,
+of right size for the Mongol. A crown and a gold girdle were brought with them. He
+put these on Kabul, <span class="pageNum" id="pb11">[<a href="#pb11">11</a>]</span>and showing marks of high honor dismissed him with friendship when the time came for
+parting.
+</p>
+<p>When Kabul had set out for home the ministers insisted that it would not be possible
+to leave the man’s conduct unnoticed. Roused at last by these speeches the Emperor
+sent off an envoy requesting Kabul to return to him. Kabul replied harshly, and kept
+on his journey. The Emperor was enraged now in earnest and sent men a second time
+not to request but to summon, and with them a good force of warriors to bring in the
+Mongol by violence if need be. Kabul had gone far on his journey, and, since the Golden
+Khan’s messengers took a new road by mere hazard, they missed him. They went all the
+way to his yurta, and as he had not yet returned his wives said on hearing the message:
+“He will follow the Golden Khan’s wishes.” The messengers turned from the yurta and
+after a while met Kabul hastening homeward; they seized him and led him off quickly
+for delivery to their master. On the journey they halted at the house of a Saljut,
+who was friendly to the captive.
+</p>
+<p>“These men are taking thee to death O Kabul,” said the Saljut, “I must save thee.
+I have a horse which outstrips every wind, and is swifter than lightning. If thou
+sit on this beast thou canst save thyself—thou wilt escape at the first chance.” Kabul
+mounted that horse, but his foot was made fast to the chief envoy’s stirrup. In the
+night he unbound it, however, and shot away in the darkness. They pursued and hunted
+him with all speed, but only at Kabul’s own yurta were they able to come up with him.
+There he received them with all hospitality, and gave his enemies a splendid new tent
+which belonged to a wife whom he had just taken; he gave also the best entertainment.
+Soon after, he summoned his servants (his sons were not with him). “These people,”
+said he, “wish to take me to the Golden Khan to be killed by him with terrible torture.
+Ye must save me.”
+</p>
+<p>The servants fell unawares on the Golden Khan’s messengers, and killed every man of
+them. Kabul was saved that time, but soon after he fell ill and died—very likely of
+poison—thus leaving the world to his seven sons, who were very ambitious. These sons
+were so great through their valor and courage that no combination of enemies could
+meet them successfully. They were all of one mother, Kulku Goa, a Kunkurat woman,
+whose younger <span class="pageNum" id="pb12">[<a href="#pb12">12</a>]</span>brother, Saïn Tegin, was the cause of involving the family in a terrible blood feud.
+</p>
+<p>Saïn Tegin fell ill and they called in a shaman of the Taidjuts to cure him. He died
+notwithstanding the art of this shaman, who was slain either on his way home or soon
+after, by the relatives of the dead man. This caused a great battle between the Taidjuts
+and Saïn Tegin’s adherents and relatives, joined now by Kabul’s sons, who favored
+the cause of their uncle. In this battle Kaidan met a Taidjut in single encounter,
+split open his saddle, swept him down from his horse, and wounded him dreadfully.
+The Taidjut, who recovered only after a twelve month of suffering, began a new struggle
+as soon as strength came to him. Kaidan brought horse and rider to the earth, each
+wounded grievously; though ten mounted men rushed at the victor, he so used spear
+and sword on them that he came out in triumph. Thus began the great blood feud which
+later on Temudjin used with such deadly effect on the Taidjuts and Tartars.
+</p>
+<p>Between Lake Buyur and Lake Kulon is a river, on this river a large group of Tartar
+tribes lived at that period. Ambagai, son of Sengun, went to find a new wife at Lake
+Buyur but was seized by some Tartars and sent to the Kin Emperor, who took his life
+very cruelly. Before his captors had set out with Ambagai he sent home this message:
+“Tell Kutula, fourth son of my cousin Kabul, who has seven sons, and Kaidan, one of
+my ten sons, that I, who ruled men, am a prisoner and must die in great suffering.
+And remember these words of mine, all of you: Though ye were to wear every nail from
+the fingers of each hand, and lose the ten fingers on both hands, ye must avenge me.”
+</p>
+<p>The Golden Khan in return for offenses committed against him by Ambagai’s relatives,
+had him nailed to a wooden ass, flayed alive, and then chopped into small pieces slowly,
+beginning with his fingers and toes, till his whole body was finished.
+</p>
+<p>Okin Barka, Kabul’s eldest son and a brother of Kutula, had been captured by the Tartars,
+sent to the Golden Khan, and put to death in the same way as Ambagai. This was done
+because Kabul had killed the Golden Khan’s messengers.
+</p>
+<p>Before Ambagai was tortured he sent Bulgadji, his slave, to the Golden Khan with this
+warning: “It is shameful to kill me. I was seized most perfidiously, I am here without
+reason. If <span class="pageNum" id="pb13">[<a href="#pb13">13</a>]</span>thou kill me all chiefs among Mongols will rise and avenge the injustice.” The Golden
+Khan paid no heed to the message, but after the hideous execution he sent Bulgadji
+on courier horses to Mongolia with the command to tell all there that Ambagai had
+been nailed to the wooden ass, his skin stripped from him while living, and his body
+then chopped into pieces bit by bit. On the way Bulgadji passed through the land of
+the Durbans, who would not give horses, and no matter what he said they took no note
+of him. When his horses were so weary that they could go no farther he left them,
+went home on foot and told all to Kaidan, whose son, Tuda, told the whole tale to
+Katula and Yessugai, his nephew. Kaidan, Tuda and Yessugai held a council immediately
+and resolved with many Mongols to avenge Okin Barka and Ambagai. Kutula was chosen
+khan then to lead the expedition. They held a great feast when the election was over,
+and all became grandly excited. They danced round a wide-spreading tree with great
+energy, and stamped out a ditch of such depth that they were hidden to their knees
+in it.
+</p>
+<p>Kutula assembled all warriors who were willing to go, and marched against China. The
+Golden Khan’s forces were defeated, and routed with terrible slaughter. The Mongols
+took booty of unspeakable value, took all that men could bear with them, or that horses
+could carry. They came home filled with delight, bringing woven stuffs of all species,
+every kind of rich furniture, weapons and implements, and driving before them immense
+herds of horses, and large and small cattle.
+</p>
+<p>While on the way home Kutula when passing through the land of the Durbans went to
+hunt with a small force of followers. On seeing these people the Durbans assembled
+a numerous party and attacked them; they killed some, and scattered the others. Kutula
+left alone saved himself by fleeing, and drove his swift horse through a swamp to
+the opposite edge of the soft place. The beast stopped and stuck fast there; Kutula
+stood on the saddle and sprang to firm ground from it. The Durbans seeing him on foot,
+were well satisfied. “Oh let him go,” said they, “of what use is a man when his horse
+is gone.” Then, while they stood looking, he pulled his horse out of the quagmire,
+mounted and rode away in their presence. The swamp extended so far on either hand
+that they cared not to follow.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb14">[<a href="#pb14">14</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Kutula’s surviving attendants returned to the army, spread news of his death, and
+declared that the Durbans had killed him. His warriors reached home somewhat earlier
+than the Khan and since he had not appeared on the road and his attendants said that
+he had been killed by the Durbans Yessugai made a funeral feast for their leader and
+went to Kutula’s wife to announce her husband’s death and with her drink the cup to
+his memory. On appearing before her he began to lament, and weep bitterly. “Why hast
+thou come?” asked she, “and why art thou weeping?” He told the cause of his grief
+and his coming. “I believe not a word of all thou hast told me,” said the woman. “Would
+Kutula let Durbans kill him, Kutula whose voice is like thunder in the mountains,
+a voice which reaches high heaven, would Kutula let common men kill him? He would
+not, his delay has another cause. He is living. He has stopped for some work of importance,
+he will come later on.”
+</p>
+<p>But the warriors and Kutula’s attendants felt sure that the Khan had been murdered.
+</p>
+<p>When Kutula had pulled his horse out of the quagmire, and ridden away safely, he was
+savagely angry. “How have those vile, wretched Durbans brought me to such trouble,”
+raged he, “and driven off all my servants? Must I go home empty-handed? No, I will
+not leave these places unplundered.” Then he rode till he found a brown stallion,
+also a great herd of mares and their colts with them. He mounted the stallion, let
+out his own horse which ran forward, then drove the mares which followed the saddle
+beast. Riding farther in the steppes he found nests of wild geese; dismounting he
+took off his boots, filled the great legs of them with goose eggs, remounted and rode
+away home on the stallion, holding the boots and driving the mares and their colts
+to his yurta.
+</p>
+<p>A vast crowd of people had assembled to lament and show honor to the memory of Kutula,
+and now, astonished at his sudden arrival, they rejoiced beyond measure, and turned
+all their sorrow and wailing into a feast of triumph and gladness. “Ha!” said the
+wife then to Yessugai, “did I not tell thee that no Durbans, or other men could bring
+down Kutula?”
+</p>
+<p>After his great success against China, Kutula moved on the Tartars and punished them
+unsparingly for sending Okin Barka, his brother, to the Golden Khan for destruction.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb15">[<a href="#pb15">15</a>]</span></p>
+<p>But now broke out afresh the great hatred of the ten sons of Ambagai for Kutula and
+his brothers. Those ten Taidjut brothers fell on the six surviving sons of Kabul and
+killed five of them, killed all except Bartan, who burst his way out of the murderous
+encounter with three serious wounds in his body, and fled with four attendants. His
+son Yessugai, who had been hurled to the earth from his saddle, sprang up quickly
+and, though only thirteen years of age, sent his spear through the body of a Taidjut
+who was mounted, brought him down dying, sprang to the empty saddle, rushed away and
+caught up with his father. Through this wonderful promptness and skill he was able
+to save himself.
+</p>
+<p>Bartan’s wife, Maral Kayak, fled on foot from her yurta with three other sons, Mangutu,
+Naigun and Daritai, and reached her wounded husband.
+</p>
+<p>The Taidjut triumph was perfect for a season. Bartan’s power had departed, he died
+soon and gave place to his son, a young hero. This son was Yessugai, the name means
+number nine, his full name was Yessugai Bahadur, the ninth hero. He was ninth too
+in descent from that youngest son of Alan Goa, Boduanchar, who rode off alone from
+injustice.
+</p>
+<p>At this time the tendency had increased very greatly among chiefs of Mongol clans
+to make other chiefs subordinates, or assistants. This was true specially of men descended
+from Kabul and from Ambagai. If rival or smaller chiefs would not accept the position
+a conflict resulted, attacks were made by small parties or larger ones, or through
+war or poison; the weaker men when ambitious were swept from existence. The continual
+interference of China by intrigue or by arms, or by bribery through titles or presents,
+through rewards to individuals, or dire ghastly punishments where punishment seemed
+more effective, did something also to strengthen and consolidate the loosely coherent
+society of the Mongols, and thus helped unwittingly the work of strong men seeking
+power north of China.
+</p>
+<p>Yessugai, through activity and keenness succeeded in winning co-operation sufficient
+to undo the great Taidjut triumph. Kabul’s sons again got the primacy.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb16">[<a href="#pb16">16</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e577">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e577src">1</a></span> A village or community.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e577src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch2" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e287">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h2 class="main">TEMUDJIN BEGINS HIS MIGHTY CAREER</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">This intense rivalry between the descendants of Kabul and Ambagai was the great ruling
+fact among Mongols at this epoch. Kabul and Ambagai were second cousins, both being
+third in descent from Kaidu, that little boy saved by his nurse from the Jelairs;
+the Kaidu whose descendants were the great ruling Mongols of history. Kabul and Ambagai
+are remarkable themselves, and are notable also as fathers of men who sought power
+by all means which they could imagine and bring into practice.
+</p>
+<p>Yessugai with his brothers was now triumphant and prosperous. He was terribly hostile
+to the Buyur Lake Tartars; he was ever watching the Taidjut opposition, which though
+resting at times never slumbered. Once in the days of his power Yessugai while hawking
+along the Onon saw a Merkit named Yeke Chilaidu taking home with him a wife from the
+Olkonots. Seeing that the woman was a beauty Yessugai hurried back to his yurta and
+returned with his eldest and youngest brothers to help him. When Yeke saw the three
+brothers coming he grew frightened, struck his horse and rushed away to find some
+good hiding place, but found none and rode back to the cart where his wife was. “Those
+men are very hostile,” said the woman. “Hurry off, or they will kill thee. If thou
+survive find a wife such as I am, if thou remember me call her by my name.” Then she
+drew off her shift and gave it to Yeke. He took it, mounted quickly and, seeing Yessugai
+approaching with his brothers, galloped up the river.
+</p>
+<p>The three men rushed after Yeke, but did not overtake him, so they rode back to the
+woman, whose name was Hoelun. She was weeping. Her screams when they seized her “raised
+waves on the river, and shook trees in the valley.”
+</p>
+<p>“The husband has crossed many ridges already, and many <span class="pageNum" id="pb17">[<a href="#pb17">17</a>]</span>waters,” said Daritai, Yessugai’s youngest brother, “no matter how thou scream he
+will not come to thee, if thou look for his trail thou wilt not find it. Stop screaming!”
+Thus they took Hoelun, and she became a wife then to Yessugai.
+</p>
+<p>Some months after the capture of Hoelun, Yessugai made attacks on the Tartars, and
+among other captives took Temudjin Uge, a chieftain. Hoelun gave birth to a son at
+that period<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e655src" href="#xd32e655">1</a> near the hill Dailiun Baldak. The boy was born grasping a lump of dark blood in his
+fist very firmly, and since he was born when Temudjin Uge was taken they called the
+child Temudjin. After that Hoelun had three other sons: Kassar, Hochiun and Taimuge,
+and one daughter, Taimulun.
+</p>
+<p>When this first son had passed his thirteenth year Yessugai set out with the lad on
+a visit to Hoelun’s brothers to find among them a wife for him. When between the two
+mountains Cihurga and Cheksar he met one Desaichan, a man of the Ungirs. “Whither
+art thou going O Yessugai?” asked Desaichan. “I am going with my son to his uncles
+to look out a bride for him among them.” “Thy son has a clear face and bright eyes,”
+said Desaichan. “Last night I dreamed that a white falcon holding the sun and the
+moon in its talons flew down to my wrist, and perched on it. ‘We only know the sun
+and the moon through our eyesight,’ said I to some friends of mine, ‘but now a white
+falcon has brought them both down to me in his talons, this must be an omen of greatness.’
+At the right time hast thou come hither Yessugai with thy son and shown what my dream
+means. It presages high fortune undoubtedly. I have a daughter at home, she is small
+yet but come and look at her.”
+</p>
+<p>Then he conducted the father and son to his yurta. Yessugai rejoiced in his heart
+very greatly at sight of the girl, who in truth was a beauty. She was ten years of
+age, and named Bortai. Next day Yessugai asked Bortai of Desaichan as a bride for
+young Temudjin. “Will it show more importance if I give her only after much begging,”
+asked the father, “or will it show slight esteem if I give her in answer to few words?
+We know that a girl is not born to remain in the household forever. I yield her to
+marry thy son, and do thou leave him here for a time with me.”
+</p>
+<p>The agreement was finished and Yessugai went away without <span class="pageNum" id="pb18">[<a href="#pb18">18</a>]</span>Temudjin. On the road home he stopped at Cheksar and met Tartars who arranged there
+a feast for him. Being hungry and thirsty from traveling he halted. His hosts, who
+knew well that he had captured and killed very many of their people, Temudjin Uge
+with others, had poison made ready, and gave it in drink to him. Yessugai rode away
+and reached home in three days, but fell ill on the journey, and his trouble increased
+as he traveled. “There is pain in my heart,” said he, “who is near me?” At that time
+Munlik, a son of Charaha, happened in at the yurta, and Yessugai called him. “My children
+are young,” said he, “I went to find a bride for my son Temudjin, and have found her.
+On the way home I was poisoned by enemies. My heart is very sore in me, so go thou
+to my brothers and see them, see their wives also. I give thee this as a duty; tell
+them all that has happened. But first bring me Temudjin very quickly.”
+</p>
+<p>Yessugai died<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e666src" href="#xd32e666">2</a> shortly after without seeing Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>Munlik went with all haste to Desaichan. “Yessugai,” said he, “wants to see Temudjin,
+he has sent me to bring the boy.” “If Yessugai is grieving let Temudjin go, and return
+to me afterward.” Munlik took Temudjin home as instructed. In the spring following
+when Ambagai’s widows were preparing the offerings to ancestors before moving to the
+summer place they refused to share sacrificed meats with Hoelun, and thus shut her
+out from their ruling circle and relationship. “Better leave this woman here with
+her children, she must not go with us,” said the widows. Targutai Kurultuk, who was
+then in authority, went from the winter place without turning to Hoelun, or speaking.
+He with Todoyan Jirisha his brother had enticed away Yessugai’s people. Munlik’s father,
+Charáha, an old man, strove to persuade Targutai and his brother to take Hoelun, but
+they would not listen to him or to any man. “The deep water is gone, the bright stone
+is broken,” said Todoyan, “we cannot restore them, we have nothing to do with that
+woman, and her children.” And when Targutai with his brother was starting, a warrior
+of his thrust a spear into Charáha’s back and the old man fell down mortally wounded.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin went to talk with Charáha and take advice from him. “Targutai and his brother,”
+said the old man, “have led away all the people assembled by thy father, and our relatives.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb19">[<a href="#pb19">19</a>]</span>Temudjin wept then and turned to his mother for assistance. Hoelun resolved quickly;
+she mounted, and, directing her attendants to take lances, set out at the head of
+them. She overtook the deserting people and stopped one half of them, but even that
+half would not go back with her. So Targutai and Todoyan had defeated Hoelun with
+her children, and taken one half of Yessugai’s people; the second half joined other
+leaders. But Hoelun, a strong, resolute woman, protected her family and found means
+to support it. Her children lived in poor, harsh conditions, and grew up in the midst
+of hostility and hatred. To assist and give help to their mother they made hooks out
+of needles and fished in the river Onon which was close to their dwelling. Once Temudjin
+and Kassar went to fish with their half brothers, Baiktar and Belgutai, Yessugai’s
+children by another wife. Temudjin caught a golden hued trout and his half brothers
+took it from him. He went then with Kassar to Hoelun. “We caught a golden hued fish,”
+said they, “but Baiktar and Belgutai took it.” “Why do ye quarrel?” asked the mother,
+“we have no friends at present; all have deserted us; nothing sticks to us now but
+our shadows. We have no power yet to punish the Taidjuts. Why do ye act like the sons
+of Alan Goa, and quarrel? Why not agree and gain strength against enemies?”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin was dissatisfied; he wished Hoelun to take his side and go against Baiktar.
+“The other day,” said he, “I shot a bird and Baiktar took this bird also. He and his
+brother to-day snatched my fish from me. If they act always in this way how can I
+live with them?” And he turned from his mother very quickly. Both brothers rushed
+out, slammed the door flap behind them and vanished.
+</p>
+<p>When they were out they saw Baiktar on a hill herding horses. Temudjin stole up from
+behind, and Kassar in front; they had taken arrows and were aiming when Baiktar turned
+and saw them. “Why treat me like a splinter in the mouth, or a hair on the eyeball?”
+asked he. “Though ye kill me spare my brother, do not kill Belgutai.” Then he bent
+his legs under him, and waited.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin from behind and Kassar in front killed Baiktar with arrows. When they went
+home Hoelun knew by their faces what had happened. “Thou wert born,” said she to Temudjin,
+“grasping blood in thy fingers. Thou and thy brother are like dogs when <span class="pageNum" id="pb20">[<a href="#pb20">20</a>]</span>devouring a village, or serpents which swallow alive what they spring upon, or wolves
+hunting prey in a snow storm. The injuries done us by the Taidjuts are terrible, ye
+might plan to grow strong and then punish the Taidjuts. But what are ye doing?”
+</p>
+<p>Well might she ask, for she did not know then her wonderful son Temudjin, for whom
+it was as natural to remove a half brother, or even a brother, by killing him as to
+set aside any other obstacle. He who worked all his life till its end to eliminate
+opponents was that day beginning his mighty career, and his first real work was the
+murder of his half brother Baiktar, whose father was his own father, Yessugai.
+</p>
+<p>No matter who Temudjin’s enemies were he removed them as coolly as a teacher in his
+classroom rubs figures from a black board. He struck down the Taidjuts as soon as
+he felt himself strong enough, but before he could do that his task was to weed out
+and train his own family. The first work before him was the empire of his household.
+Neither mother, nor brother, nor anyone must stand between Temudjin and his object;
+in that he showed his great singleness of purpose, his invincible will power, his
+wisdom in winning the success which his mind saw. The wisdom of Temudjin in building
+up empire was an unerring clear instinct like the instinct of a bee in constructing
+its honeycomb, or the judgment and skill of a bird in finding the proper material,
+and weaving the round perfect nest for its eggs and its little ones.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin began his career in real practice by killing his half brother mainly through
+the hand of his full brother Kassar, who was famed later on as the unerring strong
+archer, and who in time tried unsuccessfully to rival the invincible Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin was now master in a very small region, but he was master. His mother and
+brothers did not dominate, or interfere, they assisted him. The family lived for a
+time in seclusion and uninjured till at last Targutai roused up his followers to action.
+“Temudjin and his brothers have grown,” said he, “they are stronger.” Taking with
+him some comrades he rode away quickly to find Temudjin with his family. From afar
+Hoelun and her children saw the men coming and were frightened. Temudjin seized his
+horse quickly, and fled before others to the mountain. Belgutai hid his half brothers
+and sister in a cliff, after that he felled trees to stop the horsemen. Kassar sent
+arrows to hinder <span class="pageNum" id="pb21">[<a href="#pb21">21</a>]</span>the Taidjuts. “We want only Temudjin, we want no one else,” said they. Temudjin had
+fled to Mount Targunai and hidden there in dense thickets whither they could not follow.
+They surrounded Targunai and watched closely.
+</p>
+<p>He spent three days in secret places, and then led his horse out to flee from the
+mountain. When near the edge of the forest the saddle fell. He saw that breast strap
+and girth were both fixed securely. “A saddle may fall,” thought he, “though the girth
+be well fastened, but how can it fall when the breast strap is holding it? I see now
+that Heaven is protecting me.”
+</p>
+<p>He turned back and passed three other days hiding; then he tried to go out a second
+time—a great rock fell in front of him, blocked the road and stopped his passage.
+“Heaven wills that I stay here still longer,” said Temudjin. He went back and spent
+three other days on the mountain, nine days in all without eating. “Must I die here
+alone and unheard of?” thought he despairingly. “Better go at all hazards.” He cut
+a way near the rock and led his horse down the mountain side.
+</p>
+<p>The Taidjuts, who were watching outside very carefully, seized Temudjin and took him
+to Targutai, who commanded that a kang be put on him, and also fetters, and that he
+live one day and night in each tent. So he passed from one family to another in succession.
+During these changes he gained the close friendship of one Sorgan Shira, and of an
+old woman. The old woman was kind and put rags on the kang at the points where his
+shoulders were galled by it.
+</p>
+<p>Once the Taidjuts made a feast near the Onon and went home after sunset, appointing
+a boy to watch over the captive. Temudjin had been able to break his own fetters,
+and seeing that all had gone home felled the boy with the kang in which his own head
+and both hands were fastened. Then he ran to a forest along the Onon and lay down
+there, but, fearing lest they might find him, he rose, hurried on to the river and
+sank in it, leaving only his face above water.
+</p>
+<p>The boy soon recovered and screamed that the captive had fled from him. Some Taidjuts
+rushed quickly together on hearing him, and searched around everywhere. There was
+moonlight that evening and Sorgan Shira of the Sulduts, who was searching with others,
+and had gone quite a distance ahead, found Temudjin, <span class="pageNum" id="pb22">[<a href="#pb22">22</a>]</span>but did not call out. “The Taidjuts hate thee because thou hast wisdom,” said he to
+the captive, “thou wilt die if they find thee. Stay where thou art for the present,
+and be careful, I will not betray thee to any one.”
+</p>
+<p>The pursuers went some distance while searching. “This man escaped during daylight,”
+said Sorgan Shira, when he overtook them. “It is night now and difficult to find him.
+Better search nearer places, we can hunt here to-morrow. He has not come thus far,—how
+could he run such a distance with a kang on his shoulders?”
+</p>
+<p>On the way back Sorgan Shira went to Temudjin a second time. “We shall come hither
+to-morrow to search for thee,” said he. “Hurry off now to thy mother and brothers.
+Shouldst thou meet any man tell him not that I saw thee.” When Sorgan Shira had gone,
+<span class="corr" id="xd32e700" title="Source: Termudjin">Temudjin</span> fell to thinking and thought in this manner: “While stopping at each tent I passed
+a day with Sorgan Shira; Chila and Chinbo his sons showed me pity. They took off the
+kang in the dark from my shoulders and let me lie down then in freedom. He saw me
+to-day, I cannot escape till this kang is taken off, he will do that, I will go to
+him. He will save me.”
+</p>
+<p>So Temudjin went and when he entered the yurta Sorgan Shira was frightened. “Why come
+now to me?” inquired he. “I told thee to go to thy mother and brothers.” “When a bird
+is pursued by a falcon,” said Temudjin, “it hides in thick grass and thus saves itself.”
+</p>
+<p>“We should be of less value than grass were we not to help this poor youth, who thus
+begs us,” said to himself Sorgan Shira. The boys took the kang from the captive and
+burned it, then they hid <span class="corr" id="xd32e706" title="Source: Timudjin">Temudjin</span> in a cart which they piled high with wool packs and told Kadan, their sister, to
+guard the wool carefully, and not speak of Temudjin to any living person.
+</p>
+<p>The Taidjuts appeared on the third day. “Has no one here seen that runaway?” asked
+they of Sorgan. “Search where ye will,” was the answer. They searched the whole yurta,
+then they searched around the house in all places, and threw out the wool till they
+came to the cart box. They were going to empty this also when Sorgan laughed at them,
+saying, “How could any man live in a cart load of wool this hot weather?” They prodded
+the wool then with lances; one of these entered Temudjin’s leg, but <span class="pageNum" id="pb23">[<a href="#pb23">23</a>]</span>he was silent and moved not. The Taidjuts were satisfied, and went away without emptying
+the cart box.
+</p>
+<p>“Thou hast come very near killing me,” said Sorgan to Temudjin. “The smoke of my house
+would have vanished, and my fire would have died out forever had they found thee.
+Go now to thy mother and brothers.”
+</p>
+<p>He gave Temudjin a white-nosed, sorrel mare without a saddle, gave him a boiled lamb
+which was fat because reared by two mothers, gave him a skin of mare’s milk, a bow
+and two arrows, but no flint lest he strike fire on the way, and betray himself.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin went to the ruins of his first house and then higher up the Onon till he
+reached the Kimurha. He saw tracks near that river and followed them on to Mount Baitar.
+In front of that mountain is a smaller one, Horchukin; there he found all his brothers
+and Hoelun his mother. Temudjin moved now with them to Mount Burhan. Near Burhan is
+the high land Gulyalgu, through this land runs the river Sangur, on the bank of that
+river is a hill called Kara Jiruge and a green colored lake near the foot of it. At
+this lake Temudjin fixed his yurta, trapped marmots and field mice, and thus they
+lived on for a season. At last some Taidjut thieves drove off eight horses from Temudjin,
+leaving only the white-nosed sorrel mare which Sorgan had given him, and on which
+Belgutai had gone to hunt marmots. He came back that evening with a load of them.
+</p>
+<p>“The horses have been stolen,” said Temudjin. “I will go for them,” said Belgutai.
+“Thou couldst not find them,” answered Kassar, “I will go.<span class="corr" id="xd32e719" title="Not in source">”</span> “Ye could not find them, and if ye found them ye could not bring them back,” called
+out Temudjin, “I will go.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin set his brothers aside as useless at that juncture, their authority and worth
+were to him as nothing. Temudjin’s is the only, the genuine authority. He rode off
+on the white-nosed sorrel mare, and followed the trail of the eight stolen horses.
+He traveled three days and on the fourth morning early he saw near the road a young
+man who had led up a mare and was milking her. “Hast thou seen eight gray horses?”
+asked Temudjin. “Before sunrise eight horses went past me, I will show thee the trail
+over which they were driven.” Temudjin’s weary beast was let out then to pasture;
+a white horse with a black stripe on its spine was led in to go farther. The youth
+hid his leather pail and his bag in the <span class="pageNum" id="pb24">[<a href="#pb24">24</a>]</span>grass very carefully. “Thou art tired,” said he to Temudjin, “and art anxious. My
+name is Boörchu, I will go with thee for thy horses. Nahu Boyan is my father, I am
+his one son and he loves me.”
+</p>
+<p>So they set out together and traveled three days in company. On the third day toward
+evening they came to a camp ground and saw the eight horses. “Stay at this place O
+my comrade,” said Temudjin, “I will go and drive off those horses.”
+</p>
+<p>“If I have come hither to help thee why should I stay alone and do nothing?” asked
+Boörchu. So they went on together and drove off the horses. The thieves hurried after
+them promptly and one, who rode a white stallion, had a lasso and was gaining on the
+comrades. “Give me thy quiver and bow,” said Boörchu, “I will meet him with an arrow.”
+“Let me use the bow,” answered Temudjin, “those enemies might wound thee.” The man
+on the white horse was directing his lasso and ready to hurl it when Temudjin’s arrow
+put an end to his action. That night Temudjin and Boörchu made a journey which would
+have taken three days for any other men, and saw the yurta of Nahu Boyan in the distance
+at daybreak.
+</p>
+<p>“Without thy help,” said Temudjin, “I could not have brought back these horses. Without
+thee I could have done nothing, so let us divide now these eight beasts between us.”
+“I decided to help thee,” answered Boörchu, “because I saw thee weighed down and weary
+from sorrow and loneliness, why should I take what is thine from thee? I am my father’s
+one son, his wealth is enough for me, more is not needed. If I should take thine how
+couldst thou call me thy comrade?”
+</p>
+<p>When they entered the yurta of Nahu Boyan they found the old man grieving bitterly
+for Boörchu. On seeing them he shed tears and reproached his son sharply. “I know
+not,” said Boörchu in answer, “how I thought of assisting this comrade, but when I
+saw him worn and anxious I had to go with him. Things are now well again, for I am
+with thee, my father.” Nahu Boyan became satisfied when he heard the whole story.
+Boörchu rode off then and brought the leather milk pail, killed a lamb, filled a bag
+with mare’s milk, and tying it to the horse like a pack gave Temudjin all to sustain
+him. “Ye are young,” said Nahu Boyan, “be ye friends, and be faithful.” Temudjin took
+farewell of Boörchu <span class="pageNum" id="pb25">[<a href="#pb25">25</a>]</span>and his father. Three days after that he had reached home with his horses. No words
+could describe the delight of his mother and brothers when they saw him.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin had passed his thirteenth year when he parted from Bortai. He went down the
+Kerulon now with his half brother, Belgutai, to get her. Several years had passed
+and he had a wish to marry. Bortai’s father rejoiced at seeing Temudjin. “I grieved,”
+said he, “greatly and lost hope of seeing thee when I heard of Taidjut hatred.”
+</p>
+<p>Both parents escorted their daughter and her husband. Desaichan after going some distance
+turned homeward, as was usual for fathers, but Bortai’s mother, Sotan, went on to
+Temudjin’s yurta.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin wished now to have Boörchu, wished him as a comrade forever, and sent Belgutai
+to bring him. Boörchu said nothing to his father or to any one; he took simply a humpbacked
+sorrel horse, saddled him, strapped a coat of black fur to the saddle and rode away
+quickly to Temudjin’s yurta; after that he never left him.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin removed from the Sangur to the springs of the Kerulon and fixed his yurta
+at the foot of the slope known as Burji. Bortai had brought with her a black sable
+cloak as a present to Hoelun. “In former days,” said Temudjin to his brothers, “our
+father, Yessugai, became a sworn friend, an ‘anda,’ to Togrul of the <span class="corr" id="xd32e737" title="Source: Keraïts">Keraits</span>, hence Togrul is to me in the place of my father, we will go now and show Togrul
+honor.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin and two of his brothers took the cloak to Togrul in the Black Forest on the
+Tula. “In former days,” said Temudjin as he stood before Togrul, “thou didst become
+anda to Yessugai, hence thou art to me in the place of my father. I bring thee to-day,
+my father, a gift brought by my wife to my mother.” With these words he gave the black
+sable to Togrul, who was pleased very greatly with the offering.
+</p>
+<p>“I will bring back to thee thy people who are scattered,” said Togrul in answer, “and
+join them again to thee, I will keep this in mind very firmly, and not forget it.”
+</p>
+<p>When Temudjin returned home the old man Charchiutai came from Mount Burhan with the
+bellows of a blacksmith on his shoulders, and brought also Chelmai, his son, with
+him. “When <span class="pageNum" id="pb26">[<a href="#pb26">26</a>]</span>thou wert born,” said Charchiutai to Temudjin, “I gave thee a lined sable wrap, I
+gave thee too my son Chelmai, but as he was very little at that time, I kept the boy
+with me and trained him, but now when he is grown up and skilful I bring him. Let
+him saddle thy horse and open doors to thee.” With that he gave his son Chelmai to
+Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>Some short time after this, just before daybreak one morning, Hoakchin, an old woman,
+Hoelun’s faithful servant, who slept on the ground, sprang up quickly and called to
+her mistress: “O mother, rise, I hear the earth tremble! O mother, the Taidjuts are
+coming, our terrible destroyers! Hasten, O mother!” “Rouse up the children,” said
+Hoelun, “wake them all quickly!” Hoelun rose to her feet as she was speaking. Temudjin
+and his brothers sprang up and ran to their horses. Hoelun carried her daughter Taimulun.
+Temudjin had only one saddle beast ready. There was no horse for Bortai, so he galloped
+off with his brothers. Thus showing that self-preservation was his one thought.
+</p>
+<p>Hoakchin, the old woman, hid Bortai, she stowed her away in a small black kibitka
+(cart), attached a pied cow to it and drove along the river Tungela. As the night
+darkness cleared and light was approaching some mounted men overtook the old woman.
+“Who art thou?” asked they, riding up to her. “I go around and shear sheep for rich
+people, I am on my way home now,” said Hoakchin. “Is Temudjin at his yurta?” asked
+a horseman. “Where is it?” “His yurta is not far, but I know not where he is at this
+moment,” answered Hoakchin.
+</p>
+<p>When the men had ridden off the old woman urged on the cow, but just then the axle
+broke. Hoakchin wished to hurry on foot to the mountain with Bortai, but the horsemen
+had turned back already and came to her. “Who is in there?” asked a man as he pointed
+at the kibitka. “I have wool there,” replied the old woman. “Let us look at this wool,
+brothers,” said one of the mounted men. They dragged Bortai out, and then put her
+on horseback with Hoakchin. Next they followed on Temudjin’s tracks to Mount Burhan,
+but could not come up with him. Wishing to enter the mountain land straightway they
+tried one and another place, but found no road of any kind open. In one part a sticky
+morass, in another a dense growth of forest and thicket. They did not find the secret
+road and could not break in at any <span class="pageNum" id="pb27">[<a href="#pb27">27</a>]</span>point. These horsemen were from three clans of Merkits. The first had been sent by
+Tukta Bijhi of the Uduts; the second by Dair Usun of the Uasits; the third by Haätai
+Darmala of the Haäts. They had come to wreak vengeance on Temudjin because Yessugai,
+his father, had snatched away Hoelun from Chilaidu, and this Hoelun was Temudjin’s
+mother. They now carried off Bortai, Temudjin’s wife, who was thus taken in vengeance,
+as they said, for the stealing of Hoelun.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin, fearing lest they might be in ambush, sent his half brother, Belgutai, and
+Boörchu, with Chelmai to examine and discover. In three days when these men were well
+satisfied that the Merkits had gone from the mountain, Temudjin left his hiding place.
+He stood, struck his breast and cried looking heavenward: “Thanks to the ears of a
+skunk, and the eyes of an ermine in the head of old Hoakchin, I escaped capture. Besides
+that Mount Burhan has saved me, and from this day I will make offering to the mountain,
+and leave to my children and their children this duty of sacrifice.” Then he turned
+toward the sun, put his girdle on his back, took his cap in his hand, and striking
+his breast bent his knees nine times in homage; he made next a libation of tarasun,
+a liquor distilled out of mare’s milk.
+</p>
+<p>After that Temudjin with Kassar and Belgutai went to Togrul on the Tula and implored
+him, “O father and sovereign,” said Temudjin, “three clans of Merkits fell on us suddenly,
+and stole my wife, Bortai. Is it not possible to save her?”
+</p>
+<p>“Last year,” said Togrul, “when the cloak of black sable was brought to me, I promised
+to lead back thy people who deserted, and those who were scattered. I remember this
+well, and because of my promise I will root out the Merkits, I will rescue and return
+to thee Bortai. Inform Jamuka that thy wife has been stolen. Two tumans<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e757src" href="#xd32e757">3</a> of warriors will go with me, let Jamuka lead out the same number.”
+</p>
+<p>Jamuka, chief of the Juriats at that time, was descended from a brother of Kabul Khan,
+and was third cousin therefore to Temudjin. Temudjin sent his brothers to Jamuka with
+this message: “The Merkits have stolen my wife, thou and I have the same origin; can
+we not avenge this great insult?” He sent Togrul’s statement also. “I have heard,”
+said Jamuka, “that <span class="pageNum" id="pb28">[<a href="#pb28">28</a>]</span>Temudjin’s wife has been stolen, I am grieved very greatly at his trouble and will
+help him.” He told where the three clans were camping, and promised to aid in bringing
+back Bortai.
+</p>
+<p>“Tell Temudjin and Togrul,” said he, “that my army is ready. With me are some people
+belonging to Temudjin; from them I will gather one tuman of warriors and take the
+same number of my own folk with them, I will go up to Butohan Borchi on the Onon where
+Togrul will meet me.” They took back the answer to Temudjin, and went to Togrul with
+the words from Jamuka.
+</p>
+<p>Togrul set out with two tumans of warriors toward the Kerulon and met Temudjin at
+the river Kimurha. One tuman of Togrul’s men was led by Jaganbo, his brother. Jamuka
+waited three days at Butohan Borchi for Togrul and Jaganbo; he was angry and full
+of reproaches when he met them. “When conditions are made between allies,” said he,
+“though wind and rain come to hinder, men should meet at the season appointed. The
+time of our meeting was settled, a given word is the same as an oath, if the word
+is not to be kept no ally should be invited.”
+</p>
+<p>“I have come three days late,” said Togrul. “Blame, and punish me, Jamuka, my brother,
+until thou art satisfied.”
+</p>
+<p>The warriors went on now, crossed the Kilho to Buura where they seized all the people
+and with them the wife of the Merkit, Tukta Bijhi. Tukta Bijhi, who was sleeping,
+would have been captured had not his hunters and fishermen hurried on in the night
+time and warned him. He and Dair Usun, his brother, rushed away down the river to
+Bargudjin. When the Merkits were fleeing at night down along the Selinga, Togrul’s
+men hunted on fiercely and were seizing them. In that rushing crowd Temudjin shouted:
+“Bortai! O Bortai!” She was with the fleeing people; she knew Temudjin’s voice and
+sprang from a small covered cart with Hoakchin, the old woman. Running up, she caught
+Temudjin’s horse by the bridle. The moon broke through clouds that same moment, and
+each knew the other.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin sent to Togrul without waiting. “I have found,” said he, “those whom I was
+seeking; let us camp now and go on no farther to-night.” They camped there. When the
+Merkits with three hundred men attacked Temudjin to take vengeance for snatching off
+Chilaidu’s wife, Hoelun, Tukta Bijhi, the brother of Chilaidu, with two other leaders
+rode three times <span class="pageNum" id="pb29">[<a href="#pb29">29</a>]</span>round Mount Burhan, but could not find Temudjin, and only took Bortai. They gave her
+as wife to Chilger, a younger brother of Chilaidu, the first husband of Hoelun, Temudjin’s
+mother. (This Chilaidu was perhaps Temudjin’s father.) Now, when a great army was
+led in by Togrul and Jamuka, Chilger was cruelly frightened. “I have been doomed like
+a crow,” said he, “to eat wretched scraps of old skin, but I should like greatly the
+taste of some wild goose. By my offenses against Bortai I have brought evil suffering
+on the Merkits; the harm which now has befallen them may crush me also. To save my
+life I must hide in some small and dark corner.” Having said this he vanished. Haätai
+Darmala was the only man captured; they put a kang on his neck and went straight toward
+Mount Burhan.
+</p>
+<p>Those three hundred Merkits who rode thrice round Mount Burhan were slain every man
+of them. Their wives, who were fit to continue as wives, were given to new husbands;
+those who should only be slaves were delivered to slavery.
+</p>
+<p>“Thou, O my father, and thou my anda,” said Temudjin to Togrul and Jamuka, “Heaven
+through the aid which ye gave me has strengthened my hands to avenge a great insult.
+The Merkits who attacked me are extinguished, their wives are taken captive, the work
+is now ended.” That same year Bortai gave birth to her first son, Juchi, and because
+of her captivity the real father of Juchi was always a question in the mind of Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>The Uduts had left in their camp a beautiful small boy, Kuichu. He had splendid bright
+eyes, was dressed in river sable, and on his feet were boots made of deer hoofs. When
+the warriors took the camp they seized <span class="corr" id="xd32e777" title="Source: Kuichi">Kuichu</span> and gave him to Hoelun. Temudjin, Togrul and Jamuka destroyed all the dwellings of
+the Merkits and captured the women left in them. Togrul returned then to the Tula.
+Temudjin and Jamuka went to Hórho Nachúbur and fixed a camp there. The two men renewed
+former times and the origin of their friendship; each promised now to love the other
+more firmly than aforetime, if possible. Temudjin was in his boyhood, eleven years
+of age, when they made themselves “andas” the first day; both were guests of Togrul
+at that period. Now they swore friendship again,—became andas a second time. They
+discussed friendship with each other: “Old people,” said Temudjin, <span class="pageNum" id="pb30">[<a href="#pb30">30</a>]</span>“declare that when men become andas both have one life as it were; neither abandons
+the other, and each guards the life of his anda. Now we strengthen our friendship
+anew, and refresh it.” At these words Temudjin girded Jamuka, with a golden belt,
+which he had taken from the Merkits, and Jamuka gave him a rich girdle, and a splendid
+white stallion, which he had captured. They arranged a feast under a broad spreading
+tree near the cliff known as Huldah, and at night they slept under one blanket together.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin and Jamuka, from love, as it were, of each other, lived eighteen months in
+glad, careless company, but really each of the two men was studying and watching his
+anda and working against him with all the power possible as was shown very clearly
+in the sequel. At last during April, while moving, the two friends spurred on ahead
+of the kibitkas and were talking as usual: “If we camp near that mountain in front,”
+said Jamuka all at once, “the horseherds will get our yurtas. If we camp near the
+river the shepherds will have food for their gullets.” Temudjin made no answer to
+words which seemed dark and fateful, so he halted to wait for his wife and his mother;
+Jamuka rode farther and left him. When Hoelun had come up to him Temudjin told her
+the words of Jamuka, and said, “I knew not what they could signify, hence I gave him
+no answer. I have come to ask thy opinion, mother.” Hoelun had not time to reply because
+Bortai was quicker. “People say,” declared Bortai, “that thy friend seeks the new
+and despises the old; I think that he is tired of us. Is there not some trick in these
+words which he has given thee? Is there not some danger behind them? We ought not
+to halt, let us go on all night by a new road, and not stop until daybreak. It is
+better to part in good health from Jamuka.” “Bortai talks wisdom,” said Temudjin.
+He went on then by his own road, aside from Jamuka, and passed near one camp of the
+Taidjuts who were frightened when they saw him; they rose up and hurried away that
+same night to Jamuka. Those Taidjuts left in their camp a small boy, Kokochu. Temudjin’s
+men found the lad and gave him as a present to Hoelun.
+</p>
+<p>After this swift, all night’s journey when day came Temudjin’s party was joined by
+many Jelairs. Horchi of the Barin clan came then to Temudjin after daybreak and spoke
+to him as follows: “I know through a revelation of the spirit what will happen, and
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb31">[<a href="#pb31">31</a>]</span>to thee I now tell it: In a vision I saw a pied cow coming up to Jamuka; she stopped,
+looked at him, dug the earth near his yurta and broke off one horn as she was digging.
+Then she bellowed very loudly, and cried: ‘Give back my horn, O Jamuka.<span class="corr" id="xd32e787" title="Not in source">’</span> After that a strong hornless bull came drawing the pins of a great ruler’s tent behind
+Temudjin’s kibitka. This great bull lowed as he traveled, and said: ‘Heaven appoints
+Temudjin to be lord of dominion, I am taking his power to him.’ This is what the spirit
+revealed in my vision. What delight wilt thou give me for this revelation?” “When
+I become lord of dominion, I will make thee commander of ten thousand,” said Temudjin.
+“I have told thee much of high value,” said Horchi. “If thou make me merely commander
+of ten thousand what great delight can I get from the office? Make me that, and let
+me choose also as wives thirty beautiful maidens wherever I find them, and give me
+besides what I ask of thee.” Temudjin nodded, and Horchi was satisfied.
+</p>
+<p>Next came a number of men from four other clans. These had all left Jamuka for Temudjin,
+and joined him at the river Kimurha. And then was completed a work of great moment:
+Altan, Huchar and Sachai Baiki took counsel with all their own kinsmen, and when they
+had finished they stood before Temudjin and spoke to him as follows: “We wish to proclaim
+thee,” said they. “When thou art Khan we shall be in the front of every battle against
+all thy enemies. When we capture beautiful women and take splendid stallions and mares
+we will bring all to thee surely, and when at the hunt thou art beating in wild beasts
+we will go in advance of others and give thee the game taken by us. If in battles
+we transgress thy commands, or in peace we work harm to thee in any way, take from
+us everything, take wives and property and leave us out then in wild, barren places
+to perish.” Having sworn thus they proclaimed Temudjin, and made him Khan over all
+of them.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin, now Khan in the land of the four upper rivers, commanded his comrade Boörchu,
+whom he called “youngest brother,” together with Ogelayu, Hochiun, Chedai and Tokolku
+to carry his bows and his quiver. Vanguru and Kadan Daldur to dispense food and drink,
+to be masters of nourishment. Dagai was made master of shepherds, Guchugur was made
+master of <span class="pageNum" id="pb32">[<a href="#pb32">32</a>]</span>kibitkas. Dodai became master of servants. After that he commanded Kubilai, Chilgutai
+and Karkaito Kuraun with Kassar his brother to be swordbearers; his half brother Belgutai
+with Karal Daito Kuraun to be masters of horse training. Daichu, Daihut, Morichi and
+Muthalhu were to be masters of horseherds. Then he commanded Arkai Kassar, Tagai and
+Sukagai Chaurhan to be like near and distant arrows, that is, messengers to near and
+distant places. Subotai the Valiant spoke up then and said: “I will be like an old
+mouse in snatching, I will be like a jackdaw in speed, I will be like a saddlecloth
+to hide things, I will ward off every enemy, as felt wards off wind, that is what
+I shall be for thee.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin turned then to Boörchu and Chelmai. “When I was alone,” said he, “ye two
+before other men came to me as comrades. I have not forgotten this. Be ye first in
+all this assembly.” Then he spoke further, and said to other men: “To you who have
+gathered in here after leaving Jamuka, and have joined me, I declare that if Heaven
+keeps and upholds me as hitherto, ye will all be my fortunate helpers and stand in
+high honor before me;” then he instructed them how to perform their new duties.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin sent Tagai and Sukagai to announce his accession to Togrul of the Keraits.
+“It is well,” said Togrul, “that Temudjin is made Khan; how could ye live even to
+this time without a commander? Be not false to the Khan whom ye have chosen.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin sent Arkai Kassar and Belgutai with similar tidings to Jamuka who answered:
+“Tell Altan and Huchar, Temudjin’s uncle and cousin, that they by calumnies have parted
+me now from my anda, and ask them why they did not proclaim Temudjin when he and I
+were one person in spirit? Be ye all active assistants to Temudjin. Let his heart
+be at rest through your faithfulness.”
+</p>
+<p>This was the formal official reply, Jamuka’s real answer was given soon after.
+</p>
+<p>Taichar, a younger brother of Jamuka, was living not far from Mount Chalma, and a
+slave of Temudjin, named Darmala, was stopping for a season at Sari Keher—a slave
+was considered in the customs of that age and people as a brother, hence was as a
+brother in considering a vendetta and dealing with it—Taichar stole a herd of horses
+from Darmala whose assistants feared to follow and restore them, Darmala rushed alone
+in pursuit and <span class="pageNum" id="pb33">[<a href="#pb33">33</a>]</span>came up with his herd in the night time; bending forward to the neck of his horse
+he sent an arrow into Taichar; the arrow struck his spine and killed the man straightway.
+Darmala then drove back his horses. Jamuka to take vengeance for his brother put himself
+at the head of his own and some other clans; with these he allied himself straightway
+with Temudjin’s mortal enemies, the Taidjuts. Three tumans of warriors (30,000) were
+assembled by Targutai and Jamuka. They had planned to attack their opponent unexpectedly
+and crossed the ridge Alaut Turhau for this purpose. Temudjin, in Gulyalgu at that
+time, was informed of this movement by Mulketokah and by Boldai who were both of them
+Ikirats. His warriors all told were thirteen thousand in number and with these he
+marched forth to meet Targutai and Jamuka. He was able to choose his own time and
+he struck the invaders as suited him. He fought with these enemies at <span class="corr" id="xd32e803" title="Source: Dalan-daljut">Dalan-baljut</span> and gained his first triumph, a bloody victory, and immense in its value as results
+proved.
+</p>
+<p>Targutai and Jamuka were repulsed with great loss. Their army was broken and scattered,
+and many were taken prisoners. After this fierce encounter Temudjin led his men to
+a forest not far from the battleground where he ranged all his prisoners, and selected
+the main ones for punishment. Beyond doubt there were many among them of those who
+had enticed away people after the poisoning of Yessugai, Temudjin’s father, men who
+had left the orphan and acted with Targutai his bitterest enemy. In seventy, or, as
+some state, in eighty large caldrons, he boiled alive those of them who were worthiest
+of punishment. The boiling continued each day till he had tortured to death the most
+powerful and vindictive among his opponents. This execution spread terror on all sides,
+and since Temudjin showed the greatest kindness to his friends not only during those
+days, but at all times and rewarded them to the utmost, hope and fear brought him
+many adherents.
+</p>
+<p>The Uruts and Manhuts, the first led by Churchadai, and the second by Kuyuldar, drew
+away from Jamuka and joined Temudjin, the new victor. Munlik of the clan Kuanhotan
+came also, bringing with him his seven mighty sons who were immensely great fighters,
+and venomous. This Munlik, a son of that Charaha whom one of Targutai’s followers
+had wounded to death with a <span class="pageNum" id="pb34">[<a href="#pb34">34</a>]</span>spear thrust, was the man who had brought home Temudjin from the house of Desaichan
+his father-in-law when his own father, Yessugai, was dying.
+</p>
+<p>Soon after the boiling to death of those captives in the forest a division of the
+Juriats, that is Jamuka’s own clansmen, came and joined Temudjin for the following
+reason: The Juriat lands touched those of Temudjin’s people, and on a certain day
+men of both sides were hunting and the parties met by pure chance in the evening.
+“Let us pass the night here with Temudjin,” said some of the Juriats. Others would
+not consent, and one half of the party, made up altogether of four hundred, went home;
+the other two hundred remained in the forest. Temudjin gave these men all the meat
+needed, and kettles in which they could boil it, he treated them generously and with
+friendship.
+</p>
+<p>These Juriats halted still longer and hunted with Temudjin’s party. They received
+every evening somewhat more of the game than was due them; at parting they were satisfied
+with Temudjin’s kindness and thanked him sincerely. At heart they felt sad, for their
+position was painful. They wished greatly to join Temudjin, but desired not to leave
+their own people; and on the way home they said to one another as they traveled: “The
+Taidjuts are gone, they will not think of us in future. Temudjin cares for his people
+and does everything to defend them.” On reaching home they talked with their elders.
+“Let us settle still nearer to Temudjin,” said they, “and obey him, give him service.”
+“What harm have the Taidjuts done you?” was the answer. “They are kinsfolk; how could
+we become one with their enemy, and leave them?” Notwithstanding this answer Ulug
+Bahadur and Tugai Talu with their kinsmen and dependents went away in a body to Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>“We have come,” said they, “like a woman bereft of her husband, or a herd without
+a master, or a flock without a shepherd. In friendship and agreement we would live
+with thee, we would draw our swords to defend thee, and cut down thy enemies.”
+</p>
+<p>“I was like a sleeping man when ye came to me,” said Temudjin, “ye pulled me by the
+forelock and roused me. I was sitting here in sadness, and ye cheered me, I will do
+what I can now to satisfy your wishes.” He made various rules and arrangements which
+pleased them, and they were satisfied perfectly, at least for a season.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb35">[<a href="#pb35">35</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Temudjin wished to strengthen his position still further, and desired to win to his
+alliance Podu who was chief of the Kurulats, whose lands were adjacent to the Argun.
+This chief was renowned as an archer and a warrior. Temudjin offered him his sister
+in marriage. The offer was accepted with gladness. Podu was ready to give Temudjin
+half his horses, and proffered them.
+</p>
+<p>“Oh,” said Temudjin, “thou and I will not mention either taking or giving; we two
+are brothers and allies, not traffickers or traders. Men in the old time have said
+that one heart and one soul cannot be in two bodies, but this is just what in our
+case I shall show to all people as existing. I desire nothing of thee and thy people,
+but friendship. I wish to extend my dominion and only ask faithful help from my sister’s
+husband and his tribesmen.” The marriage took place and Podu was his ally.
+</p>
+<p>Soon after this first group of Juriats had joined Temudjin, some more of their people
+discussed at a meeting as follows: “The Taidjuts torment us unreasonably, they give
+us nothing whatever, while Temudjin takes the coat from his back and presents it.
+He comes down from the horse which he has mounted and gives that same horse to the
+needy. He is a genuine leader, he is to all as a father. His is the best governed
+country.” This fraction also joined Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>Another marriage to be mentioned was that of Temudjin’s mother to Munlik, son of Charáha,
+and father of the seven brothers—the great fighters. All these accessions of power,
+and his victory so strengthened Temudjin and rejoiced him that he made for his mother
+and step-mothers and kinsfolk, with all the new people, a feast near the river Onon,
+in a forest. At this feast feminine jealousy touching position, and the stealing of
+a bridle, brought about a dispute and an outbreak. In spite of Temudjin’s power and
+authority an encounter took place at the feast which caused one chief, Sidje Bijhi
+of the Barins, to withdraw with his party. He withdrew not from the feast alone, but
+from his alliance with Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>The quarrel began in this way: Temudjin sent a jar of mare’s milk first of all to
+his mother, to Kassar and to Sachai Baiki. Thereupon Holichin and Hurchin, his two
+step-mothers grew angry. “Why not give milk to us before those people, why not give
+milk to us at the same time with Temudjin’s mother?” asked they <span class="pageNum" id="pb36">[<a href="#pb36">36</a>]</span>as they struck Shikiur who was master of provisions. This striking brought on a disturbance.
+Thereupon Temudjin commanded his half brother, Belgutai, to mount his horse and keep
+order and take Buri Buga on the part of the Churkis to help him. A man of the Hadjin
+clan and connected with the Churkis stole a bridle and was discovered by Belgutai
+who stopped him. Buri Buga, feeling bound to defend this man, cut through Belgutai’s
+shoulder piece, wounding him badly.
+</p>
+<p>Belgutai made no complaint when his blood flowed. Temudjin, who was under a tree looking
+on, noted everything. “Why suffer such treatment?” inquired he of Belgutai. “I am
+wounded,” said Belgutai, “but the wound is not serious; cousins should not quarrel
+because of me.” Temudjin broke a branch from the tree, seized a milk paddle, sprang
+himself at the Churkis and beat them; then seizing his step-mothers he brought them
+back to their places, and to reason.
+</p>
+<p>The two Juriat parties which had joined Temudjin grew cool in allegiance soon after
+that feast at the river. They were brought to this state of mind beyond doubt by intrigues
+of Jamuka; next they fought with each other, and finally deserted.
+</p>
+<p>Jamuka was a man of immense power in plotting, and one who never ceased to pursue
+his object. Temudjin tried to win some show of kindness from Jamuka. In other words
+he made every effort to subdue him by deep subtle cunning, but all efforts proved
+fruitless. These men were bound to win power. Without power life was no life for either
+one of the two master tricksters. Whatever his action or seeming at any time Jamuka
+was Temudjin’s mortal enemy always. He kept undying hatred in his heart, and was ever
+planning some blow at his rival. When the Juriats were at their best he was plotting,
+when they were scattered and weak and had in part gone to Temudjin he was none the
+less active and made common cause with the enemies of his opponent wherever he could
+find them. Temudjin cared for no man or woman, and for no thing on earth if opposed
+to his plans of dominion.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb37">[<a href="#pb37">37</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e655">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e655src">1</a></span> 1161.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e655src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e666">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e666src">2</a></span> 1175.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e666src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e757">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e757src">3</a></span> A tuman is ten thousand.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e757src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch3" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e296">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h2 class="main">WANG KHAN OF THE KERAITS</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">A fresh opportunity came now to Temudjin to beat down an enemy and strengthen himself
+at the same time. The Kin Emperor sent Wang Kin, his minister, with an army against
+the Lake Buyur Tartars since they would neither do what he wished, nor pay tribute.
+Not having strength to resist, they moved to new places, higher up on the Ulcha. Temudjin
+acted now in a double manner; on the one hand he seemed as if helping the Kin sovereign
+and represented his action to the Golden Khan’s minister in that way. Meanwhile when
+assembling his intimates he said: “Those Buyur men killed both my father and uncle;
+now is the time to attack them, not to help the Kin sovereign, but to avenge our own
+people.” To Togrul he sent in great haste this statement: “The Golden Khan is pursuing
+the Lake Buyur Tartars; those men are thy enemies and mine, so do thou help me, my
+father.”
+</p>
+<p>Togrul came with aid quickly. Temudjin sent to Sachai Baiki and Daichu of the Churkis
+and asked help of them also. He waited six days for reinforcements, but no man appeared
+from the Churkis. Thereupon he with Togrul marched down the Ulcha and fell on the
+Tartars. He was on one bank, and Togrul on the other. The Tartars could not retreat
+since the Golden Khan’s men were pursuing, so they raised a strong fortress against
+them. Temudjin and Togrul broke into this fortress; many Tartars were slain, and many
+captured, among them their leader. Temudjin put this man to death in revenge for his
+father. Immense booty was taken by Temudjin and his ally in captives, in cattle and
+property of all sorts; among other things taken was a silver cradle and a cloth of
+gold which lay over it. Temudjin received praise for his action. Without striking
+a blow the Kin <span class="pageNum" id="pb38">[<a href="#pb38">38</a>]</span>minister had accomplished his mission, and later he took to himself, before his sovereign,
+the merit of making Togrul and Temudjin do his work for him. He gave Temudjin the
+title Chao Huri, and to Togrul the title of Wang Khan was given. “I am thankful,”
+said the minister. “When I return I will report all to my sovereign, and win for you
+a still higher title.” Then he departed.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin, and Togrul now Wang Khan, and thus we shall call him hereafter, went to
+their own places also.
+</p>
+<p>In the captured Tartar camp a boy was discovered; he had a gold ring in his nose,
+around his waist was a belt edged with sable and it had golden tassels. They took
+the lad straightway to Hoelun, who made him her sixth son, and named him. He was known
+ever after as Shigi Kutuku. Temudjin had left at Halil Lake many people; while he
+was absent the Churkis stripped fifty of these men, tore their clothes off, and slew
+ten of them. Temudjin was enraged at this action.
+</p>
+<p>“Why endure deeds of this kind from the Churkis?” exclaimed he. “At our feast in the
+forest they cut Belgutai in the shoulder. When I was avenging my father and uncle
+they would not give aid to us, they went to our enemies and helped them, now I will
+punish those people befittingly.”
+</p>
+<p>So he led out his men to ruin the Churkis. At Dolon Boldau on the Kerulon he captured
+every Churki warrior except Sachai Baiki, and Daichu who rushed away empty-handed.
+Temudjin hunted these two men untiringly till he caught them. “We have not done what
+we promised,” said they in reply to his questions. They stretched out their necks
+as they said this, and Temudjin cut their heads off. He returned after that to Dolon
+Boldau and led off into slavery what remained of the Churkis.
+</p>
+<p>The origin of the Churkis was as follows: Kabul Khan, Temudjin’s great grandfather,
+had seven sons. Of these the eldest was Okin Barka. Kabul chose strong, daring, skilled
+archers and gave them as attendants to Okin Barka. No matter where they went those
+attendants vanquished all who opposed them, and at last no man dared vie with such
+champions, hence they received the name Churki.
+</p>
+<p>Kabul Khan’s second son, Bartan, was father of Yessugai, Temudjin’s supposed father.
+Kabul’s grandson, child of his third <span class="pageNum" id="pb39">[<a href="#pb39">39</a>]</span>son Munlair, was Buri Buga the comrade of the grandsons of Okin Barka. Buri Buga had
+given his adhesion to the Khan much earlier than others, but he remained independent
+in feeling, hence Temudjin did not trust him.
+</p>
+<p>Though no man among Mongols could equal Buri Buga in strength or in wrestling he did
+not escape a cruel death. Sometime after the reduction of the Churkis Temudjin commanded
+Belgutai and Buri Buga to wrestle in his presence. Whenever Belgutai wrestled with
+Buri Buga the latter was able with one leg and one hand to hold him as still as if
+lifeless. This time Buri Buga, who feigned to be beaten, fell with his face to the
+earth under Belgutai, who having him down turned toward Temudjin for direction. Temudjin
+bit his lower lip; Belgutai knew what this sign meant, and putting his knee to the
+spine of Buri Buga seized his neck with both hands, and broke the backbone of his
+opponent.
+</p>
+<p>“I could not lose in this struggle,” said the dying Buri Buga, “but, fearing the Khan,
+I feigned defeat, and then yielded, and now thou hast taken my life from me.”
+</p>
+<p>At this time Talaigutu, a man of the Jelairs who had three sons, commanded the eldest,
+named Gunua with his two sons, Mukuli and Buga to go to Temudjin and say to him: “These
+sons of mine will serve thee forever. If they leave thy doors draw from their legs
+all the sinews within them, after that cut their hearts out, and also their livers.”
+Then Talaigutu commanded Chilaun, his second son, to present himself with Tunge and
+Hashi his own two sons, and speak as follows: “Let these my sons guard thy golden
+doors carefully. If they fail take their lives from them.” After that Talaigutu gave
+Chebke his third son to Temudjin’s brother, Kassar. Chebke had found in the camp of
+the Churki a boy, Boroul, whom he gave to Hoelun. Hoelun having placed the four boys:
+Kuichu, Kokochu, Shigi Kutuku, and Boroul with her own children, watched over all
+with her eyes during daylight, and listened to them with her ears in the night time;
+thus did she rear them.
+</p>
+<p>Who was Togrul of the Keraits, known better as Wang Khan? This is a question of deep
+interest in the history of the Mongols, for this man had great transactions with Temudjin,
+he had much to do also with Yessugai, Temudjin’s father. Markuz <span class="pageNum" id="pb40">[<a href="#pb40">40</a>]</span>Buyuruk, Togrul’s grandfather, who ruled in his day, was captured by Naur, a Tartar
+chieftain, and sent to the Kin emperor who had him nailed to a wooden ass, and then
+chopped into pieces. His widow resolved to take vengeance on Naur for this dreadful
+death of her husband. She set out some time later on to give a feigned homage to Naur
+and to marry him if possible, as was stated in confidence by some of her servitors.
+She brought to Naur a hundred sheep and ten mares, besides a hundred large cowskins
+holding, as was said, distilled mare’s milk, but each skin held in fact a well armed
+living warrior.
+</p>
+<p>A feast was given straightway by Naur during which the hundred men were set free from
+the cowskins, and, aided by attendants of the widow, they slew the Khan and his household.
+</p>
+<p>Markuz left four sons, the two most distinguished were Kurja Kuz and Gurkhan. Kurja
+Kuz succeeded his father. Togrul succeeded Kurja Kuz his own father by slaying two
+uncles, besides a number of cousins. Gurkhan, his remaining uncle, fled and found
+asylum with Inanji, Taiyang of the neighboring Naimans, whom he roused to assist him.
+Gurkhan then with the Naiman troops drove out Togrul and made himself ruler. Togrul,
+attended by a hundred men, went to Yessugai and implored aid of him. Yessugai reinstated
+Togrul, and forced Gurkhan to flee to Tangut.
+</p>
+<p>Togrul vowed endless friendship to his ally and became to him a sworn friend or “anda.”
+When Yessugai was poisoned by Tartars, Temudjin his son, a boy at that time, lost
+authority and suffered for years from the Taidjuts. Togrul gave help and harbored
+him. After that, as has been already related, when Temudjin had married and the Merkits
+stole his wife, Togrul assisted in restoring her, and with her a part of Temudjin’s
+people. In 1194 he was given the title Wang Khan. Later his brother expelled him,
+and this time he fled to the Uigurs, but sought aid in vain from the Idikut, or ruler,
+of that people. He led a wretched life for some time without resource or property,
+and lived, as is stated, on milk from a small herd of goats, his sole sustenance.
+He learned at last that Temudjin had grown in power, hence he begged aid from him,
+and got it.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin gave Wang Khan cattle and in the autumn of that year, 1196, made a feast
+for this his old benefactor, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb41">[<a href="#pb41">41</a>]</span>promised to consider him thenceforth as a father, and to help him as an ally.
+</p>
+<p>In 1197 the two allies defeated the Barins, seizing Sidje Bijhi and Taidju their leader.
+That same year they fell upon the Merkits, a nation of four tribes ruled then by Tukta
+Bijhi. One of these tribes was defeated near the Selinga. Temudjin let Wang Khan keep
+all the booty taken. Wang Khan in 1198, the year following, undertook unassisted a
+war against the Merkits, captured Jilaun, the son of Tukta Bijhi, and slew Tugun,
+another son. He took also Kutu, Tukta’s brother. He seized all Jilaun’s herds and
+people, but gave no part of this booty to Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>In 1199 the two allies marched to attack the Naimans, a people strong and famous while
+under Buga Khan, an able ruler, but when this Khan died his two sons, to gain a certain
+concubine left by their father, began a murderous quarrel, which brought about the
+division of the country. The elder man, Baibuga, called Taiyang,<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e867src" href="#xd32e867">1</a> by his subjects and his neighbors, retained the level country, while Buiruk, his
+brother, took mountain places. Each ruled alone, and each was an enemy of the other.
+Wang Khan and Temudjin, remembering former robberies by the Naimans, and wishing too
+to add wealth and power to what they themselves had, attacked Buiruk at Kizil Bash
+near the Altai. They seized many captives and much precious booty. Buiruk then moved
+westward followed closely by the allies and fighting with great vigor. One of his
+leaders, Edetukluk, who brought up the rear guard, fought till his men were all slain,
+or made prisoners. He struggled alone then till his saddle girth burst, and he was
+captured.
+</p>
+<p>After this the allies came in contact with Gugsu Seirak, another of the Naiman commanders,
+who had much greater forces and had chosen his position. This man had plundered Wang
+Khan’s brother somewhat earlier and a portion of his kinsfolk. The allies had met
+him already, and hoped now to crush him. They would have attacked him immediately,
+but since evening was near they chose to wait till next morning for battle. Jamuka,
+ever ready to injure Temudjin, went to Wang Khan and made him believe that he was
+on the eve of betrayal, and would be ruined by Temudjin and the Naimans. Wang Khan
+set out for home that <span class="pageNum" id="pb42">[<a href="#pb42">42</a>]</span>night. Temudjin thus deserted was forced to withdraw which he did unobserved.
+</p>
+<p>Gugsu Seirak followed Wang Khan in hot haste and overtook his two brothers. He captured
+their families, as well as their property and cattle. Then he entered Wang Khan’s
+land and found there rich booty of all kinds. Wang Khan sent Sengun, his son, to meet
+Seirak; meanwhile he hurried off messengers to Temudjin, and begged of him assistance.
+Temudjin considering the plight of his ally, but still more his own peril should Wang
+Khan’s men be routed and captured by the Naimans, sent his four ablest chiefs to assist
+him. These were <span class="corr" id="xd32e876" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span>, Mukuli, Boroul and Jilaun. These four led their men by hurried marches, and had
+just reached the battle-ground when Wang Khan’s force was broken, his best leaders
+killed and Sengun, his son, on a lame wounded stallion, was fleeing. All the Khan’s
+property had been taken by the Naimans. <span class="corr" id="xd32e879" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span> dashed up with all speed to Sengun, gave him the horse on which he himself had ridden
+up to that moment and sat then on the gray steed which Temudjin had given him as a
+mark of great favor. He was not to strike this horse for any reason; he had merely
+to rub the whip along his mane to make him rush with lightning speed during action.
+</p>
+<p><span class="corr" id="xd32e884" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span> sent forward his fresh troops, chosen warriors, and next he rallied Sengun’s scattered
+forces to help them against the Naimans. The Naimans, drunk with victory and not thinking
+of defeat, were soon brought to their senses. Temudjin’s heroes recovered everything
+snatched from Wang Khan’s people, both horses and property. Wang Khan on the field
+there thanked his firm ally and thanked the four splendid leaders in the warmest words
+possible. He gave <span class="corr" id="xd32e887" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span> ten golden goblets and a mantle of honor; he rewarded others with very great bounty,
+and said as they were leaving him: “Once I appeared as a fugitive, naked and hungry;
+Temudjin received me, he nourished and clothed me. How can I thank my magnificent
+son for his goodness? In former days Yessugai brought back my people, and now Temudjin
+has sent his four heroes; with Heaven’s help they have vanquished the Naimans, and
+saved me; I will think of these benefits, and never forget them.”
+</p>
+<p>When the old Khan had gone back to his yurta and all had grown quiet on every side
+Temudjin went to visit his “father” <span class="pageNum" id="pb43">[<a href="#pb43">43</a>]</span>and “anda.” At the Black Forest the two men expressed to each other their feelings,
+and at last Temudjin described with much truth, and very carefully, though with few
+words, the real position:
+</p>
+<p>“I cannot live on in safety without thy assistance, my father. The Naimans on one
+side and my false, plotting relatives on the other, afflict me. My relatives rouse
+up the Taidjuts and every enemy against me, but seeing thy love for me they know that
+while thou art alive and unchanged, and art ruling they cannot destroy me. Thou too,
+O my father, canst not live on in safety without my firm friendship. Without me thy
+false brothers and cousins, assisted by their allies, would split up thy people and
+snatch thy dominion. They would kill thee unless by swift flight thou wert able to
+save thyself from ruin. Sengun, thy son, would gain nothing, he too would be swept
+both from power and existence, though he does not see this at present. I am his best
+stay, as well as thine, O my father. Thou art my greatest stay too and support. Without
+thee all my enemies would rise up at once to overwhelm me, but were I gone, and my
+power in their hands thy power would pass soon to thy deadliest enemies, thy relatives.
+Our one way to keep power and live on in safety is through a friendship which nothing
+can shatter. That friendship exists now, and we need only proclaim it. Were I thy
+elder son all would be quiet and settled for both of us.”
+</p>
+<p>When Wang Khan was alone he spoke thus to himself and considered: “I am old, to whom
+shall I leave the direction of my people? My younger brothers are without lofty qualities;
+my brother Jaganbo is also unable to stand against enemies. Sengun is the only man
+left me, but whatever Sengun’s merits may be I will make Temudjin his elder brother.
+With these two sons to help me I may live on securely.”
+</p>
+<p>At the Black Forest Temudjin became elder son to Wang Khan. Up to that time he had
+called the old chieftain his father through friendship, because he and Yessugai had
+both been his “andas” and allies. Now Wang Khan and Temudjin used the words “son”
+and “father” in conversing and with their real value. This adoption of Temudjin excluded
+Sengun in reality from the earliest inheritance, and Temudjin knew well, of course,
+that immense opposition would come from Sengun and Jamuka.
+</p>
+<p>“We shall fight side by side in war against enemies,” said Wang <span class="pageNum" id="pb44">[<a href="#pb44">44</a>]</span>Khan to his new elder son. “In going against wild beasts we are to hunt with common
+forces. If men try to raise quarrels between us we will lend no ear to anyone, and
+believe only when we have met and talked carefully together over everything, and proved
+it.” Thus they decided, and their friendship on that day was perfect.
+</p>
+<p>The crushing defeat of the Naimans, which lowered them much, immediately raised Temudjin
+above every rival. Jamuka’s plotting had turned against himself most completely, and
+if he had planned to help Temudjin he could not have helped better. Somewhat later
+Juchi Kassar snatched another victory from the Naimans, and weakened them further.
+Tukta Bijhi, the Merkit chief, sent Ordjank and Kutu, his brothers, to rouse up the
+Taidjuts afresh against Temudjin. Ongku and Hakadju took arms and made ready to help
+Targutai, the Taidjut chief, with Kudodar and Kurul.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin and Wang Khan marched in the spring of 1200 and met those opponents at the
+edge of the great Gobi desert, where they crushed them completely. Targutai and Kudodar
+were both slain. Targutai was the man who had acted so bitterly against Temudjin after
+his father was poisoned. This Taidjut leader fell now at the hand of Jilaun, a son
+of that same Sorhan Shira, who had rescued Temudjin from the river Onon, taken the
+kang from his neck and hidden him under wool racks. Hakadju and Ongku, who had helped
+on this war by enabling Tukta Bijhi to rouse up the Taidjuts fled now to Bargudjin
+with Tukta Bijhi’s two brothers, while Kurul found a refuge with the Naimans. Still
+this defeat did not end Taidjut rancor. The Katkins and Saljuts shared also this hatred.
+Temudjin strove however, to win them, and sent an envoy with this message: “Each Mongol
+clan should support me, I then could protect all without exception.” This envoy was
+insulted; some snatched entrails from a pot and slapped his face with them; they struck
+him right and left and drove him off amid jeers, and loud howling.
+</p>
+<p>These people knew clearly, of course, that after insults of that kind they were in
+great danger. The Taidjuts had been crushed, and still earlier the Naimans. The blow
+which was sure to come soon would strike them unsparingly, hence they formed a league
+quickly and met at Arabulak with some of the Jelairs, the Durbans, the Kunkurats,
+and Tartars. These five peoples killed with swords <span class="pageNum" id="pb45">[<a href="#pb45">45</a>]</span>a stallion, a bull, a dog, a ram and a <span class="corr" id="xd32e907" title="Source: he goat">he-goat</span>. “O Heaven and earth hear our words and bear witness,” cried they at the sacrifice:
+“We swear by the blood of these victims, themselves chiefs of races, that we deserve
+death in this same manner if we keep not the promise made here to-day.” They vowed
+then to guard each secret faithfully, and attack the allies without warning or mercy.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin was advised of the pact and the oath by Dayin Noyon a Kunkurat chieftain,
+hence he had time to meet those confederates near Buyar Lake, where he dispersed them
+after fighting a fierce, stubborn battle. Somewhat later he met a detachment of Taidjuts
+and some Merkits near the Timurha and crushed them also. Meanwhile the Kunkurats ceased
+their resistance, and set out to join Temudjin, but Kassar, his brother, not knowing
+their purpose, attacked and defeated them. They turned thereupon to Jamuka and joined
+his forces.
+</p>
+<p>In 1201 the Katkins and Saljuts with Kunkurats, Juriats, Ikirats, Kurulats, Durbans
+and Tartars met at Alhuibula and chose Jamuka for their Khan. They went after that
+to the Tula and took this oath in assembly: “Should any man disclose these our plans
+may he fall as this earth falls, and be cut off as these branches are cut off.” With
+that they pushed down a part of the river bank, and hacked off with their sabres the
+branches of a tree. They made plans then to surprise Temudjin when unguarded, and
+slay him.
+</p>
+<p>A certain man named Kuridai, who had been present at the oath taking, slipped away
+home and told the whole tale to his brother-in-law, Mergitai, a Kurulat, who happened
+in at the yurta. Mergitai insisted that Kuridai should gallop off swiftly to Gulyalgu
+and explain the plot to Temudjin since he, Kuridai, with his own ears had heard it.
+“Take my gray horse with stumpy ears, he will bear thee in safety,” said Mergitai.
+Kuridai mounted and rode away swiftly. On the road he was captured by a sentry, but
+that sentry, a Kurulat also, was devoted soul and body in secret to Temudjin, so not
+only did he free Kuridai when he heard of his errand, but he gave him his own splendid
+stallion. “On this horse,” said the Kurulat, “thou canst overtake any man, but no
+man on another beast could overtake thee.”
+</p>
+<p>Kuridai hurried off. On the way he saw warriors bearing a splendid white tent for
+Jamuka. Some attendants of these men <span class="pageNum" id="pb46">[<a href="#pb46">46</a>]</span>pursued him, but soon he was swept out of sight by the stallion. In due time he found
+Temudjin, who on hearing the tidings sprang quickly to action. He sent men to Wang
+Khan who brought his army with promptness and the two allies marched down the Kerulon
+against their opponent.
+</p>
+<p>Jamuka who intended to fall unawares on his rival was caught himself at a place called
+Edekurgan. While he was marshalling his forces Buiruk and Kuduk, his two shamans,
+raised a wind and made rain fall to strike in the face Temudjin and his allies, but
+the wind and rain turned on Jamuka. The air became dark and the men tumbled into ravines,
+and over rough places. “Heaven is not gracious to-day,” said Jamuka, “that is why
+this misfortune is meeting us.” His army was scattered. The Naimans and others then
+left him, and, taking those who had proclaimed him, Jamuka withdrew down the river.
+</p>
+<p>Wang Khan pursued Jamuka while Temudjin followed Autchu of the Taidjuts, and those
+who went with him. Autchu escaped, hurried home, rallied his people, crossed the Onon
+and began action. After many encounters there was a fierce all day battle with Temudjin,
+then both sides promised to hold their places that night on the battle-ground. Temudjin
+had been wounded in the neck and had fainted from blood loss. Chelmai, his attendant
+and comrade, sucked out the blood which was stiffening, and likely to choke him. The
+chief regained consciousness at midnight. Chelmai had stripped himself naked, to escape
+the more easily if captured, and stolen into the enemy’s camp to find mare’s milk,
+but found only cream which he took with such deftness that no one noted him either
+while coming or going. He went then for water, mixed the thick cream with it, and
+had a drink ready. Temudjin drank with much eagerness, drawing three breaths very
+deeply, and stopped only after the third one. “My eyes have gained sight,” said he,
+“my soul is now clear again.”
+</p>
+<p>With these words he rose to a sitting position. While he was sitting there day dawned,
+and he saw a great patch of stiff blood there by his bedside. “What is this?” asked
+he, “why is that blood so near me?” “I did not think of far or near,” answered Chelmai,
+“I feared to go from thee, even as matters were I both spat blood and swallowed it—<span class="corr" id="xd32e922" title="Not in source">.</span> Not a little of thy blood has gone into my stomach in spite of me.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb47">[<a href="#pb47">47</a>]</span></p>
+<p>“When I was in those great straits,” asked Temudjin, who now understood what had taken
+place, “how hadst thou courage to steal to the enemy all naked? If they had caught
+thee wouldst thou not have said that I was here wounded?” “If they had caught me I
+should have told them that I had surrendered to them, but that thou hadst then seized
+me, and learning that I had surrendered hadst stripped me and wert just ready to cut
+off my head when I sprang away, and ran to them for refuge. They would have believed
+every word, given me clothes, and sent me to labor. I should have stolen a horse soon
+and ridden back to thee.” “When the Merkits were seeking my life on Mount Burhan,”
+said Temudjin, “thou didst defend it, now thou hast sucked stiffened blood from my
+neck and saved me. When I was dying of thirst thou didst risk thy own life to get
+drink and restore me, I shall not forget while I live these great services.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin saw next day that Jamuka’s men had scattered in the night while his own men
+were still on the battle-ground. He hunted after the enemy then for some distance;
+all at once on a hill a woman dressed in red was heard shouting: “Temudjin! Temudjin!”
+very loudly. He sent to learn who she was, and why she was shouting. “I am Kadan,
+the daughter of Sorgan Shira,” said the woman. “The people have tried to cut down
+my husband, and I was calling Temudjin to defend him.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin sent quickly to save Kadan’s husband, but he was dead when they found him.
+Temudjin then called Kadan to sit at his side, because of the time when she guarded
+him under wood-packs at her father’s. One day later Sorgan Shira himself came to Temudjin.
+“Why come so late?” inquired Temudjin. “I have been always on thy side,” replied Sorgan,
+“and anxious to join thee, but if I had come earlier the Taidjuts would have killed
+all my relatives.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin pursued farther, and when he had killed Autchu’s children and grandchildren
+he passed with his warriors to Hubahai where he spent that winter. In 1202 Temudjin
+moved in spring against those strong Tartars east of him. That people inhabited the
+region surrounding Buyur Lake and east of it, hence they were neighbors of the Juichis
+of that day, known as Manchus in our time. Those Tartars had seventy thousand yurtas
+and formed six divisions. Their conflicts with each other were frequent, <span class="pageNum" id="pb48">[<a href="#pb48">48</a>]</span>and each tribe plundered every other. Between these Buyur Tartars and the Mongols
+bitter feuds raged at all times. Temudjin fell on two tribes called Iltchi and Chagan.
+Before the encounter he instructed his warriors very strictly: “Hunt down those people,
+when ye conquer slay without pity, sparing no man. Touch no booty till the action
+is over; after that all will be honestly divided.” He heard later on that Kudjeir
+and Daritai his two uncles, with Altan his cousin had disregarded this order and seized
+what they came upon. He deprived these men straightway of all that they had taken,
+and when a division was made at the end of the struggle no part was given them. Through
+this strictness and punishment Temudjin lost the goodwill of those chiefs who opposed
+him in secret and confirmed later on the great rupture made between him and Wang Khan
+by Jamuka.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin had slain many Tartars in this conflict and captured most of the survivors,
+now he counseled with his relatives as to what should be done with those captives.
+“They deserve punishment,” said he; “they killed our <span class="corr" id="xd32e934" title="Source: grand uncle">grand-uncle</span> and our father. Let us slay every male who is higher than the hub of a cart wheel.
+When that is done we must make slaves of the others and divide them between us.” All
+who were present accepted this method. The question being settled in that way Belgutai
+went from the council.
+</p>
+<p>“What have ye fixed on to-day?” inquired Aike Cheran, a Tartar captive belonging to
+Belgutai. “To kill every male of you, who is higher than the hub of a cart wheel,”
+said Belgutai. The other prisoners on learning this broke out and fled, never stopping
+till they reached a strong place in the mountains and seized it.
+</p>
+<p>“Go and capture their stronghold,” commanded Temudjin. This was done with much trouble
+and bloodshed. The Tartars fought with desperation and were slain to the last one,
+but many of Temudjin’s choicest warriors were lost in the slaughter. “Belgutai told
+the enemy our secrets,” said Temudjin, “many good men have perished because of this.
+Belgutai is excluded from council, hereafter let him stay out of doors and guard against
+thefts, fights and quarrels. Belgutai and Daritai may come to us only when counsels
+are ended.”
+</p>
+<p>When Temudjin had killed all the male Tartars who were <span class="pageNum" id="pb49">[<a href="#pb49">49</a>]</span>higher than the hub of a cart wheel he took as wife Aisugan, a daughter of that same
+Aike Cheran who had put the question to Belgutai. Aisugan gained Temudjin’s confidence
+quickly; she pleased him and soon she said to him: “I have an elder sister, Aisui,
+a beauty; she ought to be the Khan’s consort. Though she is just married I cannot
+tell where she is but we might find her.”
+</p>
+<p>“If she is a beauty,” said Temudjin, “I will find her. Wilt thou give then thy place
+to thy sister?” “I will give it as soon as I see her,” said Aisugan. Temudjin sent
+men to search out Aisui. They found her in a forest where she was hiding with her
+husband. The husband fled, and Aisui was taken to Temudjin. Aisugan gave her place
+to her sister. One day Temudjin was sitting near the door of his tent with these sisters,
+and drinking. Noting that Aisui sighed deeply suspicion sprang up in him. He commanded
+Mukuli, and others in attendance, to arrange the people present according to the places
+which they occupied. When all were reckoned one young man was found unconnected with
+any ulus, or community. “What man art thou?” inquired Temudjin. “I am Aisui’s husband,”
+replied the young stranger. “When they took her I fled, now all is settled and ended,
+I came hither thinking that no man would note me in a great throng of people.”
+</p>
+<p>“Thou art a son of my enemy,” said Temudjin. “Thou hast come to spy out and discover.
+I killed thy people and find no cause to spare thee more than others.” Temudjin had
+the man’s head cut off.
+</p>
+<p>The Merkit chief, Tukta Bijhi, came back from Lake Baikal and attacked Temudjin, but
+was baffled. He turned then to Buiruk of the Naimans who joined a confederacy of Katkins,
+Durbans, Saljuts and Uirats together with Merkits and moved in 1202, near the autumn,
+with a strong force to strike Temudjin who was supported by Wang Khan, his old ally.
+Because of the season Temudjin retired to mountain lands near the Kitan (North Chinese)
+border, his plan being to lure on the enemy to dangerous high passes where attacks
+and bad weather might ruin them. The confederates followed fast through the mountains
+and skirmished, but before they could fight a real battle, wind and snow with dense
+fog, brought on, as was said, by magicians, struck them all and stopped action. The
+confederates were forced to <span class="pageNum" id="pb50">[<a href="#pb50">50</a>]</span>retreat greatly weakened; they lost men and horses killed by falling in the fog over
+precipices, while multitudes perished in wild places from frost and bitter cold. Jamuka
+was moving on to join the Naimans, but when he saw the sad plight of the confederates
+he fell to plundering a part of them, and after he had taken good booty from the Saljuts
+and the Katkins he encamped near Temudjin and his ally, observed very closely what
+was happening, and waited.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin and Wang Khan passed the winter on level land near the mountains where snow
+served as water. While there he asked in marriage Wang Khan’s granddaughter, Chaur
+Bijhi, for his own eldest son, Juchi, and Wang Khan mentioned Temudjin’s daughter,
+Kutchin Bijhi, for Sengun’s son Kush Buga. These two marriage contracts, agreed on
+at first, were broken later for various not well explained reasons. Jamuka was beyond
+doubt the great cause in this matter, and raised the whole quarrel. This rupture was
+followed by wrangling and coolness between the two allies, thus giving a still further
+chance to Jamuka. As he had never been able to estrange Wang Khan thoroughly from
+Temudjin he turned now in firm confidence to Sengun. He conquered Wang Khan’s son
+and heir with the following statements: “Temudjin has grown strong, and desires to
+be the greatest among men. He has determined to be the one ruler, he cannot be this
+unless he destroys thy whole family, he has resolved to destroy it, and he will do
+so unless thou prevent him. Temudjin has made a firm pact with thy enemy Baibuga,
+Taiyang of the Naimans; he is to get help from Baibuga, and is only waiting for the
+moment to ruin thy father, that done he will seize and kill thee, he will take thy
+whole country, and keep it.”
+</p>
+<p>In this way Jamuka filled Sengun’s heart with great fear and keen hatred, feelings
+strengthened immensely by Temudjin’s uncles, Daritai and Kudjeir, who, with Altan,
+his cousin, were enraged at the loss of their booty, and for other reasons. These
+men declared that every word uttered by Jamuka was true. A great plot was formed,
+and directed by Jamuka, to surprise Temudjin and kill him. Jamuka, who was watching
+events and working keenly, took with him Altan and others, at the end of 1202, and
+went again to Sengun, who was then living north of Checheher, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb51">[<a href="#pb51">51</a>]</span>while attacking Temudjin spoke as follows: “Envoys are moving continually between
+Temudjin and the Naimans; those envoys are fixing the conditions of thy ruin. All
+this time Temudjin is talking of the ties between himself and thy father whom he calls
+his ‘father’ also. Thy father has made Temudjin his elder son. Thou art now Temudjin’s
+younger brother, and hast lost thy inheritance, soon thou wilt lose thy life also.
+Unless thou destroy this man, very quickly he will kill thee. Dost thou not see this?”
+</p>
+<p>When Jamuka had finished, Sengun went at once to his friends to explain and take counsel.
+“If we are to end him, I myself will fall on his flank. Say the word, I will do so
+immediately. For thee we will slay Hoelun’s children to the last one,” said Altan
+and Kudjeir. “I will destroy him hand and foot,” said Ebugechin. “No, take his people,”
+said another, “what can he do without people? Whatever thy wish be, Sengun, I will
+climb to the highest top with thee, and go to the lowest bottom when needed.”
+</p>
+<p>Sengun listened to his comrades and Jamuka. He sent Saihan Todai to report their discourses
+to his father. “Why think thus of my elder son, Temudjin?” asked Wang Khan as an answer.
+“We have trusted him thus far. If we hold unjust, evil thoughts touching him, Heaven
+will turn from us. Jamuka has been <span class="corr" id="xd32e958" title="Source: thousand tongued">thousand-tongued</span> always and is unworthy of credit.” Thus Wang Khan rejected all the words sent him.
+Sengun again sent a message: “Every man who has a mouth with a tongue in it speaks
+even as I do, why not believe what is evident?”
+</p>
+<p>Again Wang Khan answered that he could not agree with them. Sengun then went himself
+to his father: “To-day thou art living,” said he, “but still this Temudjin accounts
+thee as nothing. When thou art dead will he let me rule the people assembled by thee
+and thy father with such effort? Will he even leave life to me?” “My son,” said Wang
+Khan, “how am I to renounce my own promise and counsel? We have trusted Temudjin up
+to this time. If without cause we think evil now of him, how can Heaven favor us?”
+Sengun turned in anger from his father. Wang Khan called him back to remonstrate.
+“It is clear, O my son,” said he, “that Heaven does not favor us. Thou wilt reject
+Temudjin no matter what I tell thee, thou wilt act in thy own way, I see that, but
+victory, if thou win it, must be thine through thy own work and fortune.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb52">[<a href="#pb52">52</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Sengun turned to his father for the last time: “Think on this scourge risen against
+us,” said he. “If thou stop not this Temudjin we are lost, thou and I, without hope;
+if thou spare him, we shall both die very soon. We must put an end to the man, or
+be ruined. He will kill thee first of all, and then my turn will come very quickly.”
+</p>
+<p>Wang Khan would hear nothing of this murder; he would at least have no part in it.
+But strongly pressed by his son he said finally: “If ye do such a deed ye must be
+alone in it. Keep away from me strictly.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin’s death was the great object now for Sengun and Jamuka. Temudjin’s uncles
+and one of his cousins were in the plot also. Sengun himself formed the plan and described
+it in these words very clearly: “Some time ago,” said he, “Temudjin asked our daughter
+for his eldest son, Juchi; we did not give her at that time, but now we will send
+to him saying that we accept his proposal. We will make a great feast of betrothal
+and invite him. If he comes to it we will seize the vile traitor and kill him.”
+</p>
+<p>When they had settled on this plan Sengun sent envoys to Temudjin accepting the marriage
+proposals, and inviting him to the feast of betrothal. Temudjin accepted and set out
+with attendants. On the way he stopped at the house of Munlik his stepfather, the
+husband of Hoelun. Munlik became thoughtful and serious as he heard of the invitation.
+“When we asked for their maiden,” said he, “they were haughty and refused her; why
+invite now to a feast of betrothal? Better not go to them; excuse thyself saying that
+thou hast no beast fit to travel, that it is spring and thy horses are all out at
+pasture.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin agreed with Munlik and instead of going himself sent Bugatai with Kilatai
+to the festival, and returned home very quickly. When Sengun saw the two men sent
+as substitutes he knew at once that Temudjin had seen through his stratagem. He called
+a council immediately. “We must act quickly now,” said he. “We will move with all
+force against Temudjin to-morrow, but send, meanwhile, a strong party to seize him
+while south of Mount Mao.” Aike Charan, who was Altan’s youngest brother and one of
+Wang Khan’s chosen leaders, had been at the council. He hastened home that same evening
+and told his wife, Alikai, Sengun’s entire stratagem. “They have settled at last <span class="pageNum" id="pb53">[<a href="#pb53">53</a>]</span>to capture the Khan,” said he, “and to-morrow they will seize him. If some man to-night
+would warn Temudjin his reward would be enormous.” “Speak not idle words,” said the
+woman. “Our servants may hear thee, and think thy talk serious.”
+</p>
+<p>Badai, a horseherd who had just brought in mare’s milk, overheard Aike Charan and
+the answer of Alikai. He turned at once and told Kishlik. “I too will listen,” said
+Kishlik who was his comrade. Kishlik went in then and saw Aike Charan’s son, Narinkeyan,
+whittling arrows and looking at his parents. “Which of our servants,” asked he, “should
+lose his tongue lest he tell what ye have said to each other?” Kishlik heard these
+words, though Narinkeyan did not know it. “Oh Kishlik,” said Narinkeyan, turning to
+the horseherd, “Bring me in the white horse and the gray one, I will go riding to-morrow.”
+</p>
+<p>Kishlik went out quickly. “Thou hast told the truth,” said he to Badai. “We must ride
+now tremendously, thou and I, we must ride to-night to Temudjin and save him, tell
+him everything.” They ran to the pasture, caught both horses and rode off without
+seeing Narinkeyan. They reported all to Temudjin, told him Aike Charan’s whole story
+and the words of Narinkeyan.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin summoned his trustiest servants immediately and hurried off to the northern
+side of Mount Mao. Chelmai he commanded to follow and watch every movement of the
+on-marching enemy. At noon the next day Temudjin halted briefly and two horseherds,
+Alchidai and Chidai, brought in tidings that the enemy was advancing very swiftly.
+A great dust cloud was rising up from them and was visible on the south of Mount Mao.
+Temudjin hurried on till he reached Kalanchin, a place selected by him for battle.
+There he stopped, disposed all his forces, and assembled his leaders.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Sengun with Wang Khan, who had at last by much urging been persuaded to
+join this expedition, were advancing at all the speed possible, and soon men could
+see them. They halted at once for battle. “Who are the best men among Temudjin’s warriors?”
+asked Wang Khan of Jamuka. “The Uruts and Manhuts are best,” said Jamuka, “they are
+never disordered; they have used swords and spears from their boyhood. When they strike
+thou wilt see dreadful fighting.” “Well,” said Wang Khan, “let our hero Hadakji fall
+on them first with his Jirkins; <span class="pageNum" id="pb54">[<a href="#pb54">54</a>]</span>after him will go Achik Shilun with the Omans, and Tunkaits, and Shilaimun, with a
+strong force of our body guards. If these do not finish them our own special warriors
+will give them the death blow.”
+</p>
+<p>While Wang Khan was thus making dispositions, Temudjin on his side spoke to the Urut
+commander: “Uncle Churchadai, I would give thee the vanguard, what is thy own wish?”
+Churchadai was just ready to answer when Huildar spoke up: “O Khan, my dear friend
+(he was Temudjin’s anda), I will mount my strong steed and break, with my Manhuts,
+through all who oppose us. I will plant thy tail standard on Gubtan, that hill at
+the rear and left flank of the enemy. From that hill I will show thee my firmness
+and valor. If I fall, thou wilt nourish my children, thou wilt rear them. Relying
+on Heaven it is all one to me when my fate comes.” “Go thou,” said Temudjin, “and
+take Gubtan.”
+</p>
+<p>Huildar fixed the tail standard on Gubtan. Churchadai spoke when his turn came, “I
+will fight,” said he, “in front of the Khan, I will be in the vanguard with my Uruts.”
+And he arranged his strong warriors in position. Barely were they ready when Hadakgi
+and the Jirkins made the first onrush and opened the battle. They were met by the
+Uruts, who not only received their attack with all firmness, but drove them back in
+disorder. While the Uruts were following this broken vanguard Wang Khan sent Achik
+Shilun and his Omans to strike on the Uruts. Huildar attacked from Gubtan this new
+reinforcement and broke it, but being thrown from his horse by a spear cast, the Omans
+rallied, and were sent with the Tunkaits against Churchadai. Both forces were hurled
+back by the Uruts, strengthened greatly by Temudjin. Shilaimun attacked next with
+Wang Khan’s own body-guards. These also were broken by Churchadai reinforced this
+time by Temudjin. Sengun now, without leave from his father, rushed into the struggle
+taking with him Wang Khan’s special warriors. The battle raged to the utmost and Sengun
+had some chance of victory when an arrow from Churchadai’s bow pierced his cheek and
+he fell badly wounded.
+</p>
+<p>When the Keraits saw their chief down, and night already on them, they stopped fighting.
+Sengun had not carried his point, and Temudjin held the field, hence the victory was
+on his side <span class="pageNum" id="pb55">[<a href="#pb55">55</a>]</span>although very slightly. It was late in the evening and dark, so he brought together
+his men and was careful to seek out and save Huildar. Temudjin during that night withdrew
+from the battle-ground, and at daybreak discovered that Ogotai, his son, with Boroul
+and <span class="corr" id="xd32e986" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span> were all three of them missing. “Those two faithful men,” said Temudjin, “have lived
+with my son, and now they have died with him.” He grieved that day greatly. The next
+night he feared an attack, and held all his people in readiness to receive it. At
+daybreak he saw a man riding in from the battle-ground, and recognized <span class="corr" id="xd32e989" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span>; he turned his face heavenward, struck his breast, and was grateful.
+</p>
+<p>“My horse,” said <span class="corr" id="xd32e995" title="Source: Boorchu">Boörchu</span>, when he had ridden up to Temudjin, “was killed by the enemy; while escaping on foot
+I saw a pack horse that had wandered far from the Keraits. He had a leaning burden.
+I cut the straps, let the pack fall, then mounted the beast and rode hither.”
+</p>
+<p>A second horseman appeared somewhat later. When he had drawn near it was seen that
+besides his legs two others were hanging down near them. Ogotai and Boroul were on
+that horse. Boroul’s mouth was all blood besmeared; he had sucked stiffened blood
+from Ogotai’s neck wound; Temudjin wept when he saw this. He burned the wound with
+fire straightway, and gave Ogotai a drink to revive him.
+</p>
+<p>“A great dust has risen near the enemy,” said Boroul, “they are moving southward as
+it seems toward Mount Mao.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin marched now to Dalan Naimurgas where Kadan Daldur brought him tidings: “When
+Sengun was wounded,” said Kadan, “Wang Khan said to his counsellor: ‘We have attacked
+a man with whom we should not have quarreled. It is sad to see what a nail has been
+driven into Sengun, but he is living and can make a new trial immediately.’ Achik
+Shilun spoke up then: ‘When thou hadst no son,’ said he, ‘thou wert praying to receive
+one, now when thou hast a son thou shouldst spare him.’ Wang Khan yielded and gave
+up further thought of battle. ‘Carry my son back with care,’ said he to his attendants,
+‘do not shake him.’ Father and son then turned homeward.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin marched toward the East. Before starting he reviewed the remnant of his army
+and found only five thousand men altogether. On the way his men hunted. While beating
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb56">[<a href="#pb56">56</a>]</span>in game Temudjin tried to restrain Huildar whose wound had not healed, but he rushed
+quickly at a wild boar, his wound opened, and he died shortly after. They buried him
+on Ornéü, a hill near the Kalka. At the place where that river falls into Lake Buyur
+lived the Ungirats; Temudjin sent Churchadai with the Uruts and Manguts to talk with
+that people. “Remember our blood bond,” said he to them in Temudjin’s name, “and submit
+to me; if not, be ye ready immediately for battle.” After this declaration they submitted,
+hence Temudjin did not harm them. When he had thus won the Ungirats he went to the
+eastern bank of the Tugeli, and thence sent Arkai Kassar and Siwege Chauni to Wang
+Khan with the following message: “We are now east of the Tugeli, grass here is good,
+and our horses are satisfied. Why wert thou angry with me, O my father, why didst
+thou bring such great fear on me? If thou hadst the wish to blame, why not give the
+blame reasonably, why destroy all my property? People divided us, but thou knowest
+well our agreement, that if men should talk to either one of us to the harm of the
+other we would not believe what was said till we, thou and I, should explain questions
+personally. But my father, have we had any personal explanation? Though small, I am
+worth many large men, though ugly I am worth many men of much beauty. Moreover thou
+and I are two shafts of a single kibitka, if one shaft is broken an ox cannot draw
+the kibitka. We are like two wheels of that kibitka; if one wheel is broken the kibitka
+cannot travel. May I not be likened to the shaft, or the wheel of a kibitka? Thy father
+had forty sons; thou wert the eldest, therefore thou wert made Khan. After that thou
+didst kill Tai Timur and Buga Timur; these were two of thy uncles; thou hadst the
+wish also to kill Erke Kara, thy brother, but he fled to the Naimans. A third uncle,
+in avenging his brother, went against thee with an army, and thou didst flee with
+one century of men to the Haraun defile. At that time thy daughter was given by thee
+to Tukta Bijhi the Merkit, and from him thou didst come to my father with a prayer
+for assistance. My father drove out thy uncle who fled then to Kashin, and my father
+brought back thy people. In the Black Forest of Tula thou didst make thyself an anda
+to my father. And moved in those days by gratitude, thy words to him were of this
+kind: ‘For thy benefactions to me <span class="pageNum" id="pb57">[<a href="#pb57">57</a>]</span>I will make return not only to thee, but thy children and grandchildren. I swear by
+High Heaven that I will do so.’ After that thy brother Erke Kara got troops from the
+Naimans, made war on thee a second time, and drove thee to the lands of the Gurkhan.
+In less than a year thou didst weary of the Gurkhan and leave him. Passing through
+the Uigur country thou wert brought to such straits as to nourish thyself with the
+milk of five sheep that went with thee, and with blood from the camel on which thou
+wert riding. At last thou didst come to me on a gray, old, blind, wretched horse.
+Because of thy friendship for my father I sent men to meet thee and bring thee with
+honor to my camp ground. I collected what I could from my people, and gave thee provisions.
+Later on, when thou hadst conquered the Merkits I let thee keep all their property
+and cattle. After that when thou and I were pursuing Buiruk of the Naimans, and fighting
+with Gugsu Seirak, thou didst make fires in the night time, deceitfully withdraw,
+and forsake me. As Gugsu Seirak missed seeing my forces he followed after thee swiftly.
+He captured the wives of thy brothers, and their warriors; he captured half thy people.
+Again thou didst ask me for aid and I gave it. I sent my four heroes who saved thee,
+and restored what the Naimans had taken. Thou didst thank me at that time most heartily.
+Why attack now without cause, why attack when I have not done any evil to thee or
+to Sengun, or harmed either one of you?”
+</p>
+<p>When the men gave these words to Wang Khan he sighed deeply and answered: “I should
+not have quarreled with Temudjin, I should have stayed with him.” Then he cut his
+middle finger and putting the blood from it into a small horn, he said: “If I harm
+Temudjin may I be cut as this finger is cut.” He gave the horn then to Temudjin’s
+messenger.
+</p>
+<p>To Jamuka Temudjin sent this message: “Through envy and hatred thou hast parted me
+from my father. In former days when we lived, thou and I, at his yurta, that one of
+us two who rose earlier took mare’s milk from the dark drinking cup kept by my father.
+I rose early always, and thou didst conceive toward me hatred at that time. Drink
+now from my father’s dark drinking cup, much loss there will not be to anyone from
+thy drinking.” Temudjin then commanded to say to Altan and to Huchar: “I know not
+why ye resolved to desert me, O Huchar. We wished <span class="pageNum" id="pb58">[<a href="#pb58">58</a>]</span>first to make thee khan since thou art the son of Naigun, but thou wert unwilling.
+Thy father, O Altan, ruled as khan once, hence we wished to choose thee to rule over
+us; thou wouldst not yield to our wishes. Sachai Baiki and Taichu, sons of Bartan
+had still higher claims, but both men rejected our offer. After that ye and with you
+the whole people proclaimed me as khan, though, as ye know, I was unwilling. Ye have
+withdrawn from me now and are helping Wang Khan. But ye have begun what ye never can
+finish. I advise you to meet me with confidence for without me ye are powerless. Work
+well with me to hold the headwaters of our rivers; let no stranger come in to snatch
+them from our people.”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin commanded to say to a slave named Togrul: “I have called thee my brother
+for the following reason: On a time Tumbinai and his brother Charaha had a slave known
+as Okda. This slave had a son Subaigai and he a son Kirsan Kokocho, and he a son Aiga
+Huantohar, this last man begat thee. Why dost thou flatter Wang Khan and adhere to
+him? Altan and Huchar would never let other men rule over my flock. Thou art my slave
+by inheritance, hence I address thee as brother.”
+</p>
+<p>To Sengun Temudjin sent this message: “I am a son of thy father born with my clothes
+on; thou art his son born in nakedness. Once our father showed equal kindness to both
+of us, but dark suspicion attacked thee, and thou, fearing lest I might trick thee
+in some way, conceived a great hatred and expelled me unjustly. Cease causing grief
+to thy father, go to him now and drive out his sorrow. Unless thou expel from thy
+heart that old envy against me it will be clear that thou hast the wish to be Khan
+ere thy father dies naturally. Shouldst thou wish to confer with me, and come to agreement
+send hither two men for that purpose.” Arkai Kassar and Suge Gaichaun gave these words
+to Sengun, and he answered:
+</p>
+<p>“When Temudjin spoke of my father as Khan he called him old murderer while he did
+so, and when he called me his sworn friend he jeered at me touching the Merkits, and
+said that I came to this world to handle rams’ tails and remnants. I know the hidden
+sense of his speeches, I know what his plans are. Battle is my first and last answer
+to Temudjin. Bilge Baiki and Todoyan raise ye the great standard; feed our steeds
+carefully.”
+</p>
+<p>When Arkai Kassar returned he told everything. Temudjin <span class="pageNum" id="pb59">[<a href="#pb59">59</a>]</span>went to the lake called Baljuna where many of the Kurulats came to him. Juchi Kassar
+had disobeyed Temudjin his elder brother, he had in fact been disloyal and had tampered
+with the enemy. Not present at the great Kalanchin battle he had either favored Wang
+Khan, or been captured with his children, his wife and his followers. After that he
+escaped with two servants and searched in hardship and hunger for Temudjin till finally
+he found him at Lake Tunga. Kassar turned now to his brother’s side thoroughly, and
+the two men examined how best they might fall on Wang Khan unexpectedly. They worked
+out their stratagem and sent Haliutar and Chaurhan as if going to Wang Khan with this
+message from Kassar: “I have seen not a shadow of my brother; I have gone over all
+roads without finding him; I called him, but he heard me not. I sleep at night with
+my face toward the stars and my head on a hillock. My children and wife are with thee,
+O Khan, my father. If thou send a trusty person I will go to thee. I will return and
+be faithful.” “Go,” said Temudjin to the messengers, “we will leave this place straightway,
+when ye return come to Arhalgougi on the Kerulon.” Temudjin then commanded Churchadai
+and Arkai Kassar to lead the vanguard.
+</p>
+<p>Kassar’s two servants appeared before Wang Khan and gave him the message as if coming
+from their master. Wang Khan had set up a golden tent and arranged a great feast in
+it. When he heard the words, he said: “If that is true, let Kassar come to us.” He
+sent with the two messengers Iturgyan, a trusted warrior. When not far from Arhalgougi
+Iturgyan judged by various signs that a camp must be near them, so he turned and rushed
+away. Haliutar, whose horse was far swifter, spurred on ahead of him, but not venturing
+to seize the man, blocked the road to his stallion. Chaurhan, who followed, struck
+Iturgyan’s horse in the spine with an arrow, brought him down to his haunches, and
+stopped him. They seized Iturgyan then and took him to Temudjin, who sent him to Kassar,
+who killed him.
+</p>
+<p>The two messengers then said: “Wang Khan has made a rich golden tent; he is careless
+and is feasting. This is the time to attack him.” “Very well,” said Temudjin, “let
+us hasten.” When they arrived at the place they surrounded Wang Khan, and a fierce
+battle followed. On the third day of this battle the Keraits had not strength to fight
+longer. Wang Khan and Sengun had <span class="pageNum" id="pb60">[<a href="#pb60">60</a>]</span>both vanished, no one knew by what road they had saved themselves, or when they had
+fled from the battle-ground.
+</p>
+<p>“I could not let you kill my sovereign,” said Hadak, the chief leader to Temudjin,
+“and I fought long to give Wang Khan and Sengun time to save themselves. If thou command
+I shall die, but if thou give life I will serve thee.” “A man fighting as thou hast
+to rescue his lord is a hero,” said Temudjin, “be one among mine and stay with me.”
+So he made Hadak a commander of one hundred, and bestowed him on Huildar’s widow.
+Since Huildar had planted the standard on Gubtan and fought with such valor his descendants
+had received for all time rewards assigned widows and orphans. Temudjin now divided
+the Keraits among his comrades, and assistants.
+</p>
+<p>Wang Khan’s brother, Jaganbo, had two daughters, the elder of these was Ibaha. Temudjin
+himself took Ibaha, and Sorkaktani, the younger, he gave to Tului, his son. Because
+of these daughters, Jaganbo’s inheritance was not given to other men. To Kishlik and
+Badai, the two horseherds who had warned him, he gave Wang Khan’s golden tent with
+all the gold dishes set out in it, and the men who had served at the tables. Kishlik
+and Badai with their children and grandchildren were to keep everything won by them
+in battle, and all the game taken in hunting.
+</p>
+<p>“These two men,” said Temudjin, as he gave their rights to them, “saved my life from
+Sengun and his father, and by Heaven’s help and protection I have crushed all the
+Kerait forces and won my dominion. Let my descendants remember the measure of this
+service. My enemies, not knowing Heaven’s will, wished to kill me. Kishlik who brought
+warning of their treachery, was in that hour Heaven’s envoy; hence I have given him
+Wang Khan’s golden tent with utensils and music, as I might to a prince of my family.”
+</p>
+<p>Wang Khan and Sengun had fled almost unattended toward the land of the Naimans. At
+Didik, a ford on the Naikun, Wang Khan, who was tortured with thirst, stopped to drink
+from the river. A Naiman watch, guarding the passage, seized the old Khan, and killed
+him (1203). Wang Khan told who he was, but the guard would not credit his story. He
+cut his head off immediately, and sent it to Baibuga. Sengun, being at some distance,
+did not rush up to rescue his father, but went with Kokocha, <span class="pageNum" id="pb61">[<a href="#pb61">61</a>]</span>his attendant, and Kokocha’s wife, farther west past the Naimans. He stopped to drink
+somewhat later and seeing a wild horse which flies were tormenting, he stole up to
+kill him. Kokocha wished now to desert and take Sengun’s saddle horse; he intended
+to tell Temudjin where Sengun was, but his wife was indignant. “How leave thy master,
+who gave thee food and good clothing, how desert him?” She refused to advance and
+was very angry. “Thou wilt not go with me? Dost wish to be wife to Sengun, perhaps?”
+asked Kokocha. “If thou go, O Kokocha, leave that gold cup behind. Let Sengun have
+even something to drink from.” Kokocha threw down the cup, and hurried off to find
+Temudjin.
+</p>
+<p>“How receive service from any man of this kind?” asked Temudjin when he heard how
+Kokocha had treated his master. The deserter told his tale, and was put to death straightway.
+But his wife was rewarded for her loyalty to Sengun.
+</p>
+<p>When Wang Khan’s head was brought to Baibuga his mother, Gurbaisu, had music before
+it with an offering. In the time of this ceremony the face seemed to smile at the
+honor. Baibuga, who thought the smile mockery, was offended and made the skull into
+a drinking cup rimmed and ornamented with silver.
+</p>
+<p>“In the East,” said Baibuga, “is that man Temudjin who drove out Wang Khan and brought
+him to ruin. This man may be thinking to make himself lord over all of us. There is
+only one sun in the heavens; how can two real lords be on earth at the same time?
+I will go to the East and seize this Temudjin, I will take all his people.”
+</p>
+<p>Sengun when deserted by Kokocha fled toward the Tibetan border and subsisted for a
+season by plundering, but was captured some time later and slain by Kilidj Arslan,
+the ruler of that region, who sent Sengun’s children and wives back to Temudjin, and
+submitted to his sovereignty.
+</p>
+<p>Thus perished the Khan of the Keraits and his son, and with them the separate existence
+of their people.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb62">[<a href="#pb62">62</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e867">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e867src">1</a></span> Great King in Chinese.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e867src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch4" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e307">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h2 class="main">TEMUDJIN TAKES THE TITLE OF JINGHIS AND REWARDS HIS EMPIRE BUILDERS</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">One more great struggle was in store now for Temudjin, that with Baibuga, the Naiman,
+his father-in-law. Baibuga, alarmed at the rising power of his own daughter’s husband,
+sent an envoy to Ala Kush Tegin, the Ongut chief, to get aid. “Thou knowest,” said
+Baibuga, “that two swords cannot be in one scabbard, or two souls in one body. Two
+eyes cannot be in one socket, or two sovereigns in one region. Make haste then to
+seize the horn of empire which this upstart is seeking.”
+</p>
+<p>Ala Kush and the Onguts lived next the Great Wall of China, and guarded it, at least,
+during intervals, for the emperor of China. This Ongut chief was sagacious; he was
+near Temudjin and remote from Baibuga; he judged that the former was rising and the
+latter declining; hence after some thought he neglected Baibuga, left his message
+unanswered, and sent an envoy to explain the whole matter to Temudjin. Baibuga found
+other allies, however.
+</p>
+<p>Knowing clearly his father-in-law’s intention, Temudjin did not fail to be first on
+the battle-ground. As the spring of 1204 was beginning he held a great council of
+his leaders. Some thought their horses too weak after winter, but others preferred
+to move promptly. Action pleased Temudjin, hence he set out immediately, but halted
+before he reached the Naiman boundary. It was autumn when he entered the enemy’s country,
+and found arrayed there against him men from the Merkits, the Keraits, Uirats, Durbans,
+Katkins, Tartars, and Saljuts. In fact, forces from each hostile people were ready
+before him in the hope of destroying, or at least undermining his primacy. There was
+also Jamuka, his irrepressible enemy. Temudjin ranged his army for action. <span class="pageNum" id="pb63">[<a href="#pb63">63</a>]</span>To Juchi Kassar, his brother, he confided the center. Overseeing himself the entire
+army, he reserved a certain part for his own use.
+</p>
+<p>When Jamuka saw this arrangement he said to his officers; “My friends, Temudjin knows
+how to range men for battle much better than Baibuga.” And foreseeing an evil end
+to Baibuga in that action Jamuka fled from the field of battle quickly.
+</p>
+<p>The two armies met and fought desperately from sunrise to sunset. Many times the great
+issue seemed doubtful, but when all was wavering like two even scales of a balance
+Temudjin came with new forces at the perilous moment and gave greater weight to his
+own side. Just after sunset the Naiman force broke and fled in confusion, sweeping
+with it Baibuga, badly wounded. The Taiyang fled on foot, first to a neighboring mountain
+where Kurbassu, his wife was. Later on he was hurried to a place of more safety, where
+he died soon of wounds and of blood loss. Temudjin, ever swift to pursue, hunted down
+his fleeing father-in-law; his men captured Kurbassu, who was joined to his household.
+They captured also Baibuka’s seal keeper, Tatungo, an Uigur of learning. Brought before
+Temudjin he explained what a seal is. “Remain with me,” said the conqueror, “use the
+seal in my name, and teach my sons the language, and lore of the wise Uigurs.”
+</p>
+<p>All allies of the Naimans submitted, except the Merkits and the Tartars, who fled
+from the battlefield. Gutchluk, Baibuga’s son, sought safety with Buiruk his uncle.
+</p>
+<p>At this time the Chatalans, the Katkins, and all others who had followed <span class="corr" id="xd32e1054" title="Source: Jemuka">Jamuka</span>, surrendered to Temudjin. Temudjin now hurried in pursuit of Tukta Bijhi, the chief
+of the Merkits. He hunted him to Sari Keher, and captured many of his people; but
+Tukta Bijhi fled farther with Chilaun and Katu, and a few attendants.
+</p>
+<p>At the beginning of the Merkit subjection, Dair Usun, chief of the Uasit Merkits,
+gave Kulan Khatun, his daughter, to Temudjin. When he was taking the girl to the conqueror
+the road was impassable through disorder. He met on the way a man, Naya of the Barins.
+“I am giving my daughter to Temudjin,” said Dair Usun to Naya. “Come with me,” answered
+Naya. “If thou go alone, wandering warriors will kill thee and do what they like with
+thy daughter.” So he and Dair Usun traveled three <span class="pageNum" id="pb64">[<a href="#pb64">64</a>]</span>days together, and after that Kulan was given to Temudjin, who on learning that she
+had been three days in company with Naya, was angry.
+</p>
+<p>“Torture this Naya,” said Temudjin, “learn all his secrets and kill him.” When they
+set about torturing Naya, Kulan spoke up to save him. “On the road Naya met us; he
+said that he was one of the Khan’s men, and since on the way there were many disorderly
+warriors he offered to help us. My father and I were three days in his company. Without
+Naya’s help I know not what would have happened. Torture him not, but if the Khan
+will be merciful examine my innocence.”
+</p>
+<p>“I serve my lord faithfully,” said Naya. “I hold it my duty to bring to him beautiful
+women, and the best of all horses. If there are thoughts beyond this in me, I am ready
+to die at any moment.”
+</p>
+<p>“Kulan speaks with wisdom,” said Temudjin. That same day the girl was examined. Temudjin
+grew convinced that she was truthful and liked her the more for her wisdom. He dismissed
+Naya, saying: “This man is not false, we may trust him with tasks of importance.”
+</p>
+<p>After the subjection of the Merkits Kuda, the wife of Tukta Bijhi was given to Temudjin’s
+son, Ogotai. Later on one-half of the Merkits revolted, retired and took Taikal a
+fortress in the mountains. The son of Sorgan Shira was sent to attack them. Temudjin
+himself went to the Altai, and there passed the winter. In the spring he crossed the
+mountains in search of Tukta Bijhi. At that time Gutchluk joined Tukta Bijhi; they
+drew up their army at the Irtish near its sources, and there Temudjin found and attacked
+them. Tukta Bijhi was killed in a very fierce battle, his sons were unable to bear
+off the body, so they cut his head from the trunk and thus saved it. The Merkits fled
+from the battlefield, and more than half of those warriors were drowned in the Irtish,
+the rest scattered and saved their lives as best they could. Gutchluk fled to the
+land of the Karluks, and still farther westward to the Gurkhan. Kutu and Chilaun fled
+through Kanli and Kincha.
+</p>
+<p>While all this was happening Sorgan Shira’s son captured the fortress at Taikal and
+killed or seized all the Merkits. Those who had not left their own home land revolted
+as well as the <span class="pageNum" id="pb65">[<a href="#pb65">65</a>]</span>others, but were captured through men sent by Temudjin to quell them.
+</p>
+<p>“If we let those people remain in one land,” declared Temudjin, “they will rise again,
+surely.” And he had them conducted in small bands to various new places. That same
+year Temudjin made an iron kibitka for Subotai, and sent him to hunt down and seize
+all the other sons of Tukta Bijhi. “Those men,” said Temudjin, “though defeated in
+battle, tore away recently, like wounded wild deer, or like wanton young stallions;
+and now thou must find them. If they fly on wings to the sky, become thou a falcon
+and catch them; if like mice they bore into the earth, be a strong iron spade and
+dig them out of it; if they hide as fish in the sea, be a net and enclose them. To
+cross deep ravines and high mountains choose the time when thy horses are not weary.
+Spare thy warriors on the road, and hunt not at all save when need comes. When thou
+must hunt, hunt very carefully. Let not thy warriors use croupers, or breast straps,
+lest their horses rush feebly. Should any man refuse thee obedience bring him hither,
+if I know him, if not do thou kill him on the place of refusal. If with Heaven’s aid
+and protection thou seize Tukta Bijhi’s sons, slay them straightway.” Then he added:
+“When I was young three bands of Merkits pursued me, and thrice did they ride round
+Mount Burhan. These men have fled now with loud insolent speeches, but do thou hunt
+them down to the uttermost limits if need be. I have made a kibitka of iron to convey
+and protect thee. Though far away thou wilt ever be near me. Heaven will keep thee
+most surely while traveling, and will give thee assistance.”
+</p>
+<p>When the Naimans and Merkits were captured by Temudjin, Jamuka had lost all his people,
+and was left in the land of the Naimans deprived of property, and attended by only
+five servitors. He went then to the mountain Tanlu and lived there by robbery and
+hunting. One day those five servitors seized him and took him to his enemy. Jamuka
+sent these words then to Temudjin. “Slaves had the insolence to seize their own master,
+and betray him. Mistake not, O Khan, my friend, these words which I send thee.”
+</p>
+<p>“Is it possible to leave men unpunished who betray?” asked Temudjin. “Give them to
+death with their children and grandchildren!” Then he commanded to slay those five
+traitors <span class="pageNum" id="pb66">[<a href="#pb66">66</a>]</span>before the eyes of Jamuka to whom he sent at the same time this message: “Once I made
+thee a shaft of my kibitka, but thou didst desert me. Thou hast joined me again, so
+now be my comrade. Should one of us forget, the other will remind him. If one falls
+asleep the other will rouse him. Though thou didst leave me, thou wert still in reality
+my assistant. Though thou didst oppose I got no harm in the end from that action.
+When thou and I had a battle thy heart was regretful, apparently. When I warred with
+Wang Khan thou didst send me his discourses. That was the earliest service. When I
+was battling with the Naimans thy words made their hearts shake; that was another
+good service.”
+</p>
+<p>These words were taken to Jamuka and he answered: “When we became andas in boyhood
+we ate food too strong for our stomachs; we gave words to each other which nothing
+can take from our memory. People roused us to quarrel and we parted. I blush when
+I think of my speeches uttered once to my anda, and I dare not look now at thee. It
+is thy wish that I be for the future thy comrade. I might call myself thy comrade,
+but I could be no comrade to thee in reality. Thou hast joined peoples together, thou
+hast built up dominion, no man on earth can now be thy comrade. Unless thou kill me
+I shall be for thee henceforth like a louse on thy collar outside, or a thorn in thy
+inner neck-band. Thou wouldst not be at rest in the daytime, while at night thou wouldst
+sleep with alarm in thy bosom were I to be near thee. Thy mother is prudent, thou
+thyself art a hero, thy brothers are gifted, thy comrades are champions, thou hast
+seventy-three leaders, but from childhood I have had neither father nor mother, I
+have no brothers, my wife is a babbler, my comrades are traitors, hence, O my anda,
+whom Heaven has preferred, give me death the more quickly that thy heart may be quiet.
+If thou let me die without blood loss I, after death and for ages, will help thy descendants
+and protect them.”
+</p>
+<p>On hearing this answer Temudjin said: “Jamuka, my anda, went his own way in life,
+but his words have in fact never harmed me. He is a man who might change even now,
+but he has not the wish to live longer. I have tried divination to search out good
+reasons to kill him, but have not discovered them thus far. What must I do? He is
+a man of distinction, and we may not <span class="pageNum" id="pb67">[<a href="#pb67">67</a>]</span>take his life without reasons. Ah, now I have found the right reason! Say this to
+him: ‘Because of horse stealing and quarrels between Taichar, my slave, and Darmala,
+thy brother, thou didst attack me and fight at Baljuna; thou didst frighten me dreadfully.
+I wish now to forgive thee, and make thee my comrade, but thou art unwilling. I am
+sorry that thy life should be taken, but thou wilt not permit me to save it; hence
+we must do what thou wishest.<span class="corr" id="xd32e1081" title="Not in source">’</span>”
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin then commanded to take life from Jamuka without blood loss, and bury him
+with honor. Altan and Huchar were put to death also at that time.
+</p>
+<p>When Temudjin had subdued to his own undivided dominion the various peoples opposed
+to him he raised on the Upper Onon, in 1206, his great standard of nine white tails
+and took the title Jinghis (Mighty) to distinguish him from all other Khans. After
+that he rewarded Munlik, Boörchu, Mukuli and others who had helped him in building
+the Empire, and those who had shown special service. “Thou hast been to me a comrade,”
+said Jinghis (as we shall now call Temudjin), to Munlik his step-father, “thou hast
+helped me very often, but above all when Wang Khan and his son were enticing me to
+a false feast to kill me. If I had not halted that day I should have dropped into
+hot fire and deep water. I remember this service of thine, and will not let my descendants
+forget it. Henceforth thou wilt sit first in thy order. As I reward thee by the year,
+or the month, so will that reward be continued to all thy descendants unbrokenly.”
+</p>
+<p>“In my youth,” said Jinghis to Boörchu, “Taidjut thieves stole my eight horses; I
+had chased three days and nights after them when I met thee; thou didst become then
+my comrade and ride three days and nights with me to find and restore those eight
+horses. Why did it happen that Nahu Boyan, thy rich father, who had only one son,
+let that son be my comrade? Because in thee traits of high justice were evident. After
+that when I called thee to help me thou didst not refuse and wert prompt in thy coming.
+When the three Merkit clans drove me into the forests of Mount Burhan thou didst not
+desert me; thou didst share my great suffering. When I spent a night before the enemy
+at Talan and a great blinding rain came thou didst give me rest, and spread out thy
+felt robe above me, and stand there and hold it, and not let that rain touch me. Thou
+didst stand in that painful position <span class="pageNum" id="pb68">[<a href="#pb68">68</a>]</span>until daybreak, resting first on one leg and then on the other. This proves thy unbounded
+devotion. It would not be possible to recount all the good deeds which thou hast done
+since I saw thee the first day. Besides thou and Mukuli advised me to that which was
+proper, and stopped me from that which should be omitted. Through doing the right
+thing in every great trial I have reached my high power and dominion. Sit thou now
+with a few men above all others. I free thee from punishment for nine death offenses.
+Be a commander of ten thousand, and rule the land westward till thou touch the Golden
+Mountains.”<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e1090src" href="#xd32e1090">1</a>
+</p>
+<p>Then he turned to Mukuli and said to him: “When we were at Hórho Nachubur at the thick
+spreading tree under which Khan Kutula made merry and was dancing, Heaven bestowed
+wisdom and tidings which became clear to thee. I remember the words given then by
+thy keen father, Gunua, and I make thee prince now because of those words, and thy
+conduct ever after. Sit thou above other men in society, be a commander of ten thousand
+on the left wing, and govern on the east to the <span class="corr" id="xd32e1095" title="Source: Haraün">Haraun</span> mountains. Thy descendants will inherit thy dignity.”
+</p>
+<p>“In youth,” said Jinghis to Horchi, “thou didst prophesy touching me; thou didst share
+with me toils after that and wert to me a true comrade. Now when thy words of fore-knowledge
+are verified and proven, I give thee what thou didst ask for at that time: I give
+thee the right to choose for thyself thirty beautiful maidens and women among all
+conquered nations. Bring together three thousand of the Bali, the Adarki and other
+clans ruled by Achik and by Togai, and when thou hast ten thousand assembled command
+them and govern those people. Put up thy camps as may please thee among forest nations
+on the Irtish, and guard well that region. Let all affairs there be under thy management,
+thou hast now thy heart’s wish.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis turned then to Churchadai: “Thy greatest service,” said he, “was in that dreadful
+battle at Kalanchin against the strong Khan of the Keraits. When Huildar declared
+that he would seize and hold Gubtan thou didst take the vanguard. Success in that
+desperate encounter came from thee beyond any man. Thou didst break and hurl back
+the Jirkins, the strongest of the enemy, and after them came still <span class="pageNum" id="pb69">[<a href="#pb69">69</a>]</span>others who broke the line of my own chosen body-guard, who held the strong central
+position. Thou didst wound with thy own hand Sengun in the cheek while he was making
+the last fearful onrush. Hadst thou not struck him then, it is unknown what would
+have followed. Later on, when we were moving down the Kalka, I relied upon thee as
+I might on a lofty immovable mountain. On arriving at Baljuna thou didst fight in
+the vanguard again, and with Heaven’s great assistance we crushed the Keraits at last,
+and because of that triumph the Naimans and the Merkits could not resist us, and were
+scattered. When they were scattered, Jaganbo gave me his daughters and thus saved
+his people, but later on he revolted; then thou didst think out a plan to entrap him
+and capture his people. That is thy second great service.”
+</p>
+<p>With these words Jinghis gave Churchadai his own wife, Ibaha, the daughter of Jaganbo,
+to whom he spoke then as follows: “Ibaha, I do this not because I have ceased to love
+thee, not because thou hast an evil temper of mind, or art lacking in beauty. I give
+thee to Churchadai to reward him in the highest way possible. I give thee to Churchadai
+because of his inestimable service, and I desire those of my sons and descendants
+who shall receive the throne after me to honor the dignity and fame of Ibaha. Now
+thou wilt grant me a favor: Thy father gave with thee Ashi Timur, who is master of
+thy kitchen and two hundred men to work under him. In going leave with me one hundred
+of those men, and leave also Ashi.” Then Jinghis said to Churchadai: “I command thee
+to govern four thousand of the Uruts. Thou didst tame the wild, and bring down the
+rebellious, thou and Chelmai with Chepé and Subotai. Ye have been like four raging
+watch-dogs in swiftness. If I sent you to any place ye crushed hard immense stones
+into gravel, ye overturned cliffs, and stopped the great rush of deep waters, hence
+I command you to be in the battle front. The four heroes: Boörchu, Mukuli, Boroul
+and Chilaun I command to be behind me. Churchadai to be in front, and thus make my
+heart free to be fearless. Kubilai be the elder in all warlike matters and decisions.”
+Then he added: “Because of disobedience I do not make Baidun a commander apart and
+independent; I join him to thy person, that is better. Let him act with thee, and
+see thou what will come of it.”
+</p>
+<p>After that Jinghis said to Boörchu and others: “Hunán is like <span class="pageNum" id="pb70">[<a href="#pb70">70</a>]</span>a fearless wolf in the night time, in the day he is like a black raven. He joined
+me and never would act with bad people. In every affair take ye counsel with Hunán
+and Kokosi. Let Hunán be commander of ten thousand under my eldest son, Juchi. No
+matter what Hunán and Kokosi and Daigai and Usun heard and saw they kept back no word,
+and never distorted a word which they told me.”
+</p>
+<p>“When I was born at the river Onon,” said Jinghis to Chelmai, “thy father came from
+Mount Burhan with the bellows of a blacksmith on his shoulders, and brought a sable
+wrap to put around me. Thou wert in swaddling clothes that day, O Chelmai, and he
+gave thee to serve me for life and inseparably. Thou hast grown up with me, and shown
+immense service. Thou art my fortunate comrade. I release thee from nine death penalties
+and reward thee.”
+</p>
+<p>“In former times,” said Jinghis to Vanguru, the master of nourishment, “thou with
+three yurtas of the Tokuruts, and five yurtas of Torguts, and with the Chanshikits
+and the Baiyuts made one single camp with me. In darkness and fog thou hast never
+lost thy way marching. In scattering and disorder thou hast never lost thy head, thou
+hast endured cold and wet with me always and nothing could shake or discourage thee.
+What reward dost thou wish of me this day?”
+</p>
+<p>“If thou in thy favor command me to choose,” said Vanguru, “I should wish to collect
+all the Baiyuts who are scattered.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis consented. “Collect them, be their commander and govern them,” was his answer.
+And he continued: “Vanguru and Boroul while managing on the right and the left as
+masters of nourishment, and dispensing food justly, ye have pleased my heart well,
+so henceforth sit ye on horseback when food and drink are dispensed to great gatherings
+in the open. While feasting in tents take your places on the right and the left at
+the door on the south side, and send food and drink to all present.”
+</p>
+<p>“My mother took you,” said Jinghis to Shigi Kutuku and Boroul and Kuichu and Kokochu,
+“from camps where men left you, she made you her sons, she reared and prepared you
+to be comrades to us, her own children. Ye have paid her well for this benefaction.
+Boroul was my comrade in the perils of battle, in nights of snow and of rain and of
+tempest. When exposed to the enemy he never <span class="pageNum" id="pb71">[<a href="#pb71">71</a>]</span>let me lack drink or food. On a time when we had destroyed nearly all of the Tartars,
+one of them, Hargil Shila, while fleeing for his life felt great hunger and turned
+to get food from my mother. ‘If thou desire food,’ said she to the Tartar, ‘sit on
+that side of the entrance.’ He sat at the west of the door and there waited. Just
+then Tului, my son, who was five years of age, came in and was going out soon after
+when the Tartar caught him, thrust him under his arm and snatched a knife quickly.
+‘He will kill the child!’ screamed my mother. Altani, Boroul’s wife, who was sitting
+east of the door, rushed at the Tartar, caught his hair with one hand and pulled his
+knife with the other so vigorously that she and the knife fell together. Now Chedai
+and Chelmai, who had just killed a cow a little north of the yurta, heard Altani screaming.
+They ran, one with a knife, the other with an axe and killed the stranger. Altani,
+Chedai and Chelmai disputed then as to who had shown the greatest service. ‘If we
+had not run up,’ said Chedai and Chelmai, ‘thou couldst not have managed the Tartar,
+O woman, and he would have finished Tului.’ ‘If I had not screamed,’ said Altani,
+‘ye would not have run up, and if I had not seized his hair and snatched the knife
+from him, Tului would have perished ere ye could have saved him.’ Boroul’s wife won
+the word battle. In the struggle with Wang Khan at Kalanchin, Ogotai was wounded in
+the neck with an arrow. Boroul sucked the blood from the wound, and thus saved him
+from stifling. He has repaid very richly the trouble of rearing him by saving two
+sons of mine. In the most difficult places he was never neglectful, hence nine times
+will I save him from suffering the death penalty.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis spoke next to Sorgan Shira: “When I was young,” said he, “Targutai Kurultuk,
+with his brethren the Taidjuts, captured me. Thou, with thy son, hid me at thy yurta
+and commanded Kadan, thy daughter, to serve me, and ye then gave me freedom. Day and
+night I remember this service, but ye came to me late and only now am I able to reward
+you. What may your wish be?” “We should like,” answered they, “to make a camp in the
+Merkit land, at Sailyange, and whatever other reward may be possible, let the Khan
+give it.” “Let it be as ye wish; make your camp in that country. Besides, let all
+your descendants bear arrows and bows, and drink a cup of wine in the camp of the
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb72">[<a href="#pb72">72</a>]</span>Khan when ye come to it. Nine death offenses will be forgiven you.” To Chilaun and
+Chinbo, sons of Sorgan Shira, he said: “How could I forget the words spoken once on
+a time by you, and the deeds done when ye spoke thus. Now should anything fail you
+come yourselves and inform me,” and he said further: “Sorgan Shira, Badai and Kishlik,
+ye are free. Keep all the booty which ye may take during warfare at any time, and
+whatever game ye kill in hunting. Sorgan Shira, once thou wert Todayan’s servant.
+Badai and Kishlik, ye were horseherds to Aike Cheran; live with me henceforth and
+be happy.”
+</p>
+<p>“When thou with thy father seized Targutai,” said Jinghis to Naya, “thou didst say:
+‘How could we yield up our master?’ Ye let him go then and came to me as subjects.
+For that reason I said: ‘Those people understand lofty duty, I will trust them.’ Boörchu
+is now commander of ten thousand on the right hand. Mukuli is commander of ten thousand
+on the left, be thou a commander in the center.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis then directed Daigai, his shepherd, to collect homeless people and command
+them. When all who had labored to build up the Empire had received their rewards and
+offices Jinghis Khan’s step-father, Munlik, brought his seven sons to the assembly
+and received for them good recognition. The fourth man of these was a shaman, Kokochu,
+a man of boundless ambition. Taibtengeri was his second name. No one could tell who
+among these seven brothers was the most self-willed and bitter. One day they attacked
+Juchi Kassar and beat him. Kassar complained to Jinghis of this treatment; Jinghis
+became angry. “Thou hast boasted,” said he, “that no man is thy equal in valor and
+skill. If that be true why let those fellows beat thee?” Kassar shed tears from vexation,
+went out, and for three days after that made no visit to his brother. Meanwhile Taibtengeri
+went to Jinghis to incense him against Kassar. “The spirit has given me a sacred command
+from High Heaven,” said the shaman, “Jinghis will rule people at first, and then will
+come Kassar. If thou set not Kassar aside thy rule will be short-lived.”
+</p>
+<p>When Jinghis heard these words he went that same night to seize Kassar. Kuichu and
+others informed Hoelun, who set out that night also in a kibitka drawn by a swift
+going camel. She reached Kassar’s yurta at sunrise, just as Jinghis, having tied <span class="pageNum" id="pb73">[<a href="#pb73">73</a>]</span>Kassar’s sleeves, had taken cap and girdle from him and was asking him questions.
+When Jinghis saw his mother he was wonderfully astonished, and alarmed also. Hoelun
+was very angry. Stepping out of her kibitka, she untied Kassar, gave him back cap
+and girdle, then sitting down, she put her feet under her, bared her bosom and addressed
+the two brothers: “See these breasts of mine both of you? Ye two have drunk from them.
+What crime has Kassar committed that thou, Temudjin, art destroying thy own kindred
+flesh in this brother? When thou wert an infant thou didst drink from this breast;
+neither thou, Temudjin nor Temugu could draw my breasts thoroughly; only Kassar could
+empty both sides and relieve me. Temudjin, thou hast gifts, but Kassar alone has the
+strength and the art to shoot arrows. Whenever men have risen in rebellion he has
+brought them down with his arrows, and tamed them. Every enemy now is destroyed, and
+Kassar is needed no longer.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis waited till Hoelun’s anger had subsided. Then he said: “I was frightened when
+I acted. I am ashamed at this moment.” He went out after these words, but later, unknown
+to his mother, he took away Kassar’s people, for the most part, leaving only fourteen
+hundred yurtas. At first he had given him four thousand. When Hoelun learned of this
+action she grieved much, and died shortly after. Chebke was placed then with Kassar
+to guard him.
+</p>
+<p>After this many men gathered to the shaman, Taibtengeri, among others people who belonged
+to Temugu, Jinghis’s youngest brother. Temugu sent Sokor to lead back those people,
+but Taibtengeri beat him, put a saddle on his back, and sent him to his mother. Next
+day Temugu went himself to Taibtengeri. The seven brothers surrounded him. “How didst
+thou dare to send men to take people from us?” roared the brothers, and they were
+ready to beat him. “I ought not to have sent men to you,” said Temugu, much frightened.
+“As thou art to blame, then beg pardon.” And they forced him to kneel to them straightway.
+</p>
+<p>The next day, very early, while Jinghis was in bed, Temugu fell on his knees before
+him and told how Taibtengeri and his brothers had treated him. He wept while relating
+the details. Jinghis had said no word yet, when Bortai came from her bed <span class="pageNum" id="pb74">[<a href="#pb74">74</a>]</span>with a blanket around her and, shedding tears meanwhile, spoke as follows: “This man
+has beaten Kassar, and now he has forced Temugu to his knees to beg pardon. What kind
+of order is this in thy dominion? If while thou art living they ruin thy brothers,
+majestic as cedars, when thou art dead the people, who are like grass blown by wind,
+or a mere flock of birds, will not obey thy small, helpless children.”
+</p>
+<p>“Taibtengeri will come to-day,” said Jinghis to Temugu. “Deal with him as thou pleasest.”
+Temugu went out and agreed with three very strong wrestlers. Munlik came later with
+his seven sons, and when Taibtengeri sat near the door on the west side, Temugu, as
+he passed, seized him roughly by the collar. “Yesterday,” said he, “thou didst force
+me to my knees; I will try strength to-day with thee.” While Temugu was struggling
+with him the cap fell from the head of the shaman; Munlik took the cap and put it
+under his arm. “Wrestle not here!” cried Jinghis, “go outside.” When the two men stepped
+forth from the yurta Taibtengeri was seized by the wrestlers who broke his spine and
+threw him aside to the left where he fell near the wheel of a kibitka. “Taibtengeri,”
+said Temugu to Jinghis, “forced me to my knees yesterday to beg pardon; now when I
+wish to try strength with him, he lies down and refuses to rise. It is clear that
+he is a coward.”
+</p>
+<p>Munlik understood and began to weep bitterly. “O Khan,” said he, “I was thy assistant
+before thou wert even at the beginning of thy greatness, and I have continued to serve
+thee till this day.” While he was speaking his six sons stood near the center of the
+yurta and watched the door. They began to put up their sleeves as if for a struggle.
+Jinghis rose. He was frightened, but shouted with sternness and authority, “Aside,
+I wish to go out!” He went out, and his body-guard of archers surrounded him. Seeing
+that Taibtengeri was dead, Jinghis commanded to pitch his own tent above the shaman’s
+body, and then he went to another place. In the tent put over the body the door and
+upper aperture were fastened, and at first a guard was placed around it. On the third
+day at dawn the upper aperture opened, and the body of the wizard was lifted out through
+it. When inquiries were made, all learned that the body had vanished through the upper
+aperture, or smoke hole.
+</p>
+<p>“Taibtengeri calumniated my brothers and beat them,” said <span class="pageNum" id="pb75">[<a href="#pb75">75</a>]</span>Jinghis, “hence Heaven looked on him with anger, and snatched away both his life and
+his body.” After that he reproached Munlik sharply: “Thou hast failed,” said he, “to
+teach thy sons what was needed very greatly in their case—obedience. This one tried
+to equal me, hence I extinguished him. Had I known thee earlier I should have put
+an end to thee, as I have to Jamuka, to Altan and Kudjeir. But if a man gives a word
+in the morning and breaks it ere night comes, or gives it in the evening and breaks
+it in the morning, the judgment of people will shame him. I have promised to save
+thee from death, so let us now end this matter.”
+</p>
+<p>After these words Jinghis Khan’s anger was diminished. When Taibtengeri was dead the
+vanity of Munlik and his sons decreased greatly and soon disappeared altogether.
+</p>
+<p>In 1207 a new and victorious campaign was begun against Tangut which had failed to
+pay tribute, but was brought down now, thoroughly, at least, for a season. The subjection
+of the Kirghis and this new victory over Tangut secured the position of Jinghis in
+Northeastern Asia. There was not one man now to challenge his dominion. Groups of
+people, or tribes, might rebel, but there was no power to stop him or modify his policy.
+He was preparing to meet foreign nations. The first turn was for China.
+</p>
+<p>Kara Kitai (Black Cathay) was at that time a very large Empire composed of many nations.
+The ruler of each of these nations acknowledged the overlordship of the Gurkhan or
+sovereign. In length Kara Kitai extended westward from Tangut to the Kwaresmian Empire,
+and in width from the Upper Irtish to the Pamir highlands. Within its borders were
+the lakes now known as Balkash, Issikkul and Lob Nor. Of cities now existing, Kuldja
+would be close to the center, Kashgar and Yarkend a good distance from its western
+border, while Khotan would be well removed from its southernmost limit.
+</p>
+<p>Nearly all Central Asia was included in this Empire, while vassal states extended
+far beyond its western and southwestern borders. The Uigurs, whose chief city was
+Bish Calik, lived in the northeast corner of the Empire and touched on the Naimans.
+These Uigurs are famous, at least among scholars, as having been the most devoted
+to learning of all Turkish nations; from them <span class="pageNum" id="pb76">[<a href="#pb76">76</a>]</span>it was that the Mongols received an alphabet and their earliest instruction.
+</p>
+<p>The Idikut, or ruler, of the Uigurs acknowledged the Gurkhan as overlord, but the
+yearly tribute which he paid, and the daily tyranny of the agent near his court, so
+annoyed him that he took this official’s life at a place known as Kara Kodja. He resolved
+thereupon to seek the protection of Jinghis, whose triumphs and whose power were threatening
+even China, and filling all Asia with amazement and terror. Bardjuk, the watchful
+Idikut, had appointed an embassy to the conqueror, but events had delayed its departure.
+</p>
+<p>When the three sons of Tukta Bijhi and their uncle fled taking their father’s head,
+which they had cut with all haste from his body on the battlefield, they despatched
+an envoy in advance to the Idikut to beg a refuge for themselves, and protection.
+The Idikut, seeing danger in their visit, slew the envoy, took the field against the
+brothers, and scattered all their forces. But later on he was troubled greatly by
+this act; for these new opponents might side with the Mongols, or they might join
+the Gurkhan; they might rouse either party to move against him. The Idikut’s delight
+was great, therefore, and genuine when Mongol envoys appeared before him. Jinghis
+had heard of the Idikut’s resolve, and, knowing well what good might rise from it,
+had taken action very promptly, and despatched as envoys Alp Utug and Durbai to the
+ruler of the Uigurs.
+</p>
+<p>The Idikut showed the highest honor to these envoys, and dismissed them with every
+mark of courtesy and friendship, associating two envoys of his own to bear to Jinghis
+Khan the following message: “The fame of the world-conquering sovereign has come to
+me. I have agreed till very recently with the Gurkhan, and was just preparing to explain
+through an embassy a change in my position, and to yield myself with upright heart
+to thee, all conquering and mighty sovereign. While thinking over this I saw thy envoys
+coming toward me, and then I beheld a blue heaven through the clouds around me. I
+beheld a bright sun in the sky. I saw besides a blue shining river where just before
+the ice had hidden everything. I was filled with delight to my innermost being. I
+yield to thee the land of the Uigurs. I myself am the servant and son of Jinghis Khan
+the Immovable.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb77">[<a href="#pb77">77</a>]</span></p>
+<p>At first sight it might seem that the Mongol Khan would be satisfied with a statement
+of this kind, but he was far from satisfaction, for just then came four envoys from
+the sons of Tukta Bijhi, declaring their subjection,
+</p>
+<p>The Uigur envoys were received with every honor, but since he doubted the Idikut’s
+sincerity, Jinghis sent envoys a second time with this message: “If the Idikut has
+the honest wish to subject himself let him come to us in person, and present us with
+what there is of greatest value in his treasure house.”
+</p>
+<p>On hearing this message the Idikut went to his treasure house and took from it the
+best of gold, silver, pearls, and other precious objects. These were sent to Jinghis
+Khan that same summer, but the Idikut excused himself from offering them in person,
+and added various reasons to explain his own absence.
+</p>
+<p>Fresh disorders broke out in Tangut, which caused new campaigning. The Mongols invaded
+that country a third time, routed its warriors, captured the city of Uiraka and the
+fortress of Imen. A second Tangut army was scattered, and Chong sing, the chief capital,
+was invested. During this siege peace was concluded and the Tangut king gave his daughter
+to Jinghis in marriage.
+</p>
+<p>During 1209 the Mongol sovereign returned home in triumph and found Arslan Khan of
+the Karluks and the Idikut of the Uigurs waiting to render him homage. Arslan Khan
+had till then ruled conjointly with an agent of the Gurkhan, his suzerain. But, as
+the power of the Gurkhan had diminished in recent days very sensibly, many princes,
+who had recognized him up to that time, revolted. Among these was the Sultan of Khotan,
+who marched against him with an army, and persuaded Arslan Khan to drop allegiance.
+Arslan made haste to help the Sultan all the more, since at that time he was advised
+of the Gurkhan’s plans by that sovereign’s deceitful Emir, Tanigu. This traitor so
+represented Arslan to his overlord, the Gurkhan, that the latter gave him the title
+“son,” and appointed for him the agent whom Tanigu recommended. But when Mongol victories
+sent panic throughout Northern Asia, Arslan acted quickly. He slew the agent of the
+Gurkhan, joined Jinghis Khan very promptly, and waited for his favor.
+</p>
+<p>Arslan said that if he received a golden girdle, and a high position <span class="pageNum" id="pb78">[<a href="#pb78">78</a>]</span>in the Mongol service he would have one wish alone ungratified: to be the fifth son
+of the great Khan. Jinghis, divining this wish of his, or learning of it, had it gratified.
+He gave Arslan his daughter, Altun Bighi, in marriage, and with her the title of fifth
+son was added.
+</p>
+<p>Thus Jinghis Khan was intrenched in Kara Kitai very firmly. His next move was on Kitai
+itself, the great North China Empire. He was now master of mighty legions drawn from
+all tribes whose leaders and chiefs he had driven from existence in that fierce fight
+for dominion, during which no mercy had been manifest on either side, but in which
+greater wisdom, with keenness and skill, also fortune to some extent, were with Jinghis.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb79">[<a href="#pb79">79</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e1090">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e1090src">1</a></span> The Altai.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e1090src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e316">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER V</h2>
+<h2 class="main">JINGHIS KHAN’S TRIUMPHANT ADVANCE BEYOND THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Many provinces of China had been subject to foreign rule for three centuries. After
+the fall of the Tang dynasty, which had ruled the whole country from 618 to 907, this
+immense Empire fell to commanders of provinces and was cut up into ten states co-existent
+and separate. Intestine wars, the result of this parceling, favored the rise of a
+new power in Northern Asia.
+</p>
+<p>The Kitans, who formed a part of the Manchu stock, held that country from the Sungari
+southward as far as the present Shan hai kuan, and from the Khingan range on the west
+to Corea. These people had for a long time been vassals of Tartar Khans, and next
+of Chinese Emperors. They were divided into eight tribes, each with its own chief
+or manager. Abaki, the head of the Sheliyu tribe, which owned the district known at
+the present as Parin, gained supreme power in 907, and used the whole strength of
+the Kitans to subdue Northern Asia. In 916, he proclaimed himself sovereign, and when
+he died, ten years later, his dominion extended eastward to the ocean, and westward
+to the Golden Mountains or to the Altai.
+</p>
+<p>Tekoan, the son of this first Kitan ruler, by giving the aid of his arms to a rebel
+chieftain in China, secured victory, and a throne for him. In return for such service
+the newly made Emperor, who fixed his residence or capital at the present Kai fong
+fu on the south bank of the Hoang Ho, or Yellow River, ceded sixteen districts to
+Tekoan in Pehche li, Shan si and Liao tung, engaging also to furnish three hundred
+thousand pieces of silk as his annual tribute.
+</p>
+<p>The new Chinese Emperor took the position of vassal to the Kitan, and termed himself
+his grandson and subject. The <span class="pageNum" id="pb80">[<a href="#pb80">80</a>]</span>successor to this Chinese ruler sought to modify these conditions. Tekoan made war
+on him; conquered all the provinces north of the Hoang Ho, seized Pien (Kai fong fu),
+captured the Emperor and sent him to regions north of China.
+</p>
+<p>Following Chinese usage the Kitan took a new name for his dynasty, calling it Liao,
+that is Iron.
+</p>
+<p>After the fall of the Tang dynasty five petty lines followed one another on the throne
+of Kai fong fu in the course of five decades. On the ruins of these dynasties in 960
+the house of Sung united nearly all China. This house made war on the Kitans, but
+failed to win back the districts previously ceded to them, and in 1004, because of
+hostile action by the Kitans, the Sung Emperor, to gain peace, engaged to pay an annual
+tribute both in silk and silver.
+</p>
+<p>The Kitan Empire lasted two centuries and assumed in its functions Chinese forms,
+at least externally, but Chinese methods made it feeble. After strong and warlike
+chiefs came weak and timid Emperors. At last a great man named Aguta rose among the
+Jutchis, a nomad people living in the lands between the Amoor, the Eastern Ocean and
+the Sungari River. These formed part of the same Tungus stock as did the Kitans, but
+they were untouched as yet by luxury.
+</p>
+<p>In 1114 Aguta gained a victory over the Kitans, and the following year proclaimed
+himself Emperor of the Jutchis. The new State he called Aidjin Kurun (Kin kwe in Chinese),
+that is, Golden Kingdom. He would not act, he said, like the Kitans, who had taken
+the name of a metal that is eaten by rust very easily and ruined.
+</p>
+<p>Aguta subdued the whole Kitan Empire, and died in 1123. Two years later his successor
+seized Yeliu yen hi, the ninth and last Emperor of the Kitan dynasty, which had endured
+nine years and two centuries.
+</p>
+<p>The Sung Emperor had abetted Aguta, and even urged him towards victory, hoping thus
+to regain the lands lying between the Yellow Sea and the Yellow River. The Kitans
+were crushed in the conflict, but the new power (the Kin dynasty) was more dangerous
+for him than the old, as he learned to his cost very quickly. In 1125 the Kin Emperor
+invaded North China; the year following he reached the Hoang Ho, or Yellow River,
+and besieged Kai fong fu which lies south of it. The Sung Emperor, who visited <span class="pageNum" id="pb81">[<a href="#pb81">81</a>]</span>the camp of the invader to find peace there if possible, was seized and sent to Manchuria
+with his family. One of his brothers, living then in the South, was made sovereign
+by the Chinese. The Kins advanced farther, reached the Yang tse and took Lin ngan
+in the Che kiang province. They forced the Emperor to acknowledge their conquest and
+promise a yearly payment of twenty-five thousand pieces of silk with two hundred and
+fifty thousand ounces of silver, and to avow himself a vassal in addition.
+</p>
+<p>The rivers <span class="corr" id="xd32e1188" title="Source: Hoaï">Hoai</span> and Han formed the boundary between the two Empires, and now the Kin Empire reached
+a line almost half way between the great rivers Hoang Ho and Yang tse. The Sung Emperor
+moved his capital to Lin ngan, known as Han chau somewhat later. The Kins took up
+arms to extend their new Empire still farther southward, but were confronted by failure.
+The war ended in 1165 by a treaty which retained former boundaries, but decreased
+the Sung tribute. The southern Emperor, moreover, instead of being a vassal to him
+of the north, acquired the relation of a nephew to an uncle. But in 1206 the Sung
+Emperor began a new war which brought defeat to him. To restore peace he was forced
+now to pay the original tribute.
+</p>
+<p>About the middle of the 12th century the Kins had chosen the present Pekin as their
+residence; they called it Chong tu, or the middle capital. Lords over one third of
+China, they had adopted the customs and laws of that country. Their dominion extended
+on the north beyond China proper to Lake Baikal and the great Amoor River. The Kitans,
+once masters, had now become subjects to the Kin dynasty, but in 1162 they revolted;
+after that they were by force brought down to obedience.
+</p>
+<p>Some years before, the Kins had had a struggle with the Mongols which for the Kins
+proved disastrous. They ended it by making concessions. The Mongol chieftain then
+took the title of Khan, which he kept ever after.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis, in beginning a war against China, was really attacking the Northern, or Kin
+dynasty, which had driven out that of the Kitans, hence, very naturally, he turned
+for co-operation to the Kitans. Madaku, the Kin Emperor, died in November 1209, and
+in 1210 an envoy informed Jinghis Khan that Chong hei, the eighth of the dynasty,
+had succeeded Madaku. The envoy demanded that the vassal, as he claimed to consider
+Jinghis, <span class="pageNum" id="pb82">[<a href="#pb82">82</a>]</span>should receive the announcement while kneeling, in accordance with the etiquette of
+China.
+</p>
+<p>“Who is this new Emperor?” asked Jinghis of the envoy.
+</p>
+<p>“Prince Chong hei.”
+</p>
+<p>On hearing the name Jinghis spat toward the South, and then added: “I thought that
+the Son of Heaven must be lofty and uncommon, but how is this idiot Chong hei to sit
+on a throne, and why should I lower myself in his presence?” Then he mounted his steed
+and rode away without further word or explanation. He summoned his leaders at once,
+and said to them: “My forefathers suffered very greatly, as ye know, from Chinese
+monarchs; and still those same monarchs failed to conquer this land of ours after
+centuries of effort. Heaven has granted me victory over every opponent and permitted
+me to mount the highest round of fortune. If ye act with me faithfully, that same
+Heaven will grant a glorious triumph over China. Through this triumph the Mongols
+will win the greatest wealth and magnificence; their fame will never cease among nations.”
+</p>
+<p>All were delighted, all praised their conquering ruler. They agreed with him then
+to send an envoy to the Altyn Khan (Golden Khan)<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e1202src" href="#xd32e1202">1</a> with the following message: “Of course it has come to thy knowledge that we, by Heaven’s
+favor, have been chosen from among all the Mongols to hold the reins of Empire and
+of guidance. The fame of our conquering host has gone forth, and is spreading. We
+are planting our banners over all the earth’s surface, and soon every people and all
+nations will submit without delay or hesitation to our prosperous direction, and share
+in its many benefactions. But should any rise and resist, their houses, goods, property
+and dependents will be ruined without mercy. Praise and honor to High Heaven, our
+dominion is so well ordered that we can visit China. With us will go instruments of
+every sort, and crushing weapons. With us will march an army which is like a roaring
+ocean. We can meet enmity or friendship with the same tranquil feeling. If the Golden
+Khan in wisdom selects the way of friendship and concord, and meets us in congress,
+we will secure to him the management of China in proper form and strong possession.
+If he cannot come himself, let him send his honored sons to us as hostages with treasures.
+But should he resist, which <span class="pageNum" id="pb83">[<a href="#pb83">83</a>]</span>Heaven forbid, we must wait for warfare and for slaughter, which will last till Heaven
+puts the diadem of victory and power on the head of him whom it chooses, and puts
+the rags of misery and want on him whom it desires to wear them.”
+</p>
+<p>On receiving these words, such as no man had ever sent a sovereign in China, Chong
+hei burst into a blazing rage and dismissed the envoy with contempt and with injury.
+“If Jinghis has planned war and slaughter against us,” replied he, “who can prevent
+him from tempting fortune?”
+</p>
+<p>The last word had been uttered, and both sides made ready now for warfare.
+</p>
+<p>Directing Tuguchar to guard home lands from every possible disorder, Jinghis moved
+from the Kerulon in March, 1211, to subdue the Chinese Empire. But before he left
+his native place he visited a lofty mountain. On the summit he loosed his kaftan,
+put his girdle round his neck and called High Heaven to help him: “Boundless Heaven,”
+said he, “I am going to avenge the blood of Berkai and Ambagai, my uncles whom the
+Altyn Khans put to death with infamy and torture. If thou favor me send aid from out
+the lofty places, but on earth send men to help me; send also spirits good and evil.”
+</p>
+<p>His four sons, Juchi, Jagatai, Ogotai and Tului, accompanied the Mongol sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>This army of invasion was held together by the sternest discipline and made up of
+mounted men only. The units of this force were ten, one hundred, one thousand and
+ten thousand warriors. The orders of the sovereign were given to the chiefs of ten
+thousand, and by them to subordinates. Each man had a strong rawhide armor and helmet;
+he carried a lance and a sabre with an ax, a bow, and a quiver; he was followed by
+a number of horses, which had no food save that which they found as they traveled.
+Immense herds of cattle were driven in the rear of the army. In time of forced marches
+each man carried with him some milk and a small portion of flesh food.
+</p>
+<p>To reach the Great Wall the Mongols crossed a space of about twelve hundred miles
+consisting in part of the desert known as Sha mo in Chinese and as the Gobi in Mongol.
+The first success of the invaders was made easier by Ala Kush Tegin of the Onguts,
+whose duty it was to guard the Great Wall for the Emperor, <span class="pageNum" id="pb84">[<a href="#pb84">84</a>]</span>but who favored the Mongols. In no long time Tai tong fu, called also Si king, an
+Imperial court northwest of Yen king or Chong tu, the Pekin of the present, was invested.
+The Chinese commander Kin kien sent Mingan, a trusted officer, to reconnoitre the
+Mongols. Mingan deserted and gave all needed information about places to the enemy,
+who attacked Kin kien and routed his forces; their mounted men trampled his infantry
+and cut it to pieces. The Mongols pressed on toward the chief Chinese army, which
+did not wait to engage them.
+</p>
+<p>The success of the invasion was enormous. Expeditions were made to the walls of Chong
+tu the great northern capital. The terror stricken Emperor prepared to flee southward,
+but was stopped by his guards, who swore to fight to the death for their sovereign.
+During 1212 the Mongols succeeded at all points, and cut up the Kin armies wherever
+they met them. Still Jinghis could not capture Tai tong fu, though in August, 1212,
+he besieged it in person. He was wounded in front of the place by an arrow, and withdrew
+to the north for a period.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol invasion of China was aided now by an insurrection of Kitans. At the outbreak
+of hostilities Lyuko, a prince of the dispossessed Kitan dynasty, an officer serving
+in the Kin army, fled and levied men on his own account. He was ready to add his strength
+to Jinghis, when the latter sent Antchin Noyon to conclude an alliance against the
+common enemy. The two men ascended Mount Yen to finish the compact. On the summit
+they slew a white stallion and a black bull for their sacrifice. Turning then to the
+north they both held an arrow and broke it. Lyuko pledged his faith to Jinghis, and
+Antchin, in the name of his master, swore to uphold the Kitan prince against the Kin
+sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>There was need of prompt help, since an army sixty thousand in number was marching
+to annihilate Lyuko. Gold and high dignities were promised to him who should bring
+the rebel’s head to the Emperor. Jinghis sent three thousand warriors. With these,
+and his own troops, Lyuko defeated the Emperor’s army, and took all its baggage, which
+he sent to Jinghis, and received then a new reinforcement. Chepé Noyon was despatched
+to give aid in winning the land of the Kitans, and he gave it successfully. Master
+now among the Kitans, who rushed in great crowds to him, <span class="pageNum" id="pb85">[<a href="#pb85">85</a>]</span>Lyuko, with the consent of Jinghis, proclaimed himself King of Liao.
+</p>
+<p>In 1213 Jinghis resumed his activity in China, and again there was slaughter on all
+sides. The Mongol armies swept on till they almost touched the gates of Chong tu,
+where bloody scenes were enacted. The year before, Hushaku, the<span class="corr" id="xd32e1225" title="Not in source"> Kin</span> commander, had been stripped of his office and exiled. He was placed in command now
+in spite of protests from the governor, Tuktani, and others. Hushaku took command
+north of Chong tu, and, though the Mongols were near him, he passed his time mainly
+in hunting. Enraged because the Emperor cast blame on this conduct, he took a revenge
+which he had planned since his own reinstatement. He spread a report that Tuktani
+was rousing rebellion, and feigned that he, Hushaku, had been summoned to the city
+to repress it. Fearing military opposition he raised a false alarm to mask his real
+object. Horsemen rushed in hot haste to the city declaring that Mongols had come to
+the suburbs. Hushaku sent for Tuktani, the governor, as if to take counsel, and then
+with his own hand he slew him. Next he replaced the guard of the Emperor with his
+personal followers, and transferred to another edifice the Emperor, who was slain
+that same day by a eunuch.
+</p>
+<p>Hushaku wished supreme power for himself, but saw soon that his plans were impossible.
+The throne fell to Utubu, the late monarch’s brother.
+</p>
+<p>Chepé Noyon had returned from the Kitans and was marching on the capital at that time.
+Hushaku had a wound in the foot, so he sent Kaoki to meet the Mongols, and threatened
+death should he come back defeated. Kaoki was forced to retreat on Chong tu, after
+desperate fighting. Fearing death from his chief he resolved to anticipate, and rushed
+to seize his superior and slay him. Hushaku tried to escape, but fell from his own
+garden wall while climbing it. Kaoki’s people seized the man and then cut his head
+off. Kaoki grasped the head, bore it in hot haste to the palace, and asked for judgment
+immediately. The Emperor not only gave pardon, but made Kaoki chief commander.
+</p>
+<p>While the Mongols were attacking the Kin Empire in the north, Tangut was attacking
+on the west, and in 1213 took King chiu, a border city.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb86">[<a href="#pb86">86</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Tangut and China had passed eighty years in mutual good feeling and friendship when
+the Tangut sovereign, attacked by Jinghis for the third time, asked aid from the Kin
+sovereign, but having failed to receive it, made an agreement (1210) with the Mongols,
+and severed relations with China. The Empire was weakened by defections so numerous
+that Jinghis Khan formed fifty-six brigades of men with officers and generals who
+had passed from the Chinese to his service. These were joined to his army, and now
+began an attack on all those lands bounded on the west and south by the Hoang Ho or
+Yellow River and on the east by the Hoang Hai or Yellow Sea, and forming the provinces
+of Shan si, Pe che li and Shan tung.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols sacked ninety flourishing cities, and in all that rich and great region
+there were only nine places which, through self-defence, escaped ruin. The booty was
+immense in gold and silk stuffs, in captives male and female, and in horses and cattle.
+</p>
+<p>This great raid took place in the first months of 1214. All the Mongol armies were
+assembled with their booty in April of that year, at a place some leagues west of
+Chong tu. Jinghis would permit no attack on that capital. To the Emperor he sent two
+officers with the following message: “All places north of the Hoang Ho are mine, save
+Chong tu, which is all that remains in thy service. Heaven has brought thee down to
+this impotence; were I to harass thee still further I should dread Heaven’s anger.
+Wilt thou treat my army well, and satisfy the generals?”
+</p>
+<p>Kaoki wished to attack, but the counsels of other men triumphed. Envoys were sent
+to the invader, and peace was concluded. Jinghis received as wife the daughter of
+Chong hei, the late Emperor, with immense gifts in gold and precious objects. Five
+hundred youths, as many maidens, and three thousand horses went forth with his bride
+to the conqueror.
+</p>
+<p>Peace now concluded with Jinghis, Utubu proclaimed complete amnesty to all, but not
+feeling safe, he left his heir in Chong tu, and set out for Pien king, the present
+Kai fong fu, better known as Nan king, on the southern bank of the Hoang Ho. On the
+way he attempted to deprive the Kara Kitans in his escort of the horses and arrows
+which had been given them. They revolted immediately, chose as leader one Choda and
+turned then toward Chong tu. Two leagues from the capital Choda met armed resistance,
+and <span class="pageNum" id="pb87">[<a href="#pb87">87</a>]</span>though victorious, he sent envoys at once to Jinghis. These envoys tendered submission,
+and asked for aid straightway.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol Khan did not hesitate; he sent a division of Mongols under Samuka, and
+a division of Jutchis under Mingan, with orders to join the Kara Kitans and capture
+the capital. Mukuli, the best Mongol leader in China, was sent at the same time to
+strengthen Lyuko, from whom a Kin army had retaken the greater part of his kingdom.
+</p>
+<p>When Utubu heard of this new Mongol inroad he summoned his son to Nan king immediately.
+Chong tu, the capital, was poorly provisioned, the Mongols were near it, their ferocity
+was famous; the besieged were in terror. Utubu hurried forward a great transport of
+food under Li ing, with a numerous army. The Mongols attacked this strong army. Li
+ing, who was drunk when they fell on him, was killed. The battle was lost, and the
+transport was seized and swept off by the victors. At news of this dreadful disaster
+the troops of two other Kin generals dispersed and the men went home to their families.
+</p>
+<p>Connection with the city was broken. The investment was merciless; want came, and
+next famine, with hunger so cruel that the dead were devoured, and then living men
+killed to be eaten. Fu sing, the governor, proposed to Chin chong, the commandant,
+to attack the Mongols with every force in the city, and die arms in hand or else conquer.
+Chin chong had not this view of duty. Fu sing, unwilling to witness the loss of the
+city in which he was governor, made ready to die with propriety. He gave all he had
+to his servitors, took poison, and ended his earthly existence.
+</p>
+<p>Chin chong hastened then to escape before the Mongols could enter. The Imperial princesses
+implored him to take them from the city, and save them, but, not wishing to hamper
+his flight, Chin chong asked some time to prepare for their journey. Once beyond the
+city, however, he fled and left those poor princesses to the Mongols. A great slaughter
+took place in the capital. The palace was fired, and burned, as is said, a whole month
+and even longer. Jinghis sent three officers to receive Imperial plunder, and give
+due praise to Mingan for his siege work.
+</p>
+<p>Mingan had hardly captured Chong tu when Jinghis sent Samuka with ten thousand men
+to fall on Nan king and capture the Emperor. Samuka marched up so close to the city
+that <span class="pageNum" id="pb88">[<a href="#pb88">88</a>]</span>he was only two leagues from it, but his troops being few, he was forced to retreat
+empty-handed. He made a second attempt the year following and was nearer success without
+reaching it.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Kin dynasty was approaching its doom, and the day of extinction.
+</p>
+<p>In the spring of 1216 Jinghis, from his home on the Kerulon, again sent Subotai against
+the brother and three sons of Tukta Bijhi, the last Khan of the Merkits. Tuguchar
+was to help should the need come. Subotai met the Merkits near the Jem River in the
+Altai and defeated them. Two sons of Tukta Bijhi and Kutu, his brother, were slain
+in the action; the third son, Kultuk Khan, a great archer, was captured and taken
+to Juchi, eldest son of Jinghis. When Juchi asked for a proof of his skill, the young
+man sent an arrow into a goal, and then split that first arrow with a second one.
+Juchi begged his father to spare this Kultuk,<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e1253src" href="#xd32e1253">2</a> but in vain. This great archer, the last son of Tukta Bijhi, had to die like the
+others.
+</p>
+<p>While the Mongol Khan was in China, Baitulu, who was chief of the Tumats, withdrew
+from obedience. At command of Jinghis, Boroul marched in 1217 against the Tumats and
+crushed them, but lost his own life in the conflict, which was close and very bitter.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis had asked aid of the Kirghis. But they too rose against him, and Juchi was
+sent to reduce this recalcitrant people. He did the work thoroughly before leaving
+the upper waters of the Irtish and the Yenissei.
+</p>
+<p>In 1214 Mukuli had been sent, as we remember, to the Kitans, whose country had been
+greatly overrun by Kin armies. During the two years which followed, this best of all
+Mongol leaders won back that whole region by excellent strategy, finesse, and grand
+fighting. This work was indispensable in the conquest of China. During 1217 this great
+general appeared before Jinghis encamped then on the Tula. Mukuli was rewarded beyond
+all other generals up to that day, and after it. Jinghis praised him in public, lauded
+his great mental gifts, and his services, called him Kwe Wang, or prince in the Empire,
+and made this title hereditary. He created him lieutenant commanding in China, and
+gave him a seal made of gold as a sign of authority. “I have conquered the North,”
+said Jinghis, “subdue thou the South for me.” And <span class="pageNum" id="pb89">[<a href="#pb89">89</a>]</span>he dismissed him with an army of Mongols and Kitans, with the Jutchis, or Manchus,
+to help them.
+</p>
+<p>In 1218 Jinghis marched on Tangut for the fourth time and brought it to obedience.
+During that year he received the submission of Corea. Next his activity was turned
+to a new side, and soon we shall see the opening scenes in that mighty movement begun
+by Jinghis and continued by his descendants, and still later resumed by his relative,
+the tremendous Timur, that World Shaking Limper and father of the Mongol rulers of
+India.
+</p>
+<p>The first place which called the Grand Khan was Kara Kitai on the west, then conterminous
+with his own growing Empire. Kara Kitai had the following origin: When Kitan rule
+in North China was overthrown by the Kins, Yeliu Tashi, a relative of the last Kitan
+Emperor, and also his leading commander, took farewell of his sovereign in 1123, and
+with two hundred men journeyed westward. Governors and chiefs of tribes in those Chinese
+provinces through which he passed showed him homage as a descendant of Apaki, and
+gave armed warriors to strengthen him. At the head of these and his own men, he went
+farther. Bilik, prince of the Uigurs, from whom he asked a passage, went out to receive
+him at the boundary, with a large gift of sheep, horses, and camels. Bilik gave also
+as hostages a number of his sons and grandsons, and recognized the renowned man as
+overlord.
+</p>
+<p>Yeliu conquered Kashgar, Yarkend, Khotan and Turkistan. Turkistan was at that time
+under Nahmud Khan, the twentieth prince of his dynasty, a ruler claiming descent from
+Afrasiab, so famous in Persian story. Nahmud was reduced to the possession of Transoxiana,
+and, as this region too was attacked somewhat later by Kara Kitans, he became Yeliu’s
+vassal. Kwaresm met soon the same fate as Transoxiana; Yeliu’s troops brought sword
+and flame to it, and Atsiz, the second prince of the dynasty of the Kwaresmian Shahs,
+obtained peace by paying thirty thousand gold coins for it yearly.
+</p>
+<p>When Yeliu had brought under his dominion all regions between the Yaxartes and the
+Gobi desert, and between the headwaters of the Irtish and the Pamir highlands, he
+took the title of Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, and fixed his chief residence at Bela Sagun
+on the <span class="pageNum" id="pb90">[<a href="#pb90">90</a>]</span>next large stream east of the Yaxartes River. In 1136, while preparing for war against
+the Kin sovereigns to win back the Empire which they had snatched from his family,
+he died, leaving only one son, then a minor. Till 1142 this son was under the tutelage
+of his mother. Dying in 1155 he left a son, Chiluku, for whom his aunt, Pussuen, was
+regent till 1167 when he came to majority. When the son of the last Naiman ruler came
+in 1208 to seek an asylum in Kara Kitai, Chiluku was still ruling. He showed the fleeing
+Khan a kind welcome, and gave him his daughter in marriage.
+</p>
+<p>Chiluku was occupied mainly in hunting wild beasts, and in seeking for pleasure. This
+weakness caused the defection of great vassals: the Idikut of the Uigurs; the Khan
+of Transoxiana; the Kwaresmian Shah, and now it led his perfidious new son-in-law
+to dethrone him.
+</p>
+<p>The Naiman Khan had attracted some of Chiluku’s commanders, and on collecting the
+wreck of his late father’s army he saw himself at the head of considerable forces.
+To begin his plot easily he begged leave of the Gurkhan to assemble the scattered
+remnants of the Naiman army, then wandering through northeastern lands of the Kara
+Kitan Empire. These men might be employed, he said, in Chiluku’s service. The weak
+and kindly old sovereign consented, gave his daughter’s husband rich presents, and
+confirmed his title Gutchluk, or the Strong Man. The false son-in-law went on his
+mission. From Iwil, Kayalik and Bishbalik, crowds rushed to his standard. He was joined
+by the chief of the Merkits, who had fled before the Mongols. These men began to win
+wealth by incursions in every direction. Further hope of booty caused other bands
+to follow quickly. Still Gutchluk could not seize the Empire without an ally, and
+the Empire, or at least a large part of it, was his object.
+</p>
+<p>He turned to Shah Mohammed who had withdrawn from subjection to Chiluku, and had received
+even the homage of Osman, the Khan ruling then over Transoxiana and Samarkand. Gutchluk
+asked Shah Mohammed to fall on the Empire, and seize the western part for this service.
+The Shah gave a favorable answer. Meanwhile a Kara Kitan army was despatched to Samarkand
+by Chiluku to bring Osman back to obedience. Shah Mohammed hastened to render aid
+to his vassal, but before his arrival the <span class="pageNum" id="pb91">[<a href="#pb91">91</a>]</span>Kara Kitans were recalled to meet Gutchluk, who had now opened war on his father-in-law,
+the Gurkhan.
+</p>
+<p>While Chiluku’s army was absent in Samarkand, Gutchluk seized in Uzkend the state
+treasures, and hurried then by forced marches to surprise Bela Sagun. Chiluku, though
+old, took the field promptly in person, and defeated his son-in-law, who retired in
+despair after losing a large force of warriors who were killed or taken captive.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Shah Mohammed had crossed the western boundary accompanied by Osman, and
+met the Kara Kitan forces commanded by Tanigu. He attacked these and captured the
+commander. The defeated troops while marching home robbed their own fellow subjects
+and plundered without distinction; Bela Sagun, which preferred Mohammed, would not
+open its gates to them. Besieged by the troops of their own sovereign they fought
+for sixteen days, hoping daily to see the Shah’s army. The city was taken by assault,
+and the people were slaughtered. Fifty-seven thousand persons perished under the sword
+edge.
+</p>
+<p>As Kara Kitan treasures had vanished, the state treasury was empty. Mahmud Bai, an
+immensely rich general who feared for his own wealth and substance, advised the Gurkhan
+to force a restoration of all that had been seized by Gutchluk and his followers.
+The army chiefs, unwilling to yield up their plunder, were furious on hearing this
+proposal. Gutchluk appeared then on a sudden, and seized his father-in-law, the Gurkhan.
+Once master of the sovereign’s person he used sovereign authority, so Chiluku, without
+power himself, retained a vain title till death took him off two years later.
+</p>
+<p>In 1218 the Mongol Khan marched westward, but sent Chepé Noyon in advance, with an
+army twenty-five thousand strong, against the Kara Kitan usurper, his enemy. Gutchluk
+fled from Kashgar with a part of his forces. On entering the city Chepé proclaimed
+freedom of religion to all men. The inhabitants massacred Gutchluk’s warriors, who
+had been quartered in their houses. Chepé hurried off in pursuit of the fugitive,
+and never drew bridle till he had hunted him over the Pamir, and caught him in the
+Badakshan mountains, where he cut his head off.
+</p>
+<p>When Jinghis heard of this he commanded Chepé not to be proud of success, for pride
+had undone Wang Khan of the Keraits <span class="pageNum" id="pb92">[<a href="#pb92">92</a>]</span>and the Taiyang of the Naimans, as well as Gutchluk, and brought ruin to every recent
+ruler.
+</p>
+<p>This victorious Chepé some years later carried Mongol arms to Armenia across Georgia
+and a large part of Russia. He was of the Yissuts, a Mongol tribe which had fought
+against Jinghis, known at that time as Temudjin. On a day Temudjin wrought a crushing
+defeat on the Yissuts; Chepé fled with some others to the mountains, and hid there
+from death, which he looked on as certain in case he were captured. One day when Temudjin
+was out hunting his beaters inclosed and caught Chepé. The Khan wished to slay him,
+but Boörchu, his earliest comrade and one of his four chosen leaders, begged for a
+combat with Chepé. Temudjin agreed, and gave him a white muzzled horse for the trial.
+Boörchu shot an arrow which failed to reach Chepé. Chepé, more adroit than his enemy,
+sent a shaft which brought down the horse under him, and the next instant he rushed
+away with lightning speed. Reduced to want some time later Chepé offered his service
+to Temudjin, the strong victor. Temudjin knew the man’s worth and accepted his offer.
+The Khan made Chepé a chief of ten men to begin with, then of a hundred, later on
+of a thousand, and at last of ten thousand warriors.
+</p>
+<p>When Chepé brought back Gutchluk’s head he wished to give a recompense for the white
+muzzled horse which he killed when Boörchu attacked him, so in Kashgar he collected
+a thousand white muzzled horses and brought them to Jinghis as a present.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb93">[<a href="#pb93">93</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e1202">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e1202src">1</a></span> Golden Khan, the title of the Kin Emperor in Mongol.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e1202src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e1253">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e1253src">2</a></span> One of the faults with which Jinghis reproached Juchi was tenderness.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e1253src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch6" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e334">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<h2 class="main">DESTRUCTION OF THE KWARESMIAN EMPIRE</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">That immense Kara Kitai, or Black <span class="corr" id="xd32e1294" title="Source: Carthay">Cathay</span>, or Black China was added to the Mongol dominions which now were conterminous with
+the Kwaresmian Empire. This Empire, begun on Seljuk ruins, was increased soon by other
+lands, and in 1219 it extended from the Syr Darya or Yaxartes to the Indus, and from
+Kurdistan to the great roof of the world, those immense Pamir highlands. The sovereign
+at the opening of the thirteenth century was Alai ud din Mohammed, great-great-grandson
+of a Turk slave named Nush Tegin. The master of this slave was a freedman of Melik
+Shah the Seljuk Sultan, and this freedman transferred Nush Tegin to his sovereign.
+The slave became cupbearer to Melik Shah, and prefect of Khwaresm at the same time
+by virtue of his office. In Mohammedan history cases of Turkish slaves seizing sovereignty
+are frequent. Turkish captives in Persia were highly esteemed and appeared there in
+multitudes. Throughout the vast regions north and east of the Caspian various Turk
+tribes fought unceasingly; each seized the children of an enemy whenever the chance
+came, and sold them in the slave marts. These children, reared in the faith of Mohammed,
+were trained to arms for the greater part, and became trusted body-guards of princes.
+They served also as household officials, or managers. Those of them who earned favor
+gained freedom most frequently, and next the highest places at courts, and in armies.
+A lucky man might be made governor, and when fortune helped well enough he made himself
+sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>Turkish slaves grew all-powerful in Moslem lands, till those lands were invaded at
+last by Turk warriors. Persia, lowered much by Arab conquest, recovered under Bagdad
+rule in some slight degree, till the eleventh century saw it conquered again by Turk
+nomads from those immense steppes north and east of the <span class="pageNum" id="pb94">[<a href="#pb94">94</a>]</span>Caspian. Under the descendants of Seljuk these fierce sons of wild herdsmen pushed
+their way on to the Propontis and to Palestine; camped in Persia, and in lands lying
+west of it. These self-seeking, merciless adventurers brought torture, oppression,
+and brigandage to all people equally, till at last intestine wars and social chaos
+put an end to Seljuk rule toward the close of the twelfth century.
+</p>
+<p>Kutb ud din Mohammed, son of the manumitted slave, Nush Tejin, and also his successor,
+won the title of Kwaresmian Shah, a title used before the Arab conquest. Atsiz, son
+of Kutb ud din, raised arms repeatedly against Sindjar, the son of Melik Shah, and
+was forced to render tribute to the Gurkhan. When Sindjar died (1157) Il Arslan, son
+of Atsiz, seized West Khorassan; his son, Tukush, took Persian Irak from Togrul, who
+fell in battle. By the death of Togrul and Sindjar, both Persian Seljuk lines became
+extinct.
+</p>
+<p>Tukush obtained investiture at Bagdad from the Kalif, and Persia passed from one line
+of Turkish tyrants to another. Mohammed, who succeeded his father Tukush, in 1200,
+seized the provinces of Balkh and Herat and made himself lord of Khorassan. Soon after
+this Mazanderan and Kerman passed under his power and direction. Mohammed now planned
+to shake off the authority of the Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, to whom he, and three of
+his predecessors, had paid yearly tribute. Besides he was urged to this step by Osman,
+Khan of Samarkand and Transoxiana, who, being also a vassal of the Gurkhan, endured
+with vexation the insolence of agents who took the tribute in his provinces. Osman
+promised to recognize Mohammed as his suzerain, and pay the same tribute that he had
+paid to the Gurkhan. The Shah accepted this offer with gladness; he merely waited
+for a pretext, which appeared very quickly: An official came to receive the yearly
+tribute, and seated himself at the Shah’s side, the usual place in such cases, though
+it seemed now that he did so somewhat boldly. Mohammed’s pride, increased much by
+recent victory over Kipchaks living north of the Caspian, would endure this no longer,
+so in rage he commanded to cut down the agent and hack him to pieces.
+</p>
+<p>After this act Mohammed invaded the lands of the Gurkhan immediately (1208), but was
+defeated in the ensuing battle, and captured with one of his officers. The officer
+had the wit to declare <span class="pageNum" id="pb95">[<a href="#pb95">95</a>]</span>that the Shah, whose person was unknown in those regions, was a slave of his. In a
+short time the amount of ransom for the officer was settled; he offered to send his
+slave to get the sum needed. This offer was taken and an escort sent with the slave
+to protect him. Thus did Mohammed return in servile guise to his dominions, where
+reports of his death had preceded him. In Taberistan his brother, Ali Shir, had proclaimed
+his own rule, and his uncle, the governor of Herat, was taking sovereign power in
+that region.
+</p>
+<p>The following year Mohammed and Osman, the Samarkand ruler, made a second attack on
+the Gurkhan. Crossing the Syr Darya at Tenakit, they met their opponents, commanded
+by Tanigu, and won a victory.
+</p>
+<p>They conquered a part of the country as far as Uzkend, and instated a governor. The
+news of this sudden success caused immense joy in the Kwaresmian Empire. Embassies
+were sent by neighboring princes to congratulate the victor. After his name on the
+shield was added “Shadow of God upon earth.” People wished to add also “Second Alexander,”
+but he preferred the name Sindjar, since the Seljuk prince Sindjar had reigned forty-one
+years successfully. After his return the Shah gave his daughter in marriage to Osman,
+and the Gurkhan’s lieutenant in Samarkand was replaced by a Kwaresmian agent. Soon,
+however, Osman was so dissatisfied with this agent that he gave back his allegiance
+to the Gurkhan, and killed the Kwaresmians in his capital.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed, enraged at this slaughter, marched to Samarkand, stormed the city, and for
+three days and nights his troops did naught else but slay people and plunder; then
+he laid siege to the fortress and captured it. Osman came out dressed in a grave shroud;
+a naked sword hung from his neck down in front of him. He fell before Mohammed and
+begged for life abjectly. The Shah would have spared him, but Osman’s wife, the Shah’s
+daughter, rushed in and demanded the death of her husband. He had preferred an earlier
+wife, the daughter of the Gurkhan, and had forced her, the Shah’s daughter, to serve
+at a feast that detested and inferior woman. Osman had to die, and with him died his
+whole family, including the daughter of the Gurkhan.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed joined all Osman’s lands to the Empire, and made Samarkand a new capital.
+He further increased his Empire <span class="pageNum" id="pb96">[<a href="#pb96">96</a>]</span>by a part of the kingdom of Gur, which extended from Herat to the sacred river of
+India, the Ganges.
+</p>
+<p>After the death, in 1205, of Shihab ud din, fourth sovereign of the Gur line, his
+provinces passed under officers placed there as prefects. When Mohammed took Balkh
+and Herat, Mahmud, nephew of Shihab, kept merely Gur the special domain of the family,
+and even for this he was forced to give homage to the Kwaresmian monarch. Mahmud had
+reigned seven years in that reduced state when he was killed in his own palace. Public
+opinion in this case held the Shah to be a murderer, and beyond doubt with full justice.
+</p>
+<p>Ali Shir, the Shah’s brother, who had proclaimed himself sovereign so hurriedly when
+Mohammed was returning, disguised as a slave, from his war against the Gurkhan, was
+now at the Gur capital; he declared himself Mahmud’s successor and begged the Shah
+to confirm him as vassal. Mohammed sent an officer, as it seemed, for this ceremony,
+but when Ali Shir was about to put on the robe of honor sent him the officer swept
+off his head with a sword stroke, and produced thereupon the command of his master
+to do so. After this revolting deed the Gur principality was joined to Mohammed’s
+dominion (1213).
+</p>
+<p>Three years later, 1216, Mohammed won Ghazni from a Turk general once a subject of
+Shihab ud din. This Turk had seized the province at the dissolution of Gur dominion.
+In the archives of Ghazni the Shah came on letters from the Kalif Nassir at Bagdad
+to the Gur Khans, in which he gave warning against the Kwaresmian Shahs, and incited
+to attack them, advising a junction with the Kara Kitans for that purpose.
+</p>
+<p>These letters roused the Shah’s wrath to the utmost. The Kalif, Nassir, who ascended
+the throne in 1180, had labored without success, though unceasingly, to stop Kwaresmian
+growth and aggression. He could not employ his own forces to this end, since he had
+none. The temporal power of the Prophet’s successors had shrunk to the narrow limits
+of Kuzistan and Arabian Irak. The other parts of their once vast dominions had passed
+to various dynasties whose sovereigns were supposed to receive lands in fief from
+the Kalif. If these sovereigns asked for investiture it was simply for religious,
+or perhaps more correctly, for political reasons.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb97">[<a href="#pb97">97</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Outside the bounds of their own little state the Abbasid Kalifs had only two emblems
+of sovereignty: their names were mentioned in public prayer throughout Islam, and
+were stamped on the coins of all Moslem Commonwealths. They were not masters even
+in their own capital always.
+</p>
+<p>When the Seljuk Empire, composed at that time of Persian Irak alone, was destroyed
+by disorder under Togrul its last Sultan, the Kalif, a man of quick mind and adventurous
+instincts, did much to bring on the dissolution of the tottering state, through his
+intrigues, and by calling in Tukush, the Kwaresmian monarch. He had hoped to win Persian
+Irak, but when Tukush had won that great province he would cede not a foot of it to
+any man. The Kalif saw himself forced to invest a new line with the sanction of sacredness,
+a line which threatened Bagdad far more than that which he had helped so industriously
+to ruin.
+</p>
+<p>When Mohammed succeeded Tukush, Nassir roused Ghiath ud din of Gur to oppose him.
+This prince, lord already of Balkh and Herat, desired all Khorassan, and began war
+to win it. His death followed soon after. Shihab ud din, the next ruler, continued
+the struggle but lost his whole army, which was slaughtered and crushed in the very
+first battle. When at Ghazni, Mohammed found proof of the Kalif’s intrigues, he despatched
+to Nassir an envoy; through this envoy he demanded the title of Sultan for himself;
+a representative in Bagdad as governor; and also that his name be mentioned in public
+prayers throughout Islam. Nassir refused these demands and expressed great surprise
+that Mohammed, not content with his own immense Empire, was coveting also the capital
+of the Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>On receiving this answer Mohammed resolved to strip the Abbasids of the succession,
+or Kalifat. To do this he must obtain first a sanctioning fetva from Mohammedan theologians
+(the Ulema). So he proposed to that body the following questions: “May a monarch whose
+entire glory consists in exalting God’s word and destroying the foes of true faith,
+depose a recalcitrant Kalif, and replace him by one who is deserving, if the Kalifat
+belongs by right to descendants of Ali, and if the Abbasids have usurped it, and if
+besides they have always omitted one among the first duties, the duty of protecting
+the boundaries of Islam, and waging sacred wars to bring unbelievers to the <span class="pageNum" id="pb98">[<a href="#pb98">98</a>]</span>true faith, or, if they will not accept the true faith, to pay tribute?”
+</p>
+<p>The Ulema declared that in such cases deposition was justified. Armed with this decision
+the Shah recognized Ali ul Muluk of Termed, a descendant of Ali, as Kalif, and ordered
+that in public prayers the name of Nassir be omitted. The Shah assembled an army to
+carry out the sentence against Nassir.
+</p>
+<p>Ogulmush, a Turk general who had subdued Persian Irak and then rendered fealty to
+Mohammed, was murdered at direction of the Kalif, under whose control a number of
+Assassins had been placed by their chieftain at Alamut. In Persian Irak the name of
+the Shah was dropped from public prayers, after the slaying of Ogulmush. The princes
+of Fars and Azerbaidjan hastened promptly to seize upon Irak, at the instance of Nassir.
+Sád, prince of Fars, was taken captive, but secured freedom by ceding two strongholds,
+and promising the third of his annual income as tribute. Euzbek of Azerbaidjan fled
+after defeat, and the Shah would not pursue, as the capture of two rulers in the space
+of one year was unlucky. Euzbek, on reaching home, sent envoys with presents, and
+proclaimed himself a vassal. Mohammed annexed Irak to the Empire, and moved his troops
+on toward Bagdad.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir sent words of peace to his enemy, but those words had no influence, and the
+march continued. Nassir strove to strengthen Bagdad and defend it, while Mohammed
+was writing diplomas, which turned Arabian Irak, that whole land of which Bagdad was
+the capital, into military fiefs and tax-paying districts.
+</p>
+<p>The Shah’s vanguard, fifteen thousand strong, advanced toward Heulvan by the way of
+the mountains, and was followed soon by a second division of the same strength. Though
+the time was early autumn, snow fell for twenty days in succession, the largest tents
+were buried under it; men and horses died in great numbers, both when they were marching
+through those mountains and when they halted. A retreat was commanded at last when
+advance was impossible. Turks and Kurds then attacked the retreating forces so savagely
+that the ruin of the army was well nigh total. This was attributed by Sunnite belief
+to Divine anger for that impious attack on the person of the Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>The reports of Mongol movements alarmed the Shah greatly and he hastened homeward,
+first to Nishapur, and later on to <span class="pageNum" id="pb99">[<a href="#pb99">99</a>]</span>Bukhara, where he received the first envoys from Jinghis Khan, his new neighbor.
+</p>
+<p>It is well to go back to the time when the Shah chose a new Kalif from among the descendants
+of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed. In the Moslem world there are seventy-three
+or more sects, varying in size and degree of importance, but the two great divisions
+of Islam are the Sunnite and Shiite, which differ mainly on the succession. Among
+Sunnites the succession was from Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed the Prophet of Islam;
+that is the succession which took place in history. Among Shiites the succession which,
+as they think, should have taken place, but which did not, was that through Ali, the
+husband of Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.
+</p>
+<p>The Shiites of Persia thought that the day of justice had come after six centuries
+of abasement and waiting, and that the headship of Islam would be theirs through the
+accession of Ali ul Muluk of <span class="corr" id="xd32e1340" title="Source: Termid">Termed</span> to the Kalifat. In their eyes the Kwaresmian Shah had become an agent of Allah, a
+sacred person. His act created an immense effect throughout Persia, and certainly
+no less in the capital of Islam at Bagdad, where the Kalif Nassir called a council
+at once to find means of defence against so dreadful an enemy as Shah Mohammed. After
+long discussion, one sage among those assembled declared that Jinghis Khan, whose
+fame was sounding then throughout Western Asia, was the man to bring the raging Shah
+to his senses.
+</p>
+<p>The Kalif, greatly pleased with this statement, resolved to send an envoy, but the
+journey was perilous, since every road to the Mongols lay through Shah Mohammed’s
+dominions. Should the envoy be taken and his message read, the Shah, roused by resentment
+and anger, would spare no man involved in the plot, least of all Kalif Nassir and
+his servants. To avoid this chance, they shaved the envoy’s head and wrote out, or
+branded, his commission upon it. His skull was then covered with paint, or a mixture
+of some kind. The entire message to Jinghis was fixed well in the mind of the envoy,
+and he set out on his journey.
+</p>
+<p>After four months of hard traveling he reached Mongol headquarters, delivered his
+message in words, and was admitted soon after to the Khan of the Mongols in secret.
+The envoy’s head was shorn a second time and the credentials traced with fire on his
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb100">[<a href="#pb100">100</a>]</span>crown became visible. There was branded in also an invitation to invade the Kwaresmian
+Empire, and destroy the reigning dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis meditated over this invitation. The thought of conquering a new Empire did
+not leave him, but as he had spoken not long before with its ruler in friendship,
+he waited till a reason to justify attack should present itself.
+</p>
+<p>In 1216–17 in Bukhara, as mentioned already, Shah Mohammed received three envoys from
+Jinghis; these men brought ingots of silver, musk, jade and costly white robes of
+camels’ hair, all creations and products of Central Asia, sent as presents to the
+Kwaresmian sovereign. “The great Khan has charged us,” said the envoys, “to give this
+message: ‘I salute thee! I know thy power and the great extent of thy Empire. Thy
+reign is over a large part of the earth’s surface. I have the greatest wish to live
+in peace with thee; I look on thee as my most cherished son. Thou art aware that I
+have subdued China, and brought all Turk nations north of it to obedience. Thou knowest
+that my country is swarming with warriors; that it is a mine of wealth, and that I
+have no need to covet lands of other sovereigns. I and thou have an equal interest
+in favoring commerce between our subjects.’ ”
+</p>
+<p>This message was in fact a demand on Mohammed to declare himself a vassal, since various
+degrees of relationship were used among rulers in Asia to denote corresponding degrees
+of submission.
+</p>
+<p>The Shah summoned one of the envoys in the night-time. “Has Jinghis Khan really conquered
+China?” asked he. “There is no doubt of that,” said the envoy. “Who is this who calls
+me his son? How many troops has he?” The envoy, seeing Mohammed’s excitement, replied
+that Mongol forces were not to be compared with his in any case. The Shah was calmed,
+and when the time came he dismissed the envoys with apparent good feeling and friendliness.
+When they reached the boundary of the Shah’s land they were safe, for wherever Jinghis
+Khan became sovereign there was safety for travelers immediately, even in places where
+robbery had been the rule for many ages.
+</p>
+<p>Since Kara Kitai had fallen, Mohammed’s possessions reached the heart of Central Asia,
+and touched the land of the Uigurs, now tributary to Jinghis, hence commercial relations
+were direct and of very great value. Soon after the Khan’s envoys had made <span class="pageNum" id="pb101">[<a href="#pb101">101</a>]</span>their visit, a party of between four and five hundred merchants from Mongolian places
+arrived at Otrar on the Syr Daryá. Inaldjuk, the governor of the city, tempted by
+the rich stuffs and wares which those strangers had brought with them, imprisoned
+the whole party, and declared to the Shah that the men were spies of the Mongol sovereign.
+The Shah gave command to slay them in that case immediately, and Inaldjuk obeyed without
+waiting. When news of this terrible slaughter was borne to Jinghis he wept with indignation
+as he heard it, and went straightway to a mountain top where he bared his head, put
+his girdle about his neck, and fell prostrate. He lay there imploring Heaven for vengeance,
+and spent three days and nights, it is stated, imploring and prostrate. He rose and
+went down then to hurl Mongol strength at the Kwaresmian Empire.
+</p>
+<p>The request of the Kalif of Islam ran parallel now with the wish of the Mongols. But
+before striking the Empire, Jinghis had resolved to extinguish Gutchluk, his old enemy,
+the son of Baibuga, late Taiyang of the Naimans. Meanwhile he sent three envoys to
+the Shah with this message: “Thou didst give me assurance that thou wouldst not maltreat
+any merchant from my land. Thou hast broken thy word! Word breaking in a sovereign
+is hideous. If I am to believe that the merchants were not slain at Otrar by thy order,
+send me thy governor for punishment; if thou wilt not send him, make ready for conflict.”
+</p>
+<p>Shah Mohammed, far from giving Jinghis Khan satisfaction, or offering it, slew Bajra,
+the first envoy, and singed off the beards of the other two. If Mohammed had wished
+to punish or yield up Inaldjuk he could not have done so, for the governor was a kinsman
+of Turkan Khatun, the Shah’s mother, and also of many great chiefs in the Kwaresmian
+army.
+</p>
+<p>And now it is important to explain the position of Turkan Khatun, the unbending, savage
+mother of Mohammed. This woman was a daughter of Jinkeshi, Khan of the Baijut tribe
+of Kankali Turks; she married Tukush, the Kwaresmian Shah, and became then the mother
+of Shah Mohammed. A large number of Kankali chiefs who were related to Turkan followed
+her with their tribesmen to serve in the Kwaresmian Empire.
+</p>
+<p>The influence of this relentless, strong-willed woman, and the valor of Turkish warriors
+raised those chiefs to the highest rank <span class="pageNum" id="pb102">[<a href="#pb102">102</a>]</span>among military leaders; their power was enormous, since commanders of troops governed
+with very wide latitude. Amid this aristocracy of fighters the power of the sovereign
+was uncertain; he was forced to satisfy the ambition of men who saw in all things
+their own profit only. The troops controlled by those governors were the scourge of
+peaceful people; they ruined every region which they lived in or visited.
+</p>
+<p>Turkan Khatun, the head of this military faction, not only equalled her son in authority,
+but often surpassed him. When two orders of different origin appeared in any part
+of the Empire, the date decided which had authority; that order was always carried
+out on which the date was most recent, and the order of recent date was the order
+of that watchful woman. When Mohammed won a new province he always assigned a large
+part to the appanage of his mother. She employed seven secretaries at all times, men
+distinguished for ability. The inscription on her decrees was “Protectress of the
+world and the faith, Turkan, queen of women.” Her device was: “God alone is my refuge.”
+“Lord of the world” was her title. The following example shows clearly the character
+of the Shah’s mother: She had obtained from Mohammed the elevation of Nassir ud din,
+a former slave of hers, to the position of vizir, or prime minister of the Empire;
+soon the Shah came to hate the man, for personal and also other reasons. His ability
+was small, and his greed without limit. At Nishapur the Shah appointed a new judge,
+one Sadr ud din, and forbade him to give the vizir any presents. Friends, however,
+warned the judge not to neglect this prime dignitary, so he sent Nassir ud din a sealed
+purse containing four thousand gold pieces. The Shah, who was watching both judge
+and vizir, caused the latter to send the purse to him. It was sent straightway, and
+the seal was intact on it. The judge was summoned, and when he appeared the Shah asked
+before witnesses what gift he had made the vizir; he denied having made any, persisted
+in denial, and swore by the head of his sovereign that he had not given one coin to
+the minister. The Shah had the purse brought; the judge was deprived of his dignity.
+The vizir was sent home without office to his patroness.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir ud din went back to the Shah’s mother. On the way he decided every case that
+men brought him. On the vizir’s <span class="pageNum" id="pb103">[<a href="#pb103">103</a>]</span>approach Turkan Khatun ordered people of all ranks and classes to go forth and meet
+him. The vizir grew more insolent now than he had been. The Shah sent an officer to
+bring the recalcitrant minister’s head to him. When the officer came to her capital,
+Turkan Khatun sent him to the vizir, who was then in the divan and presiding. She
+had given the officer this order: “Salute the vizir in the Shah’s name, and say to
+him: ‘I have no vizir except thee, continue in thy functions. No man in my Empire
+may destroy thee, or fail in respect to thee.’ ”
+</p>
+<p>The officer carried out the command of the woman. Nassir ud din exercised his authority
+in defiance of Mohammed; he could do so since Turkan Khatun upheld him, and she had
+behind her a legion of her murderous kinsmen. The sovereign, who had destroyed so
+many rulers unsparingly, had not the power or the means to manage one insolent upstart
+who defied him.
+</p>
+<p>The murder of the merchants in Otrar was followed soon by such a tempest of ruin as
+had never been witnessed in Asia or elsewhere. Shah Mohammed had mustered at Samarkand
+a large army to move against Gutchluk, whom he wished to bring down to subjection
+or destroy altogether, but hearing that a body of Merkits was advancing through Kankali
+regions lying north of Lake Aral, he marched to Jend straightway against them, and
+learned upon reaching that city, that those Merkits, being allies of Gutchluk, were
+hunted by Jinghis, and that Gutchluk himself had been slain by the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>He returned swiftly to Samarkand for additional forces, and following the tracks of
+both armies, found a field strewn with corpses, among which he saw a Merkit badly
+wounded; from this man the Shah learned that <span id="xd32e1373"></span>Jinghis had gained a great victory, and gone forward.
+</p>
+<p>One day later Mohammed came up with them and formed his force straightway to attack
+them. The Mongol leader (perhaps Juchi) declared that the two states were at peace,
+and that he had commands to treat the Shah’s troops with friendliness; he even offered
+a part of his booty and prisoners to Mohammed. The latter refused these and answered:
+“If Jinghis has ordered thee not to meet me in battle, God commands me to fall on
+thy forces. I wish to inflict sure destruction on infidels and thus earn Divine favor.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb104">[<a href="#pb104">104</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The Mongols, forced to give battle, came very near victory. They had put Mohammed’s
+left wing to flight, pierced the center where the Shah was, and would have dispersed
+it, but for timely aid brought by Jelal ud din, the Shah’s son, who rushed from the
+right and restored the battle, which lasted till evening and was left undecided.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols lighted vast numbers of camp fires, and retired in the dark with such
+swiftness that at daybreak they had made two days’ journey.
+</p>
+<p>After this encounter the Shah knew Mongol strength very clearly. He told intimates
+that he had never seen men fight as they had.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis, having ended Gutchluk and his kingdom (1218), summoned his own family and
+officers to a council where they discussed war with Mohammed, and settled everything
+touching this enterprise and its management. That same autumn the Mongol conqueror
+began his march westward, leaving the care of home regions to his youngest brother.
+He spent all the following summer near the Upper Irtish, arranging his immense herds
+of horses and cattle. The march was resumed in the autumn, when he was joined by the
+prince of Almalik, the Idikut of the Uigurs, and by Arslan, Khan of the Karluks.
+</p>
+<p>Shah Mohammed was alarmed by the oncoming of this immense host of warriors, more correctly
+this great group of armies, though his own force was large, since it numbered four
+hundred thousand. His troops were in some ways superior to the Mongols, but they lacked
+iron discipline and blind confidence in leaders; they lacked also that experience
+of hardship, fatigue and privation, that skill in desperate fighting, which made the
+Mongols not merely a terror, but, at that time, invincible. The Kwaresmian armies
+were defending a population to which they were indifferent, and which they were protecting,
+hence victory gave scant rewards in the best case, while the Mongols, in attacking
+rich, flourishing countries, were excited by all that can rouse human greed, or tempt
+wild cupidity. The disparity in leaders was still more apparent. On the Mongol side
+was a chief of incomparable genius in all that he was doing; on the other side a vacillating
+sovereign with warring and wavering counsels. The Shah had been crushing and assassinating
+rulers all his reign, and now he feared to meet <span class="pageNum" id="pb105">[<a href="#pb105">105</a>]</span>a man whom he had provoked by his outrages. Instead of concentrating forces and meeting
+the enemy, he scattered his men among all the cities of Transoxiana, and then withdrew
+and kept far from the fields of real struggle. Some ascribed this to the advice of
+his generals, others to his faith in astrologers, who declared that the stars were
+unfavorable, and that no battle should be risked till they changed their positions.
+It is also reported that Jinghis duped the Shah, and made him suspect his own leaders.
+The following is one of the stories:
+</p>
+<p>A certain Bedr ud din of Otrar, whose father, uncle and other kinsmen had been slain
+by Mohammed, declared to Jinghis that he wished to take vengeance on the Shah, even
+should he lose his own soul in so doing, and advised the Grand Khan to make use of
+the quarrels kept up by Mohammed with his mother. In view of this Bedr ud din wrote
+a letter, as it were, from Mohammed’s generals to Jinghis, and composed it in this
+style: “We came from Turkistan to Mohammed because of his mother. We have given him
+victory over many other rulers whose states have increased the Kwaresmian Empire.
+Now he pays his dear mother with ingratitude. This princess desires us to avenge her.
+When thou art here, we shall be at thy orders.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis so arranged that this letter was intercepted. The tale is, that the Shah was
+deceived by it and distrusted his generals, hence separated them each from the others,
+and disposed them in various strong cities. It is more likely by far, that he and
+they, after testing Mongol strength, thought it better to fight behind walls than
+in the open. They thought also, no doubt, that the Mongols, after pillaging the country
+and seizing many captives, would retire with their booty.
+</p>
+<p>The Shah was light-minded and ignorant. He knew not with whom he was dealing. He had
+not studied the Mongols, and could not have done so; he had no idea whatever of Jinghis
+Khan and could not acquire it; he knew not the immense power of his system, and the
+far reaching nature of his wishes.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis arrived at the Syr Daryá with his army, and arranged all his troops in four
+great divisions. The first he fixed near Otrar and placed two of his sons, Ogotai
+and Jagatai, in command of it; the second, commanded by his eldest son, Juchi, was
+to act against the other cities, from Jend to Lake Aral; the third division he <span class="pageNum" id="pb106">[<a href="#pb106">106</a>]</span>directed against Benakit on the river, south of Jend. While the three divisions were
+taking these cities on the Syr Daryá, Jinghis himself moved toward Bokhara to bar
+Shah Mohammed from the Transoxiana, and prevent him from reinforcing any garrison
+between the two rivers.
+</p>
+<p>Otrar was invested late in November, 1218. The walls had been strengthened, and the
+city, with its fortress, provisioned very carefully. The strong garrison had been
+increased by ten thousand horsemen. After a siege of five months the troops and the
+citizens were discouraged, and the commander thought it best to surrender, but Inaldjuk,
+the governor, could not hope for his life, since he was the man who had slain the
+Mongol merchants; hence, he would not hear of surrender. He would fight, as he said,
+to the death, for his sovereign. The chief of the horsemen felt differently, and led
+out his best troops in the night to escape, but was captured. He and they offered
+then to serve the besiegers. The Mongols inquired about conditions in the city, and,
+when the chief had told what he knew, they informed him that he and his men, being
+unfaithful to their master, could not be true to another. They thereupon slew him,
+and all who were with him.
+</p>
+<p>The city was taken that day, April, 1219, and its inhabitants driven to the country
+outside, so that the captors might pillage the place in absolute freedom. Inaldjuk,
+the governor, withdrew with twenty thousand men to the fortress, and fought for two
+months in that stronghold. When the Mongols burst in he had only two men left; with
+these he retired to a terrace. The two men at his side fell soon after. When his arrows
+were gone he hurled brickbats. The besiegers had orders to seize the man living. He
+struggled like a maniac, but they caught and bound him at last, and bore him to the
+camp before Samarkand. Jinghis had molten silver poured into his ears and eyes to
+avenge the slaughtered merchants. The surviving inhabitants of Otrar were spared but
+the fortress was levelled.
+</p>
+<p>Juchi, before marching on Jend, went to Signak and asked that the gates be thrown
+open. Scarcely had the message been given when the furious inhabitants tore Hassan
+Hadji, Juchi’s envoy, to pieces and called on God’s name as they did so.
+</p>
+<p>Juchi gave the order at once to attack, and forbade his men to cease fighting till
+the city was captured. Fresh troops relieved <span class="pageNum" id="pb107">[<a href="#pb107">107</a>]</span>those who were wearied. After seven days of storming the Mongols burst in and slew
+every soul in that city.
+</p>
+<p>Juchi made a son of Hassan Hadji commandant of the ruins; then he moved up the river
+and sacked every place that he visited.
+</p>
+<p>As the Mongols drew near to Jend, Katluk Khan, the commandant, fled in the night time,
+crossed the Syr Daryá and took the desert road for Urgendj beyond the southern shore
+of the Oxus. Juchi demanded surrender through Chin Timur his envoy. Deserted by their
+chief, the people were in doubt what to do, and when Chin Timur came they wished to
+kill him, but he told them of Signak, and promised to turn aside Mongol vengeance
+in case they were prudent. The people then freed him, but very soon saw the enemy
+under the walls, which they thought proof against every besieger. The Mongols scaled
+those walls quickly, and rushed in from all sides. No hand was raised then against
+them. The inhabitants were driven to the open country and left nine days and nights
+there, while the pillage continued. Excepting those who had abused Chin Timur, the
+people were spared, since they had made no resistance.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile a detachment of the army had seized Yengikend, the last town on the river,
+and Juchi’s work was done on the right bank with thoroughness.
+</p>
+<p>The third division of the army moved from Otrar to the left up the river, and attacked
+Benakit which was garrisoned by Kankalis. At the end of three days the officers wished
+to capitulate. Their lives were promised them, and they surrendered. The inhabitants
+were driven from the city. The Turks were taken out to one side, and cut down to the
+last man, with swords and other weapons. Being warriors whom the Mongols could not
+trust, they were slaughtered. The artisans were spared and divided among the Mongol
+army. Unskilled, young, and strong men were taken to assist in besieging; all other
+people were slain immediately.
+</p>
+<p>The march was continued to Khodjend, and soon the invaders were in front of that city,
+and storming it. In Khodjend, Timur Melik, a man of great valor, commanded. He took
+one thousand chosen warriors to a fort on an island far enough from either bank to
+be safe from stones and arrows. The besiegers were reinforced by twenty thousand Mongols
+for conflict, and fifty thousand natives <span class="pageNum" id="pb108">[<a href="#pb108">108</a>]</span>of the country to carry on siege work. These natives were employed first of all at
+bearing stones from a mountain three leagues distant, and building a road from the
+shore to the fortress in the river. Timur Melik meanwhile built twelve covered barges,
+protected from fire with glazed earth, which was first soaked in vinegar. Every day
+six of these boats went to each shore and sent arrows, through openings, at the Mongols.
+Night attacks were made suddenly and wrought much harm on the invaders.
+</p>
+<p>But despite every effort Timur saw that failure would come if he stayed there. He
+was met by preponderant and crushing numbers at last. So he put men and baggage in
+seventy strong boats and his chosen warriors in the twelve covered barges; and they
+sped down the swift river at night by the light of many torches fixed on the boats
+of his flotilla. The boats snapped a chain stretched across from one bank to the other
+by Mongols near Benakit, and passed along, hunted by the enemy on both sides.
+</p>
+<p>Timur learned now that Juchi had posted a large corps of men on the two banks, close
+to Jend, captured recently; he learned also that balistas were ready and that a bridge
+of boats had been made near the same place. He debarked higher up, therefore, and
+took to horse to avoid capture. Pursued by the enemy, he gave battle till his baggage
+was brought near him. He repeated this day after day till forced at last to abandon
+the baggage. Finally, having lost all his men, he was alone and pursued by three Mongols.
+He had only three arrows left, one of these had no metal point on it; he shot that
+and put out an eye of the nearest pursuer. Then he cried to the other men: “There
+are two arrows still in my quiver, ye would better go back with your eyesight.” They
+did so. Timur Melik made his way to Urgendj, and joined Jelal ud din, whom he followed
+till the death of that sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Jinghis moved against Bokhara with his main forces and arrived at that city
+during June of 1219. On the way he seized Nur and Charnuk, which he pillaged; then
+he took from those places all stalwart men useful in siege work. Bokhara, the great
+city with a garrison of twenty thousand, was invested on all sides, and attacked by
+relays of fresh warriors, who gave neither respite nor rest to it.
+</p>
+<p>After some days the defenders lost hope of success and resolved <span class="pageNum" id="pb109">[<a href="#pb109">109</a>]</span>to burst through in the night time, trusting in that way to save themselves. They
+fell on the Mongols unexpectedly, and scattered them, but instead of pursuing this
+advantage and fighting, those escaping defenders hastened forward. The Mongol troops
+rallied, and hunted the fugitives to the river, where they cut down nearly all of
+them.
+</p>
+<p>Next morning early, the Ulema and notables came out to give homage to the great Mongol
+Khan, and open the gates to him. Jinghis rode in, and going to the main mosque of
+the city entered it on horseback. Dismounting near the minbar, or pulpit, he ascended
+some steps of it and said to the people who assembled there quickly before him: “The
+fields now are stripped; feed our horses in this place!”
+</p>
+<p>The boxes which had been used to hold copies of the Koran were taken to the courtyard
+to hold grain for Mongol horses; the sacred volumes were thrown under the hoofs of
+those animals and trampled. Skins of wine were brought into the mosque with provisions;
+jesters and singers of the city were summoned, and while wild warriors were revelling
+in excesses of all sorts, and shouting songs of their own land and people, the highest
+chiefs of religion and doctors of law served them as slaves, held their horses and
+fed them. While thus employed one great man whispered to his neighbor: “Why not implore
+the Almighty to save us?” “Be silent,” said the other, “God’s wrath is moving near
+us; this is no time for beseeching. I fear to pray to the Almighty lest it become
+worse with us thereby. If life is dear to thee hold their beasts now for the Mongols,
+and serve them.”
+</p>
+<p>From the mosque Jinghis went to the place of public prayer beyond the city, and summoned
+all people to meet there. He stood in the pulpit and inquired: “Who are the richest
+men in this multitude?” Two hundred and eighty persons were presented; ninety of these
+had come from other cities. The Khan commanded all those wealthy persons to draw near,
+and then he spoke to them. He described the Shah’s cruelties and injustice, which
+had brought on the ruin of their city: “Know,” continued he, “that ye have committed
+dreadful deeds, and the great people of this country are the worst of its criminals.
+Should ye ask why I speak thus, I answer<span class="corr" id="xd32e1422" title="Source: ;">:</span> I am Heaven’s scourge, sent to punish. Had ye not been desperate offenders I should
+not be standing here <span class="pageNum" id="pb110">[<a href="#pb110">110</a>]</span>now against you.” Then he said that he required no one to deliver wealth which was
+above ground, his men could discover that very easily, but he asked for hidden treasures.
+The wealthy men were then forced to name their agents, and those agents had to yield
+up the treasures, or be tortured. All strong men were set to filling the moats encircling
+the city; even copies of the Koran and furniture of mosques were hurled in to fill
+ditches. The fortress was stormed and not a man of its defenders found mercy.
+</p>
+<p>When the fortress was taken, all its inhabitants were driven from the city with nothing
+but the clothes which they had on their bodies. Then began the great pillage. The
+victors slew all whom they found in any place of hiding. At last Mongol troops were
+sent out to surround the inhabitants on the plain, and divide them into parties. Deeds
+were done there which baffle description. Every possible outrage was enacted before
+those to whom it was most dreadful to be present, and have eyesight. Some had strength
+to choose death instead of looking at those horrors; among spectators of this kind
+were the chief judge of the city, and the first Imam, who seeing the dishonor of their
+women rushed to save them, and perished.
+</p>
+<p>Finally the city was fired; everything wooden was consumed, nothing was left save
+the main mosque, and a few brick palaces.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis Khan left the smoking ruins of Bokhara the Noble, to march on Samarkand, which
+was only five days distant. He passed along the pleasant valley of Sogd, covered at
+that time with beautiful fields, orchards and gardens and with houses here and there
+in good number. All inhabitants of Bokhara taken to toil in the coming siege were
+driven on behind the army. Whoso grew weak on the way or too weary for marching was
+cut down at once without pity.
+</p>
+<p>Samarkand was one of the great commercial cities of the world. It had a garrison which
+numbered forty thousand. Both the city and the citadel had been fortified with care,
+and all men considered that a siege of that place would continue for months, nay,
+for years perhaps.
+</p>
+<p>The three other army corps appeared now, for every place on the lower river had been
+taken, and Northern Transoxiana was subjected. These divisions brought with them all
+captives who were young, firm and stalwart, men who might be of service in <span class="pageNum" id="pb111">[<a href="#pb111">111</a>]</span>siege work; there was an immense host of those people arranged in groups of ten, and
+each ten had a banner. Jinghis, to impose on the doomed city, paraded his legions
+before it; cavalry, infantry, and at last those unfortunate captives who had the seeming
+of regular warriors.
+</p>
+<p>Two days were spent in examining the city defenses and outworks; on the third morning
+early the Mongol conqueror sounded the onset. A host of brave citizens made a great
+sally, and at first swept all before them but not being sustained by their own troops,
+who feared the besiegers, they met a dreadful disaster. The Mongols retired before
+the onrushing people, who pressed forward with vigor till they fell into ambush; being
+on foot they were surrounded very quickly and slaughtered before the eyes of the many
+thousands looking from the walls, and the housetops. This great defeat crushed the
+hopes of the citizens.
+</p>
+<p>The Kankali troops being Turks believed that the Mongols would treat them most surely
+as kinsmen. In fact Jinghis had promised, as they thought, to take them to his service.
+Hence this great multitude, the real strength of the city, issued forth that same
+day with their leaders, their families, and their baggage, in one word, with all that
+belonged to them. On the fourth day, just as the storm was to be sounded, the chief
+men of the city went to the Mongol camp, where they received satisfactory answers
+concerning themselves with their families and dependents; hence they opened the gates
+of Samarkand to the conqueror; but they were driven from the city save fifty thousand
+who had put themselves under the protection of the cadi and the mufti. These fifty
+thousand were safe-guarded, the others were all slaughtered.
+</p>
+<p>The night following the surrender, Alb Khan, a Turk general, made a sortie from the
+citadel and had the fortune to break through the Mongols, thus saving himself and
+those under him. At daybreak the citadel was attacked simultaneously on all sides.
+That struggle lasted till the evening, when one storming party burst in, and the stronghold
+was taken. One thousand defenders took refuge in a mosque and fought with desperation.
+The mosque was fired then, and all were burned to death in it. The Kankalis who had
+yielded on the third day, that is the first day of fighting, were conducted to a place
+beyond the city and kept <span class="pageNum" id="pb112">[<a href="#pb112">112</a>]</span>apart from others. Their horses, arms, and outfits were taken from them, and their
+hair was shaved in front, Mongol fashion, as if they were to form a part of the army.
+This was a trick to deceive them till the executioners were ready. In one night the
+Kankalis were murdered to the very last man.
+</p>
+<p>When vast numbers of the citizens had been slaughtered a census was made of the remnant:
+Thirty thousand persons of various arts, occupations and crafts were given by Jinghis
+to his sons, his wives, and his officers; thirty thousand more were reserved for siege
+labor; fifty thousand, after they had paid two hundred thousand gold pieces, were
+permitted to return to the city, which received Mongol commandants. Requisitions of
+men were made at later periods repeatedly, and, since few of those persons returned
+to their homes, Samarkand stood ruined and unoccupied for a long time.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis Khan so disposed his forces from the first, that Shah Mohammed could not relieve
+any city between the two rivers; now all those cities were taken, and the forces defending
+them were slaughtered. The next great work was to seize Shah Mohammed himself, and
+then slay him, and with him his family.
+</p>
+<p>Thirty thousand chosen men were employed now in chasing the Kwaresmian ruler. Never
+had a sovereign been hunted like this victim of the Mongols. He fled like a fox, or
+a hare; he was hunted as if he had been a dreadful wild beast, which had killed some
+high or holy person, or as if he were some outcast, who had committed a deed which
+might make a whole nation shudder. But here we must say a few words concerning the
+hunted man, and explain his position.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb113">[<a href="#pb113">113</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e343">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<h2 class="main">FLIGHT AND DEATH OF MOHAMMED</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">While the Mongols were ruining Northern Transoxiana Mohammed held aloof from every
+action, and was discouraged so deeply that his weakness affected all people of the
+Empire. While fortifying Samarkand he passed by the moat one day, and made this remark:
+“The Mongols are so many that they could fill this moat with their horsewhips.” When
+Jinghis had captured the northern line beyond the Oxus, Mohammed moved southward by
+way of Naksheb, telling all people to care for themselves, since his troops could
+not protect them. The diversity of opinions among his commanders and ministers increased
+his hesitation. The best warriors declared that Transoxiana was lost, but that Khorassan
+and Irak must be guarded; that troops must be concentrated, a general levy enforced,
+and the Amu Darya be defended at all costs. Others advised to fall back upon Ghazni,
+and there meet the Mongols; if beaten the Shah might retire beyond the Indus. This
+being the most timid course Mohammed favored and chose it; but, joined at Balkh by
+Amad ul mulk, the vizir, he altered that plan at the instance of Amad, who was prime
+minister of Rokn ud din, the Shah’s son who held Persian Irak as an appanage, and
+had sent Amad to his father hoping thus to be rid of him.
+</p>
+<p>The position of Amad was of this sort: He wished to be near Shah Mohammed, his protector,
+and he was drawn toward his birthplace, the home of his family; so he persuaded the
+Shah to change plans and go to Persian Irak, where he would find men and means to
+force back the Mongols. Jelal ud din, the best son of Mohammed, in fact the only brave
+man in the family, was opposed to both projects; he would not talk of retreat, he
+would stop the invasion at the Oxus. “If thou retire to Irak,” said he, “give <span class="pageNum" id="pb114">[<a href="#pb114">114</a>]</span>me thy forces. I will drive back the Mongols, and liberate the Empire.” Every discussion,
+however, was fruitless; the Shah treated all his son’s reasons as folly. “Success,”
+said Mohammed, “is fixed from eternity, defeat is averted by a change in the stars,
+and not otherwise.”
+</p>
+<p>Before he left his position at Balkh Mohammed sent men to Pendjde, a point north of
+Termed, to collect information of the enemy’s movements. Tidings came quickly that
+Bokhara had been captured, that Samarkand had surrendered. Delaying his journey no
+longer, the Shah started off in hot haste through Khorassan. Most of the troops who
+went with him were Turks whose chiefs were his mother’s adherents and kinsmen; these
+formed a plot very quickly to kill him. Forewarned of their treachery, Mohammed left
+his tent during night hours; next morning it was seen to be riddled with arrows. His
+fears increased greatly, and he hastened on till he reached Nishap, where he halted,
+thinking that the Mongols would not cross the river Oxus in any case.
+</p>
+<p>From Samarkand Jinghis despatched Chepé with ten thousand, Subotai with a second ten
+thousand, and Tuguchar with a third corps of similar numbers. The order given these
+was to ride with all speed to the camp of the Shah. If they found him at the head
+of large forces to wait till reinforcements came up to them; if he had few, to attack
+and secure him; if fleeing, to pursue, and with Heaven’s help take and keep him; to
+spare cities which yielded; to ruin utterly those which resisted.
+</p>
+<p>The pursuing Mongols swept through Khorassan untiringly. This splendid province had
+four famous cities: Balkh, Herat, Merv and Nishapur. Besides these there were others
+of considerable, though minor, importance. When the Mongols were near Balkh that city
+sent forth a deputation with presents and submission. A Mongol governor was placed
+in it. Zaveh closed its gates and refused all supplies; unwilling to lose time there
+at siege work the Mongols pressed forward, but since people mounted the walls then,
+and stood beating drums and abusing them, they turned and attacked that foolish city
+which reviled them. They stormed the place, put to the sword every man in it, and
+burned what they had not the power to take with them.
+</p>
+<p>On and on rode the Mongols. People met on the way to <span class="pageNum" id="pb115">[<a href="#pb115">115</a>]</span>Nishapur were seized and put to torture till they told what they knew of the fleeing
+Mohammed. Cities were summoned to surrender; those that surrendered were spared and
+received new commandants. If cities which resisted were weak, they were stormed; if
+strong, they were left till a later occasion, since the work then on hand was to capture
+Mohammed.
+</p>
+<p>When the Shah learned that the enemy had entered Khorassan he left Nishapur with a
+small escort under pretext of hunting. Consternation filled that place when the truth
+grew apparent. After the Shah deserted the city the vizir with the mufti and the cadi
+ruled, pending the arrival of a governor, who was on the way from Urgendj, the Kwaresmian
+capital. This man died when three days from the end of his journey; his household
+officials kept his death secret lest the escort might seize all his movable property.
+One of the regents went forth as if to meet him, and brought in his treasure. The
+escort, one thousand in number, would not stay in the city, but went in search of
+Mohammed. Next day those men, when nine miles from Nishapur, were met by a new host
+of Mongols who attacked very quickly and cut them to pieces.
+</p>
+<p>The city was summoned to open its gates and the three regents gave answer as follows:
+“When Shah Mohammed is captured, Nishapur will surrender.” The first Mongol party
+that demanded provisions received them and vanished. Day after day new bodies rushed
+up to the city, received what they asked for and rode away swiftly. At last Chepé
+came and commanded the vizir, the mufti and cadi to appear at headquarters. Three
+supposititious men were sent out to meet him with gifts and provisions. The general
+gave these men the Khan’s proclamation in Uigur characters, and this was its import:
+“O commandants, officials and people! Know ye that Heaven has given me the Empire
+of the earth, both the east and the west of it. Those who submit will be spared; woe
+to those who resist, they will be slaughtered with their children, and wives and dependents.
+Give provisions to all troops that come, and think not to meet water with fire, or
+to trust in your walls, or the numbers of those who defend them. If ye try to escape
+utter ruin will seize you.”
+</p>
+<p>The three bodies of Mongols, ten thousand each which were speeding on now in pursuit
+of Mohammed were rushing toward <span class="pageNum" id="pb116">[<a href="#pb116">116</a>]</span>Irak. Subotai passed through Damegan and Simnan, and crossed the Kumus River. Chepé
+Noyon, who had gone by Mazanderan, rejoined Subotai at Rayi. This place they took
+by surprise, and then sacked it.
+</p>
+<p>From Nishapur Mohammed hastened on to Kazvin, where his son Rokn <span class="corr" id="xd32e1472" title="Source: un">ud</span> din had an army; there he took counsel with the leaders of that army which was thirty
+thousand in number, and sent for Hezerasp, prince of Lur, who advised a retreat across
+the mountain chain lying between Fars and Lur. The Shah wished to stay in Irak and
+increase his defense there; he had just stated that wish when news came that Rayi
+had been taken and plundered. Chiefs and princes fled straightway on hearing this.
+Each went his own road, and the whole army vanished immediately, so great was the
+terror inspired by the onrushing Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>The Shah fled for safety to his sons in Karun. On the way Mongol forces were in sight
+and almost caught him, unwittingly. They sent arrows at the fleeing man though not
+knowing who he was and wounded the horse which he was riding, but the beast held out
+and bore him safely to the fortress. Next morning he fled farther along the road lying
+westward toward Bagdad. Barely had he ridden away when the Mongols, who knew now whose
+horse they had wounded, rushed in, thinking to seize the hunted man surely. They attacked
+the fort furiously at first, but learning soon that the Shah had escaped they hurried
+after him. On the way they met men who professed to be guides dismissed by Mohammed;
+from these men they heard that he was fleeing to Bagdad. They took the guides then
+and rushed forward, but the Shah was on a new road at that time. The Mongols soon
+saw that they had lost his trail, and were tricked, so they cut down the guides and
+returned to Karun.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed had fled to Serdjihan, a strong place northeast of Kazvin on a mountain.
+Seven days he remained there; he then fled to Gilan, and next to Mazanderan, where
+he appeared stripped of property and almost unattended. The Mongols had preceded him,
+having sacked two towns already, Amol the capital, and Astrabad a place of much commerce.
+“Where am I to find safety from Mongols? Is there no spot on earth where I can be
+free of them?” Such was the cry of Mohammed. “Go to some little <span class="pageNum" id="pb117">[<a href="#pb117">117</a>]</span>island in the Caspian, that will be the safest place!” said some of his friends. This
+advice pleased Shah Mohammed, so he stopped in a village on the seashore, intending
+to follow it. He prayed five times each day in the mosque, had the Koran read to him
+and promised God tearfully that justice would reign in his Empire as never on earth
+up to that day, should power ever come to him a second time.
+</p>
+<p>While Mohammed was thus engaged in that village, Mongols appeared on a sudden. They
+were guided by Rokn ud din, a small prince of that region. This man’s uncle and cousin
+had been killed by Shah Mohammed, who seized their lands in the days of his insolence
+and his greedy ambition. Rokn ud din’s hatred had sent him as a guide to the Mongols,
+and thus he recovered his family inheritance. The Shah had barely time to spring into
+a boat and push out from shore when his enemies were upon him. Enraged at the loss
+of their victim, many horsemen sprang after the boat, but they failed to reach it
+and were drowned in the Caspian.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed, who was suffering gravely from pleurisy and weakness, declared as he sailed
+from the shore, that after reigning over many kingdoms and lands he lacked even a
+few ells of earth for a resting place. The fallen man reached a small island and was
+childishly joyous at finding a safe place of refuge. His house was a tent with little
+in it, but the people of the coast brought him food, and whatever else might be pleasing
+to the monarch, as they thought. In return Mohammed gave them brevets of office, or
+titles to land which they wrote themselves frequently, since he had sent most of his
+small suite to bring his sons to him. Later on, when Jelal ud din had regained some
+part of his possessions he honored all gages of this kind.
+</p>
+<p>The Shah’s illness increased, and he lost hope of recovery. His sons came and then
+he withdrew from Oslag the inheritance. “Save Jelal ud din there is none of you who
+can recover the Empire,” declared Mohammed. The failing monarch took his own sabre
+which he girded on Jelal ud din, and commanded the younger brothers to show him obedience.
+Mohammed breathed his last some days later, January 10, 1221, and was buried on that
+island. There was no cloth for a shroud, so he was buried in another man’s shirt.
+His funeral was small and the ceremony scant at his burial. Such was the end which
+Jinghis gave a great sovereign who, till <span class="pageNum" id="pb118">[<a href="#pb118">118</a>]</span>his attack on the Kalif of Islam, ruled over a vast country and found success everywhere
+save in the struggles with his mother.
+</p>
+<p>Before crossing the Oxus, Mohammed directed Turkan Khatun, who governed Urgendj, the
+modern Khiva, to retire to Mazanderan and live there in the mountains, taking with
+her his harem. Jinghis, informed clearly of the quarrels between the Shah and his
+mother, sent Danishmend, his chancellor, to that relentless, harsh woman, and this
+was his message: “Thy son is ungrateful, I know that. If thou agree with me I will
+not touch Kwaresm, which thou art ruling. I will give thee, moreover, Khorassan when
+I win it. Send a trusty man, he will hear this assurance from my own lips directly.”
+</p>
+<p>Turkan Khatun gave no answer, but left Kwaresm as soon as she heard that her son had
+fled westward. Before going, however, she put to death all the princes whom the Shah
+had despoiled and imprisoned; among these were both sons of Togrul, the last Seljuk
+sultan of Irak; the Balkh prince and his son, the sovereign of Termed; the prince
+of Bamian; the Vakhsh prince, the two sons of the lord of Signak, and the two sons
+of Mahmud, last prince of Gur. She had all these men thrown into the Oxus and drowned,
+sparing only Omar, Khan of Yazer, who could be of use on her journey, since he knew
+all the roads which led to his own land and birthplace. In fact he served the woman
+well, till they were near Yazer, when his head was cut off at her order, as she had
+no further use for him.
+</p>
+<p>When Mohammed had fled to Mazanderan he directed his mother, as we have seen, to live
+in Ilak, the best stronghold in all that great region of mountain. Later on Subotai,
+who was hunting Mohammed, left a body of men to invest that strong fortress. As Ilak
+was in a rainy, damp climate no reservoirs had been made for dry periods; while the
+place was invested that happened which came to pass rarely, a dry season. After a
+blockade of some months drought forced a surrender. But just after the Mongols had
+taken possession, the sky was covered densely with clouds which brought a great rainfall.
+</p>
+<p>Turkan Khatun and the harem were taken to the camp of Jinghis, who was before Talekan
+at that time and besieging it. She was held captive there strictly. All the sons of
+Mohammed found in the harem were put to death promptly. Two of his <span class="pageNum" id="pb119">[<a href="#pb119">119</a>]</span>daughters were given to Jagatai, who made one of them his concubine, and gave the
+other as a present to his manager; a third was given as wife to the chancellor, Danishmend.
+The widow of Osman, Khan of Samarkand, she who had insisted on the execution of her
+husband, and was the daughter of the Gurkhan, was given in marriage to a dyer, but
+by another account she was given to Juchi, who had by her afterward several children.
+Turkan Khatun, the strong, brutal woman, was taken to Kara Kurum, the Mongol capital,
+where she died eight years later. Just before she was captured a eunuch had urged
+her to find refuge with Jelal ud din, her own grandson, who was near by, he declared,
+with a numerous army. Turkan replied that captivity of any kind was sweeter to her
+than salvation at his hand. Such was the hate which she felt toward her grandson.
+Nassir ud din, the vizir who had defied Shah Mohammed, was put to death at Talekan
+with a number of others.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed’s three elder sons made their way to Mangishlak by the Caspian and thence
+to Urgendj, the Kwaresmian capital. Since the flight of their grandmother the capital
+had been without rule; in her haste she had left no governor there. Seventy thousand
+men gathered round the three princes immediately. The commanders, being Kankali Turks,
+were dissatisfied that Jelal ud din had succeeded his father; they feared his strong
+will and plotted to kill him. The new Shah saw very clearly that his one chance of
+safety was flight, and he seized that chance quickly. With three hundred warriors
+under Timur Melik, that Khodjend commandant who had escaped through the Mongol investment,
+he fled across the desert to Nessa.
+</p>
+<p>After the capture of Samarkand Jinghis stationed his troops between that place and
+Naksheb where they spent the spring of 1221 and also the summer. Toward autumn his
+forces were reorganized thoroughly. Having rested they were strong and now ready for
+action. The return of Mohammed’s sons at Urgendj and the gathering of forces there
+roused the Khan’s vigilance, so he despatched thither an army at once under his sons,
+Juchi, Jagatai and Ogotai. To cut off retreat toward the Indus he formed a cordon
+on the southern rim of the desert; a part of this cordon was already near Nessa when
+Jelal ud din and his party arrived there. He attacked this line of men valiantly,
+forced it to flight and pushed <span class="pageNum" id="pb120">[<a href="#pb120">120</a>]</span>on without stopping. This was the first victory won over Mongols in the Kwaresmian
+Empire. The two younger brothers, hearing of the advance on Urgendj, set out three
+days later, but failed of such fortune as their brother, and perished near Nessa.
+Their heads fixed on lances were borne through Khorassan.
+</p>
+<p>When the Mongol troops arrived before Urgendj, Juchi, who was in command, sent to
+the capital a summons to surrender, informing the people that his father had given
+him the city and that he did not wish to injure it in any way. As no attention was
+paid to this summons the siege was begun at once. The Mongols endeavored to divert
+the waters of the Oxus above the town, but with no success, for the workmen were killed
+by the garrison. Quarrels between Juchi and Jagatai impeded siege work very greatly.
+Jinghis, angered by this delay, placed Ogotai in command. Juchi was enraged at being
+thus superseded by a younger brother, but he could not withdraw. The siege lasted
+seven months and gained great renown through the desperate defense made by citizens.
+After the general assault which decided the fate of the city the people continued
+resistance with fury; driven from one street they fought in the next. Women and even
+children took part in these struggles, which continued seven days and nights without
+ceasing. At last the inhabitants asked to capitulate. “We have felt thy wrath,” declared
+they to the Mongol commander, “thy time has come now to show favor.” “How!” exclaimed
+Ogotai. “They mention our wrath, they who have slain so many of our army? We have
+felt their wrath very heavily and now we will show them what ours is!”
+</p>
+<p>He ordered all the inhabitants to go forth from the city and wait on the plain; the
+artisans were to group themselves separately. These artisans were spared, but were
+sent to Mongolia. Some of them fearing such an exile, joined with the people and waited.
+Except artisans no one was spared unless youthful women, and also children; all were
+cut down by Ogotai, without mercy.
+</p>
+<p>After this slaughter the Mongols plundered Urgendj of everything which had value.
+Then they opened the sluices of the Oxus and flooded the city; those who were hidden
+there perished. In other places some persons saved themselves always, but here, those
+who escaped Mongol fury and hid themselves were drowned by the water let in on them.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb121">[<a href="#pb121">121</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Jinghis camped that summer on the rich Naksheb steppes, where his vast herds of horses
+found rest and good pasture. In the autumn a new and great campaign was begun by the
+siege laid to Termed. This city, on the north or right bank of the Oxus, refused to
+surrender and was taken by storm on the tenth day of action. All the inhabitants were
+driven beyond the suburbs and massacred; a certain old woman stopped the sword above
+her head and promised a rare pearl if they spared her. When they asked for the treasure,
+she answered, “I have swallowed it.” They ripped her body open and found the costly
+pearl in her stomach. Thinking that others might have swallowed jewels in like fashion,
+Jinghis commanded to rip bodies open thenceforward.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol Khan passed the next winter between Balkh and the Badakshan boundary, subduing,
+ravaging, destroying all cities of note, and every place of distinction or value.
+Before the winter had ended that whole region north of the Oxus was ruined, and was
+a horror to look upon. In spring he crossed the river at a ford and was met by a Balkh
+deputation with gifts and submission. Humility brought that rich famous place no salvation.
+Jinghis, who knew that Jelal ud din, the new sovereign, was at Ghazni with an army,
+would not leave a strong fortress behind him. Under pretext of making a census he
+directed the people in Balkh to assemble outside near the suburbs. They went forth
+and were slaughtered most brutally; the city was pillaged, then burned, and all its
+defenses demolished.
+</p>
+<p>The time of terror came next to Nusrat i kuh in the Talekan district. This place,
+strong by position, by its works, and its garrison, defended itself for six months
+with immense strength, and successfully. Prisoners in large numbers were forced to
+fight in the front lines of investment. Those who turned back were cut down without
+mercy by the Mongols behind them. A huge earth mound was reared and catapults placed
+on it; with these the besiegers battered the interior of the fortress. At last the
+brave garrison made a great sally on foot and on horseback; the horsemen escaped to
+the mountains, but the foot forces were like wild beasts at bay; they fought till
+the enemy had slain every man of them. The Mongols then burst into the city; they
+spared no living soul in it and left not one stone on another.
+</p>
+<p>While the Khan’s army was destroying Nusrat i kuh, Tului <span class="pageNum" id="pb122">[<a href="#pb122">122</a>]</span>returned to his father after wasting Khorassan, the richest and most beautiful part
+of the Empire. When Tului had set out for this work of destruction Khorassan had been
+already ravaged by Subotai and by Chepé, who did the work only in part as they rushed
+along hunting Mohammed. These two chiefs left a commandant in each place which yielded.
+After they had passed, and when news came of victories won, as men said, by Mohammed,
+people hitherto terrified recovered their courage. For instance, the chief of militia
+in Tus killed the Mongol commandant and sent his head to Nishapur, the next city,
+as a trophy; but this chief suffered soon after for his levity and rashness. A strange
+captain came with a detachment to Tus, put nearly all native troops to the sword,
+and forced the Tus citizens to destroy their defenses.
+</p>
+<p>When Tului received the command in 1220 to march on Khorassan he sent forward ten
+thousand men, under Togachar, as a vanguard. This body went on toward Nessa and when
+approaching that city a part of it met with resistance. Belgush, its commander, fell
+in the action which followed. Togachar, to avenge the death of Belgush, besieged Nessa.
+Shah Mohammed, when fleeing, had sent an official to advise Nessa people: “The Mongols,”
+said he, “will abandon the Empire when they have plundered it, so flee to the desert,
+or to mountainous regions, unless ye wish to rebuild the old fortress, which was razed
+by my father<span class="corr" id="xd32e1513" title="Not in source">.</span>” They rebuilt the old fortress.
+</p>
+<p>Togachar attacked Nessa, using twenty catapults handled by captives, who, whenever
+they fell back, were massacred by Mongols behind them. On the sixteenth day at dawn
+a breach in the wall was effected; the Mongols burst through and drove out the inhabitants.
+On the plain near Nessa some were forced to bind others; when the hands of each man
+were bound behind his back the Mongols slaughtered all who were there, seventy thousand
+in number.
+</p>
+<p>The ancient city of Meru, or Merv, renowned in Persian story, and still more in Sanscrit
+poems, was the first place attacked by Tului with the main army. It was one of the
+four ruling cities, and the one which Melik Shah and Sindjar, the Seljuk Sultans,
+had favored. It stood on a broad, fertile plain through which flowed the Murghab,
+or Bird, River. When Mohammed fled from Jinghis he directed Merv troops and officials
+to retire on Meraga, a neighboring fortress. “All people who remain must receive <span class="pageNum" id="pb123">[<a href="#pb123">123</a>]</span>Mongol troops with submission,” this was his order. Mohammed’s fear, not his counsel,
+remained in that city. His governor, Behai ul Mulk, did not think Meraga strong and
+found elsewhere a refuge; some chiefs returned to Merv, others fled to distant places.
+The new governor, a man of no value, declared for submission, and so did the mufti,
+but the judge and descendants of the Prophet demanded resistance. The governor lost
+his place soon and was followed in office by a former incumbent named Mojir ul Mulk,
+who managed Merv matters till Tului appeared with a force seventy thousand in number,
+made up in some part of captives. Next day he surrounded the outworks and within a
+week’s time his whole army had inclosed that doomed city, February, 1221.
+</p>
+<p>The besieged made two sorties from different sides, but were hurled back each time
+with great violence. The assailants then passed the whole night near the ramparts,
+so that no living soul might escape them. Mojir ul Mulk sent a venerable Imam next
+morning to visit headquarters. This holy man brought back such mild words and fair
+speeches, that the governor himself went to visit the camp, bearing with him rich
+presents. Tului promised him the office of governor, and the lives of all citizens.
+He gave him a rich robe of honor and spoke of the governor’s friends and adherents:
+“I desire to attach them to my person,” said he, “and confer on them fiefs and high
+office.” The governor sent for his friends and adherents. When Tului had all these
+men in his power he bound them. He bound Mojir ul Mulk also and forced him to name
+the richest Merv citizens. A list was drawn up of two hundred great merchants and
+men of much property, who were sent to the Mongols with four hundred artisans. After
+this the troops entered the city and drove out the people. The command had been given
+that each man must go forth with his family and all he had of most value. The multitude
+spent four whole days marching out of the city.
+</p>
+<p>Tului mounted a gilded throne on a plain near the suburbs and had the war chiefs brought
+first to his presence. That done he commanded to hew off their heads in presence of
+the immense wailing multitude of people, for whom no better lot was in waiting.
+</p>
+<p>Men, women, and children were torn from one another never to meet in this life after
+that day. The whole place was filled with <span class="pageNum" id="pb124">[<a href="#pb124">124</a>]</span>groans, shrieks and wild terror; the people were given in groups to divisions of the
+army whose office it was to cut them down to the last without pity or exception. Only
+four hundred artisans were set aside and some boys and girls intended for servitude.
+Wealthy persons were tortured unsparingly till they told where their treasures were
+hidden; when the treasures were found these men were slaughtered as well as the others.
+The city was plundered to the utmost; the tomb of the Sultan, Sindjar, was pillaged;
+the walls of the ancient city and the fortress were made level with the country about
+them.
+</p>
+<p>Before he left that city of carnage and terror Tului appointed a governor, one of
+the inhabitants whom he had spared for some reason, and then he joined a Mongol commandant
+to that man. When the army had marched away to destroy Nishapur, about five hundred
+persons crept forth from underground places of hiding, but short was the breathing
+space given them. Mongol troops following Tului wished also a share in the bloodshed.
+Halting outside the dark ruins, they asked that these ill-fated people bring wheat
+to their camp ground. The unfortunates were sent and were slaughtered.
+</p>
+<p>This corps cut down every man whom it met in the wake of Tului.
+</p>
+<p>Nishapur stood twelve days’ journey distant from Merv and in attacking it Tului was
+preparing to avenge Togachar, his sister’s husband, killed at Nessa. The Nishapur
+people had done what they could to the harm of the Mongols, and had prepared to defend
+themselves with all the strength of their souls and their bodies. They had mounted
+three thousand ballistas on the walls, and five hundred catapults.
+</p>
+<p>The siege was begun by laying waste the whole province, of which Nishapur was the
+capital. Three thousand ballistas, three hundred catapults, seven hundred machines
+to throw pots of burning naphtha, and four thousand ladders were among the siege implements.
+At sight of these, and of the vast multitude of savage warriors surrounding their
+city, the leaders felt courage go from them.
+</p>
+<p>A deputation of notables, with the chief judge of Khorassan, went to offer Tului submission,
+and an annual tribute.
+</p>
+<p>Tului refused every offer and held the judge captive. Next <span class="pageNum" id="pb125">[<a href="#pb125">125</a>]</span>morning he rode round the walls and roused his troops to the greatest endeavor. They
+attacked all sides at once, fighting that day and the night following. In the morning
+the moats were full; in the walls were seventy breaches; ten thousand Mongols had
+entered. New assailants rushed in from every side, and there were desperate encounters
+at many points. Before that day had ended the city was occupied. The assailants took
+terrible vengeance. Togachar’s widow, one of Jinghis Khan’s daughters, rushed in herself
+with ten thousand warriors who cut down all before them. The slaughter continued four
+days without ceasing. The Mongols destroyed every living thing; even the cats and
+dogs in the city were killed by them (April, 1221).
+</p>
+<p>Tului had heard that in the destruction of Merv many persons had saved their lives
+by lying down among corpses, so now he ordained that all heads be cut from the bodies;
+of these three pyramids were constructed, one of men’s heads, a second from heads
+of women, and a third of children’s heads. Fifteen days did destruction of the city
+continue; the place disappeared altogether, and the Mongols sowed barley on the site
+of it. Of the inhabitants only a few hundred men were left living; these were skilled
+artisans. Lest some should find refuge in underground places, troops were left near
+the ruins to slay all who might creep out later on into daylight.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol army marched now against Herat, the last city left in Khorassan. The governor,
+who had slain the envoy sent by Tului to summon the place to surrender, exhorted all
+men to fight desperately, to fight to the death. The struggle continued eight days,
+and Herat fought with immense resolution and fury; on that day the governor fell,
+and a small party sprang up which declared for submission. Tului knowing this state
+of mind in the city, promised to spare the people, if they would submit to him straightway.
+The offer was accepted. He spared all the citizens, excepting twelve thousand devoted
+to Jelal ud din, the new sovereign, and appointed a Mohammedan governor, with a Mongol
+commandant to help him.
+</p>
+<p>Eight days later Tului received from Talekan a command to go to his father.
+</p>
+<p>While Tului was ruining Khorassan, a small group of Turkmans, Khankalis, who were
+living near Merv, fearing the Mongols, <span class="pageNum" id="pb126">[<a href="#pb126">126</a>]</span>moved westward, and after some wandering in Asia Minor, settled at last near Angora
+under Ertogrul their tribe chieftain. They numbered in those days four hundred and
+forty families. These Turkmans formed the nucleus of the Ottoman Empire, so famous
+in history until our day.
+</p>
+<p>After he had destroyed Talekan, Jinghis held his summer camp for a time in the neighboring
+mountains. His sons, Jagatai and Ogotai, returned from Urgendj and other ruined places
+on the Oxus. Juchi went north of Lake Aral and in deep and unquenchable anger began
+to establish the monarchy of Kipchak, known later as the Golden Horde, and never again
+saw his father. Jinghis learning, toward the autumn of 1221, that Jelal ud din had
+large forces in Ghazni, directed his march toward that city to crush him.
+</p>
+<p>The great Khan was detained a whole month at Kerduan, a firm fortress, but he destroyed
+it at last, with all its defenders. He crossed the Hindu Kush after that and besieged
+Bamian, where he lost one grandson stricken dead by an arrow; this was Moatagan, son
+of Jagatai. To avenge this death Bamian was stormed promptly, and taken. Jinghis would
+not have it in another way. The command was given to leave nothing alive, and take
+no booty of any kind. Every living creature had to die, and every thing of value was
+broken or burned. Bamian was renamed Mobalig (the city of woe), and the region about
+it was turned to a desert. A hundred years later it contained no inhabitants.
+</p>
+<p>Just after this destruction came the news of Jelal ud din’s victory over a Mongol
+division, commanded by Kutuku, who had been protecting the Khan’s operations and those
+of Tului on the south side. This victory was gained at Peruan, not far from the Bamian
+boundary. It brought more harm to the victor, however, than profit, for it caused
+a sudden rupture between his commanders, some of whom deserted and led away many warriors.
+With reduced ranks he was forced to fall back upon Ghazni, and thence farther south
+when he heard that Jinghis was advancing rapidly to avenge the defeat of Kutuku, his
+general.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol army reached Ghazni fifteen days after its opponent had retreated. Jinghis
+left a governor in the city, and flew toward the Indus with all the speed possible
+to horses when men are sitting on them and urging them to the utmost. But this time
+the great <span class="pageNum" id="pb127">[<a href="#pb127">127</a>]</span>Mongol had to do with a man of more mettle than he had met in his warfaring thus far.
+Jelal ud din had gathered in forces from all sides; he sent urgent messages to the
+chiefs who had left him, but, though willing to return, they had no chance to do so
+at that day. Jinghis was between them and their leader.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols urged forward their horses with the energy of madmen. The great task was
+to stop the young Shah from crossing the Indus with his army and his harem—his wives
+and children were all with him. Time was in this case preëminent in value. The Mongols
+pressed Jelal ud din savagely, but he was, as ever, unterrified. Just before reaching
+the Indus he fell at night on the rear of his enemy’s vanguard, and cut it down to
+a man very nearly.
+</p>
+<p>On reaching the river there was no time to cross, so the Shah ranged his army for
+battle. The left wing was covered by a mountain, which ended sheer in the river. The
+mountain could not be turned, and could not be crossed, as the Shah thought; it protected
+the left from flank attack also; the Indus protected the right from flank movements,
+and Jelal ud din could be met straight in front only. His army was thirty thousand,
+while that of his enemy was many times larger.
+</p>
+<p>And now began the unequal and desperate encounter. The Shah’s right wing, to which
+he sent reinforcements repeatedly, repulsed the left wing of the Mongols, and he himself
+broke Jinghis Khan’s center. For a time the Mongol conqueror was in personal peril,
+since a horse was killed under him in the struggle. Jelal ud din would have held his
+own, and perhaps won a victory, had not Bela Noyon been sent with ten thousand picked
+men to pass the mountain at all costs. Over cliffs and on the edge of abysses the
+Mongols crept carefully, pushing forward till at last they were in the rear of the
+weakened left wing and the center which, attacked from rear and front, were pierced
+through and forced out of contact with each other.
+</p>
+<p>Rallying seven thousand men around him Jelal ud din made a desperate charge on the
+line of his enemy, which gave way for some distance, then he turned quickly, sprang
+on a fresh horse, threw off his armor and spurring to the Indus leaped from a bank
+given variously as from twenty to sixty feet higher than the plain of the water. His
+shield was at his shoulder, and his standard <span class="pageNum" id="pb128">[<a href="#pb128">128</a>]</span>in his hand. Jinghis, who spurred to the river bank swiftly and gazed at his fleeing
+opponent, cried: “How could Shah Mohammed be the father of this man!”
+</p>
+<p>The eldest son of Jelal ud din was a lad of eight years. He with his brothers were
+tossed into the Indus and drowned like superfluous puppies. Jinghis disposed of the
+harem and treasures as pleased him.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal ud din vanished then for a time from the conflict to appear later on in various
+struggles till weakness, treachery and death put an end to him. Mongol generals crossed
+the river and pursued, but returned after fruitless endeavors.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis marched up the right bank of the Indus in the spring of 1222, and sent his
+son Ogotai to take Ghazni and destroy it. Here, as in most other places, the inhabitants
+were sent from the city, as it were to be counted, but were slaughtered most brutally;
+none were spared except artisans. An army corps was sent also to ruin Herat, the one
+city left in Khorassan. Herat had risen in revolt on hearing of the Peruan triumph
+over Mongols; the people had had such action in view since the time of surrender,
+and had stored away arms and supplies under pretext that they were for Mongol use
+should the need come.
+</p>
+<p>Not far from Herat was the Kaliun fortress, known later on as Nerretu. To reach this
+strong place men had to pass single file on the high, narrow ridge of a mountain which
+resembled the back of a colossal hog of the razor-back species. The place was beyond
+reach of arrows, or of stones sent by catapults. Though they had attacked Kaliun twice,
+the Mongols had failed in their efforts to take it. The Kaliun men, fearing lest they
+might come a third time, and impress Herat people, had planned to involve that strong
+and wealthy city, which would then have one cause with them. They sent letters to
+the Mongol governors ruling in Herat stating: “We are ready to surrender, but fear
+Mongol rigor; we beg for a written safe-conduct.”
+</p>
+<p>The governors answered that they would give such a letter, and advised the petitioners
+to visit the city and come to them. This was all that the other men needed; so seventy
+strong warriors went down from Kaliun, disguised as simple huxters; they had arms
+covered up in the packs which they carried. They entered the city, each man by himself,
+combined later on and slew both <span class="pageNum" id="pb129">[<a href="#pb129">129</a>]</span>the governors. Herat rose immediately, and killed every partisan of the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>In addition to his own men the Mongol commander led now fifty thousand impressed from
+conquered places. A siege followed soon and a desperate resistance. Six months and
+seventeen days did it last till the fall of the city. The sword was turned then on
+all save the choice youth of both sexes. For one week the Mongols slew, pillaged,
+burned, ruined. It was said that one million six hundred thousand people perished
+in the conflict and subsequent slaughter. Jinghis received the richest of the plunder,
+and with it went several thousands of youthful captives.
+</p>
+<p>When Herat was destroyed the commander went back to the main army; somewhat later
+troops were sent to capture all who might have escaped and appeared in the ruins;
+they found about two thousand. These they slew, and then returned to those who had
+sent them.
+</p>
+<p>Sixteen persons took refuge on a steep mountain peak, and when they saw no Mongols
+coming back, they went down to Herat. A few others came also and joined them. There
+was then a new population, forty persons in number. Their only refuge was the chief
+mosque of the city.
+</p>
+<p>After its terrible ruin, Merv had been repeopled to some extent, but later five thousand
+Mongols were sent to that city and they slaughtered all whom they found in it. When
+these five thousand had done their work thoroughly a commandant, Ak Melik, was left
+with the order to kill all who might reappear in the ruins. This man did his best
+to find people and slay them. He sent muezzins to summon to prayer from the minarets.
+Whenever a Moslem crept out of his hiding place and entered the mosque he was seized
+and his life taken. Forty-one days did Ak Melik lurk there and wait for more people.
+The survivors were few when he left the ruins. Merv remained a sad desert till the
+days of Shah Ruk, son of Tamerlane.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis cut down on the banks of the Indus all who had been faithful to Jelal ud din,
+the new Shah, and now he destroyed all who had deserted that sovereign and been foolishly
+treacherous. On deserting Jelal ud din, Agrak had gone with Azam to Bekerhar. After
+a visit there he set out for Peshawur, and from the first halting place sent back
+this message: “Let not my mortal enemy <span class="pageNum" id="pb130">[<a href="#pb130">130</a>]</span>remain in thy country.” This enemy was Nuh Jaudar, the chief of five or six thousand
+Kolluj families. Azam sent back this answer: “Never has there been among Moslems such
+need as there now is not to quarrel.” And taking an escort of fifty, Azam followed
+to make peace between Agrak and Jaudar. He could not move Agrak or persuade him; they
+ate together and also drank wine; Agrak’s brain grew excited, he mounted, took one
+hundred men and rode to the camp of the Kollujes. Jaudar thinking that Agrak wished
+peace rode forth with his son to greet him. On seeing his enemy Agrak drew his sabre
+as if to strike, and was cut down by Jaudar’s men the next moment. When Agrak’s adherents
+heard that their leader had been slain they thought that Jaudar and Azam had plotted
+his ruin, and right away they slew Azam. Then they attacked Jaudar’s camp, where they
+massacred him and his children. Soon after this they encountered the Gur men and killed
+a great number. As a close to this tragic insanity of action a corps of mounted Mongols
+fell upon all and slew them indiscriminately; a small remnant fled in various directions.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb131">[<a href="#pb131">131</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch8" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e359">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<h2 class="main">DEATH AND BURIAL OF THE CONQUEROR</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Jinghis had passed the winter of 1222–3 near the Indus, and in the spring of 1223
+he resolved, rather suddenly as it seemed, to march up the Indus and return through
+Tibet to Tangut and China. The reasons given by historians for this move are various.
+There were troubles in Tangut and there was no imperative reason for remaining in
+Kwaresm, since that Empire was utterly helpless; it had been depopulated and ruined
+in most parts.
+</p>
+<p>Some people thought that Jinghis, if not horrified, was at least set to thinking by
+the boundless slaughters committed at his direction. We have two accounts touching
+this matter which are of interest, though both bear the myth stamp, and are opinions
+of other men as to Jinghis, not the great Khan’s own thoughts as expressed by his
+words or his actions. In the Chinese history “Tung Kian Kang Mu,” the following cause
+is given for his sudden decision: When Jinghis was at the Iron Gate of North India
+his guards saw a creature which resembled a deer, but its head was like that of a
+horse with one horn on its forehead, and there was green hair on its body. This creature
+had power of speech, for it said to the guards: “It is time for your master to return
+to his own land.” Jinghis, troubled by this message, consulted Ye liu chu tsai, who
+said: “That creature is Kotwan, it knows every language. It appears as a sign that
+bloodshed is needless at present. For four years the great army is warring in western
+regions. Heaven, which has a horror of bloodshed, gives warning through Kotwan. Spare
+the Empire for Heaven’s sake. Moderation will give boundless pleasure.”
+</p>
+<p>The other account is quite different in character and import: “I was,” says a Gurjistan
+cadi, “in Herat on a tower, which stood just in front of Tului’s headquarters. Arrows
+came in <span class="pageNum" id="pb132">[<a href="#pb132">132</a>]</span>such numbers that I went down and was lost in the dust, among Mongols. They seized
+and took me then to Tului. When he heard my adventure he wondered: ‘An angel, or it
+may be a demon, is trifling with thee,’ said he. ‘Neither,’ replied I. ‘How then art
+thou here?’ asked he. ‘I looked at all things with the eye of a sovereign,’ was my
+answer, ‘hence no harm struck me.’ This answer so pleased Tului that he showed me
+much favor. ‘Take this gift,’ added he, ‘for thou art a man of rare wisdom. Be true
+to Jinghis the great Khan, for thou wilt now serve him.’ He sent me then to his father,
+who received me in Talekan with high favor. Jinghis spoke to me of Turkish sufferings
+repeatedly. ‘Dost thou think,’ asked he one day, ‘that the blood which I have shed
+will be remembered against me by mankind?’ He held a dart in his hand while he looked
+in my face and put questions. ‘I will answer,’ replied I, ‘if your majesty secures
+life to me.’ ‘Speak,’ said the Khan, and I answered: ‘If your majesty slays as many
+persons as you please, men will give you whatever fame pleases them.’ His face colored
+at these words, and he shouted in rage till the dart dropped from his fingers. I felt
+death standing near me that moment, but he soon recovered and said: ‘I have thought
+on the wisdom of sages, and see that I have plundered and slain without the right
+knowledge in that region where Mohammed’s horse lost his way; but what care I for
+men?’ and he went from the chamber. I could remain in those places no longer, such
+was my fear in that horde, and I fled from it.”
+</p>
+<p>Before starting for home Jinghis gave command to kill all superfluous prisoners, that
+is, all who had done the work because of which they had been spared from death on
+the day when they were taken; only artisans were left, men needed for their skill
+in Mongolia. This command was not carried out, however, till the captives had hulled
+an immense store of rice for the Mongols; that done they were slain in one night without
+any exception.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols took the road toward Tibet, but after some days they turned back from
+that difficult region and went to Peshawur, where were the roads along which they
+had come in the first place. As he passed Balkh on the Samarkand road Jinghis Khan
+issued orders to slay all who had made their way back to that city.
+</p>
+<p>After the death of Shah Mohammed, Chepé Noyon and Subotai, two of the three who had
+hunted him down to extinction, plundered <span class="pageNum" id="pb133">[<a href="#pb133">133</a>]</span>Persian, that is Eastern, Irak and ruined it, and also the lands between that vast
+province and the Caspian. On the west they went great distances inland, including
+parts of Armenia, and also Georgia as far as Tiflis. In 1222 those commanders received
+from Jinghis reinforcements with a command to conquer the Polovtsi, a people akin
+to the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>These Polovtsi led a nomad life in that region which stretches westward from the Caspian
+to the Dnieper; they were neighbors of the Russians whom they had harassed for centuries.
+The Mongols had obtained from the Shirvan Shah ten guards to conduct them. The commanders
+began very strangely. They cut off the head of one of these ten and declared that
+the other nine would die by the same kind of death if they should deceive them or
+use any treachery. Despite this cruel act the guides led the army into ambush among
+northern foothills of the Caucasus, and slipped away safely.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols, astray in mountains and woods, were attacked upon all sides by various
+strong peoples; among these were the Polovtsi, to whom they were bringing destruction.
+Pressed hard at all points they sent to those Polovtsi this message: “Ye and we are
+one people, why war with us? Make peace. We will give all the gold that ye need, and
+many rich garments. Ye and we can work together with great profit.”
+</p>
+<p>Seduced by these words and by presents the Polovtsi gave help and aid to the Mongols,
+gave them victory first, and then led them out to the open country. When towns in
+the Caucasus foothills and near them were ruined the Mongols turned on the Polovtsi,
+slew their chief men and numbers of others, took back the bribes to treachery, took
+every other thing of value and cut down and slaughtered on all sides. The Polovtsi
+fled and spread terror with their accounts of the Mongols. The whole people left the
+best pastures and moved toward their northern and western boundaries. Ten thousand
+families passed into Byzantine regions. John Ducas, the Emperor, took those people
+then to his service and gave them land in Macedonia and Thrace. Great numbers fled
+into Russia, which for two centuries had been scourged with their raids and their
+outrages. Among the fugitives was Kotyan, a Khan whose daughter had married the Galitch
+prince Mystislav the Gallant. Kotyan implored his son-in-law <span class="pageNum" id="pb134">[<a href="#pb134">134</a>]</span>to help him: “To-day,” said he, “the Mongols have taken our land, they will take yours
+to-morrow. Assist us; if not we shall be beaten on one day and you the day following.”
+</p>
+<p>Mystislav called the Russian princes to a council, at which they resolved to give
+aid to the Polovtsi. “Unless we help them,” said Mystislav, “they will go with the
+Mongols and strengthen them.” A deputation went north to ask aid of the princes in
+Suzdal. Troops were collected and the Russian princes moved against the enemy in confidence.
+On the way they met Mongol envoys who delivered this message: “We have heard that,
+convinced by the Polovtsi, ye are marching against us, but we have not come to attack
+you. We have come against our own horse boys and slaves, the vile Polovtsi; we are
+not at war with you. If the Polovtsi flee to your country drive them out of it, and
+seize all their property. They have harmed you, as men tell us; they have harmed us
+also; that is why we attack them.” The Russian princes gave answer by killing the
+envoys.
+</p>
+<p>Some distance down that great river the Dnieper, a new Mongol embassy met the Russian
+princes with these words: “If through obedience to the Polovtsi ye have cut down our
+envoys, and are now bringing war on us, Heaven will judge your action; we have not
+harmed you.” This time the princes spared the envoys.
+</p>
+<p>When the Russians and Polovtsi had assembled at the Dnieper Mystislav crossed with
+one thousand men. He attacked the Mongol outposts and scattered them. After some hesitation
+the Mongols retired. Moving eastward, they lured on the Russians, who soon met a larger
+detachment of warriors. These they attacked and defeated, driving them far into the
+steppe land and seizing all their cattle. Encouraged by this success, the Russians
+moved forward eight days in succession till they neared the river Kalka. Then came
+an action with outposts and a third Russian victory. Mystislav ordered Daniel of Galitch,
+son of Roman, to cross the Kalka; after him went all the other princes and encamped
+on the steppe beyond the river. The Polovtsi were posted in advance, some of them
+serving as sentries. Mystislav rode forward to reconnoitre. Being satisfied with what
+was revealed to him he returned hastily, ordered out his own men and also Daniel,
+giving no command to other princes who were left in their camp awaiting orders; there
+was keen rivalry between <span class="pageNum" id="pb135">[<a href="#pb135">135</a>]</span>him and them. Mystislav thought, as it seems, to win victory without them and believed
+that he had power thus to win it. He knew not that he was to meet Chepé Noyon who
+had hunted to death both Gutchluk and Mohammed, the sovereigns of two Empires; he
+knew nothing of the Mongols, their numbers, their power or their methods.
+</p>
+<p>The battle was opened by Daniel who, in the forefront himself, attacked with great
+valor and was wounded very early in the action, which was obstinate. Observing the
+danger, Mystislav supported him, and the Mongols were repulsed to some extent. At
+this point, for some unknown cause, the whole force of the Polovtsi stampeded, turned,
+rushed back in panic terror and filled the Russian camp with disorder. The Mongols
+rallied quickly, brought up fresh forces, and swept all before them. The Russians,
+not engaged for the greater part, were waiting near the river. The Polovtsi not only
+left the field, but in fact helped the enemy, hence victory was perfect for the Mongols.
+“Never in Russia,” states the chronicler, “was there a defeat so disastrous as this
+one (1224).”
+</p>
+<p>Three Russian princes, who had not taken part in the battle, held their ground firmly
+near the river, on a hill which they fortified with palisades. They fought there with
+two divisions of Mongols, which remained at the Kalka—the others followed Mystislav
+toward the Dnieper. Three days did those brave men fight at the river, till assured
+that they would be freed on surrender, if ransomed. They trusted the plighted word
+of the Mongols and yielded.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol chiefs bound those three princes hand and foot, and laid them side by side
+on the ground at some distance one from another. They then placed a heavy platform
+upon them, sat on that platform and ate and drank while the princes were lying beneath
+in desperate torture. Thus the three Russians died while the Mongols were feasting
+above them.
+</p>
+<p>Six princes and a great number of their men perished while fleeing toward the Dnieper.
+Mystislav, and those in his company, including Daniel, reached the river and crossed
+it. The prince burned his boats on the west bank, or had them cut into pieces lest
+the enemy might follow him farther, but the Mongols turned back before reaching the
+Dnieper. The northern <span class="pageNum" id="pb136">[<a href="#pb136">136</a>]</span>contingent, commanded by the Rostoff prince, Vassilko, heard at Chernigoff of the
+Kalka disaster and returned home, being too weak, as they thought, to face such an
+enemy.
+</p>
+<p>On their way eastward the Mongols used fire and sword without mercy wherever they
+found men and property. They filled southern Russia with terror; they swept through
+the Crimea and ravaged it; they captured Bulgar on the Volga and ruined that opulent
+city. Sated with bloodshed and laden with booty they returned that same year to headquarters
+east of the Caspian. Thus one division of Jinghis Khan’s great army overran an immense
+part of Europe without meeting effective resistance in any place.
+</p>
+<p>On leaving Samarkand for Mongolia Jinghis gave command to the mother, the widows and
+the kinsfolk of Shah Mohammed to stand at the roadside and take a farewell look at
+their native land. They did this and wailed in loud voices as they saw it for the
+last time.
+</p>
+<p>In February of 1225 the mighty manslayer had returned to his homeland between the
+rivers, where we may leave him for a time and turn to China:
+</p>
+<p>After Jinghis left the Kin Empire in 1216 the Kins reoccupied the land seized from
+them excepting Chong tu and the northern rim of Pe che li and Shan si. Mukuli, the
+great Mongol general, reëntered China in 1217. During that year and the five years
+which followed he conquered all the lands of the Kin dynasty excepting one province,
+Honan, which lies south of the Hoang Ho and extends from the bend of that river at
+Tung kwan to its mouth at the Yellow Sea. Mukuli died in April, 1223, leaving his
+title and command to his only son, Boru.
+</p>
+<p>After the death of this renowned warrior both Chinese dynasties became increasingly
+active and hostile. The king in Tangut followed also their counsel and influence.
+Beyond doubt, it was to meet this new growth of enmity that Jinghis had returned to
+Mongolia. The Kin Emperor had sent an embassy to Jinghis in the west with the offer
+to yield up all places north of the Hoang Ho, and to be a younger brother. This was
+refused. Jinghis answered that the Kin Emperor must be content with the title of Prince
+of Honan, and the position of a vassal. During the two years following there rose
+great and very active resistance. <span class="pageNum" id="pb137">[<a href="#pb137">137</a>]</span>Tangut favored the Kins, and its monarch prepared for armed action against the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>In view of this Jinghis toward the end of 1225 left his headquarters to make war on
+Tangut. His formal complaint was that foes of the Mongol Khan had been favored and
+taken into service by the King who had refused also to send his son as a hostage.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis entered Tangut in 1226, during February. Between that time and the autumn
+following he passed from north to south, harassing the country most savagely. He laid
+siege to Ling chau, the capital. Li ti, the king, died in August, leaving the throne
+to Li hien, his son and successor. A new Tangut army was sent to strengthen Ling chau.
+Jinghis returned northward, put that new army to flight, stormed Ling chau, took the
+city, sacked it and slaughtered its inhabitants. Leaving a corps there he advanced
+to the south; seized Si ning with Lin tao and sacked both those cities. Establishing
+headquarters in Western Shen si he captured places all around in that region till
+the hot summer came when he retired to the Liu pan mountains and rested. The condition
+of the country at that time as described by Chinese annalists is as follows:
+</p>
+<p>“Men strive in vain to hide in caverns and in mountains. As to the Mongol sword, hardly
+two in a hundred escape it. The fields are covered with the bones of slaughtered people.”
+</p>
+<p>In the month of July, 1227, Li hien sent an embassy with submission. He asked merely
+one month in which to surrender his capital. The favor was granted, and Jinghis promised
+to regard him as his son in the future.
+</p>
+<p>Soon after, the Mongol manslayer was taken ill and died eight days later. He had time,
+however, to instruct his sons how to live, and his generals how to capture Nan king,
+and destroy the Kin dynasty. He told them also how to deal with Tangut and its sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>They were to hide the death of Jinghis very carefully, and when Li hien came out of
+his capital at the time fixed for surrender, they were to slay him and put all people
+of that city to the sword, without exception.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis died August 18, 1227, when sixty-six years of age. He had reigned twenty-two
+years.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb138">[<a href="#pb138">138</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The order to slay the Tangut sovereign and the people of the city was carried out
+strictly, and the kingdom of Tangut was added to the Mongol Empire.
+</p>
+<p>“Since the beginning of time,” writes the Chinese historian, “no barbarous people
+have ever been so mighty as the Mongols are at present. They destroy empires as a
+man plucks out herbs by the roots, such is the power in their possession. Why does
+Heaven let them have it?”
+</p>
+<p>The remains of the great Khan were taken back to his birthplace. Lest his death might
+be known the troops who conducted them slew every person whom they met as they traveled.
+Only when they arrived at the home of Jinghis was his death published to all men.
+</p>
+<p>As the life of Jinghis was unique and original, so were the circumstances of his death
+and the details of his funeral. A great number of causes were given for his death.
+It was ascribed to an arrow, to poison, to drowning, to lightning, to the witchery
+of Kurbeljin Goa the Tangut queen, who had the fame of great beauty, and whom Jinghis
+had taken as it seems from her husband and added to the number of his many wives.
+It is stated by some historians that he had more than 400 wives and concubines. But
+Bortai, the mother of Juchi, Jagatai, Ogotai and Tului always held the first place.
+Ssanang Setzen, the chronicler, a descendant himself of Jinghis, describes the last
+days, death and funeral of his ancestor. This account reads like one of those myth
+tales which I found in Siberia. First we have the life and death struggle between
+Jinghis and the King of Tangut whose name in the chronicle is Shidurgo. Shidurgo opens
+the struggle by becoming a serpent, Jinghis becomes king of all birds, and then Shidurgo
+turns into a tiger, Jinghis changes at once to a lion; at last Shidurgo is a boy and
+Jinghis appears as chief of the Tengeri or heavenly divinities, and Shidurgo is at
+his mercy. “If thou kill me,” said Shidurgo, “the act will be fatal to thee; if thou
+spare me it will be fatal to thy children.” Jinghis struck, but the blow did not harm
+his opponent. “There is only one weapon in the world that can kill me, a triple dagger
+made of magnet which is now between my first and second boot soles.” With that the
+Tangut king drew forth the blade and gave it to his enemy. “Kill me; if milk comes
+from the wound it will foretoken ill to thee, if blood <span class="pageNum" id="pb139">[<a href="#pb139">139</a>]</span>ill to thy posterity. Before taking Kurbeljin Goa, my wife, look to her previous life
+very carefully.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis stabbed Shidurgo in the neck, blood flowed and he died. Next the queen was
+brought in. All wondered when they saw her. “I had much greater beauty before,” said
+she. “I am grimy from dust now, but when I bathe in the river my beauty will come
+to me.” She went to the Kara Muren (the Hoang Ho) and plunged into it. When she returned
+she had all her former great beauty. The following night while Jinghis lay asleep
+she bewitched him; he grew feeble and ill and never gained strength again. She left
+him, went down to the Kara Muren and disappeared in that river.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis lay helpless in bed and at last death was near him. He spoke then to Kiluken,
+his old comrade, the gray hero: “Be thou a true friend to my widow Bortai Fudjin,
+and to my sons Ogotai and Tului, be thou true to them fearlessly. The precious jade
+has no crust, the polished dagger no dirt on it; man born to life is not deathless,
+he must go hence without home, without resting place. The glory of a deed is in being
+finished. Firm and unbending is he who keeps a plighted word faithfully. Follow not
+the will of another and thou wilt have the good-will of many. To me it is clear that
+I must leave all and go hence from you. The words of the boy Kubilai are very weighty;
+note what he says, note it all of you. He will sit on my throne some day and will,
+as I have done, secure high prosperity.”
+</p>
+<p>Kiluken and many princes went to bear the corpse of their mighty leader back to the
+Kentei Khan region, through the greater part of Tangut and across the broad Gobi.
+A long, an immense train of people followed it. As they marched they wailed and raised
+their voices together lamenting, Kiluken leading, as follows:
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“In times which are gone thou didst swoop like a falcon before us. To-day a car bears
+thee on as it rumbles advancing.
+</p>
+<p class="line xd32e1643">O thou my Khan!</p>
+<p class="line">Hast thou left us indeed, hast thou left wife and children,
+</p>
+<p class="line xd32e1643">O thou my Khan?</p>
+<p class="line">Hast thou left us, hast thou left the Kurultai of thy nation,
+</p>
+<p class="line xd32e1643">O thou my Khan?</p>
+<p class="line">Sweeping forward in pride, as sweeps forward an eagle thou didst lead us aforetime,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb140">[<a href="#pb140">140</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="line xd32e1643">O thou my Khan,</p>
+<p class="line">But now thou hast stumbled, and art down, like a colt still unbroken,
+</p>
+<p class="line xd32e1643">O thou my Khan.</p>
+<p class="line">Thou didst bring peace and joy to thy people for sixty and six years, but now thou
+art leaving them,
+</p>
+<p class="line xd32e1643">O thou my Khan.”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">When the procession had reached the Mona Khan mountains the funeral car stopped in
+blue miry clay and the best horses could not move it. All were discouraged and grief
+stricken, when a new chant rose, led by Kiluken the gray hero:
+</p>
+<p>“O lion of the Tengeri, thou our lord, wilt thou leave us? Wilt thou desert wife and
+nation in this quagmire? Thy firmly built state, with its laws and its much devoted
+people; thy golden palace, thy state raised on justice, the numerous clans of thy
+nation, all these are awaiting thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Thy birth land, the rivers in which thou didst bathe, all these are awaiting thee
+off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Thy subjects the Mongols devoted and fruitful are awaiting thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Thy chiefs, thy commanders, thy great kinsfolk are awaiting thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Thy birthplace, Deligun Bulak on the Onon, is awaiting thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Thy standard of Yak tails, thy drums, fifes and trumpets, thy golden house and all
+that is in it, are awaiting thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“The fields of the Kerulon, where first thou didst sit on thy throne as Jinghis, are
+awaiting thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Bortai Fudjin, the wife of thy youth, Boörchu and Mukuli thy faithful friends, thy
+fortunate land and thy great golden mansion, that wonderful building, are awaiting
+thee off there.
+</p>
+<p>“Wilt thou leave us now here in this quagmire, because this land pleases thee? because
+so many Tanguts are vanquished? because <span class="corr" id="xd32e1675" title="Source: Kurbeldjin">Kurbeljin</span> Goa was beautiful?
+</p>
+<p>“We could not save thy noble life in this kingdom, so let us bear thy remains to their
+last home and resting place. Let us bear thy remains which are as fair as the jade
+stone. Let us give consolation to thy people.”
+</p>
+<p>After this chant the car moved from the blue clay, went forward, <span class="pageNum" id="pb141">[<a href="#pb141">141</a>]</span>passed over the mountain range easily and across the immense Gobi desert. It moved
+on amid wailing and chanting, and at last reached the home of the mighty and merciless
+manslayer.
+</p>
+<p>The body was buried in a Kentei Khan forest near a majestic tree which had pleased
+Jinghis Khan very greatly in his lifetime. There were many smaller trees near this
+single large one, but soon after the burial all trees in the forest had grown equal
+in size and appearance, so that no man knew or could learn where the body of the conqueror
+was hidden.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis Khan is one of the great characters of history, perhaps the greatest that
+has appeared in the world to the present day. A man who, never hampered by conscience,
+advanced directly toward the one supreme object of his life,—power. His executive
+ability was wonderful, as was also his utter disregard for human life. Beginning with
+a few huts on the Kerulon he drew in tribe after tribe, country after country, till
+at his death he was master of more territory than had ever been ruled by one sovereign.
+He stands forth also as the greatest manslayer the world has ever known. From 1211
+to 1223 in China and Tangut alone Jinghis and his assistants killed more than eighteen
+million five hundred thousand human beings. He demanded blind obedience from all men,
+the slightest infringement was punished with death; even his most distinguished generals
+submitted to the bastinado, or to execution.
+</p>
+<p>In Jinghis Khan’s Code of Laws the homicide, the adulterer, the cattle thief, and
+the person who for the third time lost a prisoner confided to his care was put to
+death. Torture was used to force confession. When an animal was to be slaughtered
+it must be thrown on its back, an incision made in its breast and the heart torn out.
+This custom prevails among the Mongols of the Baikal (the Buriats) to the present
+day when killing animals for sacrifice.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis Khan left great possessions to each of his sons and heirs. To Juchi, the eldest,
+he left that immense region north of Lake Aral and westward to the uttermost spot
+on which the hoof of a horse had been planted by Mongols at any time. The dominions
+of Jagatai extended from Kayalik in the Uigur land to the Syr Daryá, or Yaxartes.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai received the country watered by the Imil, while Tului, <span class="pageNum" id="pb142">[<a href="#pb142">142</a>]</span>the youngest, inherited his father’s home places between Kara Kurum and the Onon River
+region.
+</p>
+<p>These dispositions, made somewhat earlier, agreed with Mongol custom and usage, by
+which elder sons received portions as they came to maturity; his father’s house and
+all that belonged to it fell to the youngest son always.
+</p>
+<p>When the last rites had been rendered, and the last honors paid to the great conqueror,
+each of the four sons returned to his possessions, and it was only after two years
+that the family held the Kurultai of election. In the spring of 1229 all assembled
+again on the Kerulon. They were met and received by Tului, acting as regent till they
+should choose a new sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>From the regions north and west of Lake Aral came the descendants of Juchi, that eldest
+son who had dared to defy his own terrible father. Jagatai brought his sons and grandsons
+from the Ili; and Ogotai came from the Imil near which he had been living.
+</p>
+<p>After three days of the Kurultai had been passed in feasting and pleasure, the assembly
+proceeded to choose a Grand Khan, or sovereign. Many were in favor of Tului, but Ye
+liu chu tsai, the great sage and minister, begged them to settle on Ogotai, the choice
+of Jinghis, and avoid all dissensions and discord. Tului did not hesitate in following
+this counsel and read immediately the ordinance of his father in which Ogotai was
+named as sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>The princes turned then to Ogotai and declared him the ruler; Ogotai answered that
+his brothers and uncles were far better fitted than he for the sovereignty. He mentioned
+especially as the right man Tului who had remained with his father, or near him at
+all times, and was trained beyond any in the wisdom of the conqueror. “Jinghis himself
+has chosen thee!” cried the others to Ogotai, “how act against his command and his
+wishes?”
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai still resisted, and forty days passed in feasting ere he yielded. On the forty-first
+day, which was pointed out by magicians as the time most propitious, he was conducted
+to the throne by Jagatai and by Utchuken his uncle, Jinghis Khan’s youngest brother.
+Tului gave him the goblet used on occasions of that kind, and then all who were in
+the pavilion, and those outside, bared their heads, put their girdles on their shoulders
+and fell prostrate. Nine times did they fall before Ogotai, invoke on him <span class="pageNum" id="pb143">[<a href="#pb143">143</a>]</span>prosperity, and salute him with his title Kha Khan, or Khaan, the White Khan of the
+Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>The newly made monarch, followed by the assembly, went out then and bowed down three
+times to the sun in due homage. The immense throngs of people there present gave the
+like homage also. When Ogotai reëntered the tent a great feast was served straightway.
+</p>
+<p>In choosing Ogotai the family swore to adhere to his descendants, and the following
+strange words were used by them: “We swear not to seat on the throne another branch
+of our family so long as there shall be of thy descendants a morsel of flesh which,
+cast upon grass, might stop a bullock from eating, or cast into fat might stop a dog
+from devouring.”
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis Khan’s treasures were spoils from a great part of Asia, and Ogotai commanded
+to bring them before him; that done he distributed those precious objects to the princes,
+commanders, and warriors.
+</p>
+<p>During three entire days they made offerings to the shade of Jinghis, their great
+ancestor. Ogotai chose from the families of princes and commanders forty most beautiful
+virgins; he had them attired in the richest of garments, and adorned with rare jewels.
+These forty virgins were slain, and thus sent to attend the mighty conqueror in that
+world which he occupied. With the virgins were slain and sent also the best and the
+costliest stallions of northern Asia.
+</p>
+<p>The first work of Ogotai was to establish the code of Jinghis, and pardon offences
+committed since the death of the conqueror. Ye liu chu tsai, the sage who had exercised
+on Jinghis so much influence, and whose power still continued, prevailed then on Ogotai
+to fix the rank of each officer and official, and to define every difference between
+princes of Jinghis Khan’s house and other subjects. He wished also to restrain the
+boundless power of Mongol chiefs in conquered places. Those men disposed of human
+life as each whim of theirs shaped itself; whenever they chose to condemn a man he
+died, as did also his family.
+</p>
+<p>At Chu tsai’s advice Ogotai refixed all forms of action in cases of this kind. The
+amount of yearly tribute was settled for the first time since the Mongol conquest.
+In the west it was a tax on every male person of legal age. In China the system of
+the <span class="pageNum" id="pb144">[<a href="#pb144">144</a>]</span>country was chosen and the tribute was levied on houses. Lands taken from the Kin
+dynasty were divided into ten provinces<span class="corr" id="xd32e1711" title="Not in source">;</span> in each of these was established a tribunal for assessment and collection of tribute.
+Chu tsai even proposed to the White Khan to use in governing his possessions the rules
+of Confucius. “The Empire has been conquered on horseback,” said the sage, “but no
+man can rule it from the saddle.”
+</p>
+<p>The advice was listened to with benevolence, and scholars were placed by degrees in
+public office.
+</p>
+<p>Now that the Mongols again had a sovereign they gave more force to their conquests
+along those vast lines of action which Jinghis had explained on his deathbed. Three
+great expeditions were arranged at the Kurultai of election: An army of thirty thousand
+was sent to destroy the rising power of Jelal ud din, who had returned from lands
+south of the Indus and regained some part of his father’s dominions. A second army
+of similar numbers was sent under Kuyuk and Subotai to conquer the Kipchaks and other
+peoples. This Juchi would have done had he followed the advice of his father. On the
+third expedition Ogotai the Grand Khan set out with Tului and other princes to end
+the Kin Empire. These expeditions we will follow in the order mentioned.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb145">[<a href="#pb145">145</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch9" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e380">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<h2 class="main">PERSIA AT THE TIME OF JINGHIS KHAN’S DEATH</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">When Jinghis had returned to his birthplace Persia was left as a desert behind him.
+This was true of all Eastern parts of it, especially. “In those lands which Jinghis
+Khan ruined,” exclaims the historian, “not one in a thousand is left of the people.
+Where a hundred thousand had lived before his invasion there are now scarce one hundred.
+Were nothing to stop the increase of population from this hour till the day of Judgment
+it would not reach one tenth of what it was before Jinghis Khan’s coming.”
+</p>
+<p>The ruin inflicted by that dreadful invasion spread terror on all sides. People stunned
+by the awful atrocities committed in Persia, believed that the Mongols were dog-headed
+and devoured human flesh as their daily and usual nourishment.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed, the Shah of Persia, had three sons to whom portions had been given. Jelal
+ud din, the eldest of these sons, had sought a refuge at Delhi. At Sutun Avend Rokn
+ud din, the second son, had been slain by the Mongols, while Ghiath ud din, the third
+son, had retired to Karun, a Mazanderan stronghold, and saved himself.
+</p>
+<p>When the Mongols had gone from the country Persian Irak was the cause of a conflict
+between the two Turk leaders Edek Khan and Togan Taissi the Atabeg. These rivals divided
+the province between them at last, and, since Ispahan fell to the former, Ghiath ud
+din wished to win him as a vassal. He therefore promised Edek his sister in marriage,
+but while settling the terms of agreement Edek was slain by his rival, the Atabeg,
+Togan.
+</p>
+<p>Ghiath marched against Ispahan promptly, received Togan’s homage, and gave him the
+sister just promised to Edek. In quick time he thus found himself master of Irak,
+Mazanderan and Khorassan.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb146">[<a href="#pb146">146</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Jelal ud din when defeated at the Indus, which he swam with such daring, had been
+pursued fiercely in India by Jinghis Khan’s warriors until he was very near Delhi.
+</p>
+<p>The sovereign at that capital was Shems ud din Iletmish, a Turkman and once a slave
+of the Sultan of Gur, the last ruler of his line in that country. When the Gur dynasty
+fell, Iletmish seized a good part of north India and was ruling unchallenged. He feared
+now the coming of so brave and incisive a man as Jelal ud din, hence he sent him rich
+gifts and declared that the climate of Delhi was unwholesome. Jelal would find, he
+felt certain, a far better residence in Multan and a much more salubrious climate.
+Jelal withdrew, but he gathered much booty of value as he traveled.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile from Irak came many generals who were enraged at Ghiath ud din, his brother.
+They brought with them warriors who were ready for service since service meant plunder.
+Jelal could meet now the Scinde prince, Karadja, whom he hated. He entered Karadja’s
+dominions, sacked many cities and routed his army. Hearing that Iletmish was advancing
+to strengthen Karadja he set out at once to encounter the Sultan of Delhi.
+</p>
+<p>But Iletmish offered peace, and the hand of his daughter instead of hostilities; Jelal
+took peace and the woman. Still Iletmish made a league with Karadja and others to
+drive out the Kwaresmian if need be. Jelal, who could not make head against all, took
+advice of his generals. Those who had quitted his brother wished a return to home
+regions. It would be easy, they told him, to snatch command from Ghiath his brother,
+a weakling, and foolish. But Euzbeg, one of the generals, declared that Jelal should
+remain where he was in full safety from Mongols who were more to be feared than all
+the princes in India. Jelal ud din, swept off by the hope of regaining his father’s
+dominion, decided on going to Persia. He left Euzbeg to watch over his fortunes in
+India and to Vefa Melik he gave the whole government of Gur and of Ghazni.
+</p>
+<p>While crossing the desert lying north of the Indus Jelal lost a part of his army by
+disease, exhaustion and hunger, and when he reached Kerman, his whole force had shrunk
+to four thousand. A Turk commander named Borak, with the surname Hadjib, that is Chamberlain,
+had won that whole region. Borak had <span class="pageNum" id="pb147">[<a href="#pb147">147</a>]</span>served Shah Mohammed as chamberlain, hence the surname Hadjib from his service. Later
+on Ghiath ud din gave him office in Ispahan, making him governor, but, embroiled in
+the sequel with Ghiath’s vizir, Borak got permission to go to Jelal then in India.
+While crossing Kerman the Kevashir governor attacked him, incited to do so by Ghiath,
+who wished at that juncture to seize all the baggage and women belonging to Borak’s
+assistants.
+</p>
+<p>The aggressor was beaten, put to flight and driven into a neighboring fortress, where
+Borak killed him. Borak not satisfied yet with this outcome had attacked Kevashir
+where the son of the recent, but then defunct, governor was commanding. While thus
+engaged he heard all at once that Jelal was in Kerman. Borak sent rich gifts to his
+visitor straightway and hurried off to receive him. He offered one of his daughters
+while greeting the Sultan, who took her in marriage without hesitation. When Jelal
+stood before Kevashir the place yielded and opened its gates to him.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan had passed a whole month in Kerman when he learned that his father-in-law
+was pondering treason. Orkhan, a general, advised the arrest of Borak and a seizure
+of all his possessions, but the vizir, Khodja Jihan, declared that if haste were exhibited
+in punishing the man who had been the first to acknowledge the Sultan many minds would
+be shaken, since there was no chance to prove clearly the existence of treason.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal chose to feign ignorance, and continued his journey. Borak remained master of
+Kerman. After him nine of his family during eighty-six years succeeded in authority.
+These formed the Kara Kitan dynasty of Kerman, so called because of this Borak, the
+Hadjib, its founder.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal advanced into Fars where for twenty-four years had been reigning the Atabeg,
+Sád, son of Zengwi, a prince who claimed his descent from a Turk chief named Salgar.
+Sankor, the grandson of Salgar, was established in Fars, and when the Seljuks had
+fallen he made himself master of that region, and princes descended from Salgar, that
+is the Salgarids, thus gained dominion.
+</p>
+<p>On nearing Shirez, Jelal announced his arrival to the Atabeg, who sent his son with
+five hundred horsemen to welcome the Sultan, and excused himself saying that he had
+once made a vow <span class="pageNum" id="pb148">[<a href="#pb148">148</a>]</span>not to meet any person whatever. Jelal accepted the statement. He knew that the Atabeg
+was hostile to Ghiath, who had invaded his country a short time before and had even
+retained certain parts of it. Jelal gave back those parts then to Sád and to gain
+the man thoroughly married his daughter.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan made a brief stay in Shiraz, being eager to win back Irak from his brother,
+for Ghiath could not restore peace to those countries given up to disorder and anarchy
+since the return of Jinghis to Mongolia. Each little district had its own cruel master
+and those petty tyrants completed in great part the ruin begun with such terror by
+the Mongols. Ghiath’s name was repeated at prayer in the mosques, but no man gave
+him tribute. Having no money to pay his Turk troops he was forced to permit them to
+take what they could from the people and thus strip the country. When an officer of
+rank came for pay to the Sultan, the man had to take the next higher title, an emir
+was made melik, and a melik made khan. That was the reward for his service. He was
+forced next to subsist by real robbery in some shape.
+</p>
+<p>After Jelal had reached Ispahan he set out very quickly with a picked band for Rayi
+near which his brother was recruiting an army. He had given all his horsemen white
+banners like those used by the Mongols. When Ghiath saw those white banners he thought
+that Mongols were advancing to attack him, and he took to flight straightway, but
+returned soon with a force thirty thousand in number. Jelal had recourse now to a
+stratagem. He sent to his brother, through an equerry, this message: “Having suffered
+cruel hardships I have come to find rest here, but since you meet me with swords,
+I withdraw to other places.”
+</p>
+<p>Ghiath believing this message, and thinking besides that his brother was powerless
+to harm him, came back to Rayi and dismissed his large forces.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal sent out an agent who gave immense promises to the generals of his brother,
+and gave them rings also in proof of his favor. Many yielded while others went promptly
+to Ghiath and showed the rings given them. He had his brother’s agent arrested. But
+Jelal, feeling that most of the warriors were with him, advanced with only three thousand
+picked horsemen. This advance was successful; Ghiath fled to a fortress but reassured
+by mild messages he left his asylum and went to his brother’s headquarters.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb149">[<a href="#pb149">149</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The supremacy of Jelal was generally acknowledged; commanders came to him each with
+a shroud on his shoulders, and fell at his feet to win pardon. The Sultan treated
+these men with a kindness which scattered their fears and attached them to his fortunes.
+Soon he saw also at his court that entire horde of small tyrants who had sprung into
+power during anarchy in all parts of Persia. These men, in great dread lest they lose
+their sweet morsels, came of their own will to render him homage. Those who were best,
+or at least those whom he thought best for his own interests, got permission to return
+to their places.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal’s first campaign after securing power was against Nassir, the Kalif of Islam,
+and the enemy of his father. Marching to Kuzistan quickly he laid siege to Shuster,
+the chief place of that province. His army lacked all things and rushed through the
+country in various small parties to find what they needed. They drove back great numbers
+of horses and mules; they found what provisions were requisite, but at the end of
+two months the siege was abandoned, and the Sultan moved upon Bagdad directly. He
+halted at Yakuba, seven parasangs<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e1755src" href="#xd32e1755">1</a> distant from the capital.
+</p>
+<p>Kalif Nassir strengthened Bagdad. He gave one million dinars<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e1760src" href="#xd32e1760">2</a> to his troops before sending them to battle; that done he waited.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal begged by letter Moazzam, the Prince of Damascus and nephew of Saladin, to aid
+him in this struggle with Nassir who had brought, as he stated, savage people to Persia,
+and destroyed Shah Mohammed. Moazzam replied that he would make common cause with
+the Sultan in everything save only a struggle against the high chief of all Moslems.
+</p>
+<p>Kush Timur led the forces of Bagdad which were twenty thousand in number. A pigeon
+was sent to Mozaffar who was prince then in Erbil with an order to attack the Sultan’s
+rear guard and bar retreat to him. Since Jelal’s forces were small he sent a message
+to Kush Timur saying that he had not come as an enemy; he desired the good-will of
+the Kalif whose aid was to him indispensable in that great struggle with the enemy
+who menaced all Islam. If the Kalif would act and agree with him he, the Sultan, could
+be the safe-guard of Persia.
+</p>
+<p>Kush Timur’s single answer was to range his men in order of <span class="pageNum" id="pb150">[<a href="#pb150">150</a>]</span>battle. Jelal, forced to fight with an enemy greatly superior, put a part of his small
+army in ambush; he charged thrice after that with a troop of five hundred and fled,
+as it were, in disorder. The enemy followed, fell into the trap, and were attacked
+on both flanks with great fury. Kush Timur was cut down in the struggle; his army
+was broken and then pursued to the gates of the capital.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal after winning this victory captured Dakuka (1225), and sacked it. Next he moved
+against Takrit, and learning that Mozaffar, the Prince of Erbil, was approaching with
+an army, and had gone ahead with a small force to surprise and take him, he set out
+with a handful of heroes and captured Mozaffar, whom he freed afterward on his promise
+to return to his own lands and stay in them.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal dropped all his plans against Bagdad; Azerbaidjan was the place which now lured
+him. Marching first to Meraga he fell to clearing away the ruins, but left that task
+quickly on hearing that Togan Taissi, his uncle on the mother’s side, and also his
+brother-in-law, was moving from Azerbaidjan to take Hamadan and the neighboring districts,
+the investiture of which had been given him by the Kalif. Togan had spent the whole
+winter in Arran and on his journey through Azerbaidjan he pillaged that country a
+second time.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal arrived about midnight near the camp ground of Togan, around which were gathered
+vast numbers of sheep, mules, horses, asses, and cattle.
+</p>
+<p>When this Turk general, who thought that the Sultan was then in Dakuka, saw his troops
+after daybreak, and knew by the regal umbrella that Jelal himself was there with them,
+he was so disconcerted that he forgot every idea save the single one of winning favor.
+He sent his wife, Jelal’s sister, to make peace if possible. She made it and Togan
+thereupon ranged his troops with the Sultan’s and under his banners; after that they
+returned to Meraga.
+</p>
+<p>Euzbeg, who was ruler in Azerbaidjan, had gone from Tebriz to Gandja the capital of
+Arran. In spite of the dangers which threatened his country he passed his time drinking,
+leaving all cares of State to his consort, a daughter of Sultan Togrul, the last Seljuk
+ruler in Irak. She had remained in Tebriz, and Jelal, who was eager to win that famed
+city, laid siege to it. After five days of fighting and just as he was ready to storm
+it, the inhabitants <span class="pageNum" id="pb151">[<a href="#pb151">151</a>]</span>asked to surrender. The Sultan reproached them with murdering, a year earlier, certain
+warriors of his father, and sending their heads to the Mongols. They assured him that
+not they but their ruler had to answer for that; they had been powerless to stop him.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan accepted this statement and spared them. They begged him to guarantee Euzbeg’s
+wife the possession of Khoï, and a few other places. Jelal consented, and sent an
+escort to convey her to Khoï.
+</p>
+<p>When Jelal had taken Tebriz he stayed for some days in that city. Meanwhile his men
+seized the neighboring districts. Then he set out on an expedition against Georgia
+(1226).
+</p>
+<p>Since Euzbeg was neglectful and indolent the Georgians made raids into Arran and Azerbaidjan;
+they ravaged Erzerum also, and later on Shirvan. They had scourged the Moslems of
+these regions severely. Eager for vengeance Jelal had no sooner made himself master
+at the Caspian than he declared war on the Georgians, who sent back this answer: “We
+have measured our strength with the Mongol, who took all his lands from thy father
+and destroyed him. He was a man of more courage and power than art thou. Those Mongols
+who killed him met us, and ended by fleeing.”
+</p>
+<p>Jelal began by the capture of Tovin, which the Georgians had seized some years earlier;
+next he marched against the main Georgian army, seventy thousand in number, attacked
+it in the valley of Karni near Tovin, and put it to flight with a loss of twenty thousand.
+Many generals were captured, among others Shalové, the master of Tovin. The chief
+commander, Ivane, escaped to the fortress of Keghe, which the Sultan invested while
+the rest of his army spread out over Georgia, bringing fire and the sword to all places.
+He would have begun a real conquest had he not thought that he must go to Tebriz.
+When ready to march into Georgia the Sultan got news from his vizir that a plot had
+been formed in Tebriz to give back the country to Euzbeg. The Sultan kept this knowledge
+secret and only when Georgia was crushed did he tell the whole tale to his generals.
+He gave then command of his army to Ghiath his brother, hastened back to Tebriz, put
+its mayor to death, and arrested the ringleaders of the conspiracy. When he had strengthened
+thus his authority he <span class="pageNum" id="pb152">[<a href="#pb152">152</a>]</span>married Euzbeg’s wife, and while in Tebriz urged forward troops who took Gandja, the
+capital of Arran, whence Euzbeg made his way to Alandja.
+</p>
+<p>Tebriz and Gandja being brought to obedience, Jelal returned quickly to Georgia, whose
+people meanwhile had raised a new army in which were found Alans, Lesgians, Kipchaks
+and others. This army struck now by Jelal lost heavily and was scattered. After the
+victory Jelal marched on Tiflis, which he captured through aid from Mohammedans who
+lived in that city. All Georgians were put to the sword except those who acknowledged
+the supremacy of the Sultan. Women and children fell to the conquerors, the city was
+yielded to pillage. Jelal took full vengeance on the Georgians for all that they had
+done to Mohammedans. His troops were enriched by the property of Christians, he slew
+a vast number of those “infidels,” as he thought them, and drove their children and
+wives into slavery.
+</p>
+<p>Leaving Georgia, a desert in great part he turned his face next to Khelat on the north
+of Lake Van in Armenia. This city belonged to Ashraf, an Eyubite prince, lord over
+Harran and Roha. His brother, Moazzam, the prince of Damascus, who defended himself
+against Ashraf, and Kamil, his eldest brother, who was Sultan of Egypt, had sent his
+chief confidant, an officer, to Jelal then in Tiflis, and begged him to make an attack
+upon Khelat, and give in this way assistance. Moazzam admired the Kwaresmian Sultan
+immensely, and held it an honor to wear a robe which had come from him, and ride on
+a steed which Jelal had thought proper to send him. During night banquets Moazzam
+never swore except by the head of the Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>The Kwaresmian warriors laid siege to Khelat very willingly since the place promised
+booty in abundance. But they had barely arrived at the walls of the city when advice
+came to Jelal that Borak, the governor of Kerman, had withdrawn from allegiance, and
+even sent men to the Mongols to explain the increase and importance of Jelal’s new
+army.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan abandoned the siege and set out for Kerman. Borak, who had learned that
+he was coming, withdrew to a stronghold and sent words of feigned loyalty and obedience.
+It would have been difficult to capture the stronghold, so Jelal thought it best to
+dissemble, to receive at their literal value the words brought to <span class="pageNum" id="pb153">[<a href="#pb153">153</a>]</span>him; hence he sent a rich robe of honor from Ispahan to the faith-breaking Borak,
+and confirmed him in office.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile news came from Sherif ul Mulk, the vizir, of hostile action by Ashraf against
+a corps of Kwaresmians which he had beaten.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan’s troops left in Georgia lacked almost everything. They made an incursion
+toward Erzerum, drove away flocks and herds and took many women. While on the way
+back from this forage they passed near Khelat; the commandant rushed out from his
+fortress and seized all their booty. The vizir in alarm begged the Sultan to hasten
+with assistance.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal moved to Tiflis by swift marches, and thence farther to Ani; he attacked this
+old city and Kars also with its very strong fortress. Returning soon to Tiflis he
+made a long march to Abhasia, October, 1226, as it were to subdue it. This was merely
+a feint to rouse false security in Khelat. Ten days only did he stay in Abhasia and
+turned then with great speed toward Khelat, which he would have captured had not the
+commandant been advised two days earlier by his confidants who were serving in the
+suite of the Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal hurled his force on the city the day that he reached it; a second assault was
+made the day following. His troops took the outskirts which they pillaged, but were
+forced to withdraw from them. After some days of rest the assault was renewed, but
+resistance was so resolute that this plan was abandoned. The people knowing well the
+ferocity of Kwaresmians, and the deeds which they did in each captured city, resisted
+with desperate valor. Ashraf went to Damascus, moreover, and swore obedience to Moazzam,
+his brother, begging him meanwhile to stop Jelal from ruining Khelat, but Jelal remained
+till the cold and deep snow drove him from the place. Azerbaidjan also called him.
+A large horde of Turkmans were pillaging the people, and plundering caravans.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan made a swift march and came on them suddenly, shutting off their retreat
+to the mountains. Surrounding the robbers he cut them to pieces. Their families and
+all the rich booty which they had taken fell to the Sultan who retired to Tebriz with
+his captives. The Kwaresmians had abandoned Tiflis for the winter, so the Georgians
+at Ani, Kars and other places united. <span class="pageNum" id="pb154">[<a href="#pb154">154</a>]</span>They moved on Tiflis in a body and put to death all Mohammedans, and since they despaired
+of defending the city against Jelal they fired it.
+</p>
+<p>The Ismailians, that is, the Assassins of Persia, had just killed a general to whom
+the Sultan had given Gandja and the lands which went with it. To inflict vengeance
+for this act Jelal took fire and sword to the land of those death dealing sectaries.
+A division of Mongols meanwhile had moved westward toward Damegan. Against this force
+the Sultan marched swiftly; he repulsed and then hunted it for many days in succession.
+</p>
+<p>While Jelal on the east was thus occupied Hussam ud din Ali, Ashraf’s commander at
+Khelat, appeared in the west unexpectedly, invited to Azerbaidjan by those of the
+people who liked not the Sultan’s strange ways, and who were brought down to need
+by the greed of his warriors. Euzbeg’s former wife too was active. She had had her
+own way with her first husband. Fixed now to Jelal through marriage she could not
+endure the effacement that came from this union. She remembered the past and joining
+the people of Khoï took action. She invited Hussam to seize that whole region. He
+consented and took many places; that done, he marched back to Khelat, Jelal’s new,
+but dissatisfied, consort going with him.
+</p>
+<p>But there was need soon to face a more serious opponent. The Mongols were moving in
+force toward Irak and soon appeared at its border. Jelal sent four thousand horsemen
+toward Rayi and Damegan to watch them. Pressed by the Mongols these four thousand
+fell back upon Ispahan, where the Sultan had fixed his headquarters. The enemy following
+stopped one day’s march from the city, and east of it. The Mongol force, made up of
+five divisions, was commanded by Tadji Baku, Anatogan, Taimaz and Tainal. Astrologers
+counseled the Sultan to wait four days before fighting; he complied and showed confidence
+of a kind to rouse courage in all who came near him.
+</p>
+<p>At the first news of that Mongol approach his generals were alarmed and repaired to
+the palace in a body. He received them in the courtyard, and talked long of things
+which concerned not attack on the city, to show that he was in no way uneasy. Then
+he seated them and discoursed on the order of battle. Before the dismissal he made
+all take an oath not to turn from the enemy <span class="pageNum" id="pb155">[<a href="#pb155">155</a>]</span>or prefer life to the death of a hero. He took the same oath himself, and appointed
+a day for the struggle. Command was then given the chief judge and the Ispahan mayor
+to review the armed citizens.
+</p>
+<p>Since Jelal did not move from the city the Mongols supposed that he had not strength
+or even courage to meet them, hence they prepared for a siege and sent two thousand
+horse into Lur to collect provisions. The Sultan hurried three thousand men after
+them. These took every defile in the rear of the foragers, and barred retreat; many
+Mongols were killed and four hundred were captured. Jelal gave some of these men to
+the populace, by whom they were massacred in the streets of the city. The Sultan cut
+off with his own hand the heads of others in the courtyard of his palace; and their
+bodies were hurled out to be eaten by vultures and dogs.
+</p>
+<p>August 26, 1227, was the day fixed for battle—Jinghis had died in Tangut eight days
+earlier. While the Sultan was ranging his men for the conflict Ghiath, his own brother,
+betrayed him,—deserted. Jelal did not seem to take note of the defection. Even when
+he saw the Mongols in order of battle he thought that his men were more than sufficient
+to conquer such an enemy, and ordered the Ispahan guards to reënter the city. At the
+beginning of the conflict the two wings of the Sultan’s forces were too far from each
+other for mutual assistance. During a fierce onset his right wing pierced the left
+of the enemy, and pursued it to Kashin. The left had not yet been in action. The sun
+was declining and Jelal was resting at the edge of a defile. Just then Ilan Buga,
+an officer, approached Jelal and said with animation: “We have long implored Heaven
+for a day such as this to take vengeance on those outcasts. Success is now with us,
+and still we neglect it. To-night this vile enemy will make a long two days’ journey,
+and we shall repent when too late that we let them escape us. Ought we not to make
+this day’s victory perfect?”
+</p>
+<p>Struck by these words the Sultan remounted, but hardly had he crossed the ravine when
+a chosen corps of the enemy hidden by a height, rushed on the left wing, rolled it
+back on the center and broke it. The generals of that wing now kept their oath faithfully
+and died weapons in hand, except three of them.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan remained in the center, which then was surrounded <span class="pageNum" id="pb156">[<a href="#pb156">156</a>]</span>completely. He had only fourteen of the guards near his person, and he slew with his
+own hand his standard bearer who was fleeing; then he himself cut a way through the
+enemy. Fugitives from the center and left rushed in every direction. Some fled toward
+Fars, others toward Kerman, while Azerbaidjan was a refuge for a third group. Those
+who had lost their horses in the battle went back on foot to the city. At the end
+of two days the right wing came from Kashan, believing the rest of the army victorious.
+When they heard of its defeat they disbanded at once.
+</p>
+<p>Though the Mongols won the battle, their sufferings and losses were greater than those
+of the Moslems. Advancing to the gates of the city they were repulsed and pursued
+with such speed that in three days of flight they reached Rayi whence by the Nishapur
+road they fled farther. On this retreat they lost many men both in killed and in prisoners.
+</p>
+<p>No one knew whither the Sultan had vanished. Some sought for his corpse on the battle-field,
+others thought that the enemy had captured him. At Ispahan people talked of a new
+sovereign, while the mob wished to seize the women and goods of the Kwaresmians. But
+the cadi prevailed upon all to wait a few days till the Bairam feast opened. He agreed,
+however, with the principal citizens that should the Sultan not come to the prayer
+on that feast day they would choose as ruler Togan Taissi, who through his virtues
+deserved supreme power before others.
+</p>
+<p>When the people had assembled on the feast day Jelal came to the prayer and caused
+great rejoicing. Fearing lest he might be besieged in the city he had not returned
+to it when the battle was over, but had waited on the Luristan side till the enemy
+had vanished. The Sultan now stayed some days waiting for fugitives and rewarding
+chiefs of the right wing by giving the title of khan to those who were meliks. He
+gave high rank also to simple warriors who had deserved fame for their action in the
+battle. Certain cowardly generals were led through the city with veils on their faces
+in the manner of women.
+</p>
+<p>Ghiath ud din, Jelal’s brother, had retired to the mountains and was striving to win
+back dominion through assistance from the Kalif. Hatred between the two brothers had
+been intensified by murder. Mohammed, son of Karmil, of a family illustrious in Gur,
+was in very high favor with Jelal who, charmed with his <span class="pageNum" id="pb157">[<a href="#pb157">157</a>]</span>manners and speech, had admitted that youth to his intimate reunions. Some days before
+the late battle Mohammed had taken a few men to his service from the corps under Ghiath.
+These men had left Jelal’s brother since no pay had been given them. One evening when
+Ghiath and Mohammed were at a feast given by Jelal, Ghiath asked Mohammed if he would
+send back his guardsmen. “They desire food,” was the answer, “and serve him who will
+give it.” Ghiath was roused by this statement, and the Sultan, who noted his anger,
+asked Mohammed to withdraw from the table. The young man obeyed, but a few moments
+later Ghiath went out also, entered the man’s dwelling and stabbed him. Mohammed died
+some days later. The Sultan grieved greatly for his favorite, and sent this message
+to Ghiath: “Thou hast sworn to be a friend to every friend of mine, and an enemy of
+my enemies, but thou hast killed my best friend without reason. Thou hast broken thy
+oath and agreement. I am bound to thee no longer. I will let the law do its work,
+if the brother of thy victim comes to me begging for justice.”
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan commanded that the funeral procession move twice past the gate of the assassin.
+Tortured by this public punishment Ghiath took vengeance on the day of the battle
+by deserting. From his Kuzistan place of retirement he sent his vizir to Bagdad to
+declare that he had gone from his brother. He then proffered proofs that his reign
+had been friendly to the Kalif, while Jelal had acted with enmity, and had brought
+fire and sword to the suburbs of Bagdad. He begged aid of the Kalif in recovering
+his dominions, and promised true obedience to the heir of the Prophet.
+</p>
+<p>The vizir was received with distinction, and a subsidy of thirty thousand dinars was
+then given him, but after the retreat of the Mongols Ghiath did not think himself
+safe from his brother. Jelal sent a corps of mounted warriors to follow the Mongols
+to the Oxus, and hurried himself to Tebriz for a season. He was playing ball with
+a mallet on the square of the city when he heard that his brother was returning to
+Ispahan. He set out at once for that city, but learning on the road that Ghiath was
+on his way to the land of the Assassins he changed his route quickly to follow, and
+ask the Alamut chief to surrender the fugitive. “Your brother,” said the chief, “is
+here in asylum; he is a Sultan himself <span class="pageNum" id="pb158">[<a href="#pb158">158</a>]</span>and his father was a Sultan,—we cannot surrender him, but he will not take your dominions,
+we guarantee that. Should he commit any act of hostility you are free to treat us
+as may please you.”
+</p>
+<p>This statement seemed satisfactory to Jelal, and an oath added strength to it. Jelal
+on his part swore to give the past to oblivion, and the question was ended. But Ghiath
+himself went from Alamut to seek refuge in Kerman. Some days after his arrival Borak
+showed a wish to marry Ghiath’s mother, Beglu Aï, who had come with him. They were
+both in Borak’s power and resistance would have been futile. Still the princess yielded
+only after much resistance. Conducted to Kevashir the capital of Kerman, the mother
+and son had hardly arrived when two relatives of Borak proposed to assassinate that
+governor and install Ghiath. Ghiath rejected the offer, but Borak, hearing that his
+relatives had made it, tortured the two men so cruelly that they confessed to him.
+They were then cut to pieces in the presence of Ghiath who, confined straightway in
+the citadel, was strangled with a bowstring. His mother, who had rushed in at his
+cries, met her death in the same way. The five hundred followers who had come with
+him were cut down every man of them.
+</p>
+<p>Borak sent the head of his victim to Ogotai Khan who received it with gladness. This
+gift secured Mongol friendship and Borak was confirmed in his Kerman possessions.
+</p>
+<p>The Kankali Turks and the Kipchaks had been closely connected with the reigning Kwaresmian
+family by marriages; because of this fact, Jinghis Khan had attacked both those peoples
+inflexibly, and Jelal now sought their friendship with growing endeavor. After his
+Ispahan failure the Sultan sent to get men and aid from the Kankalis. They agreed,
+as it seems, with much readiness to give them. Kur Khan, one of their leaders, embarked
+with three hundred men on the Caspian and passed the next winter with the Sultan on
+the plain of Mughan, a rich pasture land in that season. It was decided that Jelal
+was to gain the strong fort at Derbend with its one narrow pass and retain it. By
+this pass alone could large armies go south of the Caucasus from Kipchak. A force
+of fifty thousand from the north was to aid in securing this road near the sea, while
+Jelal was to give the prince ruling Derbend other fiefs in payment for it. The plan
+failed, however. Jelal secured <span class="pageNum" id="pb159">[<a href="#pb159">159</a>]</span>now the district Gushtasfi between the rivers Kur (Cyrus) and Araxes. This land was
+a part of the Shirvan Shah’s kingdom, and he had given it to his son Jelal ud din
+Sultan Shah and sent him to Georgia to marry the daughter of Rusudan, the famous and
+beautiful queen of that country. Detained there perforce he was freed when Jelal took
+Tiflis and laid waste the country.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal claimed tribute now from the Shirvan Shah for all his possessions. This was
+done, since Jalal’s house had succeeded the Seljuks, to whom when in power those Shirvan
+Shahs had paid tribute.
+</p>
+<p>The unquiet ambition of Jelal had forced many people of the Caucasus to a league with
+the Georgians against him. An army made up from nine nations and forty thousand in
+number had gathered north of Arran. The Sultan marched against this army and pitched
+his camp at Mendur. Since his forces were greatly inferior in number to those of the
+enemy, Sherif ul Mulk, his vizir, advised at a council to limit all action to stopping
+provisions and meeting the enemy with advantage when want came. This advice enraged
+Jelal so seriously that he struck his vizir on the head with a writing case. “They
+are mere sheep; would a lion be troubled by the number of such weak little animals?”
+cried he, and he fined the vizir fifty thousand dinars for daring to offer such counsel.
+</p>
+<p>Next day the armies were facing each other. The Sultan, to encourage his men, gave
+them presents, and shared with some his best horses. From the top of a hill he saw
+two tumans of Kipchaks who had come to give aid to the Georgians. By an officer he
+sent bread and salt to those Kipchaks and told them that he had saved the lives of
+many of their people taken captive by his father. “Will you now raise the sword to
+repay me with bloodshed?” asked he.
+</p>
+<p>The Kipchaks withdrew on receiving this statement. The Georgians advanced, but Jelal
+sent this message to their leader: “Your men must be wearied by long marches; if they
+wish rest for to-day the best warriors from both sides may amuse themselves by trying
+their strength and address in the presence of the armies.” This proposition was accepted.
+</p>
+<p>One of the bravest of Georgia’s great veterans rode forth to the space between the
+two forces. The Sultan rushed to meet this <span class="pageNum" id="pb160">[<a href="#pb160">160</a>]</span>strong champion, and pierced him through with one lance thrust. Three sons of the
+man came forth then to avenge him and were killed in succession by Jelal. Next came
+a fifth man, enormous in stature. The Sultan’s horse was wearied, there was no time
+for a change, and had it not been for his marvelous skill in escaping from blows and
+in parrying, Jelal would have seen his last hour in that conflict. But when the Georgian
+was rushing lance in rest at him, the Sultan sprang to the ground, disarmed the oncoming
+giant, and killed him. He gave with his whip then a signal for the onset, and, in
+spite of the truce, his whole army rushed at the Georgians, surprised and defeated
+them.
+</p>
+<p>Free of his enemies now Jelal marched in 1229 on Khelat to besiege it a second time.
+He remained all the winter before it, but was forced by keen cold and deep snow to
+lodge a great part of his troops in the villages of that region. To his camp came
+the Erzerum prince, Rokn ud din Jihan Shah, who belonged to a branch of the Seljuks
+of Rūm. This prince, having had quarrels before that with Jelal, wished now to arrange
+them, show homage, and give presents ten thousand dinars in value.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan received him with every distinction, and in taking farewell asked for siege
+engines. Rokn ud din sent a great catapult, shields and many engines of value. The
+princes of Amid and Mardin sent their submission through envoys. Next came an embassy
+from Bagdad. Nassir, the Kalif, had died during 1225 in the forty-sixth year of his
+rule, the longest rule of any man in the whole line of Abbasids. Zahir, Nassir’s son
+and successor, had been only nine months in office when he died. Mostansir, his son,
+then succeeded. Mostansir now sent an envoy to make two demands upon Jelal; first
+that the Sultan would claim no rights of a sovereign in Mosul, Erbil, Abuye and Jebal
+whose princes were vassals of the Kalif; second that he would restore the name of
+the Kalif in all public prayers throughout Persia. Shah Mohammed, his father, had
+abolished this practice when he was marching on Bagdad, and had not restored it. The
+Sultan granted both requests straightway and commanded that in all his states every
+Moslem should pray for Mostansir. When the envoy returned a chamberlain of the Sultan
+went with him. This chamberlain came back with two officials, who brought from the
+Kalif a robe of investiture to Jelal, and splendid presents to him <span class="pageNum" id="pb161">[<a href="#pb161">161</a>]</span>and his highest officials. Jelal asked earnestly for the title of Sultan. Bagdad refused,
+having given thus far, as was stated, that title to no ruler, but while investing
+him the Kalif gave the title Shah in Shah (Shah of Shahs). In letters after that Jelal
+styled himself servant of the Kalif whom he called lord and master.
+</p>
+<p>While besieging Khelat the Sultan commanded to adorn Ispahan with a college, and a
+domed mausoleum of rich structure. This building was to hold the sarcophagus of his
+father which meanwhile would rest on the Demavend mountain in Erdehan, a strong fortress
+three days’ journey from Rayi toward the Caspian. He requested by letter his aunt,
+Shah Khatun, a widow of the Mazanderan prince named Ardshir, to attend the “great
+Sultan’s” remains to the fortress. The chief men of her country and the Moslem Ulema
+were to go with her. Mohammed of Nessa, who indited the letter with this request,
+declares that he sent it unwillingly, since he knew well that Mohammed’s remains were
+far safer on that island in the Caspian than they ever could be in the fortress; for
+the Mongols burned the corpses of all kings whose graves they found, believing them
+of the Kwaresmian dynasty. They dug up in Gur the remains of Mahmud, son of Sebak
+Tegin, though this prince had been dead two whole centuries. “The event failed not
+to justify my fears,” adds Mohammed Nessavi.<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e1850src" href="#xd32e1850">3</a> “After Jelal had been slain the Mongols took the Erdehan stronghold and sent the
+body of Mohammed to Ogotai who burned it.”
+</p>
+<p>Before beginning the siege of Khelat, Jelal sent an envoy from Meraga to the Sultan
+of Rūm, Alai ed din Kei Kubad, with a letter expressing his wish for relations of
+friendship, and showing the need of close union, since they were one in the East and
+the other in the West, the two bulwarks of Islam against raging infidels. Kei Kubad
+read this letter with favor, and to strengthen an alliance proposed that Jelal give
+a daughter in marriage to his, Kei Kubad’s, son, Kei Kosru. Two envoys from Kei Kubad
+came bringing friendly expressions to Jelal while he was in front of Khelat, and besieging
+it.
+</p>
+<p>These envoys were forced to deliver their presents just as did subjects when bringing
+gifts to their sovereign. They asked a daughter of Jelal for Kei Kubad’s son, and
+received a refusal. <span class="pageNum" id="pb162">[<a href="#pb162">162</a>]</span>They complained of hostility shown Kei Kubad by his cousin and vassal, the Erzerum
+prince, and asked that Jelal yield this prince up, and let Kei Kubad take his country.
+This request roused Jelal, who answered with spirit: “Though I have complaints against
+Jihan Shah, he has come to my court and now is a guest in it. It would not be proper
+for me to deliver him to an enemy.” Discontent in the envoys was heightened immensely
+by insolence from Jelal’s vizir.
+</p>
+<p>One day when Nessavi was visiting this minister he heard rude speech and boasting:
+“If the Sultan permitted I would enter your country and subject it with the troops
+at my order,” said Sherif. “When the envoy had gone I asked the vizir,” says Nessavi,
+“for the cause of his rudeness, since Kei Kubad had testified friendship. ‘The presents
+brought by those envoys.’ replied the vizir, ‘are not equal to two thousand dinars.’ ”
+</p>
+<p>The envoys, accompanied by three others from Jelal, went home little pleased with
+their mission. When they arrived at the boundary of Rūm the two hurried on in advance
+to their sovereign. On hearing their narrative Kei Kubad despatched one of them straightway
+to make an alliance with Ashraf.
+</p>
+<p>After six months of siege work Jelal stormed Khelat and took it April 2, 1230. He
+wished that his men should not pillage and ruin the city, but his generals declared
+that the siege had been long, that the warriors had lost many horses with cattle and
+property, that if he forbade pillage no new campaign would be possible at any time;
+all might desert in a body. The generals insisted so firmly that Jelal had to yield
+to them.
+</p>
+<p>Khelat was given up for a time to the army; for three days and nights did wild, savage
+men work their will on it. A great many people expired under torture inflicted to
+force them to tell where their treasures were hidden. Women and children were saved
+for captivity. The Georgian wife of Prince Ashraf was taken by Jelal, who made her
+his concubine.
+</p>
+<p>Two younger brothers, Yakub and Abbas, fell into the power of the conqueror also.
+The Sultan now had the walls of the city repaired, and gave land in that region to
+his generals. Jelal was preparing to strike Manazguerd when the Erzerum prince, who
+during the siege of Khelat had given him provisions, and thus earned the hatred of
+Ashraf, came to inform him that Ashraf <span class="pageNum" id="pb163">[<a href="#pb163">163</a>]</span>and the Sultan of Rūm were concluding a treaty, hence he advised with all earnestness
+to forestall the two princes by attacking their forces before they could possibly
+unite them.
+</p>
+<p>After the death of Moazzam of Damascus Ashraf had received from his brother Kamil,
+who was Sultan of Egypt, Damascus in barter for Surud, Harran, Roha and three other
+districts. When he heard of the fall of Khelat and the capture of his consort, Ashraf
+rushed away to his brother Kamil, who was at that time in Rakka. Ashraf met there
+that envoy from the Sultan of Rūm who was charged with concluding a treaty with him
+against Jelal. The Khelat Prince took advice from Kamil the Sultan of Egypt, who favored
+the alliance, but Kamil himself hurried back straightway to Cairo on learning that
+Salih, his son whom he had left there, was plotting to dethrone him.
+</p>
+<p>Ashraf set out with seven hundred horsemen for Harran. There he demanded contingents
+from Aleppo, Mosul and the lands lying between the Euphrates and Tigris. When those
+troops had appeared he went at the head of them to join Kei Kubad at Sivas whence
+they would march with combined armies on Khelat.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal had resolved to advance on Kharpert, hoping to attack the first of the armies
+which moved to join the other. He summoned his troops to Kharpert and went thither
+himself in advance of them, but falling ill at that place he was in such straits that
+the generals thought his life lost and were ready the moment breath left him to rush
+off and seize each man the province that pleased him. Jelal recovered, but meanwhile
+his enemies had united their forces. His army was small if compared with the troops
+ranged against it. He had not summoned in men from Arran, Azerbaidjan, Irak or Mazanderan
+who had gone on leave somewhat earlier. His vizir’s corps was at Manazguerd, another
+corps also was attacking Berkeri, still he moved on and in Erzendjan met the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>Kei Kubad’s force was twenty thousand, Ashraf’s only five, but all chosen warriors.
+Jelal was defeated most cruelly, and lost many warriors. Among prisoners was the Erzerum
+prince who had promised Jelal a good part of Kei Kubad’s kingdom, but who was forced
+then to yield up strong places and treasures of his own to his cousin. The victors
+beheaded all the Kwaresmian officers whom they captured.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb164">[<a href="#pb164">164</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Jelal fled to Manazguerd, and taking the troops then besieging that fortress marched
+on Khelat which he stripped of all that had value and was movable; that done he burned
+the remainder. Then, taking with him the Georgian wife of Prince Ashraf and Ashraf’s
+two brothers, Yakub and Abbas, he moved into Azerbaidjan. The vizir with his troops
+was posted in Sekman Abad to follow the movements of the enemy; he himself halted
+near Khoï. His generals had deserted.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal’s enemies did not pursue. On the contrary his vizir got a letter from Ashraf,
+who had parted with Kei Kubad after the victory, and gone to Khelat, which he found
+a sad ruin and deserted. “Your master,” wrote he to Sherif, “is the Sultan of Moslems,
+the first rampart of Islam against Mongol enemies. We know that to weaken him signifies
+ruin to religion, that his losses will affect every Moslem. Why do you with your wonderful
+experience not give him peace-loving counsels? I guarantee to the Sultan true friendship
+with the strong aid of Kei Kubad, and my brother, the Sultan of Egypt.”
+</p>
+<p>These propositions were followed by discussion, and the two princes made peace. The
+Sultan agreed to cease all attacks upon Khelat, but despite every effort he would
+make no promise regarding Kei Kubad. He could not forgive him the alliance with Ashraf.
+He knew only later how his vizir had offended that prince’s envoys. But when he learned
+that the Mongols were entering Irak he swore to respect all the lands of Kei Kubad.
+</p>
+<p>This Mongol army, thirty thousand in number, was taken from all the troops under Ogotai.
+It was led by Chormagun, whom the Grand Khan had deputed to finish the conquest of
+Persia and establish himself there with his warriors. Chormagun, who wished first
+of all to hunt Jelal to death, as Jinghis the great Khan had hunted Jelal’s father,
+moved through Khorassan very swiftly by the Esferain road, and past Rayi.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal, who had gone from Khoï to Tebriz, hoped that these Mongols would winter in
+Irak; he needed delay of that length to gather in forces and concentrate. He despatched
+a Pehlevan straightway to Irak to watch all the movements of the Mongols. This man
+met a vanguard of the enemy between Zendjan and Ebher. He fled with fourteen men,
+all he had, and was the only <span class="pageNum" id="pb165">[<a href="#pb165">165</a>]</span>survivor so fiercely did the Mongols rush after him. He came alone to Tebriz with
+his tidings to the Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal did not delay; he left the place at once for the steppes of Mugan on the Caspian
+to gather in forces. Not having time to secure proper safety for his harem, it remained
+at Tebriz. He spent that winter in Mugan and in Shirvan. Two officers of distinction
+from Mazanderan and Khorassan were sent forward to have a keen eye on the enemy, report
+to Jelal, and keep relays of good horses at Firus Abad and at Ardebil.
+</p>
+<p>While waiting for his warriors, summoned through heralds who presented red arrows,
+Jelal with a body-guard of only one thousand amused himself at hunts during daylight,
+and spent his evenings drinking with his intimates. One night two officers of the
+vanguard whom he had trusted to warn him let a Mongol division pass without challenge
+or notice. They surprised Jelal on a hill close to Shirkebut and he barely escaped
+from the peril by rushing on toward the river Araxes. The Mongols thought that he
+had crossed it and they hurried on farther toward Gandja, the capital of Arran, but
+Jelal had turned back toward Azerbaidjan and sent Prince Yakub his prisoner to explain
+to Ashraf, Yakub’s brother, the great need of sending men promptly to drive back the
+Mongols, whose plan was to crush down and ruin the whole world of Islam.
+</p>
+<p>Yakub was conducted to Sherif ul Mulk, Jelal’s vizir, who had been directed to send
+with him an envoy having proper instructions. Sherif ul Mulk, who was now a full traitor,
+had a vizir of his own whom he sent, but with orders entirely opposed to those given
+by the Sultan. Jelal’s harem left in Tebriz unprotected was sent now to Arran by Sherif
+and lodged in Sind Suruk, a strong fortress, while his treasures were hidden in various
+castles which belonged to the chief of the Turkmans of Arran. That done, Sherif went
+to Khizan and raised there the banner of rebellion. He was angry since the Sultan,
+because of Sherif’s immense outlays, had taken from him command of the taxes, and
+income of all sorts. Thinking Jelal lost when he had fled in Mugan and had been almost
+captured, he wrote to Kei Kubad and Ashraf declaring that if they would leave Azerbaidjan
+to him coupled with Arran he would render homage for both and have the two princes’
+names mentioned at all public worship. “Fallen Tyrant” was the name <span class="pageNum" id="pb166">[<a href="#pb166">166</a>]</span>given the Sultan in this letter. Many missives which were similar to this one in part
+went to governors to corrupt them. One of these was sent to the Sultan who knew now
+that Sherif stopped all Kwaresmian officers who came near his fort and wrung their
+possessions from them by torture. He learned also that Sherif had instructed the Turkman
+chief not to yield up the harem or treasures of the Sultan to any one, not even to
+Jelal himself should he come for them. In this letter also he styled him “Fallen Tyrant.”
+The Sultan, knowing now the vizir and his treason, had orders sent to disregard his
+authority.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal, who remained all the winter (1231) in Mugan, went to Arran in the spring upon
+hearing that the Mongols were moving from Odjan to find him. When near Sherif’s castle
+he sent for the traitorous vizir and feigned to know nothing of his treason. Sherif
+came with a shroud on his neck. Jelal had wine brought to him, an act not agreeing
+with etiquette, since the Kwaresmian sultans never admitted vizirs to their banquets.
+Sherif thought himself then at the summit of favor, but soon he had reason to think
+otherwise, for though he followed the Sultan the latter assigned him no duties.
+</p>
+<p>The bad condition of Jelal’s affairs affected the people of the two Caspian provinces
+recently subjected. In Tebriz the population, roused to anger by the men who commanded
+in the name of the Sultan, were ready to massacre all the Kwaresmians and thus win
+good grace from the Mongols. Revolts broke out in many places of Azerbaidjan and of
+Arran. Men in the service of the Sultan were killed and their heads carried off as
+presents to the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal wishing to assemble the troops of Arran, and unable to trust any Turkman in
+his service, prevailed on Mohammed of Nessa to accept this most delicate mission,
+which he carried out with such thoroughness and so deftly that Jelal soon had a strong
+force at his command. At report of this exploit the Mongol division which had marched
+into Arran withdrew to the main camp at Odjan. An envoy sent to the Bailecan governor
+to effect his surrender was brought before Jelal immediately. On being asked touching
+Chormagun’s army, and promised his life if he told the truth sacredly (the man was
+a Moslem), he declared that the army roll counted twenty thousand on the day of review
+near <span class="pageNum" id="pb167">[<a href="#pb167">167</a>]</span>the Bokhará suburbs. Jelal, lest his troops lose their courage and scatter, had the
+man killed at once.
+</p>
+<p>Then, fearing that the vizir might rush away on a sudden and rouse many men to rebellion,
+the Sultan set out for Jaraper followed still by the traitor. He ordered then the
+commandant of the Jaraper fortress, a cruel old Turkman, to arrest the vizir and put
+him in irons the moment that he, the Sultan, moved farther. This was done, and soon
+after, the old Turkman sent six guards to take life from Sherif. The moment he saw
+the men coming the vizir knew that his last hour was present. He begged a short respite
+during which to implore the Almighty. He made his ablutions, then prayed, read some
+lines in the Koran, and said that the guards might enter. On reappearing they asked
+him which he preferred, the cord or the sabre. “The sabre,” answered Sherif. “It is
+not the usage that great people die by the sabre,” said the guard, “and death by the
+cord is far easier.” “The task is yours,” replied Sherif. “Do what seems best to you.
+I receive that which comes to him always who trusts the ungrateful.” These were the
+last words of Sherif. He was strangled.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal’s next move was a quick march on Gandja, where the populace had slain all Kwaresmians
+in the city. He pitched his camp at the wall and strove to persuade the seditious
+to obedience by pleasant messages and mildness; but the crowd grew more insolent and
+rushed forth to fall on him. The Sultan charged fiercely. The populace fled, and returned
+through the gate in disorder. The victors were eager for plunder, but the Sultan restrained
+them. He wished above all to discover the leaders of the outbreak. Thirty were named
+and Jelal cut their heads off.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan remained fifteen days in the city, thinking on action. At last he resolved
+to ask aid a second time of Ashraf. He hated to do this, but yielded to counsel.
+</p>
+<p>Ashraf, on hearing that envoys were coming from Jelal, took a journey to Egypt. The
+envoys were made to delay at Damascus, where the Syrian prince forced them to loiter
+and amused them by letters declaring that he would return soon from Cairo with troops
+for their master.
+</p>
+<p>At last Jelal’s envoys sent word to him that Ashraf would stay in Egypt, as they thought,
+till the whole Mongol question was settled without him. Jelal sent his chancellor
+then to Mozaffer, <span class="pageNum" id="pb168">[<a href="#pb168">168</a>]</span>who had received Khelat from Ashraf his brother. He invited this prince to come with
+his own troops and bring with him also the princes of Mardin and Amid, with their
+forces. He said that then he could win without Ashraf. His envoy was to explain to
+Mozaffer with all clearness possible that if they, with God’s favor, should conquer
+the Mongols he would put Mozaffer in a country compared with which Khelat and its
+lands were as nothing. This was said by Jelal in the presence of his generals, but
+to Mohammed of Nessa when alone with him his speech was as follows: “I have no faith
+in the people to whom you are going, but these here,” meaning his Turkman commanders,
+“are satisfied only with visions, and their highest desire is to escape serious fighting.
+Thus have they baffled every plan made by me. I send you now on this mission knowing
+well that you will bring back an answer taking from them all hope of aid.”
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan had fixed on Ispahan the capital as his stronghold. At his command six
+thousand men went to pillage in Rūm whence they drove back immense herds of cattle.
+</p>
+<p>When Mohammed of Nessa gave Mozaffer the message, that prince replied in this fashion:
+“If I have given an oath to Jelal, I have given one also to Kei Kubad; I know too
+that your sovereign has ravaged Kei Kubad’s country, and that is not what he promised
+on the day of the oath taking. Besides I am not my own master; I depend on my brothers,
+the Sultan of Egypt, and the ruler of Syria, I could not help any man unless those
+two permitted. Moreover what aid could my little army give Jelal, or others? As to
+the princes of Mardin and Amid, they are not my dependents. They are discussing with
+the Sultan touching aid. I know that, I know too that he is trying them. He will find
+soon that they are not truthful, while Ashraf is eager in the interest of the Sultan,
+and is faithful to promises. His only object in going to Egypt is to get troops and
+lead them back with him.”
+</p>
+<p>At the end of some days Mohammed took leave of Mozaffer while declaring that whatever
+the end was the latter would regret his decision. “If Jelal triumphs,” said he, “you
+can never be reconciled; if he is conquered the Mongols will bring bitter grief on
+you if not destruction.” The Khelat prince answered that he doubted not the words
+of the envoy, but added, “I am not my own master.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb169">[<a href="#pb169">169</a>]</span></p>
+<p>A letter borne by a pigeon from Perkri announced that the Mongols were searching for
+the Sultan, and had passed by that city. Jelal went to Hany, but finding there only
+the women and baggage, he set out for Jebal Jor without waiting. A Mongol escaping
+from punishment had come to the Kwaresmians and declared that the Mongols were advancing.
+The man was a commander of one thousand who would not endure reprimands from superiors,
+hence had fled from them. Following the advice of this runaway Jelal left his baggage
+at the wayside, and settled in ambush near by to fall on the Mongols while they were
+pillaging it. Otuz Khan, one of his generals, with four thousand horsemen, was to
+move on the enemy, engage and then flee after fighting, thus luring them on into ambush.
+Otuz Khan being neither keen nor courageous, came back and declared that the Mongols
+had gone toward Manazguerd. On hearing this false statement the Sultan came out of
+his ambush and went on to Hany where he was met by Mohammed of Nessa whom he commanded
+to report in the presence of all, on the outcome of his mission.
+</p>
+<p>Convinced after listening to this report that no help would come from any one, all
+resolved straightway to fall back on Ispahan, taking only those of their children
+and wives who were dearest to them.
+</p>
+<p>Two days later, came an envoy from Prince Massud of Amid. That prince wished the Sultan
+to make himself master in Rūm, a conquest which he declared would be easy. Master
+of Rūm and strong through the Kipchaks who were firmly attached to him, Jelal could
+make himself terrible to the Mongols. Massud promised to strengthen the Sultan with
+four thousand horsemen and stay with him till Rūm should be conquered.
+</p>
+<p>This entire plan of that Amid prince was caused by his rage at Kei Kubad, who had
+snatched away some of his castles.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal’s ambition was roused to activity. He abandoned the Ispahan journey and started
+off toward Amid without waiting. Pitching his camp near that city he passed the whole
+evening in drinking. At midnight a Turkman rushed in with tidings that he had seen
+foreign troops at the place where the Sultan had passed the night previous. Jelal
+declared this a lie, and a trick of the Amid prince to force him from the country
+at the earliest. But at daybreak the Mongols were present. They surrounded the <span class="pageNum" id="pb170">[<a href="#pb170">170</a>]</span>Sultan’s pavilion while he was still sleeping off his carousal. One general, Orkhan,
+galloped up with his troops and drove the enemy away. The officers of Jelal’s own
+household strove hard in this trial; they had barely time to give Jelal a light colored
+tunic, and put him on horseback. He thought at that moment of one of his wives who
+was with him, a daughter of the Fars prince, and commanded two of his principal officers
+to guard her while fleeing.
+</p>
+<p>Seeing that the Mongols were terribly swift in pursuing, Jelal ordered Orkhan to rush
+in another direction with his forces, and draw off the enemy. He himself took the
+road to Amid with one hundred horsemen. The gates of that city were closed to him.
+Persuasion was powerless to open them, hence he fled on toward the Tigris, but soon
+turning aside he rushed back, and thus followed the counsel of Otuz Khan, who declared
+that the best way to flee from the Mongols was to double back and be behind them.
+He reached a small village in the region of Mayafarkin and stopped for the night at
+a granary. While he was sleeping Otuz Khan slipped away, and deserted. At daybreak
+the Mongols caught up with the Sultan, who had barely the time to mount and be off
+while his guards fought the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>Most of Jelal’s men were slain while defending their master that morning. Fifteen
+of the Mongols, on learning that he who had fled was the Sultan, rushed along after
+him madly. Two reached the swift rider, but he slew both of them. The others could
+not come up with the fugitive whose horse beyond doubt was superior.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal hurried on alone now, and made his way into the mountains. There he was captured
+by Kurds, whose work was to strip every wayfarer and slay him. They stripped the Sultan
+at once and were going to kill him when he told their chief secretly who he was, asking
+the man to conduct him to the Erbil prince, Mozaffer, who would load him with benefits
+for doing so; if not to conduct him to some place in the Sultan’s own kingdom. The
+Kurd chose the latter and taking with him to his own habitation the Sultan, whom he
+left in the care of his wife, he went out to find horses. Meanwhile another Kurd came
+in, and inquired of the woman who the Kwaresmian was, and why they had not killed
+him. She replied that he was under her husband’s protection, and added, that he was
+the Kwaresmian Sultan. “How know that <span class="pageNum" id="pb171">[<a href="#pb171">171</a>]</span>he is telling you the truth?” asked the Kurd. “But if he is the Sultan, he killed
+at the siege of Khelat my own brother, a far better man than he is.” With that he
+sprang at Jelal ud din, pierced him with his javelin, and killed him. Aug. 15, 1231.
+</p>
+<p>With Jelal ud din perished the Kwaresmian dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>“Jelal ud din,” says Mohammed of Nessa, “was of medium stature. He had a Turk face,
+his complexion was very dark, for his mother was from India. He was brave to excess,
+calm, grave and silent, never laughing except at the points of his lips. He spoke
+Turkish and Persian.” Jelal ud din was no statesman, he had neither foresight nor
+wisdom; attached to his whims he reconciled no man. Music and wine gave him most of
+his pleasure. He always went to bed drunk, even at times when the Mongols were hunting
+him like bloodhounds. He did not retain the affection of his warriors, who receiving
+no pay had to live on the country and ruin it. Reckless conduct estranged from him
+those who might have upheld him. A wise and strong leader could have raised up and
+directed a resistance which would have stopped Hulagu in his conquests. What might
+have come afterwards is of course a new problem.
+</p>
+<p>Soon after the death of this Sultan, Prince Mozaffer sent men to collect his effects.
+They found his horse, saddle and sabre. These, being shown to his generals, were recognized.
+Mozaffer then had his corpse brought and put in a mausoleum.
+</p>
+<p>In after years report ran that Jelal had been seen in various places of Iran. A man
+at Ispidar gave himself out as the Sultan. The Mongol commanders called in men who
+had seen Jelal ud din. The imposter was discovered and put to death promptly. Twenty-two
+years after this death of the Sultan a poor man dressed as a fakir while crossing
+the Oxus spoke to the boatmen as follows: “I am Jelal ud din the Kwaresmian Shah reported
+as killed by the Kurds in the mountains of Amid. It was not I who was killed then,
+but my equerry. I have wandered about many years without letting men know me.” Taken
+by the boatmen to an officer of the Mongols close to that river he was tortured, but
+insisted till death that he was Jelal ud din the Kwaresmian Sultan.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb172">[<a href="#pb172">172</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e1755">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e1755src">1</a></span> About twenty-seven miles.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e1755src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e1760">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e1760src">2</a></span> A dinar is the fiftieth part of a cent.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e1760src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e1850">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e1850src">3</a></span> Mohammed of Nessa. Nessavi means of Nassa and applies specially to the historian.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e1850src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch10" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e389">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER X</h2>
+<h2 class="main">CONDITION OF PERSIA IN 1254, WHEN HULAGU CAME TO CONQUER AND TO SLAUGHTER</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Sad was the fate of the people in Rūm through disunion, stupidity and thoughtlessness.
+After Jelal ud din lost his life in the mountains his warriors dispersed and were
+finished by land tillers, by Kurds, and by Beduins. The Mongols fell straightway to
+ravaging Amid, Erzerum and Mayafarkin. After a siege of five days they captured Sarad,
+two days’ journey from Mardin, and east of it, and though the city had surrendered
+they slaughtered its inhabitants to the number of fifteen thousand, as is stated.
+Tanza met the same fate as also did Mardin, whose sovereign took refuge in the fortress.
+The district of Nisibin was changed to a desert, though the city itself was not taken
+by the Mongols who, entering the country of Sinjar sacked El Khabur and Araban. One
+division of them took the road to Mosul and hastened to pillage El Munassa, on the
+road between Mosul and Nisibin. The people of that place and the flat country around
+it took refuge in a building near the middle of the city where all save desirable
+women were massacred. A man of that region being hidden in a house looked out through
+a cranny and saw what was happening and afterward told Ibn al Athir, the historian.
+“Each time the Mongols slew some one they shouted ‘La illahi.’ This massacre finished,
+they pillaged the place and departed leading away the women selected. I saw them,”
+said the hidden man, “rejoicing on horseback. They laughed, sang songs in their language
+and shouted while mocking the Moslems.”
+</p>
+<p>Another Mongol division marched on Bitlis. Some of the people fled to the mountains,
+others took refuge in the citadel. The Mongols set fire to the city and burned it.
+They stormed Balri, a fortified place in the region of Khelat, and slaughtered <span class="pageNum" id="pb173">[<a href="#pb173">173</a>]</span>all the inhabitants. The large city of Andjish met a similar destruction.
+</p>
+<p>A third Mongol force now laid siege to Meraga. This city surrendered on condition
+that the lives of all citizens be respected. The Mongols gave a promise to spare them,
+but notwithstanding this promise they slew a great number. They sacked Azerbaidjan,
+passed into Erbil, attacked Kurds and Turkmans, slaying every one whom they could
+reach with a weapon. They took fire and sword to all places, and committed atrocities
+without parallel.
+</p>
+<p>Mozaffer, prince of Erbil, assembled his troops with great speed and got aid from
+Mosul. The Mongols withdrew then and marched on Dakuka. The prince thought it best
+not to pursue them.
+</p>
+<p>During those two months which followed the death of Jelal ud din and the scattering
+of his army, the Mongols pillaged all lands between the Euphrates and Tigris; Diarbekr,
+Khelat and Erbil, without finding a single armed warrior to oppose them. The princes
+of those petty states hid away carefully, and the people were stupefied so great was
+the terror which had seized upon mankind. Deeds were done in that period which beggar
+belief. For example a lone Mongol horseman rode into a populous village and fell to
+cutting down people; no man had the courage to defend himself.
+</p>
+<p>Another time a Mongol without weapons wished to hew off the head of a prisoner whom
+he had taken; he commanded the man to lie down and wait for him. The Mongol went off
+for a sabre, came back and killed the unfortunate, who was waiting obediently. Still
+a new tale from a third man: “I was on the road with seventeen comrades when a Mongol
+on horseback rode up to us, and commanded that each man tie the hands of another.
+My comrades thought it best to obey. ‘This man,’ said I to them, ‘is alone, let us
+kill him.’ ‘We are too much afraid,’ said they. ‘But he will kill us. Let us kill
+him, God may then save us.’ No man of them had the courage to do this. I killed him
+then with a knife thrust, and we fled and in that manner saved ourselves from other
+Mongols.” These cases are but three out of thousands.
+</p>
+<p>Three months after the death of Jelal ud din, people in general knew not whether he
+had been killed, or was hiding, or had gone to another country. Azerbaidjan was now
+seized by the Mongols. Their leader fixed his camp near Tebriz and summoned that city
+to surrender. It offered a large sum of money, many fabrics, wine and <span class="pageNum" id="pb174">[<a href="#pb174">174</a>]</span>other products. The chief judge and the mayor with the principal people went to the
+Mongol commander, who ordered to send out to him weavers since he wished to have certain
+stuffs made for his sovereign. They obeyed and the citizens paid for those costly
+fabrics. He asked also a tent for his master. One was made for him of a kind that
+had never been equalled in that city. It was covered with silk embroidered in gold
+and ornamented with sable and beaver. Tebriz agreed to an annual tribute in stuffs
+and in silver.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols were sacking the lands of Erbil, a fief of the Kalif, Mostansir, who had
+summoned to assist him Mohammedan sovereigns as well as the Arabs. Kamil, Sultan of
+Egypt, whose dominions beyond the Euphrates were also threatened, had set out from
+Cairo at the head of an army and arrived at Damascus whence he moved eastward very
+promptly. His army being numerous, took various roads in crossing the desert. Since
+water was lacking, many horses died on that journey, and many men also. On learning
+at Harran that the Mongols had gone out of Khelat, Kamil besieged Amid. The capture
+of this place, which belonged to a grandson of Ortok, was the real cause of his coming
+from Egypt. With him was Ashraf, his brother, who had persuaded him to make the expedition.
+The Eyubite princes and the Sultan of Rūm marched also with Kamil.
+</p>
+<p>The siege lasted five days altogether. Prince Massud, a weakling and a man enamoured
+of pleasure, surrendered his capital to Kamil, who gave it as an appanage (1232) to
+his faithless son Salih, who previously had wished to dethrone him. Massud received
+certain lands lying in Egypt; to those lands he went and settled down ignominiously
+as became him. Master of Amid Kamil attacked Hóssn-Keifa, which yielded also. He had
+now gained his object.
+</p>
+<p>Mongol troops under Chormagun’s orders, and after that general’s death, under Baidju,
+continued during two entire decades to slaughter, rob, pillage and devastate lands
+west of Persia. They ruined whole regions, and cut down the people in wantonness and
+by thousands. In 1236–7 they made a second invasion of the districts near Erbil, and
+advanced to the Tigris. Next they took Erbil and found there rich booty. They burned
+a great number of houses, but could not take the fortress where the inhabitants had
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb175">[<a href="#pb175">175</a>]</span>rallied, and though perishing from thirst fought with a marvelous valor. At the end
+of forty days the Mongols retired on receipt of large sums in gold from the people.
+</p>
+<p>They ravaged after that the north edge of Arabian Irak as far as Zenk Abad and Sermenraï,
+which they pillaged. The Kalif made Bagdad defensible and in 1237 in his wish to rouse
+every Moslem, he asked the Ulema: “Which gives more merit, a pilgrimage to Mecca,
+or a war on the infidel?” “The holy war,” answered all as one person. The war was
+proclaimed then. Great persons, men of law, common people, all went out daily to learn
+the art of wielding weapons. The Kalif himself wished to march with the forces, but
+prudent advisers dissuaded him. His troops met the enemy at Jebel Hamrin north of
+Tacrit, on the bank of the Tigris, put them to flight, cut down many, and freed all
+the captives seized at Dakuka and Erbil a short time before. In 1238 fifteen thousand
+Mongols invaded the territory of Bagdad, and advanced to Jaferiye, but retired at
+approach of the forces of the Kalif made up of Turks and Arabs.
+</p>
+<p>That same year, Arabian Irak was reëntered by Mongols from ten to fifteen thousand
+in number. They advanced to Khanekin, a place some leagues south of Heulvan. The Kalif
+sent seven thousand horsemen against them under orders of Jemal ud din Beïlek. The
+Mongols, employing their old stratagem successfully, lured on the forces of Bagdad
+and attacked them from ambush. They put to the sword nearly all the detachment. Beïlek,
+their leader, disappeared without tidings.
+</p>
+<p>In 1235 the Mongols took Gandja the capital of Arran, giving the city to flames and
+the people to slaughter. The year following, 1236, Chormagun left Mugan and swept
+through Armenia, Albania and Georgia, sacking all the best cities. Georgia had so
+recently been plundered by Jelal ud din that unable to defend themselves against the
+Mongol invaders, the princes and people sought refuge in the mountains. Queen Rusudan,
+a woman famous for her beauty and her lack of virtue, chose as asylum the impregnable
+fortress of Usaneth in Imeretia.
+</p>
+<p>Chormagun seized the country between the Araxes and the Cyrus. One of his generals,
+Gadagan, took Kedapagu and Varsanashod. Another one, Mular, seized Shamkar and every
+stronghold around it. Chormagun’s brother Jela took the fortress <span class="pageNum" id="pb176">[<a href="#pb176">176</a>]</span>of Katchen. Jelal, the master of the place, fled to Khok Castle near Kandzassar. When
+summoned to surrender he gave the Grand Khan allegiance with tribute and military
+service. Jagatai, another leader of Mongols, took Lori which belonged to Shah in Shah,
+prince of Ani, sacked the city and slaughtered the people. Next after this, and in
+1239, the Mongols burst into Georgia and captured Tiflis with many other places. When
+Jagatai had made all his circuits through the country with terror in front of him
+and ruin behind, he swept again through Armenia, besieging now the old capital Ani.
+When the ancient city was summoned to yield, the authorities answered that without
+Shah in Shah they could not surrender, since he was prince of that region. The envoy
+was returning with this statement when the populace grew furious and killed him. Chormagun
+laid siege immediately to Ani. Not having supplies, the people learned soon the full
+meaning of famine. To escape from it many went out and surrendered. Chormagun met
+all those people with kindness, and gave them provisions; this enticed others till
+more than one half had gone out of Ani. After that those men, captured thus by their
+stomachs and Chormagun’s cunning, were drawn up in companies and delivered to warriors,
+who cut them down to the very last person. Ani could not defend itself longer, so
+pillage and fire destroyed the old city.
+</p>
+<p>On hearing of the dread destruction which had fallen upon Ani, and the slaughter of
+all who had lived in it, the inhabitants of Kars fearing the doom which, as they thought,
+would meet them unless they could avert it, carried the keys of their city to the
+Mongol commander. Notwithstanding this voluntary submission and surrender, a dreadful
+massacre followed, for Chormagun gave direction to put all to the sword except children,
+desirable women, and artisans of skill, who were needed by the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>When Kars had been ruined the invaders returned to the plains of Mugan, which abounded
+in rich winter pastures.
+</p>
+<p>In 1240 Prince Avak of Tiflis and his sister Tamara went to give homage at Ogotai’s
+court, and were met there with kindness. The Grand Khan gave them an order commanding
+Chormagun to reinstate them and other Georgian princes; a second command was sent
+also to take from them only the tribute agreed on already. <span class="pageNum" id="pb177">[<a href="#pb177">177</a>]</span>When people north of the Euphrates and Tigris had been thinned out sufficiently and
+enlightened by slaughter, the Mongols turned to take Rūm and subdue it.
+</p>
+<p>Rūm had been ruled for a century and a half by a branch of the Seljuks. Asia Minor
+was conquered about 1080 by Suleiman Shah, whom his cousin Sultan Melik, Shah of Persia,
+had sent toward the west with eighty thousand Turkman households to bring down the
+infidel. Suleiman seized the central provinces of that region from the Byzantine Empire,
+and made Konia the capital of his newly won kingdom, which was called Rūm in the Orient,
+but in the west with another vowel, Rome. From that period on, the Turkman swarms
+which followed the banners of the Seljuks spread over those conquered lands widely.
+Most places were given them as fiefs, and the Christians of that entire region passed
+under the yoke of unsparing and insolent nomads.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan Ghiath ud din Kei Kosru, eighth successor of Suleiman the first conqueror,
+had ruled over Rūm for five years when in 1243 the Mongols set out to subject it.
+Chormagun was now dead and Baidju, who succeeded him, had come with an army, in which
+were Armenian and Georgian contingents, to invest Erzerum where Sinan ud din Yakut
+was commandant. This Yakut was a freedman of Sultan Kei Kubad, the father of Kei Kosru.
+At the end of two months the walls were destroyed by twelve catapults; the city was
+taken by storm, and one day later the citadel met with a similar misfortune. The commandant
+and also his warriors were put to the sword without exception. Artisans, workmen,
+desirable women and children were spared to be driven into slavery. When the city
+had been plundered and ruined the Mongols withdrew to their winter camp on the plain
+of Mugan.
+</p>
+<p>Mongol warriors were sent in 1244 toward Syria. While they were approaching Malattia,
+where news of the sack of Cesaraea had spread dismay through every hamlet and corner,
+the prefect and other officials of the Sultan took during night hours all the silver
+and gold of the treasury, divided it among themselves and set out to find refuge in
+Aleppo. At the same time the chief citizens, both Moslem and Christian, tried to save
+themselves by flight, but these, after journeying one day, were overtaken by Mongols
+who slaughtered the old men and women; the young of both sexes were spared and driven
+on into slavery.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb178">[<a href="#pb178">178</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The Mongols waited not to lay siege to Malattia, they sped forward at command of Noyon
+Yassaur to Aleppo, demanded a ransom, received it, and vanished. On his way back,
+Yassaur made a halt at Malattia and feigned an attack on it. The prefect collected
+much plate, also gold from church pictures, besides other treasures taken from the
+Nestorian cathedral; the value in all reached forty thousand gold pieces. After receiving
+this ransom Yassaur continued his march toward the boundary of Persia. Yassaur was
+the Mongol chief, probably, who in 1244, toward the end of the summer, summoned Bohemond
+V., Prince of Antioch, to level the walls of his cities, send in all the revenue of
+his princedom, and give besides three thousand maidens. The prince refused, the Mongol
+commander refrained from attacking, but later on the Antioch prince furnished tribute
+to the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>The Grand Khan’s lieutenant had summoned all sovereigns in Western Asia to obedience.
+Shihab ud din in 1241 got a letter from an envoy of the Mongols. The letter sent to
+other princes as well as to him began in this way: “The lieutenant on earth, of the
+Master of Heaven, commands all the following princes to acknowledge his authority
+and level their defences;” the names then were given. The prince answered that he
+was a weak, petty ruler if compared with the sovereigns of Rūm, Syria and Egypt. “Go
+to them first,” said he, “I will follow their example.”
+</p>
+<p>Hayton, the king of Cilicia, had promised to bring to the Sultan of Rūm a whole corps
+of Armenians; he delayed marching, however, and awaited developments. The kingdom
+of Rūm was now subject to Mongols, and Hayton thought it well to win Mongol favor
+if possible. On securing consent from the chief men of his kingdom he sent envoys
+in 1244, during spring, with rich presents to Baidju. The envoys turned to Jalal,
+an Armenian prince then in Katchen, who presented them to Baidju, to Chormagun’s widow,
+and to Mongol commanders. Baidju asked first that Hayton deliver the wife, daughter
+and mother of Kei Kosru, who were then in Cilicia. That request made, he took leave
+of the envoys, and sent with them men of his own to their sovereign. The conditions
+were grievous to Hayton, but he yielded the women to Baidju’s officials and sent on
+new envoys. The Mongol commander was satisfied, and concluding an alliance with Hayton,
+giving him a diploma which affirmed his position as vassal to the Grand Khan. <span class="pageNum" id="pb179">[<a href="#pb179">179</a>]</span>The Mongols during 1245 took regions north of Lake Van, among others Khelat, which
+through an order of Ogotai had been given to Tamara of Georgia. After this they marched
+into regions between the Euphrates and Tigris, taking Roha, Nisibin and other cities
+which the people abandoned at approach of the dread enemy. But great summer heat brought
+down most of their horses, hence the Mongols were forced to withdraw very speedily
+to save themselves.
+</p>
+<p>Mongol dominion was extending continually. Bedr ud din Lulu the Prince of Mosul declared
+in a letter to the Prince of Damascus that he had in his own name concluded a treaty
+by which the inhabitants of Syria would give the Mongols a fixed tribute according
+to wealth and ability. The tax of the rich would amount to ten dirhems, medium men
+would pay five, and poor people one dirhem. This letter was published at Damascus,
+and officials began to collect the taxes decreed by it.
+</p>
+<p>The same year, 1245, news came to Bagdad, by pigeons, that the Mongols had entered
+Sheherzur, eight days’ travel northward from Bagdad, and sacked the whole city, whose
+prince, Melik ud din Mohammed, had fled to a stronghold.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols advancing in 1246 to Yakuba were attacked and driven off by Bagdad troops,
+and some of them were captured. Baidju did not feel himself master of Georgia while
+Queen Rusudan remained in Usaneth and refused all submission. In vain did he send
+her rich presents, and ask for an interview during which she and he might arrange,
+he declared, an alliance with friendship. The queen would not go from her stronghold,
+and gave no better answer to a message from Batu, who since <span class="corr" id="xd32e1982" title="Source: Ogatai’s">Ogotai’s</span> death, in December, 1241, was the first among Jinghis Khan’s grandsons. She sent
+her son David, however, to Batu as hostage, and placed him under that strong Khan’s
+protection. Baidju, wrathful at Rusudan’s stubbornness, resolved to give Georgia a
+ruler subservient to Mongols. Rusudan’s brother, Lasha, had a son born outside wedlock
+whom the queen had despatched into Rūm when her daughter went thither to marry Kei
+Kosru. This son of Lasha, named David, was detained for ten years in Cesaraea. Freed
+now for this special state trick, he was brought to the camp of the Mongols where
+certain princes proclaimed him, and took the oath of allegiance. Georgian troops and
+Armenians <span class="pageNum" id="pb180">[<a href="#pb180">180</a>]</span>went with David to Mtskhete the seat of the Patriarch, who anointed him.
+</p>
+<p>David, the new king and tool of the Mongols, in 1246 attacked Rusudan in her fortress
+where, reduced to extremities, she took poison and in dying recommended her son to
+Batu the Khan of the Kipchaks and master at that time in Russia.
+</p>
+<p>The young King of Georgia set out to be present at the installation of Kuyuk (1246).
+The names given of subject rulers present at this great Kurultai show how far-reaching
+was the power of the Mongols: the Prince of Fars; the ruler of Kerman; Bedr ud din
+Lulu, Prince of Mosul; Yaroslav, Grand Prince of Russia; Ambassadors from the Kalif
+of Bagdad; the Prince of the Assassin Kingdom; and many other noted rulers. There
+were present also two monks who came from the Pope—one of whom, Du Plano Carpino,
+has left us an account of the Kurultai—and Rusudan’s son.
+</p>
+<p>The rivalry of the King of Georgia and Rusudan’s son brought about a division of their
+country. David got Georgia proper and Rusudan’s son, Imeretia, Mingrelia and Abhasia.
+Both men were called kings, but David was the Suzerain. The Cilician King Hayton who
+sent Sempad, his brother, to be present at Kuyuk’s enthronement, received from the
+Grand Khan more cities seized from Cilicia by the Sultans of Rūm.
+</p>
+<p>In 1249 fresh alarm rose in Bagdad, for the Mongols advanced to Dakuka and killed
+Bilban the prefect. In 1250–1 Nassir the Prince of Damascus got a letter of safe-conduct
+from the Grand Khan and bore it in his girdle. Splendid gifts were a proof of his
+gratitude and pleasure. Lands between the Euphrates and Tigris were again visited
+by the Mongols. The districts of Diarbekr and Mayafarkin with Reesain and Sarudj were
+given over to pillage. The invaders cut down in this raid more than ten thousand people.
+A caravan which had set out from Harran for Bagdad was attacked by those Mongols,
+who massacred every man in it. They took a large booty; among other objects they got
+six hundred camel loads of sugar and cloth stuffs from Egypt, besides six hundred
+thousand dinars in money. After such splendid robbery they went back to Khelat for
+enjoyment.
+</p>
+<p>A corps under Yassaur, who eight years before that had struck at Malattia, attacked
+now this city’s environs and slew all the <span class="pageNum" id="pb181">[<a href="#pb181">181</a>]</span>people whom it could reach with a weapon. Kei Kosru had died in 1245. Yzz ud din Kei
+Kavus with his two brothers, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, and Alai ud din Kei Kubad,
+had succeeded their father. The names of all three appeared on the coinage, and were
+mentioned in mosques at public service. Some great lords of Rūm wished Rokn ud din
+as chief sovereign. Shems ud din of Ispahan, the grand vizir, put many of those partisans
+to death. He married Yzz ud din’s mother and, wishing to eliminate Rokn ud din, had
+him sent to the court of Kuyuk with the tribute and presents agreed on in the treaty
+of submission made recently.
+</p>
+<p>When Rokn ud din had appeared at the court of the Grand Khan he and an officer of
+his suite, <span class="corr" id="xd32e1998" title="Source: Behaï">Behai</span> ud din Terjuman, accused the vizir of doing to death powerful people who favored
+Rokn ud din, of marrying the late Sultan’s widow, and of raising a sovereign to the
+throne without consent or command of the Grand Khan. On hearing this statement, Kuyuk
+commanded that Rokn ud din take Yzz ud din’s place, and that Terjuman take Shems ud
+din’s office. When the latter heard of this change he despatched to Kuyuk, Rashid
+ud din, the prefect of Malattia, with much gold and many jewels. The new order destroyed
+him and he hoped now that the Grand Khan would revoke it. But when his envoy was nearing
+Erzerum the newly made Sultan with his vizir were approaching that city. Overcome
+by the greatness of his task the weak envoy placed his treasures in the stronghold
+of Kemash and fled with all speed to Aleppo. Terjuman appeared at Malattia very promptly
+with two thousand Mongols, and proclaimed the new Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>Shems ud din wished to take Yzz ud din to the seacoast from Konia, but he was seized
+and held captive before he could do so. Terjuman then sent Mongols to Konia to torture
+that active vizir and thus learn where his treasures were hidden; by these men he
+was finally killed.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile it was settled that Rūm must go to both brothers. All that lay west of the
+Sivas was given to Yzz ud din, and everything east of that river fell to Rokn ud din,
+but the officials of the latter wished him to have all that Kuyuk had first given
+him. Yzz ud din’s partisans declared that their sovereign was resigned to the will
+of the Grand Khan, and would take whatever appanage his brother might give him. Rokn
+ud din credited this statement <span class="pageNum" id="pb182">[<a href="#pb182">182</a>]</span>and went to a meeting place. He was seized with his vizir and taken to Konia. No harm
+was done him, however. Yzz ud din joined in the sovereignty Alai ud din his third
+brother.
+</p>
+<p>Kuyuk died in 1248; Mangu his successor was inaugurated July, 1251. In 1254, three
+years after Mangu’s elevation, Yzz ud din was called to Mongolia, but he feared to
+absent himself, knowing that Rokn ud din had many partisans, hence he decided to send
+Alai ud din the third brother, who set out, with many presents, traveling along the
+Black Sea and the borders of Kipchak. Yzz ud din craved forgiveness from Mangu for
+sending his own younger brother instead of appearing in person. This, he said, he
+regretted most keenly, but he was forced to remain and defend his possessions from
+Greeks and Armenians, his most implacable enemies; he hoped soon, however, to offer
+homage in person.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din’s partisans now sought means to uphold the claims of their master in the
+presence of the Grand Khan. They forged a letter from Yzz ud din to Tarantai and his
+colleague, in which the Sultan commanded to confide Alai ud din and the presents to
+the chancellor Shems ud din and the Emir Seif ud din Jalish, the bearers of the letters,
+who would go with the prince to Mongolia. Tarantai and his colleague were summoned
+to Konia.
+</p>
+<p>The Emir and the chancellor set out with this letter and overtook Alai ud din at Sarai,
+Batu’s capital. Batu gave them an audience and to him they explained how Yzz ud din
+had discovered Tarantai’s evil plotting and also that of his colleague. On a time,
+as they said, Tarantai had been stricken by lightning, hence should not stand in the
+presence of Mangu. Shuja ed din, his associate, was a leech greatly skilled in all
+magic, and had with him poison to use for the Grand Khan’s undoing; hence the Sultan
+had sent them to replace those two envoys, who must go back immediately to Konia.
+</p>
+<p>Batu commanded to search the effects of the envoys; certain roots were found in them,
+among other things scammony. They directed Shuja to swallow the drugs in his baggage.
+He swallowed parts of each except scammony. Batu thought this last to be poison, but
+his doctor declared it a plant used in medicine. After that the Khan decided that
+Alai ud din must go with the new envoys, while the two others must take with them
+the presents.
+</p>
+<p>Each party went its own way. Alai ud din died on the journey. <span class="pageNum" id="pb183">[<a href="#pb183">183</a>]</span>When they arrived at the court of Mangu, the opposing officials defended each two
+of them their own cause. The Grand Khan decided that Rūm must be given to both brothers,
+Yzz ud din getting everything west of the Sivas, and Rokn ud din all that lay east
+of that river, as far as the Erzerum border. The tribute was fixed, which each Sultan
+must send in annually.
+</p>
+<p>After Alai ud din had set out for Mongolia, Rokn ud din’s partisans, thinking that
+Yzz ud din wished to be rid of this brother, had him slip away from the capital where
+agents were watching him. He went to Cesaraea, gathered troops there and led them
+to Konia where, defeated in battle, he was captured and imprisoned.
+</p>
+<p>In 1255, one year later, Baidju being impatient at Yzz ud din’s loitering with the
+tribute, entered Rūm, marched against Konia, and met the Sultan’s forces between Ak
+Serai and the capital where he scattered them. Yzz ud din fled and found refuge in
+the stronghold Anthalia.
+</p>
+<p>Baidju then took Rokn ud din out of prison and installed him as Sultan in all the
+Rūm provinces. Yzz ud din fled now a second time and found refuge with the Byzantine
+Emperor who was visiting Sardis. This emperor, Theodore Lascaris, fearing Rokn ud
+din’s partisans, as well as the Mongols, advised the fleeing Sultan to return to his
+kingdom. Yzz ud din took the advice, and offered submission to Hulagu, who upheld
+the division of Rūm between the two brothers.
+</p>
+<p>When Mangu became Grand Khan in 1251 the Cilician king, Hayton, begged Batu to recommend
+him to the new Mongol sovereign. Batu counseled him thus wise: “Go to Mangu and stop
+on the way to confer with me.” The Armenian, alarmed by the length of the journey,
+and knowing that evils might happen to the country in his absence, was fearful to
+leave it. Meanwhile Argun, the collector, with a great horde of Moslem assistants,
+appeared in Armenia. These men caused immense hardship to Christians. “Whoso could
+not pay,” declares an Armenian historian, “suffered torture. Owners of land were driven
+from their places, their children and women were sold into slavery. Any man trying
+to emigrate and caught in the act was stripped, beaten and torn to pieces by raging
+dogs kept for that purpose.”
+</p>
+<p>The King, learning of these savage deeds in Armenia, decided to go to the Grand Khan
+and intercede for the people of his nation, <span class="pageNum" id="pb184">[<a href="#pb184">184</a>]</span>but the death of his queen, Isabella, detained him. He set out at last in 1254 and,
+traveling in disguise, crossed Asia Minor. He passed through Derbend to the court
+of Batu, and to that of Sartak, Batu’s son, said then to be a Christian. From Batu’s
+Horde he spent five months in reaching Mangu, who received him with distinction. Letters
+patent were given the King. These were to serve as a safeguard to him and his country,
+and as a charter of freedom to the church in Armenia. He remained fifty days at the
+court, and returned in 1255 to Cilicia through Transoxiana and Persia. Hulagu had
+at this time arrived with his army.
+</p>
+<p>Great was the ruin effected by Mongols in Asia Minor between Jelal ud din’s death
+and the coming of Hulagu. Great too were the ravages wrought by Jelal through his
+various adventures. Though Chormagun’s army and that under Baidju were vastly inferior
+to those of the princes in Western Asia, the dissensions of those princes were so
+hopeless and their wretched self-seeking so pitiful and paltry that the enemy brought
+most of them down to death or submission, and thousands upon thousands of people to
+destruction or torture.
+</p>
+<p>After Jinghis Khan had returned from the west to Mongolia his eldest son, Juchi, left
+Chin Timur in Kwaresm as its governor. When Chormagun was sent out by Ogotai against
+Jelal ud din, Chin Timur was commanded to march with the troops of Kwaresm, and keep
+guard in Khorassan while Chormagun was destroying the Sultan. Chin Timur remained
+in Khorassan as governor, having as colleagues four officers appointed by the heads
+of the four groups in Jinghis Khan’s family, namely: Kelilat by the Grand Khan; Nussal
+by Batu; Kul Toga by Jagatai, and Tunga by the widow and sons of Tului. Those countries
+west of the Transoxiana, and south of it, were the undivided inheritance of Jinghis
+Khan’s family. Despite all the horrors committed in Khorassan there was something
+still left there to pillage. Many districts had escaped through ready submission,
+and at their first coming the Mongols knew not precisely the value of treasures, but
+Chin Timur knew the value of jewels and gold, and was eager to get them. People were
+tortured by him to disclose hidden wealth, and on learning where it was he killed
+them very promptly. The few who were spared had to buy back their homes. Besides there
+was still another misery. Kwaresmian bands ravaged <span class="pageNum" id="pb185">[<a href="#pb185">185</a>]</span>actively in Khorassan. They killed all the prefects whom Chormagun the Mongol general
+sent to various places, and searched out and slew Kwaresmians who were faithful to
+Mongols. These bands were parts of a corps of Kankalis, ten thousand in number, or
+thereabouts, who occupied chiefly the Tus and the Nishapur mountains. Togan Sangur
+and Karadja, two of Jelal ud din’s lieutenants, commanded them.
+</p>
+<p>Chin Timur attacked thrice these Kankalis, but did not master or crush them. At last,
+Kelilat, his lieutenant, succeeded at Sebzevar, after three days of desperate fighting.
+In this struggle he lost two thousand warriors. Karadja fled to the Sidjistan country
+to save himself, while Sangur sought refuge in the Kuhistan mountains. Three thousand
+Kankalis went to find safety in Herat. Kelilat sent four thousand horsemen to end
+them. After three days of hard struggle those four thousand forced the grand mosque
+where the three thousand had hoped to find safety, and there every man died at the
+sword edge. Of course the attackers lost heavily.
+</p>
+<p>Sair Bahadur who commanded at Badghis had been commissioned by the Grand Khan to march
+against Karadja and take fire and sword to all rebels. He was on the road when he
+heard that Karadja, defeated by Kelilat, had shut himself up in Arak Seistan. Sair
+invested the place, but only after two years of hard toil did he take it.
+</p>
+<p>This general now informed Chin Timur, that the Grand Khan had given him Khorassan
+to govern, and that he, Chin Timur, had no further power in that country.
+</p>
+<p>Chin Timur reproached Kelilat with seeking those districts of Khorassan which had
+been recovering from ruin, and whose people were innocent of Karadja’s excesses, and
+forewarned Sair that he was sending a report to the Grand Khan through an officer,
+and would wait for his orders. Meanwhile Chin Timur and the others received from Chormagun
+a command to march with their forces and join him, leaving Mazanderan and Khorassan
+to Sair Bahadur. Chin Timur thereupon counseled with his officers. It was settled
+at last that Kelilat should go to Ogotai, and get Mazanderan and Khorassan for Chin
+Timur. As this officer served the Grand Khan directly, he was chosen as the best man
+for the mission. To secure a good hearing he took from those two <span class="pageNum" id="pb186">[<a href="#pb186">186</a>]</span>great regions various small princes who had given their submission.
+</p>
+<p>Kara Kurum now beheld for the first time princes of Iran. When Ogotai heard of their
+coming he was gratified greatly. He compared Chin Timur’s methods with Chormagun’s
+action. Chormagun, master in rich and broad countries, had never sent to his sovereign
+even one from among vassal rulers. Chin Timur was made governor, and with him was
+associated Kelilat; both were free of Chormagun and every other commander. Ogotai
+gave feasts to honor the Persian princes, his vassals. He showed them many marks of
+high favor, and when they were going he confirmed each one of them in his own region.
+</p>
+<p>Chin Timur made Sherif ud din of Kwaresm his sealkeeper, and Behai ud din Juveini
+the minister of Finance. Commanders of troops belonging to the three other branches
+of Jinghis Khan’s family had each one an agent in the ministry of Finance.
+</p>
+<p>Chin Timur dying in 1235 was succeeded by Nussal, a Mongol commander who was nearly
+one hundred years old when he took up his office, and soon he gave way to Kurguz,
+Chin Timur’s chancellor and favorite. It is said that Kurguz had organized honestly
+and well the affairs of Khorassan and had repressed a whole legion of fiscal extortioners.
+This of course made him enemies among whom were Sherif ud din, the vizir, and Kelilat,
+the commander, who were working at Ogotai’s court to destroy him.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz was an Uigur and a Buddhist and had risen mainly through merit. Born in a village
+not far from Bishbalik, the Uigur capital, he had striven in early life to master
+Uigur letters and penmanship. That done, he began service with an officer attached
+to Prince Juchi. One day while the prince was out hunting a letter was brought him
+from his father. None of his secretaries were present, so search was made for a man
+to read Uigur. Kurguz was brought in and he read Jinghis Khan’s letter to Juchi; he
+was the only man in that party who could read it. Juchi took him then to his service.
+Since his penmanship was beautiful, Kurguz was sent to teach letters and writing to
+the children of Juchi which he did till Chin Timur was made governor of Khorassan.
+Kurguz was then attached to him as secretary; he soon won his confidence and was made
+minister. He kept his <span class="pageNum" id="pb187">[<a href="#pb187">187</a>]</span>office under Nussal, but was summoned to Mongolia to explain the affairs of Khorassan.
+Danishmend Hadjih, an enemy of Chinkai, Ogotai’s minister and the special friend of
+Kurguz, was toiling at that time to put Ongu Timur, Chin Timur’s son, in the place
+held before by his father, while Chinkai was using every effort to make Kurguz master,
+hence, choosing a moment when he was alone with the Grand Khan, Chinkai explained
+that the chief men of Khorassan were anxious that Kurguz should manage their country,
+and he obtained an ordinance from Ogotai, by which Kurguz was sent to collect for
+a time all the taxes and make a census of Mazanderan and Khorassan. While this task
+was in progress no man was to trouble him for any cause. If Kurguz did his work well
+he would be rewarded.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz came back to Khorassan with this patent and commenced work with vigor. Nussal,
+set aside by this document, was old and quite powerless, but Kelilat, his aid, being
+a man of capacity and keenly ambitious, raised his voice in opposition. Kurguz showed
+his patent: “Here is the order that no man may trouble me in my labor.” Kelilat found
+no answer on that day. Kurguz reorganized Mazanderan and Khorassan, putting down as
+he did so a whole army of extortioners and tyrants.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Sherif ud din, the vizir, and Kelilat, who were powerless against Ogotai’s
+patent and Kurguz, with his strong will and purpose, urged Ongu to ask with insistence
+for the place of his father. The vizir, while feigning to be the fast friend of Kurguz,
+was rousing up every power possible against him. Swept away by these efforts, Ongu
+sent a nephew to Ogotai with false accusations, incriminating Kurguz. These accusations
+were upheld with activity by all who were hostile to Chinkai. Ogotai now sent Argun
+with two others to investigate and report to him. Kurguz, on learning that Ongu had
+sent an agent to Ogotai, set out himself to explain the position, leaving Behai ud
+din to manage in his absence. At Tenakit he came on the members of Argun’s commission,
+who declared that he must go back to Tus with them. He refused. Thereupon there was
+violence and he lost one tooth in a personal encounter. He returned, but before starting
+he sent a trusty friend in the night time to Ogotai, bearing one of his garments which
+was blood stained.
+</p>
+<p>When the commission arrived at Khorassan the commanders <span class="pageNum" id="pb188">[<a href="#pb188">188</a>]</span>of troops with Kelilat, Ongu and Nussal, expelled from the residence of Kurguz his
+secretaries and other assistants. Kurguz himself wanted simply to hold the position
+till his messenger returned from Mongolia. This man came at last with an order to
+the civil and military chiefs to state each man his case before Ogotai, who had been
+incensed by the bloody garment.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz communicated this order to his enemies, and set out at once without waiting
+for their answers. Many persons of distinction went with him. Kelilat, Ongu and others
+followed quickly and both parties reached Bukhara simultaneously. In the time of a
+feast which was given them by the governor, Kelilat was assassinated.
+</p>
+<p>When the opponents reached Ogotai’s capital the Grand Khan wished to dine in a beautiful
+tent which Ongu had just given him. After the meal he went out for some minutes, intending
+to reënter, but as soon as he had left the pavilion a blast of wind overturned it.
+The Grand Khan, through annoyance and superstition, commanded to rend the tent in
+pieces immediately.
+</p>
+<p>Some days later a tent was erected which with its contents Kurguz had given Ogotai.
+Inside were displayed curious things of many kinds and much value; all these were
+gifts to the Grand Khan. Among other objects was a girdle set with stones known as
+yarkan. When Ogotai put on this girdle he was freed from a pain in the loins which
+had troubled him somewhat. He drank that day freely and was in excellent humor. Kurguz
+might consider his cause as triumphant. Chinkai, his protector, had been appointed
+with other Uigurs to examine all statements of the rivals. On one side was Kurguz,
+helped by persons of value, position and substance; he himself had much keenness.
+On the other, since Kelilat’s death, there were only that general’s sons, who were
+still little children, and Ongu, a young man devoid of experience. But at the end
+of some months the affair was still pending. Ogotai, wishing peace between the two
+rivals, commanded Ongu and Kurguz to live in one tent and drink from the same goblet.
+Care had been taken to remove every weapon. This plan proved resultless, and Chinkai
+and his aids gave in their report to the sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai summoned the two sides before him. When he had questioned each one he condemned
+both Ongu and his partisans. <span class="pageNum" id="pb189">[<a href="#pb189">189</a>]</span>“But,” said he to Ongu, “since thou art under Batu I will refer the whole matter to
+him; he it is who will punish thee.”
+</p>
+<p>Chinkai, taking pity on Ongu, approached him, whispered, and then spoke aloud to the
+Grand Khan: “Ongu Timur has said this to me. ‘The Grand Khan is higher than Batu.
+Should a dog, such as I am, cause these two <span class="corr" id="xd32e2058" title="Source: sovereign">sovereigns</span> to deliberate? Let the Grand Khan fix my fate; he can fix it in one moment.’ ”
+</p>
+<p>“Thy words are wise,” replied Ogotai, “Batu would not pardon his own son had he acted
+as thou hast.”
+</p>
+<p>Ongu’s adherents were punished. Some were bastinadoed immediately while others were
+given to Kurguz with the wish that he put the kang on each man of them, and all had
+to go back with the victor. “Let them learn,” said the Grand Khan, “that according
+to Jinghis Khan’s Yassa and justice, calumny brings with it death for the sake of
+example, but since their children and wives are awaiting them I bestow life on those
+people, if they offend not a second time. But tell Kurguz too that he, like those
+who are punished, is also my servitor, and should he cherish hatred toward any he
+himself will be subject to punishment.” After that he gave Kurguz rule over all the
+lands south and west of the Oxus.
+</p>
+<p>Persian lords also begged patents, but Kurguz convinced Chinkai that if others got
+patents of any kind they would assume independence of the governor. It was settled
+then that no patent should be issued save the one given Kurguz.
+</p>
+<p>Sherif ud din continued double dealing; he feigned friendship for Kurguz while working
+as an enemy in secret. On noting Ogotai’s action, an adherent of Ongu gave Kurguz
+certain papers in Sherif’s own hand, which proved the entire recent trouble to be
+the sole work of that trickster<span class="corr" id="xd32e2067" title="Not in source">.</span> When he learned this, Ogotai did not wish the vizir to go back to Persia lest he
+suffer from Kurguz. Sherif was rejoiced to escape, but some friend warned Kurguz not
+to lose sight of an enemy who would take the first chance to destroy him<span class="corr" id="xd32e2069" title="Not in source">.</span> Kurguz got permission to take with him Sherif, whose presence, as he said, was important.
+The taxes had not yet been brought to Khorassan and collectors might charge some of
+these to Sherif in his absence.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz went back to Tus and there fixed his residence. He summoned promptly the chief
+men in Khorassan and Irak, as well as the Mongol commanders, and marked his accession
+to <span class="pageNum" id="pb190">[<a href="#pb190">190</a>]</span>power by a festival which lasted some days, during which the new ordinances were issued.
+</p>
+<p>He sent his son with officials of finance to take from Chormagun’s officers control
+over districts in Azerbaidjan and in Irak which they were ruining by exactions. Every
+noyon, every officer acted with absolute power in the region or city where he functioned,
+and seized for himself the main income of the treasury. These petty despots lost their
+places and were forced to restore even large sums of money.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz protected the lives and the property of Persians against Mongol officers, who
+now could not bend people’s heads when they met them. The warrior lost power to vex
+peaceful people along roads over which he was marching. Kurguz was both feared and
+respected. He raised Tus again from its ruins. On the eve of his coming there were
+only fifty inhabited houses within its limits. When he had chosen it as a residence
+Persian lords came to live in that capital and within a week land rose a hundred-fold
+as to value.
+</p>
+<p>Herat too reappeared out of ashes and fragments. After the ruin and sack of that city
+in 1222 its site had been occupied by very few persons, but in 1236, when Ogotai commanded
+to raise up Khorassan, it was planned to repeople Herat, once so prosperous. An Emir,
+Yzz ud din, whom with one thousand families Tului had transported to Bishbalik from
+Herat, received now command to come back with one tenth of his following. These people
+at first had much difficulty in finding subsistence, through lack of draught cattle.
+Men of all ranks had to draw ploughs in the manner of oxen. Earth tillers were forced
+to irrigate land out of water pots, all canals being choked up and ruined. When the
+first harvest was gathered, twenty strong men were chosen to bear each twenty menns
+of cotton to the country of the Afghans, and sell it. They did so and brought back
+implements for tillage.
+</p>
+<p>In 1241 the chiefs of this settlement sent to the Grand Khan for more people. At the
+end of five months two hundred new families were added to Herat. A census taken the
+year following showed the city as having six thousand nine hundred inhabitants. In
+following years the increase became rapid.
+</p>
+<p>On arriving at Tus Kurguz put a kang on his enemy Sherif. He drew from him afterward
+confessions which were sent to the <span class="pageNum" id="pb191">[<a href="#pb191">191</a>]</span>court in Mongolia. His messenger learned on the road that the Grand Khan was dead.
+Kurguz himself had set out to explain the whole system introduced by him recently
+in Persia. While passing through Transoxiana he had a quarrel with an officer of Jagatai’s
+household. Threatened with complaint before that prince’s widow he replied that he
+cared not. This answer when taken to the widow roused wrath and keen hatred. Alarmed
+by the quarrel and hearing of Ogotai’s death with the loss of protection, he judged
+best to turn back and he did so.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the wife of Sherif had sent people promptly to the Jinghis Khan princes
+imploring protection for her husband. Those messengers had been seized on the way
+save one among all of them. This man escaped and reached Ulug Iff, the chief residence
+of Jagatai, whose wives and sons sent Argun out with orders to bring them Kurguz of
+his own will or, if need be, in spite of him. On hearing this order Kurguz, who had
+given Sherif to the prefect of Sebzevar who was to kill him, sent command straightway
+to stay the execution. When Argun was approaching, Kurguz found retreat in a storehouse.
+Since the governor would not yield himself willingly, Argun required aid of the district
+commanders and got it. These men were all foes of Kurguz since he had fought their
+abuses. When they were ready to burst in and take him, he threw the gates open declaring
+that he was no enemy.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz was taken to Jagatai’s sons and examined. After that he was sent to the court
+of Turakina, Ogotai’s widow, who was regent in Mongolia. Chinkai, his protector, was
+gone. He had fled from the hatred of the regent which intrigue had roused wrongfully
+against him. To crown his misfortune, the governor of Persia was penniless, hence
+had no power to establish his innocence. He was sent back at command of the regent
+to Jagatai’s sons to be judged by them. He answered straightforwardly all questions
+which they put to him, nevertheless, Kara Hulagu adjudged death to the governor. His
+mouth was crammed then with earth and in that way they strangled and killed him.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz being dead, Sherif had a chance now to prove himself, and he did so; he engaged
+to collect four thousand balishes due, as he stated, from Mazanderan and Khorassan.
+This Sherif, destined to death by Kurguz very recently, was the son of a porter of
+Kwaresm. He became page to the governor of the country, <span class="pageNum" id="pb192">[<a href="#pb192">192</a>]</span>who chose him because of his personal beauty. When Chin Timur was commanded to enter
+Khorassan and assist Chormagun in that country he wanted a secretary. No man wished
+that office because the incumbent must act against Moslems, and the issue of the enterprise
+seemed doubtful. The governor of Kwaresm, whose feelings had cooled toward Sherif,
+who by that time had lost youthful freshness and was acting only as secretary, gave
+him to Chin Timur. Sherif had learned the Mongol language already and, being the only
+man able to interpret, all business passed through his hands and he became greatly
+important.
+</p>
+<p>When Argun went as governor to Khorassan many agents of Turakina, the regent, went
+with him. These he left in the province to gather the imposts and taxes, going himself
+into Azerbaidjan and to Irak to rescue those countries from Mongol commanders, who
+acted as if the whole conquest had been made by them only, and for their sole personal
+profit. At Tebriz he received envoys from Rūm and from Syria, who implored his protection.
+He sent men to those countries to gather tribute.
+</p>
+<p>All this time Sherif, who had received from Argun perfect liberty of action, wrested
+taxes from people with unparalleled audacity and harshness. Each collector was bound
+and instructed to spare no man. To extort from the victims all that was humanly possible,
+armed warriors of the garrison were quartered in houses; people were seized and imprisoned,
+kept without food or even water, nay more, they were tortured. Moslem ulemas, exempt
+from all tribute to Mongols and hitherto treated respectfully, came to ask mercy for
+themselves and for others. Widows and orphans, exempt by the laws of Jinghis and Mohammed,
+came to implore simple justice. These people were treated with the utmost contempt,
+and were flouted by Sherif’s assistants. Men pledged at Tebriz their own children,
+and sometimes they sold them to find means to pay taxes. One collector on entering
+a house where a dead man was laid out for burial, and finding no other property to
+seize, had the shroud stripped from the body, and took it.
+</p>
+<p>Sherif’s agents assembled at Rayi after passing through Irak on their great round
+of robbery. They brought the fruits of their merciless activity and extortion to the
+chief mosque, and placed them in piles there. Beasts of burden were driven into that
+edifice, <span class="pageNum" id="pb193">[<a href="#pb193">193</a>]</span>which was sacred for most of the people. Then the carpets of the mosque were taken
+and cut into sizes that suited the robbers. In those pieces they wrapped all the wealth
+which they had gathered and took it away on the backs of pack animals. Happily for
+Persia, and for most people in it, Sherif ud din met his death some months later (1244).
+</p>
+<p>Argun did what he could, as it seems, to correct those abuses. He remitted taxes not
+paid before Sherif’s death, and freed all who were in prison for non-payment. Argun
+had been summoned to the Kurultai which elected Kuyuk and there an important abuse
+became prominent. Since Ogotai’s death the various princes of Jinghis Khan’s family
+had given to some orders on the revenue of districts in Persia, and given also orders
+of exemption to others. Argun collected these orders and delivered them to the Grand
+Khan in person. Of all presents brought to Kuyuk this was the one which gave him most
+pleasure. The orders were delivered in the presence of the princes who had issued
+them. Kuyuk continued Argun as the governor of Persia, and those whom Argun favored
+obtained whatever offices he asked for them.
+</p>
+<p>On returning to Persia, Argun was received in Merv splendidly. But he saw very soon
+that powerful opponents at court were intriguing against him, hence he set out again
+for Mongolia. While on the road he learned of Kuyuk’s death and turned back to make
+barracks for troops sent by that Grand Khan to reduce populations not subject as yet
+to the Mongols. Now arrived also agents of various princes with orders on the revenues
+for years in advance of collection. This abuse, which was ruinous, endured till the
+interregnum was ended.
+</p>
+<p>Argun reached the court only after the election of Mangu in July, 1251. He complained
+of those orders on the income and he condemned the great hordes of officials who went
+to collect them. These people lived on the country, he said, and they ruined it. It
+was decided at last that each man in Persia should pay in proportion to his property.
+This tax was varied from one to ten dinars, and was to maintain the militia and post
+routes; also envoys of the Grand Khan. Nothing more would be asked of the people.
+</p>
+<p>Argun retained his high office of governor. Persia was divided into four parts; in
+each was a lieutenant under Argun. Evil doers were punished, at least for a season,
+and here is a striking <span class="pageNum" id="pb194">[<a href="#pb194">194</a>]</span>example of this justice: Hindudjak, a general and chief of ten thousand, who had taken
+life from a melik of Rūm without reason, was put to death, though a Mongol, outside
+the Tus gate by direction of Mangu. His property, family and slaves were divided among
+the four parts of the Jinghis Khan family.
+</p>
+<p>When he had fixed administration in Persia, Argun at command of the Grand Khan went
+back to Mongolia to explain the position.
+</p>
+<p>East Persia had been given by Mangu as a fief to Melik Shems ud din Mohammed Kurt,
+lord of the castle of Khissar in Khorassan. Osman Mergani, his grandfather, had been
+made governor of this stronghold by his brother, Omar Mergani, the all-powerful vizir
+of Ghiath ud din of the Gur line of princes. When Osman died Abu Bekr succeeded him.
+Abu Bekr married a daughter of Ghiath ud din; from this union came Melik Shems ud
+din Mohammed, who in 1245 lost his father and inherited the Gur kingdom. He went to
+the Kurultai and arrived on the day of election. He was presented by Mangu’s officials,
+who informed the Grand Khan of the merits of the father and grandfather of the man
+then before him, not forgetting, of course, Shems ud din’s own high qualities.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu received Shems ud din with distinction and invested him with Herat and its dependencies
+which extended from the Oxus to the Indus, including Merv, Gur, Seistan, Kabul, and
+<span class="corr" id="xd32e2107" title="Source: Afganistan">Afghanistan</span>. Mangu commanded besides, that Argun deliver to his agents fifty tumans as a present.
+</p>
+<p>Next day at an intimate audience the Grand Khan gave the favorite a robe from his
+own shoulders, three tablets, and objects of the value of ten thousand dinars; a sabre
+from India, a club with the head of a bull on it, a battle axe, a lance and a dagger.
+Shems ud din then set out for Herat attended by one of the Grand Khan’s own officers.
+He turned aside on arriving in Persia to go with a salutation to Argun, to whom the
+commands of Mangu were exhibited. The governor treated him with great respect, and
+had fifty tumans delivered to his agents.
+</p>
+<p>Shems ud din reigned in Herat as a sovereign and took many strongholds in <span class="corr" id="xd32e2114" title="Source: Afganistan">Afghanistan</span>, Guermsir, and other places.
+</p>
+<p>Kerman was held at that time by the son of Borak Hadjib. After slaying Ghiath ud din,
+the brother of Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Persia, Borak asked the title of Sultan
+from the Kalif, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb195">[<a href="#pb195">195</a>]</span>received it. Kutlug Sultan was the name which he gave himself. When Sair Bahadur laid
+siege to Seistan at the head of a Mongol division, he summoned Borak to show the Grand
+Khan obedience and furnish troops also. Borak declared that he could take the place
+with his own men, the Mongols might spare themselves trouble. His great age, he added,
+hindered him from going to the Grand Khan, but his son would go thither instead of
+him.
+</p>
+<p>In fact he sent Rokn ud din Khodja. While on the road to Mongolia this young prince
+heard of the death of his father, and the usurpation of power by Kutb ud din his own
+cousin. He continued the journey, however, and was received well by Ogotai, who, to
+reward him for coming so far to look on the face of the Grand Khan, gave him Kerman
+which he was to hold in his character of vassal with the title and name of his father,
+Kutlug Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>Kutb ud din now received a summons to appear at the court in Mongolia. Shortly after
+his arrival he was sent to China under command of Yelvadji. After Ogotai’s death Kutb
+ud din went to that Kurultai at which Kuyuk was elected, and strove then to get Kerman,
+but met only failure. Chinkai, the minister, was the firm friend of his rival, and
+he himself was commanded to go back to Yelvadji. Soon after, he went with this governor
+from China to the new Kurultai, which chose Mangu from whom, and with the aid of Yelvadji,
+he obtained the throne of Kerman. When Kutb ud din was approaching Kerman, Rokn ud
+din was departing with treasures to Lur where he asked an asylum from the Kalif. The
+Kalif, not wishing to anger the Mongols, refused it, and now Rokn ud din resolved
+to repair to the court of Mangu to find justice.
+</p>
+<p>The two rivals were summoned to the Grand Khan’s tribunal. Rokn ud din lost his case
+and was given to his cousin, who struck him down with his own hand, and killed him.
+Kutb ud din ruled in Kerman till his death in 1258. He was son of that Tanigu the
+treacherous prefect of Taraz under the last sovereign of Kara Kitai. Tanigu was Borak
+Hadjib’s own brother.
+</p>
+<p>When Hulagu came with his army to Persia, Kutb ud din met him at Jend to show homage
+and honor.
+</p>
+<p>This was the position in Persia in 1254 when Hulagu went to that country to conquer,
+to slaughter, and to regulate. His very first task was to root out and destroy the
+Ismailians who had formed <span class="pageNum" id="pb196">[<a href="#pb196">196</a>]</span>the famed mountain Commonwealth of Assassins, and then he was to bring to obedience
+or ruin the successor of Mohammed the Abbasid Kalif at Bagdad.
+</p>
+<p>That the importance of this expedition may be understood a brief sketch of the origin
+and history of the Assassins must be given.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb197">[<a href="#pb197">197</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch11" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e404">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<h2 class="main">THE ASSASSIN COMMONWEALTH AND ITS DESTRUCTION BY THE MONGOLS</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The Ismailians, known later by their enemies as Molahids (lost ones), and by all Europe
+in the sequel as Assassins, were an offshoot from one of the two great divisions into
+which Islam ranged itself after the death of the Prophet in 632. These divisions were
+caused by the problem of finding a successor to Mohammed—a Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>The founder of Islam had died without saying whom he wished to succeed him. The first
+of the Kalifs, Abu Bekr, father-in-law of Mohammed, was elected by Medina, only one
+voice opposing. Abu Bekr on his death bed named Omar, who was confirmed by the people
+of Medina in 634. The second Kalif, when mortally wounded by a murderer, named electors
+to choose the third Kalif. Those electors chose Othman and when he was slain by insurgents,
+Aly, the son-in-law and cousin of Mohammed, was elected by Medina directly. <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 656.
+</p>
+<p>Various and intricate causes brought about civil war, and deep hatred followed quickly;
+after that came the election in Damascus of Muavia, the governor of Syria, as a Kalif
+to overthrow Aly, whom many Mohammedans would not acknowledge. The father of Muavia
+had been one of the most bitter enemies of the Prophet. This hatred was shared fully
+by the son, who left nothing undone to rouse Syria to the utmost against Aly; he even
+had the blood-stained clothes of Othman exhibited in the principal mosque of Damascus.
+A fierce but drawn battle at Siffin between these two Kalifs was fruitless; an arbitration
+as to who should be Kalif settled nothing and pacified no man.
+</p>
+<p>Next came the winning of Egypt by Muavia as the first Ommayad Kalif. There were two
+Kalifs now ruling de facto in Islam, <span class="pageNum" id="pb198">[<a href="#pb198">198</a>]</span>Muavia at Damascus, and Aly at Kufa. In 661 Aly fell by the hand of an assassin. Aly’s
+son, Hassan, succeeded him, but resigned after six months of rule, and retired to
+Medina where one of his many wives poisoned him, incited, as partisans of Aly insisted,
+by Muavia. Muavia was now the sole Kalif of Islam.
+</p>
+<p>Election had been attended with peril; there was danger of outbreaks and slaughter.
+In three cases the chance had been narrow, and the fourth choice had brought bitter
+warfare. Three elections had been held at Medina, and made by the men of that city;
+the fifth, that of Hassan, at Kufa. Muavia had been chosen at Damascus. Since Medina
+was no longer the capital really, it could not choose a Kalif or confirm him. Election
+must be at the chief place of government, if anywhere.
+</p>
+<p>Troubles such as those which had followed the election of Aly might recur in the future
+and threaten, or even cut short the existence of Islam. The system of election was
+unsafe in that turbulent society. To avoid these great perils Muavia planned to choose
+a successor while he himself was still ruling. His own son Yezid was the candidate.
+If he could win for Yezid an oath of allegiance from most of the Moslems he would
+secure power for his family and prevent a contested election. After working a time
+with great industry and keenness Muavia succeeded. Deputations from all the chief
+cities, also from each province, appeared at Damascus to do the hidden will of Muavia.
+</p>
+<p>These deputations all named Yezid as heir of the Kalif and chose him. They gave then
+an oath of allegiance and homage. Arabian Irak and Syria also joined in this oath.
+</p>
+<p>Muavia went next to the two holy cities as it were on a pilgrimage, but his great
+ruling purpose was to win or to force the consent of Medina and Mecca to the recent
+election. The chief dissentients in Medina were Hussein, son of Aly, Abd al Rahman,
+son of Abu Bekr and both Abdallahs, sons of Omar and Zobeir. Muavia treated them so
+rudely that to avoid offense they departed immediately for Mecca. The rest of the
+people accepted Yezid and gave him the oath without waiting. Muavia went on then to
+Mecca, where he bore himself mildly toward all men, but near the end of his visit
+he spoke to the city concerning an heir to the Kalifat. It was answered that the election
+of an heir was opposed to precedent but Mecca men offered to accept any one of three
+methods: <span class="pageNum" id="pb199">[<a href="#pb199">199</a>]</span>first, that of the Prophet who left the election to Medina, or that of Abu Bekr who
+chose a Kalif from the Koreish, or of Omar who appointed electors to choose from among
+themselves a candidate; the Kalif omitting, like Omar, his sons and the sons of his
+father.
+</p>
+<p>“As for the earliest method,” said Muavia, “there is no man among us who is like Abu
+Bekr to be chosen by the people. As to the other two methods I fear the bloodshed
+and struggles which will follow if the succession be not settled while a Kalif is
+living.”
+</p>
+<p>Since all his reasons proved powerless, Muavia summoned his attendants and forced
+Mecca men at the sword point to give the oath of allegiance to Yezid.
+</p>
+<p>The example of Syria, Irak and the two holy cities was followed throughout the whole
+Empire, and this new method conquered in large measure afterward.
+</p>
+<p>The theory of a right of election residing in the people existed in form, but the
+right was not real. In practice the oath of allegiance was obtained by the sword against
+every refusal.
+</p>
+<p>After the days of Muavia, the Kalif in power proclaimed as his heir or successor the
+fittest among all his sons—that one of course who most pleased him. To him as the
+heir an oath of allegiance was given. To increase the assurance of safety two heirs
+were sometimes created, one of whom was elected to follow the other. This method begun
+by the Ommayed line was continued by the Abbasids.
+</p>
+<p>Muavia died in 680. Yezid, who succeeded, made those first of all take the oath to
+him who had refused it at Medina. The sons of Omar and Abbas gave this oath straightway,
+but Hussein, son of Aly, and the son of Zobeir went to Mecca asking time to consider.
+No one had dared to attack that holy city since its capture by Mohammed, and there
+in full safety every plotter could work out his plan against the Kalif or others.
+</p>
+<p>Ibn Zobeir, as Muavia had noted, was eager for dominion, but while Hussein was living
+he feigned to work only for that grandson of the Prophet. Offers of support went from
+Kufa to Hussein with advice to appear there immediately. True friends of Hussein at
+Mecca distrusted these offers and strove to dissuade him from going, but Ibn Zobeir,
+who in secret burned to be rid of this rival, urged him on always. Hussein yielded
+at last and set out for Kufa. Muslim, his cousin, had been sent ahead to prepare for
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb200">[<a href="#pb200">200</a>]</span>his coming. This move became known at Damascus, so Yezid summoned hastily to Kufa
+Obeidallah, then governing in Bussorah with unpitying severity. On arriving he sought
+and found Muslim, who was lodging with Hani, an adherent of the Alyite family.
+</p>
+<p>At first a majority of the people sided with Hussein and rose promptly against Obeidallah.
+They attacked him in his castle and came very near killing him, but their ardor cooled
+quickly. Obeidallah was triumphant, Muslim was taken and killed with his co-worker
+Hani.
+</p>
+<p>Toward the end of 680 Hussein rode out of Mecca with his family and a small band of
+followers, all kinsmen. When the desert was crossed, and he was advancing on Kufa,
+news came to him that Muslim’s life had been taken. He might have turned back then
+to Mecca, but Muslim’s kinsmen were clamorous for vengeance. Besides there remained
+the wild hope that those who had invited him might rally at last; but each man whom
+he met gave darker tidings.
+</p>
+<p>Farazdak the poet, who had left Kufa recently, had only these words to offer: “The
+heart of the city is on thy side, but its sword is against thee.”
+</p>
+<p>The Beduins, ever ready for warfare, had been coming to Hussein, but when they saw
+his cause weakening they fell away quickly, and no one was left except the original
+party. A chance chieftain passing southward advised him to turn to the Selma hills
+and to Aja. “In ten days,” said the man, “the Beni Tay and twenty thousand lances
+above them will be with thee.”
+</p>
+<p>“How could I take these children and women to the desert?” asked Hussein, “I must
+move forward.”
+</p>
+<p>And he rode northward till a large troop of horsemen from Kufa, under an Arab named
+Horr, stood before him.
+</p>
+<p>“Command has been given me,” said Horr, “to bring thee to the governor. If thou come
+not, then go to the left, or the right, but return not to Mecca.”
+</p>
+<p>Leaving Kufa on his right, Hussein turned to the left and moved westward. Obeidallah
+soon sent a second man, Amr, son of Sad, with four thousand horse, and a summons.
+Hussein now fixed his camp on the plain of Kerbala near the river, five and twenty
+miles above Kufa. There he denied every thought of hostility <span class="pageNum" id="pb201">[<a href="#pb201">201</a>]</span>and was ready to yield if he might take one of three courses: “Let me go to the place
+whence I came, or attend me to the Kalif of Damascus. Place my hand in the hand of
+Yezid, let me speak face to face with him. If not, let me go far away to the wars
+and fight against enemies of Islam.”
+</p>
+<p>Obeidallah insisted on absolute surrender, and directed that Amr stop every approach
+to the river, thus taking water from the party. Hussein, fearing death less than the
+governor of Kufa, adhered to his conditions. He even brought Amr to urge Obeidallah
+to lead him to the Kalif. Instead of agreeing, Obeidallah sent a certain Shamir to
+urge action. “Hussein,” said he, “we must have dead or living in Kufa immediately;
+if Amr loiters, Shamir must depose him.”
+</p>
+<p>Amr then encircled the camp very closely. Hussein was ready to fight to the death,
+and the scenes represented as following swiftly are retained in the minds of believers
+to this day with incredible vividness.
+</p>
+<p>Hussein received a day’s respite to send off his family and kinsmen, but not one person
+left him.
+</p>
+<p>On October 10th of 680 the two sides faced each other, and opened a parley. Hussein’s
+offer was repeated, Obeidallah rejected it. Hussein slipped down from his camel, his
+kinsmen gathered round him, and the whole party waited. From the Kufa attackers at
+last came an arrow which opened that struggle of tens against thousands. One after
+another Hussein’s brothers, sons, nephews, and cousins fell near him. No enemy struck
+Hussein till tortured by thirst he turned toward the river, and Shamir cut him off
+from his people; then, stricken down by an arrow, he was trampled by horses. Hussein’s
+attendants were slain every man of them. Two sons of his perished and when the action
+was over, six sons of Aly were corpses, also two sons of Hassan and six descendants
+of Abu Talib, Aly’s father. The camp was plundered, but no harm inflicted on the living,
+mainly women and children, who with seventy heads of the slain were taken to Obeidallah.
+A shudder ran through the multitude of people as the bloody head of the Prophet’s
+grandson was dropped at the feet of the governor. When he turned the head over roughly
+with his staff an aged man cried to him: “Gently, that is the grandson of the Prophet.
+By the Lord I have seen those lips kissed by the blessed mouth of <span class="pageNum" id="pb202">[<a href="#pb202">202</a>]</span>Mohammed.” Hussein’s sister, his two little sons, Aly Ashgar and Amr, with two daughters,
+sole descendants of Hussein, were treated with seeming respect by the governor, and
+sent with the head of their father to the Kalif. Yezid disowned every share in the
+tragedy. Hussein’s family were lodged in the Kalif’s own residence at Damascus for
+a time, and then sent with honor to Medina, where their coming caused a great outburst
+of grief and lamentation. Many objects in that city made the day of Kerbala seem dreadful.
+The deserted houses in which had dwelt those kinsmen of Mohammed who had fallen; the
+orphaned little children, and the widows, gave great reality to every word uttered.
+The story was told to weeping pilgrims in that city of the Prophet by women and by
+children who with their own eyes had looked at the dead and the dying and had lived
+through the day of Kerbala. The tale, repeated in many places, was heightened by new
+horrors; retold by pilgrims in their homes and on their journeys from Medina, it spread
+at last to every village of Islam.
+</p>
+<p>The right of Aly’s line to dominion had been little thought of till that massacre,
+but compassion for Aly’s descendants, who were also the great grandsons of Mohammed,
+sank into men’s minds very deeply after that dreadful slaughter on the field of Kerbala.
+The woeful death of the grandsons of the Prophet seized hold of the Arab mind mightily,
+and fascinated millions of people. This tragic tale helped greatly to ruin the Ommayed
+dynasty and when, through it and other causes, the Abbasids rose to dominion and hunted
+to death or to exile the descendants and kinsmen of Muavia, that same tale affected
+the Abbasids and made it possible to raise up against them a nation in Persia and
+a dynasty in Egypt. So strong were men’s feelings on this point in Islam and so many
+the people who favored the descendants of Aly that Mamun, the son of Harun al Rashid,
+made an effort to consolidate the Alyite and Abbasid families. Moreover the teaching
+of Persian adherents of Aly had such influence that they captured this Kalif intellectually.
+</p>
+<p>In Mamun’s day the Moslem world became greatly imbued with ideas from Persia and India,
+and with Greek theories and learning. The Koran was treated as never before till that
+period. Opinions and systems of all sorts were brought into Islam. A time of tremendous
+disturbance succeeded as the fruit, or result, of these <span class="pageNum" id="pb203">[<a href="#pb203">203</a>]</span>teachings and these were all connected, both in life and in politics with views touching
+Aly.
+</p>
+<p>One Babek, a man of great energy, appeared in 816 of our era as a leader in religion,
+in practical life, and in management of people, preaching indifference of action and
+community of property. Through various mystic doctrines most cunningly compounded
+with incitements to robbery and lust and dishonor, he rallied multitudes to his standard,
+and during twenty whole years he visited many parts of the Empire with ruin and slaughter.
+He had fixed himself firmly in those strong mountain places west and south of the
+Caspian, and thence scattered terror in various directions through sudden attacks
+which were ever attended by terrible bloodshed, till at last his forces were defeated
+in great part and driven westward.
+</p>
+<p>In 835 Motassim, the Kalif, sent Afshin, one of the best among all his Turk generals,
+to seize this arch enemy and destroyer at all costs. Only after two years of most
+desperate fighting and many deceitful devices, were Babek’s strong places all taken
+and his own person captured. Thousands of women and children were taken with him,
+and restored to their families; and all the treasures which during two decades had
+been gathered by this murderous deceiver fell now to the Turk general, Afshin.
+</p>
+<p>Babek had defeated six famous generals of Islam and slain, as some state, a million
+of people during twenty years of rebellion. One of his ten executioners declared that
+he alone had taken the lives of twenty thousand men; so merciless was the struggle
+between the partisans of the Kalifat and the advocates of freedom and equality.
+</p>
+<p>The prisoner was brought by his captor to Samira in chains and confined there. Motassim
+went in disguise to the prison to look at this demon of Khorassan, this “Shaitan”
+(Satan), as they called him. When the Kalif had gazed at Babek sufficiently the captive
+was exhibited through the city as a spectacle, and brought at last to the palace where
+Motassim, surrounded by his warriors, commanded Babek’s own executioner to cut off
+the arms and legs of his master, and then plunge a knife into his body. The executioner
+obeyed, Babek meanwhile smiling as if to prove his own character, and the correctness
+of his surname, “Khurremi” (The Joyous). The severed head was exhibited in the <span class="pageNum" id="pb204">[<a href="#pb204">204</a>]</span>cities of Khorassan, and the body impaled near the palace of the Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>In the ninth century, and contemporaneous with these horrors, there lived in Southern
+Persia, at Ahwas, a certain Abdallah, whose father, Maimun Kaddah, and grandfather,
+Daisan the Dualist, had taught him Persian politics and religion. This Abdallah conceived
+a broad system, and planned a great project to overturn Arab rule in his country and
+reëstablish the ancient faith and Empire of Persia. This involved complete change
+in the structure of Islam, and all its present ideals. He could not declare open war
+against the accepted religion and dynasty, since all the military power was at their
+command; hence he decided to undermine them in secret.
+</p>
+<p>From Ahwas he went to Bussorah and later to Syria where he settled at Salemiya, whence
+his teachings were spread by Ahmed, his son, by two sons of that Ahmed, and also by
+his Dayis, men who performed each of them all the various duties of spy, secret agent,
+and apostle. The most active of those Dayis was Hussein of Ahwas, who, in the province
+of which Kufa was the capital, instructed many agents in the secrets of revolt and
+in perversion of the teachings of Islam. Among these agents the most noted was one
+famous later as Karmath. This man delayed not in showing his character and principles
+“through torrents of blood, and destruction of cities.” Crowds of men rallied to his
+war cry.
+</p>
+<p>The Karmathites declared that nothing was forbidden, everything was a matter of indifference,
+justified by the fact of its existence, hence should receive neither punishment nor
+reward. The commands of Mohammed were pronounced parables disguising political maxims
+and injunctions. They differed from Abdallah’s disciples in that they began action
+immediately, and, in most cases, openly, while the others were preparing for a new
+throne in Islam to be occupied by a man of their own, a true and zealous co-believer.
+</p>
+<p>The Karmathite outbreak was more terrible, continuous, and enduring than that begun
+twenty years earlier by Babek, and far more dangerous. The Karmathites fought savage
+battles in the East and the West, in Irak and Syria. They plundered caravans and destroyed
+what they found with tiger-like fury unless it was valuable and they could bear it
+away with them. They attacked <span class="pageNum" id="pb205">[<a href="#pb205">205</a>]</span>the holy city of Mecca and captured it through desperate fighting. More than thirty
+thousand true Moslems were slain while defending the temple. The sacred well, Zemzem,
+was polluted by corpses hurled into it by people to whom nothing whatever was sacred.
+The temple was fired, and the black, holy stone of the Kaaba, which in Abraham’s day
+had come down from heaven into Mecca, was borne off to be ransomed for fifty thousand
+gold coins two and twenty years later.
+</p>
+<p>This Karmathite madness, after raging at intervals for a century and torturing most
+parts of Islam, was extinguished in bloodshed. The career of the Karmathites proved
+the wickedness and folly of their method. Its turn came now to the system of Abdallah.
+</p>
+<p>Ismailian teaching had spread through the Empire of Mohammed and reached even Southern
+Arabia. About 892 a certain Mohammed Alhabib, who claimed his descent from Ismail,
+son of Jaffar es Sadik, sent one Abu Abdallah to the north coast of Africa. Abu Abdallah
+impressed the Berber tribes greatly, and his success was so enormous that they drove
+out the Aglabid dynasty then ruling them. He roused expectations to the highest degree
+by announcing a Mahdi, or infallible guide for believers. He then summoned in Obeidallah,
+a son of that Mohammed Alhabib, who had sent him to Africa.
+</p>
+<p>Obeidallah, after many strange deeds and adventures, and finally an imprisonment from
+which Abu Abdallah released him, was put on a throne in 909 and made the first Fatimid<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e2208src" href="#xd32e2208">1</a> Kalif at Mahdiya, his new capital near Tunis. Abu Abdallah, the successful assistant
+and forerunner, was assassinated soon after at command of Obeidallah, who owed him
+dominion, but who now had no wish for his presence. The new Kalif, since this man
+knew, of course, many secrets, might well think him safer in paradise. Obeidallah
+now proclaimed himself the only true Kalif, a descendant of the Prophet through Fatima
+his daughter, and became a dangerous rival of the Abbasids. By 967 his descendants
+had won Egypt and Southern Syria. A fortified palace was built near the Nile, and
+called Kahira.<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e2214src" href="#xd32e2214">2</a> Around this palace rose the city known later as Cairo.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb206">[<a href="#pb206">206</a>]</span></p>
+<p>In 991 Aleppo was added to the Fatimid Empire which, beginning at the river Orontes
+and the desert of Syria, extended to Morocco. In view of this great success and its
+danger to the Abbasids the world was informed now from Bagdad that the Fatimid dynasty
+was spurious; that the first Kalif installed at Mahdiya was no descendant of the Prophet,
+he was merely the son of that Ahmed who was a son of Abdallah, son of Maimun Kaddah,
+son of Daisan the Dualist, his mother being a Jewess. Hence he was son of that Ahmed
+whose emissary, Hussein of Ahwas, had raised up and trained the detestable Karmath,
+whose crimes, and the crimes of whose followers, had tortured all Islam for a century.
+</p>
+<p>That society, or order, which met at the famed House of Science in Cairo, was dreaming
+of power night and day and struggling always to win it. Power it could reach by supplanting
+the Abbasids, but not in another way, hence this order aimed at the overthrow of the
+Abbasids. It also spread secret doctrines by its Dayis (political and religious missionaries)
+continually. Through this activity the Fatimids were rising. Meanwhile the Abbasids
+were failing till Emir Bessassiri, a partisan of the Fatimids, seized and held for
+one year the two highest marks of dominion in Islam, the mint and the pulpit at Bagdad
+in the name of Mostansir the Kalif at Cairo, and would have held them much longer
+had not his career been cut short in 1058 by Togrul the first Seljuk Sultan, who hastened
+to the rescue of the Abbasids. Meanwhile the Dayis from Cairo and their aids filled
+a great part of Asia with their labors.
+</p>
+<p>One of these Dayis, Hassan Ben Sabah, founded a sect, the Eastern Ismailites, renowned
+later as the Assassins. This Hassan was son of Ali, a Shiite of the old city Rayi,
+who claimed that his father, Sabah Homairi, had gone from Kufa to Kum and later to
+Rayi. People from Tus in Khorassan, and others insisted that his ancestors had passed
+all their lives in Khorassan. Ali, suspected of heresy, made lying oaths and confessions
+to clear himself; since his success was but partial he strove to increase it by sending
+Hassan, his son, to the Nishapur school of Movaffik, a sage of eighty years at that
+period, and the first scholar among Sunnite believers.
+</p>
+<p>This sage, it was said, brought happiness and good fortune to all whom he instructed.
+His school was frequented by multitudes, <span class="pageNum" id="pb207">[<a href="#pb207">207</a>]</span>and the success of his pupils was proverbial. Among his last students were three classmates,
+later on very famous: Omar Khayyam, the astronomer and poet; Nizam ul Mulk, the first
+statesman of the period, and Hassan Ben Sabah, who founded a sect upon sophisms, and
+a State upon murder.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan’s ambition was active from the earliest; while in that Nishapur school he bound
+both his classmates by a promise. Nizam ul Mulk himself tells the story: “ ‘Men believe,’
+remarked Hassan one day to us, ‘that the pupils of our master are sure to be fortunate;
+let us promise that should success visit one of us only, that favored one will share
+with the other two.’ We promised.” Years later when Nizam ul Mulk was grand vizir
+to Alp Arslan, Sultan of the Seljuks, he showed Omar Khayyam sincere honor and friendship,
+and offered him the dignity of second vizir, which the poet rejected, but at his request
+the vizir gave him one thousand gold pieces each year instead of the office. Thenceforward
+Omar Khayyam was enabled to follow his bent and do great work, as astronomer and poet.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan Ben Sabah lived on in obscurity till the death of Alp Arslan in 1072.
+</p>
+<p>Nizam ul Mulk retained his high office with Melik Shah the new Sultan. Hassan Sabah
+went now to his friend and quoting bitter words from the Koran reproached him with
+forgetting sacred promises, and mentioned their agreement of school days. The vizir,
+who was kind, took his classmate to the sovereign and gained for him favor.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan Sabah, who had reproached his old friend out of perfidy, soon won great influence
+through cunning, feigned frankness and hypocrisy. In no long time Melik Shah called
+him frequently to his presence, advised with him, and followed his counsels. Soon
+Nizam ul Mulk was in danger of losing his office. Hassan had resolved to ruin his
+benefactor and classmate; in one word to supplant him. Each apparent omission of the
+great man was reported by tortuous ways to the sovereign, whose mind was brought to
+doubt the vizir, and to test him<span class="corr" id="xd32e2231" title="Not in source">.</span> The most painful blow of all, according to Nizam ul Mulk’s own statement, was given
+when Hassan promised to finish in forty days the whole budget of the Empire. Nizam
+ul Mulk needed ten times that period for the labor.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb208">[<a href="#pb208">208</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Melik Shah gave all the men called for by Hassan, and with their aid the work was
+accomplished. But to defeat the vizir was not easy; Nizam ul Mulk had abstracted certain
+pages, hence Hassan’s budget was imperfect. He could not explain why the pages were
+lacking, and he could not restore them, so he went on a sudden to Rayi and to Ispahan
+somewhat later. In the latter city he lived in concealment at the house of Abu Fazl,
+the mayor, whom he converted, and who became his most intimate adherent.
+</p>
+<p>One day in 1078, when complaining of Nizam ul Mulk and the Sultan, Hassan added: “Had
+I but two friends of unbending fidelity I would soon end this rule of the Turk and
+the peasant (Sultan and vizir).” These words describe Hassan’s forecast completely,
+and show the germ of the Assassin creation, which was cold-blooded murder, carefully
+pondered, thought out with slowness, but executed on a sudden. Abu Fazl could not
+credit that statement, and thought Hassan demented. To restore his mental balance
+he placed on the table before him meat and drink mixed with saffron which was believed
+at that time in Persia to be a mind strengthening herb. Hassan noted his meaning immediately,
+was angry, and would not remain longer. Abu Fazl did what was possible to detain the
+apostle of murder, but every effort on his part was fruitless; Hassan left Ispahan
+quickly for Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>The Ismailite mysteries of atheism and immorality had been taught to Hassan Ben Sabah
+by a Fatimid apostle in Persia. He had also conversed long and intimately with others.
+He knew all the secrets of Cairo, and had been tried and found worthy to spread the
+beliefs of the great House of Science. The fame of his learning and gifts, and the
+high position which he had held at the court of Melik Shah, went before him. Mostansir
+desired to show honor to a servant who might help him to wider dominion. The chief
+of the new House of Science was therefore sent to the boundary with greetings; a residence
+was assigned to the visitor, while through ministers and dignitaries he was loaded
+with favors until a great quarrel broke out on a sudden in Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>Mostansir had declared his son, Nesar, as his successor, and heir to the Kalifat;
+thereupon rose a faction. The commander-in-chief of the war forces was at the head
+of it. He insisted that Mosteali, another son of Mostansir, was the only one fitted
+for <span class="pageNum" id="pb209">[<a href="#pb209">209</a>]</span>the dignity. Hassan was in favor of Nesar, and this enraged the commander, who had
+Hassan imprisoned in Damietta. The apostle was barely in prison when a great tower
+fell in the city without evident reason. The amazed and terrified people saw in this
+accident a miracle performed by Hassan, so his enemies and admirers joined straightway
+in bearing him off to a vessel just ready to sail for West Africa. Soon after starting
+a storm rose and terrified every man on the ship except Hassan. When asked why he
+was not alarmed he answered: “Our Lord has promised that no harm shall meet me.” The
+sea became calm soon after. All on board turned then to Hassan, accepted his teaching
+and became devoted and faithful disciples. As the voyage continued a contrary wind
+drove the vessel to Syria where the apostle debarked and went to Aleppo. Thence he
+traveled farther, to Bagdad, <span class="corr" id="xd32e2241" title="Source: Isaphan">Ispahan</span>, Yezd, Kerman and many other places, publishing his doctrines with the greatest industry.
+</p>
+<p>In Damegan Hassan spent three years, and made numerous converts. Rayi he could not
+visit since Nizam ul Mulk had instructed the governor to seize him. Dayis converted
+by Hassan and attached to him personally had gone to Kirdkuh and many other fortresses
+and cities in that marvelous region. He passed now through Sari, Demavend, Kazvin
+and Dilem and halted at last at Alamut.
+</p>
+<p>Hussein Kaini, one of Hassan’s devoted and skilful Dayis, had been sent some time
+before to Alamut to secure an oath of allegiance and fidelity to Kalif Mostansir.
+Most of the inhabitants had already given the usual oath, but the commandant, Ali
+Mehdi, who held the fortress in the name of Melik Shah, refused, declaring that he
+would acknowledge the spiritual dominion of no one save the Kalif of Bagdad of the
+family of Abbas, and submit to no sovereign but Melik Shah of the family of the Seljuks.
+Hassan then offered to pay him three thousand ducats for the fortress, but Mehdi refused
+this bribe. Finding all persuasion useless Hassan took possession by force and Mehdi
+was driven out. As if to show his great influence and authority Hassan then gave Mehdi
+a letter to Reis Mosaffer, commander of the fortress of Kirdkuh, instructing him to
+pay Mehdi three thousand ducats. Mehdi, knowing well the confidence placed in Mosaffer
+by the Seljuk Sultan, was amazed when the three thousand ducats were <span class="pageNum" id="pb210">[<a href="#pb210">210</a>]</span>paid to him. He learned then that Mosaffer was a devoted follower of Hassan Ben Sabah,
+and one of his earliest adherents.
+</p>
+<p>Alamut<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e2252src" href="#xd32e2252">3</a> was the largest and strongest of fifty castles in that country. It was built in 860
+by Hassan Ben Seid Bakeri, and now in 1090 Hassan Sabah, who had hitherto sought in
+vain for a stronghold, was in possession of it. He at once began to build walls and
+ramparts around his fortress and had a canal dug which would ensure a water supply.
+Gardens and orchards were planted in the surrounding country and the inhabitants were
+soon engaged in agricultural pursuits. Men of power in the Seljuk country Hassan won
+by secretly placing Assassins at their service; whoso wished in those days to ruin
+any man had but to accuse him of connivance with Hassan Ben Sabah. Informers increased,
+suspicion was general. Melik Shah distrusted his most intimate associates and servants
+whom ill-will or envy strove to ruin. But now an Emir to whom Melik Shah had given
+Rudbar in fief, that is the whole region in which Alamut was the main stronghold,
+stopped every road to the fortress and cut off all supplies. The inhabitants were
+ready to abandon the place, but Hassan assured them that fortune would soon show them
+favor, as in fact it did, and the name “Abode of Good Fortune” was bestowed on the
+castle. Melik Shah, who hitherto had treated Ismailians with contempt, resolved now
+to crush them. He commanded Arslan Tash, his Emir, to destroy Hassan Sabah with all
+his followers.
+</p>
+<p>Though Hassan had only seventy men, and not much food to give them, he defended the
+fortress with great courage till Abu Ali, his Dayi, hastened up in the night time
+with three hundred men. These, with the seventy of the garrison, attacked the besiegers
+and dispersed them.
+</p>
+<p>Melik Shah who was greatly alarmed by this defeat sent troops from Khorassan against
+Hussein Kaini, Hassan Sabah’s main agent, who was spreading heresy in the Kuhistan
+province. Hussein retreated to a castle in Mumin where soon he was besieged and in
+no less danger than Hassan had been very recently in Alamut.
+</p>
+<p>Up to this time Hassan had acted as a political agent and religious nuncio in the
+name of Mostansir, but now he saw an opportunity for securing power for himself and
+he did not hesitate. <span class="pageNum" id="pb211">[<a href="#pb211">211</a>]</span>Knowing well that lawlessness of the people brought destruction to the throne, he
+established a system of religion and politics based upon atheism and absolute freedom
+of action which became the tenet of the Assassins, known, however, to but few and
+concealed under the veil of religion.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan determined to deliver his first great blow at this juncture and begin his career
+of surprises. He had resolved to rid himself of opponents unsparingly, and to terrify
+those of his enemies whom he left living. His first victim was Nizam ul Mulk, his
+classmate, friend and benefactor, a statesman renowned throughout one half of Asia
+as chief vizir under three Seljuk Sultans, the first of their dynasty, a man of profound
+wisdom and keen foresight, whose <i>Treatise on the Principles of Government</i> was written for Melik Shah and adopted as his code. In this code the wise vizir explains
+in the clearest terms the duties of a sovereign. Melik Shah, the most famous and best
+of the Seljuk Sultans, died three weeks later (1092). The sudden deaths of these two
+great men filled Western Asia with terror. The vizir was cut down by Hassan Sabah’s
+Fedavi, or devoted assistants. Melik Shah died of poison. His loss was greatly lamented
+for he had ruled with justice and made his country prosperous. He was both a statesman
+and a warrior. To extend commerce he had built bridges and canals; to ensure the safety
+of merchants and all who traveled he had made each village and hamlet responsible
+for the crimes committed within its precincts. In this way the entire population assisted
+in the suppression of robbery, one of the great evils of that time. Hassan had made
+a notable beginning—he had alarmed all Asia.
+</p>
+<p>What were the doctrines of the Ismailians, used by Hassan Ben Sabah?
+</p>
+<p>The Ismailian apostles trained in the House of Science in Cairo, which had been founded
+and developed in the Fatimid interest, taught their secret doctrines to a few chosen
+followers. These doctrines were communicated slowly and with many precautions. The
+chiefs or apostles at Cairo, the prime masters of all sacred wisdom, initiated disciples.
+There were nine degrees through which those of the faithful had to pass to receive
+the great mystery. But before giving the first degree to any novice whatever the Master
+took from him an oath devoting the applicant to the greatest calamities of this life,
+and the keenest sufferings of the next, if he <span class="pageNum" id="pb212">[<a href="#pb212">212</a>]</span>kept not strict silence touching that which was revealed to him, or if he ceased to
+be the friend of all friends of the Ismailians, and the enemy of all their enemies.
+When the oath was accepted the Master took a fee for that which he was going to communicate,
+and he never advanced any novice from degree to degree, till he saw that the man had
+assimilated to the utmost everything taught him.
+</p>
+<p>The first step in instruction was that God has at all times given the task of establishing
+His worship, and preserving it, to Imams, his chosen ones, who are the sole guides
+of the faithful. As God has created the most beautiful of all things and the noblest,
+by sevens, such as the heavens and the planets, he has fixed the number of Imams at
+seven, namely: Aly, Hassan, Hussein, Ali Zayn al Abidin, Mohammed Bakir, Jaffar es
+Sadik, and Ismail, or Mohammed, the son of Ismail, who surpasses all other Imams in
+occult wisdom and in knowledge of the mystic sense of things visible. He explains
+these mysteries to those of the initiated who inquire, for he has been instructed
+by God himself, and he communicates his marvelous gifts to the Dayis, or Ismailian
+apostles, to the exclusion of all other sectaries of Ali.
+</p>
+<p>Like the Imams, the word-endowed prophets sent to establish new religions were seven
+in number. Each prophet had one vicar (siwes) as aid who upheld true religion after
+the death of his principal, and six other vicars, who appeared after him among men.
+In distinction to the word-endowed prophets the vicars were called “the dumb,” because
+they merely walked in the way which had been traced for them previously. When these
+seven vicars pass from the earth, a new prophet comes who sets aside the preceding
+religion and is followed by seven mute vicars. These changes follow one another till
+the coming of the seventh word-endowed prophet, who is the lord of the present, that
+is, lord of the age in which he is manifest.
+</p>
+<p>The first prophet was Adam, for whom his son Seth served as vicar; after Adam his
+religion had seven successive vicars. Noah was the second prophet, and his vicar was
+Sem; Abraham was the third prophet, his son, Ismail, was his vicar; Moses, the fourth,
+had Aaron his brother first as vicar, after Aaron’s death Joshua, son of Nun, was
+his vicar. The last of his vicars was John, son of Zachary; Jesus, son of Mary, the
+fifth prophet, had Simeon as <span class="pageNum" id="pb213">[<a href="#pb213">213</a>]</span>vicar. With the sixth prophet, Mohammed, was associated Aly. After Aly were six mute
+chiefs of Islam. These are the Imams whom we have named from Hassan to Ismail. Ismail
+is the seventh and most recent prophet. When he appeared preceding religions were
+abolished. Endowed with an all-knowing wisdom he alone can explain sacred teaching.
+All people owe him obedience, and it is only through his guidance that man can advance
+in salvation.
+</p>
+<p>These were the doctrines taught in the first four degrees. In the fifth degree the
+disciple learned that the Imam, as supreme priest, should have apostles to visit all
+places. The number of these was fixed by Divine wisdom at twelve like the months of
+the year, the tribes of Israel, the companions of Mohammed, for God in all he does
+has views of deep wisdom.
+</p>
+<p>In the sixth degree the Master commenced by explaining the mystic significance of
+the precepts of Islam touching prayer, alms, pilgrimages, and all other practices
+which were, as he showed, to turn men from vice to perfection. He recommended the
+study of Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Plato; he warned against blind belief in tradition,
+against yielding credit to simple allegations, and against taking accepted proof unless
+it be rational.
+</p>
+<p>In the seventh and the eighth degree the Master taught that the founder of every religion
+requires an associate, a vicar to hand down his precepts; the latter is the image
+of the world here below enveloped by that which is above it; one precedes the other
+as cause does effect. The first principle has neither attribute nor name; one may
+not say that it exists, or does not exist, that it is ignorant, or knowing. And thus
+farther on with all its attributes, for every affirmation regarding it implies a comparison
+with things that are created, every negation tends to deprive it of an attribute;
+it is neither eternal nor temporal, but its commandment, its word is that which exists
+from eternity. The disciple—that is, he who follows—aspires to the height of the one
+who precedes him, and he who is endowed with the word on earth aspires to be one with
+him who is master of the word in heaven.
+</p>
+<p>In the ninth degree, which is the last, the teacher restates all that he has taught
+up to that time, and on seeing that the disciple understands he removes the last veil,
+and says to him in substance: <span class="pageNum" id="pb214">[<a href="#pb214">214</a>]</span>All that is said of creation and of a beginning, describes in a simile the origin
+and changes of matter. An apostle delivers to mankind that which heaven has revealed
+to him. For the sake of justice and order, he adapts his religion to the needs of
+the race. When this religion is needed for the general welfare it is binding, but
+the philosopher is not bound to put it into practice. The philosopher is free, is
+bound to nothing; knowledge for him is sufficient, since it contains the truth, that
+towards which he is striving. He should know its whole meaning, all that it binds
+men to execute, but he need not be subject to vexations, which are not intended for
+sages. Finally it is explained to the disciple that if word endowed apostles have
+the mission to uphold order among mankind in general, sages are charged to teach wisdom
+to individuals.
+</p>
+<p>From all that has been preserved by the chroniclers of those days regarding the Assassin
+kingdom, it is clear that in great part these teachings were borrowed from Greece,
+Palestine, and Persia.
+</p>
+<p>The Fatimid Kalifs of Egypt had many secret agents in Persia and Syria. The Assassins
+went to Syria about the same time as the Crusaders. In the first year of the XIIth
+century Jenah-ed-devlet, then Prince of Emesa, died by their daggers while he was
+hastening to the castle of the Kurds, Hosn Ak Kurd, which the Count of St. Gilles
+was besieging. He had been attacked four years earlier in his palace by three Persian
+Assassins, but had succeeded in saving his life. Risvan, the Prince of Aleppo, was
+suspected of causing this attack. There was reason to suspect him, since he was a
+bitter enemy of Jenah-ed-devlet, and a friend of the Assassins.
+</p>
+<p>Risvan had been won to the Order by one of its agents who was very persuasive; an
+astrologer and a physician, who had the power to attract by methods of his own, which
+were separate from those of the Order. Four and twenty days after this unsuccessful
+attempt, the astrologer died, but his place was soon filled by a goldsmith from Persia
+named Abu Tahir Essaigh, who roused Risvan to still greater activity. This Prince
+of Aleppo was hostile to every Crusader, and to his own brother, Dokah, the Prince
+of Damascus. He was anxious for a new influx of Assassins, since their acts favored
+his policy.
+</p>
+<p>Abul Fettah, the nephew of Hassan Sabah, was at that time <span class="pageNum" id="pb215">[<a href="#pb215">215</a>]</span>Grand Prior in Syria; his chief residence was Sarmin, a fortified place one day’s
+journey from Aleppo.
+</p>
+<p>Some years later, when the people of Apaméa implored aid of Abu Tahir Essaigh, the
+goldsmith, now the commandant in Sarmin, against Khalaf, their governor from Egypt,
+he had Khalaf slain by Assassins under Abul Fettah, and took Apaméa for Risvan, but
+he could not hold it against Tancred, who seized the place and took Abu Tahir to Antioch
+where he kept him till ransomed. Abul Fettah expired under torture. Other captives
+were given to Khalaf’s sons. Tancred took from the Assassins the strong castle of
+Kefrlana.
+</p>
+<p>Abu Tahir on returning to the Prince of Aleppo used all his influence to kill Abu
+Harb Issa, a great Khojend merchant, who had come to Aleppo with five hundred camels
+bearing much merchandise. This man had done what he could to cause harm to the Order.
+A man named Ahmed, who was secretly an Assassin, had been present in the caravan from
+the boundary of Khorassan, and was watching to avenge his brother slain by the people
+of that merchant. On reaching Aleppo he went to Abu Tahir and Risvan, whom he won
+through accounts of Abu Harb’s immense wealth, and his hatred of the Assassins. On
+a day, while the merchant was counting his camels, the murderers fell upon him, but
+his slaves, who were near, showed their courage and slew the attackers before they
+could injure Abu Harb. The merchant complained to Syrian princes and they reproached
+Risvan bitterly, but he denied every share in that action. No one believed him, however.
+Abu Tahir, to save himself from punishment, fled to North Persia and remained there
+for a season.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan’s policy swept through the country, selecting its victims from the powerful
+and the rich. In 1113 Mevdud, then Prince of Mosul, fell, stabbed to death while walking
+with Togteghin of Damascus through the forecourt of the great mosque in that prince’s
+capital. The Assassin who killed him was decapitated straightway. That same year died
+Risvan, Prince of Aleppo, who had long protected the murderous Order most carefully,
+and had used it effectually in extending his own dominions.
+</p>
+<p>Risvan’s son, Akhras, succeeded him. This youth of sixteen was assisted in governing
+by Lulu, a eunuch. He began rule by <span class="pageNum" id="pb216">[<a href="#pb216">216</a>]</span>condemning to death all people belonging to the Assassin Order. By this sentence more
+than three hundred men, women and children were slain, and two hundred were thrown
+into prison. Abul Fettah, a son of Abu Tahir the goldsmith, and his successor as head
+of the Assassin Order in Syria, met with a death no less terrible than that of his
+namesake, the nephew of Hassan Ben Sabah. The trunk of his body was hacked into pieces
+at the gate looking eastward toward Irak, his legs and arms were burned, and his head
+was borne through Syria as a spectacle. Ismail, a brother of that astrologer who had
+brought the Order into friendship with Risvan, died with the others. Many Assassins
+were hurled into the moat from the top of the fortress. Hossam ed din, son of Dimlatsh,
+a Dayi who had just come from Persia, fled from the rage of the people to Rakka where
+death found him promptly. Many saved themselves by flight, and were scattered in towns
+throughout Syria; others, to avoid all suspicion of belonging to the Order, denounced
+their own brothers, and killed them. The treasures of the Order were searched out
+and taken. Thus did Akhras, Prince of Aleppo, take vengeance on the Assassins for
+their evil influence over his father.
+</p>
+<p>Later on the Order avenged this “persecution” in various ways, and most cruelly. In
+an audience given by the Kalif of Bagdad to Togteghin, the Atabeg of Damascus, three
+murderers attacked and killed the Emir, Ahmed Bal, then governor of Khorassan, whom
+they mistook, as it seems, for the Atabeg. The Emir was their enemy, but not the enemy
+whom they had come to destroy with their daggers,—though of this they were ignorant.
+</p>
+<p>In 1120 Ilghazi received a command from Abu Mohammed, the chief of the Assassins in
+Aleppo, to surrender the castle of Sherif. Ilghazi, who feared the Order, feigned
+to yield up the castle, but ere the envoy could return with this answer the people
+had pulled down the walls, filled the moats, and joined the castle to Aleppo. Khashab,
+who had thought out this exploit and saved a fortress from the Assassins, paid with
+his life for the service. Bedü the governor of Aleppo became their victim, as did
+also one of his sons. His other sons cut down the murderers, but a third slayer sprang
+forward and gave one of them, wounded already, his death blow. When seized and taken
+to Togteghin the surviving <span class="pageNum" id="pb217">[<a href="#pb217">217</a>]</span>Assassin was punished with simple imprisonment, for Togteghin did not dare to mete
+out justice.
+</p>
+<p>A few years later Nur ed din, the famous Prince of Damascus, received from the Assassins
+a command to surrender the castle of Beitlala. He yielded apparently and then roused
+up the people in secret to prevent the Order from gaining the fortress. They did this
+by destroying it hastily. So greatly did the princes fear the Assassins that they
+dared not refuse to obey their commands; they would promise obedience, and then rouse
+the people to pull down their own strongholds.
+</p>
+<p>Governors of provinces both in Persia and Syria were the chief agents in keeping peace
+and good order, hence were opposed to the Assassins, and were exposed to their daggers
+more than all other men.
+</p>
+<p>In Persia as in Syria the Assassins murdered many of the most distinguished men, men
+whom the Order feared or whom they removed to win favor or money. Sindjar, Sultan
+of the Seljuks, sent troops to retake Kuhistan castles which the Ismailians had seized.
+Hassan Sabah sought peace more than once with this Sultan through envoys. When all
+efforts proved futile, he won over officers of Sindjar’s own household who spoke in
+his favor, and even prevailed on a servant of that prince to thrust a dagger into
+the floor before his bedside while he was sleeping. When Sindjar woke and saw the
+dire weapon he resolved to say nothing, but soon he received from Hassan Sabah a note
+with the following contents: “Were I not well inclined toward Sindjar, the man who
+planted that dagger in the floor would have fixed it in the Sultan’s bosom. Let him
+know that I, from this rock, guide the hands of the men who surround him.”
+</p>
+<p>This letter made such an impression on Sindjar that he ceased to disturb Ismailians.
+His reign thereafter was the period of their greatest prosperity.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan Ben Sabah died thirty-four years after his entrance into Alamut, and during
+that time he never came down from the castle, nay more, he never left, except twice,
+his own dwelling. He passed his life studying and writing on the dogmas of his system,
+and in governing that murderous Commonwealth which began in his brain, and was of
+his own invention.
+</p>
+<p>He showed the truth of his doctrine by concise, captious arguments. <span class="pageNum" id="pb218">[<a href="#pb218">218</a>]</span>“As to the knowledge of God,” said he, “one of two courses must be followed: Claim
+to know God by the sole light of reason, or admit that one cannot know him by reason,
+but that men need instructors. Now he who rejects the first statement may not reject
+another man’s reason without admitting thereby the necessity of guidance.” Hassan
+combated in this way the claims of Greek sages. “The need of a guide being admitted
+we must know if every teacher is good, or if we must have infallible instruction.
+Now he who maintains that every teacher is good may not reject his opponent’s instructor
+without acknowledging the need of a teacher deserving the obedience and confidence
+of all men. It is shown,” added he, “that mankind has need of a true and infallible
+teacher. This teacher must be known so that men may accept his instruction with safety.
+He must have been designated and chosen; he must be installed; his truth must be proven.
+It would be folly to go on a journey without a skilled guide and director. This guide
+must be found before starting on the journey.
+</p>
+<p>“Variety of opinion is a real proof of error, accord in opinion shows truth, and unity
+is the sign of it. Diversity is a clear sign of error; unity comes from teaching obedience,
+diversity from freedom of thought; unity indicates submission to an Imam, freedom
+of thought goes with schism, and many leaders.”
+</p>
+<p>Apparently austere in his morals and respecting the Koran, Hassan Sabah forced all
+his subjects to live just as he did. The sternness of his methods may be known from
+these examples. He had one son clubbed to death for mere suspicion of being connected
+with the slaying of the Kuhistan governor without orders; the other for wine drinking
+and dissolute conduct. In the execution of his elder son he gave to his subjects an
+example of the penalty paid for interfering with the prerogative of the Grand Prior.
+The execution of the younger showed them the result of disobedience to principles—the
+principles ruling at Alamut.
+</p>
+<p>Just before his death in 1124 Hassan Sabah made his old comrade Kia Busurgomid his
+successor. Under this second chief murder increased very greatly; not merely enemies
+of the sect fell now by the dagger, but any prince or man who had an enemy could hire
+one of the Order to murder him. Rather than expose themselves to death, sovereigns
+and men of authority lived in <span class="pageNum" id="pb219">[<a href="#pb219">219</a>]</span>apparent accord with the Assassins and obtained from the chief as a price of good-will
+a number of his devotees as aids in carrying out their own evil schemes for aggrandizement.
+Those men slew all pointed out to them, frequently, however, whole populations were
+punished for these crimes of their co-religionists. Kia Busurgomid was a man of great
+activity who followed the methods of Hassan, destroying the most illustrious leaders
+of the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>Mahmud, the successor of Sindjar, at first met the Assassins with their own tactics
+of murder and deceit; but, for an unknown reason, after being in open war with Kia
+Busurgomid for some time, he asked that an envoy be sent to discuss terms of peace.
+The envoy from the Assassins was received courteously by the Sultan, but upon leaving
+the presence of Mahmud he was seized and murdered by the enraged populace. The Sultan
+sent an envoy to Alamut immediately to assure Kia Busurgomid that this unfortunate
+incident was due wholly to the hostility of the citizens, and that he himself was
+in no way to blame.
+</p>
+<p>Kia Busurgomid replied that he had believed in the assurances of safety which the
+Sultan had given. If the Sultan would deliver the murderers of the man to the Assassins
+there would be no difficulty, otherwise he would take revenge for the death of his
+envoy. Mahmud fearing the rage of the people gave no reply, and was shortly after
+attacked by a large number of Assassins who killed four hundred men and carried off
+many horses and camels.
+</p>
+<p>In 1129 the Sultan got possession of the Alamut fortress, but was soon forced to relinquish
+it. Not long after Mahmud died, probably by poison administered by a member of the
+Order.
+</p>
+<p>In Risvan’s time, as already stated, the Assassins enjoyed immense influence at Aleppo,
+but under his son they were hunted down and slaughtered. A somewhat similar fate struck
+them in Damascus where during Busi’s time, Behram, an Assassin from Astrabad, won
+over to his side the vizir who gave him in 1128 the castle of Banias, which immediately
+became the center of influence in Syria, and so remained until twelve years later
+when the Assassins made Massiat their capital. On gaining a firm foothold in Syria
+by possession of Banias, the Assassins flocked to their new capital from all sides.
+No prince now had courage to give any man protection against them. But the career
+of Behram the shrewd Assassin was of short duration.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb220">[<a href="#pb220">220</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Dohak, the chief man in Taim, a part of the district of Baalbek, determined to avenge
+the death of his brother who had been murdered at command of Behram, hence he summoned
+the warriors of Taim with assistance from Damascus and places around it. Behram planned
+to surprise Dohak and his army and crush them, but he fell into their power unwarily,
+and they killed him. His head and hands were taken to Egypt, where the Kalif had them
+borne in triumph to Cairo, and gave a rich gold embroidered robe to the man who brought
+them. Those Assassins who escaped fled from Taim to Banias, where before the expedition
+Behram had given chief command to Ismail, an Assassin from Persia.
+</p>
+<p>Tahir, the vizir, was as ready to negotiate with Ismail as he had been with Behram.
+Ismail had as aid Abul Wefa, a man without faith or principle, but adroit and successful.
+The Crusaders, whose power was then rising in Syria, seemed to Abul Wefa the best
+allies possible for Assassins. Enemies of Mohammedanism, they were friends to its
+opponents. Attacked from without by Crusaders and corrupted from within by Ismailian
+teachings, Abbasid Mohammedanism seemed nearing its downfall. Abul Wefa now made a
+treaty with the King of Jerusalem, through which he engaged to give him Damascus on
+a certain Friday. While Busi, the Emir, and his great men, were assembled in the mosque
+at devotion all approaches were to be opened to the king and his forces. In return
+for this service the king was to give Abul Wefa the city of Tyre on the seacoast.
+The Templars’ earliest Grand Master, Hugo De Payens, appears as main agent, it is
+stated, in urging the king to this arrangement.
+</p>
+<p>During a decade of years after its organization, the Order of Templars remained in
+obscurity, observing vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and performing the
+labor of protecting all pilgrims. It was, however, merely a private society at that
+time without distinguishing habit or statutes. Rules given by St. Bernard and confirmed
+by the Pope raised it to be a great Order created to defend the Holy Sepulchre and
+pilgrims.
+</p>
+<p>During this year, 1129, Hugo arrived in Jerusalem with a numerous escort of pilgrims
+and knights, who through his influence had taken the cross and raised arms in defence
+of Christ’s sepulchre.
+</p>
+<p>The winning of Damascus was now decided upon, but marvelous <span class="pageNum" id="pb221">[<a href="#pb221">221</a>]</span>events happened meanwhile to prevent the carrying out of this plan. Tahir Ben Saad,
+the vizir, who, as we have seen, exercised supreme power at direction of Tajul Muluk
+Busi, Prince of Damascus had arranged with Abul Wefa, the surrender of Damascus in
+secret. Tajul Muluk Busi, discovering the treachery of his vizir and the plot of the
+Assassins to get possession of Damascus, had Tahir Ben Saad put to death immediately,
+and then commanded a slaughter of all the Assassins in the city. It is stated that
+“six thousand fell by the sword which thus avenged many victims of the dagger.”
+</p>
+<p>While this was taking place a strong Christian army was rapidly approaching Damascus
+to take possession of the city. Of this army a large number, while marching, went
+with knights to plunder villages and obtain provisions, permitting, as was customary,
+a considerable force of pilgrims to accompany them. They advanced without order and
+were in great part cut down by a picked corps of warriors from Damascus. On hearing
+of this disaster the rest of the Christian army hurried forward to attack those men
+of Damascus. While they were thus hastening dreadful darkness appeared on a sudden,
+darkness broken only by flashes of lightning; then came a tempest with the roaring
+of thunder and a downrush of rain which overspread everything. When the roads were
+all flooded and the whole country covered with water, a great cold set in quickly;
+frost of amazing severity turned flood and rain into ice and snowflakes. When light
+came again it disclosed winter scenery. The disaster, storm, change and frost were
+considered by the Christians as manifestations of Heaven’s terrible anger because
+of their great sin in making a compact with murderers<span class="corr" id="xd32e2336" title="Not in source">.</span>
+</p>
+<p>The only advantage obtained from this league with criminals was the restoration of
+the castle of Banias. Ismail remembering the fate of Damascus Assassins restored Banias,
+but three years later, in 1132, he retook it, and the Christians in the end gained
+nothing whatever.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb222">[<a href="#pb222">222</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e2208">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e2208src">1</a></span> Called <span class="corr" id="xd32e2210" title="Source: Fatimides">Fatimids</span> because they professed to trace their descent to Fatima the daughter of the Prophet
+(Mohammed).&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e2208src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e2214">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e2214src">2</a></span> The Victorious.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e2214src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e2252">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e2252src">3</a></span> Eagle’s nest.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e2252src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch12" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e413">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<h2 class="main">HULAGU DESTROYS THE ASSASSIN COMMONWEALTH</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The valiant and powerful Prince of Mosul, Aksonkor Burshi, was one of the first victims
+of the second Grand Prior. He was just and daring, a man greatly feared not only by
+the Assassins but also by the Crusaders with whom he had recently fought a battle.
+Shortly after his return from this encounter he was attacked by eight Assassins who,
+disguised as dervishes, fell upon him in the chief mosque of Mosul while he was taking
+his place on the throne. Protected by armor he defended himself with immense courage.
+Three of the Assassins he killed, but before his assistants could come to his aid
+he received a wound which soon proved fatal. All the other Assassins were slain save
+one who fled and escaped from the wrath of the people. When the mother of this man
+learned of Aksonkor’s death she adorned herself immediately through pride in the success
+of the onset for which, as she supposed, her son had given his life. But when he came
+home uninjured she cut off her hair and blackened her face in deep sorrow, since he
+had not died with his comrades in honor—such was her view of honor.
+</p>
+<p>Busi the Prince of Damascus was marked for destruction. Tahir the friend of the Assassins
+had been executed and six thousand of the Order had been massacred in 1129 at that
+prince’s command; therefore there was no escape for Busi. Within two years of that
+massacre he was attacked by a band of Assassins and escaped with difficulty; the year
+following, however, brought death to him from the effects of wounds received in that
+encounter.
+</p>
+<p>The vengeance of the Assassins continued for years; it waited for time, opportunity,
+and place, nay more, it passed from one generation to another. They never forgot and
+never forgave. Shems ul Muluk, son of Busi, as well as many other people of renown
+fell under the daggers of the Order. The mufti of Kasvin <span class="pageNum" id="pb223">[<a href="#pb223">223</a>]</span>and the mayors of Ispahan and Tebriz were among those who perished. Besides rulers
+and great men a multitude of merchants and ordinary men were murdered by the tools
+of Hassan Ben Sabah and his successors the so-called apostles of Islam.
+</p>
+<p>But in spite of the bitter enmity between the Abbasids and the Fatimids and the fact
+that the Assassins, an offshoot of the Fatimids, had worked long and industriously
+to overthrow their opponents, the throne of the Kalif of Bagdad had not been stained
+with the blood of its occupants thus far. But the time had now come when the Order
+dared to murder even the successor of the Prophet. Through a strange retribution,
+however, Kalif Abu Ali Mansur the tenth of the Fatimid dynasty was the first to die
+by the hand of an Assassin, but whether this death was effected by the policy of the
+Order or by private revenge is unknown. It was thought by many that the murderer was
+employed by the family of Efdhal, the grand vizir.
+</p>
+<p>Efdhal had been as dangerous for the Kalif at Cairo through the immense power which
+he wielded in Egypt as for the Crusaders because of his hatred for them and the great
+energy with which he warred against them. He was cut down by two men who belonged
+to the Order. No one knew who had employed those two persons, whether the murderers
+were the tools of the Crusaders, or of the Kalif. At first suspicion fell on the Kalif.
+The son of Efdhal, Abu Ali, who was imprisoned immediately upon the death of his father,
+was set free after the assassination of the Kalif and given the office and titles
+of the vizir. But Assassins soon attacked and killed Abu Ali. It may be that all three
+murders were caused by the machinations of unknown enemies.
+</p>
+<p>Egypt from this time on presents scenes of turmoil and disorder produced by great
+struggles between partisans of the Kalifs of Bagdad and Cairo, or in other words between
+the Abbasids and the Fatimids.
+</p>
+<p>Mostershed the twenty-ninth Abbasid Kalif held power from 1118 to 1135, but his power
+was limited and his throne most insecure. When they made themselves guardians of the
+Kalifs at Bagdad the Seljuk Sultans took from them all marks of temporal power except
+the Friday prayers from the pulpit, and the coinage of money. When Massud became Sultan
+he immediately took <span class="pageNum" id="pb224">[<a href="#pb224">224</a>]</span>this last evidence of authority from the Kalif and appointed Friday prayers in his
+own name. This encroachment was tolerated by Mostershed but he did not accept it.
+Some time later a number of officers with the men under them left Massud and joined
+the Kalif’s army. These officers assured the Kalif that it would not be difficult
+to conquer Massud. Deceived by their statements Mostershed marched against the Sultan,
+but, deserted by his warriors in the first onset, he was captured by Massud and taken
+to Meragha. He was freed however on his promise to remain thereafter in Bagdad and
+pay a yearly tribute to the Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>The Ismailians had hoped that this war would end the Abbasids; hence they were bitterly
+disappointed, and determined to take the work into their own hands at once and at
+all costs. When Massud left Mostershed in his camp near Meragha, the Assassins cut
+down the Kalif and his attendants. Then not satisfied with the murder, they mutilated
+the corpses by cutting off their ears and noses.
+</p>
+<p>People had scarcely recovered from the terror caused by this slaughter of Mostershed
+when they learned that his successor Rashid had been killed. The Assassins had thought
+that by the murder of Mostershed they would bring about the ruin of the Kalifat. But
+hope deceived them. Rashid on taking the throne planned his own policy and determined
+to begin his rule by avenging the death of his father. He went first, however, on
+a journey to Ispahan, intending when he returned to deal with the Assassins. The Order
+ever alert and watchful discovered his purpose. Four active adherents followed Rashid,
+and at last when the chance came they stole into his tent and stabbed him. He was
+buried in Ispahan, and the warriors whom he had assembled to march against the Order
+scattered at once.
+</p>
+<p>When news of the Kalif’s death came to the Grand Prior there was great joy in Alamut.
+For seven days and nights kettledrums sounded to announce the happy event to that
+whole mountain region. This murder brought alarm and terror to the Abbasid world.
+It is said that after the death of Rashid Abbasid Kalifs very rarely, if ever, showed
+themselves in public. Agents of the Order now went in crowds through Asia. Fortresses
+already held by them were strengthened while new ones were built or else purchased.
+In Syria they obtained Kadmos in 1134, Kahaf four <span class="pageNum" id="pb225">[<a href="#pb225">225</a>]</span>years later, and Massiat in 1140. The first and the second they bought, the third
+they took by the strong hand, with violence, and made it the center of their activity
+in Syria.
+</p>
+<p>Kei Busurgomid had ruled the Assassin kingdom for fourteen years when, realizing that
+his last hour was near, he made his eldest son, Kia Mohammed, Grand Prior. The ruler
+at Alamut while increasing the power of the Order and extending its influence in every
+direction did not call himself sovereign or claim sovereign power. He ruled in the
+name of an invisible Imam of whom he called himself an apostle, an Imam who was to
+appear in the future and establish his rule over mankind. The real tenets of the Order
+were known only to the Grand Prior and to his chosen and tested associates who were
+bound to secrecy by the most dreadful oaths. The vast majority of people who were
+under the control of the chief of Alamut thought themselves devout followers of Mohammed
+the Prophet whose teachings they observed with the utmost fidelity. They looked upon
+the Grand Prior as an apostle whose wisdom was beyond question and obeyed his commands
+with willingness and the most implicit confidence. Those of his his disciples whom
+he employed as tools to carry out political schemes or private revenge requiring the
+removal of men by the use of the dagger thought they were working for a holy cause
+and removing enemies of their faith and their country. As the books and manuscripts
+of Hassan Ben Sabah and of those Alamut chiefs who succeeded him were destroyed at
+the coming of the Mongols it is difficult to obtain at this time much information
+regarding the internal government of the Assassin kingdom. Their real doctrine was
+carefully concealed and its supporters appeared only as upholders of Islam. This is
+shown by answers given the Sultan Sindjar who sent an envoy to Alamut to gain information
+concerning the doctrine of the Order.
+</p>
+<p>“The Ismailian doctrine is as follows,” replied the Prior. “We believe in one God
+and recognize that alone as true wisdom which accords with His holy word and the commands
+of His Prophet, Mohammed. We obey these as given in the sacred Koran; we believe in
+all that the Prophet taught touching creation and the last day, rewards, punishments,
+the judgment and the resurrection. To believe thus is needful for salvation, and no
+man may give an opinion on God’s commands, or alter one letter in <span class="pageNum" id="pb226">[<a href="#pb226">226</a>]</span>them. These are the rules on which rests our religion, and if they please not the
+Sultan let him send a theologian to talk with us.”
+</p>
+<p>In 1138 began the rule of Kia Mohammed, a man not only lacking in wit and ability
+but wholly untrained in the art of governing. The power of the Order had now reached
+its height. Its authority and influence were apparent in many countries of Asia. There
+was need of a strong man at Alamut. Nearly fifty years had passed since Hassan Ben
+Sabah began his career of murder; years during which all the teachings of Islam were
+observed with the greatest strictness by the common people who believed in their rulers
+and yielded ready obedience. But Kai Mohammed did not win the confidence of his subjects;
+they greatly disliked him. Hassan, his son, was a man of unlimited ambition, and early
+in life gained the love of the people and the reputation of having keen insight and
+much learning, a reputation which he used for the attainment of his own objects and
+not for the advancement of the Order. He knew and did not contradict the report which
+his partisans spread very carefully that he was the Imam whom Hassan Ben Sabah had
+promised. But the Prior of Alamut heard of his son’s action; of the opinions of the
+people and the report that Hassan was the long looked for Imam, and he declared his
+displeasure at once. “Hassan is my son,” said he. “I am not the Imam but one of his
+precursors; whoever thinks differently is an infidel!” and he ordered the immediate
+execution of two hundred and fifty of Hassan’s associates and partisans; others were
+banished. Hassan through fear for his own safety wrote against his adherents and supported
+his father. He avoided punishment thus by removing suspicion. Since he drank wine
+in secret, however, and practised many things which were forbidden, his adherents
+thought him surely the promised Imam whose coming was to end prohibition of all kinds.
+</p>
+<hr class="tb"><p>
+</p>
+<p>But now appear the men destined to destroy the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt,—Nur ed din
+Mahmud Ben Amed Es Zenky, son of Zenky, son of Ak Sunkur, and Saladin, son of Eyub
+the friend of Zenky. Ak Sunkur, a slave whom Melik Shah made his court chamberlain
+and later the governor of the Province of Aleppo, died in 1094 leaving a son, Zenky,
+ten years of age. Not long after his <span class="pageNum" id="pb227">[<a href="#pb227">227</a>]</span>father’s death Zenky was summoned to the court of Kur Buga then Prince of Mosul. He
+soon became a favorite and companion of the prince and accompanied him on his campaigns.
+In 1122 the prince gave him Wasit and Basra in fief. When in March of the following
+year the Arabs, led by Dubeg a renowned Emir of the Asad tribe, marched against Bagdad,
+Mostershed the Kalif crossed the river with his army and was received on the bank
+by his vassals the Prince of Mosul, Zenky of Basra, and others. The combined armies
+then attacked Hilla the enemy’s stronghold, and though Dubeg’s army was much larger
+than that of the Kalif’s the Arabs were defeated owing chiefly to the skilful movements
+of Zenky. Somewhat later Zenky went to Hamadan to the court of the Seljuk Sultan,
+Mahmud, and soon married the widow of Kundughly, the richest noble of the court. In
+1124 he returned to Basra and Wasit where he ruled with great severity. In a battle
+between the Sultan and the Kalif, Zenky took the part of the Sultan and sent him reinforcements,
+thus obliging the Kalif to make peace. When after this victory the Sultan took up
+his abode in Bagdad Zenky received a high office. In 1127 he was made governor of
+Mosul and Jezira and took upon himself the task of defending the country against the
+Crusaders. Not long after this he became master of Aleppo. In 1131 the Seljuk Sultan
+died and there was a bitter conflict over the succession. Zenky now determined to
+get possession of Damascus but his attempt, made four years after the death of the
+Sultan, brought him no success. In 1144 he besieged and captured Edessa held at that
+time by the Crusaders. Two years after this great victory he died by the hand of one
+of his own attendants, leaving a son, Nur ed din, to finish his work by becoming master
+of Damascus.
+</p>
+<p>In 1132 when fleeing from Karaja by whom he had been defeated in battle, Zenky was
+saved by Eyub commandant of the castle of Tenkrit on the bank of the Tigris. This
+service was never forgotten. In 1138 on a night when Eyub, who had been driven from
+the castle of Tenkrit, was seeking an asylum with Zenky at Mosul a son was born to
+him. This son he named Yessuf Salal ed din (Saladin). A year later Zenky took possession
+of Baalbek and Eyub was made governor there. Saladin was nine years old when Zenky
+was murdered. Zenky’s possessions were shared by his two <span class="pageNum" id="pb228">[<a href="#pb228">228</a>]</span>sons, Seif ud din who received Mosul, and Nur ed din who ruled the Syrian province.
+</p>
+<p>Nur ed din was a wise and just ruler, as well as a brave and fearless warrior, and
+a resolute defender of Islam. Being master of Mosul and Aleppo he was also master
+of North Syria, but in the south he lacked power through not having Damascus. Mejr
+ed din Abak the last of the Seljuks of Damascus ruled there, or more correctly, his
+vizir ruled at his commission. After Zenky’s death Damascus sent troops to retake
+Baalbek. Eyub made terms and surrendered the city receiving in return ten villages
+in that region. A few years later he became commander-in-chief of the Damascus army,
+a position which he held when Nur ed din marched against Damascus in 1154. Shirkuh,
+brother of Eyub, had meanwhile taken service with Nur ed din. When the Syrian army
+appeared before the city Shirkuh opened negotiations with his brother and Eyub surrendered
+the place to the son of his old friend. Thus Damascus abandoned its hereditary sovereign
+and Mejr ed din withdrew from the city. He received in exchange Emesa, then Balis,
+and went finally to Bagdad.
+</p>
+<p>An earthquake had nearly ruined Damascus, but Nur ed din restored the city and made
+it his capital. During his reign of twenty-eight years he captured fifty castles or
+more and established mosques and schools in every city of his dominion. Policy as
+well as religion caused Nur ed din to favor the Abbasid line instead of the Fatimids
+of Cairo. The time seemed to him ripe then to end Cairo helplessness, a genuine helplessness
+since civil war raged there between Dargham a commander and Shawer the vizir who under
+the Kalif were struggling for mastery.
+</p>
+<p>Early in 1163, the year following that in which Nur ed din had conquered Haram and
+taken possession of many Syrian fortresses, Shawer who had been driven from Cairo
+came to Damascus and promised not only to pay the cost of an invasion but afterward
+to yield up one third of the income of Egypt if Nur ed din would give him certain
+aid against Dargham. Nur ed din was not opposed to obtaining a foothold in the country,
+still he withheld assistance till April of the following year, when he sent his able
+and ambitious governor of Emesa, Essed ed din Shirkuh, with an army into Egypt. Dargham
+was slain and Shawer was restored to his former position. Freed from his enemy and
+safe, as he <span class="pageNum" id="pb229">[<a href="#pb229">229</a>]</span>thought, he refused to fulfil the conditions he had made. Shirkuh enraged by his treachery
+seized the eastern province, Sherkiya, and the chief town, Belbeis.
+</p>
+<p>Shawer, who was an artful unprincipled man, false to his friends, to his warriors
+and to his own interests, then called in Amalric, Count of Askalon and king of Jerusalem,
+to act with the Crusaders against Shirkuh. The friend of the Egyptian vizir was now
+his foe, and the Crusaders had become the ally of their erstwhile enemy. Between Amalric
+and Nur ed din there was keen rivalry, for neither man would permit the other to become
+master in Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>Shirkuh fortified Belbeis and for three months resisted all attacks from his opponent.
+Nur ed din now made an expedition to Palestine and Amalric had need to hasten home
+to protect his own kingdom. An armistice was arranged and both armies left Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>But in 1167 Amalric again advanced at the head of a large army. Rumors of this advance
+having reached Nur ed din he at once sent Shirkuh to Egypt with a force of two thousand
+horsemen. He had barely crossed the Nile when Amalric appeared on the opposite bank.
+Shirkuh halted at Giza, and Amalric took up his position at Fustat. Shawer allied
+himself with Amalric, who dictated his own terms and insisted that the Kalif should
+ratify the treaty.
+</p>
+<p>Shirkuh, alarmed by the strength of the combined armies, retreated to Upper Egypt.
+Pursued by his opponent, he turned and gave battle, April 18, 1167, at a place a few
+miles south of Minya. The Egyptians were defeated, but Shirkuh, not having troops
+sufficient for a march on Cairo, withdrew to Alexandria, where he left Saladin in
+command with one-half of the army, and moved toward the South to collect contributions.
+Alexandria was soon besieged and blockaded. Provisions were lacking in the city and
+there was talk of surrender when news came that Shirkuh was advancing rapidly to their
+relief. He halted before Cairo and invested that city. Amalric then raised the siege
+of Alexandria and a peace was made by which Shirkuh and the king promised to withdraw
+their troops from Egypt. It is stated that Shirkuh received fifty thousand ducats,
+and the king twice that amount from the revenues of Egypt. There remained at Cairo,
+moreover, a general of Crusaders with a large number of men as a guard against Nur
+ed din.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb230">[<a href="#pb230">230</a>]</span></p>
+<p>But peace was of short duration; the advantage which came to the King of Jerusalem
+by the terms of the treaty induced him to violate his promise in the hope of eventually
+getting control of the country. Incited by the Hospitalers, whose chief wished to
+keep his Order in Belbeis which he had charged with a debt of more than one hundred
+thousand ducats, Amalric advanced early in the winter of 1168 but this time he entered
+Egypt as an enemy.
+</p>
+<p>He arrived at Belbeis in November, captured that city and slaughtered its inhabitants.
+He then besieged Cairo. A wall at which women and children were toiling both by day
+and by night had been raised around the city. November 12th Fustat the most ancient
+part, called usually Old Cairo, was by command of Shawer set on fire to hamper the
+enemy, and it continued to burn for fifty-four days and nights. Adhad, the Kalif,
+despatched courier after courier with letters to Syria imploring Nur ed din to help
+him, and to picture the greatness of his need he inclosed locks of hair from the heads
+of his wives, as if saying: “The enemy are dragging our women by the hair. Come and
+rescue!”
+</p>
+<p>Nur ed din was in Aleppo and Shirkuh at Emesa. Nur ed din, however, at no time indifferent
+to the importance of gaining influence and power, gave two hundred thousand gold ducats
+to Shirkuh and sent him to Egypt immediately (December, 1168). Six thousand chosen
+Syrians marched with him and two thousand picked Turkman warriors from Damascus. Saladin,
+urged by his uncle, accompanied the expedition.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Shawer and Amalric were negotiating—the former to liberate, the latter to
+win Cairo. Shawer promised a million of ducats in the name of the Kalif, and the King
+of Jerusalem was glad to receive fifty thousand in ready money. The Crusaders withdrew
+when the Syrians under Shirkuh appeared before Cairo in January, 1169. The Kalif went
+to the camp on a visit immediately, and complained very bitterly of Shawer who had
+brought the Crusaders into Egypt, burned Fustat, and ruined the country. He begged
+Shirkuh to obtain for him the head of the vizir, he himself being unable to get it.
+</p>
+<p>Shawer felt now his own danger, and, while feigning friendship for the Syrians, resolved
+to destroy, under cover of a banquet, both Shirkuh, and Saladin, his nephew, with
+the princes of their <span class="pageNum" id="pb231">[<a href="#pb231">231</a>]</span>suite. The plot became known in good season, however, and when Shawer was approaching
+on a visit to Shirkuh, he was seized and killed, and his head was sent to the Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>Shirkuh took Shawer’s place as vizir and the Kalif gave him the title of Al Melik
+Al Mansur (The Victorious King).
+</p>
+<p>Shirkuh died two months later, March 26, and his nephew Yussuf Salah ed din, now thirty-one
+years of age, was invested with the same dignities of office and received the same
+title.
+</p>
+<p>Saladin was now the vizir of the Kalif, and Nur ed din’s commander, thus his position
+was peculiar; he was the vizir of a Shiite Kalif and the commander of a Sunnite king.
+He therefore caused the name of Nur ed din to be mentioned in public prayers every
+Friday after that of the Kalif,
+</p>
+<p>Nur ed din thought that the time had come to abolish the Fatimid Kalif at, but Saladin
+delayed since the people clung to Adhad, the last representative of the dynasty. Adhad
+fell ill, however, and died opportunely. Saladin transferred the prerogative of prayer
+then from the Fatimid line to that of the Abbasid September 10, 1171. In this way
+Saladin delivered the blow which destroyed the main branch of the Western Ismailites.
+The Abbasid Kalif at now prevailed over that of the family of Ali for which the Ismailites
+had taught and conspired and in whose name they had deceived the people for nearly
+three centuries.
+</p>
+<p>This was an event of vast importance in the history of the East, as well as in that
+of the Assassin Order before whom Saladin, now a famous warrior and an ardent champion
+of the Abbasids, stood forth as a powerful and dangerous enemy.
+</p>
+<p>Eight years before the fall of the Fatimid dynasty Mohammed the Grand Prior of the
+Assassins died, and Hassan II assumed power. As we have seen, Hassan began his career
+during his father’s life, by winning partisans and spreading the belief that he was
+the promised Imam. In his youth he had spent many years in acquiring a thorough knowledge
+of philosophy and history, and in receiving instruction regarding the mysteries of
+the Order. Unprincipled and profligate he now determined not only to indulge without
+limit in every vice but to favor a like indulgence in others. To cast aside all concealment
+and give the secrets of the Ismailians to the world. To announce the same license
+to the leaders of the Order and favor impunity of vice not merely by example but by
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb232">[<a href="#pb232">232</a>]</span>preaching from the pulpit that crime is permissible and innocent. In Ramadan of the
+559th year of the Hegira—1163—the inhabitants of Rudbar were assembled at Alamut by
+his command. A pulpit was placed at the foot of the castle and looking toward Mecca
+to which all professors of Islam turn when praying.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan ascended the pulpit and made known to his hearers the maxims of a renewed and
+strengthened religion. He announced to them that they were freed from all obligations
+of the law, for they had come to an era in which they were to know God by intuition;
+they were released from the burden of every command and brought to the day of Resurrection,
+that is to the manifestation of the Imam before whom they were now standing. They
+were no longer to pray five times each day, or observe other rites of religion. Then,
+after he had explained that an allegorical sense should be given to the dogmas of
+Resurrection, Hell, and Paradise, he descended from the pulpit and the people held
+a great banquet, yielding themselves to pleasures of all kinds, to dancing, to music,
+to wine and to sport in celebration of the day of Resurrection, the day when the Imam
+was made manifest.
+</p>
+<p>From that hour when all things were lawful according to Hassan the name Molahids,
+or the Lost Ones, which previously had been given to the Karmathites and other great
+criminal disturbers, was given not only to the disciples of Hassan but to all the
+Ismailians. Through their Grand Prior the Order after concealing its true doctrine
+from mankind for years had revealed it on a sudden and exposed to the world a society
+founded on atheism, assassination and immorality. Thenceforth the Order was doomed
+to rapid internal destruction.
+</p>
+<p>The Ismailians had adopted the view that the universe had never begun and would never
+end. The end in their eyes meant merely a phase, the close of an epoch in existence
+which would be followed by another whose length would depend upon the movements and
+position of the heavenly bodies. By Resurrection was meant the presence of men before
+God at the close of an epoch, and when that term came every practice of religion was
+included, since man’s one concern is the estimate of his actions.
+</p>
+<p>The 17th Ramadan was celebrated with banquets and games, not only as the feast of
+the manifestation, but as the true date of publishing their doctrine. As the followers
+of Islam reckon their <span class="pageNum" id="pb233">[<a href="#pb233">233</a>]</span>time from the flight of the Prophet, so did the Molahids from the manifestation of
+the Imam, the 17th of Ramadan in the 559th year of Hegira. As Mohammed’s name was
+never mentioned without adding “The Blessed,” so after that day the words “Blessed
+be his memory” were added to Hassan’s name. The Grand Priors had called themselves
+simply missionaries or precursors of the Imam, but Hassan insisted that he was the
+Imam; in him lay all power to remove the restrictions of the law. By this claim he
+appeared before the people as a lawgiver. In this spirit he wrote to the different
+princes. His letter concerning Reis Mossafer, the Grand Prior of Kuhistan, a namesake
+of whom had been Grand Prior in Irak under Hassan Ben Sabah, was as follows:
+</p>
+<p>“I, Hassan, declare to you that on earth I am God’s vice-gerent. Reis Mossafer is
+my vice-gerent in Kuhistan. The men of that province will obey him; they must listen
+to his words as to mine.”
+</p>
+<p>Reis had a pulpit erected in the Mumin Abad castle, his residence. From the pulpit
+he read this epistle to the people, most of whom listened to it with pleasure. There
+was a great festival with music and sports; they fell to dancing, they drank wine
+at the foot of the pulpit, and in every way possible made known their joy at liberation
+from the bonds of the law. A few who remained faithful to Islam withdrew from the
+Order; others who did not believe but could not decide to take this step remained
+and shared the reputation of the “Lost Ones.”
+</p>
+<p>Profligacy, atheism, infidelity and freedom from all restraint now ruled supreme,
+and Hassan’s name was heard from every pulpit of the Order as that of the real successor
+of the Prophet, the long waited for Imam.
+</p>
+<p>But it was much easier for Hassan to make himself a teacher of atheism and immorality
+than to assume the character of Imam.
+</p>
+<p>To convince the people that he was the Imam Hassan was driven to prove himself descended
+from the Fatimid Kalifs. He was declared to be a son of Nesar and a grandson of the
+Kalif Mostansir during whose reign Hassan Ben Sabah had been in Cairo, and in the
+political disputes of the day had taken the side of Mostansir’s elder son Nesar. For
+this he had been ordered by Bedr Jimali, the commander-in-chief, to leave Egypt. A
+certain Abul Hassan Seid, a favorite of the Kalif, had come to Alamut a year <span class="pageNum" id="pb234">[<a href="#pb234">234</a>]</span>after the death of Mostansir, and had brought with him a son of Nesar whom he confided
+to Hassan Ben Sabah. Hassan treated the envoy with great respect and gave the young
+man, also called Nesar, a village near the castle as a residence. Nesar married and
+had a son to whom the name “Blessed be his Memory” was given. When Nesar’s wife was
+delivered of her child the wife of Mohammed, the Grand Prior of Alamut, also had a
+child. A nurse carried “Blessed be his Memory” into the castle and substituted him
+for the son of Mohammed.
+</p>
+<p>This tale instead of satisfying the people was received with ridicule and declared
+to be untrue. Then as, according to new Ismailite teaching, all was indifferent and
+nothing forbidden, the builders of Hassan’s genealogy found it best to maintain that
+Nesar had met Mohammed’s wife in secret, the result being Hassan, the Grand Prior,
+Imam, and Kalif, “Blessed be his Memory.”
+</p>
+<p>Ismailites who in this way tried to prove that Hassan was a descendant of Nesar were
+called by their opponents “the Nesari,” a title which involved extreme obloquy.
+</p>
+<p>Crime and immorality now reigned wherever the Order had power or influence. Men who
+had hitherto been Assassins through obedience to those in power and in the belief
+that they were fulfilling a religious duty by removing persons who were harmful to
+Islam, now murdered people wantonly.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan II died in the fourth year of his reign by the dagger of his brother-in-law
+at the castle of Lamsir.
+</p>
+<p>Disorders caused through the revelation by Hassan were not stopped by his murder.
+Crimes of every kind increased greatly during the reign of his son and successor,
+Mohammed II, whose first act was to avenge the murder of his father. Nanver, the late
+Prior’s brother-in-law and assassin, died by the axe of the executioner, and with
+him died all his kindred, male and female.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed II preached and taught with even more insistence than had Hassan, his father,
+the doctrine of license, crime, and vice, and like him claimed to be the Imam. Deeply
+read in philosophy he thought himself unequalled in this and other forms of knowledge.
+He was a man devoted to evil, and though he reigned for forty-six years there is but
+little information to be obtained regarding the Order during that period.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb235">[<a href="#pb235">235</a>]</span></p>
+<p>In the eyes of the Orthodox the Assassins were a band of vile heretics, an assemblage
+of outcasts; but that Order was still defiant and mighty. Fakhr ul Islam of Ruyan
+was the first doctor of the law to pronounce it impious. This he did in Kazvin by
+a fetva. On his return from Kazvin to Ruyan he fell by an Assassin. A doctor of greater
+reputation was treated more tenderly: Fakhr ud din Rasi, a professor of theology at
+Rayi, never failed in his lectures to refute all their doctrines, adding as he did
+so: “May God curse and destroy them.” The Ismailian Prior sent an agent to Rayi. This
+man appeared as a student, heard lectures and bided his time. At last, finding that
+Fakhr ud din was alone in his cabinet, he walked in, shut the door, placed the point
+of a dagger at the breast of his master and waited. “What is this?” cried the latter
+in terror. “Why do you curse the Ismailians and their doctrines unceasingly?” asked
+the Assassin. “I will speak of them no more,” said the teacher, “I swear this to you
+most solemnly.” “Will you keep this oath?” After strong assurance the agent was satisfied,
+drew back his dagger, and continued: “I had no command to kill you; if I had nothing
+could have turned me from duty. My master salutes you and says that he cares not for
+common men’s words, but he regards your discourses, since they will live in the memory
+of people. He invites you to visit him at Alamut, for he wishes to prove his high
+esteem to you in person.”
+</p>
+<p>Fakhr ud din would not go, but promised silence. The agent then put down a purse of
+three hundred miskals, and said: “You will receive every year a purse such as this.
+I have brought you two tunics of Yeman besides; they are now in my lodgings.” That
+said the man disappeared. Some time after this a disciple of the teacher asked why
+he did not curse the Ismailians. “How can I curse them?” replied Fakhr ud din, “their
+arguments are so trenchant.”
+</p>
+<p>In Arslan Kushad, the Ismailians surprised in the night a castle two leagues from
+Kazvin on the top of a high mountain. The people of that place were in despair at
+having such neighbors, and implored various princes to free them but in vain, till
+a certain Sheikh, Ali, persuaded the Kwaresmian Sultan, Tagash, to assist him. The
+Sultan laid siege to the castle, took it, allowed the Ismailians to withdraw, and
+placed a small garrison on the mountain. <span class="pageNum" id="pb236">[<a href="#pb236">236</a>]</span>Barely had the investing troops gone when the Ismailians reëntered the stronghold
+at night through an underground passage known to them only and slew the whole garrison.
+The Sheikh Ali implored Tagash again and he came now in person. The people of Kazvin
+joined his forces and after a siege of two months the Ismailians yielded the castle
+on condition that they should be allowed to retire unmolested. They promised to leave
+in two divisions. If the first passed in safety the second would follow, if not it
+would keep up the struggle. The first party descended, rendered homage to the Sultan
+and vanished. The besiegers waited for the second division, waited long and discovered
+at last that the garrison had gone in one party. The castle was then razed at command
+of the Sultan. But the Ismailians took vengeance on Sheikh Ali. While returning from
+a pilgrimage to Mecca he was slain by one of their Assassins in a mosque at Damascus.
+</p>
+<p>Syria and Egypt at this time demand attention since it was there that the enemies
+of Saladin were acting.
+</p>
+<p>In Cairo was the Sultan’s great palace where for two hundred years the Fatimids had
+been collecting the wealth not only of Egypt, but of Syria and Arabia. When after
+the death of the Sultan, Saladin took possession of this palace, he found there jewels
+of a value beyond estimate. There were magnificent pearls; an emerald “a span long
+and as thick as a finger,” there was furniture of ebony and ivory, there were coffers
+inlaid with gold and ornamented with precious stones. There was wealth of every kind.
+There was also a splendid library containing, as some historians state, 2,600,000
+volumes, others mention a much smaller number but it was, in any case, at that time
+the largest library in Europe.
+</p>
+<p>Some of those treasures Saladin gave to the officers of his army, some he sent to
+Nur ed din and others were disposed of to obtain sums needed for campaigns against
+the Crusaders and for erecting fortifications, mosques and schools.
+</p>
+<p>Though there was a strong party in Cairo hostile to Saladin, a party composed of officers
+in the Egyptian army, palace dependents and even some of the Syrian officers who were
+embittered by the rapid advance of so young a man, still his adherents were increasing.
+Nur ed din saw with alarm the influence and power of his lieutenant but he knew well
+that embroiled with the Crusaders <span class="pageNum" id="pb237">[<a href="#pb237">237</a>]</span>and the Sultan of Rūm he could not recall the master of Cairo. Hence though alert
+and watchful he remained in apparent friendship, and Saladin was prudent enough to
+render him homage as ruler of Syria and Egypt. Meanwhile to secure his own position
+he gathered his family around him, made his brothers, his nephews, and his relatives
+commanders in the army; and strengthened the fortifications of Cairo.
+</p>
+<p>In June, 1173, by the Atabeg’s command he laid siege to Karak, but scarcely were his
+troops in position when news came that Nur ed din was approaching with his Syrian
+army. Saladin withdrew hastily and returned to Cairo, giving his father’s illness
+as a reason for the withdrawal. In 1174 he sent his elder brother, Turan Shah, with
+an army against Yemen, a place which he thought would be convenient for defence in
+case he were attacked by the Atabeg of Syria.
+</p>
+<p>Abdennebi, a follower of the impious Karmath, was master of that region and had done
+much to oppress and demoralize his people. Turan Shah soon conquered the Yemens and
+for more than fifty years the province remained in the possession of the Abbasids.
+</p>
+<p>Nur ed din died May 6, 1174, and was succeeded by his son Salih, a boy eleven years
+of age. The young prince, incapable of governing, was under control of guardians among
+whom was the eunuch Gumushtegin, a man greatly disliked by the Syrians of Aleppo.
+Master of Egypt and with a large army at his command Saladin could have seized power
+had he so wished, but he remained true to the interests of Salih and at once ordered
+that the name “es Salih, son of Nur ed din” should be mentioned in the Friday prayers
+and engraved on the money.
+</p>
+<p>But trouble began immediately. The Prince of Mosul seizing the opportunity threw off
+allegiance, and annexed Edessa. The Crusaders ever anxious to get possession of Damascus
+threatened the city and withdrew only when the governor, Ibn al Mokadden, gave them
+a large sum of money. In August Gumushtegin took Salih to Aleppo where the commander
+of the army assumed the guardianship of the young prince. The people of Damascus alarmed
+by the proximity of the Crusaders, and in dread of an attack from Aleppo, now begged
+aid of the Prince of Mosul. When he refused they turned to Saladin, who moved by quick
+marches <span class="pageNum" id="pb238">[<a href="#pb238">238</a>]</span>across the desert and entered the city on the 27th of November. Making his brother
+Governor of Damascus he set out for Aleppo.
+</p>
+<p>Upon his arrival at that place he sent to assure the prince that he was in Syria to
+defend cities threatened by Crusaders and by Seif ed din of Mosul. When the governor
+and Gumushtegin closed the gates and refused him entrance Saladin laid siege to the
+city, declaring that he did so to rescue his sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>The eunuch now had recourse to the Assassins. Rashid ed din Sinan, the Grand Prior
+in Syria lived in those days at Massiat, the strongest of the fortresses belonging
+to the Ismailians of that country.
+</p>
+<p>He was the most politic and learned as well as one of the worst of the rulers of the
+Assassin Kingdom and was at this moment all-powerful in the mountains of North Syria.
+Saladin as a strong champion of the Abbasid Kalifs and a man who seemed likely to
+become sovereign was the natural enemy of the Order, hence Sinan was willing to assist
+Gumushtegin especially as his request that Saladin should die at the earliest was
+accompanied by a large sum of money. Three Assassins were sent at once who although
+they reached Saladin’s tent and even his presence failed of their purpose and were
+cut down by his attendants.
+</p>
+<p>At this critical moment the Christians made an attack upon Emesa where a part of the
+Egyptian troops were stationed. Saladin was obliged to raise the siege of Aleppo and
+march to Emesa where he soon had possession both of the town and the citadel. A few
+days later he occupied Baalbek.
+</p>
+<p>The Prince of Mosul and his brother alarmed by the success of Saladin now joined their
+forces to those of Aleppo and advanced against him. The armies met April 13, 1175,
+near Hamath. The troops of Aleppo and Monsul were routed most thoroughly and pursued
+even to the gates of Aleppo.
+</p>
+<p>Saladin, now the greatest power in Egypt and Syria, waited no longer; he at once proclaimed
+himself King and named the dynasty which he founded “The Eyubite dynasty” in honor
+of his father. Twelve months later the Prince of Mosul, who had brought together a
+numerous army, met Saladin near Aleppo where a fierce battle was fought April 22,
+1176. Seif ed din was defeated and lost his camp and his army.
+</p>
+<p>Very soon after this victory Saladin took three important fortresses: <span class="pageNum" id="pb239">[<a href="#pb239">239</a>]</span>Bosaa, Manbidj, and Azaz, the latter only after a siege lasting nearly a month. During
+this siege the king was again attacked by Assassins; the first struck at his head
+with a knife but Saladin seized the man’s hand and an attendant rushed forward and
+killed him. A second and even a third murderer sprang forth but met with no better
+success.
+</p>
+<p>Saladin, greatly alarmed by these repeated attacks, determined to destroy the Assassins,
+or at least drive them out of Syria. In 1177, after peace was established with Mosul
+and Aleppo, he advanced with a large force and blockaded Massiat which was built on
+an almost inaccessible peak commanding a deep ravine. Moslem historians assure us
+that he would have captured this all-important fortress and thus ended the Order in
+Syria had not his uncle, Shihab ed din, Lord of Hamath, begged him to make peace on
+the assurance of Sinan that the king would thereafter be protected from Assassins.
+Other historians assert that he was terrified by the threats of Sinan and relate how
+on a night Saladin awoke and found by his bed some hot scones of a size and shape
+peculiar to the Assassins. Near them, pinned down by a dagger, was a paper containing
+a threat and a warning. Whatever the cause may have been Saladin withdrew to Damascus
+without capturing the Assassin stronghold. Then leaving Turan Shah in command of Syria
+he returned to Cairo after an absence of two years.
+</p>
+<p>Thereafter Saladin campaigned both in Egypt and Syria, took possession of the principal
+cities held by the Crusaders, and won the Holy Land for Mohammedans, but was never
+again attacked by Assassins.
+</p>
+<hr class="tb"><p>
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed II died at Alamut in 1213 from poison, as is stated, leaving a son, Jelal
+ud din Hassan, who was twenty-five years of age at that time. From boyhood he had
+been opposed to the practices of the Assassins. As years passed this opposition became
+so intense that father and son feared each other and when Mohammed died suddenly suspicion
+rested on Jelal. As soon as the new Grand Prior assumed command he announced his return
+to the true tenets of Islam, and gave notice to the Kalif at Bagdad, the Kwaresmian
+Shah and the Governor of Irak of this change in the teachings at Alamut, undertaking
+at the same time to bring all <span class="pageNum" id="pb240">[<a href="#pb240">240</a>]</span>Ismailians to follow his example. Belief seems to have been given to these assurances,
+for when his wife and mother went on a pilgrimage to Mecca they were received with
+distinction at Bagdad and the party of pilgrims who marched under the banner of the
+Alamut ruler preceded all others. He lived only twelve years after coming to the throne
+but during those years he built mosques, established schools and called in learned
+men to teach his people the true faith. Some historians consider Jelal ud din a shrewd
+politician rather than a reformer and assert that he remained an apostle of atheism.
+Be this as it may he did for a short time suppress assassination but it reinstated
+itself quickly when poison removed him and his son, Alai ed din Mohammed, a boy nine
+years of age, reached the throne. During Alai ed din’s reign women of the harem ruled
+at Alamut. Every law established by Jelal ud din, his father, was abolished and atheism
+and the dagger held sway as in the days of Hassan Ben Sabah. When nearing manhood
+Alai ed din showed symptoms of mental disorder but no man had the courage to say that
+the chief was in need of assistance. Had a physician dared to tell the truth on that
+subject he would have been torn limb from limb by the rabble at Alamut. As his illness
+increased his conduct became almost beyond sufferance, though his associates declared
+that what he said and did was divine in its origin. When Alai ed din was eighteen
+years of age a son was born to him. This son he named Rokn ud din Kurshah and made
+him his successor.
+</p>
+<p>From childhood the Ismailians looked upon Rokn ud din as their future Grand Prior
+and showed him honor equal to that given his father. This roused anger in Alai ed
+din and he resolved to depose his son and appoint another successor. When his advisors
+declared that the nomination was final he was enraged and from that time on annoyed
+and tormented his son, till at last Rokn ud din disclosed his whole mind to those
+courtiers who were as much dissatisfied with his father as he was. He declared that
+Alai ed din was ruining the Commonwealth, and that Mongol arms would destroy it because
+of his conduct. “I will withdraw from my father,” said he, “send envoys to the Grand
+Khan and make terms with him.”
+</p>
+<p>The greater number of the chief men agreed with Rokn ud din and promised to defend
+him to the utmost, but in case of attack <span class="pageNum" id="pb241">[<a href="#pb241">241</a>]</span>by his father the person of the chief, as they said, must be sacred<span class="corr" id="xd32e2485" title="Source: ,">.</span> A short time after this pact and agreement<span class="corr" id="xd32e2488" title="Not in source">,</span> Alai ed din when drunk fell asleep in a thatched wooden building near one of his
+sheep pens, a place which he visited whenever he indulged in his favorite amusement
+of acting as shepherd. He was found dead in that house about midnight, his head cut
+from the body. A Turkman and a native of India were found wounded near him.
+</p>
+<p>At the end of eight days, after many had been tortured on suspicion<span class="corr" id="xd32e2492" title="Not in source">,</span> they discovered the murderer. He was a certain Hassan of Masanderan, the late chief’s
+nearest intimate, his inseparable companion, a man whom he loved till his death though
+tormenting him in every way possible.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din instead of bringing this Hassan to trial had him slain quickly, an act
+which confirmed the suspicions which rested on the youthful chief, who gave an additional
+example of savagery by burning with the body of Hassan two sons and one daughter of
+the Assassin. Of course they were innocent, though not only is it possible but probable,
+that they possessed knowledge which Rokn ud din would suppress at all hazards. Thus
+Alai ed din was murdered by an Assassin hired by his own son.
+</p>
+<p>The first act of this new ruler was to order his subjects to observe every practice
+of Islam, and next he took measures to suppress robbery and murder. But only one year
+had passed when the Mongol tempest came. Though Rokn ud din and the Ismailians could
+not foresee it the doom of Alamut and all who belonged to it had been settled. The
+Grand Khan had instructed Hulagu to destroy them, and the master of Persia was advancing
+to the execution.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din sent an officer to Yassaur, at Hamadan to assure him of his submission
+to the Mongol Empire. This general advised him to visit Prince Hulagu, who had just
+come to Persia. Rokn ud din, alarmed for his own safety, answered that he would send
+his brother, Shahinshah, in advance. Yassaur consented to this and charged his own
+son to go with Shahinshah. But meanwhile he entered the Alamut region with an army
+corps of Persians and Turks, and attacked that great fortress June, 1256. After a
+sharp struggle his men were forced back, and out of revenge he destroyed all the harvest,
+and ravaged the country.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu had commissioned Guga Ilga and Kita Buga to finish <span class="pageNum" id="pb242">[<a href="#pb242">242</a>]</span>the conquest of Kuhistan which the latter had begun two years earlier. He had made
+rather slow progress alone, but aided by Guga Ilga he captured Tun and slew all the
+people, excepting young women and children. This done both commanders joined Hulagu.
+</p>
+<p>After Hulagu had received Shahinshah at headquarters he sent Rokn ud din this message:
+“Since thou hast sent thy brother with expressions of submission we will forgive the
+crimes committed by thy father. Raze thy castles and come to our camp. No harm will
+be done to the country.”
+</p>
+<p>When Rokn ud din had demolished several castles and dismounted the Alamut gates with
+those of Meimundiz and Lemsher, Yassaur left Ismailian territory. But Rokn ud din,
+while giving assurances of obedience, and receiving a Mongol governor, asked the term
+of one year in which to do homage to Hulagu.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu sent envoys a second time to induce the Alamut ruler, through promises and
+threats, to visit him. When these envoys were returning Rokn ud din sent with them
+a cousin of his father, and his own vizir Shems ud din Kileki, who were to present
+his excuses and obtain the delay which he asked for. He begged also to retain the
+three castles, Alamut, Lemsher and Lal, engaging in this case to surrender all others.
+He hoped by this yielding to win the delay which he needed. He was merely waiting
+for winter, which would stop every action in that entire mountain region.
+</p>
+<p>The only answer given by Hulagu, who had just captured the castle of Shahdiz, was
+a summons to his camp pitched at that time near Demavend. He added that if Rokn ud
+din needed a few days to bring his affairs into order he might have them, but he must
+send his son straightway.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din, in great dread on receiving this message, replied that he was sending
+his son, and also a contingent of three hundred warriors. He declared that he would
+demolish castles if the land were not invaded. But instead of his son he sent his
+half brother, a boy of seven years, the son of his father and a Kurdistan woman. Hulagu
+saw the trick, but dissembled, was kind to the boy and sent him back saying that the
+child was too young. He required of Rokn ud din now his second brother, Shahinshah.
+The Alamut chief sent this brother, hoping that his own presence would not <span class="pageNum" id="pb243">[<a href="#pb243">243</a>]</span>be demanded. Later on winter would come, as he thought, and confine him to his castle;
+it would also ward off every enemy.
+</p>
+<p>At this juncture Hulagu sent Shaninshah to Rokn ud din with the following message:
+“Thou must destroy Meimundiz, and come quickly. If thou come thou wilt find here good
+treatment, if not God knows and He alone what will happen.”
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din repeated his worn out excuses. Hulagu would not receive them, and commanded
+his troops to march into Rudbar from various points simultaneously. The right wing
+moved from Mazanderan, the left by the Khar route and over Lemnan, while the center
+went by the Talekan highway. By order of Hulagu, who advanced with the center, the
+three hundred men sent by Rokn ud din were cut down near Kazvin, slain in secret.
+Reaching Meimundiz he made a tour of the fortress and summoned a council. Five days
+were given Rokn ud din for surrender. If he yielded in that time no harm would be
+done him or his subjects, but after that term an assault would be ordered.
+</p>
+<p>It was answered that Rokn ud din was then absent, that without his command no man
+could surrender. The Mongols prepared for immediate action. Trees were cut down and
+shaped into beams of right size, borne by men to the neighboring summits and made
+into catapults. Hulagu fixed his tent on the highest position. On the morrow the conflict
+had already begun when Rokn ud din sent a message declaring that since he knew now
+where the prince was he asked that all action be suspended, and on that day, or the
+morrow, he would visit headquarters. Next day he desired to surrender in writing.
+The vizir Ata ul Mulk Juveini was deputed to frame the surrender. The paper was sent
+to Rokn ud din and he promised to yield up the stronghold, but when his brother was
+leaving the fortress such a tumult arose that he was stopped, and every man threatened
+with death who declared for surrender.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din informed Hulagu of this trouble, and the peril in which he then found
+himself. In answer Hulagu begged him not to expose his life needlessly. Meanwhile
+the catapults were mounted and the following morning an attack was begun from all
+points. The combat lasted till evening and was strenuous on both sides. At a season
+when tempests and snow had till that year made all mountain places impassable the
+weather was favorable for siege work and a new attack. The fourth day was opening
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb244">[<a href="#pb244">244</a>]</span>when Rokn ud din thought it best to abandon the fortress. He sent his chief men with
+his son to the camp of the Mongols, and went himself the next morning to fall prostrate
+in presence of Hulagu. With him went his minister, the famous astronomer, Nassir ud
+din, and two great physicians, who had always advised a surrender.
+</p>
+<p>Next day the Mongols marched into Meimundiz. Hulagu treated Rokn ud din kindly, but
+Mongol officers watched him and he was forced to direct Ismailian commandants to surrender
+their fortresses. He himself had to go with Hulagu’s agents to effect every transfer.
+More than forty strong castles surrendered; all were destroyed when their garrisons
+had withdrawn. Alamut and Lemsher were the last strongholds left standing and their
+commandants declared that they would yield only when Hulagu came in person, and Rokn
+ud din ordered the transfer.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu set out for Alamut and halted nine days at Sheherek, the ancient residence
+of the Dilem rulers, where he celebrated the happy end of his enterprise. After that
+he appeared before Alamut and sent Rokn ud din to summon his people to surrender.
+The commandant refused. Hulagu sent now a large corps of men to lay siege to the fortress.
+At this the garrison offered to yield, and sent deputations repeatedly to Rokn ud
+din to intercede in their favor, and save them.
+</p>
+<p>Three days were given to remove what belonged to the garrison personally. On the fourth
+day the Mongols and Persians marched in, seized what was left and set fire to the
+buildings. Hulagu, it is said, himself visited the fortress and was amazed at the
+height of the mountains around it.
+</p>
+<p>The library of Alamut was renowned in those regions, but the vizir and historian,
+Ata ul Melik Juveini, who asked and obtained Hulagu’s permission destroyed every manuscript
+which related to Ismailian opinions and teaching.
+</p>
+<p>The foundations of this famed fortress were laid in 860, and the castle, enormously
+strong through its works and position, was richly provisioned. This was the true head
+and capital of that kingdom of murder. Connected with the castle were great apartments
+cut into the rock, for storage of provisions both solid and liquid; of the latter
+there was wine, honey and vinegar. It was said that those stores had been put there
+one hundred and seventy <span class="pageNum" id="pb245">[<a href="#pb245">245</a>]</span>years earlier, in the days of Hassan Ben Sabah, and were preserved perfectly owing
+to the cleanliness of the place, and the pure mountain air of that region. The waters
+of the river Bahir, conducted to the foot of the fortress, filled a moat which inclosed
+half the stronghold.
+</p>
+<p>A Mongol officer of Persian and Mongol militia now received the command to raze Alamut.
+Much time and great labor were needed to do this.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu then went to Lemsher, but as that fortress would not yield he left Tair Buga
+with a strong corps to take it, and returned to headquarters where he gave a great
+feast, eight days in duration.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din followed Hulagu to Hamadan whence he sent officers with those of Hulagu
+to Syria to order the commandants of Ismailian castles in that country to surrender
+to the Mongols. While in Hamadan the late master of Alamut became enamored of a Mongol
+maiden of low origin. Hulagu gave the girl to him and he married her. Thus far the
+fallen chief had been useful to the Mongol who had treated him with kindness while
+commanding him to deliver up strongholds which might have stood the siege for years
+had the Ismailians resisted. When he had no further use for the man he wished to be
+rid of him, but he had given such a promise of safety that he did not like to break
+his word openly. Rokn ud din saved him from embarrassment by expressing a wish to
+visit the court of Mangu, the Grand Khan. Hulagu beyond doubt suggested this idea
+very deftly through others. He sent the fallen chief with nine attendants of his own
+people under an escort of Mongols (1257).
+</p>
+<p>When Rokn ud din reached the Mongol court Mangu would not see him, and said that the
+authorities in Persia should not have permitted the journey, which wearied post horses
+for nothing. Rokn ud din turned homeward, but when near the mountain Tungat, the escort
+cut him down with his attendants. According to Rashid, Mangu had him killed on the
+way to Mongolia, not while returning.
+</p>
+<p>Since the Grand Khan had given orders to exterminate the Ismailians, Rokn ud din’s
+subjects had been distributed among Mongol legions. When the Assassin chief had set
+out on this journey, which was <span class="corr" id="xd32e2532" title="Source: ignominous">ignominious</span> and doleful, command was given Mongol officers to slay the Assassins, and spare no
+man, woman <span class="pageNum" id="pb246">[<a href="#pb246">246</a>]</span>or child; hence all were massacred. Infants at the breast were not spared any more
+than their mothers. Not a child or a relative of Rokn ud din was left living.
+</p>
+<p>This last ruler of the Assassins was among the most loathsome of characters in history—a
+pitiless coward who had caused the death of his own father, killed the murderer of
+that father without trial lest he tell what he knew of his master’s evil doing, and
+burned the children of the murderer with the corpse of their father lest they too
+might expose him. He gave away power without an effort to save it, and lost his own
+life with indignity.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb247">[<a href="#pb247">247</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch13" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e433">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<h2 class="main">DESTRUCTION OF THE KALIFAT</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Hulagu had destroyed the Assassins: he was now to extinguish the line of the Abbasids.
+In August, 1257, this Mongol master of Persia sent his envoys to Bagdad, with a letter
+to Mostassim, the Kalif then in office, who was a grandson of Nassir, that successor
+of the Prophet who had invited Jinghis Khan to destroy Shah Mohammed.
+</p>
+<p>After certain introductions and complaints in the letter, Hulagu warned against resistance
+substantially as follows: “Strike not the point of an awl with thy fist, mistake not
+the sun for the glowing wick of a flameless taper. Level the walls of Bagdad at once,
+fill its moats; leave government to thy son, for a season, and come to us or, if thou
+come not, send thy vizir with Suleiman Shah and the chancellor. They will take to
+thee our counsels with precision; thus wilt thou use them correctly and we shall not
+be forced then to anger. If we march against Bagdad thou wilt not escape us, even
+shouldst thou hide in the deepest earth, or rise to highest heaven.
+</p>
+<p>“If thou love thy own life and the safety of thy house give ear to these counsels;
+if not the world will behold Heaven’s anger without waiting.”
+</p>
+<p>The answer to this letter showed no sign of fear or humility. “Young man,” replied
+the Kalif, “seduced by ten days of favoring fortune thou art in thy own eyes High
+Lord of the universe, and thinkest thy commands the decisions of destiny. Thou requirest
+of me that which will never be given.
+</p>
+<p>“Knowest not that from the West to the East all who worship God and hold the true
+faith are my servitors? Had I the wish I could make myself master of Iran. With what
+is left of its people I could go beyond Iran and put every man in his real position.
+But <span class="pageNum" id="pb248">[<a href="#pb248">248</a>]</span>I have no wish to rouse war, that scourge of all nations. I desire not that troops
+should at my command wring curses from my subjects, especially as I am a friend to
+the Grand Khan, as well as to Hulagu. If thou sow seeds of friendship how canst thou
+be concerned with the moats and ramparts of Bagdad? Walk in the ways of peace and
+return to Khorassan.”
+</p>
+<p>Three officers carried this answer; they went with Hulagu’s envoys, who were met outside
+Bagdad by an immense mass of people who covered them with insults, tore their clothes,
+spat in their faces, and would have slain them all had not guards rushed out and saved
+the men promptly.
+</p>
+<p>“The Kalif is as crooked as a bow,” said Hulagu on receiving Mostassim’s sharp answer,
+“but I will make him as straight as an arrow. Heaven has given the Empire of the earth
+to Jinghis Khan and his descendants. Since your master refuses submission to this
+power,” added he to the envoys at parting, “war is all that remains to him.”
+</p>
+<p>Mostassim in doubt what to do turned to his vizir who advised him to send precious
+gifts to the Mongols. “There is no better use for wealth,” said he, “than to spend
+it in defending the Kalifat.”
+</p>
+<p>The chancellor accused the vizir of high treason, and added: “We hold every road touching
+Bagdad; if gifts are sent out to the enemy we will seize them.” The Kalif told the
+vizir that his fears were unfounded, that the Mongols would merely threaten; that
+should they make bold to move on the Abbasids they would rush to their own certain
+ruin.
+</p>
+<p>Suleiman Shah, the chief general, and others hastened to the vizir and stormed against
+the Kalif, saying: “Given over to buffoons and to dancers he has no mind left for
+warriors or seriousness. If measures be not taken immediately we shall see the foe
+at our gates, and Bagdad will suffer the fate of all cities taken by Mongols; neither
+high nor low, rich nor poor will escape death by massacre. We are able to collect
+a large army; we hold all approaches; we may fall on the enemy and triumph, or if
+fortune should fail us we can at least die with honor.”
+</p>
+<p>These words were brought to the Kalif and roused him. He charged the vizir to make
+levies, strengthen Suleiman, and guard with all power the safety of Bagdad. The vizir
+made the levies, <span class="pageNum" id="pb249">[<a href="#pb249">249</a>]</span>but made them very slowly. The troops were ready only at the end of five months. Even
+then the neglectful Mostassim would not give the coin needed. Mongol spies knew what
+was happening at all points. There was no chance at that day to stop Hulagu’s armies,
+or surprise them.
+</p>
+<p>The Kalif sent envoys a second time to warn Hulagu against war on the Abbasids whose
+house would endure, as he said, till the end of all ages. Cases were cited of those
+who had touched that sacred house to their own ghastly ruin, the last being Shah Mohammed,
+who died in dire misery on an island of the Caspian. “Keep their fate in mind if thou
+hast their plans in thy counsel.” This was the Kalif’s sharp warning.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu paid small attention to warnings of that kind. He was preparing troops to besiege
+a great city which might have many defenders. His chief camp was at Hamadan, and Bagdad
+must be taken, hence his first point was to seize all the roads between those two
+cities. One road, that over which the left wing of his army must travel, lay among
+mountains and over high passes, snow-covered almost at all times. In these difficult
+districts was the fortress Daritang which commanded a defile and guarded Arabian Irak
+at its boundary. In Daritang the commandant Aké was a man who had griefs of his own
+brought about by the Kalif. Hulagu sent for this person, seduced him with favors,
+engaged him to yield his own fortress, and win over other commandants if possible.
+</p>
+<p>Once at home Aké felt his heart change; he repented. Through a friend he made known
+at Bagdad the plans of the enemy, and declared that if the Kalif would send him one
+corps of trained horsemen he would furnish a hundred thousand good warriors, Turkmans
+and Kurds; with these he would stop every Mongol advance against Bagdad. This offer
+was laid before the vizir, but the Kalif refused it. Hulagu knew all these details
+soon after and sent a strong mounted force to settle with the Daritang commandant.
+The Mongol on nearing the fortress called out the commandant to consult with him,
+as he said. Aké appeared and was seized that same moment. “If thou wish to save life
+for thyself, and save also thy office, call out all thy people; we are taking a census.”
+Aké was submissive and called out the people. “If faithful, thou wilt tear down the
+fortress.” The commandant saw that he had been discovered, still he obeyed <span class="pageNum" id="pb250">[<a href="#pb250">250</a>]</span>calmly and had the fortress demolished. Then he was slain with all the men under him,
+and also his household. Emir <span class="corr" id="xd32e2568" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span>, Aké’s son, fled quickly and wandered about in the mountains, but he sought safety
+in Bagdad at last where they killed him.
+</p>
+<p>The Daritang road once secured, Hulagu called in the astrologer whom the Grand Khan,
+his brother, had given him, to choose days propitious for action of all sorts. This
+man, a religious adherent of the Kalif, and bribed perhaps also, predicted six great
+calamities should Mongols lay siege to the capital of Islam. Nassir ud din, the astrologer
+of Alamut, a Shiite, was summoned. Hulagu asked him: “Will these six things predicted
+come true?” “Surely not one of them.” “What then will happen?” “The city of the Kalif
+will be taken by Hulagu,” replied the adherent of Ali. Nassir then met the other astrologer
+and overcame him by naming the Kalifs who had been killed without causing calamity
+to mankind.
+</p>
+<p>Command was now given the Mongols to converge upon Bagdad. Those in Rūm and the West
+were to march through Mosul, halt somewhat west of the capital and encamp there. These
+men would form the right wing of Hulagu’s army. The left wing would march on the road
+by Daritang to camp northeast of the capital. Hulagu himself was to be in the center,
+hence he took the road through Heulvan by which Mohammed Shah had advanced when he
+met his disaster. From Essed Abad new envoys were sent to the Kalif inviting him to
+visit headquarters. Mostassim refused this, but promised an annual tribute if Hulagu
+would lead away all his warriors. The prince answered that being so near he could
+not go back without seeing the Kalif. But before going farther Hulagu despatched a
+third embassy asking to send the vizir, with the chancellor.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Luristan in greater part had been taken by the Mongols. When the right wing
+was drawing near on the southern bank of the Tigris a real panic seized all people
+who were living in that region and immense crowds sought refuge in Bagdad. Such was
+the panic that men and women rushed into the water in their great anxiety to cross
+the river. Rich bracelets, or all the gold coins which a hand could grasp, were given
+gladly to boatmen for a passage to the city.
+</p>
+<p>Now the chancellor who with the general, Feth ud din, had an army disposed on the
+Heulvan roadway, moved to meet this <span class="pageNum" id="pb251">[<a href="#pb251">251</a>]</span>strong Mongol division. He attacked the vanguard which was beaten, and then pursued
+till it reached the main army. There the Mongols faced the pursuers and a second battle
+began which continued till nightfall. The two armies camped face to face until daybreak.
+During the night the Mongols opened canals from the Tigris and submerged a great plain
+in the rear of their opponents, thus making retreat very difficult, and in places
+impossible. At daybreak a fresh battle followed in which most of the Bagdad men perished.
+The chancellor fled to the city with a very small party. Only then did the Kalif’s
+advisers set about strengthening the walls and defending the capital. Some days later
+the right Mongol wing touched the suburbs along the west bank of the Tigris. Hulagu
+himself attacked the eastern side of the city. Just after the chancellor had fled
+from the field to the city defences the Kalif sent his vizir to headquarters; with
+him went the Nestorian patriarch. The vizir took this message: “I have yielded to
+Hulagu’s wishes, and hope that the prince will remember his promise.” Hulagu gave
+this answer: “I made my demand when in Hamadan. I desired then to see the vizir and
+the chancellor. I am now at the gates of the capital, and my wish may be different.”
+</p>
+<p>Next day the vizir, the home minister, and many among the chief citizens went in a
+body to Hulagu. He would not receive them. The attack was renewed then and lasted
+six days in succession. At the end of that period the whole eastern wall had been
+seized by the Mongols. The investment was absolute, escape by the river was impossible
+either down with the current, or upward against it. The chancellor tried to escape
+but was met by a tempest of stones, burning naphtha and arrows. He was driven back
+after three of his boats had been captured and the men in them slaughtered.
+</p>
+<p>The Kalif saw now that he must bend to the Mongols, and he bent in his own foolish
+fashion: He sent two officials with presents, not too rich or too many lest the Mongols
+might think him over timid, and become too exacting. Hulagu refused these envoys an
+audience. Next the youngest son of the Kalif and the Sahib Divan went to the camp
+of the enemy bearing this time rich presents, but they gained no sight of the great
+Mongol. The eldest son of the Kalif took the vizir and with him made a new trial,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb252">[<a href="#pb252">252</a>]</span>but these two had no more success than the others. On the following day Hulagu sent
+two messengers into the city with this order: “Bring to me Suleiman Shah with the
+Chancellor. The Kalif may come, or not come, as he chooses.” These two men were brought,
+and then sent back to the city to say to all people with whom they had contact that
+they would be taken to Syria, and were to issue forth through the gates without hindrance.
+In the hope of finding safety in some place many persons left Bagdad. These people
+were all parceled out among Mongol divisions, and died by the sword every man of them.
+The Chancellor was put to death first, then Suleiman was led with bound hands into
+Hulagu’s presence. “Since thou hast knowledge of the stars, why not see the fatal
+day coming, and give to thy sovereign due notice?” asked the Mongol. “The Kalif was
+bound by his destiny, and would not hear faithful servants,” replied the commander.
+Suleiman was put to death, and his whole household died with him, seven hundred persons
+all counted. The son of the Chancellor died with the others.
+</p>
+<p>It was the Kalif’s turn then; he went forth with his three sons from Bagdad, three
+thousand persons went with him, high dignitaries and officials. When he appeared before
+Hulagu the prince asked about his health very affably, and then said that he must
+proclaim to the city that all men were to lay down their arms, and come out to be
+counted. Mostassim returned and proclaimed to the people of Bagdad that whoso wished
+for his life had to lay down his arms and repair to the camp of the Mongols. Then
+all people, both warriors and civilians, pressed in crowds toward the gates of the
+city. When outside they were slaughtered, slain every one of them, save the Kalif
+and his sons who were taken to the army on the left wing, and guarded there strictly.
+From that moment the high priest of Islam could see his own fate very plainly.
+</p>
+<p>Three days later on began the sack and the pillage of Bagdad. The Mongols rushed in
+from all sides simultaneously; they spared only houses of Christians and those of
+a few foreigners. On the second day of the city’s undoing Hulagu went to the palace
+in Bagdad and gave a great feast to his commanders; toward the end of that feast the
+Kalif was brought in to stand before Hulagu. “Thou art master of this house,” said
+the conqueror, “I am the <span class="pageNum" id="pb253">[<a href="#pb253">253</a>]</span>guest in it. Let us see what thou hast which might be a good and proper gift to me.”
+</p>
+<p>The Kalif had two thousand rich robes and ten thousand gold dinars brought and many
+rich jewels also. Hulagu would not look at them. “Our men,” remarked he, “will find
+all wealth of that kind, which is for my servitors. Show hidden treasures.” The Kalif
+described then a place in the courtyard. Men went to work straightway and dug till
+they came to two cisterns filled with gold pieces, each piece a hundred miskals. In
+various parts of the palace the Mongols found gold and silver vessels; of these they
+made no more account than if they had been tin or copper.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu desired then that all persons in the harem be counted. Seven hundred women
+and slave girls were found there, and one thousand eunuchs. The Kalif begged to have
+those women given him who had never been under sunlight or moonlight directly. The
+conqueror gave him one hundred. Mostassim chose relatives and they were led forth
+from the palace. All the Kalif’s best treasures were taken to Hulagu’s camp ground.
+Around the immense tent of Jinghis Khan’s grandson were piled up great masses of wealth,
+being a portion of that which the Abbasids had taken from men during half a millennium.
+</p>
+<p>The sack of the city continued seven days and nights in succession; most of the mosques
+were burned during that time. A deputation came then to beg pity of the conqueror.
+Seeing that the place if he spared it might yield him some profit he relented after
+eight hundred thousand human beings had been slaughtered. Those who had hidden from
+death came forth now into daylight with safety; few were they in number and pitiful
+to look at. Many Christians had assembled in a church strongly guarded and were saved
+from death and every evil by the Mongols. The Nestorian Patriarch had power to effect
+this. A few wealthy Moslems had entrusted the best of their treasures to the Patriarch
+to keep for them; they had hoped to survive, but all perished.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu withdrew to the village of Vakaf, some distance from Bagdad, because the air
+of the city had grown pestilential and loathsome. He summoned Mostassim. The trembling
+Kalif asked Ibn Alkamiya if there was no way of salvation. “My beard is long,” replied
+the vizir, referring to a taunt of the chancellor.<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e2594src" href="#xd32e2594">1</a> <span class="pageNum" id="pb254">[<a href="#pb254">254</a>]</span>The Kalif and his eldest son were placed each in a felt sack, and trampled to death
+under horse hoofs. Mostassim’s attendants were cut down, and slaughtered by various
+methods. Next day the youngest son of the Kalif died, and all of the Abbasids whose
+names were on the list of that ruling family were then put to death.
+</p>
+<p>The Kalif, whose mother was an Ethiopian slave, was the thirty-seventh of his line.
+He was forty-six years of age when he died, February 21, 1258, after a reign of fifteen
+years. Hulagu appointed new dignitaries for Bagdad. The old vizir, Ibn Alkamiya, was
+continued in office. Among new men was one quite deserving of notice; this was Ben
+Amran, prefect of a place east of Bagdad and touching it. This man had been a servant
+to the governor of Yakuba. One day when stroking the soles of that governor’s feet
+to bring sleep to him Ben Amran himself began to slumber. Roused by his master he
+said that he had just had a marvelous vision. “What was it like?” asked the governor.
+“I thought that Mostassim and the Kalifat were gone, and that I was the governor of
+Bagdad.” His master gave him in answer a kick of such force that he fell over backward.
+Being in Bagdad during the siege days Ben Amran heard that provisions were scarce
+in the camp of the Mongols. He tied a letter to an arrow and shot it over the wall
+with this message: “If Hulagu would learn something of value let him send for Ben
+Amran.” The letter was taken to the Mongol, and he sent for Ben Amran. The Kalif,
+who was foolish in all things, permitted the man to go from the city. When brought
+to the chief of the Mongols he declared that he could obtain a great stock of provisions.
+Hulagu, though not greatly believing his phrases, sent him off with an officer; Ben
+Amran took the man to large underground granaries near Yakuba where there was wheat
+enough to supply all the Mongols for a fortnight, and thus he enabled Hulagu to continue
+the siege without trouble. Ben Amran received the reward of his treachery, and now
+was made prefect.
+</p>
+<p>Ibn Alkamiya, the vizir, was accused of treason both before the fall of the city,
+and afterward. For a long time the books used in schools bore this sentence: “Cursed
+of God be he who curses not Ibn Alkamiya.” On the Friday next after the death of the
+Kalif these words were pronounced in place of the usual invocation: <span class="pageNum" id="pb255">[<a href="#pb255">255</a>]</span>“Praise to God who has destroyed high existences, and condemned to nonentity dwellers
+in this abode (of humanity). O God, assist us in woes such as Islam has never experienced:
+but we belong to God and return to Him.”
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu was now master of Bagdad, and he proposed to the Ulema this question: “Which
+man is better as sovereign, an unbeliever who is just, or a Moslem unjust in his dealings?”
+The assembled Ulema gave no answer till Razi ud din Ali, a sage esteemed greatly,
+wrote as follows: “The unbeliever who is just should be preferred to the unjust believer.”
+All the Ulema subscribed to this answer.
+</p>
+<p>Every place from the Persian Gulf to Bagdad was subjected. And it is of great interest
+to note the conduct of some and the fate that befell them. The story of Ben Amran,
+the prefect, is in strong contrast with that of Teghele, son of Hezerasp, who had
+given good advice in his day to Shah Mohammed. Teghele had joined the Mongol forces,
+but expressed regret at the ruin of Bagdad, and the death of the Kalif. Hulagu heard
+of this and grew angry, Teghele, informed of his peril, left the camp without permission
+and withdrew to his mountains. A force was despatched to Luristan to bring back the
+fugitive, whose brother, Shems ud din Alb Argun, set out to appease Hulagu and gain
+pardon. Argun was met on the Luristan border by Mongols who put him in chains, and
+slew his whole escort. The Mongols went on then and summoned Teghele to yield himself.
+At first he refused through distrust of their promises, but he made no active resistance.
+When at last they gave him Hulagu’s ring as a token of favor he believed, and they
+took him to Tebriz where Hulagu had him tried, and put to death on the market place.
+</p>
+<p>The throne of Luristan was then given to Alb Argun the brother of the dead man. About
+this time appeared at headquarters the rival Sultans of Rūm, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan,
+and Yzz ud din Kei Kavus; the latter had come with some fear since he had roused Hulagu
+by resistance. When admitted to audience he offered the Mongol a pair of splendid
+boots with his own portrait painted inside on the soles of them. “I hope,” added he,
+“that the monarch will deign to show honor with his august foot to the head of his
+servitor.” These words, and the intercession of Dokuz Khatun, Hulagu’s wife, obtained
+the grace <span class="pageNum" id="pb256">[<a href="#pb256">256</a>]</span>which he needed and was seeking. The brothers were reconciled and Rūm was divided
+between them.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu now summoned Bedr ud din Lulu of Mosul to his presence. This prince was then
+more than eighty years old and very crafty. He had been a slave of Nur ud din Arslam,
+Shah of Diarbekr, who at death left him as guardian to his son Massud. Lulu governed
+Mosul for this Massud who died in 1218 leaving two sons of tender years. These boys
+followed their father to that other existence before two years had passed, and the
+former slave became sovereign. He had reigned in Mosul forty years lacking one, before
+coming to Hulagu’s presence with splendid gifts and apparently unlimited obedience.
+When leaving Mosul, Lulu’s friends were in dread for his safety, but he calmed them,
+and gave this assurance: “I will make the Khan mild, and even pull his ears while
+I speak to him.”
+</p>
+<p>Lulu was received by Hulagu very graciously and when the official gifts had all been
+delivered he added: “I have something for the Khan’s person specially,” and he drew
+forth a pair of gold earrings in which were set two pearls of rare beauty. When Hulagu
+had admired them Lulu continued: “If the Khan would but grant me the honor to put
+these two jewels in their places I should be exalted immediately in the eyes of all
+rulers, and in those of my subjects.” Permission was granted, so he took the Khan’s
+ears and put the two rings in them very deliberately. Then he glanced at his own suite,
+thus telling them that he had kept his strange promise.
+</p>
+<p>The fate of both Christians and Jews had been painful and bitter under Abbasid dominion.
+Favor and solace now came from the Mongols. The invaders cared no more at that time
+for Christians than for the followers of Mohammed, but when attacking new lands it
+was to their interest to win populations which were hostile to the dominant nation.
+The protection of the conquerors, and the shattered condition of Islam, weakened by
+such dire devastation, had roused hopes among Christians to dominate those who had
+trampled them for centuries. Upon the choice which the conqueror would make between
+the religions their fate was depending, and the issue of that struggle to win the
+Mongols was for some time uncertain, but surely momentous. Christians of the Orient,
+as well as Crusaders, were rejoiced to see Hulagu <span class="pageNum" id="pb257">[<a href="#pb257">257</a>]</span>making ready to march upon Syria, and to them it seemed sure that they saw in advance
+the destruction of Islam in regions where Christian blood had been shed so abundantly.
+</p>
+<p>On the eve of this Mongol invasion Syria was ruled by Salih, a descendant of Saladin,
+but Saladin’s grand-nephews had lost Egypt a little before that. While the army of
+Saint Louis was in Damietta the Sultan, Salih, died (1249). His death was kept secret
+till his son Moazzam Turan Shah should arrive from his appanage between the two rivers,
+that is the Euphrates and Tigris. The French army was ruined, and Saint Louis was
+captured. Three weeks later on Turan Shah fell by the daggers of men who had been
+Mameluk chiefs in the reign of his father. He had wished to replace these by friends
+of his own, so they slew him. After this deed the chiefs gave allegiance to Shejer
+ud dur, the late Sultan’s slave girl and concubine. She had enjoyed his full confidence,
+and was governing till Turan Shah might reach Cairo.
+</p>
+<p>Eibeg, a Mameluk chief, was elected commander. Shejer ud dur now married Eibeg and
+when three months had passed she resigned in his favor. In mounting the throne the
+new Sultan took the title Moizz, and chose as associate El Ashraf, an Eyubite prince
+six years old, the great-grandson of Kamil the Sultan. This revolution, which placed
+a Mameluk chief on the throne of the Eyubites, shows how powerful these warriors had
+become then in Egypt. Saladin, on gaining power in 1169, had disbanded the troops
+of the Fatimid Kalifs. Those troops were negro slaves, Egyptians, and Arabs, and he
+put Kurds and Turks in their places. This new force was formed of twelve thousand
+horsemen. Saladin, and the Sultans who followed him, were fond of buying young Turks,
+whom they reared very carefully to military service, but Salih, ruling sixth after
+Saladin, preferred Mameluks to others. Before coming to power this prince had tested
+the Mameluks and esteemed them; when Sultan he increased the number of them greatly,
+by purchase. These new men were brought from regions north of the Caucasus and the
+Caspian, from those tribes known in the Orient as Kipchak, and as Polovtsi by the
+Russians. At first it was difficult to obtain them, but after the Mongol invasion
+of Russia young prisoners were sold in large numbers into Egypt and Syria. Salih had
+a thousand, whom he lodged in the fortress of Randhat, on an island in front of Cairo;
+he called them the <span class="pageNum" id="pb258">[<a href="#pb258">258</a>]</span>Bahriye, or men of the river. These young slaves were brought up in the practice of
+arms, and in the religion of Islam. The guard of the Sultan was composed wholly of
+Mameluks. Salih chose from their chiefs the great officers of his household, and his
+most trusted advisers. They attained the highest military offices, enjoyed the richest
+fiefs, and received the best revenues; they saved Egypt at Mansura, and did most to
+destroy the French army; their power lay in <i>esprit de corps</i> and ambition. Their chiefs rose to dominion in Egypt, and then put a check on the
+Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>Syria belonged now to Nassir Salah ud din Yusseif, who from his father, Aziz, a grandson
+of Saladin, inherited the principality of Aleppo in 1236, and took in 1250, after
+the slaying of Turan Shah, the principality of Damascus, which belonged to the Sultan
+of Egypt. Master now of the best part of Syria, Nassir Salih undertook to drive from
+the throne of Egypt the Turkish freedman, who had recently usurped it, but he was
+beaten by Eibeg, and an envoy of the Kalif proposed mediation; peace was made, and
+Nassir 1251 ceded to the Sultan Jerusalem, Gaza and the coast up to Nablus. Faris
+ud din Aktai, a great chief among Mameluks, was assassinated at command of Eibeg,
+whom he had offended. Seven hundred troopers of this chief and some Bahriye officers
+fled, among others Beibars and Kelavun, both of whom occupied the Egyptian throne
+later on. They left Cairo in the night, went to Syria, and obtained of Prince Nassir
+permission to appear at his court. They received money, robes of honor, and then they
+advised him to march on Cairo. Nassir was distrustful of these men, against whom Eibeg
+had roused his suspicions by letter, but he made use of the incident to demand back
+the lands which he had ceded to Egypt, because the Mameluks who had received them
+as fiefs were now in his service.
+</p>
+<p>Eibeg gave back the lands, and Nassir confirmed the Mameluks in the use of them. But
+those river Mameluks did not remain faithful to Nassir, since they thought him too
+feeble for their projects. They went to another Eyubite, Mogith Omar, Prince of Karak,
+and asked him to aid in the attack upon Eibeg, alleging falsely that they had been
+called to that action by generals in Cairo.
+</p>
+<p>Mogith, a son of the Sultan Adil, had been confined by Turan Shah in the castle of
+Shubek, when Turan had been <span class="pageNum" id="pb259">[<a href="#pb259">259</a>]</span>slain Mogith was set free by the castle commandant. In 1251 this same Mogith became
+sovereign of Karak and also of Shubek. Circumstances seemed to favor a descent upon
+Egypt. The Prince of Karak marched against Egypt, but was beaten by Kutuz, Eibeg’s
+general, who seized many Bahriye chiefs captive and cut their heads off immediately.
+</p>
+<p>Some years before his defeat by Eibeg Prince Nassir had sent to Hulagu his vizir,
+Zein ud din el Hafizzi, who brought back with him letters of safety to his master.
+The immense progress of Hulagu’s arms and his menacing plans disturbed Nassir, who
+grieved now that he had not sent homage earlier to the conquering Mongol. In 1258
+he despatched his son, Aziz, still a boy, with his vizir, a general, and some officers,
+giving also a letter to Bedr ud din Lulu, the aged and crafty Mosul prince, whom we
+know as having pulled Hulagu’s ears at an audience.
+</p>
+<p>When Nassir’s envoys were received by Hulagu, he inquired why their master had not
+come with them. “The Prince of Syria fears,” said they, “that should he absent himself
+his neighbors, the Franks, who are also his enemies, would invade his possessions,
+hence he has sent his own son to represent him.” Hulagu feigned to accept this false
+answer. The envoys, it is said, requested Mongol aid to save Egypt from the Mameluks.
+Hulagu detained Aziz some months, and when at last he permitted the boy to take leave
+and return to his father, the vizir received a message for Nassir, which was in substance
+as follows: “Know thou, Prince Nassir, and know all commanders and warriors in Syria,
+that we are God’s army on earth. He has taken from our hearts every pity. Woe to those
+who oppose us, they must flee, we must hunt them. By what road can they save themselves,
+what land will protect them? Our steeds rush like lightning, our swords cut like thunderbolts,
+our warriors in number are like sands on the seashore. Whoso resists us meets terror;
+he who implores us finds safety. Receive our law, yours and ours will then be in common.
+If ye resist, blame yourselves for the things which will follow. Choose the safe way.
+Answer quickly, or your country will be changed to a desert. Ye yourselves will find
+no refuge. The angel of death may then say of you: ‘Is there one among them who shows
+the least sign of life, or whose <span class="pageNum" id="pb260">[<a href="#pb260">260</a>]</span>voice gives out the slightest of murmurs?’ We are honest, hence give you this warning.”
+</p>
+<p>Since Nassir had no hope of aid to fight Hulagu he chose to make common cause with
+every Mohammedan, and sent back a brave answer. These are some words of it: “Ye say
+that God has removed from your hearts every pity. That is the condition of devils,
+not sovereigns. But is it not strange to threaten lions with bruises, tigers with
+hyenas, and heroes with clodhoppers? Resistance to you is obedience to the Highest.
+If we slay you our prayers have been answered; if ye slay us we go into paradise.
+We will not flee from death to exist in opprobrium. If we survive we are happy; if
+we die we are martyrs. Ye demand that obedience which we render the vicar of the Prophet,
+ye shall not have it; we would rather go to the place in which he is. Tell the man<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e2637src" href="#xd32e2637">2</a> who indited your message that we care no more for his words than for the buzz of
+a fly or the squeak of a Persian fiddle.”
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu gave command to his army to march into Syria. He summoned Bedr ud din Lulu,
+who, excused because of great age, had to send his son, Melik Salih Ismail, with the
+troops of Mosul. When this young man arrived at the camp of the Mongols Hulagu made
+him marry a daughter of Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Kwaresm. Kita Buga went with
+the vanguard, Sinkur, a descendant of Kassar, and Baidju led the right wing, the left
+was commanded by Sunjak. Hulagu set out with the center, September 12, 1259. He passed
+Hakkar, where all Kurds whom they met were cut down by the sword, not one man being
+spared. On entering Diarbekr Hulagu took Jeziret on the Tigris, and sent his son Yshmut
+with Montai Noyon to take Mayafarkin, an old and famous town northeast of Diarbekr,
+whose Eyubite prince, Kamil Nasir ud din Mohammed, he wished to punish for hostility
+to the Mongols. He was all the more angry since this man had been received well years
+before that by Mangu the Grand Khan, and given letters which put his lands under that
+sovereign’s protection. Hulagu accused Kamil now of crucifying a Syrian priest, who
+had come to his court with the Grand Khan’s safe-conduct; with having expelled Mongol
+prefects, and with having sent a corps of troops to help Bagdad at demand of the Kalif—<span class="pageNum" id="pb261">[<a href="#pb261">261</a>]</span>these troops when they had gone half the distance turned back on learning that the
+capital had fallen. To finish all, Kamil had been in Damascus asking Prince Nassir
+to march on the Mongols. It was at this time that Hulagu sent his son to punish Prince
+Kamil, who had barely returned with vain promises when he found himself sealed in
+at Mayafarkin securely.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu summoned next to obedience Saïd Nedjmud din el Gazi, Prince of Mardin. That
+prince sent his son, Mozaffer Kar Arslan, his chief judge, and an emir with presents,
+and a letter in which he alleged severe illness as his excuse for not giving personal
+homage. Hulagu sent the following answer, making the judge go alone with it to his
+master: “The prince says that he is ill, he says this because he fears Nassir of Syria,
+and thinks that if I should triumph he must be friendly with me hence he feigns this
+illness, and if I fail he will be on good terms with Nassir.”
+</p>
+<p>The son of Bedr ud din Lulu was sent against Amid. Hulagu himself took Nisibin. He
+had encamped close to Harran, and received the submission of its people, who were
+spared, as were also the inhabitants of Koha, who followed the example of Harran;
+but the people of Sarudj, who sent no deputation to beg for their lives, were cut
+down with the sword every man of them.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu’s march spread dismay throughout Syria. Prince Nassir had spent his time thus
+far in discussing with Mogith. The year before a corps of three thousand horsemen
+came to Syria; these were deserters from Hulagu’s army, so called Sheherzurians, doubtless
+Kurds of Sheherzur. Nassir took these men to his service, and gave them good treatment;
+on hearing that they wished to desert him for Mogith he doubled his bounty, but still
+they passed over to Mogith. With these men and the Mameluks Prince Mogith considered
+that he could master Damascus. Nassir went out to meet him and camped near Lake Ziza.
+He staid there six months discussing conditions with Mogith, through envoys. It was
+agreed at last that the latter would yield up his Mameluks to Nassir, and discharge
+the Bahriyes.
+</p>
+<p>This treaty concluded, Nassir went back to Damascus. On learning that Hulagu was at
+Harran, he consulted his generals and resolved on resistance. Nassir fixed his camp
+at Berze, a short distance north of Damascus, but he could not confide in his army;
+volunteers, Turks and Arabs, he knew that his generals <span class="pageNum" id="pb262">[<a href="#pb262">262</a>]</span>and soldiers greatly feared Hulagu’s victors. He himself was a man of weak character
+who roused no respect in his army.
+</p>
+<p>Seeing Nassir’s alarm, Zein ud din el Hafizzi, the vizir, extolled Hulagu’s greatness
+and counseled submission. Indignant at this an emir, Beibars Bundukdar, sprang up
+one day, rushed at the vizir, struck the man, cursed him, and said that he was a traitor
+seeking the destruction of Islam. Zein ud din complained to Nassir of these insults.
+Nassir himself was assailed that same night in a garden, by Mameluks, who had determined
+to cut him down immediately, and choose a new Sultan; he barely succeeded in fleeing
+to the citadel, but returned later on to the camp at the prayer of his officers. Beibars
+left for Gaza whence he sent an officer named Taibars to Mansur the new sovereign
+of Egypt with his oath of fidelity.
+</p>
+<p>At a council, held to discuss coming perils, it was settled without any dissent, that
+the prince, his officers, and his warriors should send their families to Egypt. Nassir
+sent thither his wife, a daughter of Kei Kobad, the Seljuk Sultan, he sent also his
+son, and his treasures. Next followed the wives, sons and daughters of officers, and
+a great throng of people. The fears of individuals were communicated to the army,
+officers went, as if to take farewell of their families, but many of those officers
+never returned to their places. Thus Nassir’s army was disbanded.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir now asked assistance of Mogith, and besides sent Sahib Kemal ud din Omar to
+Cairo to obtain aid from the Sultan. Eibeg had just been slain by the hands of Shejer
+ud dur, his wife, who, convinced that he was ready to slay her, had been too quick
+for him. Prompt punishment was inflicted: Shejer was given to the widow of Sultan
+Aziz, who, assisted by eunuchs and females, beat her to death, stripped her body and
+hurled it over the wall to the moat of the fortress, where it lay several days without
+clothing or burial.
+</p>
+<p>Eibeg’s son, Mansur, a boy fifteen years of age, was raised to the throne, with Aktai,
+a former comrade of his father, as guardian, or Atabeg, to be followed soon by Kutuz,
+who had once been a slave of his. When Nassir’s envoy arrived the Egyptian general
+held council in presence of the Sultan. At the council this question was put to the
+chief judge and the elders: “Is it possible to levy a legal war tax on the nation?”
+The answer was that after needless <span class="pageNum" id="pb263">[<a href="#pb263">263</a>]</span>objects of value had been taken from people, and sold, a tax might be levied. This
+was accepted by the council. The Sultan was a boy who had been spoiled by his mother,
+hence was unfitted for rule at that terrible period. Kutuz desired supreme power and
+was ready to seize it as soon as the generals would start for Upper Egypt. When they
+had gone he imprisoned the Sultan with his brother and mother, and was then proclaimed
+sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>Captured by Mongols in boyhood, Kutuz had been sold in Damascus, and later in Cairo.
+He declared himself a nephew of the Kwaresmian ruler, Shah Mohammed. Manumitted by
+Moizz ud din Eibeg he added El Moizzi to his name, thus following the Mameluk custom.
+</p>
+<p>When generals condemned Kutuz for taking the dignity from Mansur he referred to Hulagu,
+and the fear caused by Prince Nassir of Syria. “All I wish is to drive out the Mongols.
+Can we do that without a leader? When we have driven out this enemy, choose whom you
+please as the Sultan.” Thus he pacified his rivals and, feeling sure in his power,
+removed Mansur with his mother and brother to Damietta. In the following reign they
+were sent to Stambul, the Turkish capital, and remained there.
+</p>
+<p>The new Sultan imprisoned eight generals, then, receiving the oath of the army, he
+prepared his campaign against the Mongols. First he sent an assuring epistle to Nassir,
+swearing that he would lay no claim to that prince’s possessions; that he looked on
+himself as Nassir’s lieutenant in Egypt, that he would put him on the throne if he
+would come at that juncture to Cairo. If the prince wished his services he would march
+to his rescue, but if his presence was disquieting the army would go with the chief
+whom Prince Nassir might indicate.
+</p>
+<p>This letter, borne to the prince by an officer from Egypt, who went with the envoy
+whom the prince had sent to Egypt asking for aid, allayed the suspicions of Nassir.
+Danger was imminent, Hulagu had just marched into Syria. Master of all lands between
+the Euphrates and Tigris, Hulagu laid siege to El Biret on the first of these rivers,
+and took it. In that citadel <span class="corr" id="xd32e2665" title="Source: Said">Saïd</span>, the Eyubite prince, who had been nine years in prison, was freed by Hulagu and put
+in possession of Sebaibet and Banias. The Mongol then crossed the Euphrates by bridges
+of boats at Malattia, Kelat ur Rūm, El Biret, and Kirkissia; he sacked the city Mahuj,
+and <span class="pageNum" id="pb264">[<a href="#pb264">264</a>]</span>left garrisons in El Biret, Nedjram, Joaber, Kallomkos, and Lash, having put to the
+sword their inhabitants. After that he marched with all his armed strength on Aleppo.
+</p>
+<p>The terror which preceded the Mongols drove multitudes of people from the city to
+seek shelter in Damascus, while still greater numbers were fleeing from Damascus to
+Egypt. The season was winter, many perished from cold on the journey, the majority
+had been robbed of their property, and to complete their distress and great wretchedness
+the plague was then raging throughout Syria and worst of all in Damascus.
+</p>
+<p>One Mongol division came now and camped near Aleppo, a part of it marched on the city
+from which the garrison sallied forth followed by volunteers from among the lowest
+people. These, finding the enemy superior in numbers, and resolute, returned through
+the gates very quickly. Next day the bulk of the Mongol division approached the walls
+closely. The chiefs of the garrison went out to the square where they counseled. Though
+Prince Moazzam Turan Shah, the governor, had forbidden attacks on an enemy so evidently
+superior, a part of the troops, and with them a crowd of common people, marched out
+to the mountain Bankussa which they occupied. Seeing Mongols advancing, some of those
+on the mountain hurried down to attack them. The Mongols turned to flee, the others
+pursued for the space of an hour and fell into an ambush. Those who escaped from the
+trap fled back toward Aleppo, pursued by the enemy. When abreast of Bankussa the people
+who had remained on the mountain rushed down toward the gates of the city, and a great
+number perished. That same day the Mongols appeared at Azay, a town somewhat north
+of Aleppo, and took it.
+</p>
+<p>In a few days Hulagu came and summoned Prince Moazzam, its governor, to surrender:
+“Thou canst not resist us,” said Hulagu. “Receive a commandant from us in the city,
+and one in the citadel. We are marching now to meet Nassir; should he be defeated
+the country will be ours, and Moslem blood will be spared by thee. If we are beaten
+thou canst expel our commandants, or kill them.” The Prince of Erzen ur Rūm bore this
+summons to which Moazzam answered: “There is nothing between thee and me but the sabre.”
+</p>
+<p>The walls of Aleppo were strong, and inside was a good stock of weapons. The besiegers
+made in one night a firm counter wall; <span class="pageNum" id="pb265">[<a href="#pb265">265</a>]</span>twenty catapults were trained on the city, which was taken by assault on the seventh
+day of investment January 25, 1260. When Aleppo had been sacked during five days and
+nights, and most of the inhabitants had been cut down, Hulagu proclaimed an end to
+the massacre. The streets were blocked up with corpses. Only those men escaped who
+found refuge in four houses of dignitaries, in a Mohammedan school, and a synagogue,
+all these were safe-guarded. One hundred thousand women and children were sold into
+slavery. The walls of Aleppo were leveled, its mosques were demolished, its gardens
+uprooted and ruined. One month later on the citadel yielded. The victors found immense
+booty in the stronghold and also many artisans whom they spared for captivity.
+</p>
+<p>Prince Nassir was in his camp at Berze near Damascus, when he received news of the
+sack of Aleppo. His general advised to retreat upon Gaza and implore the Sultan Kutuz
+for assistance. Nassir left Damascus defenseless and set out for Gaza with the Hamat
+Prince, Mansur, and a few others who had clung to him. By Nassir’s command all who
+could go to Egypt were to start immediately. Terror reigned in Damascus; property
+was sold for a song, while the value of camels was fabulous.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir halted a short time at Nablus, and when on the way from that city to Gaza two
+officers whom he had left there with troops were captured by Mongols and slaughtered.
+This swift approach of the enemy made him retire to El Arish, whence he sent an envoy
+to Sultan Kutuz, imploring him to send succor quickly.
+</p>
+<p>After Nassir had gone Zein ud din el Hafizzi, the vizir, closed the gates of Damascus,
+and decided with the notables to surrender to the envoys who had been sent by Hulagu
+to see Nassir at Berze. Hence a deputation of the most distinguished men went with
+rich presents and the keys of the city to Hulagu’s camp near Aleppo. Hulagu put a
+mantle of honor on the chief of these men, and made him grand judge in Syria. This
+cadi returned to Damascus immediately and called an assembly. Appearing in the mantle,
+he read his diploma, and an edict which guaranteed safety to all men. But in spite
+of grand words of this kind consternation and dread were universal.
+</p>
+<p>Two commandants came now, one a Mongol, the other a Persian, who gave orders to follow
+the wishes of Zein ud din el Hafizzi, <span class="pageNum" id="pb266">[<a href="#pb266">266</a>]</span>and treat the inhabitants with justice. Soon after this Kita Buga arrived with a body
+of Mongols, safety was proclaimed at his coming, and respect for life and property.
+The citadel refused to surrender but was taken after sixteen days of siege labor.
+The commandant and his aid were beheaded at Hulagu’s direction. Ashraf, the Eyubite
+prince and grandson of Shirkuh, who after the departure of Nassir for Egypt went to
+give homage to Hulagu near Aleppo, had been reinstated in the sovereignty of Hims,
+which Nassir had taken from him twelve years before, giving Telbashir in exchange
+for it. Hulagu now made Ashraf his chief lieutenant in Syria. Ashraf arrived at Merj-Bargut
+and Kita Buga commanded Zein ud din el Hafizzi and the other authorities of Damascus
+to yield up their power to him.
+</p>
+<p>After reducing Aleppo Hulagu moved against Harem, a fortress two days’ journey toward
+Antioch. The garrison was summoned to surrender with a promise under oath that no
+man would be injured. The defenders replied, that the religion which Hulagu held was
+unknown to them, hence they knew not how to consider his promise, but if a Moslem
+would swear on the Koran that their lives would be spared, they would surrender the
+castle. Hulagu asked whom they wished as the man to give oath to them; they replied
+Fakhr ud din Saki, last commandant in the citadel of Aleppo. Hulagu sent this man
+with directions to swear to everything asked of him. On the faith of his oath the
+place was delivered. All then were ordered to go forth from Harem. Hulagu, angry that
+his word had been questioned, put Fakhr ud din to death straightway, and slaughtered
+the whole population, not pitying even infants. He spared one person only, an Armenian,
+a jeweller of skill, whom he needed.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb267">[<a href="#pb267">267</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e2594">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e2594src">1</a></span> “Long beard, short wit,” an Arabic proverb.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e2594src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e2637">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e2637src">2</a></span> This man was Nassir ud din the astronomer who had been at Alamut, and had confounded
+the astrologer favorable to the Kalif.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e2637src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch14" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e445">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<h2 class="main">VICTORY OF KUTUZ, SULTAN OF EGYPT</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Hulagu received news now of the death of Mangu, the Grand Khan, and deciding at once
+to return to Mongolia, he made Kita Buga commander of the armies in Syria, and when
+departing ordered him to level the walls of Aleppo and its citadel. A deputation of
+Crusaders came at this time to Kita Buga.
+</p>
+<p>It is said by historians, that Hulagu had resolved to take Palestine from the Moslems,
+and give it to Christians, and that he was about to do this when news came of Mangu’s
+demise in Mongolia. He turned homeward immediately, intending to strive for his own
+elevation, but he learned in Tebriz that his brother, Kubilai, was elected, and this
+stopped his journey.
+</p>
+<p>From El Arish Nassir had hastened on toward Kathia, but Kutuz, now in Salahiyet, not
+desiring an Eyubite prince as a ruler for Egypt, wished to render him harmless. He
+wrote to the chiefs under Nassir’s command, among others the false Sheherzurians,
+and requested them to enter his service, offering high places, and money as he did
+so. Seduced by these offers the Turks and Kurds deserted Nassir. There remained with
+the prince, but his brother and a very few other men. On reaching Kathia he dared
+not go farther toward Egypt, so changing his road he went on by the desert toward
+Shubek; when he arrived there, he and the men with him had naught but their horses
+and two or three servants. He held on farther toward Karak; the sovereign of that
+place sent horses, tents, and all needed articles to Nassir with the statement that
+he might stay with him or go to Shubek. Nassir would do neither; he continued his
+journey to Balka, but, betrayed by two Kurd attendants who informed Kita Buga of his
+whereabouts, he was seized near Lake Ziza by Mongols and taken to their general, who
+was laying siege then to Ajalon. The general forced Nassir <span class="pageNum" id="pb268">[<a href="#pb268">268</a>]</span>to order the commandant to surrender that fortress to the Mongols. The commandant
+obeyed after certain resistance and Ajalon, that stronghold built by Iziz ud din,
+one of Saladin’s emirs, was leveled to the ground. The Mongols had a short time before
+taken possession of Baalbek and ruined that city and its citadel. Kita Buga now sent
+Nassir to Tebriz with his brother and Salih, son of the Hims prince. Mogith, Prince
+of Karak, sent his son Aziz, a boy six years of age, with him. When they passed through
+Damascus Nassir was greatly affected and when he saw the ruins of Aleppo he wept,
+unable to restrain his grief.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu received Nassir well and promised to reinstate him in Syria when he should
+subdue Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>Egypt, up to that time a refuge for those who were fleeing from Mongols, now felt
+the terror of a threatened invasion. The Mongols had conquered all lands invaded by
+them thus far, hence most men felt certain that they would take Egypt. The Africans
+living in Cairo returned to their distant homes because of this conviction. Soon after
+Hulagu’s departure for Persia envoys announced themselves in Cairo, and summoned the
+Sultan to obedience; war was threatened in case of refusal. Kutuz called a great council
+immediately to decide upon final action. Nassir ud din Kaimeri, a Kwaresmian general
+who had just left the service of Nassir, favored war and declared for it. “No one,”
+he said, “could believe Hulagu who has broken faith with the Alamut chief, with the
+Kalif, with Aké, commandant of Daritang, and with the Prince of Erbil.” Beibars, the
+emir from Damascus, called for war also. After some debate every chief present agreed
+with the Sultan. “It is well,” said Kutuz. “We take the field. Victors or vanquished
+we shall do our whole duty, and Moslems hereafter will never make mention of us as
+of cowards.”
+</p>
+<p>It was then decided that Hulagu’s envoys must die, hence they were thrown into prison
+to await execution. The Sultan made immense efforts; he levied tribute, illegal in
+Islam; he taxed revenues, he taxed heads, but that was still insufficient; then he
+seized the goods of all who had deserted Nassir for his sake. Nassir’s wife had to
+yield up a part of her jewels; other women were forced to make similar sacrifices.
+Those who did not part with their jewels willingly were ill-treated. When ready for
+marching Kutuz took an oath of fidelity from his generals, and set out from <span class="pageNum" id="pb269">[<a href="#pb269">269</a>]</span>his castle called the Castle of the Mountain July 26, 1260. His forces of a hundred
+and twenty thousand strong were composed of the army of Egypt, of Syrians who had
+passed to his service, of Arabs, and also of Turkmans. On the day of departure he
+had the chief Mongol envoy and the three next in dignity beheaded, one in each quarter
+of Cairo. The four heads were exposed at the gate of Zavila; of the twenty-six envoys
+remaining he spared only one, a young man whom he placed in a company of Mameluks.
+A summons was issued throughout Egypt for every warrior to march in that struggle
+for Islam. All had to go, if any man tried to hide himself the bastinado was used
+on him without mercy.
+</p>
+<p>Kutuz sent an envoy to demand aid of Ashraf of Hims, the chief governor of Syria under
+Hulagu’s orders, and <span class="corr" id="xd32e2705" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span>, who had been liberated from prison in El Biret and had received Sebaibet and Banias
+as his portion. <span class="corr" id="xd32e2708" title="Source: Said">Saïd</span> abused the envoy, but Ashraf received him, and in private prostrated himself in his
+presence through respect for Kutuz, who had sent him, and added in answer to the message:
+“I kiss the earth before the Sultan, and say to him, that I am his servant, and subject
+to his orders. I am thankful that God has raised up Kutuz, for the succor of Islam.
+If he combats the Mongols our triumph is certain.”
+</p>
+<p>At Salahiyet Kutuz held a council; the greater part of the leaders refused to go farther;
+they wished to wait at Salahiyet. “O chiefs of Islam,” said the Sultan<span class="corr" id="xd32e2713" title="Not in source">,</span> “I march to this holy war, the man who is willing to fight in it will follow me;
+he who is unwilling may return, but God will not take his eye off that recreant. On
+his head will be counted the dishonor of our women and the ruin of our country.” From
+every leader who liked him he took an oath then to follow and next morning he sounded
+the signal to march against the Mongols. The chiefs who had wished not to go were
+borne away now by the example of others; the whole army moved forward and entered
+the desert. Beibars, who commanded the vanguard, had, with other Bahriyan chiefs,
+quitted Nassir and joined Kutuz, who gave him the district of Kaliub as an income.
+Beibars found the Mongols at Gaza, but they left the place straightway, and he entered
+it unopposed. The Sultan made only a brief halt at Gaza, and moved along near the
+coast line. Kita Buga, who heard at Baalbek of this hostile advance, <span class="pageNum" id="pb270">[<a href="#pb270">270</a>]</span>sent his family and baggage to Damascus, collected his troops, and set out to encounter
+the forces of Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>The two armies saw each other first on the plain of Ain Jalut (Fountain of Goliah),
+between Baissan and Nablus. Before the battle Kutuz spoke with great feeling to his
+generals, and strengthened them for the conflict. He mentioned the peoples whom the
+Mongols had ruined, and he threatened his hearers with the same lot unless they won
+victory. He roused them to liberate Syria, and vindicate Islam; if not they would
+earn Heaven’s wrath and dire punishment. Moved by his words they shed tears, and swore
+to do all that was in them to hurl back the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>The two armies met September 3, 1260. The Egyptians entered the battle without confidence.
+At first they were timid and confusion appeared in the left wing which turned to flee;
+at that moment the Sultan cried out: “O God, give Thou victory to thy servant Kutuz.”
+He charged then in person, cut into the thick of the enemy, and performed miracles
+of valor. He charged again and again, encouraging others to meet death, and fear nothing.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the left wing had rallied, re-formed, and reappeared on the battlefield.
+These warriors fought now with invincible fury, and stopped not till they had broken
+the ranks of the Mongols, who fled after having lost most of their officers. Kita
+Buga was killed in the action. A Mongol division entrenched on a neighboring height
+was attacked, and cut to pieces. The emir, Beibars, surrounded the fugitives, of whom
+only a very small number escaped. Some hid among reeds near the battle-ground; Kutuz
+set fire to the reeds and all those men perished. When the great battle was over the
+Sultan came down from his horse, and returned thanks to God in a prayer of two verses.
+Prince <span class="corr" id="xd32e2722" title="Source: Said">Saïd</span>, who had fought on the side of the Mongols, came now to surrender. On dismounting
+he went to the Sultan to kiss his hand, but Kutuz kicked his mouth, and commanded
+an equerry to cut his head off immediately.
+</p>
+<p>In the rage of that terrible battle the young Mongol placed by Kutuz among Mameluks
+found a chance, as he thought, to avenge his father; but one of those near him seized
+his hand in time to turn aside the missile which, missing Kutuz, killed the horse
+on which he was riding.
+</p>
+<p>The camp of the Mongols, their women, and children, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb271">[<a href="#pb271">271</a>]</span>baggage fell into the hands of the <span class="corr" id="xd32e2730" title="Source: conquerers">conquerors</span>. Hulagu’s commandants were slaughtered wherever the Moslems could seize them. Those
+in Damascus were able to save themselves. News of the Mongol defeat arrived there
+September 8 in the night between Saturday and Sunday. The commandants rushed off immediately.
+Seven months and ten days had they occupied Damascus. September 9 the Sultan sent
+from Tiberias a rescript to Damascus, announcing the victory which God had given Islam.
+This news caused a joy all the greater since Moslems had despaired of deliverance
+from the Mongols, deemed until that day invincible. Their delight was unbounded, hence
+they rushed straightway to the houses of Christians where they pillaged and slew all
+unhindered. The churches of Saint James and Saint Mary were burned. Jew shops were
+plundered most thoroughly, and the houses of that people with their synagogues were
+saved only by armed forces. Next the turn came to Moslems who had been partisans and
+agents of the Mongols; these too were massacred without pity.
+</p>
+<p>Kutuz arrived at Damascus with his army, and entered the city two days later. He hanged
+a number of Moslems, who had favored the Mongols, among others the Kurd who had betrayed
+Nassir; he hanged also thirty Christians and forced the remainder to contribute one
+hundred and fifty thousand drachmas.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars, who was sent to pursue the fleeing Mongols, hurried forward to Hamath. The
+fugitives, when almost overtaken, abandoned their baggage, let their prisoners go
+free, and rushed toward the seacoast, where they were captured, or slain by the Moslem
+inhabitants. Noyon, who was powerless to resist the Egyptians, withdrew to Rūm with
+the remnant of his warriors.
+</p>
+<p>Kutuz, who had saved Egypt and become master of Syria as far as the Euphrates, was
+the only man of that period who could have turned back the tide of Mongol conquest.
+He now gave fiefs and rewards to whomever his good-will selected. He gave the government
+of Damascus to Sindjar; and of Aleppo to Mozaffer, a son of Bedr ud din Lulu; Prince
+Mansur was confirmed in possession of Hamat; Ashraf, Prince of Hims, Hulagu’s chief
+lieutenant in Syria, asked grace of the Sultan and got it. When he had named all his
+lieutenants in Syria Kutuz left Damascus for Egypt Oct. 5th. Beibars, who had shown
+immense valor in battle, asked for <span class="pageNum" id="pb272">[<a href="#pb272">272</a>]</span>the government of Aleppo, and failing to get it, conceived such resentment that with
+six other malcontents he formed a plot to assassinate the Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>Between Koissem and Salahiyet the Sultan left his road for a short hunting trip; the
+conspirators followed till they found him unattended. Beibars then approached Kutuz
+and begged for a favor which was granted; he took the Sultan’s hand to kiss it; that
+moment one of the six struck Kutuz on the back of the neck with a sabre, a second
+man pushed him down from the horse, a third pierced his body with an arrow, and Beibars
+with a last blow took life from the Sultan, October 25, 1260, The assassins left the
+body of Kutuz where he died and hastened on to his camp at Salahiyet. They entered
+the Sultan’s pavilion and immediately set about enthroning Bilban, an emir, the most
+considerable person among them. Fari ud din Aktai, the Atabeg, ran in and asked what
+they were doing. “Taking this man for Sultan,” said they as they pointed at Bilban.
+“What is the Turk usage in cases of this kind?” inquired Aktai. “The slayer succeeds,”
+was the answer. “Who slew the Sultan?” “That man,” said they pointing to Beibars.
+The Atabeg took Beibars by the hand and led him to the throne of the Sultan. “I seat
+myself here in the name of the Highest,” said Beibars, “now give your oath to me.”
+“It is for thee to swear first,” said the Atabeg, “to treat them with loyalty and
+give them advancement.” The new Sultan made promises in that sense and swore to them,
+the others then gave their oath of allegiance.
+</p>
+<p>After this unexpected enthronement Beibars started for Cairo where he arrived just
+at midnight. The city had been adorned at all points for Kutuz, the deliverer of Islam.
+The people were waiting and expecting to see their famed ruler, and rejoice at the
+victory of the faithful. What was their wonder and amazement when heralds at daybreak
+passed through all Cairo and shouted: “O people, implore divine favor for the soul
+of El Mozaffer Kutuz, and pray for Ez Zahir Beibars your new Sultan.”
+</p>
+<p>All were in great consternation for they feared the Bahriyans and their tyranny. Beibars,
+a man of the Kipchak, or Polovtsi Turks, had been sold at Damascus for eight hundred
+drachmas, but the purchaser found a white spot on his eye and broke the bargain. He
+was bought then by Emir Eidikin Bundukdar; <span class="pageNum" id="pb273">[<a href="#pb273">273</a>]</span>following Mameluk usage he called himself Beibars el Bundukdari. In 1246 the Eyubite
+Sultan, Salih, disgraced Eidikin, took his Mameluk, and advanced Beibars until he
+became one among the highest Bahriyans.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars now made his old owner a general, and gave him the government of Damascus.
+Hulagu had given Damascus and its province to Prince Nassir, and had sent him from
+Hamadan, with an escort of three hundred Syrians, on the eve of the day when news
+came that the Mongols were crushed at Ain Jalut. It was suggested to Hulagu then by
+a Syrian that Nassir on getting Damascus would join Kutuz surely. Thereupon <span class="corr" id="xd32e2747" title="Source: Halagu">Hulagu</span> sent three hundred Mongols on horseback to follow Nassir. They came up with the prince
+in the mountains of Salmas where they killed him, and spared no man of his suite except
+the astrologer, who gave the historian Bar Hebraeus the details of this slaughter.
+Hulagu was impatient to avenge the defeat of Ain Jalut, but, occupied greatly by the
+death of Mangu, he could not begin an expedition at that time.
+</p>
+<p>As we have stated, Mayafarkin had been summoned to surrender and then besieged by
+Yshmut while his father, Hulagu, was advancing on Aleppo. Prince Kamil of Mayafarkin
+gave this answer to the summons: “I have learned from the fate of other sovereigns
+to put no trust whatever in Mongols and will fight to the utmost.” Inflaming the courage
+of his people, he opened all his supplies and every treasure, not wishing, as he said,
+to act like the Kalif of Bagdad who lost life and an Empire through avarice. He began
+by a sortie, in which he slew many besiegers. He had in his service a man of rare
+skill in hurling great stones with catapults. This man did immense harm to the assailants;
+they too had a man of much art in this matter whom they got from Bedr ud din Lulu,
+late prince of Mosul. It is said that once the two men discharged their engines at
+the very same instant and the two stones from their catapults met in the air and shivered
+each other to fragments. Two champions of wonderful strength came out of Mayafarkin
+each time with a sortie, and never retired till they had left on the plain many Mongols.
+The siege turned in time to a blockade, and with the blockade appeared famine. The
+besieged were forced to eat dogs, cats, shoes, and at last they ate people. After
+the blockade had continued a full year and resistance <span class="pageNum" id="pb274">[<a href="#pb274">274</a>]</span>was exhausted, the inhabitants sent to Yshmut declaring that there were no more defenders
+in Mayafarkin. He sent Oroktu Noyon, who found only seventy half famished people.
+The Mongols rushed in to pillage. The two champions went to a house top whence they
+killed men as they passed them; surrounded at last they refused to surrender and died
+fighting desperately. In the spring of 1260 the famous old town of Mayafarkin was
+in the possession of Mongols. Prince Kamil and nine Mameluks were captured, taken
+to Telbashir, and led into the presence of Hulagu, who put Kamil to death in a horrible
+manner: bits of flesh were torn from his body and thrust down his throat until life
+left him. His head, cut off and fixed on a lance, was borne from Aleppo to Hamath,
+and taken finally to Damascus. There it was carried through the streets and tambourines
+and singers moved before it. At last it was tied to the wall next the gate El Feradis
+(Paradise) where it hung till Kutuz made his entry after the victory of Ain Jalut.
+The Sultan had this head placed in the mausoleum of Hussein, son of Ali.
+</p>
+<p>Of the nine Mameluks in Mayafarkin eight were put to death. The last man was spared
+because he had been chief hunter for the Prince of Mayafarkin, and Hulagu took him
+into his service.
+</p>
+<p>Yshmut now attacked Mardin at command of his father. Hulagu had invited <span class="corr" id="xd32e2758" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span> of Mardin to come to him, but <span class="corr" id="xd32e2761" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span> was distrustful, and sent his son Mozaffer, to render homage at Aleppo; Hulagu sent
+him back to Mardin and said: “Tell thy father to come; prevent his revolt and thus
+save him.” The father would not listen and imprisoned Mozaffer; then Hulagu sent troops
+against Mardin. The place was on a height beyond reach of projectiles, and the attackers
+were forced to blockade it. At the end of eight months an epidemic and famine had
+produced fearful ravages; Prince <span class="corr" id="xd32e2764" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span> died of the malady or, as some historians state, of poison administered by his son.
+Mozaffer was set free then and surrendered; Hulagu gave him Mardin which he kept till
+his death in 1296.
+</p>
+<p>After the capture of Bagdad and the destruction of the Kalifat Abul Kassin Ahmed,
+an uncle of the Kalif Mostassim, had succeeded in escaping and had found a refuge
+among Beduins in Irak till 1261, when he went to Damascus attended by Arabs. Beibars
+sent orders at once to treat this descendant of Abbas with <span class="pageNum" id="pb275">[<a href="#pb275">275</a>]</span>distinction, and conduct him to Egypt. When Kassin Ahmed approached Cairo, June 19,
+1261, the Sultan went out to meet him with a great suite of military leaders, also
+cadis, ulema and an immense throng of people, followed by Jewish Rabbis bearing their
+Scriptures, and Christian priests bearing with them the Gospels.
+</p>
+<p>Four days later the chief functionaries and the ulema assembled in the palace, and
+Ahmed’s genealogy was established. Taj ud din the chief justice gave him the oath
+of allegiance, next the Sultan pledged his homage and faith in case the new Kalif
+acted always according to the Divine law of Islam, and all traditions of the Prophet,
+commanded what the law commands, forbade what the law forbids, and walked in the ways
+of the Almighty. Also that he received legally in the name of God the contributions
+of the faithful and gave them to those who had the right to receive them. The Kalif
+then invested Beibars with the sovereignty of countries submitted to Islam, and those
+which God might permit him to free from unbelievers. This act of investiture was fixed
+in a diploma, which was given to the Sultan. Then every man present pledged faith
+to the Kalif, now called Al Mostansir Billahi, and gave him homage. The Sultan sent
+an order to every prefect in the provinces to have the new Kalif recognized, his name
+mentioned in public prayers and stamped on new coinage. The Kalif gave the Sultan
+a mantle of the House of Abbas. Some days later this successor of Mohammed rode forth
+in public on a white steed with black trappings. He wore a black turban, a violet
+mantle, a collar of gold, and the sabre of a Beduin. On the day of installation the
+Kalif invested the Sultan with robes of office, and put a gold chain on his neck.
+After that the vizir read the diploma conferring sovereign power upon Beibars. The
+Sultan now mounted and rode through the city with great pomp and the utmost solemnity,
+preceded by the vizir and the grand marshal, who carried alternately above their heads
+the diploma given by the Kalif. All houses were decorated, and the Sultan’s horse
+walked on the richest of stuffs which had been spread on the streets of his passage.
+</p>
+<p>The following Friday the Kalif preached in the mosque of the citadel; the Sultan,
+uncertain of the effect which he might produce, and to be sure of results in every
+case, so arranged as to shower <span class="pageNum" id="pb276">[<a href="#pb276">276</a>]</span>gold and silver coins from above on his person, and thus interrupt the discourse which
+he was giving.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars now formed for the Kalif a household with all the officers, horsemen and servants
+which were requisite. He added one hundred Mameluks, each having three dromedaries
+and three horses; he gave also two thousand mounted warriors, and a body of Beduins.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan and the Kalif left Cairo for Damascus September 4th, 1262. On the 10th
+of October the Kalif took the road for Bagdad, attended by the generals Seïf ud din
+Bilban and Sonkor of Rūm who had been deputed to go with him to the Euphrates, and
+to hold themselves ready to follow into Irak at the first signal from the Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>The three sons of Bedr ud din Lulu, then princes of Mosul, Jeziret and Sindjar, set
+out with the Kalif, but halted at Rahbah despite his entreaties, leaving with him,
+however, sixty <span class="corr" id="xd32e2780" title="Source: Mamluks">Mameluks</span>. Mostansir was joined at that place by Yezid, an emir who was chief of the Al Fazl,
+and had with him four hundred Beduins, and by Eidikin, an emir who brought with him
+thirty horsemen from Hamath.
+</p>
+<p>Advancing by the western bank of the Euphrates they met at Ana the Abbasid Iman, Al
+Hakim, attended by seven hundred Turkmen; Al Burunli, the <span class="corr" id="xd32e2785" title="Source: Marmaluk">Mameluk</span> chief who had seized command of Aleppo in spite of the Sultan, had made Al Hakim
+set out with these horsemen. The Kalif overtook Hakim and his party at the river where
+the seven hundred Turkmen deserted.
+</p>
+<p>Thereupon Hakim adhered to Mostansir, and was ready to assist in installing him at
+Bagdad. The people of Ana had refused to receive Hakim. The Sultan of Egypt, they
+said, had recognized a Kalif who was coming; to him alone would they open the gates
+of their city.
+</p>
+<p>When Mostansir appeared he was met with due homage. Haditse acted like Ana, but Hitt
+refused sternly to open its gates and was taken by violence. The Kalif entered the
+city November 24 with his warriors, who plundered both Christians and Jews without
+mercy.
+</p>
+<p>Kara Buga, the commander of those Mongols who guarded Arabian Irak, hearing of Mostansir’s
+approach marched against Anbar with five thousand cavalry. Anbar was friendly to the
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb277">[<a href="#pb277">277</a>]</span>Kalif and might give him aid. Kara Buga entered the city on a sudden and cut down
+the people on all sides. Bahadur Ali, governor of Bagdad, went hither also with the
+troops in his garrison. These two commanders after joining their forces near Anbar
+encountered the new Kalif who, ranging the Turkmans on his right, the Arabs on his
+left, charged himself in the center. Bahadur’s troops took to flight and the greater
+part threw themselves into the river. Kara Buga put some of his forces in ambush and
+waited. When the Turkmen and Arabs met the Mongols they fought very little, and rushed
+off in panic. The center, now left unsupported, was surrounded and overpowered, crushed
+into disorder and cut to pieces. The Kalif was lost in that chaos, and was never seen
+again. According to some he was killed, others said that he escaped to Arabs and died
+of his wounds while among them.
+</p>
+<p>Mostansir was, as is said, a man of great strength and good courage, with a loftiness
+of bearing very different indeed from Mostassim, the last Kalif of the Kalifat, who
+was trampled to death under horsehoofs at Hulagu’s camp ground. But whatever his merits
+this adventure reached the acme of folly. It is difficult to explain how the Sultan
+of Egypt with all his shrewd management could have spent so much treasure on a journey
+foredoomed beyond doubt to disaster, unless he had a sinister motive in the enterprise,
+and wished it to end in the destruction of that Kalif whom he had perhaps inaugurated
+through diplomacy and for his own aggrandizement. One historian declares that Beibars
+was sending ten thousand warriors to set up the Kalif in Bagdad, and giving him as
+aids the Prince of Mosul and his brothers, when one of these warned the Sultan that
+the Kalif if settled in Bagdad might take Egypt from him. We may well suppose that
+Beibars wished simply to establish his own power with firmness, and give himself freedom
+in Islam, and that he wished to be rid of the new Kalif so as to put in his place
+a man who could not be strong, and who would be obedient. Hakim, who met the late
+Kalif at Anbar, claimed to be fourth in descent from Mostershed who was slain in 1135
+by the Assassins. This Hakim now fled to Egypt, where Beibars received him with distinction
+and gave him a residence in the palace called Munasir al Kebesh. His duties were simply
+to legitimize with the holiness of Islam the Sultan of Egypt, <span class="pageNum" id="pb278">[<a href="#pb278">278</a>]</span>and ward off all Fatimid pretensions. His power beyond that was as nothing. He was
+styled “Shadow of God upon Earth, Ruler by command of God.” He lived this life for
+forty years and was first in that line of Egyptian Kalifs who were puppets of the
+Mameluke sovereigns. An end was put to that line only when Egypt was conquered by
+Selim I. and the Turkish Sultans took to themselves the Kalifat, and became the successors
+of Mohammed.
+</p>
+<p>Salih, the eldest son of Bedr ud din of Mosul, met a worse fate by far than the Kalif.
+Soon after the accession of Beibars Salih’s brother <span class="corr" id="xd32e2801" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span>, who had been driven from Aleppo by the Mamelukes, went to Egypt, whence he wrote
+to his brother advising a visit to Beibars, who when he had conquered the Mongols
+could make Salih ruler not of some petty place in the West but of great Eastern regions.
+This letter was kept very carefully by Salih, who took it to bed with him. Ibn Yunus,
+an official who had been a great personage in Bedr ud din’s day, stole it from under
+the coverlet while Salih was sleeping. He set out immediately for Baashika his birthplace
+in the province of Nineveh.
+</p>
+<p>On missing the letter Salih sent two slaves to Baashika. Ibn Yunus, fearing dire punishment
+if caught, turned toward Erbil and at Bakteli, on the way, he advised one Abad Ullah
+to flee with all his people without waiting, for Salih would destroy every Christian
+and escape straightway to Egypt. He fled then to Erbil.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Salih, fearing lest Ibn Yunus might give the letter to the Mongols, withdrew
+with his son, Alai ul Mulk, toward Syria. Turkan Khatun, his wife, would not go with
+him. She remained in Mosul with Yasan, the Mongol prefect. She and Yasan shut the
+gates and prepared a defence for the city. One of Salih’s officers, Alam ud din Sanjar,
+left him while journeying and returned to occupy Mosul. He found the gates closed
+and began to attack them. This attack lasted several days unsuccessfully. At last
+a number of citizens threw the gates open and he entered. The prefect and Salih’s
+wife fled to the citadel.
+</p>
+<p>Sanjar killed all the Christians who would not accept Islam, hence many renounced
+their religion to save themselves.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Kurds attacked places in the surrounding country, and slew a great number
+of Christians. They took the Kudida convent by storm and put to death many of its
+inmates. <span class="pageNum" id="pb279">[<a href="#pb279">279</a>]</span>The monastery of Mar Matthew they besieged during four months with warriors on foot
+and one thousand on horseback. They attempted to storm it, but the monks repelled
+every effort, and burned all scaling ladders with naphtha. The Kurds now let down
+two immense rocks from a neighboring mountain top. One of these remained fast in the
+wall and was fixed there like a stone in its setting; the other passed through and
+left a wide breach behind it. When the Kurds tried to rush through the opening the
+monks met them with a desperate valor, using stones, darts, and every weapon in the
+monastery. They kept the Kurds out and filled up the great breach. The Abbot, Abunser,
+fought with the foremost and lost one eye in that venomous struggle. But in time the
+defenders were failing and would have been forced to surrender had the attacks been
+continued. But the Kurds too had their weakness. They greatly feared an attack from
+the Mongols, though this they concealed very cleverly, and even extorted a ransom.
+The monks gave the silver and gold of the churches, and all the treasure which they
+could get from the people, after which the Kurds left them.
+</p>
+<p>At Erbil the Mongol emir, Kutleg Beg, cut down men and women without mercy. Salih’s
+officer, Sanjar, having heard that the Mongols were moving on Mosul, marched out and
+engaged them; he was killed and his forces defeated. Salih, the Melik of Mosul, and
+his son had gone meanwhile to Beibars who was then at Damascus with the new Kalif.
+He was received with great pomp by the Sultan, as were also his brothers. Horses and
+banners and robes of honor were presented to them, also diplomas confirming their
+titles. These diplomas were strengthened further by the Kalif. The three brothers
+then escorted the Kalif to Rahbah, as has been already stated, where they left him,
+each going back to his own place.
+</p>
+<p>Salih returned to Mosul which was at that time invested by Mongols. Samdagu, the commander,
+having learned from a spy that Salih was coming, withdrew to a point not remote from
+the city where he waited. When Salih had passed the gate, Samdagu reinvested it with
+two tumans of warriors and twenty-five catapults. He then began siege work which lasted
+from December till summer.
+</p>
+<p>Salih gave good gifts to his garrison, and promised that the Sultan <span class="pageNum" id="pb280">[<a href="#pb280">280</a>]</span>would send reinforcements. The defence was a brave one and effective. One day eighty
+Mongols succeeded in scaling the bulwarks, but were killed every man of them and their
+heads shot out from catapults to their comrades.
+</p>
+<p>Samdagu felt need of reinforcements which came to him promptly from Hulagu. At last
+the Sultan commanded Akkush, who was governing Aleppo, to march on Mosul and relieve
+it. He set out, and sent a pigeon with news of his coming. This bird settled down,
+by a wonderful chance, on a catapult in Samdagu’s army, was caught, and through the
+letter attached to it gave notice not to the Prince of Mosul but to Samdagu.
+</p>
+<p>Samdagu sent straightway a strong corps of warriors to beat Akkush back and destroy
+him if possible. The Mongols were placed in three ambushes where they waited. The
+Egyptians suffered partly from these ambushes and partly from a fierce wind which
+blew in their faces, and hurled clouds of sand at them. The Sultan’s army was slaughtered
+except a mere remnant. The Mongols attacked then the people of Sinjar, killed nearly
+all the men and seized captive the women and children. Next they put on the clothing
+of Akkush’s dead warriors and moved toward Mosul. When nearing that city they were
+seen from the watch-towers by the people, who mistook them for forces sent by the
+Sultan, and went out in large numbers to meet them. These citizens were surrounded
+immediately by the Mongols and slain to the very last person.
+</p>
+<p>When the siege had continued six months the fierce heat of summer was raging and each
+side ceased its action. The Mongol commander made a promise to spare all and send
+Salih to Hulagu with a request for full pardon. Thereupon Salih yielded and sent to
+Samdagu a letter containing the terms of surrender.
+</p>
+<p>He went to the Mongol camp from the city June 25, 1262, with presents and dainties,
+preceded by dancers, musicians and harlequins. The Mongol commander, forgetting all
+promises, would not receive Salih, or look at him, nay more, he put the prince under
+a strong guard immediately.
+</p>
+<p>But Samdagu reassured the people; they were to be of good cheer he declared and fear
+nothing. Meanwhile they must tear down the walls and remove them. They did this work
+straightway, and when all was cleared, and the whole place was laid open, <span class="pageNum" id="pb281">[<a href="#pb281">281</a>]</span>a massacre began in that woebegone city. Nine days did that terrible slaughter continue,
+till the sword had finished every one. Mosul was deserted, not a soul now remained
+there. It was only when the Mongols had moved far away that eight or ten hundred people
+who had hidden in the hills and in caverns crept out and came back to inhabit the
+city.
+</p>
+<p>The first governor of this spectral and death-stricken Mosul was that Ibn Yunus who
+had stolen the letter from Salih and betrayed him.
+</p>
+<p>Salih was sent to Hulagu for a judgment. The sentence was revolting and hideous. The
+late Prince of Mosul was deprived of his clothing and wrapped in a sheepskin just
+stripped from the animal. This skin was fastened firmly round Salih who, exposed to
+the sun of July in that climate, suffered terribly. The skin was soon covered with
+a life most repulsive and the all conquering worm now lived with Salih. The Prince
+had passed a whole month in that horrible sheepskin when death came to him.
+</p>
+<p>His son, Alai ud din, a boy of three years, was sent back to Mosul and put to death
+there. They made the child drunk, tied cords around his middle very tightly in such
+fashion as to force upward his entrails; they then cut his body across into two pieces
+and hung one on each bank of the Tigris, on a gibbet. Mohai, son of Zeblak, who with
+others had opened the gates to Salih, was beheaded.
+</p>
+<p>Samdagu after his triumph at Mosul marched on to Jeziret to which he laid siege all
+the following winter and spring and a part of the summer of 1263. This place was saved
+from destruction by the bishop, Hanan Yeshua (Grace of Jesus), a Nestorian, who through
+his knowledge of alchemy was a favorite of Hulagu, to whom he went straightway and
+obtained a yarlyk, or decree securing their lives to the people. The gates were thrown
+open to Samdagu, who had the walls leveled at once. Gulbeg, an officer of the Jeziret
+prince, was made governor, but Samdagu on learning soon after that Gulbeg had given
+the late prince’s messenger gold which that prince himself had secreted, put Gulbeg
+to death promptly.
+</p>
+<p>About this time Salar of Bagdad, a deserting emir, went from Irak to Egypt. This man
+was a native of Kipchak and had once been a Mameluk of Dhahir, the Kalif, and from
+him received rule <span class="pageNum" id="pb282">[<a href="#pb282">282</a>]</span>over Vassit, Kufat and Hillet; this he retained under Mostassim and Mostansir. After
+the ruin of Bagdad by Hulagu, Salar joined his forces with others in resisting the
+Mongols, but finding that they had not strength to do anything effective he went to
+the desert of Hidjaz and was six months in it when a message from Hulagu bestowed
+former rule on him. He went and took it. When Beibars became Sultan he wrote to Salar
+repeatedly inviting him to Cairo. Salar was inclined to the visit but deferred it;
+he wished to secure all his treasures.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Sultan said one day to Kilidj of Bagdad: “Salar thy friend is coming
+to see me.” “I do not think he will come,” said the other, “he is ruling in Irak,
+why leave what he has which is certain for something in Egypt?” “Very well,” said
+the Sultan, “unless he comes of himself I will force him.” Beibars then sent a messenger
+to Salar with letters, as it were in reply to some others; he sent a second man also
+to kill the first as soon as he crossed Salar’s boundary, and leave the man where
+he fell with the letters upon him. All this was done as Beibars had commanded. Mongol
+outposts discovered the body and searched it. The letters were sent to the court for
+perusal. In Hulagu’s service there were sons of former Mameluks of the Kalif. These
+men told Salar directly what had happened and he knew straightway that Beibars had
+tricked him. He received soon an order to appear at the Mongol court, but fearing
+death there from Hulagu he fled to the Sultan of Egypt, leaving behind both his family
+and property.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars received him with distinction and bestowed on the fugitive a military command
+with a fief of good value.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu was stopped now very seriously in his plans against Syria and Egypt by the
+Golden Horde Khan, Berkai, his cousin, son of Juchi. The death of Batu, 1255, was
+followed quickly by that of Sartak his son and successor. Next after Sartak came Sartak’s
+infant son, Ulakchi, under the care of his mother. The child died some months later
+and Berkai, the third son of Juchi, was put on the throne in 1256. Berkai had been
+converted to Islam and was spreading its doctrines effectively. Strong through support
+of Mangu, the Grand Khan, whom he had helped to the Empire, Berkai now reproached
+Hulagu with needless cruelties, with slaughter of both friends and enemies; with the
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb283">[<a href="#pb283">283</a>]</span>ruin of many cities; with the death of the Kalif, brought about without sanction of
+the Jinghis Khan family. There were still other causes of complaint. Three descendants
+of Juchi had marched into Persia with Hulagu: Balakan and Tumar, a grandson and great
+grandson of Juchi. These two at the head of Batu’s contingent, and Kuli, also a grandson
+of Juchi. Kuli led the contingent of Urda’s, his father. Tumar was accused before
+Hulagu of attempting to harm him, through witchcraft. He confessed guilt when examined
+while in torture. Hulagu out of respect for Berkai sent Tumar to him attended by Sugundjak,
+a commander. Berkai, thinking that Tumar’s offence had been proven, sent him back
+to Hulagu, who had the prince put to death without waiting. Balakan died soon after
+as did also Kuli. Berkai supposed these deaths caused by poison and was enraged. The
+families of those princes escaped then from Persia. Policy may have played a large
+part in these murders, for Berkai and the descendants of Juchi desired the election
+of Arik Buga, while Hulagu favored Kubilai in the contest for Grand Khanship. Hulagu,
+tired of excessive reproaches from Berkai, was ready for warfare. On hearing this,
+Berkai declared his intention of avenging the blood of his relatives and many thousands
+of others. He sent southward an army of thirty thousand commanded by Nogai, a cousin
+of Tumar, who marched on and camped near Shirvan beyond the Caucasus. When the troops
+of the princes descended from Juchi saw war breaking out between their own sovereign
+and Hulagu they left Persia quickly. One part went home through Derbend, another,
+pursued by <span class="corr" id="xd32e2841" title="Source: Halagu’s">Hulagu’s</span> warriors, passed through Khorassan to seize upon Gazni and lands touching India.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu left Alatag, his summer camp ground, and marched at the head of an army gathered
+in from all Persia. On November 11, 1262, his vanguard commanded by Shiramun was thoroughly
+defeated near Shemaki, but some days later Abatai repaired this reverse by a victory
+near Shirvan.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu advanced to continue this victory and met the enemy north of Derbend near the
+Caspian. Nogai was put to flight and pursued by a large force of warriors who seized
+a camp left by him north of the Terek in which were vast numbers of cattle and of
+women and children. Hulagu’s army remained at that camp <span class="pageNum" id="pb284">[<a href="#pb284">284</a>]</span>and for three days continued to drink, and to yield themselves up to every indulgence
+accessible.
+</p>
+<p>All on a sudden Nogai reappeared with his army. Hulagu’s men were surprised near the
+river and thoroughly defeated (January 13, 1263). The only escape for survivors was
+to cross the frozen river. They tried this, the ice broke and immense numbers sank
+in the Terek. Hulagu returned to Tebriz greatly grieved and cast down by the overthrow,
+but he summoned at once a new army and avenged his wrath on those merchants of Kipchak
+whom he found in Tebriz at his coming. He put them to death, and then seized their
+property. Berkai answered straightway by killing all traders within his reach who
+were subjects of Hulagu, and living in Kipchak. Hulagu next killed Bokhara people.
+Population had grown in that city, though not greatly, since its ruin. It reached
+seventeen thousand according to a census. Of these five thousand were subjects of
+Kipchak, three thousand belonged to Siurkukteni, the mother of Hulagu, and the rest
+to the Grand Khan. Hulagu commanded that those five thousand subjects of Berkai be
+driven to the plains near the city; there the men were slaughtered with swords; the
+women and children were reduced to captivity.
+</p>
+<p>In 1264, the year following, report ran that Nogai was to lead an attack on lands
+south of the Caucasus. While Hulagu was preparing to meet this, Jelal ud din, son
+of the second chancellor to the late Kalif, told Hulagu that there were thousands
+of Kipchaks then living in Persia who would serve in the vanguard with readiness.
+They knew northern methods of warfare, and would be, as he said, of use beyond others
+in the campaign against Berkai. Hulagu sent this man to summon those warriors, and
+commanded that supplies, arms, and money be given him in sufficiency, and that no
+one should thwart him.
+</p>
+<p>When Jelal had assembled those people of Kipchak he declared that Hulagu would put
+them in the vanguard to be slain there. “I do not wish this,” said he. “Follow me
+and we will free ourselves from Mongols.” He gave the men money and arms from the
+treasury and arsenals of Bagdad; then, he told the commandant of the city that to
+gather provisions he was making a raid against Kafadje Arabs, at war with Hulagu;
+that done, he would march toward Shirvan. He crossed the Euphrates, all his men following,
+taking with them their families and baggage. Then he <span class="pageNum" id="pb285">[<a href="#pb285">285</a>]</span>declared to them that he was going to Syria and Egypt. Hulagu was beside himself with
+anger when he learned of Jelal’s treachery.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars, the shrewd Sultan of Egypt, noting Hulagu’s alertness, and the movements
+of Berkai, which might mean, as he thought, an invasion of Syria, sent mounted men
+toward the boundary of Persia to reconnoitre. Later on he commanded the people of
+Damascus to move to Egypt with their families for safety, and thus leave more food
+for his warriors. He instructed the governor of Aleppo to burn all the grass in the
+regions toward Amid. This was done to the width of ten days’ journey. Information
+came next to the Sultan that a Kipchak detachment had appeared in his territory. These
+men, people told him, were subjects of Berkai and were from the contingent given Hulagu
+on his coming to Persia. Berkai had recalled them, if stopped they were to take refuge
+in Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan commanded his officials to treat these men well, to give them provisions
+and clothing. They came to Cairo about two hundred strong and under four captains.
+Each captain received the land given to commanders of a hundred. Beibars gave also
+clothing, horses and money. All became Moslems. This generous treatment induced others
+to seek an asylum in Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>When he had talked with these strangers concerning their sovereign and country the
+Sultan resolved to send envoys to Berkai. He chose for this office Seïf ud din Keshrik,
+a man who had once served Jelal ud din the Kwaresmian Sultan; he knew the country
+to which he was sent and its language. Madjd ud din, a juris-consult, went with him.
+Two men of the Kipchaks who had received hospitality from Beibars were attached to
+the party. The envoys bore a letter from Beibars assuring Berkai of the Sultan’s good
+feeling and urging him to act against Hulagu.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan’s troops made up of many nations were lauded; his vassals, Mohammedan and
+Christian, were mentioned; the letter ended by stating that a body of warriors had
+visited Cairo and declaring themselves subjects of Berkai, had been received gladly
+because of him. To this letter the pedigree of the new Kalif, Hakim, was added.
+</p>
+<p>The envoy and his associates set out for the Volga, but were stopped in Greek regions
+by the Emperor Michael<a class="noteRef" id="xd32e2862src" href="#xd32e2862">1</a> who had complaints <span class="pageNum" id="pb286">[<a href="#pb286">286</a>]</span>against Berkai whose troops had been raiding his possessions. Michael had sent some
+time before a Greek document in which he had sworn peace and amity to the Sultan.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars summoned straightway the Patriarch and bishop to get their decision on oath
+breaking. They declared that by breaking an oath a sovereign abjures his religion.
+Beibars sent to the Emperor this document signed by the Patriarch and bishops; he
+sent also a letter to Berkai, in which he implored him to stop all attacks on the
+Empire.
+</p>
+<p>Michael now freed the envoys, who sailed over the Black Sea and landed at Sudak whence
+they crossed the Crimea and went to Sarai situated somewhat east of the Volga. They
+were twenty days making that journey. Berkai’s vizir, Al Furussi, went out to meet
+them. When instructed in Sarai ceremonial they were taken to Berkai, who was in a
+tent large enough for five hundred persons. They left behind every weapon and were
+careful not to touch the threshold while entering. Presented on the left of the throne
+they were taken with the suite to the right of it, after the letter from Beibars had
+been read before Berkai. At the right of the Khan sat his principal wife. Fifty or
+sixty high officers occupied stools near him.
+</p>
+<p>The Khan addressed several questions to the envoys. He did not detain them at Sarai
+without need and sent with them envoys to the Sultan at Cairo where Seïf ud din arrived
+after an absence of two years.
+</p>
+<p>About six months after the Sultan’s men had started from Cairo two envoys from Berkai
+arrived in that city; both men were Mussulmans and had passed through the Byzantine
+capital. One was an officer, Jelal ud din el Kadi, the other a Sheik, Nur ud din Ali.
+Beibars, who had just come from Syria after the taking of Karak, gave them an audience
+in the Castle of the Mountain in presence of his commanders and a numerous assembly.
+</p>
+<p>Berkai announced in a letter that he with his four brothers had received Islam. He
+proposed an alliance against Hulagu, asking to send a corps of Egyptians toward the
+Euphrates. He expressed also interest in one of the Rūm Sultans, Yzz ud din, and asked
+Beibars to aid him.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan gave these envoys from Berkai many proofs of munificence, and when they
+were going he added his envoys to the <span class="pageNum" id="pb287">[<a href="#pb287">287</a>]</span>company. These envoys took with them an answer on seventy pages half margin. Rich
+presents went also to Berkai, a copy of the Koran, made, as was stated, by Osman the
+Kalif, with Osman’s pulpit and prayer carpet; tunics, candelabras and torches from
+Barbary; all kinds of linen from Egypt; cotton stuffs, morocco, tapestry, sabres,
+bows, arms, helmets, breast pieces, saddles, bridles, boxes filled with arrow heads,
+vases of dried grapes, gilded lamps, black eunuchs, women who could prepare delicate
+dishes, Arab horses, dromedaries, white camels, wild asses, a giraffe, and some balsam.
+A turban which had been in Mecca was added also, for Beibars had sent an officer in
+Berkai’s name on a pilgrimage to the holy city, and messengers to Medina and Mecca
+to put the Khan’s name next his own in the public prayer of each Friday; this was
+done also in Jerusalem and Cairo. He sent to Berkai the first Friday sermon of the
+new Kalif.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars sent back with the Berkai envoys the two hundred warriors from Kipchak.
+</p>
+<p>Three months after the envoys had gone thirteen hundred Kipchaks set out for Cairo.
+Beibars commanded to treat them well on the way, and he went out to meet them. They
+dismounted and bowed to the earth when they saw him. Soon after a second and a third
+party came. Among these were ten officers of distinction with the title of Aga. All
+were treated most liberally. Beibars asked them to accept Islam. This they did, accepting
+the faith in his presence.
+</p>
+<p>The Sultan received also in Cairo a number of high officers from Fars, chiefs of the
+Arab tribe, Kafadje, and the emir of Arabian Irak. These came to seek an asylum in
+Egypt, and he gave them fiefs. The next year he sent Shuja ud din, one of his chamberlains,
+to Berkai, begging him to stop his people from raiding the lands of the Byzantine
+Emperor, who had asked his good offices. He sent at the same time three turbans to
+Berkai which he had worn while making the pilgrimage to Mecca, two marble vases and
+other presents.
+</p>
+<p>While Hulagu was defending his northern frontier against Berkai’s armies Hayton, the
+King of Cilicia, attacked Egyptian regions. Hayton when returning from Hulagu’s court
+saw at Heraclea Rokn ud din, the Rūm Sultan, with whom he formed a close friendship.
+On reaching home he summoned troops and marched against Aintab.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb288">[<a href="#pb288">288</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Beibars, informed always with accuracy of what was happening near his borders, had
+already commanded troops in Hamat and Hims to march on Aleppo. Egyptian troops followed
+quickly. The Armenians were surprised, and put to flight with some loss. Hayton summoned
+in seven hundred Mongols, who were in Rūm at that juncture, and advancing, was joined
+by one hundred and fifty from Antioch. This little army encamped on the steppes of
+Harem where it suffered from rain, snow and scant food and was at last forced to retreat,
+losing meanwhile many warriors.
+</p>
+<p>Hayton had a thousand Mongol coats and caps which he put on his men to make it seem
+that Mongol troops had come to him. This trick merely brought more Egyptians against
+him. They attacked Hayton in force and dispersed his small army; after that the Sultan’s
+men rushed into Antioch lands, and committed great havoc.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars was informed now by secret servants in Irak that Hulagu had sent two agents
+to corrupt leading officers of Egypt, and that these men would visit Siss as they
+traveled. This news was confirmed by his agents in that capital of Armenia. The Sultan
+learned afterward from Acre that those two agents had gone to Damascus; he commanded
+to arrest them directly. Brought to Cairo they could not deny the accusation, so Beibars
+hanged them promptly.
+</p>
+<p>The Egyptians intercepted this same year a letter from Hulagu to Mogith, Prince of
+Karak; this seemed an answer to some communication, from which it might be inferred
+that the prince had been asking the Mongols to take Egypt, and also Syria to Gaza.
+Beibars set out straightway for Gaza, and feigning great friendship for Mogith invited
+him to Gaza. Mogith made the visit, but the moment he entered the camp he was seized.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars next summoned the chief judge of Damascus, the princes, feudatories, commanders
+and notable persons, also European ambassadors, and had Hulagu’s letters to Mogith
+read in their presence. He declared thereupon that this letter was the cause of the
+prince’s detention. After that he seized Karak and returned to Cairo where he took
+Mogith’s life without waiting.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu was interested greatly during the last year of his rule in building a palace
+at Alatag, and in finishing the observatory at Meraga. Though not a scholar himself
+he liked to converse with learned men, especially astronomers and alchemists, <span class="pageNum" id="pb289">[<a href="#pb289">289</a>]</span>but beyond all the latter, who had known how to captivate his fancy, and on whom he
+expended large sums of money.
+</p>
+<p>Administration had now, (1264), become greatly important. Hulagu’s rule extended from
+the Oxus to Syria and the Byzantine Empire. He gave his eldest son, Abaka, Mazanderan,
+Irak and Khorassan; to Yshmut his third son, Azerbaidjan and Arran; to Tudan, one
+of his commanders, Diarbekr and Diarrabiat up to the Euphrates; Rūm he gave to Moyin
+ud din Pervane; to the Melik Sadr ud din, the province of Tebriz, and Fars to an emir,
+Ikiatu. According to Rashid he gave Kerman to Turkan Khatun, but this is questioned
+by some historians. In 1263 he had put to death his vizir Seïf ud din Bitikdji while
+on the march from Shemaki to Derbend, and put in his place Shems ud din <span class="corr" id="xd32e2897" title="Source: Juveïni">Juveini</span>, whose brother, <span class="corr" id="xd32e2900" title="Source: Alaï">Alai</span> ud din, Ata ul Mulk, was made governor of Bagdad. This same year Hulagu condemned
+to death Zein ud din Muyyed Suleiman, son of the emir El Akarbani, better known as
+El Hafizzi, a name which he had taken from his former master, Prince Hafizzi. He was
+accused of having turned to his own profit a part of the income from the province
+of Damascus. Hulagu reproached him for his perfidy. “Thou hast betrayed me,” said
+he, “thou didst betray also Prince Nassir, and before him Prince Hafizzi, and earlier
+than all the Baalbek prince.”
+</p>
+<p>The death sentence which struck down El Hafizzi included his family, his brothers,
+his relatives and clients, fifty persons in all. Only two escaped, one was his son,
+and the other his nephew.
+</p>
+<p>The troubles in Fars at this time roused Hulagu’s attention very keenly. The princes
+of that region were subject to Mongol dominion from the first. After the death, in
+1231, of the Atabeg of Fars, <span class="corr" id="xd32e2906" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span> Abu Bekr, his son and successor, sent his brother Tehemten with his homage to Ogotai
+and also rich presents. The Grand Khan gave a patent of investiture with the title
+Kutlug Khan. Fars had been saved by prompt submission from every Mongol hostility.
+Its sovereign paid the Grand Khan each year thirty thousand gold dinars, a small sum
+if the wealth of that region be considered; presents also were given.
+</p>
+<p>When Hulagu came to the Transoxiana Abu Bekr’s nephew, Seljuk Shah, came with rich
+presents to greet him. Seljuk Shah <span class="pageNum" id="pb290">[<a href="#pb290">290</a>]</span>was befittingly received at the Oxus by Hulagu; but was afterward imprisoned.
+</p>
+<p>Abu Bekr died in 1260, after a reign of thirty years. His son <span class="corr" id="xd32e2915" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span> succeeded him but died twelve days after reaching the throne, leaving a son of tender
+years in the care of his mother, Turkan Khatun. This child, named Mohammed, died in
+1262, and the Fars throne fell to Mohammed Shah, one of his uncles, a son of Salgar
+Shah and grandson of <span class="corr" id="xd32e2918" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span>, son of Zengwi. This prince had commanded the contingent of Fars in Hulagu’s great
+campaign against Bagdad. Brave, but unsparing and dissolute, his tyranny had roused
+great complaints upon all sides. Called to the camp by Hulagu, who feigned a desire
+to consult him concerning Fars matters, the prince delayed him under various excuses
+till Turkan Khatun, now his wife, who was displeased with his conduct, but especially
+with his treatment of herself, had the man seized as he was passing the harem and
+taken to Hulagu, whom she informed that Mohammed Shah was unfitted to govern. This
+decision of the princess found favor with Hulagu, so she had her husband’s brother,
+Seljuk Shah, freed from prison, and though his temper was untamed and fiery, she married
+him soon after.
+</p>
+<p>One night when flushed with wine at a banquet Seljuk Shah was taunted with having
+risen through the favor of his wife, and not through any other cause, and when besides
+her conduct was described, a fit of fury seized the man. He commanded a eunuch to
+cut her head off immediately and bring it to him. When the black man brought the head
+of the princess, Seljuk Shah tore two splendid pearls from the ears, and threw them
+to musicians who were playing at the banquet.
+</p>
+<p>When this raging man heard that Hulagu’s prefects in Shiraz, Ogul Beg and Kutluk Bitikdji,
+disapproved of this horrible action, instead of trying to appease them he killed one
+with his own hand, and cut down the other through his servants; he murdered also the
+people attached to them. At news of these horrors Hulagu commanded to execute Mohammed
+Shah, to whom he had just given permission to return to his country, and ordered his
+generals, Altadju and Timur, to march against Seljuk Shah. Their two divisions were
+to be strengthened by troops from Ispahan, Yezd, Itch and Kerman.
+</p>
+<p>Altadju sent Seljuk a message from Ispahan, stating that if <span class="pageNum" id="pb291">[<a href="#pb291">291</a>]</span>he repented he might yet obtain pardon, and that he would act in his favor. The raging
+prince maltreated the messenger cruelly. Altadju marched after that into Fars with
+the forces of the sovereign of Kerman, the Atabeg of Yezd, Seljuk’s brother-in-law,
+and other forces. Seljuk Shah retired to the Persian Gulf border. The magistrates
+and notables bearing flags, food and copies of the Koran went forth to meet Altadju.
+He reassured them, and commanded his troops, who were eager for pillage, not to harm
+them in any way. He marched with speed after Seljuk, who met him at Kazerun and displayed
+wondrous valor, but yielded to necessity at last and fled to the tomb of the holy
+Sheik Morshed, which the Mongols surrounded.
+</p>
+<p>At bay and in his last refuge Seljuk rushed to the sepulchre of the saint and broke
+with one blow of his club the flat covering of stone which was over the body. “O Sheik,
+give thy aid!” cried the fugitive. It was known in that region that the saint had
+declared, “When peril threatens, give notice on my tomb and I will save you.”
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols burst in the door and killed many of Seljuk’s people who had sought refuge
+there also. They then seized the fleeing Seljuk whom they killed at the tomb. No Salgarid
+was left save two daughters of the Atabeg Saïd, son of Abu Bekr. One of these, Uns
+Khatun, whose mother Seljuk Shah had beheaded, was placed on the Fars throne by Hulagu
+(1264).
+</p>
+<p>When Seljuk Shah’s life was ended Timur wished to put all Shiraz men to death, and
+thus give a warning to people such as Seljuk and his partisans, but Altadju insisted
+that the citizens were innocent, and that punishment like that might be given only
+at Hulagu’s order. The army was dismissed, and Altadju taking the most notable people
+of Fars went to Hulagu’s court with them.
+</p>
+<p>In 1265 another storm made its appearance in Fars: Sherif ud din, the Grand Kadi,
+a chief man among the descendants of the Prophet, who had lived many years in Khorassan
+and won signal fame by his piety, tried now to use this reputation to further his
+ambition. He had the people show him homage, and many joined him in each town and
+village which he visited. Multitudes believed him to be that Madhi expected in the
+fulness of time by the Shiites, and thought that he had the power to work wonders.
+Assuming the insignia of royalty he advanced from Shebankiare <span class="pageNum" id="pb292">[<a href="#pb292">292</a>]</span>towards Shiraz with his followers who already formed a small army.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol commander at Shiraz and Uns Kahtun’s chief minister took proper measures
+and marched against this descendant of Mohammed. They met near Guvar. Many thought
+that the “Madhi” was assisted by spirits, and that whoso attacked him would be paralyzed.
+For some time no man in the army of Shiraz would raise a hand against Sherif. At last
+two warriors ventured to discharge arrows at him, others followed this example. The
+Mongols then charged the insurgents, who fled; Sherif was killed in the mêlée with
+most of his followers.
+</p>
+<p>At the first news of this uprising Hulagu commanded to bastinado Altadju for sparing
+the people of Shiraz, and he ordered a tuman of warriors to punish them. When he learned,
+however, that Sherif ud din had been slain, and that the people of Shiraz were innocent,
+for the greater part, he recalled his first order.
+</p>
+<p>When Uns Khatun had ruled for one year she was sent to the Ordu to marry Mangu Timur,
+son of Hulagu, to whom she brought a rich dowry. Fars was managed thenceforth by the
+Divan, though in the name of Uns, who died during 1287 in Tebriz. With her died the
+Salgarid dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>At the end of 1264 the Mongols laid siege to El Biret. This place was considered the
+master stronghold of Syria. Akkush commanded for the Sultan of Egypt. The Mongols
+filled up the fosse of the fortress with wood. The besieged made a tunnel to that
+fosse and burned all the wood which then filled it. The Mongols worked with seventeen
+catapults, but they met firm and active resistance, women showing more courage than
+men in that struggle.
+</p>
+<p>News had reached Beibars earlier that Franks were advising the Mongols, by letter,
+to march into Syria during spring when the troops were at home, and their horses were
+out grazing. As soon as he heard that the Mongols were attacking El Biret, the Sultan
+sent a corps of four thousand to oppose them. He sent four days later another four
+thousand, who were to reach El Biret by forced marches. The Sultan himself set out
+January 27, 1265, and by February 3 was at Gaza, where he learned that the enemy had
+raised the siege and retreated.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols at approach of their opponents had removed all <span class="pageNum" id="pb293">[<a href="#pb293">293</a>]</span>their catapults, sunk their boats, and fled quickly. Beibars gave command to bring
+in arms and supplies for a siege that might last a whole decade. Three hundred robes
+of honor and a hundred thousand drachmas in money were sent out by him to reward those
+who had fought in El Biret.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu died suddenly February 8, 1265, at the age of forty-eight. He was buried on
+the summit of that mountainous island called Tala in the lake of Urumia where a fortress
+had been built to contain his chief treasures. According to the custom of Mongols
+much gold and many gems were placed in the grave with him. Youthful maidens of rare
+beauty, richly dressed and adorned to the utmost, were buried alive to go with him.
+Four months and eleven days later died Dokuz Khatun, his chief wife, who was a Christian.
+She was the <span class="corr" id="xd32e2947" title="Source: grand-daughter">granddaughter</span> of Wang Khan and so wise a woman that Mangu had in 1253 enjoined on Hulagu to take
+no step without consulting her. Rashid ud din states that through her influence Hulagu
+had favored the Christians and permitted them to build churches in many parts of the
+Empire.
+</p>
+<p>The death of Hulagu and his consort was deplored by the Christians, to whom both had
+shown great respect. Near the entrance of Dokuz Khatun’s palace was a church with
+its bell which tolled at all seasons. Hulagu had five wives; from these, not counting
+other women, he had thirteen sons and seven daughters.
+</p>
+<p>Accounts have come down to us of interesting judgments connected with Hulagu. On a
+time certain people came to him for justice; a file-maker had killed a near relative
+of theirs, and they asked that the criminal be given them for punishment. “Are file-makers
+numerous in the country?” asked Hulagu. “They are few,” was the answer. Hulagu thought
+a moment and answered: “I will give you a maker of pack saddles; since there are many
+of these we can spare one more easily than a file-maker.” The friends of the dead
+man declared that they wanted the murderer. Hulagu would not yield, and gave them
+a cow as an equivalent.
+</p>
+<p>A man lost his eye in a quarrel with a weaver, and came to get justice: The prince
+put out the eye of a maker of arrows in satisfaction. Some one asked why he did this.
+“A weaver,” said he, “needs both his eyes, while one is enough for the arrowsmith;
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb294">[<a href="#pb294">294</a>]</span>he always closes the other when he tests the straightness of an arrow.”
+</p>
+<p>A letter without signature or date was sent to Hulagu from a Pope, supposed to be
+Alexander IV, though assigned to 1261. In this letter the Pope declared his delight
+on hearing that Hulagu wished to be a Catholic. “Think,” continued he, “how your power
+to subjugate Saracens will be increased if Christian warriors assist you openly and
+with force, as with God’s grace they would, sustained by Divine power under the shield
+of Christianity. In shaping your actions by Catholic teaching you will heighten your
+power and acquire endless glory.” Hulagu is credited not only with favoring Christians,
+but learned men of all creeds.
+</p>
+<p>In the spring of 1266 Berkai began a second campaign in lands south of the Caucasus.
+Abaka, who was Hulagu’s eldest son and successor, held the right bank of the Kur with
+his forces. Abaka sent forward Yshmut, his brother, who met Berkai’s first army commanded
+by Nogai. A stubborn engagement took place near the Aksu. Nogai’s army was forced
+to retreat on Shirvan in disorder, Nogai himself being wounded. Abaka now crossed
+the Kur, but hearing of Berkai’s advance with a numerous army, he recrossed and destroyed
+all the bridges.
+</p>
+<p>Berkai came up with his forces and the two armies camped on opposite sides of the
+river. They remained fifteen days in their places discharging arrows at each other,
+and sending words of defiance and ridicule. Neither could cross, hence no battle was
+possible. At last Berkai marched up the river intending to cross at some point east
+of Tiflis, but he died on the road, and that ended hostilities. His body was taken
+to Sarai, and there it was buried, 1266. His army disbanded.
+</p>
+<p>We must now return to the Kin Empire.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb295">[<a href="#pb295">295</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep">
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div class="fndiv" id="xd32e2862">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd32e2862src">1</a></span> Michael <span class="corr" id="xd32e2864" title="Source: Palælogus">Palæologus</span>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd32e2862src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch15" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e459">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<h2 class="main">DESTRUCTION OF THE KIN EMPIRE</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Nin Kia Su, the Kin Emperor (his Chinese name was Shu siu), had sent to <span class="corr" id="xd32e2968" title="Source: Ogatai">Ogotai</span> in 1229 his ambassador Ajuta with offerings to Jinghis Khan’s spirit, but the new
+sovereign would accept naught from a ruler who had refused to acknowledge Jinghis
+as his overlord.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols, not regarding the death of Jinghis, had continued their warfare in China
+and pushed on through Shen si to the edge of the Sung Empire. At the end of 1227 they
+besieged Si ho chin, a city southeast of Kong chang and thirty leagues distant. The
+commandant defended the place with great valor, but, seeing that the Mongols would
+conquer at last, and then seize him, he invited Li shi, his wife, to think on her
+destiny. “We have enjoyed the good will of our sovereign,” said the woman, “we should
+die for the dynasty;” thereupon she took poison. Two of his sons and their wives followed
+her example. When he had burned the five bodies the commandant stabbed himself. Twenty-eight
+of his dependents died with him.
+</p>
+<p>In 1228 the Mongols pushed still farther south and Wanien Khada, the Kin general,
+sent to oppose them a mounted force under Cheng ho shang, who crushed a detachment
+eight thousand in number. This was the first triumph won by the Chinese in three decades,
+and roused the desire of resistance very greatly.
+</p>
+<p>In 1228 the Mongol general Tukulku invested King yang fu, when a second Kin envoy
+was sent to Mongolia with presents, which were not accepted. Ogotai now gave command
+over all Chinese troops in his service to three generals of that race, and made two
+of them governors.
+</p>
+<p>In 1230 the Mongols were beaten a second time by Yra buka, a Kin general, who stopped
+the siege of King yang by a victory. <span class="pageNum" id="pb296">[<a href="#pb296">296</a>]</span>Elated by success, Yra buka freed from confinement an envoy whom during his regency
+Tului had sent with peace messages. While dismissing him the Kin general boasted unwisely
+in the following phrases: “We have had time to make ready. If ye wish battle now ye
+have only to come to us.” This challenge was taken to Ogotai who acted at once and
+set out with his brother Tului for China. They crossed the Hoang Ho and pushed on
+toward the southern part of Shen si, where they took sixty forts and laid siege to
+Fong tsiang, a large city.
+</p>
+<p>The Kin government now saw the error in their treatment of the envoy, and sent new
+terms of peace to the Mongols. The Grand Khan tried to persuade this envoy to visit
+Fong tsiang and obtain its surrender, but though threatened with death the man was
+immovable. <span class="corr" id="xd32e2980" title="Source: Ogatai">Ogotai</span> had the beard of the envoy cut off and then he imprisoned him. The siege of Fong
+tsiang was continued with vigor.
+</p>
+<p>The Kin emperor, seeing that his generals were slow in sending aid, hurried off Bai
+kua, his assistant, to urge them. They replied that their troops were too few to challenge
+the great Mongol army. The Emperor commanded to take men from Tung kwan, the strong
+fortress, give battle at once to the enemy, and force the relief of Fong tsiang which
+was sorely beleaguered.
+</p>
+<p>An attack was made soon, but the battle was indecisive. The Kin forces fell back the
+night following, however, and left the place to its own strength and fortune. Antchar,
+who commanded the Mongols, blockaded that city, captured places around it, kept out
+all provisions, and when food and supplies were exhausted Fong tsiang had no choice
+save surrender.
+</p>
+<p>Master of Shen si, Ogotai was eager now for Honan, the last land of the Kin Emperor,
+but this region was difficult to capture. On the north it was bounded by the Hoang
+Ho, on the west it was guarded by high rugged mountains, and the strong Tung kwan
+fortress. The Mongol officers were seeking for means to overcome or elude these great
+obstacles when Li chang go, a Kin officer, who had joined Ogotai’s service only after
+Fong tsiang had surrendered, proposed to enter Honan from the south, and traced out
+a route for the conquest. Tului saw that the plan was the same as that traced by Jinghis
+on his death bed, and commended it to Ogotai, his brother, immediately. Ogotai consulted
+his <span class="pageNum" id="pb297">[<a href="#pb297">297</a>]</span>generals, accepted the plan, and commissioned Tului to follow it.
+</p>
+<p>It was agreed that the armies of the north and the south should meet at Nan king in
+the following February. Ogotai sent Chubugan to the Sung Emperor for permission to
+pass through a part of his country, but the envoy was killed after crossing the boundary.
+The deed astounded the Mongols, since the Sung court had requested their alliance
+somewhat earlier. This killing gave a good pretext later on, however, for attacking
+the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>Tului marched straightway on Pao ki where he assembled thirty thousand mounted warriors.
+First he captured the fortress Ta san kuan, destroyed the city Fong chin and opened
+a way through the Hwa mountains, though with immense labor. This mountain chain divides
+the Hoai water system from the Han and formed for some distance the boundary between
+the two Empires in China. Tului crossed this chain and thus entered Kin regions. When
+he had taken one hundred and forty towns and strong places, slain people in vast numbers,
+and driven others to barren regions where they perished, he fixed his camp near the
+Han and there he rested.
+</p>
+<p>On seeing the enemy at the southern border the Kin Empire was terrified. At the council
+called by the Emperor to find means of defence the majority were in favor of placing
+the army in towns near Nan king, where great stores must be gathered in quickly. The
+Mongols, worn out by long marching, could not attack in the open and would be forced
+back by sure famine. This plan did not please the Kin Emperor. He declared that his
+subjects had made every sacrifice for the army, he would not leave them then in that
+peril. He must defend Honan on the north and the south at its boundaries; that was
+his final decision.
+</p>
+<p>In view of the Emperor’s wishes an army corps was formed north of the Hoang Ho, and
+another at Teng chu on the southern border. This second army was composed of the forces
+of Wanien Khada and Yra buka who arrived at Teng chu in 1232 during January, and were
+joined by Yang wu yan, Cheng ho shang, and Wu shan, three Kin generals. While these
+generals were discussing whether they were to fall on Tului at the crossing of the
+Han, or after he had crossed it, they learned that he was on their side already. They
+marched immediately and discovered the enemy <span class="pageNum" id="pb298">[<a href="#pb298">298</a>]</span>at the foot of Mount Yui in a chosen position. The Kin forces attacked and a sharp
+struggle followed. The Mongols were inferior in numbers and withdrew, but withdrew
+unmolested.
+</p>
+<p>After some days the Kin generals were informed that the enemy had retired to a forest.
+They resolved to return to Teng chu, subsist on the provisions of the city, and spare
+their own rations. They passed by mere chance near the forest; the Mongols sallied
+forth and attacked, but only feigned serious fighting. Meanwhile the Kin cavalry seized
+the Mongol baggage.
+</p>
+<p>On reaching Teng chu the Kin generals reported that they had won a great victory.
+Rejoicings at the court were sincere, but very short in duration.
+</p>
+<p>While Tului was advancing Ogotai was besieging Ho chung, or Pu chiu, a strong city
+on the Hoang Ho, in Shan si near its southwestern corner. A pyramidal tower two hundred
+feet high, immense earth mounds, and tunnels were among the works used in attacking.
+Soon the towers and wooden works on the walls of the city were ruined. Besieged and
+besiegers had fought hand to hand fifteen days when the city was taken. Thirty-five
+days had the place been invested. The governor Tsao ho was captured arms in hand and
+put to death at direction of Ogotai. Bau tse, the commandant, escaped by the river
+with three thousand men, and went to Nan king, where the Kin Emperor killed him.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai received now, through a courier, an account from Tului of the Honan situation
+and crossed the Hoang Ho without waiting. He ordered Tului to meet him. On hearing
+of this movement by Ogotai, the Kin Emperor gave orders to cut dikes near the capital,
+flood the country about it, and thus stop the enemy. Thirty thousand men were sent
+to guard the great river, but when Kia ku saho, the commander, learned that Ogotai
+was already on the south side he retreated. In their march forward the Mongols came
+on the men cutting dikes, attacked them, stopped their work, and slew many thousands.
+</p>
+<p>Tului divided his army into numerous detachments. With these he covered a great stretch
+of country, and watched the Kin army as it moved northward slowly. Harassed on their
+march, retarded by wind, rain, and snow, exhausted by marching and hunger, the Kin
+troops were met finally by a eunuch of the Emperor with an order to move to the capital
+speedily and succor it. They had <span class="pageNum" id="pb299">[<a href="#pb299">299</a>]</span>hardly touched food for three days, and were mortally weary. While preparing to encamp,
+they were surrounded on a sudden by Ogotai and Tului, who had just brought their forces
+together.
+</p>
+<p>The Kin generals charged on the Mongols and strove to cut through them. Many chiefs
+fell while leading their warriors. Wanien Khada forced his way to Yiu chiu. Tului
+laid siege to that city immediately; dug a moat round the walls, took the place, and
+found Wanien Khada. When captured Wanien asked to be brought before Subotai. “Thou
+hast but a moment to live,” remarked Subotai, “why wish to see me?” “Heaven, not chance,
+gives us heroes. Now that I have seen thee, I close my eyes without sorrow,” replied
+the Kin general.
+</p>
+<p>When Subotai’s fury had calmed somewhat Cheng ho shang, who was also in the city,
+came out of his hiding and asked to be taken to the chief of the Mongols. “If I had
+perished in the rush of defeat,” said he to Tului, “some men might declare me a traitor;
+now all will see how I die, and must know that I am honest.” He would not submit,
+though the Mongols tried long to induce him to do so. To make the man kneel they chopped
+both his feet off, and split his mouth to the ears to force silence; but he ceased
+not to say in his keen ghastly torment that he would not befoul himself by treason.
+Struck by his fortitude and elated by kumis (their liquor distilled from mare’s milk)
+the Mongols called out to him: “If thou art ever recalled to this life, splendid warrior,
+be born in our company!”
+</p>
+<p>Yra buka was seized on the road to the capital while fleeing. They took him to Ogotai:
+“Submit and be saved,” said the Emperor. To every proposal the answer was: “I am a
+lord of the Kin Empire, I must be true to my sovereign.” Yra buka suffered death like
+the others. Thus perished the Kin generals, nobly, but without any profit. The best
+of the army had already perished.
+</p>
+<p>Some days after the capture of Yiu chiu Ogotai visited Tului at his camp ground and
+listened with delight to his narrative of the march from Fong tsiang, during which
+immense difficulties had been overcome, especially lack of food, which was such that
+his men had been forced to eat grass, and the flesh of human beings.
+</p>
+<p>The Grand Khan applauded his brother for skill in that perilous enterprise. Tului
+replied, that success was due mainly to the <span class="pageNum" id="pb300">[<a href="#pb300">300</a>]</span>valor and endurance of his warriors, and the fortune attendant on the sovereign of
+the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>When he heard of Tului’s achievement, the Kin Emperor summoned to his capital all
+troops entrusted with defending Honan on its western border; hence the two generals
+commanding on that side, and the governors of Tung kwan, the great fortress, united
+their forces, which amounted to one hundred and ten thousand foot with five thousand
+horsemen, and moved toward Shan chiu, a city south of the Hoang Ho. Two hundred barges
+were to bear supplies eastward, but the Mongols seized those supplies before they
+were laden, and when their forces appeared at Tung kwan the man left in command there
+delivered that mighty defence of Honan to them, and betrayed all the movements about
+to be made by his Emperor’s army.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols advanced on Shan chiu, without obstacle. The Kins retired toward the mountains
+of Thie ling followed by vast crowds of people of every age and both sexes, who had
+hoped for a shelter in the mountains. As they advanced melting snow made the roads
+very difficult and sometimes impassable. Pursued by the victors, their aged people
+and children who lagged behind were cut down without mercy. One Kin general surrendered,
+but still the captors beheaded him; the others were overtaken and slain as was also
+the chief Tung kwan governor.
+</p>
+<p>Defence in the west of Honan collapsed utterly. Fourteen cities fell; only two held
+out bravely. One of these, Ho yang, or Ho nan fu, became famous. This place was defended
+by three thousand men who remained from the western army. After a furious bombardment,
+continuing some days, the Mongols made a breach in the walls of Ho yang. The governor
+deemed the place lost, and, since he would not survive the disgrace of surrender,
+he sprang into the moat and thus drowned himself. The defenders then chose Kiang chin,
+a real hero, to lead them. Under him a most desperate resistance was organized. The
+place held out for three months, till the Mongols, still thirty thousand in number,
+grown sick and weary of attacking, left that brave city after one hundred and fifty
+assaults had been made on it.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai, now master of nearly all places around the Kin capital, fixed his camp fourteen
+leagues to the west of it, and sent Subotai to finish the struggle.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb301">[<a href="#pb301">301</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Nan king (Southern capital) at that time was twelve leagues in circumference. Inside
+the walls a hundred thousand men were assembled to defend it. Desiring to rouse public
+feeling to the highest the Emperor gave out a stirring appeal to the people written
+by Chao wun ping, a great scholar. The siege had begun when Ogotai sent an envoy to
+persuade the Kin Emperor to submit himself. Ogotai asked that the following people
+be sent first of all to him as hostages: Chao wun ping, a sage of distinction; Kung
+yuan tse, a descendant of Confucius, with some other great scholars, and twenty-seven
+families among the most noted; all families of men who had submitted to the Mongols;
+the wife and children of Yra buka, the heroic Kin general; young women skilled in
+embroidery, and also men trained well as falconers. The Kin Emperor accepted every
+condition and offered Uko, his nephew, besides, as a hostage while Egudeh, his procurator,
+was discussing final peace with the Khan of the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>In spite of these marks of submission Subotai continued the siege with great vigor.
+The command had been given him, he said, to capture the capital and he was obeying
+it. He had planted long lines of catapults; captive women, young girls, old men, and
+children were carrying fascines and bundles of straw to fill moats and ditches. Fearing
+to stop negotiations, the Kin general commanding forbade to reply to attacks of the
+Mongols. This order roused indignation. The Kin Emperor showed himself in the city
+to the people, attended by a few horsemen only. A body of officers came to him complaining
+that they were not allowed to defend themselves, though the moat was already half
+filled by the enemy: “I am ready to be a mere tributary and a vassal to safeguard
+my subjects,” said the Emperor. “I send my one son this day as a hostage, so be patient
+till he has gone from me. If the enemy does not retire there will be time then for
+a life and death struggle.”
+</p>
+<p>The young prince set out that same day with Li tsi, a state minister, but as the attack
+was continued, the Kin ruler indignant at Mongol duplicity gave the signal for action.
+</p>
+<p>Subotai had set up an immense line of catapults and hurled large, jagged millstones
+with dreadful impetus. At the end of some days of ceaseless hurling, stones were piled
+up at points almost to the top of the ramparts; the towers, though built of <span class="pageNum" id="pb302">[<a href="#pb302">302</a>]</span>strong timber from old palaces, were broken. To deaden the effect of these millstones
+the towers were backed with huge bags filled with wheat-straw, and horse dung, covered
+with felt and tied with cords very firmly, also planks faced with untanned hides of
+buffaloes. The Mongols hurled fire with ballistas to burn the defences. No projectile,
+however, could injure those strange massive walls of the fortress, which were mainly
+of clay grown as solid as iron.
+</p>
+<p>The besieged made use of inflammable projectiles, that is, iron pots filled with powder
+of some kind. These pots hurled out by ballistas or let down by strong chains burst
+with great noise, maiming men or destroying them a hundred feet from the place of
+explosion. Attack and defence were original and vigorous. Some of the Mongols, well
+shielded by raw hides of buffalo, approached, dug holes in the walls and remained
+there at work safe from all missiles. The besieged hurled spears carrying fireworks
+which exploding burned everything within thirty feet of them. These two kinds of projectiles
+were greatly feared by the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>After assaults which continued sixteen days, almost without interval, during which
+time it was said, though of course incorrectly, that a million of men fell, Subotai
+sent a message declaring that as discussions for peace were in progress hostilities
+would cease altogether, and he prepared to withdraw to some distance.
+</p>
+<p>The Emperor in answer sent rich parting presents to the Mongol general and his officers.
+One month after this truce a plague broke out in the capital, and during fifty days
+coffins to the number of nine hundred thousand, as the account runs, were borne from
+the city; besides there were corpses of indigent people which were put in the earth
+without coffins or boxes.
+</p>
+<p>During discussions for peace, a Mongol envoy, Tang tsing, with a suite of thirty persons,
+was slain in Pien king by the populace. This deed went unpunished and unnoted by the
+Chinese, hence command was given Subotai to attack the Kin capital a second time.
+Ogotai had also another complaint against the Kin sovereign: Nin kia su had taken
+into his service, and even rewarded, a general of the Mongols who, not enduring his
+chief, had passed to the Kin side and yielded up cities which were under his control.
+</p>
+<p>When his capital was invested a second time the Kin Emperor <span class="pageNum" id="pb303">[<a href="#pb303">303</a>]</span>summoned Wu shan, a commander who, after defeat, had retired on Nan yang, where he
+had formed a new army. Two governors were summoned in also by the Emperor, one from
+the south, the other from the west. Wu shan advanced to a place twenty leagues from
+the capital. He saw Mongol forces at that point and sent to the governor who was nearest
+to join him, but the governor would not come and marched on alone till he also met
+Mongols. Then his troops broke and fled without fighting. On receiving news of this
+flight Wu shan and his forces fell back on Nan yang very speedily. Chiga Katrika was
+sent with a corps to give aid to Wu shan, but when he learned what had happened he
+left all his baggage and fled to Nan king in the night time.
+</p>
+<p>These defeats destroyed in the Emperor every hope of resistance. Want increased daily,
+communications were cut for the greater part, and at last Nin kia su resolved to abandon
+his capital, leaving behind the two Empresses and the whole reigning family. Before
+going he intrusted command to San ya pu and gave precious gifts both to officers and
+soldiers to rouse them to the utmost.
+</p>
+<p>That day the Kong chang commandant marched into the capital with his army corps, and
+declared that the country was ruined for thirty leagues westward, so the Emperor went
+to the east,—he could not go elsewhere. When twenty leagues from Nan king he crossed
+the Hoang Ho near Tsao hien with the hope of exciting Shan tung to assist him in saving
+the capital.
+</p>
+<p>Barely was the Emperor on the northern bank with a part of his army when such a wind
+rose that the troops on the south could not follow. On the southern bank of the river
+appeared now a Mongol division sent out by Subotai, and a fierce conflict followed
+in which the Kins lost two generals; one was taken captive, the other surrendered.
+One thousand men perished, drowned for the greater part.
+</p>
+<p>When he heard of his lieutenant’s victory, Subotai invested the capital with every
+possible severity. The Emperor now despatched Baksan, a prince of the blood, and a
+descendant of Ho li pu, to secure the city Wei chiu. Baksan let his men pillage all
+that they came on while marching. This enraged the inhabitants who, instead of assisting
+the Emperor, fled to Wei chiu and closed its gates to his warriors. After some days
+Baksan heard of a hostile advance and withdrew, but was followed by She tian tse,
+a <span class="pageNum" id="pb304">[<a href="#pb304">304</a>]</span>Mongol commander. He himself carried news of his failure to the Emperor, whom he urged
+to recross the Hoang Ho, retreat to Kwe te fu and be safe there. The Emperor crossed
+in the night with seven officers, and found refuge in the place pointed out to him.
+The troops heard of their Emperor’s flight the day following, and scattered immediately.
+</p>
+<p>The people of Pien king lost courage greatly, but still they resisted. The Mongols
+closed in on them; food soon rose to fabulous prices, people perished of hunger, officials
+of the Empire begged on the streets; there were even men who ate their own wives and
+children. Houses were torn down for fuel. The Emperor sent an official to conduct
+out his consort and the dowager Empress in secret, but he failed in the effort. This
+attempt roused the populace: “He has left us to our fate,” said they, in despair.
+</p>
+<p>At this evil juncture Tsui li, who commanded the eastern side of the capital, made
+himself master of the city in all parts. He had the governor of the palace, the minister
+of state and ten other high dignitaries killed in his presence. Immediately afterward
+he proclaimed them as worthy of death for their failure in duty. He entered the palace
+with armed hand, held a council and proclaimed Prince Wa nien tsung ko as regent.
+He sent men in the name of the Emperor’s mother to bring that prince to the city.
+He came without delay and was now regent. Tsui li made himself first minister, chief
+commander and head of the Imperial Council. One of his brothers was made city governor,
+and another one prefect of the palace. All his dependents had places. He judged now
+that he needed the Mongols to protect him in office, and he sent his submission to
+Subotai. That commander approached the main gate of the city. Tsui li, arrayed in
+royal fashion, went out with a brilliant attendance to the Mongol, as he might to
+a father. On returning Tsui li, to prove his submission to Subotai, burned the outlooks
+and the wooden towers on the walls of the city. A little later he had the regent,
+the Empresses, and all members of the reigning family assemble in a palace which was
+guarded by his confidants. He went himself then to live in the Emperor’s palace. He
+sent jewels and other precious objects to Subotai from the treasury; he sent even
+the state robes of the Emperor and Empress as gifts to the Mongol commander.
+</p>
+<p>Tsui li summoned now to his palace the daughters and wives <span class="pageNum" id="pb305">[<a href="#pb305">305</a>]</span>of all those great lords who had gone with the Emperor, and detained those of them
+who pleased him. Next came an edict compelling the people to bring their silver and
+gold to the palace. After this came domiciliary visits, and many men perished under
+torture while striving to save even some of their wealth from Tsui li’s endless rapacity.
+During a visit made by this man and his wife to the Empresses, who recompensed him
+for services alleged but never rendered, the two helpless women gave Tsui li the most
+precious effects in their possession. He brought the dowager to write to her son,
+the Emperor, urging him to submit to the Mongols. This letter was taken to Nin kia
+su by his nurse, an old woman. Tsui li now seized the two Empresses, the regent, all
+members of the reigning family, male and female, to the number of five hundred, and
+sent them to Subotai’s camp ground in chariots; he sent Kung yuan tse, a very wise
+person, a descendant of Confucius; he sent men learned in law and philosophy, and
+in the Taoist religion; he sent also physicians, artists, actors and embroiderers.
+</p>
+<p>All men of the reigning family were put to death straightway by Subotai. The two Empresses
+and the princesses were sent to Mongolia; while traveling to Kara Kurum they suffered
+want and privations of every kind.
+</p>
+<p>Foreseeing the fall of the capital Subotai made a statement to Ogotai, the Grand Khan,
+substantially as follows: “The city has made such resistance, so many warriors and
+officers of the Mongols have fallen, that, by the law of Jinghis, we should pillage
+it.” Ye liu chu tsai hurried to the Khan and explained that those people would be
+his subjects, that among them were many men of great skill and value, that by killing
+them he would ruin the profit of his conquest. Ogotai hearkened to the wise counsel
+of Ye liu, and ordered that none should suffer death except members of the Kin family.
+Thus the kind minister saved many people. He also had the law canceled which ordained
+death to inhabitants of cities taken by storm, or by siege operations.
+</p>
+<p>And now let us find the Kin sovereign. Soon after his arrival at Kwe te fu the fleeing
+Emperor, to satisfy his troops, who declared that Baksan had caused the defeats in
+Shan tung, had the man tried by a council of war and then executed.
+</p>
+<p>Fucha kuan nu, a certain general, seized control of Kwe te fu <span class="pageNum" id="pb306">[<a href="#pb306">306</a>]</span>after killing Li tsi with three hundred mandarins, and also the governor. Kuan nu’s
+mother had been captured after Baksan’s defeat. Temutai, a Mongol commander, was besieging
+a town twenty leagues south of Kwe te fu; the Emperor charged Kuan nu to insinuate
+to Temutai that if his (Kuan nu’s) mother were restored he would bring the Emperor
+to accept peace conditions. Temutai sent back the woman, and began to negotiate. Kwan
+nu and Temutai had held many meetings. Meanwhile Kwan nu prepared a secret attack,
+and surprised the Mongol camp during night hours; arrows with fireworks increased
+the confusion. Temutai’s forces fled, and he lost more than three thousand men in
+crossing a river. Kwan nu, made chief commander because of this victory, now obtained
+complete control, and left not a trace of authority to the Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>At this juncture Uku lun hao, governor of districts in Southern Honan, proposed that
+the Emperor make Tsai chiu his capital. Nin kia su was quite willing, but Kuan nu
+would not hear of a change which would cost him control of the Emperor’s person. There
+was no outcome now for the Emperor but to be rid of the minister, so one day Kuan
+nu was killed while entering his sovereign’s chamber. The falling monarch had still
+one hope left in connection with Tsai chiu: Wu shan, a general in the south of Honan,
+had a force seventy thousand in number. Ogotai the year previous had made a treaty
+with Li tsong, the Sung Emperor, and the latter, thinking it time to destroy the ancient
+foe of his dynasty, had agreed to send troops to Honan on condition that after the
+fall of the Kins that whole region be restored to his Empire. Meng kong, who led the
+Sung army, now attacked and defeated Wu shan in the Ma teng group of mountains. He
+captured, moreover, nine forts which that general had held there, receiving besides
+the surrender of all that was left of his army.
+</p>
+<p>The Kin Emperor had set out for Tsai chiu before this disaster. His escort was nearly
+three hundred men; of these only fifty were mounted. On arriving he placed at the
+head of affairs Hu sha hu, a member of his family, a general of skill and a statesman.
+This minister made every possible effort to form a new army; soon he had ten thousand
+mounted men, as the nucleus of his forces. It was his plan to convey the Emperor to
+Kong chang, a safe place in Shen si, and act then with vigor, but the sovereign’s
+intimates <span class="pageNum" id="pb307">[<a href="#pb307">307</a>]</span>were opposed to this journey, and prevailed on him to stay in Tsai chiu to the ruin
+of himself, and his dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>The apparent remoteness of the Mongols gave confidence for the moment, but the Mongols
+soon made their appearance. Small parties came from the army of Tatchar, who was only
+waiting for the capture of Lo yang to surround the Kin sovereign’s last refuge. Lo
+yang had sustained a long siege, and had forced the Mongols to raise it. Tsi yang
+shen, who had rendered great service in regions north of the river, was still in command.
+His forces, however, were few, and long resistance was this time impossible; hence
+he put himself now at the head of a chosen party and strove to break through the enemy,
+but was seized arms in hand fighting valiantly. Tatchar tried to win over so splendid
+a warrior, and implored him most earnestly to show homage to Ogotai, to prostrate
+himself with face looking northward, but he bowed toward the south, saluting in this
+way Nin kia su, his own Emperor, and suffered death for his action.
+</p>
+<p>Tatchar was the son of Boroul, one of Jinghis Khan’s four great heroes, and now being
+free he moved on Tsai chiu to end the Kin dynasty. His army was reinforced by twenty
+thousand good warriors under Meng kong and Kiang hai, whom the Sung Emperor had sent
+because of his alliance with Ogotai. The two commanders brought with them three hundred
+thousand sacks of rice for the Mongols. After two months’ blockade provisions were
+so scarce in the city that human flesh was used as food and disease ravaged terribly.
+The defenders armed every man who could labor. All young women who had strength enough
+dressed in men’s clothes, and carried fagots and stones to defend the last refuge
+of the Emperor. After many attacks the Sung forces and the Mongols made a fierce assault,
+and seized a small part of the bulwarks. To their astonishment they found a new wall
+in the rear of the first one, and a broad moat between them.
+</p>
+<p>Nin kia su, when he saw hostile flags on the outer wall, lost courage, and said as
+he turned to the friends who were near him, “I have ruled for ten years and shown
+no great crimes or failings, still the fate of wicked princes is ready to strike me.
+Death has no terror for me, but to be the last sovereign of a line which has flourished
+for more than a century, and to think that history may confound me with rulers who
+have ruined their <span class="pageNum" id="pb308">[<a href="#pb308">308</a>]</span>dynasties by wickedness,—this is the one thing which tortures me. Sovereigns who survive
+loss of power are kept in confinement, or despised by men generally; I would not survive
+to be treated in either way. Heaven knows my decision.”
+</p>
+<p>Nin kia su, however, made one more attempt to save himself. He gave all his goods
+to men of the garrison, took a few followers, and sallied forth in disguise during
+night hours, but he could not elude the keen watch of the enemy, and was forced to
+return to the city. He yielded to fate then and had his horses all killed to be food
+for the garrison. On the day of the new year the besieged heard songs and sounds of
+music; the Mongols were celebrating their festival. In distress and dire need the
+besieged had boiled and eaten all the hides and leather in the city, also old drums,
+boots and saddles, and they had left to them a meal of grass and weeds with the pounded
+bones of dead men and animals—they had eaten already the old and decrepit inhabitants,
+the captives and the wounded, and now they would eat the crushed bones of those people
+when the flesh was all stripped from them.
+</p>
+<p>Meng kong, the Sung general, informed by deserters of this terrible hunger, resolved
+to surprise the failing city. His men with their mouths gagged moved to the storm
+in safe silence. With ladders they entered through live breaches made in the western
+walls of the city, and fought with desperation till sunset when they were forced out
+decisively, but the besieged had lost their first chiefs and best warriors. During
+the night Nin kia su yielded the throne to Ching lin, brother of Baksan who was put
+to death for the Shan tung disaster. This prince, descended directly from the Emperor
+Ho li pu, was charged with defending the Eastern side of the city. Ching lin had no
+wish to accept the sad gift, and fell prostrate with weeping. “I give thee the throne
+during terrible need and disaster,” said the Emperor. “The size of my body prevents
+me from fleeing on horseback, but thou mayest save thyself, thou art courageous and
+swift; thou mayst rescue the dynasty and bring back dominion; this is the real position.”
+</p>
+<p>Ching lin took the seal, and was raised to the throne on the morrow. But even while
+this ceremony was in progress the western gate was broken down and Meng kong rushed
+into the city. Kiang hai and Tatchar rushed in with him. Hu sha hu fought in the streets
+at the head of a chosen thousand of warriors. <span class="pageNum" id="pb309">[<a href="#pb309">309</a>]</span>Nin kia su, seeing no escape possible on any side, announced to his intimates that
+he was ready to die and charged them to burn his dead body. After that he hanged himself.
+</p>
+<p>Hu sha hu now told his officers that further resistance was useless, and, lest some
+ignoble hand might take life from him, he sprang into the river and drowned himself.
+Five officers with five hundred men followed his example, and died in that river.
+The palace officials burned the Emperor’s body immediately. Ching lin, when he learned
+what had happened, hurried to pay the last tribute to the body; he had barely finished
+all needful libations when the city was taken.
+</p>
+<p>Meng kong shared with Tatchar everything belonging to the Emperor, besides all the
+jewels which they could find in the palace. Ching lin was slain that same day by his
+own warriors. In this way the Kins were deprived of dominion in China May, 1234. Their
+dynasty of nine sovereigns reigned one century and eighteen years. Excepting Kong
+chang fu all places which belonged to that dynasty surrendered. The Sung Emperor rejoiced
+much and gave many festivals while thus rejoicing at the fall of an enemy. He offered
+the ashes and bones of the last of the Kins to his ancestors. Foolish man, he had
+given aid to a much greater and more terrible enemy than the one who had vanished,
+and had assured the near destruction of his own house and dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai, the Grand Khan, and Tului, his brother, returned to Kara Kurum two years before
+the Kin downfall. After Ogotai had crossed the Hoang Ho, and Tului had passed through
+Honan, the completion of the work was left to the competent Subotai. Tului died in
+October, 1232, soon after his return to Mongolia. He was forty years of age. <span class="corr" id="xd32e3079" title="Source: Juveïni">Juveini</span> states that his life was shortened by excessive drinking. He was the favorite son
+of Jinghis under whom he had learned war in all its phases and details. His campaign
+in Honan was admired with much reason. When still a boy his father had him married
+to Siur Kukteni, a niece of Wang Khan, and daughter of Jagambu his brother, a woman
+noted for wisdom. From this princess Tului had four sons: Mangu, Kubilai, Hulagu and
+Arik Buga.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb310">[<a href="#pb310">310</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch16" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e468">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+<h2 class="main">EXPEDITION AGAINST CHINA AND DEATH OF OGOTAI</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">In 1234 a great Kurultai was summoned by Ogotai at Talantepe, and one at Kara Kurum,
+his new capital, the year following. At the second Kurultai it was decided to make
+three great expeditions: One against the Sung Empire; another to bring down Corea,
+which had shaken off Mongol rule; a third to countries north of the Caspian, the Caucasus
+and the Black Sea, and westward indefinitely. The Grand Khan wished to march himself
+with this last expedition, but at the instance of princes of his family he yielded,
+and appointed Batu, second son of Juchi, to chief command in those regions.
+</p>
+<p>An army under Hukatu was sent to the borders of Cashmir and India. Persia had been
+reconquered by Chormagun. Jelal ud din had perished in 1231, there was no male descendant
+of the Kwaresmian Shah, and Iran was governed by Mongol officials.
+</p>
+<p>The attack on Corea was of easy execution, but the expedition against China was difficult,
+and to it we will turn in advance of the others.
+</p>
+<p>After the destruction of the Kin dynasty the Mongols disregarded their agreement with
+the Sung sovereign and yielded up merely a small part of Honan, a southeastern bit
+of that province, joining all the rest to their own immense Empire. Chao fan and Chao
+kwe, two Imperial princes, were indignant at this perfidy, and explained to their
+Emperor, that the Hoang Ho was the true northern boundary of the Empire, to which
+southern Shen si should be added; they urged the need of using force to win that which
+had been refused them, that which was theirs, both by right and agreement. They must
+regain their ancient capitals: Pien king, Lo yang, and Si ngan fu. Members of the
+council declared that this policy would bring back the Mongols, that it <span class="pageNum" id="pb311">[<a href="#pb311">311</a>]</span>would be disastrous to send warriors from afar to hold ruined cities which they would
+have to provision, moreover the Empire lacked money, trained troops, and good generals.
+The Emperor Li tsong was deaf to these arguments, and gave command promptly to march
+on Pien king with a corps of ten thousand.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Tsui li, who had given Pien king to the Mongols, was made master in that
+capital. The three chiefs, who served under him, were so incensed at his arrogance,
+that they swore to destroy the vile traitor. The moment these men heard that a Sung
+general was advancing with an army they declared to him their submission by letter,
+feigning meanwhile to work in accord with Tsui li the deceiver and tyrant. To carry
+out their plot better Li po yuan, one of the three, had fire set to a gate of the
+city, Tsui li hurried to the place and when he arrived there Li po yuan, who had gone
+with him, plunged a dagger blade into his body so deftly that Tsui li fell from his
+horse and died near the feet of the animal. Soldiers posted at the gate for the purpose
+attacked the attendants of the dead man and finished them promptly.
+</p>
+<p>Tsui li’s body was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged to the palace, where Li
+po yuan spoke to the people in these words: “Tsui li was a murderer, a robber, a tyrant,
+a debauchee, and an infamous traitor. No man so evil as he has lived in old times,
+or in our day. Did he merit death?” “To chop such a man into bits while alive would
+be very small punishment!” shouted out thousands. His head was exposed to the people
+and his body was made a burnt <span class="corr" id="xd32e3097" title="Source: offereng">offering</span> to the spirit of Nin kia su, the late Emperor. Tsuan tse tsai, the Sung general,
+occupied Pien king, and his force was strengthened soon by another of fifty thousand.
+From these two armies reinforcements were sent to Lo yang without waiting.
+</p>
+<p>On hearing that Li tsong had invaded Honan Ogotai began action immediately. His troops
+surprised, near Lo yang, a second Sung corps fifteen thousand in number, which marching
+from Pien king to Lo yang had pitched its camp at the Ho on the bank of that river.
+The Mongols scattered this corps and camped near the walls of the city. The Chinese
+issued forth and engaged them. Neither side won, but the Sung troops were forced to
+abandon Lo yang through a dearth of provisions. Through lack of food <span class="pageNum" id="pb312">[<a href="#pb312">312</a>]</span>also the Sung generals left Pien king and turned southward. The cities of Northern
+Honan were nearly deserted, and all of them suffered from hunger.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai recalled Subotai, whom he destined for Europe, and sent to the Sung court an
+envoy to reproach it with oath breaking. Li tsong sent his envoy to Kara Kurum to
+allay the coming tempest, but the journey was useless, war had been fixed at the Kurultai.
+Three army corps were now to attack the Sung Empire, one under command of Prince Kutan,
+Ogotai’s second son, aided by Tagai, a general who was to invade Su chuan, that great
+western province; a second, under Prince Kutchu, the third son of Ogotai, while the
+generals Temutai and Chauju were to march on Hu kuang and subject it. In Kiang nan
+a third army was to act under Chagan and Prince Khon Buga.
+</p>
+<p>Kutan marched through Shen si and, while passing Chung changan, received from the
+governor the submission of that city, the only one in all the Kin Empire which had
+not yielded to the Mongols. Kutan left the governor in office, but commanded him to
+march with his warriors who were placed in the vanguard. Kutan passed through Han
+chong southwestward, took Mian chiu, whose commandant Gao kia was killed during battle.
+Chao yan na, the governor of Han chung, hastened to occupy Tsing yen, the key of Su
+chuan, and was besieged there by Mongols, but Tsao yuan, the commandant of Lu chiu,
+hurried forward to help him, and drove the Mongol chief northward. Next Tsao threw
+himself on Ta an, besieged by Wang shi hien, saved that city, at least for a season,
+and retired, after defeating a large Mongol force in the neighborhood.
+</p>
+<p>These successes were gained over Kutan’s advance guard. When his main forces appeared
+the Chinese, who were greatly inferior in numbers, met them between Su chuan and Shen
+si, in wild mountain defiles, but had to flee near Yang ping and cease their resistance.
+After this victory the Mongols entered Su chuan without serious effort. In one month
+they took many cities, seized the best parts of the province, and massacred multitudes
+of people. The governor of Wen chau, unable to defend the place, poisoned his family,
+cremated their bodies, burned up what belonged to the treasury, burned his own property,
+his diploma of office, and then stabbed himself as the Mongols were bursting into
+the city. His <span class="pageNum" id="pb313">[<a href="#pb313">313</a>]</span>lieutenant was chopped into bits by the victors, who put to the sword every soul that
+remained, both of troops and inhabitants.
+</p>
+<p>When he had ruined Su chuan in the west Prince Kutan went back to Shen si, and the
+Chinese returned to their ruins. In 1237 Ching tu was reoccupied by the Chinese, but
+in 1239 Tagai, Kutan’s assistant, reëntered Su chuan, captured many places, took Ching
+tu and sacked it a second time. He wished now to enter Hu kuang, the next province,
+by Kwei chiu, a city on the north bank of the river Yang tse, but Meng kong, the Sung
+general, had put western Hu kuang into such a good state of defence, that this plan
+was a failure; he even took Kwei chiu from the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Prince Kutchu, whose chief camp was at Teng chu in Honan, entered Hu kuang
+in 1236. To him the commandants of Siang yang fu surrendered the city with immense
+stores in it. Kutchu took Tsao yang, he took also Li ngan, but died shortly after.
+</p>
+<p>Prince Kutchu was beloved greatly by Ogotai, and to him he had destined the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>Temutai laid siege now to King chiu, but Meng kong, who was sent by the governor of
+the province, defeated him at the walls of the city and freed twenty thousand Chinese
+who were captives.
+</p>
+<p>At the end of 1237 Khon Buga, the Mongol prince, captured three cities abandoned by
+their commandants, and advanced to Hoang chiu on the river Yang tse and besieged the
+place, but was forced later on to withdraw from it. He laid siege to another large
+city the year following but failed to take it.
+</p>
+<p>In 1238 the Mongol general, Chagan, invested Liu chiu, a city of Kiang nan; a sudden
+and vigorous sortie forced his withdrawal, and he lost some part of his force while
+retreating. In 1239 Meng kong gained three victories over the Mongols and captured
+four cities. In February, 1240, Wang tsie, the Mongol envoy, appeared at the Sung
+court for the fifth time, with offers of peace which were rejected. Wang tsie died
+before his mission was ended, and the Sung governor delivered his body to the Mongols.
+In the beginning of 1240 also a number of Mongol army corps marched by various roads
+into China. No further mention, however, of fighting is made till after Ogotai’s death
+the year following.
+</p>
+<p>While Mongol armies were attacking Corea, ravaging China, <span class="pageNum" id="pb314">[<a href="#pb314">314</a>]</span>devastating Russia, Hungary, and Poland, and spreading dismay throughout Western Europe,
+Ogotai was passing his time in delights, enjoying the chase, and his own taste for
+drinking. At Kara Kurum, where he had built a magnificent palace called the Ordu Balik
+and by thirty-seven relays of posts connected the city with China, he passed only
+one month of the springtime, the rest of that season he lived a day’s journey from
+the capital, in a palace called Kertchagan built by Persians, who strove to outdo
+or to rival those architects from China who at Kara Kurum had shown what their skill
+was. From Kertchagan he went back to Kara Kurum for some days and then passed the
+summer at Ormektua where he held court in a white Chinese tent, lined with silk embroidered
+with gold very deftly. In this tent, known as the Sarai Ordu, or Golden Horde, there
+was room for one thousand persons. The Grand Khan spent forty days at Lake Kosa. From
+there he went to Ongki near the Great Gobi desert where he lived all the winter; that
+was the time of grand hunting and field sports. In this region Ogotai had an enormous
+corral, or inclosure of earth and stakes called chehik. It was six miles in circuit,
+and had many doors to it. Troops stationed at long distances on all sides had orders
+to advance on this central inclosure and urge forward beasts, driving them through
+the doors into this immense roofless prison. Game was killed first by the Grand Khan
+and then by his family, permission going down by degrees till common men had their
+chance finally.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai drank to excess, for which Jinghis had reprimanded him frequently. Jagatai,
+to whom he deferred very notably, charged an official to see that he drank only a
+given number of cups each evening. Ogotai dared not disobey his elder brother, but
+he eluded the order by using larger cups, and the officer was silent.
+</p>
+<p>One day Ye liu chu tsai brought in an iron ring greatly rusted by wine. “If wine acts
+on iron in this way, how must it injure the stomach?” said Chu tsai. This example
+struck Ogotai greatly, but he could not shake off the habit. One day in March, 1241,
+he fell ill after hunting. Turakina, his wife, alarmed very seriously, turned to Chu
+tsai hoping that he might bring Heaven to restore the Grand Khan to her. Chu tsai
+counseled just deeds and benevolence. “Power has been given by the Khan,” said he,
+“to men who sell places, and traffic in justice. Innocent <span class="pageNum" id="pb315">[<a href="#pb315">315</a>]</span>people are groaning in prison because they have revolted against the wrongs done them.
+Let an amnesty be issued.” Turakina wished to have the amnesty published immediately,
+but the minister told her that this could be done only at Ogotai’s order.
+</p>
+<p>When the Khan came again to his senses all men imprisoned, or exiled, were pardoned.
+He regained his health that time, but a new attack came some months later. Against
+Chu tsai’s advice he had hunted five days in succession. On the way from the field
+he sat drinking till midnight. The sixth morning his body was lifeless. This Grand
+Khan had reigned nearly thirteen years, and was fifty-six years of age at his death
+hour, December 11, 1241. He was mild for a Mongol of that time, fond of luxury and
+generous in gift giving. He was tolerant of the various religions, and in general
+very amiable considering his position. He was fond of hunting and wrestling, often
+sending to Persia for renowned wrestlers. He was a statesman as well as conqueror,
+and framed laws which held the Mongol Empire together for a long period.
+</p>
+<p>After Ogotai’s death all the roads to his residence were guarded immediately, so that
+no man might leave the place and couriers were sent off in every direction to stop
+travelers wherever they might find them, till the members of the Grand Khan’s family
+had officially received the tidings of his death.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai had appointed Kutchu, his third son, to be his successor, but this young prince
+died in Hu kuang five years earlier, 1236. Shiramun, son of Kutchu, had been at the
+court, and Ogotai destined him also to Empire. But Turakina, a self-willed and determined
+woman, wished Kuyuk, her own eldest son, to be chief of all Mongols. Kuyuk, born in
+1206, had served against the Kin Empire; later he had gone to the west with Batu.
+Ogotai had ordered him back very recently, and he was on the way home when he heard
+of the death of his father.
+</p>
+<p>Princes of the blood and chiefs of the army received invitations from Ogotai’s widow
+to assemble for the Kurultai; meanwhile at the instance of Jagatai and others the
+regency was given to Turakina. The regency began by ejecting Ching kai the grand chancellor,
+an Uigur. A Mohammedan, Abd ur Rahman, who had come some time earlier to Mongolia
+with merchandise, had won the good-will of Turakina completely; a short time before
+Ogotai’s death he had offered to farm all the revenues of China. Chu tsai <span class="pageNum" id="pb316">[<a href="#pb316">316</a>]</span>had fixed the income of parts lying north of the Hoang Ho at five hundred thousand
+ounces of silver. After Honan had been conquered the receipts rose to one million
+one hundred thousand. Abd ur Rahman offered two million two hundred thousand; Chu
+tsai replied that five millions might be collected, but that sum, he said, would be
+grievous to tax payers. Turakina, putting aside the advice of Chu tsai, now gave Abd
+ur Rahman control of the finances of the Empire. It is stated that Chu tsai, foreseeing
+the destruction of all that he had labored for, grew despondent and died of grief.
+In any case this remarkable man died June, 1244, at the age of fifty-five years. By
+his influence over Ogotai he had saved many lives. He had also founded two colleges,
+one at Yan King, the other at Pin Yan in Shan si, and published a work on astronomy.
+</p>
+<p>Soon after Ogotai’s death Temugu, his uncle, who was Jinghis Khan’s youngest brother,
+approached the Khan’s residence with his army, and made a faint move toward a seizure
+of the Empire. Turakina sent to ask why he came to “his daughter” so numerously attended,
+and sent him his son, who had been living at Ogotai’s residence. On hearing that Kuyuk
+had arrived from the west and had reached the Imil where his yurta was established
+Temugu dropped his plan, and replied that he wished to condole with his daughter on
+the loss of her husband; after that he withdrew to his own place.
+</p>
+<p>The assembly to elect a new sovereign was to be at Talantepe, but did not meet till
+1246, because of Batu’s endless loitering. Batu liked neither Kuyuk, nor the regent,
+his mother, and feigned to have a sore leg which prevented his traveling. As he was
+the eldest prince of the family the other members were loath to elect a new sovereign
+in his absence.
+</p>
+<p>At the prayer of the regent Batu at last gave his word to be present at the Kurultai,
+but he came not, so the Kurultai was assembled without him, and Kuyuk was elected.
+</p>
+<p>Turakina died two months after Kuyuk was made Grand Khan<span class="corr" id="xd32e3139" title="Not in source">,</span> thereupon the many enemies of Fatima, a Persian woman, the adviser and intimate of
+Turakina, conspired to destroy her. She was accused by a Samarkand Moslem, named Shira,
+of having brought on Prince Kutan, Kuyuk’s brother, the disease from which he was
+suffering at that time. Kutan sent an officer to Kuyuk to <span class="pageNum" id="pb317">[<a href="#pb317">317</a>]</span>complain of Fatima, and demand that she be punished should his illness prove fatal.
+Kutan died, hence Kuyuk commanded the trial of Fatima. She was bastinadoed and tortured
+till she declared herself guilty. Every opening of her body save her nose was sewed
+up and closed tightly; after suffering dreadful anguish for a time she was wrapped
+in felt blankets firmly and thrown into a river; her friends were put to death also.
+The turn came soon to Shira himself who, accused of bewitching a son of Kuyuk, was
+put to death with his wife and whole family.
+</p>
+<p>Kuyuk, suffering from gout, the result of drink and dissipation, set out in 1248,
+during spring, for his own domains to find a more favoring climate. Siur Kukteni,
+Tului’s widow, fearing lest Kuyuk might be hostile to her nephew Batu, who had not
+come to do homage, warned the latter to be on his guard at all seasons. There was
+no reason, however, for this caution, since Kuyuk died on the road, being seven days’
+journey from Bish Balik, the Uigur capital.
+</p>
+<p>After Kuyuk’s death, which took place in his forty-third year, the usual precautions
+were taken to keep back the news till the principal chiefs of the family were informed
+of it. All ways were stopped and information was sent to Siur Kukteni, and to Batu.
+</p>
+<p>Batu had set out at last from the banks of the Volga to give the new sovereign due
+homage, and had come to Alaktak when news of Kuyuk’s sudden death reached him. He
+halted at once under pretext of resting his horses and, observing the national usage,
+gave his consent to the regency to Ogul Gaimish, who held the first place among Kuyuk’s
+consorts. She was the daughter of Kutuk, chief of the Uirats. Meanwhile Batu called
+a Kurultai at Alaktak. The descendants of Ogotai refused to attend, since the Kurultai
+should be held, as they said, in the land of the Mongols. They sent, however, Timur
+Noyon, governor of Kara Kurum, with full powers to act for them, and to confirm the
+decisions of Batu, and the majority of princes.
+</p>
+<p>At this Kurultai, composed mainly of Juchi’s descendants and those of Tului, that
+is descendants of Jinghis Khan’s youngest and eldest sons, Ilchi Kidai of the Jelairs
+declared that they had engaged to choose no man as sovereign unless a descendant of
+Ogotai so long as that branch remained living. “Yes,” answered Kubilai, son of Tului,
+“but ye were the first to infringe Jinghis Khan’s laws, and disregard Ogotai’s will.
+Ye put Altalun, Jinghis’ <span class="pageNum" id="pb318">[<a href="#pb318">318</a>]</span>daughter, to death without reference to Jinghis Khan’s statute that no descendant
+of his may suffer death until judged by an assembly of his or her equals. Ye put Kuyuk
+on the throne in defiance of Ogotai, who had appointed Shiramun to succeed him.”
+</p>
+<p>These two complaints were brought up by those who had determined to take the throne
+from descendants of Ogotai. Batu, who was also their enemy, had agreed with Siur Kukteni,
+to elect her eldest son, Mangu. This widow of Tului had an all powerful support in
+the army. The arrangements by which Jinghis had given the greater part of his troops
+to Tului assured preponderance to this branch. When the throne held an Emperor the
+combined army was under the sovereign, but in time of interregnum each part of it
+recognized the authority of that prince to whom it belonged, and who was its only
+commander. After the death of Tului his army of one hundred and one thousand out of
+a total of one hundred and thirty passed to his four sons by his chief wife Siur Kukteni:
+Mangu, Kubilai, Arik Buga and Hulagu. During the minority of these princes their mother,
+sure of the commander whom she had bound to her, governed with rare judgment the numerous
+tribes which were subject to her children. Honored by Batu and many other princes
+it was easy for her to place one of her sons on the throne, since the candidates among
+Ogotai’s descendants were too young in years yet to be personally considered.
+</p>
+<p>Mangusar, a general, was the first in the assembly to propose Prince Mangu, whose
+courage and wit he extolled, giving instance of his brilliant career, under Kuyuk,
+in China, and in western lands under Batu.
+</p>
+<p>But princes offered the throne first of all to Batu, as the eldest of his family.
+When he refused they begged him to point out a candidate and promised in writing to
+choose him. Batu refused to do this, but, changing his mind in the night, he deferred
+the next day to their wishes, and said in the meeting, that to govern the Empire a
+prince of ability was needed, and one who knew Jinghis Khan’s yassa in all points.
+In view of this he proposed to them Mangu as his candidate.
+</p>
+<p>This prince refused the great honor, and resisted the prayers of the Kurultai for
+many days in succession, till his brother rose, and said: “We have all promised to
+follow Prince Batu’s decision. <span class="pageNum" id="pb319">[<a href="#pb319">319</a>]</span>If it be permitted Mangu to break his word now, other princes may follow his example
+in future.” Batu applauded these words, and Mangu ceased resistance. The moment he
+accepted, the whole assembly saluted him. A new Kurultai was appointed for the following
+spring to be held in Jinghis Khan’s home land near the sources of the Onon and the
+Kerulon when Mangu was to be recognized by all princes, and by the chiefs of the army.
+</p>
+<p>Ogul Gaimish, Kuyuk’s widow, was to be regent in the meanwhile assisted by her two
+sons: Khodja and Nagu. The only, or at least the main care of this regency was to
+dispose of tribute by giving orders in advance on the provinces. Ogul Gaimish was
+given greatly to sorcery and spent much of her time with magicians. The Mongol Empire
+was thus left to many evil influences.
+</p>
+<p>Khodja and Nagu disavowed the agents who in their names had voted for Mangu. They
+informed Batu, that they could not hold to decisions of a Kurultai assembled far from
+the land of Jinghis, and moreover imperfect. Batu enjoined on them to visit the coming
+Kurultai, and added that the princes had chosen the man whom they held the best fitted
+to govern the Empire, and that their choice was now made and irrevocable.
+</p>
+<p>The rest of the year passed in fruitless discussions between Mangu’s partisans, who
+strove to bring the malcontents to their way of thinking, and the competitors of Mangu
+who protested against the election. Batu sent his two brothers, Berkai and Togha Timur,
+with a strong corps of troops to escort the new Grand Khan to the Kurultai, and seat
+him on Jinghis Khan’s throne. The descendants of Ogotai, and the son and successor
+of Jagatai refused to appear there, declaring that the election of Mangu was illegal,
+and that the throne belonged by right to a descendant of Ogotai. Agents sent time
+after time by Batu and Siur Kukteni implored them not to rend the Empire through factiousness.
+Batu informed them that children were incompetent to manage Jinghis Khan’s great possessions.
+</p>
+<p>The princes persisted, however, in refusing. Berkai, after waiting a year, asked for
+orders from Batu, who commanded to install Mangu without further discussion, declaring
+that those who made trouble would pay with their lives for so doing. The princes descended
+from Juchi and Tului, with the nephews of Jinghis, met at Koitun Ola, the place designated,
+and made a last effort to bring <span class="pageNum" id="pb320">[<a href="#pb320">320</a>]</span>the heads of the houses of Ogotai and Jagatai to share in the meeting. An officer
+sent to Ogul Gaimish, and another to Yissu, son of Jagatai, announced that the other
+princes had assembled, and were waiting. Khodja and Nagu, seeing that opposition was
+fruitless, gave a promise to come, and fixed the date of arrival. The term passed,
+but they came not. An order was given to astrologers to name the day and the hour
+for installation. The installation took place July, 1251, with the ceremonies which
+were usual and proper. When the princes inside the Imperial pavilion put their girdles
+on their shoulders and prostrated themselves nine times before Mangu, their example
+was followed by ten thousand warriors ranged round the tent on the outside.
+</p>
+<p>The Grand Khan commanded that no man should work on that day, that all should forget
+every quarrel and yield themselves up to rejoicing. He wished to make Nature participate
+in the festival, and enjoined that no man was to sit on a horse, or put a burden on
+anything living. No person was to kill an animal, hunt, fish, wound the earth by digging,
+or otherwise, or trouble the calm of the waters, or their purity.
+</p>
+<p>On the morrow a rich feast was given by Mangu in a tent of rare stuffs and great splendor.
+At his right sat the princes descended from Jinghis, at his left the princesses. A
+similar feast was given each day for seven days in succession. Each day every guest
+wore a dress of new color; each day three hundred horses and bullocks with five thousand
+sheep were eaten, while two thousand cart loads of wine and kumis were drunk to drive
+away thirst and console the great company.
+</p>
+<p>In the midst of this feasting and pleasure a man, known as Kishk, made his way to
+the Grand Khan’s pavilion with the statement that he had discovered a plot against
+Mangu and the princes assembled. He declared that while looking for a mule which had
+strayed from him he fell in with a body of men going forward with carts, which at
+first he had thought to be filled with supplies for the Kurultai. He came on a lad
+and walked for a time with him. The lad mistook Kishk for one of the party, and asked
+the mule owner to help him in fixing his cart which was injured. Kishk turned to assist;
+and seeing the cart filled with arms asked the lad why he was taking them. “I have
+the same as the others,” replied he. Kishk was astonished at this, and after some
+cautious <span class="pageNum" id="pb321">[<a href="#pb321">321</a>]</span>inquiries discovered that the princes Shiramun, Nagu and Khodja were going to the
+Kurultai to make use of the moment when all would be drunk to finish Mangu and his
+followers. Kishk declared that through eagerness to tell what he knew at the earliest
+he had made in one day three days’ journey.
+</p>
+<p>The story was received with astonishment at first, and seemed altogether unreal. Kishk
+was asked to repeat it, so he told all the details again and in such fashion this
+time that every doubt vanished. Each prince wished to go himself and look into the
+matter. It was decided to send Mangusar, the chief general, and the first person who
+in the Kurultai proposed that Mangu should be raised to the throne; with him went
+two or three thousand men. The princes were not more than two days from the Ordu.
+</p>
+<p>Mangusar reached their camp very early in the morning and, having surrounded it, approached
+the tent of the princes with one hundred horsemen. He called to them that it had been
+reported to Mangu that they were coming with evil intentions. If that were false they
+could clear themselves quickly by going to the Ordu at once. If they would not go,
+he had orders to take them. The princes came out of their tent, and, seeing that their
+camp was surrounded, said that they were on the way to give homage to Mangu, and were
+about to continue their journey. They were forced, however, to follow Mangusar, and
+were permitted to take only twenty men with them as an escort.
+</p>
+<p>Arriving at the Ordu they offered their presents by nines according to Mongol custom.
+The first two days they took part in the festival unquestioned, but on the third day
+the three princes were arrested when ready to enter the Grand Khan’s pavilion. Next
+day Mangu himself questioned them. He began by saying that, though the charges might
+seem improbable, he was bound to convince himself and thus destroy all suspicions
+against them, and punish their accusers.
+</p>
+<p>The princes denied the whole story with firmness. Mangu questioned Shiramun’s governor,
+who was forced by the bastinado to avow the conspiracy, but it was made, he declared,
+by him and his officers without knowledge of the princes; after these words he drew
+his own sabre and killed himself. A commission of generals under Mangusar was formed
+to report on the confessions of <span class="pageNum" id="pb322">[<a href="#pb322">322</a>]</span>the officers of the three princes from whom the avowal of a plot was at last forced.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu wished to pardon these officers, but his generals and relatives declared that
+he should not let slip that chance to be rid of his enemies. Yielding to this advice
+he had the officers put in irons; still he wavered and again asked advice of his chief
+men. They advised him one after another, but even then he continued irresolute. At
+last seeing Mahmud Yelvadje, the one man who till then had kept silence, he summoned
+him and asked why he said nothing. Yelvadje cited Alexander, who sent a confidant
+to ask Aristotle how to treat a detected conspiracy. Aristotle took the man to a garden;
+while they were walking he ordered to pull up some well rooted trees and plant feeble
+saplings instead of them. No other answer was given. The man went back and told Alexander,
+who understood; he had all the conspirators slain, and sent their young sons to replace
+them.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu, struck by the story, put to death seventy officers. Among them were two sons
+of Ilchi Kidai then in Persia. Stones were forced into the mouths of these sons who
+were stifled in that way; the father was arrested in Khorassan and conveyed to Batu
+who took life from him. The three princes were pardoned through the intercession of
+Mangu’s mother.
+</p>
+<p>In February, 1252, Mangu lost his mother, Siur Kukteni. She was a niece of Wang Khan
+and a Christian; they buried her next to her husband, Tului. In August, 1252, Mangu
+went to Kara Kurum to judge hostile princes and princesses. With Ogul Gaimish, he
+was especially angry, since she, when summoned to render him homage, had answered
+that Mangu and the other princes had sworn not to choose a Grand Khan unless from
+among the descendants of Ogotai. Both hands and arms of Ogul Gaimish were sewed up
+in a leather bag, and she with Shiramun’s mother was taken to the residence of Siur
+Kukteni. Mangusar stripped her there of all clothing and then proceeded to interrogate.
+She reproached him indignantly with exposing her body, which had never been seen by
+any man save a sovereign. Both women were declared guilty of trying to kill Mangu
+by magic. They were rolled up in felt rugs and drowned immediately. The sons of these
+two women confessed that their mothers had incited them not to recognize Mangu. Kadak
+and Chinkai, the chief counsellors <span class="pageNum" id="pb323">[<a href="#pb323">323</a>]</span>of Ogul Gaimish, were put to death also. Buri, the grandson of Jagatai, was delivered
+to Batu, who had him killed in revenge for words used when in liquor.
+</p>
+<p>The three princes were spared by Mangu in view of their kinship: Khodja was sent to
+Suligai, east of Kara Kurum; Nagu and Shiramun were ordered to the army. When Kubilai
+was going, some time later, to China, Mangu as a favor let him take Shiramun on that
+journey, but when Mangu himself went to China he had Shiramun drowned, through mistrust
+of this young man, who had been destined to the throne by his grandfather. The greater
+part of Ogotai’s descendants were sent to various places and deprived of the troops
+which were theirs by inheritance. Mangu gave those troops to other princes devoted
+to his person. He spared only Kadan Melik and the sons of Prince Kutan, who had come
+with good grace to give homage. He not only left them their troops, but gave each
+man one of Ogotai’s ordus, and one of his widows.
+</p>
+<p>Not content with punishing the highest, Mangu wished to strike down throughout the
+empire all who had signified attachment to Ogotai. He had the power to act thus, for
+his armies formed one immense chain from Eastern Mongolia to Otrar. Belu, a judge,
+was despatched to discover offenders, and punish them with death, in the countries
+of Jagatai, while a second inquisitor was sent to the armies in China. Two corps were
+sent at the same time to the Kirghis and the Kemjuts.
+</p>
+<p>Strong now on his throne through destruction of enemies, Mangu dismissed all the princes
+and generals who had come to the Kurultai. Berkai and Togha Timur received splendid
+gifts for themselves, and for Batu, their brother. Kara Hulagu received the inheritance
+of Jagatai, his grandfather, and was charged to put to death Yissu, his uncle, placed
+on the throne by Kuyuk, the late sovereign. Kara Hulagu died on the way to his possessions,
+but Organa, his widow, carried out the sentence on Yissu, and took the inheritance.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu, to reward the mule driver Kishk, made him a Terkhan, and gave him much treasure.
+</p>
+<p>The fate of the Uigur sovereign shows how Mongol Khans treated their vassals. We remember
+Bardjuk, the Idikut, very well in connection with Jinghis, whom he followed most faithfully.
+As recompense Jinghis gave the Idikut his daughter Altun Bighi <span class="pageNum" id="pb324">[<a href="#pb324">324</a>]</span>in marriage. This marriage was deferred by the death of the conqueror. Ogotai wished
+to carry out the desire of his father, but before he could do so Altun Bighi herself
+died, and Bardjuk died soon after. Bardjuk’s son Kishmain went to Ogotai’s court and
+received his father’s title of Idikut, or sovereign among the Uigurs. He too died
+soon after, and Turakina, the regent, appointed her brother Salendi to the Uigur dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>This new Idikut, who was a Buddhist, made haste to give homage to Mangu at the time
+of his accession, but just after he had started a slave accused him of planning to
+slay all Mohammedans, not only in the capital, but throughout the whole Uigur kingdom,
+when assembled in their mosques on a Friday. One of Mangu’s officials received the
+accusation and sent a messenger straightway for the Idikut. Salendi returned without
+delay to Bish Balik and was confronted with the slave, who told the whole plan minutely.
+Salendi denied every point with great firmness. The slave demanded to take the affair
+to Mangu to be judged by him. Seif ud din, the official, sent him to the Grand Khan,
+and soon after the Idikut was summoned for trial. Questioned and put to torture, he
+ended by confessing that he was guilty. The Grand Khan sent him back to Bish Balik
+for execution. On a Friday his head was cut off by his own brother, Okendji. Two of
+his higher officials, condemned as accomplices, met death by having their bodies cut
+in four pieces crosswise. A third man, named Bela, was condemned to death also, but
+Mangu, wishing to win from High Heaven the cure of his mother, reprieved all who were
+sentenced to death upon that day. Bela was already at the place of execution and stripped
+of his garments when grace came, but his children and wives and his possessions were
+taken and he was sent on a mission to Syria and Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>When Mongol princes granted life to a criminal he was either sent to the army, where
+he might die with some profit to his sovereign, or he was employed on a perilous mission,
+or was sent to some country with a death-dealing climate.
+</p>
+<p>The slave who had accused Salendi got his recompense and became a Mohammedan. When
+he returned to Bish Balik after the death of the Idikut, he roused so much terror
+in the Uigurs who would be endangered by his ill-will that they hastened to pay court
+to him and offer rich presents.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb325">[<a href="#pb325">325</a>]</span></p>
+<p>After Mangu had rid himself of all the Uigurs who might favor Ogotai’s descendants
+he gave the kingdom to Okendji, who had been his own brother’s executioner.
+</p>
+<p>After Ogotai’s death the Mongol forces, disposed on the southern border of what had
+been once the Kin Empire, made attacks from time to time on Su chuan, Kiang nan and
+Hu kuang; they merely ravaged, took cities, and retired then with booty. It might
+be said that in Mangu’s reign the only thing favorable to Mongols was the death of
+Meng kong, the greatest general of China, the man who had frequently stopped them,
+and often defeated their forces.
+</p>
+<p>In 1252 Mangu gave Honan to Kubilai, his brother, as an appanage, and a part of Shen
+si with it also. In the same year, having previously consulted Chinese sages as to
+all needful and proper details, he made a great sacrifice to Heaven from a mountain
+top. The year following he directed that a census be taken of the people in Russia.
+Yun nan was made up at that time of several small kingdoms, independent for the greater
+part. Toward the end of 1252 Wang te chen, a commander of Mongols, made some advance
+in Su chuan. He pillaged Ching tu, and took Kia ting fu, thirty leagues to the south
+of it, thus opening Kubilai’s way to him. Kubilai in October, 1253, marched from Lin
+taow, where he had assembled an army. Under him was Uriang Kadai whose father, Subotai,
+had done most toward Mangu’s elevation. Uriang Kadai was charged by the Grand Khan
+with the real command of this expedition.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai traversed all Su chuan, and after a march of great trials, over mountains
+which seemed quite impassable for an army, he crossed on rafts the Kin sha (Golden
+Sand), a large river. The king of the Mussu man, the first people beyond the Kin sha,
+submitted. The sovereign of the next people, the Pe man, made no resistance, but his
+nephew defended the capital. Kubilai took the city, and put the nephew to death, but
+he spared the inhabitants.
+</p>
+<p>Tali, the capital of Nan chao, received Mongol rule without fighting. Yao shu, his
+adviser, told Kubilai how Tsao pin, sent by a Sung Emperor to seize Nan shan, did
+the work without killing a person, and even without stopping any traffic in the city.
+Kubilai declared that he would show a like wonder. Shortly after this he mounted his
+stallion, and arriving at the walls of Tali, he unfurled silk banners, on which it
+was written in large characters <span class="pageNum" id="pb326">[<a href="#pb326">326</a>]</span>that to kill man or woman was forbidden under penalty of death. In virtue of this
+statement on the flags, and possibly for some other cause also, Tali opened its gates,
+and this conquest cost only five lives, those of the city’s two commandants, who slew
+the three officers sent to ask for surrender.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai did not go beyond Tali; he returned to Mongolia and left Uriang Kadai to master
+those southern regions. After Nan chao, the Mongol chief attacked and subjected the
+Tupo or Tibetans, a war-loving people, between one and two millions in number. Many
+of these entered his army, which was thereby strengthened greatly. Some even served
+in the vanguard and acted as scouts in attacking.
+</p>
+<p>Towards the end of 1254 Uriang Kadai left his armies in the field, and returned to
+Mongolia to report to Mangu the work done in the south beyond China. Sent back the
+next year, he entered through Lower Tibet, and continued his conquests. The kingdom
+of Ava as well as two others, was either subjected or terrified into yielding. Two
+years later, in 1257, the Mongol general appeared on the edge of Tung king (Gan nan)
+and summoned its sovereign, Chen chi kung, a vassal of the Sung Emperor, to own himself
+tributary to Mangu. Since his envoys did not return to him the general entered Gan
+nan and marched to the Tha River, which runs through the whole kingdom lengthwise.
+On the opposite bank he saw the enemy’s army with an immense force of elephants in
+order of battle. The Mongols, disposed in three parts, crossed and routed the enemy.
+The king hurried into a boat, sailed with the current and fled to an island; a part
+of his army escaped in boats also.
+</p>
+<p>Uriang Kadai ordered Che she tu to lead a division to the other bank of the river,
+but not to give battle till the rest of the army had crossed over. Che she tu was
+to seize all the boats, or take a stand between them and the enemy. Instead of obeying
+he put the enemy to flight before the other divisions could cross and prevented thereby
+the capture of the army. Uriang Kadai in his rage gave a biting reproof and threatened
+a trial, whereupon Che she tu immediately took poison and died.
+</p>
+<p>Kiao chi, the Gan nan capital, surrendered, and now Uriang Kadai found his envoys
+in prison. They had been bound with bamboo cords so firmly that the bonds had entered
+their flesh, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb327">[<a href="#pb327">327</a>]</span>one of the men died the same hour in which he was liberated. Uriang Kadai was so enraged
+at this spectacle, that he gave up the city to be sacked by his warriors.
+</p>
+<p>After his troops had taken nine days of rest, he turned northward for a time to escape
+the great heat of the region. In 1258 the Gan nan king, Chen chi kung, resigned in
+favor of his eldest son, Chen kuang ping. The latter now sent his son-in-law and many
+great lords on an embassy to Mangu, who at that time was marching against the Sung
+empire.
+</p>
+<p>In 1256 Mangu had assembled a Kurultai at a place called Orbolgetu. During two months
+he treated the princes of his house with magnificence. All other guests summoned thither
+he met in the same way, and gave them rich presents. At this time came the submission
+of Corea, which, since 1247, had ceased to pay tribute. The success of Mongol arms
+in that country forced the king to render homage in person.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai’s kindness and justice made him very popular in China. Because of this, and
+of calumny, Mangu became jealous, thinking that his brother wished empire. Hence in
+1257 Kubilai was recalled, and replaced straightway by Alemdar. Alemdar arrested a
+number of Kubilai’s fiscal agents and put them to death, saving two, touching whom
+he was waiting for the Grand Khan’s decision. Kubilai suffered keenly, his life was
+in danger, and he hesitated seriously in action. The sage Yao shu, his adviser, declared
+that since he was the first subject of his sovereign, he should give an example of
+obedience. This Chinese sage advised a return to Mongolia with his family as the best
+way to soften the suspicions of his brother and remove every danger. This advice was
+regarded and followed. When they met the two brothers could not restrain tears. No
+reference was made to Chinese matters. Alemdar was recalled, and his commission was
+ended.
+</p>
+<p>Mongol conquests in the south encircled the Sung Empire; the one question now was
+to completely subdue that country. There was an old pretext for attacking the Empire:
+In 1241 Turakina, the regent, had sent an envoy, Yuli massa, to make peace proposals
+and discuss them. This envoy was arrested as soon as he touched Sung territory, and
+imprisoned in a fortress with his suite of seventy persons. The envoy died shortly
+after, but the members of his suite were detained in the fortress until 1254. That
+year the Mongols <span class="pageNum" id="pb328">[<a href="#pb328">328</a>]</span>besieged Ho chiu, before which they were defeated by Wang kian, the city governor.
+The Chinese, to show how much peace was desired by them, freed the suite of the late
+envoy, or at least those who were still living.
+</p>
+<p>In October, 1257, Mangu set out for the Sung Empire, leaving government at home to
+Arik Buga, his brother, with Alemdar as an assistant. In May of the following year
+he marched to Shen si and fixed his camp near the Liu pan mountains, made famous by
+the death of his grandfather. In August, three months later, he advanced to Su chuan,
+his first field of action.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu had adopted an elaborate plan by which Su chuan, Hu kuang and Kiang nan would
+be attacked simultaneously. He would march against Su chuan with an army in three
+divisions; a second army, under Kubilai, would lay siege to Wu chang, where Uriang
+Kadai was to join him after marching directly from Gan nan (Tung king) through the
+provinces of Kuang si and Kwei chiu. Togachar, son of the Utchugen, was to strike
+King shan in the province of Kiang nan with a third army.
+</p>
+<p>Niuli with a strong force, preceding the Emperor, moved on Ching tu, where Adaku,
+a Mongol commander, was besieged by Liu ching, a Sung general, whom Niuli defeated,
+thus relieving the city. After that he marched forward, but no sooner had he gone
+than the place was attacked by Pu ko chi, the Su chuan governor. Adaku was killed
+in the action which followed, and the city was taken by the governor. Niuli turned
+back then and thrust in his forces between Ching tu and the Sung army outside it.
+Through lack of provisions the city surrendered a second time, but now to the Mongols,
+and the Sung army then retreated. Niuli received the submission of many places in
+that region and the rank of general-in-chief was conferred on him as reward.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Grand Khan arrived at Han chung and wished greatly to capture Ku chu
+yai, a fortress twenty leagues west of Pao ning and commanding the road through the
+mountains. Niuli left at Ching tu a strong garrison and marched to take this mountain
+stronghold. Chang shi, a Sung general captured recently, was sent in advance to persuade
+the commandant of Ku chu yai to surrender. Chang shi entered the city, but, instead
+of persuading the commandant to surrender, or trying to persuade him and then returning
+to Niuli, he remained in the stronghold.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb329">[<a href="#pb329">329</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Mangu himself now marched against the place and, overcoming all obstacles, brought
+his army up to it. After ten days of siege work one gate of the city was surrendered
+by Chao chung, a traitorous officer of the garrison. The Mongols entered in secret,
+but there was soon a fierce and keen struggle in the streets, during which Yang li,
+the commandant, was killed and the garrison scattered. The house of Chao chung, the
+traitor, was spared in the looting and destruction which followed; he himself was
+rewarded with a rich robe of honor, and the command of a city. Chang shi, the Sung
+general who did not, or would not persuade the city to surrender, was captured a second
+time, and next day the Grand Khan had him quartered, that is, his body was cut lengthwise
+and crosswise. After this, much of Western Su chuan was subjected. The struggle was
+stubborn and desperate in some parts; in others there was only indifference, or treason.
+On February 18, 1259, the Mongol New Year, a great feast was given by Mangu, near
+the mountain Chung kwe. At this feast Togan, a chief of the Jelairs, declared that
+South China was dangerous through its climate, and that the Grand Khan should go northward
+for safety. Baritchi of the Erlats called this advice cowardly, and advised the Grand
+Khan to remain with his army. These words pleased Mangu, who remained, wishing greatly
+to capture Ho chiu. Tsin ko pao was sent to the city with a summons, but Wang kian
+had him slain as a traitor immediately.
+</p>
+<p>Now began the siege of Ho chiu, very famous for stubbornness on both sides. Yang ta
+yuan, the investing commander of the Mongols, began the action, but Mangu himself
+arrived soon with the bulk of his forces and took his position in front of this city,
+which stood between the Kia ling and Fiu Rivers. During March and April a number of
+assaults were delivered. In May there was a dreadful tempest and rain poured down
+for three weeks without ceasing. Each side tried to cut off supplies from the other
+and harass it. After desperate struggles a division of the Sung forces destroyed a
+bridge of boats built on the Fiu by the Emperor. Over this bridge the besiegers were
+bearing provisions. A Sung corps, ascending the Kia ling on a thousand barges, was
+attacked from both banks by the Mongols, a hundred barges were sunk and the rest driven
+back to Chung king, whence they started.
+</p>
+<p>In June assaults were very frequent, but with no profit to either <span class="pageNum" id="pb330">[<a href="#pb330">330</a>]</span>side. One night in July a Mongol general scaled the ramparts with picked warriors
+and held his position till daybreak. Then, seeing Wang kian, the Sung commander, who
+was about to begin action again, he shouted: “Wang kian, life is granted to warriors,
+as well as to citizens; it is better to surrender in season.” Barely had he uttered
+the words when a stone from a catapult killed him. His men on the ramparts were now
+left unsupported and fled. This was the last attack made on Ho chiu by the Mongols
+at that time. Their assaults had been many and resolute, and they had lost thousands
+of men in them; dysentery was raging, Mangu himself had fallen ill of it, and he resolved
+now to defer all attacks and blockade the position. Leaving three thousand picked
+men, he led the rest of his troops to Chung king, which he intended to capture, but
+twelve days later he died (Aug., 1259) at Tiao yu, a mountain one league from Ho chiu,
+and to the east of it. The chiefs of the army decided to raise the siege and retire
+toward the north, taking with them the body of their sovereign. Mangu’s son Assutai
+conducted the corpse to Mongolia, where it was buried, near the graves of Jinghis
+and Tului.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu was generous but stern by nature. He often distributed largess freely among
+his troops, but insisted that they should be held under severe discipline at all times.
+In the Su chuan campaign he strictly forbade his men to plunder. On learning that
+Assutai, while out hunting, had destroyed a wheatfield, he reproved him sternly and
+had several of his companions punished. He carried discipline so far that once, when
+a soldier disobeyed orders and forcibly took an onion from a peasant, he was put to
+death immediately. Though tolerant of all religions he was superstitious, and under
+the influence of shamans, an influence apparently baneful. A story is told of one
+of Mangu’s wives, who, having given birth to a son, summoned a shaman to read the
+boy’s horoscope. The man predicted long life, but the child died in a few days. Severely
+censured by the mother, the shaman for self-protection accused a nurse, recently executed
+for causing by sorcery the death of a princess. The mother, to avenge the death of
+her child, had the son and daughter of that nurse killed, the first by a man, the
+latter by a woman. This so angered Mangu that he imprisoned his wife for seven days,
+and banished her from his presence for a month. He commanded that the man who killed
+the boy of the nurse should <span class="pageNum" id="pb331">[<a href="#pb331">331</a>]</span>be decapitated and his head hung around the neck of the woman who had killed the girl,
+then that she should be beaten with blazing firebrands, and put to death.
+</p>
+<p>When Mangu died so unexpectedly, his brothers were far apart. Hulagu was in Syria,
+Arik Buga was at Kara Kurum, the Mongol capital, and Kubilai, the successor according
+to the Mongol system, was in China.
+</p>
+<p>Wu chang fu, built along the south bank of the Yang tse directly in front of the Han,
+must be taken by Kubilai, such was the order which Mangu had given him. In 1258 Kubilai
+set out for this work from Shang tu, a city which he had founded recently, and which
+was famed later on as his capital in summer. He advanced slowly, and only in August,
+1259, did he halt at the Ju in Honan. He moved thence toward Wu chang fu, and captured
+strong places near the line of his marching. It was while on this march that he heard
+of the death of his brother. He made no delay for that reason, however, but crossed
+the Yang tse in the face of a numerous and active flotilla.
+</p>
+<p>He laid siege at once to Wu chang fu and sent a division of troops to Kiang si, where
+they captured two cities. These brilliant actions roused fear in Lin ngan (Hang chau),
+the Sung residence. The Emperor up to this time had not known of the Mongol invasion;
+for his minister had deceived him systematically, and now he received a vast number
+of petitions from all sides, declaring the minister a traitor and demanding that death
+be inflicted for his treason. The Emperor removed the man promptly and replaced him
+by Kia se tao. Command was given Kia se tao to advance on Wu chang at the head of
+an army and succor that city. Immense levies were ordered and the Emperor distributed
+silver and silk to those who took part in making them. The new minister, a man given
+only to letters, knew nothing of war, or the problem of governing. Moreover, he was
+desperately reckless, without conscience, and remarkably cunning. His one object was
+to keep power by all means which his mind could invent. The time favored him greatly,
+since the Emperor was weak and the court had small honor. The army had no respect
+for Kia se tao, but he had no thought to save the Sung Empire by fighting, hence disregarded
+the army. He made offers in secret to Kubilai, who was attacking Wu chang with much
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb332">[<a href="#pb332">332</a>]</span>vigor. Kia se tao engaged that the Sung Emperor would own himself a vassal of the
+Grand Khan, the sovereign of the Mongols. Kubilai had received an official account
+of the death of Mangu, still he rejected the minister’s proposal. But when letters
+came from his partisans, who urged him to hasten and prevent the attempts to be made
+by Arik Buga, he consulted his generals, and Hao king, one of them, explained very
+clearly that Arik Buga, master at Kara Kurum, the home capital, and Duredji, governor
+of Yen king (now Pekin), the capital of China, would act as one man to exclude him,
+who as first prince of the blood should be regent and preside at the Kurultai; hence
+the urgent need that he go to Mongolia immediately. Arik Buga wished supreme rule
+and Kubilai knew that Alemdar and Duredji would help him to win it in every way possible.
+Because of all this Kubilai decided to accept the conditions just offered by Kia se
+tao, which, moreover, were favorable. It was agreed then that the Sung Emperor was
+to own himself a vassal of the Grand Khan, and give two hundred thousand ounces of
+silver, with two hundred thousand rolls of silk yearly as tribute. The Yang tse was
+to be the boundary of his lands.
+</p>
+<p>These conditions concluded, Kubilai marched northward with the best of the cavalry,
+leaving orders with his generals to await Uriang Kadai. Uriang Kadai had been commanded
+by Mangu to join Kubilai’s army at Wu chang, bringing with him the thirteen thousand
+men furnished by subject nations on the south, beyond China. After he had defeated,
+on the border, armies more numerous by far than his own, he laid siege to Kwei tiu,
+the capital of Kiang si, defeated a second Chinese army, and reached Southern Hu kuang,
+where he laid siege to Chang shi. The treaty now made by Kubilai forced him to desist
+and cross the Yang tse with his forces.
+</p>
+<p>The two southern generals in command of auxiliaries, reduced now from thirteen to
+five thousand, led the rear guard of the army, and were crossing the river on a bridge
+built of boats when Kia se tao broke this bridge by sending barges in full sail against
+it. One hundred and seventy men left on the southern bank were cut down by the minister.
+</p>
+<p>Kia se tao kept the Sung Emperor in ignorance of the treaty, and attributed the Mongol
+retreat to his own splendid valor and <span class="pageNum" id="pb333">[<a href="#pb333">333</a>]</span>management. The massacre of Uriang Kadai’s rear party was exhibited as a triumph and
+Kia se tao was summoned to the court to be honored by a brilliant reception.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai encamped outside the walls of Yen king, and complained to Arik Buga of the
+levies of men, beasts and money which the latter was making. Arik Buga gave quieting
+answers; he wished to attract Kubilai and his partisans to the Kurultai which had
+been summoned. Beyond doubt he either had taken means to assure a majority on his
+side, or he wished to get Kubilai into his clutches and kill him.
+</p>
+<p>Duredji, who was then at Pekin, urged that Kubilai and the princes in his army proceed
+to the Kurultai. It was answered, that Kubilai must post his troops first on their
+cantonments. Duredji sent this answer to Arik Buga, and remained with Kubilai, who
+went to Shang tu, the place fixed by his adherents for a special election.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai’s party met, and since the position was so serious as to brook no delay, it
+was impossible for them to wait for Juchi’s and Jagatai’s descendants or for Hulagu,
+who was then in Persia. Kubilai was elected immediately and without opposition and
+placed on the throne with the usual formalities, 1260.—This election was the beginning
+of a contest which in the sequel destroyed the Mongol Empire.—A deputation of one
+hundred was now sent to inform Arik Buga of Kubilai’s election and enthronement. Duredji
+tried to flee, but was arrested and forced to reveal the intrigues of Arik Buga; he
+was then put in prison. Kubilai appointed Apishga, son of Buri, as successor to Jagatai,
+and sent him home with his brother, but both these princes were seized in Shen si
+and taken to Arik Buga, who kept them in prison.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile at Kara Kurum Arik Buga was not idle. He sent Alemdar to levy troops among
+tribes in the north, and distribute silk and silver among them; he sent two other
+men to Shen si, and these two were able to induce certain governors and generals in
+China to declare for Arik Buga, who, supported in this way, did not hesitate to take
+the sovereign title. At the head of his party was Kutuktai, once the chief wife of
+Mangu. With her were associated Mangu’s sons: Assutai, Yurungtash and Shireki, also
+several of Jagatai’s grandsons.
+</p>
+<p>The two claimants continued to send envoys to each other all <span class="pageNum" id="pb334">[<a href="#pb334">334</a>]</span>that season without reaching an agreement. In the autumn Arik Buga sent out an army
+commanded by Karadjar, and by Chumukur, a son of Hulagu. This force was defeated by
+Kubilai’s vanguard. Discouraged by this check, Arik Buga’s troops scattered, and he
+himself sought Kirghis regions for protection after he had put to death Apishga and
+his brother—those two Jagatai princes friendly to Kubilai—and the deputation of one
+hundred sent with news of that emperor’s election.
+</p>
+<p>In Shen si Arik Buga made no better progress: Straightway after his election Kubilai
+sent to that province and to Su chuan as governor Lien hi hien, an Uigur by birth,
+one among the best of his generals. This new governor hastened to Si ngan fu and made
+Kubilai’s authority triumphant very quickly. Arik Buga’s agents had arrived two days
+earlier, and were striving to win all that region for their master. The new governor
+seized those two men and cast them into prison. Learning meanwhile that Kubilai had
+issued an amnesty which would arrive very soon, he had the two put to death while
+in prison, and published the edict after its arrival. Three corps of troops led by
+Prince Kadan were now sent by the governor against Kundukai, Arik Buga’s commander,
+who, unable to take Si ngan fu and needing reinforcements, withdrew northward to meet
+Alemdar, who was bringing fresh troops from Mongolia. After these two generals had
+joined forces, they turned toward the south and were met by Kubilai’s army in Middle
+Shen si, somewhat east of Kin chau. The battle which followed was stubborn to the
+utmost, and for some time the issue was doubtful, but at last Arik Buga was surrounded
+and suffered so bloody and crushing a defeat that the campaign was ended. Kundukai
+and Alemdar were both killed in this battle, and China was secured to Kubilai, who
+now moved north and, entering Mongolia, established his camp at the river Ungki for
+that winter. Kara Kurum lacked supplies and, since it received them from China, Kubilai
+determined to stop every movement to Mongolia and had means to enforce this decision.
+Want soon appeared in the capital. Arik Buga was in need of arms and provisions; still
+he persisted, and transferring to Algu, who was with him, the inheritance of Jagatai,
+he directed the new Khan to send arms and supplies, and to guard the west strictly,
+so that no aid might reach Kubilai from Hulagu, or from Berkai. Arik Buga was still
+in the Kem Kemdjut region, <span class="pageNum" id="pb335">[<a href="#pb335">335</a>]</span>and fearing to make an attack in his weakness, he sent a message to Kubilai saying
+that he repented and acknowledged him as the sovereign, that he would stand before
+him at once were his horses in condition to travel, though he would prefer to await
+the arrival of Berkai and Hulagu, whom he had asked with other princes to arrange
+the affairs of the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai answered that he would be glad to see Arik Buga even earlier than other princes.
+Then, leaving his cousin, Yessugka, in command of the capital to await the arrival
+of Arik Buga and escort him to the main camp, Kubilai went to Kai ping fu, and sent
+his army to its cantonments.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb336">[<a href="#pb336">336</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch17" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e482">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+<h2 class="main">KUBILAI KHAN DESTROYS THE SUNG DYNASTY</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The summer and autumn of 1261 were passed very quietly. Arik Buga’s horses recovered;
+he assembled large forces and set out for Kara Kurum, the chief capital of Mongolia.
+To put Yessugka off his guard and lull all suspicions, he sent a message announcing
+his visit and with it submission. After that he appeared on a sudden and fell upon
+Yessugka’s men, whom he crushed. Hurrying southward at once to strike Kubilai, he
+met him at some distance northeast of Shang tu, on the eastern rim of the great Gobi
+desert. Arik Buga was beaten and fled northward.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai, thinking his brother defeated most thoroughly, forbade to pursue him, and
+turning, marched southward. Arik Buga on hearing of this changed his course, followed
+quickly, and made a second and more desperate trial. The battle was envenomed and
+lasted till night put an end to it. Both parties withdrew from the field, and Arik
+Buga fought no more that year, for just after this battle he learned of Algu’s defection.
+</p>
+<p>Algu, made Khan of Jagatai’s Horde by Arik Buga, took the government from Organa,
+Kara Hulagu’s widow. His sway then extended from Almalik to the Syr Darya, and soon
+he had an army of one hundred and fifty thousand. Arik Buga, poor and weak after such
+numerous reverses, sent three agents to Algu to levy a contribution in cattle, arms,
+and money. The abundant proceeds of this levy tempted Algu. He seized Arik Buga’s
+men, since, as he stated, they had made offensive discourses against him. After that
+Algu met his advisers, who hinted that it would have been better to counsel ere he
+moved against Arik Buga so actively, but since it was late to retrieve the error,
+he must acknowledge Kubilai as sovereign and take his side openly.
+</p>
+<p>Algu put the three agents to death, seized all the wealth which <span class="pageNum" id="pb337">[<a href="#pb337">337</a>]</span>they had gathered, and gave the greater part of it to his army. Astonished at this
+act, Arik Buga resolved to march against Algu at the earliest. He went back to Kara
+Kurum, gave permission to the heads of the various religions to accept Kubilai should
+the need come, and then he moved westward very quickly.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai appeared soon after his brothers’ departure, received the submission of people,
+and was about to pursue Arik Buga when couriers brought tidings of trouble in China,
+hence he turned and marched back to that Empire. Kara Buga, who commanded Arik Buga’s
+advance, met Algu near the city of Pulad, and lost his life in the battle which followed.
+Algu thought himself safe through this victory. He returned to his home on the Ili
+and very foolishly dismissed his forces. But Assutai, at the head of a second division,
+passed the Iron Gate, crossed the Ili, captured Almalik, and seized even the private
+lands of Algu, who retired toward Khodjend and Kashgar with his right wing, which
+thus far had been idle. At this time appeared Arik Buga and took up winter quarters
+on the Ili near Almalik while Algu was retreating toward Samarkand. Arik Buga plundered
+ruthlessly all winter, and killed every warrior of Algu’s whom he captured. When spring
+came vast numbers perished from hunger. Arik Buga’s own officers were furious at his
+treatment of prisoners and most of them joined Yurungtash. Yurungtash, son of Mangu,
+the late Emperor, was leading at that time Kubilai’s forces in the Altai. Only a handful
+of men were left Arik Buga, who, knowing that Algu was ready to attack him, tried
+to make terms with this enemy.
+</p>
+<p>When Arik Buga arrived the year previous, Kara Hulagu’s widow, Organa, came to his
+camp and declared that she had been dispossessed at his order, and was then waiting
+for recompense. Thereupon Arik Buga sent Organa with Massud Bey to effect an agreement
+with Algu. When Organa appeared before Algu and told him the cause of her coming he
+married her; Massud Bey he placed at the head of his finances. This minister levied
+large contributions on Bokhara and Samarkand. Algu had great need of money at that
+juncture, since Kaidu, the grandson of Ogotai, aided by Berkai, the successor of Batu,
+was advancing to seize his possessions. He now had the strength to repel him.
+</p>
+<p>Arik Buga, left without friends, troops or resources, decided in 1264 to appeal to
+the mercy of his brother, and went to him. On <span class="pageNum" id="pb338">[<a href="#pb338">338</a>]</span>appearing at Kubilai’s tent men threw the curtain of the entrance around him; thus
+covered he made his prostrations. Such was the usage in cases of that kind. Admitted
+to the interior, he stood in the place given usually to secretaries. Kubilai looked
+at him long, and, seeing that he wept, could not repress his own tears and emotion.
+“Ah, my brother,” said he at last, “who was right, thou or I?” “I at first, but to-day
+the right is on thy side,” replied Arik Buga.
+</p>
+<p>At this moment Atchigai, brother of Apishga, approached Assutai and asked: “Is it
+thou who killed my brother?” “I killed him at command of Arik Buga, at that time my
+sovereign. He did not wish that a prince of our house should die by the hand of some
+common man. Kubilai is my sovereign now; should he command, I would kill even thee
+in like manner.”
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai imposed silence, and added: “This is not the time for such speeches.”
+</p>
+<p>Togachar, a nephew of Jinghis, rose then and said: “The Khan desires no mention to-day
+of the past. He wishes you to feel nothing but pleasantness.” Turning to Kubilai then,
+he added: “Arik Buga is standing; what place dost thou give him?” He was seated with
+Kubilai’s sons and they passed that day in company. On the morrow, however, Arik Buga’s
+officers were all put in irons, and Kubilai appointed a commission of four princes
+and three generals to interrogate Arik Buga and his partisans. Arik Buga declared
+that he alone was responsible, that his officers were not guilty in any way. “How
+not guilty?” asked Kubilai. “The generals opposed to Mangu drew no bow against him;
+still it is known to thee how they were punished, simply for intentions. Ye who have
+begun civil war and slain so many princes and warriors, what are your deserts?” The
+officers made no reply. “My friends,” said Tuman Noyon, the most aged among them,
+“do ye not remember, that in raising Arik Buga to the throne we swore to die for his
+cause should the need come? The moment has come to make good that promise.”
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai praised this fidelity and asked Arik Buga again, who had roused him to the
+enterprise. He declared at last that Alemdar and Bolga had said to him: “Hulagu and
+Kubilai are on distant expeditions, and our late sovereign has left you at the head
+of the principal ulus of the Mongols. Why hesitate? Make yourself <span class="pageNum" id="pb339">[<a href="#pb339">339</a>]</span>Grand Khan immediately.” He had consulted with the other officers; all held that opinion
+together. The officers present confirmed what Arik Buga had stated, and ten of them
+were sentenced to pay the death penalty. But to judge Arik Buga himself Kubilai wished
+the presence of Hulagu, Berkai, and Algu. After waiting a long time for them, princes
+of the blood and generals then present in Mongolia met to determine the fate of Assutai
+and Arik Buga. Through regard for Kubilai they decided with one mind to grant life
+to both princes. This decision was taken to Hulagu, Berkai and Algu for their approval.
+Algu replied, that, since he held power and office with Kubilai’s consent, he would
+give no opinion; the other two confirmed the decision.
+</p>
+<p>Arik Buga and Assutai were set at liberty to render homage to the Khan and move about
+freely. One month later Arik Buga died of illness and was buried near Jinghis and
+Tului (1266).
+</p>
+<p>The death of Arik Buga, his brother, did not save the great Emperor from civil war,
+and a long and terrible contest: Kaidu, a grandson of Ogotai, had his claim to the
+headship of the Mongols. He brought that claim forward and pushed it with such power,
+skill and resource that Kubilai had not strength enough to suppress him.
+</p>
+<p>This struggle between the descendants of Ogotai and Tului was the greatest and by
+far the most striking event in the history of Jinghis Khan’s family. Though Kubilai
+was able to conquer all China and Burma he could not conquer Kaidu. He met him and
+held him in check,—he had power to do that, and to found at the same time a dynasty
+in China, but he could not crush him.
+</p>
+<p>We will consider first the subjection of China, and then turn to Kaidu and his exploits.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai, now Grand Khan, had decided to conquer all China and he began that great
+work with seriousness. During 1260 he had sent an envoy named <span class="corr" id="xd32e3298" title="Source: Haoking">Hao king</span> to inform the Sung Emperor of his election. This envoy was to see in addition that
+the treaty concluded at Wu chang fu with Kia se tao was respected. As soon as the
+envoy set foot on Sung territory he was cast into prison with all his attendants.
+This was done at direction of Kia se tao, the real author of the treaty by which the
+Sung Emperor was made a vassal of Kubilai. Kia se tao had removed from this world
+every person who knew of that treaty and its various provisions. He was <span class="pageNum" id="pb340">[<a href="#pb340">340</a>]</span>the only man living at that time in China who knew of it. The great point for Kia
+se tao was that the Sung Emperor must continue in ignorance of his thraldom. This
+man, whose sacred duty it was to explain the position, used his best power to conceal
+it, and adhered to his own direful policy at all costs. No one knew the great tragedy
+of China’s position save Kia se tao, first minister of the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>The arrest of his envoy called forth from Kubilai a statement in 1261: “Since my coming
+to the throne,” declared he, “I have striven to secure peace to my subjects, hence
+I sent an envoy to the court of the Sung Emperor to make a firm agreement of amity.
+That court, little mindful of the future, has become more incursive and insolent.
+There is no day in which some of its warriors do not harass our borders. I commanded
+my generals last spring to be ready, but, remembering the sad fruits of warfare, and
+trusting that Hao king, my new envoy, would return with the results which I hoped
+for, I waited. I found myself duped very sorely. My envoy was arrested, against all
+the rules which exist between sovereigns, and during six months I looked in vain for
+his coming. Hostilities continue, and thus it is clear, that the Sung government wishes
+no longer for peace with us. Ought a nation, which for so many years has vaunted its
+wisdom and observance of the rules of good government, to treat us in this way? Its
+conduct is little in accord with the laws which it boasts of, and resembles that shade
+in a picture which, giving contrast, brings out the light with more brilliancy, and
+causes the shade to seem darker. Thus the beauty of China’s laws is in contrast with
+its government; hence we see the bad faith of the latter more clearly.” Then he notified
+all to prepare horses and weapons for action, and added: “The truth of my intentions,
+and the justice of my cause assure victory.”
+</p>
+<p>But the war which the Grand Khan had to wage with his brother, forced him to loiter
+in action against the Sung sovereign. Barely had he come to Yen king after those two
+stubborn battles with Arik Buga on the eastern edge of the desert when he heard that
+one of his commanders, Li tan, had revolted. This general in Shan tung, seizing Se
+tian che and Itu, slew Mongol garrisons in these and other cities, and declared for
+the Sung Emperor. Kubilai sent Prince Apiche and General Se tian che against Li tan.
+They invested him closely in Tsi nan, where the defence grew most <span class="pageNum" id="pb341">[<a href="#pb341">341</a>]</span>stubborn. When provisions were exhausted the besieged ate the flesh of the citizens.
+After four months of bitter struggle Li tan killed his wife and his concubines and
+then sprang into Ta ning, a shallow lake, from which he was rescued, and immediately
+Se tian che cut his head off. As was known, this revolt was upheld by the Sungs, although
+timidly. Notwithstanding Sung action Kubilai delayed serious war for a time.
+</p>
+<p>When he had reigned forty years and lived sixty-two Li tsong, the Sung Emperor, died,
+November, 1264. Having no son, he left the throne to his nephew, Chao ki, who took
+the name Tu tsong when made Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>It was only in 1267 that Kubilai moved against Southern China. In planning the campaign
+he made use of the knowledge of Liu ching, one of China’s best officers, who had left
+the Sung cause and gone over to the Mongols. Liu ching had been governor of Lu chiu
+in Su chuan some time previous and had been calumniated before Kia se tao, the chief
+minister, by the Su chuan governor. Fearing for his life, he took service with the
+Mongols. In 1261 he appeared before Kubilai, who made him governor of Kwei chiu, a
+city on the Hu kuang and the Su chuan border. War being decided, through his advice
+it was planned to begin by the siege of Siang yang on the northern bank of the Han;
+the possession of this city would facilitate the conquest of the great Yang tse region.
+</p>
+<p>Kia se tao, either wishing to win back Liu ching, or to discredit this dignitary with
+the Mongols, made him prince of Yen, and sent him a gold seal with the diploma and
+insignia of this office. Liu ching arrested the official who brought the emblems,
+and went with him to the residence of Kubilai, before whom he renewed his expressions
+of fidelity. The Emperor treated him with honor and cut off the head of the Chinese
+official.
+</p>
+<p>At command of Kubilai, Liu ching and At chu, son of Uriang Kadai, went with seventy
+thousand good men to besiege Siang yang in October, 1268. She tian tse was made commander-in-chief
+of all forces directed against the Sung Empire, and many men of distinction from various
+lands of the great Mongol Empire, such as Uigurs, Persians, Arabs, Kipchaks and others,
+offered their services to this renowned general.
+</p>
+<p>It was decided that the city could sustain a long siege, and that they must reduce
+it by famine. All communication by land was <span class="pageNum" id="pb342">[<a href="#pb342">342</a>]</span>cut off, but the Chinese had a numerous flotilla and could receive arms and reinforcements
+by the river. The besiegers constructed fifty great barges on which warriors were
+exercised daily at warfare on the water; still they could not prevent a well manned
+flotilla which was laden with arms and provisions from reaching the city in the following
+autumn (1269) during very high water. At chu punished the Chinese while they were
+nearing Siang yang, and on their way back he seized five hundred boats from them.
+</p>
+<p>After a blockade of one year the Mongols saw the need of investing Fan ching, on the
+opposite side of the river. The cities were connected by bridges of boats; both sides
+of the river were dotted with posts and intrenchments, while the river was barred
+with strong chains and armed barges. Siang yang seemed abandoned to its fate, for
+Kia se tao did nothing to succor it, but he took immense pains all this time to hide
+from his sovereign what was happening in the Empire. Despite his precautions the Emperor
+heard in 1271 that the Mongols were besieging Siang yang, that being the third year
+of the investment. He demanded information; the chief minister declared that the siege
+had been raised, and the enemy was retreating. The minister at first was unable to
+learn who had enlightened the Emperor, but later on he discovered the man and had
+him put to death for some other cause. Still the Emperor’s questions roused the minister
+from torpor, and he sent an army under Fan wen hu to relieve the two cities.
+</p>
+<p>On his part Kubilai assembled troops to strengthen the besiegers. He opened the prisons
+of North China, and thus obtained twenty thousand new warriors. These men gave good
+service and some of them reached high positions. They marched in three corps and by
+different routes, and met on the bank of the Han below the point where the flotilla
+of the Sungs had been stationed. These new troops joined both banks by a boat bridge,
+and captured nearly all the flotilla. At chu came upon the army of a hundred thousand
+led by Fan wen hu and sent by the minister. The two vanguards met, and that of the
+Chinese was cut to pieces, or scattered.
+</p>
+<p>This check spread such a terror among the Sung warriors that the whole army fled,
+leaving standards and baggage behind it. Still the besieged, whose chiefs were not
+cast down by reverses, stood firm, and at the end of four years the city was still
+well supplied with provisions, though salt and a few other articles were <span class="pageNum" id="pb343">[<a href="#pb343">343</a>]</span>needed. The commandant of Ngan lo, a town twenty leagues lower down on the river,
+undertook to supply what was lacking. He had boats built in a side stream of the Han
+and he held forth high rewards to all men who would handle them. Three thousand came
+forward to enter the city of Siang yang, or perish in trying. The boats went in threes;
+one boat was laden, and a second and a third tied firmly to each side of the laden
+one. These two were filled with armed warriors, who shot blazing arrows, and with
+small engines hurled stones and burning coals. They passed both divisions in this
+manner, breaking through every obstacle by fighting, and entered Siang yang amid endless
+shouts of delight from the people.
+</p>
+<p>This new flotilla was commanded by Chan shun and Chang kwe, two very brave warriors.
+Chan shun was killed before reaching the city. Chang kwe in returning to Ngan lo was
+met by the Mongols, and a desperate hand to hand conflict resulted; every man near
+Chang kwe was killed, and he was seized. All wounded and blood-covered, he would not
+acknowledge the Mongols. They slew him immediately and sent four prisoners back to
+Siang yang with his body. Engineers of great skill in constructing ballistas appeared
+now in action. These men had been summoned from Persia by Kubilai, and in 1273 they
+raised engines which breached the walls quickly. The Mongols took the suburbs after
+terrible slaughter, and then burned the bridge which connected the cities; that done,
+they turned on Fan ching and stormed it. Fan tien chun, the commander, killed himself,
+saying that he would die a Sung subject. His colleague, Niu fu, took a company of
+desperate followers, and fought in the streets against terrible odds, setting fire
+to the houses, while driven gradually back; the time came when covered with wounds,
+he threw himself into the flames which his own hands had kindled. The men who fought
+with him died as he died.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols master Fedan ching during February, 1273. Kia se tao now offered to lead
+men himself and give aid to the cities, but, through the Emperor, he commanded himself
+to remain, declaring his presence at court indispensable. Kao ta, a great enemy of
+Liu wen hoan, was appointed to lead instead of the wonderfully adroit minister.
+</p>
+<p>The catapults were turned on Siang yang, but the attack began <span class="pageNum" id="pb344">[<a href="#pb344">344</a>]</span>only in November. The machines made a terrible noise; the enormous stone missiles
+crushed all that they fell upon. The besieged rushed away from exposed spots in terror.
+Fear spread through the city. Liu ching, who knew Liu wen hoan, the commandant, asked
+now for parley, and got it, but the two men had barely begun to converse when Chinese
+warriors sent arrows from the fortress and Liu ching was saved only by the goodness
+of his armor.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongols, indignant at this action, wished to storm the place straightway, but
+were stopped by the generals, who informed the besieged that a message had just come
+to them from Kubilai. It was read in a loud voice and its import was as follows: “A
+splendid defence, of five years, covers you with great glory. Each faithful subject
+should serve his own sovereign with his life blood, but to sacrifice thousands of
+people through stubbornness, only think, is that reasonable or proper, especially
+for you who are exhausted, without aid, or even hope of it? Submit and no harm will
+meet any one. We promise to give each of you honorable employment. Ye will be satisfied.
+We pledge our true word of an Emperor that ye will be satisfied.”
+</p>
+<p>Liu wen hoan accepted these promises, and surrendered the city. He went with Alihaiya
+then to Kubilai, who showed him clear marks of esteem and named him commandant of
+troops in Siang yang. The officers under him were given good places in the armies
+of Kubilai.
+</p>
+<p>The defection of Liu wen hoan produced a colossal sensation. His family was one of
+the best in the Empire, and many of his relatives sent in their resignations since
+they had the evil fate to be connected by blood with that traitor. Kia se tao, who
+was a friend of the family, did not present even one resignation to the Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai, exercised by the war in his own family, was inclined to cease action on the
+Yang tse for the present, but his generals explained the great value of the capture
+of Siang yang in continuing the struggle and urged that he strike his enemies while
+the advantage was on his side. The Emperor, Tu tsong, had just died, August, 1274,
+and had left all affairs to Kia se tao, and others as indifferent as that minister
+to the interests of China. The chief men wished to put on the throne Chao she, eldest
+son of Tu tsong, <span class="pageNum" id="pb345">[<a href="#pb345">345</a>]</span>but Kia se tao considered that he himself would hold power more completely, and longer,
+by choosing the second son, Chao hien, a child of four years. This boy was chosen.
+The new Emperor received the name Kong tsong, and the Empress Siei shi, a widow of
+Tu tsong’s father, was raised to the regency.
+</p>
+<p>While preparing to continue the conquest of China most effectively, Kubilai, to explain
+and to justify his action, issued a rescript declaring that Jinghis, Ogotai and Mangu
+had striven to establish firm peace with the Sung Empire, and that he himself when
+only a prince and commander of armies had made a treaty with the Sung court, but that
+the court broke every promise as soon as he had withdrawn his forces. On ascending
+the throne he had sent an envoy to reinforce peace and good feeling, but the envoy
+had been seized and imprisoned with all his attendants, and was held in confinement
+till that day.
+</p>
+<p>After this declaration had been made, Kubilai appointed She tian tse and Bayan to
+command all the armies invading Hu kwang and he gave them as lieutenants At chu, Alihaiya,
+and Liu wen hoan. Another army was to act in Kiang nan under Polo hwan and four other
+commanders. These two great groups of warriors reached perhaps two hundred thousand.
+She tian tse died soon after his appointment and the whole command of that first group
+was given to Bayan, the best leader among all the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan was of the Barin tribe. He had passed his youth in Persian regions, and had
+come on an embassy from Abaka the Ilkhan. Kubilai was so pleased with Bayan’s speech
+and bearing that in 1265 he took the man into his service, and made him Minister of
+State very quickly.
+</p>
+<p>From Siang yang, Bayan sailed down the Han toward Ngan lo with a numerous flotilla,
+but the river was blocked firmly with chains, with piles lashed together, and with
+barges on which were large forces of warriors well armed and using ballistas. Moreover
+Ngan lo itself was protected by walls of stone strong and massive in structure. Bayan
+judged that he could not take such a place without losing much time and many warriors,
+hence he pondered well over the problem. A Chinese prisoner showed a way out of the
+trouble, and Bayan took the city. The Mongols made track of strong beams from the
+river to Lake Teng into which they <span class="pageNum" id="pb346">[<a href="#pb346">346</a>]</span>dragged all their vessels and barges. From this lake they sailed to the Han by an
+outlet, thus passing Ngan lo without battle. Having taken Sin hing chau and Sha yang,
+two cities on the right bank of the Han, they sailed down to its mouth, where in command
+of Hia kwe a strong flotilla was posted to guard the great river. Bayan attacked this
+line of boats and feigned to force on the left flank a way at all costs through it,
+but while the battle was raging on that side he seized Sha fu kwe on the other flank,
+took one hundred war barges, and reached the Yang tse on its north bank, taking nearly
+all his boats with him. He sent at once a strong fleet across the Yang tse under At
+chu. Hia kwe, the Chinese general, fearing lest he might be cut off, sailed down with
+all his flotilla, thus leaving Bayan perfect freedom of action.
+</p>
+<p>Yang lo on the north bank was captured. Han yang surrendered. Bayan crossed the great
+river with his army, and was preparing a siege for Wu chang fu when Chang yen kien
+and Ching pong, the commandants of that city, surrendered and passed with their men
+to the service of Kubilai. Bayan left a strong garrison under <span class="corr" id="xd32e3346" title="Source: Alihaya">Alihaiya</span> and moved toward the east with the rest of his forces.
+</p>
+<p>Ching pong had been charged by Bayan with effecting the submission of Chin y, the
+Hoang chiu commandant. Chin y demanded a good office. Bayan promised to make him chief
+inspector of lands along the Yang tse. Chin y then opened the gates of Hoang chiu
+to the Mongols; he induced the governor of Ki chiu to join also and surrender his
+city. Many commandants along the Yang tse had served under Liu wen hoan, or men of
+his family, and these surrendered without waiting for a summons. Chin yen, a commandant
+in Kiang nan, and son of Chin y, followed the example of his father. The governor
+of Kiu kiang opened his gates to Bayan, who received in this city the surrender of
+Nan king, Te ngan fu, and Lu ngan. The kindly reception given by Bayan to all Chinese
+facilitated his conquests immensely.
+</p>
+<p>Kia se tao, now master of the Sung Emperor, had collected meanwhile a great army,
+and brought to Wu hu, or to a point near it, a great river fleet which was joined
+by Hia kwe’s large flotilla. The first minister sent now to Bayan a Mongol captive
+as envoy, bearing presents of beautiful fruits and proposals of peace on the <span class="pageNum" id="pb347">[<a href="#pb347">347</a>]</span>basis of his first treaty with Kubilai at Wu chang in 1260. Bayan answered by letter
+that Kia se tao should have spoken before he (Bayan) had crossed the Yang tse, that
+if he wished peace with sincerity he should seek it in person. This letter was left
+without answer.
+</p>
+<p>Chi chiu on the Yang tse had also surrendered to the Mongols, and Kia se tao commissioned
+Sun hu chin to occupy with large forces an island lower down than that city, and give
+two thousand five hundred boats to Hia kwe to bar the Yang tse to the Mongols. He
+chose for himself, and the bulk of his army, a position still nearer the sea.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan moved down both banks of the river with infantry and cavalry, but when he was
+opposite Sun hu chin’s island he opened on the Chinese with ballistas, and ordered
+an attack by some of his warriors. The Chinese fled in great haste to their vessels,
+but storms of missiles from both banks sank many of their barges and killed such a
+large number of men that their blood reddened the river.
+</p>
+<p>This triumph gave immense booty to the Mongols. Kia se tao, informed of the issue
+by Hia kwe, sailed down the river with all his flotilla. He stopped at the island
+Kin sha, where he counseled with Sun hu chin and Hai kwe. Nothing could be done, they
+declared, with warriors who trembled at sight of the Mongols. Kia se tao retired down
+the river still farther to gather new forces, but in vain; all had lost courage and
+no man would serve the vile minister. As a result of this last defeat many cities
+in Kiang nan, whose governors had fled from them, were seized by the Mongols; others
+were surrendered by the commandants. At the approach of Bayan, Wan li sin, who was
+governor then of Nan king, despaired of his country, and wishing to die still a Sung
+subject, invited his relatives and friends to a banquet at which he took poison; the
+city then fell to the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>As the time of great heat was approaching, Kubilai wished to spare Mongol forces and
+instructed Bayan to desist till the autumn. But Bayan expressed his conviction that
+when one has an enemy by the throat it is not the time to give him a breathing spell.
+Hao king, Kubilai’s envoy, was still in confinement, and the man’s brother had been
+sent to obtain his release from Kia se tao. The mission succeeded; Hao king and his
+suite were set free, but he fell <span class="pageNum" id="pb348">[<a href="#pb348">348</a>]</span>ill on the road, and died after reaching Yen king (Pekin), the capital of the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai sent an embassy soon after this to make new peace proposals. Lien hi kien,
+the chief of this embassy, stopped at Nan king, Bayan’s headquarters, and obtained
+five hundred men as an escort. Bayan forbade hostile acts on the part of his army,
+and thus avoided all pretexts for violence to the embassy. In spite of this, Lien
+hi kien was attacked on the way by Chinese troops, who wounded him and killed his
+colleague. They took him to Lin ngan, where he died of his injuries. The Sung court
+sent an officer to Nan king in all haste with a letter declaring that the attack had
+been made without its knowledge; that the authors of the violence would be discovered
+and punished; that the Emperor was ready to declare himself Kubilai’s vassal.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan was distrustful, and received all these statements very coolly. He sent to Lin
+ngan with the bearer of this letter Chang yu, his own officer, to treat for peace
+formally, but really to see the condition of the capital. Chang yu was assassinated
+on the journey. Bayan, indignant at such treachery, demanded permission of Kubilai
+to continue hostilities. The Grand Khan, in answer, recalled him at once to the North
+to take command against Kaidu, who at that time was pressing him sorely.
+</p>
+<p>Kao shi kie, governor of Yu chau in Hu kwang, planned an attack on Wu chang fu. He
+manned several thousand large boats and seized the straits of King kiang. Alihaiya,
+the Wu chang commandant, advanced with a fleet against Kao shi kie, who, fearing the
+risk of a battle, raised anchor and retired to the great Tong ting lake, where he
+made his boats ready for action. Alihaiya formed his fleet into several squadrons,
+which put the Chinese to flight with great promptness. They seized Kao shi kie’s boat,
+took him prisoner and then cut his head off. The head was fixed on a lance point and
+shown beneath the walls of Yu chau, which surrendered when summoned.
+</p>
+<p>Alihaiya now attacked Kiang ling. The governor of this city, Kao ta, was among the
+best officers in China. Dissatisfied with the court which had put other men above
+him irregularly, he surrendered his city. After some days he wrote to commandants
+within his jurisdiction advising surrender, and soon fifteen of them yielded. Alihaiya
+left all who surrendered in command of <span class="pageNum" id="pb349">[<a href="#pb349">349</a>]</span>their cities. Alihaiya was a favorite of Kubilai, who now sent this general a letter
+of thanks for his action, and gave Kao ta that same office which the Sung government
+had refused him.
+</p>
+<p>Southern Su chuan was still unconquered, but now Wang liang chin, the Mongol governor,
+defeated Tsan wan chiu, the Sung general commanding, and besieged him in Kia ting,
+his capital. Tsan wan chiu surrendered, giving also an account of every place in his
+province. He was retained then in office. Still Su chuan did not submit altogether
+till 1278. The great question now for the government was to be rid of Kia se tao,
+who had grown odious to all men, and in 1274 the regent deprived him of office. This
+did not sate public hatred, however. Ten accusations were leveled against this vile
+minister, but the regent whom he had created could not make up her mind to destroy
+the man, so she confiscated his property, and assigned Fu kien to him as a place of
+life exile. An official whose father the minister had banished was given the task
+of conducting the condemned man. This official made it his pleasure to torment the
+fallen minister as he traveled, and finished by killing him near the end of the journey.
+For this act he was put to death straightway.
+</p>
+<p>At chu resolved now to attack Chang shi kie, who had a vast fleet of boats on the
+river. In front of his own fleet he arranged his largest boats and placed upon them
+one thousand crossbowmen who discharged blazing arrows to fire the opposing flotilla.
+He followed closely behind to sustain them.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol fleet bore down with all force on the Chinese. The thousand bowmen sent
+burning arrows in every direction, and soon the great river was covered with blazing
+barges and boats. To avoid being burned or taken captive by Mongols many Chinese hurled
+themselves into the river and perished. Chang she kie fled, leaving more than seven
+hundred boats in the hands of the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan saw the Grand Elan at Shang tu, and convinced him that harm alone could result
+from stopping operations in China for even a short time. Bayan was sent back to his
+office and the plan of campaign was fixed promptly. Bayan was to march straightway
+(1275), and take the Sung capital. His assistants were to operate on the right and
+the left in the Hoai nan and Kiang si provinces. His own army was divided into three
+parts and its <span class="pageNum" id="pb350">[<a href="#pb350">350</a>]</span>action repeated in some sense the movements of the combined Mongol forces. The part
+of this army in which Bayan, the great chief, was present marched through Chang chan;
+Liu wen hoan led its vanguard.
+</p>
+<p>The Sung court sent corps after corps to succor the city. Bayan crushed all that he
+met in the field, and then summoned Chang chau to surrender. When both threats and
+promises proved useless he destroyed the suburbs, and raising a rampart to the height
+of the walls, he then captured the city. Of the four chiefs who commanded three fell,
+while the fourth fled and saved himself. The inhabitants were put to the sword without
+pity. Bayan’s generals, Argan and Tong wen ping, carried everything before them; people
+were fleeing to Lin ngan in thousands; there was panic in all parts, and terror in
+the capital. Chin y chong the first minister forced to the ranks every male above
+fifteen years of age. The Empress sent an envoy to Bayan to explain that the evil
+done had been done by Kia se tao, whom she had punished, that the sovereign was still
+in tender years, and that all would be remedied.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan answered that Kia se tao had not murdered Lien hi hien, and bade her remember
+that when the Sung dynasty won its dominion, the last of the Cheu line, from which
+the Sungs had snatched Empire, was also an infant. “Think it not strange if your infant
+is treated as you treated that one.”
+</p>
+<p>Bayan advanced farther. The same envoy appeared from Chin y chong and the Empress
+to declare that the young Emperor would agree to call himself the nephew of Kubilai,
+and pay tribute. This too was rejected. Now the Empress sent to say that the Emperor
+would own himself a subject of Kubilai, and pay yearly tribute. This offer was made
+without the knowledge of <span class="corr" id="xd32e3381" title="Source: Chiny">Chin</span> y chong, who wished the court to remove to southern regions and fight to the end
+there with valor. The Empress would not hear of this project. Bayan was approaching
+the capital irresistibly; nothing could stop him. The Sung princes advised now to
+send Ki wang and Sin wang, the Emperor’s half-brothers, to more remote regions, and
+preserve in this manner the dynasty. The Empress consented and, changing the title
+of Ki wang to Y wang, and Sin wang to Kwang wang, sent them both to Fu kien, but to
+different places in the province.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb351">[<a href="#pb351">351</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Bayan was met near Lin ngan by the two other parts of his army. In sign that she submitted
+the Empress now sent him the grand seal of Empire, which he transmitted to Kubilai
+immediately. Next he summoned Chin y chong to discuss terms of settlement, but this
+minister, who was opposed to the Empress, hurried off southward. Chang shi kie retired
+also with his troops to Ting hai, and when Bayan sent an officer of distinction to
+invite him to surrender Chang shi kie cut the man’s tongue out, and hacked him to
+pieces. The Empress now made Wen tien siang her first minister, gave him U kien as
+a colleague, and sent the two men to Bayan on a mission.
+</p>
+<p>The minister told the great general that if the Northern Empire wished China to be
+on the footing of other kingdoms subdued by the Mongols, he would ask him to retire,
+at least to Kia hing, where they would settle on the tribute in silver and silk to
+be paid every year, and on the places to be occupied. “But if your plans,” added he,
+“are farther reaching, and you think to destroy the Sung dynasty, be assured that
+the road to your object is long, and you will fight many battles ere you reach it.
+The south is not in your power yet. We shall defend ourselves; the issue of arms is
+ever changing. Who knows that the whole position will not be reversed utterly?”
+</p>
+<p>Bayan dismissed U kien and detained Wen tien siang under pretext of arranging a peace
+with him; the minister protested against this. Seeing Chinese officers who had gone
+over to the Mongols, he reproached them for their infamy very sharply, not sparing
+even Liu wen hoan among others. Bayan sent him to Kubilai, but the minister escaped
+from his guards on the way.
+</p>
+<p>To govern Lin ngan Bayan now appointed a council of Mongols and Chinese, under presidence
+of Man hu tai and Fan wen hu; he charged also Ching pong to obtain from the Empress
+an order to all governors of provinces to submit to the Mongols, and, to render this
+more emphatic, the great functionaries signed it at his instance. All obeyed except
+one, Kai hiuen hong, whom no threats could intimidate.
+</p>
+<p>Four Mongol officers, at command of Bayan, took the seals of departments, and seized
+every register book, historical memoir, and map in each archive; these were all carefully
+placed under seal. Troops were stationed in every part of the capital and exact <span class="pageNum" id="pb352">[<a href="#pb352">352</a>]</span>order continued. Bayan, whom the Emperor and Empress demanded to see, excused himself
+under pretext that he knew not the right ceremonial on such an occasion, and next
+day he left the city. Two Chinese dignitaries were charged with watching the palace,
+for no reason whatever were they to lose sight of the Empress. This was done under
+guise of showing boundless respect for her.
+</p>
+<p>Very soon after, Atahai, a general, with a large suite of officers, appeared at the
+palace. His first act was to abolish all etiquette observed with the Emperor and Empress.
+Meanwhile he invited the Emperor and his mother to set out for Kubilai’s court in
+Shang tu, without waiting. After this notice had been given, the Empress with streaming
+eyes embraced her little boy, lately heir to the Empire: “The son of Heaven spares
+thy life,” said she. “It is proper to thank him.” This heir of seven years, a creation
+of the dead Kia se tao, fell on his knees at the side of his mother; their faces were
+turned toward the north, toward Shang tu; nine times did they strike the floor with
+their foreheads in saluting Kubilai the Grand Mongol.
+</p>
+<p>The son and mother were then placed in an equipage and left Lin ngan and their Empire
+forever. With them went a great company containing all the princes and princesses
+of the Sung family who were in the capital at that time, besides ministers, high functionaries,
+men of letters of great note and marked influence. All these took the road northward,
+and surely a mournful procession followed the Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>The regent, the Emperor’s grandmother, fell ill and was left in Lin ngan for recovery.
+A number of Chinamen, desperate at seeing their Emperor led captive with the chief
+men of the government and some of the best minds of China, made efforts to save them.
+Twice did they rush at the escort of Mongols which was led by Atahai and Li ting,
+but the escort was too strong to be broken; the Mongols repelled the Chinese after
+a desperate encounter in each case.
+</p>
+<p>When the young Emperor was reaching Shang tu, Kubilai sent his first minister to meet
+him. Orders had been given to treat all captives properly. The Emperor was reduced
+to be a kong, or prince of the third order; Hiao Kong was the title accorded him.
+The Empress mother and the regent were stripped of their titles. <span class="pageNum" id="pb353">[<a href="#pb353">353</a>]</span>Jambui Khatun, the Grand Khan’s chief wife, tried to soften the lot of the mother
+by delicate attention.
+</p>
+<p>Lin ngan, the capital of the Emperor, is said to have been very large and magnificent.
+It was built amid lagoons and had twelve hundred bridges, some having piers of such
+great height that vessels of two hundred tons could sail under the bridge. In the
+city was a beautiful lake surrounded with palaces and mansions. On the islands of
+this lake were pleasure houses where marriage feasts were held and great banquets
+given. There were three thousand baths in Lin ngan, each large enough to accommodate
+one hundred persons at a time. Marco Polo states that the Emperor’s palace was the
+largest in the world. It contained twenty halls, the most capacious of which was used
+as a state banquet room; aside from these there were one thousand chambers richly
+decorated in gold and colors. The city contained ten large markets; 1,600,000 houses
+and seven hundred temples. The inhabitants dressed richly, all, except the lowest
+class of laborers and coolies, wearing silk.
+</p>
+<p>The Grand Khan had received the gold, silver and other precious objects taken in Lin
+ngan from the palace. The princes and princesses of Kubilai’s court gazed with delight
+on these spoils of a mighty dynasty, but Jambui Khatun could not keep back her tears
+as she turned to the Grand Khan and said to him: “It has come to my mind at this moment
+that the Empire of the Mongols also will finish in this way.”
+</p>
+<p>South China remained still unconquered. While Bayan was moving on Lin ngan invincibly,
+Alihaiya was advancing through Hu kuang and had laid siege to Chang cha. He attacked
+with such vigor that after some days the city suffered excessively. The Mongols delivered
+a general assault, won the rampart, and the fate of the place was decided; a part
+was on fire, and the fall of the whole was a question of hours at the utmost. At this
+juncture an official from a city of importance, who chanced to be there with two sons
+who had just come of age, made those sons put hats on their heads (the hat being a
+symbol of manhood). That done, he cast himself into the flames with them and his household;
+Li fu, the governor of Chang cha, honored greatly the memory of this visitor, and
+feeling sure that every official would be true to the dynasty, he summoned a certain
+Chin tsong and said to him: “I will not dishonor my blood by surrender; I ask you
+to despatch <span class="pageNum" id="pb354">[<a href="#pb354">354</a>]</span>all my family, and then show to me the same service.” In vain did Chin tsong strike
+the earth with his forehead, in vain did he beg of the governor to relieve him from
+such a terrible service. Li fu was unbending, and as he insisted, Chin tsong, weeping
+bitterly, agreed to obey him. Wine was given all who were ready to die, and while
+under its influence death touched them easily. When Li fu presented his head it was
+swept from him with one blow of a sabre. Chin tsong set fire to the palace immediately;
+then he ran to his house, where he slew his own wife and children; that done, he killed
+himself. All the officials, save two, and a great number of officers and people followed
+the governor; some sprang into wells, others hanged themselves, or took poison. On
+entering Chang cha the Mongols were astonished to find the place almost deserted.
+</p>
+<p>Alihaiya then summoned the other cities of Southern Hu kuang; nearly all of them surrendered
+without raising a weapon to defend themselves. At the same time in Kiang si Sung tu
+kai made great progress. Eleven cities of this province submitted, and Fu chau also
+was taken. Bayan had been summoned to appear at Shang tu immediately. Sung tu kai
+told him at parting, that the Sung princes had assembled many troops in Fu kien and
+Kuang tung, and that they intended to enter Kiang si. Bayan enjoined on Argan and
+Tong wen ping, whom he left in command near Lin ngan, to leave those princes no time
+to strengthen their armies.
+</p>
+<p>When the Sung princes, brothers of the Emperor, came to Wen chau from Lin ngan, the
+officers who followed or joined them, made Y wang, the elder, chief governor of the
+Empire, and associated with him his brother Kwang wang. These brothers entered Fu
+kien, where the two leading cities were on the point of submitting to Hoang wan tau,
+whom Bay an had made governor of that province very recently. The new governor had
+guaranteed to reduce the whole province. The Sung partisans seized arms immediately.
+The Mongol governor was defeated and driven out of the province; his troops deserted
+and joined the Sung forces.
+</p>
+<p>The two princes arrived at Fu chau, the capital, and Y wang, who was nine years of
+age, was made Emperor with all needful ceremony. The sovereign had a numerous army
+divided into four corps, which were to operate in the south and along the Yang tse,
+on both sides of that river. At this juncture appeared Wen <span class="pageNum" id="pb355">[<a href="#pb355">355</a>]</span>tien siang, who had escaped from the Mongols during the second attack on the men who
+were taking the young Emperor to Shang tu. To him was now given the conduct of the
+struggle, and he strove to rally the Chinese, and rouse their love of country. A proclamation
+of the young Emperor stirred up the nation, and great levies were made, which disquieted
+the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>When Bayan obtained a command from the Empress, the Emperor’s mother, requiring every
+Sung subject to submit to the Mongols, At chu sent a copy to Li ting shi, who had
+tried to rescue the Emperor and who was defending Yang chiu with great stubbornness.
+Li ting shi answered from the ramparts, that he knew no command save that to defend
+the place assigned him by the Empress through a document from her own hand. At chu
+obtained a new command in still stronger language, and addressed to Li ting shi directly.
+Li ting shi discharged arrows at the man bringing this document.
+</p>
+<p>At chu redoubled his efforts to cut off supplies from his opponent. In despair that
+he could not conquer one city, while Bayan had reduced a whole province so quickly,
+and with it the capital of the Empire, he tried other methods. He sent Li ting shi
+a letter in which Kubilai promised to grant every wish of his. Li ting shi burned
+this letter, and cut off the head of the man who had brought it. All other cities
+besieged in those regions had fallen by famine, if not conquered otherwise; hunger
+was reaching Yang chiu, but how closely was not known to the Mongols at that time.
+</p>
+<p>At At chu’s request Kubilai wrote to Li ting shi as follows: “If you will obey even
+at this hour, I am willing to carry out former promises, and pardon the murder of
+my envoy.” Li ting shi would not receive this new letter, and learning that Y wang
+was Sung Emperor, he left the defence of Yang chiu to Chu hwan and set out with his
+colleague, Kiang tsai, and seven thousand men to join his new sovereign. Barely had
+he gone from the city when Chu hwan surrendered.
+</p>
+<p>At chu sent a strong corps of cavalry to hunt down the two fleeing commanders. One
+thousand Chinese were slain in this labor, and Li ting shi was forced into Tai chiu,
+where he was surrounded immediately. Two leading officers in that city betrayed it
+to the Mongols. Li ting shi, seeing that his last hour was near, sprang into a pond
+which proved to be very shallow. He <span class="pageNum" id="pb356">[<a href="#pb356">356</a>]</span>was dragged out of it promptly and with Kiang tsai hurried back to Yang chiu. At chu
+left nothing undone to win these two men to Kubilai, but since both were unbending
+he killed them.
+</p>
+<p>Tong wen ping and Argan made progress in Che kiang. They won a victory over the Sung
+army in Chu chiu, and in Fu kien took a fortress, called Sha u. These Mongol successes
+were followed by Chinese defections and the surrender of cities. This constrained
+the Sung court to think of its safety. Chin y chong and Chang shi kie assembled a
+very large fleet, and a considerable army. The Emperor embarked with his court and
+the army and sailed away southward to Tsuen chiu (the Zaitun of Marco Polo). This
+port was the seat of much commerce; the harbor was crowded with vessels at all times.
+The commanders now seized certain ships which they needed. These, as it seemed, belonged
+mainly to the governor, a very rich merchant. The governor was so greatly enraged
+at this action that he attacked all who landed, and even forced the fleet to sail
+out of the harbor; that done, he delivered his city to the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>Alihaiya had laid siege for three months, with great vigor, to Kwe lin fu, the capital
+of Kuang si, but failing to conquer the desperate resistance of the governor Ma ki,
+he tried softer methods. He obtained from Kubilai a diploma appointing Ma ki commander-in-chief
+of Kuang si, and sent him the document by an officer. Ma ki burned the diploma, and
+cut down the officer. Kwe lin fu, built at the meeting of two rivers, was exposed
+at one side alone, where the whole garrison could face any enemy. The Mongol general
+dug out new beds for the rivers and turned them; the city was assailable now upon
+every side and he stormed it. His army swept over the walls like a torrent, but Ma
+ki met the foe worthily. He fought from street to street, from one square to another,
+till at last, when covered with wounds, and bleeding his life out, that brave man
+was captured, but died shortly afterward. All the inhabitants were put to the sword
+without pity.
+</p>
+<p>The capital taken, Alihaiya divided his army into various detachments, which he sent
+to seize the chief cities of that province.
+</p>
+<p>Ki wang, or Y wang, the young Emperor, sailed to Hweï chiu, not far from the present
+Hong Kong, and sent one of his officers to Sutu, the Mongol commander, with a letter
+for Kubilai, in <span class="pageNum" id="pb357">[<a href="#pb357">357</a>]</span>which he offered submission. Sutu sent his son to Shang tu with the bearer of this
+letter. Meanwhile operations continued, and soon the whole province of Kuang tung,
+attacked the year previous, had submitted.
+</p>
+<p>At this juncture Kubilai summoned Bayan from South China, directing him to leave there
+only those who were needed to guard conquered places. Li heng would command troops
+of that kind. All others were to strike in the North at his enemy Kaidu. After Bayan’s
+departure the Sung party attacked and retook many cities in the four southern provinces.
+Chang shi kie made great levies in Fu kien, equipped a large fleet and laid siege
+to Tsuen chiu, but Sutu forced him afterward to raise it. Sutu declared that the Chinese
+were not to be trusted, and fell back on the old Mongol method of slaughter. City
+after city was put to the sword without mercy or favor. Since many southern cities
+had been retaken by Sung forces Kubilai in 1278 sent fresh troops to that part of
+the Empire, and ordered Ta chu, Li heng, and Liu se kwe to cross the Ta yn ling mountains,
+while the fleet, under Sutu and others, would attack the Sung squadron.
+</p>
+<p>Sutu now swept all things before him till he reached Chao chiu, where he met firm
+resistance. Not wishing to delay, lest he be late in the south, he sailed on, and
+joined the land forces near Canton, which surrendered. After this success he returned
+to Chao chiu and laid siege to it regularly. The place was built strongly, and Ma
+fa, the commandant, was so active and resolute that after battering it for twenty
+days and storming it repeatedly Sutu could show only small progress. Then the commandant
+made a sortie in which he burned the battering engines of the Mongols, but surrounded
+at last by greater forces, he perished in a murderous struggle. His men broke and
+fled to the city; the enemy ran with them, rushed in throngs to the gates, swept through
+them after the Chinese, took the place, and put all to the sword without exception.
+</p>
+<p>The young Emperor had no port in which to anchor his vessels with safety. Hence he
+wandered about on the sea without a resting-place, till in May, 1278, at the age of
+eleven, he died, on Kang chuen, a desert island. Most of the officials and high personages
+who followed him were averse to this wandering existence, and were ready to submit
+to Kubilai, but Liu sin fu <span class="pageNum" id="pb358">[<a href="#pb358">358</a>]</span>opposed them with the uttermost vigor. “We have,” said he, “a son of Tu tsong with
+us yet and we must make him the Emperor. We shall find warriors and officers in plenty.
+If Heaven has not decreed ruin to the Sungs, do ye doubt that it can raise their throne
+to its former magnificence?”
+</p>
+<p>These words roused the chiefs; they placed Kuang wang on an earth mound, knelt, and
+rendered homage. Ti ping was the name given the new Emperor. Liu sin fu and Chang
+shi kie were his ministers. The Chinese headquarters were mainly on water, their fleet
+was very great, and carried large forces. This fleet retired to straits in the Gulf
+of Canton which lay between the mountain Kiche and the island of Ya i. The position,
+as it seems, was a good one. In every case it was the last refuge and stronghold of
+the Sung dynasty. Chang shi kie had built on the summit of the island a modern palace
+for the Emperor, and barracks for the warriors. He worked with great zeal to revictual
+the vessels and provide all that was needful for every one. Provisions came from Canton
+and other places, from cities which were subject to the Mongols, as well as the Chinese.
+Wen tien siang, in spite of his losses, recaptured Canton, and held it, at least for
+a season.
+</p>
+<p>At this time Chang hong fan explained to Kubilai in a letter that to end the great
+struggle successfully Kuang wang must be mastered. Kubilai sent him a sword set with
+jewels, and made him commander-in-chief of the armies appointed to subdue the new
+Emperor. The first act of the general was to crush the land forces; as these were
+mainly new levies and the Mongols were veterans, they fled at the earliest onset and
+their officers were taken captive. Among them were Wen tien siang, chief commander,
+with Liu tse tsiun and Tsiu fong. The last of these killed himself and the second
+was burned to death over a slow fire. Wen tien siang begged for death earnestly, but
+Chang hong fan would not grant it. After asking him in vain to give homage by bowing
+northward, Chang hong fan sent him to Kubilai, and freed all his friends and relatives
+who were captive.
+</p>
+<p>The armies of the Sung Emperor were destroyed. The last blow remained, that against
+the sea forces. Chang hong fan put his army in ships and sailed in past the island
+called Ya i. The Chinese land troops were intrenched on the island very firmly, and
+the Chinese fleet seemed secure from attack on the north side, since <span class="pageNum" id="pb359">[<a href="#pb359">359</a>]</span>the water in that part was too shallow, as they thought, for the large Mongol vessels.
+</p>
+<p>Chang hong fan reconnoitred his opponents, and saw that their vessels were unwieldy,
+so he took a number of his light boats, filled them with straw soaked in oil and ignited
+them. Favored by a strong southern wind, he sent these burning boats forward to strike
+on the Chinese. But Chang shi kie had covered all his front barks and their rigging
+with mud, hence they were not fired and the attack proved fruitless.
+</p>
+<p>Canton had been taken by the Mongols a second time and occupied. Chang hong fan now
+received thence a reinforcement of men, and also of vessels. These latter he posted
+north of Ya i, and prepared to attack the Sung fleet, which was west of the island,
+between it and the mountain. Attacks were made on the north and the south simultaneously.
+The battle continued all day. The Chinese were unbroken in the evening, but in the
+fleet there was something approaching a panic; the commanders had lost control for
+the greater part. Chang shi kie and his colleague determined to reach the open sea
+under cover of a mist which was present in every place. The Chinese emerged from the
+straits with sixteen bulky vessels and there formed the front of the squadron. Liu
+sin fu boarded the Emperor’s vessel to save him; that ship was larger than others
+and more difficult to manage. They sailed on, however, till they came to the mouth
+of the channel, which was blocked by Mongol barges lashed one to another securely.
+There was no chance to move forward and to return was impossible.
+</p>
+<p>Liu sin fu, seeing this, had his children and wife hurled into the water. Then, telling
+Ti ping that a Sung sovereign should prefer death to captivity, he put the boy Emperor
+on his shoulders and sprang into the sea with him. Most of the dignitaries followed
+this example, and drowned themselves.
+</p>
+<p>More than eight hundred ships fell into the power of the Mongols. Later on Chinese
+corpses in thousands were floating on those waters. Among them was that of Ti ping,
+and on it was found the seal of the Empire. When Chang shi kie heard that his sovereign
+was dead he went to the ship of the Empress and tried to induce her to aid him in
+choosing some relative of the Sung family and making him Emperor. But when she learned
+of the death of her young son she sprang into the sea without further <span class="pageNum" id="pb360">[<a href="#pb360">360</a>]</span>discussion, and was followed by the ladies of her service. Chang shi kie found her
+body and buried it on the mainland. He then sailed away for Tung king, where he had
+faithful allies with whom he intended to return and <span class="corr" id="xd32e3448" title="Source: instal">install</span> a new Emperor if possible. But in crossing the Gulf of Tung king, Chang shi kie was
+met by a terrible tempest, and perished.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Su liu i, his colleague, fell, slain by his own men. When he was dead all
+people in China submitted, and Kubilai Khan found himself master of an Empire, for
+which the Mongols had been fighting for more than five decades. Thus the Sung family
+vanished after ruling three and one-fifth centuries over China.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb361">[<a href="#pb361">361</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch18" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e491">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+<h2 class="main">KUBILAI’S ACTIVITY IN CHINA AND WAR WITH KAIDU</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The struggle of Kubilai Khan against Arik Buga, his brother, has been described in
+some detail already, as well as the downfall and death of the latter. Next came Kaidu,
+a more dangerous opponent, who claimed Mongol sovereignty through descent from his
+grandfather Ogotai. Ogotai had been designated by Jinghis to the khanship of the Mongols,
+and when this choice was confirmed at the first Kurultai of election the dignity was
+fixed among Ogotai’s descendants. By the election of Mangu, a son of Tului, this pact
+was rejected and broken. Long and stubborn struggles and ruin were entailed on the
+Mongols by that change.
+</p>
+<p>The war with Kaidu lasted from the death of Arik Buga to the end of Kubilai’s life
+and somewhat beyond it. Before touching on this bloody conflict it will be perhaps
+better to show what Kubilai Khan did after conquering China (January 31, 1279).
+</p>
+<p>No sooner had the Grand Khan ended the Sung dynasty than he turned to Japan, which
+had paid tribute formerly to China. In 1270 he had invited the Japanese monarch, through
+an envoy, to acknowledge as his suzerain the master of the earth, who was also the
+son of Heaven, but the envoy was given no audience. Other envoys, sent later, were
+put to death promptly by the Japanese. Kubilai resolved now to conquer those eastern
+islands, though his best counsellors tried to dissuade him. They saw the perils of
+the enterprise and did not believe that success would in any case pay for the outlay,
+but Kubilai was inflexible, and the order was given to send an army one hundred thousand
+strong to conquer the islands. The troops embarked at Lin ngan and Tsuen chiu fu toward
+the end of 1280; the fleet bearing them sailed for Corea to be joined by a contingent
+of that country composed of nine hundred ships, which carried ten thousand warriors.
+This immense <span class="pageNum" id="pb362">[<a href="#pb362">362</a>]</span>fleet with its forces was struck near the Japanese coast by a tempest; the ships went
+ashore for the greater part, and the men were taken prisoners. Sixty thousand Chinese
+were seized and of Mongols thirty thousand were slain by the Japanese. In the autumn
+of 1281 a feeble remnant and wreck of this great army made its way back to China.
+</p>
+<p>When the Sung family had fallen the King of Cochin China rendered homage to Kubilai
+and sent him tribute. Not content with the tribute thus brought him, Kubilai sent
+to that country a ruling council composed of his own officers. After two years the
+heir of Cochin China, indignant at the sight of foreign men ruling his country, moved
+his father to arrest them. To punish this rebellion, as he called it, Kubilai sent
+a fleet from South China with an army under General Sutu, who landed in 1281 at the
+capital, which he captured. The king’s son retired toward the mountains, and occupied
+Sutu with phrases of submission. Meanwhile he was preparing to defeat him if possible.
+Sutu learned shortly after that men were advancing from many directions to cut him
+off from his vessels. He found it well for this reason to return to Canton.
+</p>
+<p>Western Yun nan was formed of two princedoms, Laï liu and Yung chang, which must be
+brought to obedience, such was the order of the Emperor. The King of Mien tien, the
+Burma of our day, to whom, as it seems, the two princedoms paid tribute, set out in
+1277 to drive back the Mongols. He advanced with a force sixty thousand in number
+formed of horsemen and infantry. His first line was of elephants bearing towers which
+held archers.
+</p>
+<p>At approach of this Burmese army, the Mongols, whose flank was protected by a forest,
+rode out from behind their intrenchments to charge on the enemy then advancing, but
+their horses ran in terror from the elephants, and for some minutes no man could check
+the beast under him. When the panic was over Nassir ud din commanded his men to dismount,
+put their beasts in the forest, and, advancing on foot, attack the first line of elephants
+with arrows. The elephants, unprotected by armor of any kind, were covered with wounds
+very quickly. Maddened by pain, they turned and rushed through the ranks just behind
+them. Many fled to the forest, where they broke the towers on their backs and hurled
+down the men who were in them.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb363">[<a href="#pb363">363</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Free of the elephants, the Mongols remounted, attacked the Burmese with arrows, and
+next with their swords at close quarters. The unarmored Burmese were put to flight
+promptly. Two hundred elephants were seized by the Mongols, who pursued the enemy
+until intense heat drove them back. After this brief and striking campaign Kubilai
+retained elephants in his army. In 1283 Kubilai sent a large army under command of
+Sian kur to force the king of Mien tien to submission, that is to become tributary
+and permit Mongol officials to reside in the country. After a short siege Tai Kung,
+the capital, was taken and the whole kingdom agreed to pay tribute to Kubilai. The
+Kin shi, a people of Yun nan, who till that time had been kept by the king from submission
+to the Mongols, declared obedience.
+</p>
+<p>The great Emperor planned now a second attack on the Japanese islands, to repair the
+disaster which happened to the first one. Atagai was named chief of the expedition.
+The Corean king was to give five hundred ships to it. In Kiang nan, Che kiang and
+Fu kien, ships were built, and new levies made, to the great harm of commerce in those
+places. Workmen in the docks, and also sailors, forcibly levied, deserted in crowds,
+and robbed on the highway, or became pirates along the coast regions. The army was
+dissatisfied and most men in the Emperor’s own council opposed the expedition, but
+Kubilai’s attention was soon drawn elsewhere. The King of Cochin China after the withdrawal
+of Sutu in 1281 had sent ambassadors to appease Kubilai, but the Emperor refused them
+an audience, and commanded Togan, his son, then governing Yun nan of the East, to
+march through Tung king, and attack Cochin China; Sutu was to aid in planning this
+action. Tung king had submitted to Kubilai on his advent to power, and Ching koan
+ping, its ruler, had engaged to pay once in three years a given quantity of gold,
+silver, precious stones, and drugs useful in medicine, also horns of rhinoceros, and
+ivory. At the same time an agent from Kubilai came to reside at the capital. Ching
+koan ping had for successor in 1277 his son, Chin ge suan, who hated the Mongols and
+was waiting to attack them. When Togan on his way to Cochin China demanded provisions,
+Chin ge suan raised false objections, and Togan, seeing his active hostility, knew
+that he must first of all bring Tung king down to obedience. He entered the country
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb364">[<a href="#pb364">364</a>]</span>in 1285 during January and on rafts crossed the Fu liang River. At the other bank
+stood the enemy in order of battle, but they fled, and their hostile King vanished.
+Togan thought the war ended, but the enemy rallied and harassed his marches. The great
+heat of summer and the rains brought disease to his northern warriors. The army was
+forced to fall back on Yun nan and was harassed continually while retreating. Li heng,
+who commanded under Togan’s direction, was wounded with an arrow, and died very soon,
+for the arrow had been poisoned.
+</p>
+<p>Sutu, who was twenty leagues distant from this army and had no account of its trouble,
+was cut off by Tung king men, and perished in a battle at the Kien moan River. Kubilai
+grieved much for the loss of so gifted a general. To this loss was added the death
+of Chingkin, that son whom he had declared his successor, a man of great wisdom, instructed
+in all Chinese learning, esteemed for his probity and his love of justice. Chingkin
+was forty-three years of age when he died. He left three sons: Kamala, Dharma Bala,
+and Timur of whom we shall hear much hereafter.
+</p>
+<p>In 1286 the Japanese expedition was still pending. All forces were ready, however,
+and the ships were to meet in September at Hupu, the great rendezvous. Meanwhile the
+president of the tribunal of mandarins dissuaded the Emperor from so hazardous a project.
+He left Japan in peace, but a new expedition was sent to Cochin China. Alihaiya was
+to take troops from South China garrisons, and fall on Tung king with the uttermost
+vigor. Prince Togan, who had command of this army, entered Tung king in 1287 during
+February; he had under him the generals Ching pong fei and Fan tsie. Meanwhile a fleet
+from Kuang tung bore a second good army under Situr, a great Kipchak leader who brought
+with him officers and warriors of his people.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai’s forces beat the Tung king men in seventeen engagements, ravaged a part of
+the country, pillaged the capital, seized immense wealth, and retired on Yun nan with
+rejoicing. The King, Chin ge suan, had sailed away, no one knew whither, but now,
+when the Mongols had gone, he appeared with large forces a second time.
+</p>
+<p>Togan reëntered the country in 1288, and found the inhabitants armed and ready for
+action. The campaign was continued till summer, which brought much disease, and forced
+Togan to fallback <span class="pageNum" id="pb365">[<a href="#pb365">365</a>]</span>on Kuang si for a period. Chin ge suan now attacked him and strove to stop his retreat
+altogether. Togan lost many men in various battles, among others the generals Fan
+tsie and Apatchi, and was saved only by the valor of Situr, who put himself at the
+head of the vanguard and opened a way for the army.
+</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding his victory the king thought it wise now to offer submission; he begged
+Kubilai to forget past events and with his prayers sent a gold statue. Kubilai, in
+punishment for defeat, took Yun nan rule from Prince Togan, forbade him the palace,
+and assigned him Yang chiu as a residence.
+</p>
+<p>In 1285 Kubilai had charged Yang ting pie to visit the islands south of China and
+inform himself secretly of the forces and the wealth on them. The mission was successful,
+for in October of 1286 the ships of ten kingdoms sailed into Tsuen chiu, a port of
+the Fu kien province, bearing tribute, as was stated. It is quite likely, however,
+that these ships brought simply presents.
+</p>
+<p>The chief and perhaps the one reason why Kubilai dropped his campaign against the
+Japanese islands was the menacing action of Kaidu, who had struggled two decades to
+win headship in the Empire. Kaidu, the grandson of Ogotai, claimed the Mongol throne
+as a right which no man might question, or venture to take from him, since it came
+from the will of Jinghis, and also from the solemn decision of the first Mongol Kurultai.
+For many years, and under varying pretexts, Kaidu had avoided appearing at Kubilai’s
+court and now he declared himself openly hostile. The Emperor reckoned on the support
+of Borak, whom he had made Khan of Jagatai, and whose dominions touched those of Kaidu
+on the western border.
+</p>
+<p>These two rulers did, in fact, begin war by a battle on the Syr Darya or Yaxartes.
+Borak gained the victory through an ambush. He made many prisoners, and took rich
+booty. Later on Kaidu got assistance from Mangu Timur of the Golden Horde, a descendant
+of Juchi, who sent an army commanded by Bergatchar, his uncle. With his own and these
+forces Kaidu met Borak and defeated him in a murderous battle. The defeated man then
+withdrew to Transoxiana and recruited his army, which he welded together again through
+treasures obtained from Bokhara and Samarkand, those famous old cities between the
+two rivers. He was preparing for a second struggle when peace proposals were <span class="pageNum" id="pb366">[<a href="#pb366">366</a>]</span>brought him from Kaidu by Kipchak Ogul, a grandson of Ogotai, and friendly to both
+these opponents. The proposals were agreeable to Borak, who immediately accepted them.
+He formed an alliance then with Kaidu and each man became to the other a sworn friend
+or “anda.”
+</p>
+<p>This union gave control to Kaidu of the Jagatai country made up of Turkistan and Transoxiana.
+Borak died in 1270, and his successor, Nikbey, son of Sarban, and grandson of Jagatai,
+having taken arms against Kaidu was attacked in 1272, and killed in a battle. Next
+came Toga Timur; after his death Kaidu put on the throne Dua, son of Borak, his own
+“anda.” In 1275 Kaidu and Dua invaded the country of the Uigurs with an army a hundred
+thousand in number and laid siege to the capital. These allies wished to force the
+Idikut to join in the war against Kubilai, but at this juncture the Idikut received
+aid from the Emperor’s troops, which appeared in that region.
+</p>
+<p>That same year Kubilai sent westward a numerous army commanded by his son Numugan,
+who had under him as general Hantum, a minister of State, and a descendant of Mukuli,
+Jinghis Khan’s most beloved and perhaps his most gifted commander. Guekji, Numugan’s
+brother, and Shireki, son of Mangu, went also with his army, as well as Tok Timur
+and other princes with their warriors. Numugan was appointed chief governor of Almalik
+at the outset.
+</p>
+<p>In 1277 Tok Timur, dissatisfied with Kubilai, proposed to put Shireki, son of Mangu,
+on the throne of the Mongols. Shireki accepted the offer; Kubilai’s two sons and the
+general, Hantum, were seized in the night time. Both princes were delivered to Mangu
+Timur, the sovereign of Kipchak; Hantum was given to Kaidu. Sarban, son of Jagatai,
+was won for the cause somewhat later, and other princes of this branch as well as
+that of Ogotai. At this juncture Kubilai summoned Bayan from South China and put him
+at the head of an army to crush the above combination. Bayan found his foes well entrenched
+on the Orgun. He cut off their supplies and they, dreading hunger, accepted the wager
+of battle. The conflict on which such great interests depended was stubborn to the
+utmost. For hours it raged with equal chances, till Bayan’s skill turned the scale
+finally. Shireki was defeated and withdrew toward the Irtish. Tok Timur fled to the
+land of the Kirghis, where Kubilai’s forces surprised him and seized all his <span class="pageNum" id="pb367">[<a href="#pb367">367</a>]</span>camp goods. He sent to Shireki for succor, but Shireki failed to give it. Tok Timur
+took revenge for this by offering the throne of the Mongols to Sarban. Shireki tried
+to conciliate him, but Tok Timur gave answer as follows: “Thou hast not the courage
+for this dignity, Sarban is more worthy.” Shireki was forced to give way, and had
+even to send his own envoys with those of other princes to Mangu Timur and to Kaidu
+to declare that Sarban had been chosen.
+</p>
+<p>Tok Timur now wished to force Yubukur to acknowledge the sovereign just created. Yubukur
+assembled his forces to oppose, but before he had a chance to begin battle Tok Timur’s
+warriors deserted to his enemy. Tok Timur, thus abandoned, took to flight, but was
+seized and given to Shireki, who had him killed at Yubukur’s order. Tok Timur was
+renowned for splendid bravery and for skill as a bowman; he always rode a white horse
+during battle, and said that men choose dark horses lest blood from wounds might be
+apparent on their bodies, but to his mind the blood of the horse and the rider ornamented
+the latter, as rouge does the cheeks of a woman.
+</p>
+<p>Sarban, who was now without effective aid, went to Shireki, and begged to be forgiven
+for letting Tok Timur wheedle him. Shireki took Sarban’s troops and soon after sent
+the man under an escort of fifty warriors to Kotchi Ogul, a grandson of Juchi, but
+while passing the district of Jend and Ozkend he was rescued by his own men, who were
+quartered just then in those places. Putting himself at the head of them, he advanced
+on Shireki. When the two forces met Shireki’s men deserted to Sarban, who captured
+him. Yubukur, who had come to give aid to Shireki, was also abandoned by his own troops
+and captured by Sarban, who, giving each of these princes to a guard of five hundred,
+set out on a visit to Kubilai. Yubukur, while passing near the Utchugen’s land, sent
+gifts of silver and jewels to the prince who was ruling at that time and begged for
+deliverance. Sarban was attacked on a sudden by the Utchugen’s descendants and his
+force taken captive. He himself escaped unattended, and made his way to the Emperor,
+who gave him both lands and warriors in sufficience, but Shireki, when taken to Kubilai,
+was sent to an island where the climate was pestiferous and he died in due season.
+Yubukur, after serving a time with Kaidu, made his peace with the Emperor and later
+on Kubilai’s <span class="pageNum" id="pb368">[<a href="#pb368">368</a>]</span>son, Numugan, who had been seized by Shireki was set free.
+</p>
+<p>Ten years after these struggles Kaidu formed a new league against the Emperor. This
+time he drew to his side men descended from Jinghis Khan’s brothers, namely: Nayan,
+fifth in descent from the Utchugen, youngest brother of Jinghis Khan; Singtur, descended
+from Juchi Kassar; and Kadan, who was fourth in descent from Kadjiun, also a brother
+of Jinghis. These princes were all in the present Manchuria. Nayan had forty thousand
+men under him and was waiting for Kaidu, who had promised to bring one hundred thousand
+picked warriors. To prevent the meeting of these forces the Emperor sent Bayan to
+the west, where he was to hold Kaidu in check while Kubilai himself was crushing Nayan
+and the others.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai, who had sent forward provisions by sea to the mouth of the river Liao, moved
+on Nayan by forced marches, and found him near that same river, at some distance south
+of Mukden in Manchuria. The Emperor had sent scouts far ahead of his forces so that
+no knowledge of his movements might reach the man against whom he was marching. Kubilai
+divided his army into two parts, one composed of Chinese, under Li ting, a Manchu,
+the other of Mongols, under Yissu Timur, a grandson of Boörchu, one of Jinghis Khan’s
+four great heroes.
+</p>
+<p>After consulting his astrologers, who promised a victory, the Emperor gave the signal
+for action. He had thirty regiments of cavalry, in three divisions. Before each regiment
+were five hundred infantry with pikes and sabres. These foot-soldiers were trained
+to mount behind horsemen and thus advance swiftly; when near the enemy they slipped
+down, used their pikes and next their sabres. If the cavalry retreated, or moved to
+another part those footmen sprang up behind them. Kubilai’s place was in a wooden
+tower borne by four elephants; these beasts were covered with cloth of gold put on
+above strong leather armor. The Imperial standard with the sun and the moon on it
+waved over this tower, which was manned and surrounded by crossbowmen and archers.
+</p>
+<p>When the two armies were drawn up in order of battle the whole space which they occupied,
+and a broad belt around it, was filled with a great blare of trumpets and the music
+of many wind-instruments. This was followed by songs from the warriors on both <span class="pageNum" id="pb369">[<a href="#pb369">369</a>]</span>sides, and then the great kettledrum sounded the onset. The air was filled with clouds
+of arrows; when the opponents drew nearer spears were used deftly, and they closed
+finally with sabres and hand to hand weapons. Nayan’s army showed great resolution,
+fighting from dawn until midday, but at last numbers triumphed. Nayan, when almost
+surrounded, strove to escape, but was captured. Kubilai had him killed on the field
+without waiting; he was wrapped in a pair of felt blankets and beaten to death without
+bloodshed. It is said that he was a Christian and bore on his standard a cross in
+contrast to the sun and moon of the standards of Kubilai.
+</p>
+<p>The Emperor returned to Shang tu after this great encounter and triumph. The princes
+Singtur and Kadan were still in arms, hence Kubilai sent his grandson, Timur, against
+both with the generals Polo khwan, Tutuka, Yissu Timur and Li ting shi. After a toilsome
+campaign, which took place in the following summer, Timur defeated Singtur and Kadan,
+and received the submission of Southern Manchuria.
+</p>
+<p>The chief enemy who had raised the whole conflict remained in the West, and against
+him the Emperor now turned his efforts. To guard western frontiers most surely, Kubilai
+gave Kara Kurum to Bayan as headquarters. This great commander received power without
+limit, since he was to watch all home regions and hold them securely. Before Bayan
+had arrived at the army Kamala, a son of Chingkin, led a corps in advance and tried
+to stop Kaidu from crossing the mountains of Kang kai. Kamala, Kubilai’s favorite
+grandson, was defeated and surrounded near the river Selinga. He was barely rescued
+by Tutuka and his Kipchak warriors.
+</p>
+<p>Affairs now seemed so serious that the Emperor, despite advanced age, thought it best
+to march forward in person. He sent for Tutuka to act with him, and praised the recent
+exploit of that general. Kubilai left Shang tu for the West July, 1289, but returned
+without meeting Kaidu, or coming near him.
+</p>
+<p>For four years now Bayan held Kaidu in check, till at length being accused of inaction,
+and even of connivance with the Emperor’s rival, Kubilai recalled the great general,
+and gave command to Timur, his own grandson. But before Timur came to take over the
+office Bayan had gone forth to meet Kaidu and had defeated his army. On returning
+to headquarters he yielded command and <span class="pageNum" id="pb370">[<a href="#pb370">370</a>]</span>gave Timur a banquet at which he made him rich presents. Bayan then departed for Tai
+tung fu, assigned him already as a residence. On arriving he found there an order
+to stand before Kubilai. The Emperor, who had shaken off all his prejudice in the
+meanwhile, received the famed leader with every distinction, praised him in public,
+exalted his zeal and his services, made him first minister and commander of the guards
+and other troops in both capitals (Shang tu and Ta tu).
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai liked to send envoys to various countries south of China whence ships came
+in large numbers bearing rare objects as presents. He sent once a Chinese minister
+to visit the sovereign of a land called Kuava (Java). This ruler for some unknown
+reason had the minister branded on the face, and sent him home with great insult.
+Kubilai felt the outrage, and all his officers demanded sharp vengeance. In 1293 a
+thousand ships with thirty thousand men on them and provisions for a twelvemonth set
+sail for Kuava. Chepi, a Chinese, who knew the language of Java, commanded this squadron.
+The King of Kuava gave pretended submission and persuaded Chepi to conquer Kolang,
+a near kingdom at war then with Kuava. Chepi won a great victory over the King of
+Kolang whom he seized and killed straightway. The King of Kuava tried now to get rid
+of the Chinese, and strove to cut them off from their vessels. Chepi reached the fleet,
+thirty leagues distant, with difficulty, after some serious encounters in which he
+lost three thousand warriors, though he brought away much gold and many jewels. On
+arriving at court he gave these to the Emperor, but Kubilai, enraged because Chepi
+had not conquered the kingdom of Kuava, condemned him to seventy blows of a stick,
+and took one third of his property.
+</p>
+<p>On coming to the throne Kubilai had confided his finances to Seyid Edjell, a Bukhariote,
+and an adherent of Islam, a man who had a great reputation for probity. This minister
+died in 1270. Next came Ahmed, a native of Fenaket, a city on the Syr Darya. Ahmed’s
+good fortune came from his intimacy with Jambui Khatun, the first and favorite wife
+of the Emperor; this intimacy began when Jumbui was still in the house of her father,
+Iltchi Noyon, a chief of the Kunkurats. Ahmed became attached to the court of the
+Empress, and adroit, insinuating, rich in expedients, he had the chance of winning
+favor from Kubilai, who after <span class="pageNum" id="pb371">[<a href="#pb371">371</a>]</span>the death of Seyid Edjell put the wealth of the Empire into his keeping.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai needed money at all times, he needed much of it, and Ahmed found means to
+get money. Invincible through the Emperor’s favor, he exercised power without limit;
+at his will he disposed of the highest offices in the Empire. He brought down to death
+whomsoever he accounted an enemy, and no man, whatever his rank or position, had the
+courage to brave Ahmed’s hatred. He amassed boundless wealth by abuses of all sorts;
+no man obtained any office without giving great presents to this minister. He had
+twenty-five sons, all holding high places. No woman of beauty was safe from his passion;
+he left no means unused to satisfy his greed and ambition and lust.
+</p>
+<p>For twelve years this man proved invincible, though his secret enemies were an army
+in number, and he was hated by the people for his endless abuses. Those learned Chinese
+who were intimate with the Emperor strove in vain to open his eyes to the real character
+of Ahmed. At last they were able to expose him to Chingkin well and clearly and Chingkin
+became Ahmed’s most resolute enemy. This son of Kubilai was so angry one day at the
+minister, that he struck him on the face with his bow, and laid his cheek open. Kubilai,
+seeing the minister wounded, inquired what the cause was. “I have been kicked by a
+horse,” replied Ahmed. “Art thou ashamed to tell who struck thee?” asked Chingkin,
+who was present. Another time Chingkin pummeled him with his fists before the eyes
+of the Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>At last, in 1282, appeared Wang chu, a Chinese, a man of high office in the ministry.
+Wang chu resolved to deliver the Empire from this greatest of miscreants. To carry
+out his plan he chose the time when Kubilai and Chingkin were at Shang tu, their residence
+in summer. As Ahmed had remained in the capital for business of his ministry Wang
+chu brought in one day the false news that Chingkin was coming. All the great functionaries
+hastened to the palace to greet him. Ahmed went at the head of the mandarins; just
+as he was passing the gate Wang chu struck him down with a club and thus killed him.
+At news of this deed Kubilai was terribly enraged. He had Wang chu and his associates
+seized, judged, and executed. A large sum of money was assigned for a funeral of great
+splendor, and Kubilai commanded <span class="pageNum" id="pb372">[<a href="#pb372">372</a>]</span>all his most distinguished officers to be present. But grief at the tragic death of
+his favorite was followed soon by furious anger. Seeking to find a large diamond for
+his own use, as an ornament, he discovered that some time before two merchants had
+brought him a stone of rare size and quality which they had left for delivery with
+Ahmed. This same stone was now found in possession of the principal wife of the late
+minister. The Emperor’s wrath was so excited by this and by other disclosures, and
+intensified by Chingkin’s strong speeches, that he ordered that Ahmed’s body be dug
+up immediately, and the head cut from it and exposed as a spectacle. When all this
+was done the body was hurled to the dogs to be eaten. That one of Ahmed’s widows who
+had worn the diamond was put to death with her two sons; his forty other wives and
+four hundred concubines were distributed as gifts to various people. Ahmed’s property
+was confiscated, and his clients to the number of seven hundred suffered variously
+in proportion as they had shared in his abuses, and assisted him in deceiving the
+Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>The ministry of finance was given now to an Uigur named Sanga, whose brother was the
+principal Lama. Sanga had occupied his dignity eight years, following closely the
+example of Ahmed, when one of Kubilai’s officers undertook to expose the evil deeds
+of the minister. In time of a hunt he spoke with the Emperor about Sanga. Kubilai
+thought him a vilifier and had the man beaten. Later on the Emperor tried to force
+from this officer a confession that he was serving the hatred of men who were envious
+of Sanga. The officer declared that he was in no way opposed to the minister and was
+only trying to render service to his sovereign, and benefit the country. Kubilai found
+on inquiry that the officer had spoken the truth, and if no one before him had reported
+the evil doings of Sanga, it was because people dreaded the merciless revenge of that
+minister. At last Sanga was destroyed in the mind of the Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>One day Kubilai asked pearls of the minister; the latter declared that he had none.
+A Persian who was favored by Kubilai, and who detested the minister, made haste to
+declare that he had seen a great quantity of pearls and precious stones in possession
+of Sanga, and if the Emperor would deign to occupy Sanga some moments he would bring
+those same pearls from that minister’s <span class="pageNum" id="pb373">[<a href="#pb373">373</a>]</span>mansion. The Emperor agreed, and in a short time the Persian returned, bringing with
+him two caskets filled with pearls of great value. “How is this?” cried the Emperor
+to Sanga; “thou hast all these pearls and art unwilling to give me even a few of them?
+Where didst thou find such great riches?” The minister answered that he got them from
+various Mohammedans who were governors of provinces in China. “Why have these men
+brought me nothing?” asked Kubilai. “Thou bringest me trifles and for thyself keepest
+all that is most precious.” “They were given me,” said the minister. “If it is thy
+wish I will return them to the donors.”
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai in his rage had Sanga’s mouth filled with excrement and condemned him to death
+without waiting for further inquiry. His immense fortune was seized and the Emperor,
+incensed at those functionaries whose duty it had been to expose the excesses of the
+minister, demanded of the censors of the Empire what punishment they had merited.
+By decision of the censors they were stripped of office. Two Mohammedan governors
+lost their lives, as did many others involved in the recent abuses.
+</p>
+<p>Thus after the death of Seyid Edjell, for about one fifth of a century the chiefs
+of finance in China were men from other countries, as were most of their agents. These
+persons kept themselves in power by revolting exactions. Kubilai, ever greedy of money
+since he needed endless sums of it, chose as agents in finance men who were ready
+to increase the state income if physically possible, and gave power to persons who
+stopped before nothing. Extortion, false witness, confiscation, and even murder were
+means used by them frequently. Oldjai followed Sanga as minister.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai died in 1294 during February, in Ta tu, the Pekin of the present day. He was
+eighty years old at the time of his death and sovereign over the largest domain ever
+ruled by one person.
+</p>
+<p>Besides building his beautiful city Kubilai did much to improve the general condition
+of China. Among other great public works which he carried out was the building of
+the Grand Canal which joined his capital with the more fertile districts of the country.
+He also extended an excellent post system. According to Marco Polo all the principal
+roads met at Ta tu. Along those roads at intervals of twenty-five or thirty miles
+were well equipped post houses, at some of which four hundred horses were kept, two
+hundred for <span class="pageNum" id="pb374">[<a href="#pb374">374</a>]</span>immediate use and two hundred at pasture. Three hundred thousand horses were engaged
+in this service, and there were ten thousand post stations.
+</p>
+<p>Two systems of carriers were maintained by the government. The foot messengers wore
+belts with bells attached and were stationed at intervals of three miles apart. When
+the bells announced the approach of a runner a fresh man prepared to take his place
+at once. Each man ran at his greatest speed. The mounted couriers by a similar system
+of relief could travel four hundred miles in twenty-four hours, the distance covered
+at night being much less than that during day, for at night footmen with torches accompanied
+the mounted courier.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai built his capital near the ancient capital of the Kin Emperors. Marco Polo
+states that it was twenty-four miles in circuit. Its ramparts were fifty feet in width
+and fifty feet high; at each corner was an immense bastion and on each side were three
+gates, each gate garrisoned by one thousand men. The palace itself was surrounded
+by two walls, the outer one being a mile square and ornamented with battle scenes
+painted in bright colors. Between the two walls were parks and pleasure grounds through
+which were paved roads raised two cubits above the level of the ground. In the center
+of the enclosure rose the magnificent palace.
+</p>
+<p>His summer palace was at Shang tu and was similar to the one in Ta tu. In a grove
+not far from the palace was a beautiful bamboo dwelling supported by gilt and lacquered
+columns, a resort for the Emperor during the warmer days. This bamboo palace was stayed
+by two hundred silk ropes and could very easily be put up and taken down.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai enjoyed hunting. In March of each year a great hunt was organized. Marco Polo
+says that there were two masters of the hunt, each having under him ten thousand men,
+five thousand dressed in red and five thousand in blue. These men surrounded an immense
+space and drove in the animals. When everything was ready the Khan set out with his
+ten thousand falconers. He traveled in a palanquin carried by four elephants. This
+palanquin was lined with gold and covered with lion skins. Ten thousand tents were
+erected near the hunting ground. The Emperor’s great tent where receptions were held
+accommodated one thousand <span class="pageNum" id="pb375">[<a href="#pb375">375</a>]</span>persons. Near by was his private tent and the tent in which he slept. Each one of
+these Imperial tents was covered with lion skins and lined with ermine and sable.
+There were many ropes to these tents and all were of silk.
+</p>
+<p>The magnificence and luxury of the Mongol court would be remarkable even in our time.
+On his name-day Kubilai held a reception and received many presents. On New Year’s
+Day also was held a festival when gifts were presented to the Grand Khan. If possible
+a multiple of nine, the sacred number, was chosen for the number of the articles given.
+On one of these great feast days Kubilai was presented with a hundred thousand horses
+with rich coverings. During the day his five thousand elephants were exhibited in
+their housings of bright colored cloth on which birds and beasts were represented.
+These elephants bore caskets containing the Imperial plate and furniture and were
+followed by camels laden with things needful for the feast.
+</p>
+<p>Only the princes and higher officers assembled in the hall, other people remained
+outside. When every one was seated an official rose and cried: “Bow and pay homage!”
+All then touched the ground with their foreheads. This was repeated four times. A
+similar obeisance was made before an altar on which was a tablet bearing the great
+Khan’s name.
+</p>
+<p>At the banquet the table of the Khan was raised above the others and so placed that
+he sat facing the south. At his left hand sat his chief wife and on his right princes
+of the Imperial family, but lower down, so that their heads would not be above the
+level of the Emperor’s feet. Lower still sat the chief officers. Ordinary guests and
+warriors seated themselves on the carpet. Two large men stood at the entrance of the
+hall to punish those who were so unfortunate as to step on the threshold, such offenders
+were immediately stripped and beaten severely with rods. Various household officials
+moved about to see that the guests were properly served. Near the Khan’s table was
+a magnificently carved stand in which was inserted a golden vessel holding an enormous
+quantity of spiced wine. Besides this there were many golden vessels, each holding
+wine for ten persons. There were large wine bowls on the tables with handled cups
+from which to drink. One of these bowls was placed between every two persons. The
+men who served the Khan had their mouths and noses covered with delicate napkins <span class="pageNum" id="pb376">[<a href="#pb376">376</a>]</span>of silk and gold, that their breath might not offend him. Whenever he raised the wine
+cup to his lips the musicians began to play, and princes and officials went down on
+one knee.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai had five principal wives the chief of whom was Jambui Khatun. Each wife had
+her own court and was attended by not fewer than three hundred damsels as well as
+by many pages and eunuchs. The Kunkurats were celebrated for the beauty of their women
+and supplied most of the wives and concubines of the Khan. Officials were often sent
+to select several hundred girls and pay their parents for them, estimating their value
+according to their beauty. The girls were sent to the court and examined by a number
+of matrons. Polo states: “These women make the girls sleep with them in turn to ascertain
+that they have a sweet breath and are strong of limb.” The few who passed this examination
+attended the Khan, the rejected married officers or became palace employees.
+</p>
+<p>It is stated by chroniclers of that time that Kubilai became, through the influence
+of Jambui Khatun, a Lamaist. Still, to secure good fortune, he prayed to Christ, Mohammed,
+Moses and Buddha, whom he revered as the four great prophets of the world.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai was a man of medium stature. He had a fair complexion and keen black eyes,
+and was of a kindly disposition. He had designated as heir his fourth son, Numugan,
+but while that prince was a prisoner in the war with Kaidu he chose Chingkin, his
+second son, as successor. Some time after this Numugan was set free, and as he criticized
+the appointment of his brother he incurred Kubilai’s wrath, and was banished. He died
+soon after. Chingkin died also before his father.
+</p>
+<p>In 1293, eight years after the death of Chingkin, his widow, Guekjin, urged the great
+general, Bayan, to remark to the Emperor that he had not named a successor. Thereupon
+Kubilai appointed his grandson, Timur, whom he had sent to Kara Kurum as its governor,
+and charged Bayan to announce to that prince his appointment, and <span class="corr" id="xd32e3558" title="Source: instal">install</span> him as heir with due festivals and ceremonies.
+</p>
+<p>After Kubilai’s death, February, 1294, a Kurultai of election was held at Shang tu,
+the summer capital. Timur went to that city from his army and, though he was formally
+heir, his elder brother, Kamala, aspired to the Empire. The princes of the family
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb377">[<a href="#pb377">377</a>]</span>wavered for a time, but the generals and the Chinese officials gave Timur their adherence.
+At last Bayan, who by character and office had the greatest influence in that meeting,
+took his sabre and declared that he would suffer no man on the throne save him whom
+Kubilai had selected. This ended debate, and Kamala knelt to his brother; the other
+princes followed his example, and Timur was proclaimed then Grand Khan of the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>The first work of Timur was to give Imperial rank to his parents, and next to rear
+a monument to Kubilai, Jambui, the late Empress, and Chingkin, his own father. Kamala
+was made the chief governor of Mongolia with Kara Kurum as his residence. Guekdju
+and Kurguez, Timur’s brothers-in-law, received command over troops opposed to Kaidu
+and Dua on the northwestern border. Timur’s cousin, Prince Ananda, was made governor
+of Tangut, that region west of the Yellow River. Bayan Fentchan kept the ministry.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan, the chief commander and greatest general of Kubilai’s reign, died early in
+1295, at the age of fifty-nine years. He and Ye liu chu tsai, Ogotai’s faithful adviser,
+were renowned for lofty character and justice beyond all men in the history of Mongols.
+Both tried to spare human blood, and both were endowed with rare modesty.
+</p>
+<p>Only two events of note came to pass in Timur’s time: a war in the regions which lie
+between China and India, and a war in the west against Kaidu.
+</p>
+<p>Once on the throne, Timur made peace with the King of Ngan nan and opened communication
+with India, which had been stopped by the war and operations against Java. For several
+years Titiya, King of Mien tien (Burma), had failed to send tribute, and Timur was
+preparing large forces against him when Titiya’s son, Sinhobati, came with both homage
+and tribute in the name of his father. Through a patent Timur then declared Titiya
+king, with his son Sinhobati as successor, and gave to the prince a square seal with
+the figure of a tiger. Mongol generals on the borders of Burma received the command
+to respect that vassal State and protect commerce between it and the Empire.
+</p>
+<p>Three years later on Titiya was dethroned, and then killed by Asankoye, his brother.
+His son went to beg the assistance of China. Timur sent this command to Seitchaur,
+then governing in Yun nan for the Empire: “March into Mien tien; seize and <span class="pageNum" id="pb378">[<a href="#pb378">378</a>]</span>bring me Asankoye.” Seitchaur met many checks and returned to Yun nan, spreading meanwhile
+the statement that he had quelled all rebellion, but a number of his officers were
+punished with death because they had been bribed by the rebels; this had been proven.
+The Emperor degraded Seitchaur and seized all his property.
+</p>
+<p>While the war in Mien tien was progressing Timur learned that Pape si fu, which lies
+west of Yun nan, had refused China’s calendar, and would not obey that great Empire.
+He took the advice of Li yu chin, whom he sent with a force of thirty thousand to
+bring all to obedience. This army was reduced very soon to one third of its numbers
+by difficult marches and the tropical climate. Demands in Yun nan for provisions and
+horses roused revolt among hill tribes, whom the Chinese called barbarous. Song long
+tsi, a chief among these people, put himself at the head of their forces, surrounded
+Li yu chin, the Imperial commander, and would have cut his whole army to pieces had
+not the viceroy Hugatchi, Timur’s uncle, marched very quickly from Yun nan and saved
+him.
+</p>
+<p>The Emperor at this juncture commanded his generals Liu kwe kie and Yang sai yu pwa
+to assemble all troops available in Su chuan, Yun nan and Hu kuang and advance to
+support Li yu chin, who, pressed by Song long tsi most unsparingly, was retreating,
+or rather, fleeing to a place of protection. He had abandoned his baggage and lost
+many warriors.
+</p>
+<p>The revolt spread now on all sides, and many new tribes joined it. Detached bands
+plundered towns, and ravaged loyal places. Liu kwe kie held his own till fresh men
+came by swift marches to strengthen him; with these new forces and his own he pushed
+into the country of the rebels, and defeated them. Large numbers were captured, and
+among them Che tsi we, a woman who had led mountain men from the first in that struggle.
+She was killed without hesitation or pity.
+</p>
+<p>In the North the long war continued. The Imperial troops led by Chohaugur, who in
+1297 succeeded his father Tutuka, won advantages over Kaidu and Dua, who in their
+turn gained a victory, thanks to neglect on the other side. A division of Dua’s army
+attacked the cordon which stood against him and his ally. This cordon was of cavalry
+placed on a line from southwest stretching <span class="pageNum" id="pb379">[<a href="#pb379">379</a>]</span>northeastward; contact between the groups was kept up by couriers. When an enemy was
+sighted mounted men dashed away to notify the next group. One night the commanders
+of three posts met for a drinking feast. News came at midnight that the enemy was
+approaching, but they were too drunk to mount, rush away, and give notice. Kurguez,
+the general in charge, did not know of this and marshalled his warriors, six thousand
+in number. The attack was a fierce one, Kurguez fought as best he was able, but waited
+in vain for assistance; he fled at last, was pursued and taken captive. “I am the
+Emperor’s brother-in-law,” said he. With these words he saved his life, for they spared
+him. Timur had the three men, who had failed through their drinking, put in irons,
+but the loss caused by their feasting soon found a recompense. Wishing, as they said,
+to serve the Emperor, two princes, Yubukur and Ulus Buga, with one general, Durduka,
+taking twelve hundred men with them, abandoned Dua. These same three had deserted
+the Empire in Kubilai’s day, hence Timur, distrusting such persons, sent troops, who
+arrested them.
+</p>
+<p>Ulus Buga from Kara Kurum sent his men out to pillage and was seized for such action.
+Friends saved him, however, from punishment, but Timur would not give him employment.
+Yubukur, on the contrary, was treated with kindness by the Emperor. Durduka, who had
+deserted twice before, received this time a death sentence. He wept while defending
+his action, and declared in reply to this sentence, that fear had forced him to go
+from the service of Kubilai, that he had never raised arms against that sovereign,
+that seeing Timur on the throne he had persuaded the two others who were with him
+to rally to the Emperor, that he had brought back more troops than he had taken, and
+had brought them to march against Timur’s opponents.
+</p>
+<p>Timur pardoned Durduka and sent him with an army against Dua. Yubukur was permitted
+to go with him<span class="corr" id="xd32e3584" title="Source: ,">.</span> These two men, who knew Dua’s strength well, wished to win distinction by crushing
+it. After his recent triumph Dua was marching home by slow stages. He intended to
+fall on the troops of Ananda, Achiki and Chobai when he came to them, disposed as
+they were along Tangut on the border as far as Kara Kodja toward Uigur regions. But
+while Dua’s troops were preparing to pass a certain river, <span class="pageNum" id="pb380">[<a href="#pb380">380</a>]</span>Durduka, coming up on a sudden, defeated them and slew or drowned a great number.
+</p>
+<p>In 1301 Kaidu was leading the largest army that he had ever assembled. With him went
+Dua and forty princes descended from his grandfather and from his grand-uncle Jagatai.
+Khaishan, Timur’s nephew, who had come a short time before to learn war under Yuetchar
+and Chohaugur, summoned promptly the five army corps stationed in that region and
+gave battle between Kara Kurum and the Tamir River. The historian Vassaf describes
+the battle as resulting in victory for Kaidu, who died while his troops were marching
+homeward, but this westward march seems to prove that the victory, if there was one,
+could not have been on his side decisively.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidu had assumed the title Grand Khan, thus claiming the headship of the Mongols,
+which belonged to him by the will of Jinghis, and the solemn oath of the earliest
+Kurultai. Could he have lived some years longer he might have obtained the great primacy,
+since after Timur the Mongol sovereigns of China deteriorated and became not merely
+paltry but pitiful and wretched, while Kaidu was a genius and also a hero. He was
+loved in the West very greatly, and his veterans were renowned even among Mongols.
+Kaidu was exalted by his people for magnanimity and kindness. His boundless bravery
+and strength of body roused admiration and wonder. He had forty sons and one daughter,
+named Aiyaruk (Shining Moon), whom Marco Polo states was famous for beauty and still
+more famous for the strength of her body; she surpassed every warrior of that day,
+not only among Mongols, but all surrounding nations. This young princess declared
+that she would marry no man save him who could conquer her in wrestling. When the
+time came notice was given to every one that Kaidu’s only daughter would marry the
+man who could throw her in wrestling, but if he were thrown by the princess he would
+lose a hundred horses. Man after man came till the princess had thrown a hundred suitors
+and won ten thousand horses. After this hundred came the best man of all, a young
+hero from a rich remote kingdom, a man who had never met an equal in any land. He
+felt sure of victory, and brought with him a forfeit of not one hundred, but one thousand
+horses. Kaidu and the young lady’s mother were charmed with <span class="pageNum" id="pb381">[<a href="#pb381">381</a>]</span>this suitor when they saw him, and, being the son of a great and famous sovereign,
+begged their daughter to yield in case she were winning in the struggle, but she answered:
+“I will not yield unless he can throw me. If he throws me, I will marry him.” A day
+was appointed for the meeting, and an immense audience came to witness the trial.
+When all the great company was ready the strong maid and the young man came into the
+courtyard and closed in the struggle. They wrestled with great skill and energy and
+it seemed for a long time that neither could conquer the other, but at last the damsel
+threw the young hero. Immense was the suitor’s confusion as he lay in the courtyard,
+but he rose and hurried off with all his attendants, leaving the one thousand horses
+behind him as forfeit.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidu’s warriors mourned the death of their ruler with loud intense wailing. Dua,
+to whom he had told his last wishes, proposed to the princes who stood round the bier
+of the sovereign to choose as successor the eldest among the dead man’s forty sons,
+namely, Chabar, who was then absent. Dua on his part owed much to Chabar. When, after
+the death of Borak, the members of his family repaired to the court of Kaidu, as custom
+commanded, Dua, though not the eldest of Jagatai’s descendants, obtained his succession
+through the influence of Chabar. All present agreed with Dua, and each of the princes
+sent officers to attend Kaidu’s body to its resting-place.
+</p>
+<p>Chabar arrived very soon, and the princes, with Dua at the head of them, rendered
+him homage as Kaidu’s successor. When Chabar was installed in Ogotai’s dominion, Dua
+proposed to acknowledge overlordship of Timur, grandson of Kubilai, and thus end the
+strife which had raged for three decades in Jinghis Khan’s family. This advice was
+accepted by Chabar and all other princes, and they sent envoys immediately to offer
+submission. This pledge of peace was received with great gladness by Timur, who now
+saw his authority recognized by every member of his family.
+</p>
+<p>But this agreement was short-lived. In the year following, disputes burst forth between
+Chabar and Dua which involved the two sides of Jinghis Khan’s family. In 1306, at
+Dua’s persuasion, Timur, who was watchful, of course, and suspicious, attacked Chabar,
+the son of Kaidu his recent opponent. Chabar was <span class="pageNum" id="pb382">[<a href="#pb382">382</a>]</span>deserted immediately by most of his adherents. He turned in distress then to Dua to
+support him. Dua treated his guest with distinction, but took that guest’s states
+from him, and joined Turkistan to Transoxiana. He thus reëstablished well-nigh in
+completeness the dominions of Jagatai, which Kaidu had dismembered.
+</p>
+<p>So Chabar, the successor of Kaidu of Kuyuk and of Ogotai, was the last real sovereign
+descended from Ogotai, son of Jinghis; that Ogotai to whom the great conqueror had
+given supreme rule in the world of the Mongols; Ogotai, whose descendants, despoiled
+by Batu, son of Juchi, had won for themselves immense regions through the fruitful
+activity and genius of Kaidu.
+</p>
+<p>Dua, son of Borak, died in 1306; his son, Gundjuk, who succeeded him, held power one
+year and a half only. After Gundjuk’s death supreme power was next captured by Taliku,
+who through Moatagan was descended from Jagatai. Taliku had grown old in combats;
+a Mohammedan by religion, he strove to spread his belief among Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile two princes, descended from Jagatai, insisted, weapons in hand, that the
+throne belonged by right to a son of Dua; these two were vanquished. Many others were
+preparing to avenge the defeat which these men had suffered when Taliku was killed
+at a banquet by officers who wished to raise a son of their former sovereign, Dua,
+to dominion. The conspirators then proclaimed Dua’s youngest son, Gebek (1308). This
+prince was barely installed when Chabar, leagued with other princes descended from
+Kaidu, attacked him. Chabar being vanquished in this struggle, crossed the Ili. Only
+a few followers went with him, and he and they found a refuge in the lands of the
+Emperor. After this victory over Chabar, which destroyed every hope among Ogotai’s
+descendants, the Jagatai branch held a Kurultai at which they chose Issen Buga, a
+brother of Gebek, as their ruler. This prince, who was then in the territory of the
+Grand Khan, came for the sovereignty, which Gebek gave him with willingness. After
+Issen Buga’s death,—we know not when it happened,—Gebek received power and used it.
+</p>
+<p>Bloody quarrels of this kind brought ruin to Turkistan regions and to Transoxiana.
+Prosperity could not exist long with such sovereigns. When the fruit of any labor
+grew evident it was <span class="pageNum" id="pb383">[<a href="#pb383">383</a>]</span>pounced upon straightway. The whole life of that land was passed in confusion, bloodshed
+and anarchy.
+</p>
+<p>Timur, the Grand Khan at Ta tu, was forty-two years of age when he died in 1307, after
+a reign of thirteen years. During his last illness a decree was issued forbidding
+the killing of any animal for forty-two days; still he died. He was a sovereign well
+liked by the Chinese, who praised his humanity and prudence. Humane he seems to have
+been to some extent. Princes and princesses of the Jinghis Khan line had held boundless
+power over vassals and people who served them till Timur declared that no prince whatever
+should put to death any one without his confirmation. He founded an Imperial College
+at Ta tu and built a magnificent palace in honor of Confucius.
+</p>
+<p>Before he mounted the throne Timur, like so many men of his family and race, had been
+an unrestrained, boundless drinker; his grandfather, Kubilai, reprimanded him frequently
+and bastinadoed him thrice for his conduct. At last physicians were sent to see that
+he ate and drank within reason, but an alchemist, whose duty it was to attend him
+in the bathing house, filled his bath tub with wine or other liquor instead of water.
+Kubilai heard of this trick, and when Timur clung to his favorite, Kubilai had the
+man exiled and then killed on the journey. But Timur, when made Emperor, forsook his
+intemperance and became as abstemious as he had been irrestrainable aforetime.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb384">[<a href="#pb384">384</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="ch19" class="div1 last-child chapter"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd32e502">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+<h2 class="main">EXPULSION OF THE MONGOLS FROM CHINA</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The late Emperor was childless. His widow, Bulagan, who toward the end of her husband’s
+reign had great influence, wished to put on the throne Ananda, a son of Mangkala and
+grandson of Kubilai. He was living at that time in Tangut as its viceroy. Tangut in
+those days included Shen si, with Tibet and Su chuan also in some part. While Timur
+lay on his death-bed Bulagan warned Ananda in secret to hasten to the capital. She
+wished to keep the throne from Khaishan and Ayurbali Batra, the two sons of Chingkin’s
+son Tarmabala; she had had the mother of these two princes sent to Corea as an exile.
+Khaishan was on the northwestern border at that time, commanding an army of observation,
+and had won high repute through discretion and bravery in the struggle with Kaidu.
+Batra was with his mother in exile.
+</p>
+<p>Bulagan, now the regent, was sustained in supporting Ananda by Agutai, the first minister,
+and by others. She disposed troops along the roads of Mongolia to hinder Khaishan
+in reaching Ta tu. There was, however, a party which favored the sons of Tarmabala.
+Karakhass, who was chief of this party, sent secretly to hurry Khaishan on his journey
+and mentioned the route by which he should travel to avoid meeting enemies. He urged
+Batra also to be in Ta tu, and Batra did not fail to come promptly with his mother.
+Meanwhile Ananda’s adherents had settled the day on which to <span class="corr" id="xd32e3619" title="Source: instal">install</span> him.
+</p>
+<p>Khaishan’s party saw that there was no time for loitering. They could not wait for
+their candidate; he was too far from the capital. So Prince Tulu brought in a large
+army corps which he was commanding, and acted. Melik Timur, a son of Arik Buga, was
+one of Ananda’s chief partisans. He had served in the army of Chabar, had revolted,
+and then fled to China; this Melik Timur <span class="pageNum" id="pb385">[<a href="#pb385">385</a>]</span>was put in chains, conveyed to Shang tu, and immured there securely. Agutai and other
+partisans of Ananda were arrested and condemned to die for endeavoring to dispose
+of the throne arbitrarily, but the execution was deferred till Khaishan’s arrival.
+Bulagan and Ananda were guarded in the palace. The princes of the blood asked Batra
+to proclaim himself Emperor, but he refused, saying that the throne belonged to his
+elder brother. Batra now sent the seal of the Empire to that brother, and took the
+title of regent till Khaishan’s arrival, holding down meanwhile the partisans of the
+Empress.
+</p>
+<p>Khaishan hurried to Kara Kurum, where he took counsel with princes and generals. The
+army, in which he was a great favorite, desired to proclaim him in the homeland. Khaishan
+refused and started for Shang tu with a picked force thirty thousand in number. He
+sent a message to his mother and brother inviting them to assist at his installation.
+Batra set out at once for Shang tu, where Khaishan was saluted as sovereign by the
+princes and generals assembled in a Kurultai. He took the name Kuluk Khan, raised
+his mother to be Empress and gave his dead father the title of Emperor. He acknowledged
+at the same time the services of his brother by making him heir, though he had heirs
+in his own sons.
+</p>
+<p>Khaishan’s first act was to give homage to his ancestors in the temple devoted to
+their service. Next he carried out the judgment passed by Batra against the adherents
+of Ananda. Ananda himself, with Melik Timur, his close intimate, and Bulagan, the
+Empress had to die according to sentence. They had broken the laws of the Yassa by
+their efforts to dispose of the throne without winning consent from Jinghis Khan’s
+family.
+</p>
+<p>Khaishan’s acts as a ruler were not merely paltry, they were harmful, except this,
+that he had one work of Confucius translated into Mongol, and also many sacred texts
+of the Buddhists. He angered the Chinese by favoring Lamas beyond measure. A law was
+passed that whosoever struck a Lama his hand should be cut off, and whoso spoke against
+a Lama should have his tongue cut out. Given to women and wine, Khaishan died at the
+age of thirty-one, in the year 1311. His brother Batra was then proclaimed Emperor,
+but with the condition that a son of Khaishan should be his heir. The feast of installation
+lasted for a week. At <span class="pageNum" id="pb386">[<a href="#pb386">386</a>]</span>an hour designated by astrologers he ascended the throne and was saluted under the
+name Bayantu. The first act of this sovereign was to punish those ministers who, taking
+advantage of Khaishan’s incompetence, had acquired wealth for themselves through injustice;
+he put to death some of these, and sent others to exile.
+</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding an ordinance made by Kubilai, examinations of scholars had not been
+reëstablished. Bayantu brought them now into use, thus winning good will from the
+learned. He prohibited the employment of eunuchs in every office, though he infringed
+his own law the year following (1315), by making a eunuch Grand Mandarin. Bayantu
+was himself a scholar and encouraged learned men. Among many who are mentioned as
+being guests at his court is Chahan, one of the most celebrated scholars of his time.
+</p>
+<p>Now comes the great cause, and beginning of ruin for the ruling line of the Mongols
+in China: the struggle among members of that line for dominion. Though Bayantu was
+made heir on condition that he appoint to that dignity one of his nephews, he removed
+his nephew, Kushala, the eldest son of Kuluk Khan (Kaishan) the late Emperor, and
+sent him to live in Yun nan as its governor. The officers of Kushala’s household looked
+upon this as exile, and in crossing Shen si they persuaded many Mongol commanders
+in those parts to take arms in Kushala’s favor. But when Kushala saw himself abandoned
+soon after by those very officers, he fled to the Altai for refuge among the Khans
+of Jagatai. Thereupon the Emperor appointed as heir his own son Shudi Bala.
+</p>
+<p>Bayantu died in February, 1320, his age being somewhat beyond thirty years.
+</p>
+<p>His first minister was a Mongol named Temudar, who made himself odious by countless
+deeds of injustice. Accused by the censors of the Empire, he was driven from office,
+and given a death sentence, but the Empress delayed the execution. While the case
+was still pending Bayantu died, and the Empress reinstated her favorite in all former
+dignities. Shudi Bala, or Gheghen Khan, the new Emperor, mourned sincerely for his
+father, fasted long and gave large sums in charity. Through regard for his mother
+he did not act against Temudar, but he gave his confidence to Baidju, a descendant
+of Mukuli, Jinghis Khan’s great commander. Temudar <span class="pageNum" id="pb387">[<a href="#pb387">387</a>]</span>took revenge on many of his enemies, but after his death which took place in 1322
+a host of accusers attacked this oppressor. Fear restrained them no longer, hence
+they called loudly for justice and obtained it as far as was possible at that time.
+The Emperor degraded the dead minister by cancelling his titles, destroying his tomb,
+and seizing his property. Those who had shared in Temudar’s crimes, among others his
+adopted son Tekchi, formed a plan to assassinate Shudi Bala and Baidju, his first
+minister, and give the throne then to Yissun Timur, a son of Kamala, brother of Kuluk
+Khan.
+</p>
+<p>Tekchi, being military inspector, had immense power in the army, and he sent off in
+secret to Yissun Timur, who was then at the Tula, an officer named Walus. This man
+bore a letter with sixteen names affixed to it. In this letter the plan was explained,
+and Yissun invited to be Emperor. The prince had Walus arrested and sent at once an
+account to the Emperor of the plot against his person. The couriers were late in arriving.
+The conspirators, fearing lest the plot be discovered, resolved to finish all without
+waiting for an answer. Shudi Bala had set out from Shang tu, his summer residence,
+for Ta tu, the chief capital, and while he was spending the night at Nanpo, the conspirators
+killed Baidju in his tent to begin with, and then forced the guard of the Emperor’s
+pavilion. Tekchi himself slew his sovereign. Shudi Bala was only twenty-one years
+of age when his death came. This was the first death by assassination that there had
+ever been in the Imperial family of the Mongols. Two princes, Antai Buga and Yesien
+Timur, seized the great seal, with other insignia of dominion, and bore them to Yissun
+Timur, son of Kamala, who proclaimed himself Emperor at the Kerulon River, and granted
+a pardon to all men.
+</p>
+<p>At first he intended to place at the head of affairs those who had brought him dominion
+through their murders; but when experienced advisers explained to the new sovereign
+clearly that if this were done the whole nation might suspect him of complicity, he
+had Yesien Timur with two other conspirators arrested and executed in the place where
+the Emperor and his minister had been murdered. He then sent two officers bearing
+an order to put to death Tekchi with his accomplices, also their families, and then
+to confiscate their property.
+</p>
+<p>Sonan, son of Temudar, had been condemned simply to exile, <span class="pageNum" id="pb388">[<a href="#pb388">388</a>]</span>but when the ministers remarked that he had cut off Baidju’s shoulder with a sabre
+stroke, Sonan suffered death with the others. Those princes of the blood who had joined
+the conspiracy were sent to various places of exile.
+</p>
+<p>Yissun Timur entered Ta tu in December, 1323, and early the following year he appointed
+as heir his son Asukeba. This paltry monarch did nothing of note while in power, and
+died when thirty-six years of age. Though Asukeba, who was eldest among the four sons
+of the Emperor, was heir by appointment, his right to the Empire was challenged. It
+will be remembered that when Bayantu had succeeded Kuluk Khan he did so on condition
+that he make a son of the latter his heir. Instead of doing that he kept the place
+for his own son and removed to a distance Kuluk’s sons, Tob Timur and Kushala. When
+the conspiracy against Shudi Bala, or Gheghen Khan, had succeeded, the second of Kuluk’s
+sons was in Southern China, the first in the west far beyond the Altai.
+</p>
+<p>It was easy for Yissun Timur to seize power in their absence, and he did so. Five
+years later he died in Shang tu, where he had gone to pass the summer.
+</p>
+<p>The Empress now sent Upetala, a minister of State, to Ta tu to seize each department
+seal. Her son Asukeba, at that time nine years of age, had been declared heir when
+in his fifth year, but Yang Timur, governor of the capital, was the chief of a party
+which wished a son of Kuluk Khan to be Emperor. Yang Timur, son of Choahugur, was
+distinguished as a warrior, while his position was strengthened by the fame of his
+father and grandfather. Raised to high dignities through Kuluk Khan, by whom he was
+favored, this governor felt himself bound to the sons of that Emperor by gratitude,
+as well as self-interest. When setting out for Shang tu some months earlier Yissun
+Timur had given him power in the capital. Yang Timur now summoned high officials to
+the palace and proposed the elevation of one of Kuluk’s sons to Empire, threatening
+with death all who showed opposition. After this declaration he arrested Upetala,
+and other high functionaries; these men he replaced by others in whom he had confidence.
+The troops, who had no knowledge yet of his intentions, were ordered to kneel, looking
+southward, and touch the earth with their foreheads. This was to indicate that through
+them Yang <span class="pageNum" id="pb389">[<a href="#pb389">389</a>]</span>Timur had proclaimed Tob Timur Emperor. That prince was then in Nan king. The minister
+had urged him to hasten, and now announced his early arrival.
+</p>
+<p>Three descendants of Jinghis with fourteen high officials conspired to slay the first
+minister for his unparalleled daring. Yang Timur, learning of their plot, seized the
+seventeen and put to death every man of them.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the Empress had Asukeba proclaimed at Shang tu, and chose Prince Wan tsin,
+a grandson of Kamala, as first minister. She chose as commander of the army Taché
+Timur, a son of the minister Toto, a Kankali, and gave him the word to attack Yang
+Timur, who was trying to cut off Shang tu by seizing other places of importance.
+</p>
+<p>Tob Timur appeared now in Ta tu, assumed power and made appointments to office. He
+put to death Upetala, the minister, and sent Toto to exile with other persons whom
+Yang Timur had imprisoned. The governor urged the prince to proclaim himself Emperor,
+but he insisted that power belonged by right to his elder brother, Kushala, who besides
+had more merit because of his services. At last, however, he agreed to the installation,
+and promised to act till the coming of Kushala, but he declared that he would yield
+up the throne on his arrival.
+</p>
+<p>The Empire once established, Yang Timur marched toward Liao tung to meet an army moving
+in the interest of Asukeba, but learning that Wan tsin had seized a fortress on the
+way from Shang tu to the capital, he wheeled about quickly, fell on Wan tsin, and
+forced him to retreat toward Mongolia. Other generals in the interior declared for
+Asukeba. Temuku advanced from the south on Honan with considerable forces, while Prince
+Kokohoa, leading troops from Shen si, took possession of Tung Kwan, the great fortress.
+Yessen Timur proclaimed Asukeba in that same province, and advanced on the capital.
+Yang Timur faced all these enemies and conquered. He met Yessen Timur when four leagues
+from Ta tu and vanquished his army completely.
+</p>
+<p>Buka Timur, uncle of Yang Timur and commander-in-chief of all forces at the Liao tung
+border, on hearing of Tob Timur’s accession invited Prince Yuelu Timur to join forces
+and march on Shang tu with him. Tao la chu, who commanded at the summer palace, sallied
+forth repeatedly with partisans of Asukeba, to battle <span class="pageNum" id="pb390">[<a href="#pb390">390</a>]</span>with besiegers, but reduced finally, he yielded. He surrendered the seal of the Empire
+and gave up also the rich jewels belonging to Asukeba. The young Emperor died shortly
+after, no one knows in what manner. Temuku, the Liao tung governor, was killed during
+battle, weapons in hand. Yuelu Timur, now master of Shang tu, and possessing the seal
+of dominion, conducted the Empress mother to the capital. The minister Tao la chu
+traveled with her. Yessen Timur and many other titled prisoners went also. The Empress
+was exiled to a place in Pe che li, and Tao la chu, Wan tsin, Yessen Timur and other
+lords of their party suffered death at the capital.
+</p>
+<p>News of this tragedy at Shang tu spread soon throughout China, and caused the partisans
+of Asukeba to cease all resistance.
+</p>
+<p>Tob Timur sent officers now to Kushala beyond the Gobi desert, to declare what had
+happened and urge him to hasten. Kushala, as if distrusting his brother, and feeling
+that danger was before him, advanced very slowly, but when near the Mongol capital
+he proclaimed himself sovereign. Tob Timur sent his first minister to Kara Kurum to
+Kushala with the great seal of State, as well as the robes and regalia of Empire.
+Kushala was courteous and genial in meeting his brother’s first minister, and charged
+him at parting to tell Tob Timur that he would confirm his appointments. At the same
+time the new Emperor named his own ministers, and sent one of them to inform Tob Timur
+that the throne was made his in succession.
+</p>
+<p>Tob Timur and his first minister set out for Shang tu now without loitering, and met
+the new sovereign a little north of the city. That same evening, while at a feast,
+Kushala became ill on a sudden and died some days later (1329). A report went abroad
+that he had been poisoned; suspicion touched Yang Timur, the first minister. Kushala
+was thirty years old when he died, and was entitled Ming tsong in Chinese.
+</p>
+<p>Eight days after the death of Kushala, Tob Timur was made Emperor the second time.
+</p>
+<p>Tob Timur’s reign, however, was brief, and during his day nothing happened of importance,
+except the personal plotting and treason of Tukien, a prince of the blood, and governor
+in the Yun nan province, who in 1330 took the title of King of Yun nan, and revolted.
+He was put down by force the year following this <span class="pageNum" id="pb391">[<a href="#pb391">391</a>]</span>action, 1331. Like Yissun Timur and Kuluk, who preceded him, Tob Timur favored Buddhism
+greatly. He appointed large sums to build temples, and brought from Uigur regions
+a renowned Lama, Nien chin kilas, whom he called “Instructor of the Emperor.” Tob
+Timur commanded the highest personages to advance to meet this great Lama. All persons
+whom he addressed bent the knee to him, by order, and served wine to the Lama, who
+received it without any answering civility. Shocked at his haughtiness, the chief
+of the great Chinese college in presenting wine spoke thus to him: “You are a follower
+of Buddha and chief of all the Ho Chang. I am a follower of Confucius, and chief of
+all scholars. Confucius is not less illustrious than Buddha, and there is no need
+of this ceremony between us.” The Lama smiled, rose and received as he stood there
+the cup which the chief held before him. Notwithstanding these marks of the Emperor’s
+favor Lamas and Uigurs conspired with powerful Mongols to put on the throne Yuelu
+Timur, a son of Ananda. The plot was discovered and the conspirators died for their
+treason. Yuelu Timur died with the others.
+</p>
+<p>The Emperor was anxious to please learned men and thus win the Chinese; hence he decreed
+new honors to the father and mother of Confucius, as well as to some of his disciples.
+Having ordered the college of Han lin, in which were found the best scholars of the
+Empire, to describe Mongol history and manners, he visited that body one day, and
+conferred long on history; he commanded to bring then the memoirs of his own reign.
+The officers of his suite went to bring them. No opposition was offered till Liu sse
+ching, a subaltern in the college, fell at Tob Timur’s feet and explained that that
+tribunal was bound in all sacredness to write down exactly the good and bad deeds
+of Emperors, princes and great men, and write them down without favor, that these
+records were not to be seen by any one save high officials of the College of Historians
+until after the death of the Emperor. During time immemorial no sovereign had violated
+the annals of his dynasty, much less those of his own reign, and he hoped that the
+Emperor would not be the first to infringe on this sacred and long honored usage.
+Tob Timur yielded, and even praised the official for his courage and honesty.
+</p>
+<p>Occupied with his own pleasures mainly, and leaving State cares <span class="pageNum" id="pb392">[<a href="#pb392">392</a>]</span>to his minister, Tob Timur became a nonentity. He died in 1332 at Shang tu, being
+twenty-nine years of age when his life ended.
+</p>
+<p>Though the throne had been appointed to a son of Kushala, Yang Timur proposed to the
+Empress Putacheli to inaugurate a son of the late Emperor. Tob Timur had so loved
+the first minister that he gave him his one son to educate, bestowing on the youth
+the new name Yang Tekus, and took Targai, the minister’s son, to be reared in the
+palace. The Empress wished to enthrone a boy of seven years, Ylechebe, second son
+of Kushala, who had been named heir by the late sovereign. She had this boy proclaimed,
+and then became regent, but the health of Ylechebe was feeble, and he died some months
+afterward. The Chinese name Ning tsong was bestowed on him.
+</p>
+<p>Yang Timur now made fresh efforts in favor of Yang Tekus, but the Empress objected
+that this prince was too young; Tob Timur, she declared, had promised Kushala to leave
+the throne to a son of his, and she informed the ex-minister that she had sent an
+officer to visit Kuang si and bring Togan Timur, Kushala’s eldest son, to Ta tu at
+the earliest.
+</p>
+<p>The prince was thirteen years of age at that period. At the beginning of Tob Timur’s
+reign, Putacheli had put to death the Empress Papucha, wife of Kushala, and sent her
+son, Togan Timur, to an island off the coast of Corea with the command to let no man
+whatever approach him. When a year had passed the report ran that Togan Timur had
+been exiled because he was the true and rightful heir to the Empire. Tob Timur declared
+in reply, that Kushala had had no children in Mongolia, hence Togan Timur was no son
+of his. But he brought the boy back and sent him to live at Kuang si in South China
+</p>
+<p>When Togan Timur was some leagues from the capital, Yang Timur, with princes and persons
+of distinction, set out to meet him. But, little satisfied with the reception given
+him by Togan and the persons accompanying him, Yang Timur delayed the enthronement.
+The coming Emperor saw his fault, and tried to repair it by marrying Peyao, Yang Timur’s
+daughter. While discussing this matter, and settling its details, death struck the
+minister. Since Tob Timur’s advent to authority this minister had been all-powerful;
+no person or combination of persons however <span class="pageNum" id="pb393">[<a href="#pb393">393</a>]</span>mighty had been able to successfully oppose him; he had done what he wished in all
+cases; he had forced the widow of Yissun Timur, an Empress, to marry him, and had
+dared to take forty princesses descended from Jinghis, the great conqueror, and make
+them his concubines; some of them he retained for three days only. His death, hastened
+by incontinence and drink, assured the throne to the son of Kushala. The Empress published
+the last will of the late Emperor, and Togan Timur was made sovereign immediately,
+with the promise to demand of the Empress that Yang Tekus, her son, would succeed
+him.
+</p>
+<p>The new Emperor’s bent was toward luxury and pleasure, and he did nothing of service
+to any one. Peyen became minister, and Satun chief commander of the army. Satun, Yang
+Timur’s eldest brother, died soon after he had entered on his office, and was succeeded
+by Tang Kichi, the eldest son of that renowned minister, and therefore brother of
+Peyao, the young Empress. Togan Timur, wishing now to win Yang Timur’s powerful family,
+had raised Peyao to the highest rank possible to a woman. Tang Kichi, fiery and envious
+by nature, was enraged at seeing Peyen decide by himself the highest questions, hence
+he formed a plot to raise to the throne Hoan ho Timur, a grandson of Mangu the Emperor
+and a son of Shireki.
+</p>
+<p>The conspirators, among whom with Tang Kichi were Targai, his brother, and Talientali,
+Tang Kichi’s uncle, planned to secrete troops and seize the Shang tu summer palace.
+Peyen, informed of this plot by a prince of the blood, gave command to arrest Tang
+Kichi and Targai in the palace. Tang Kichi, who strove to defend himself, was cut
+down and killed where they found him. Targai fled to the apartment of his sister,
+the Empress, who tried to conceal him with her garments; but she failed for the men
+hunting Targai cared not for her modesty, hence he was discovered and sabred to death
+in her presence. Peyao herself fared no better, for Peyen obtained from the Emperor
+an order to kill her, and charged himself with the office of headsman.
+</p>
+<p>When Peyao saw him enter her apartments she divined what he wanted, and rushing to
+the Emperor’s chamber, begged life of him. Little touched by the tears of his consort,
+Togan Timur replied very coolly that her uncle and her brothers had plotted against
+him, and he would do nothing to save her. She was taken <span class="pageNum" id="pb394">[<a href="#pb394">394</a>]</span>from the palace to some house where Peyen himself killed her. Talientali defended
+his life arms in hand till he fled to Hoan ho Timur’s mansion, where the blood hunters
+slew him. Hoan ho was forced to raise hands on himself, and be his own executioner.
+Thus the great family of Yang Timur, the late minister, was extinguished.
+</p>
+<p>Emperors of a day, palace tragedies, murders, civil war, and weakness roused up the
+Chinese at last, and they began to cast off the Mongol yoke. Revolts broke out in
+Honan, Su chuan, and Kuang tung simultaneously; they were stifled at the very inception.
+The Mongol court became thoroughly suspicious of the Chinese. In 1336 it prohibited
+them from having horses and arms and forbade them to use the language of the Mongols,
+their masters.
+</p>
+<p>Peyen, the all-powerful minister, had reached now the acme of his influence, and was
+approaching his ruin and his doom. This man had the boldness to put to death without
+the Emperor’s knowledge a prince of the blood of Jinghis, and to exile two others.
+Ambitious and merciless, greedy and insolent to the utmost, he had drawn to his person
+the hatred of all save the Emperor and his own tools and creatures. Togan Timur knew
+nothing whatever of Peyen’s activity, being guarded most strictly by that minister’s
+servants, who owed all they had to their master. The blow came in 1340 from Peyen’s
+own nephew, Toktagha. This man, a mere officer of the guards, undertook to explain
+to the Emperor the real condition of the country and succeeded. Measures taken in
+secret secured Peyen’s downfall. The moment was chosen when the minister was absent
+on a hunting trip; when he returned he was not permitted to reëenter the capital.
+He was driven to an exile in South China, and died, as exiles usually died, while
+on the way. His brother, Machartai, took his place as first minister.
+</p>
+<p>This same year, 1340, the Emperor removed from the hall of Imperial ancestors Tob
+Timur’s tablet, and excluded from his court the Empress widow. He exiled also, to
+Corea, Yang Tekus, treated as heir up to that time. This action was explained by an
+edict which was worded thuswise in substance: “At the death of Kuluk Khan the Empress,
+yielding to intrigues, excluded from court Kushala Khan, my own father, and made him
+prince of Yun nan to be rid of him. When Shudi Bala (Gheghen Khan) was slain, the
+throne was given to Kushala, who for safety had <span class="pageNum" id="pb395">[<a href="#pb395">395</a>]</span>withdrawn beyond the Gobi desert. While my father was returning rule was tendered
+Tob Timur, who accepted on condition of yielding to Kushala on the latter’s arrival.
+Meanwhile he sent the seal of Empire to the coming Emperor, who was journeying toward
+his capital. My father, to reward his brother’s apparent zeal, appointed him successor.
+In pay for this Tob Timur and his adherents went to meet the Emperor, and caused his
+death, while showing him great marks of kindness. Then my uncle took the throne a
+second time. False to the word which he had given my father, he appointed his own
+son successor. He put to death the Empress Papucha, and sent me as an exile to distant
+regions. He even tried to prove that I was not Kushala’s son. Heaven punished well
+this man for so many offenses by taking his life from him. Putacheli, through abuse
+of authority, placed on the throne to my prejudice a child of seven years, my own
+brother. When he died the great men and princes gave me that dominion which was due
+me as eldest son of the Emperor Kushala. My first care has been to purge the court
+of those intriguers, who breathe only murder and dissensions. Filled with gratitude
+for Heaven’s favor I cannot uphold those whom its justice has abandoned. Let the right
+tribunal repair to the hall of Imperial ancestors and remove thence Tob Timur’s tablet;
+let Putacheli be deprived of her title and appanage of an Empress, and be conveyed
+to Tong ngan chiu; let Yang Tekus go to Corea as an exile; let all others who have
+shared this mystery of crime and are still living get the punishment befitting their
+offenses.”
+</p>
+<p>Yang Tekus was sent to Corea under Yue Kusar, a mandarin, who took his life on the
+journey. Putacheli was sent to the exile appointed, and died there soon after. Fearing
+lest people might impute these cruel acts to his counsels, Machartai the minister,
+who disapproved them, resigned, and his place was taken by Toktagha, his son, and
+by Timur Buga.
+</p>
+<p>At this time were completed annals of the Liao, the Kin, and the Sung dynasties. Kubilai
+at beginning his reign had commanded to write memoirs of the first and second of these
+dynasties, the memoirs being officially established, and after its fall memoirs of
+the Sung dynasty also. He wished too that the data on which they were founded should
+form a part of those annals. These labors, neglected, notwithstanding his orders and
+those of his immediate <span class="pageNum" id="pb396">[<a href="#pb396">396</a>]</span>successors, were but slightly advanced when Togan Timur became Emperor. To finish
+them he established, under Toktagha, a commission of the most eminent scholars in
+the Empire. These men produced annals of those three dynasties. Besides there were
+in these works calendars; methods of astronomical research; lists of great men and
+their biographies; lists of books published by scholars; and in the Sung history a
+library of books on all subjects. There were also statistics touching several foreign
+countries, and detailed description of States paying tribute to the dynasties.
+</p>
+<p>At the end of three years Toktagha, disgusted with court life, retired from office.
+When consulted about a successor he recommended Alutu, a descendant in the fourth
+generation from Boörchu, the first man of Jinghis Khan’s comrades and one of his four
+bravest warriors. Alutu when in office exiled Machartai and Toktagha. In 1347 his
+place was taken by Pierkie Buga, son of the minister Agutai, who had been put to death
+by Kuluk Khan’s order. This last man held the place only a few months. Turchi, his
+successor, demanded as colleague Tai ping who obtained the recall of Toktagha, whose
+father, Machartai, had died while in exile. Toktagha was not slow in regaining the
+Emperor’s favor, which he made use of to send Tai ping of whom he was jealous into
+exile.
+</p>
+<p>All this time the insurrection was spreading rapidly in Southern China. In 1341 two
+private persons had raised troops in Hu kuang, and seized many cities. Discontent
+had grown rife in Shan tung, while robber bands ravaged other regions. A pirate chief,
+Fang kwe chin, harried the coasts of Che kiang and Kiang nan. This man sailed up southern
+rivers, plundered cities, and ruined commerce, turning specially to vessels filled
+with grain, rice and various provisions intended for the capital. The Mongols seemed
+to disregard these the earliest attacks, and disorders increased very rapidly. Those
+who raised them made use of the great public works undertaken in 1351 by the government.
+</p>
+<p>The damage wrought by Hoang Ho floods caused the plan of opening a new bed for a part
+of the river. An embankment eighty leagues long was undertaken. More than seventy
+thousand men were employed at this labor, either warriors, or men who lived on both
+banks of the river, or near them. The insurgents enrolled some impressed laborers,
+as well as men whose lands had <span class="pageNum" id="pb397">[<a href="#pb397">397</a>]</span>been taken for the new river bed, and who were to find land in other places. Fresh
+taxes imposed to carry out those works increased dissatisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>Han chan tong, an obscure private person, seeing the ferment of minds, raised the
+report that Fohi (Buddha) had now appeared to deliver the Chinese from Mongol oppression.
+He roused rebellion in Honan, Kiang nan, and Shan tung, but the chief leaders, knowing
+that this story would not be accepted unless strengthened, gave out to the world that
+Han chan tong was of the Sung dynasty, and eighth in descent from Hwei tsung. They
+took an oath to him, sacrificing a black bull, and a white stallion. They chose then
+a red cap as ensign. This pretender to Sung blood had very poor fortune, however.
+Attacked by the Mongols, he was captured and killed by them, but his wife, and his
+son, Han lin ulh, fled and continued the struggle.
+</p>
+<p>The first reverse did not cast down those rebels. Their principal chief, Liau fu tong,
+captured cities in Kiang nan and passed over then to Honan with a numerous army. Other
+chiefs enrolled malcontents in Kiang nan and Hu kuang and gave them the red cap as
+ensign. One rebel chief, Siu chiu hwei, was proclaimed Emperor at Ki chiu, a city
+in Hu kuang, and he gave the title Tien wan to the dynasty which he was seeking to
+establish.
+</p>
+<p>After a feeble resistance the Mongols abandoned the whole Yang tse region. A comet
+appeared now, and a report was spread widely by the rebels that this heralded Togan
+Timur’s early downfall. The Mongol Government to conciliate men who had the most influence
+over people admitted to offices of all kinds those Chinese scholars in the south,
+who till then had been able to act only in matters touching literature and commerce,
+and were wholly unfitted for military command.
+</p>
+<p>The government despatched to Honan an army commanded by Yessen Timur, a brother of
+Toktagha, the prime minister, and exiled to the distant north Yng kwe, a true descendant
+of the Sung family, with an order not to let him communicate with any man. This was
+done since most rebel chiefs hid their plans of ambition under pretext of putting
+the prince on the throne of his fathers.
+</p>
+<p>Siu chiu hwei continued his triumphs, and to attach men to his fortunes more surely,
+he let them pillage all cities which he captured. He took Han yang, and Wu chang in
+Hu kuang, as well as <span class="pageNum" id="pb398">[<a href="#pb398">398</a>]</span>Kiu kiang in the north of Kiang si. He defeated Fan chi king and mastered Hang chau,
+which the Sung dynasty had once made its capital, but the Mongol general, Tong pu
+siao, crossed the Yang tse, and laying siege to Hang chau, regained it after desperate
+carnage. Yessen Timur, who had been sent to put down rebellion in Honan, defeated
+by Li fu tong, retired to Kai fong fu, and thus left the field to the rebels. This
+incompetent general was reprimanded and soon after the increase of the uprising caused
+the Emperor to replace him by his brother Toktagha. Toktagha, leading Honan forces,
+defeated the insurgents near Pe sui chiu, but Sing ki, who commanded all Imperial
+troops in Yang tse regions, was defeated and lost his life in a battle against a new
+rebel army.
+</p>
+<p>Fang kwe chin, the pirate chieftain, was very active. He continued to capture ships
+sailing northward, and thus deprived Ta tu of supplies from South China, and also
+of tribute. Besides this, he killed most perfidiously Tai Buga, a general. Hence the
+government, greatly anxious to win the bold, active pirate, charged Tie li Timur to
+confer with him. The pirate gave assurance that he would submit and disband his forces
+if he, with his brothers, two in number, were made mandarins of the fifth class. Tie
+li Timur, delighted at this offer, gave the three brothers Hiu chin, Kuang te, and
+Siu chiu in the Che kiang province. The pirate, however, for reasons which he alone
+knew, refused the places when the time came to take them, raised sail, and disappeared
+with his ship and his cutthroats.
+</p>
+<p>In 1354, Chang se ching, a new rebel, appeared in Kiang nan and though his troops
+were all levies he routed Tachi Timur, who had been sent out to crush him. At this
+juncture, the first minister, Toktagha, fell on Chang se ching, beat him thoroughly,
+and retook the cities which he had captured. But while Toktagha was retrieving the
+losses of his sovereign, his own colleague at the capital was working his ruin. Hama
+and Sue sue, two brothers, notorious for dissolute conduct, had become mighty in the
+Emperor’s councils. They were Kankali Turks, adventurers in the worst sense, hardened
+profligates, and thoroughly perfidious. When he had reached power Toktagha gave Hama
+occupation, and then appointed him minister. Very soon this new minister made himself
+independent of Toktagha and rose every day to greater influence. In due time he found
+support in Ki, the Empress, a Corean princess <span class="pageNum" id="pb399">[<a href="#pb399">399</a>]</span>by origin. She was Togan Timur’s favorite wife, and mother of the heir apparent. Hama
+applied himself quickly also to serving the worst inclinations of his sovereign, and
+peopled the palace with his creatures, youthful debauchees given to every disorder,
+and Tibetan Lamas, who practised all sorts of magic, and held immensely grotesque
+superstitions. At this man’s instigation the censors of the Empire accused Toktagha
+of taking for his own use, or giving to his favorites, funds intended for war and
+public service. Toktagha, the victor, so greatly needed at this crisis, was stripped
+of his dignities and ordered to Hoai nan into exile, and before going was forced to
+yield his command to the generals Yué yué and Yué Kutchar.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Siu chiu hwei, who called himself Emperor, was master of Wu chang, the chief
+city of the great Hu kwang province. Wishing also to capture Mien yang, he charged
+with this service Ni wen tsiun, one of his best leaders. The prince of <span class="corr" id="xd32e3721" title="Source: Weï">Wei</span> chun, who commanded that region, sent his son, Poan nu, to oppose that rebel chieftain,
+but Poan nu’s barks being weighty were stranded in the Han chuen shallows, where the
+rebels burned the flotilla with fire bearing arrows. Poan nu perished with a number
+of his warriors—and Mien yang was lost to the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>The year following (1356), Ni wen tsiun took Siang yang and conquered the region of
+Tchong ling, after he had beaten Tur chi pan, a Mongol general.
+</p>
+<p>Because of great distance these reverses in the South roused at first slight attention
+in Ta tu, or any other place, but when Honan rebels raided regions north of the Hoang
+Ho there was lively dread at the capital. Troops were sent to Honan, Shen si and Shan
+tung at the earliest. Liau fu tong, chief of Honan red caps, thought that he was increasing
+his partisans by proclaiming Han lin ulh, son of Han chan tong, the first pretender,
+as the legal Sung Emperor. This prince took the designation Ming wang, and established
+his court at Po chiu in Honan.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol court, fearing lest the name Sung, so dear to the Chinese, might rouse
+them, hurried off an army under Taché Bahadur, against the pretender. This general
+met Liau fu tong and was defeated. Liu hala Buga, who had been sent with a second
+corps to support the defeated man, attacked the rebel leader and vanquished him. He
+received chief command now because of <span class="pageNum" id="pb400">[<a href="#pb400">400</a>]</span>his victory, and marching directly toward Po chiu, he overtook and again defeated
+Liau fu tong, who fled for relief toward Ngan fong and took his Emperor with him.
+</p>
+<p>After Toktagha’s disgrace Hama was created first minister and Sue sue, his brother,
+chief censor of the Empire. All power now was in those two brothers. Since Hama had
+nothing to fear, as he thought, save the return of Toktagha, he had the late minister
+killed at the place of his banishment. But noting soon that the Empire was decaying
+very swiftly, and the sovereign was depraved beyond repentance, a result to which
+Hama himself had contributed immensely, he thought of means to cure the evils around
+him, and decided to raise to the throne the heir apparent, a person of some wit and
+a self seeker. This design was discovered and Hama was sentenced to exile and in 1356
+his enemies had him strangled.
+</p>
+<p>In 1355 appeared the man destined to destroy Mongol rule in China and found the Ming
+dynasty.—Chu yuan chang, a Buddhist, and also a priest who cast off his habit in Kiang
+nan to become a simple warrior under Ko tse ling, a rebel chieftain. This Chu was
+not slow in creating a party. Continual success, with moderation, brought him many
+supporters, and his renown increased daily. Advancing to the river Yang tse he was
+met by the people in Tai ping as their saviour. After he had captured Nan king, Yang
+chiu and Chin kiang he laid siege to Chang chiu near the mouth of the river. This
+city was held by the troops of Chang se ching, who himself was not present. This rebel
+leader, though defeated by Toktagha, had recovered through Mongol remissness, and
+made himself master of many cities. Chang se ching sent his brother Chang se te to
+succor Chang chiu, but this brother was defeated and captured.
+</p>
+<p>Chang se ching wrote now to the future Emperor of China and entreated him to cease
+his siege labor and liberate Chang se te, promising in return to become his vassal
+and pay a large yearly tribute in grain, gold and silver. Chu, convinced of Chang
+se ching’s thorough perfidy, held firmly to his prisoner and captured the city.
+</p>
+<p>In the North the adherents of Ming wang, the pseudo Sung Emperor who desolated Shen
+si and Honan, were beaten in Shen si by Chagan Timur, the Mongol general. Liau fu
+tong, Ming wang’s first minister, had mastered Honan for the greater part, and now
+wished to capture Kai fong fu, the capital of Honan, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb401">[<a href="#pb401">401</a>]</span>establish in that place the court of his sovereign. Two army corps which he had sent
+to Shan tung committed great ravages. Pe pu sin, chief of one corps of these warriors,
+entered Shen si somewhat later, captured Tsin long with Kong chang, and laid siege
+to Fong tsiang. Chagan Timur, who hastened to rescue this city, surprised Pe pu sin
+and captured his baggage. Pe pu sin fled to Su chuan and thus saved himself. The rebel
+force which had burst into Shan tung and taken many cities defeated Talima che li
+and laid siege to Tsi nan, the chief city of Shan tung and its capital.
+</p>
+<p>When Tong toan siao arrived from Honan with a Mongol division he defeated the rebels
+at the walls of Tsi nan and then left the place; but barely had he gone when Mao kwe,
+who commanded the pseudo Sung forces, attacked this central city of Shan tung and
+captured it. Then he pursued Tong toan siao, closed with his forces, and killed him
+in battle. After this victory in 1357 Mao kwe seized the city of Ho kien and made
+raids to the very edge of Ta tu, the capital of the Mongol Empire. It was thought
+by some members of the council, that the Emperor should immediately withdraw from
+Ta tu, but the minister, Tai ping, opposed this, and summoned Liu kara Buga, a good
+general, who defeated Maok we, and forced him back on Tsi nan, which he had taken.
+While one of his detachments was threatening the capital in this way Liau fu tong
+seized Kai fong fu, from which the governor had withdrawn on a sudden. Liau fu long
+then established his Emperor in that city, which had been a residence of the Kin dynasty
+just previous to its downfall. Then he sent north of the Hoang Ho two divisions of
+warriors under Kwan sien seng and Po te u pan, who had ravaged Shan si for the greater
+part. The first of these leaders took a long turn northward to Liao tung, whose capital,
+Liao yang, he plundered, and even touched the border of Corea while ravaging. Doubling
+back, he made the long march to the Emperor’s great summer residence, Shang tu, which
+he captured and pillaged; and his warriors burned Kubilai Khan’s splendid palace in
+that city.
+</p>
+<p>In the South Siu chiu hwei had made himself master of most of Hu kwang and a part
+of Kiang si. Chu yuan chang, the coming Emperor, strengthened his position in Kiang
+nan, and set about conquering Che kiang in its Eastern division. He received the submission
+of the pirate, Fang kwe chin, who, threatened in the West by <span class="pageNum" id="pb402">[<a href="#pb402">402</a>]</span>Chang se ching and in the south by Chin yiu ting, master in Fu kien, preferred to
+be vassal of a man whom he trusted. The pirate agreed to surrender Wen chau, Tai chu,
+and King yuen in southern Che kiang when they came to him; he sent also his son Fang
+kwan as a hostage. Chu, believing the word of this pirate, sent his son back to him,
+and on receiving the above mentioned districts he returned to Nan king, where he formed
+a strong council to govern those newly won places.
+</p>
+<p>While Chu yuan chang was thus increasing and strengthening his power, division was
+rapidly weakening the other two parties. The life of Mao kwe, the Sung general, was
+taken by his colleague, Chao kiun yong. To avenge Mao kwe, Siu ki tsu set out at once
+from Liao yang and overtook Chao kiun yong at Y tu, where he struck him down straightway
+and killed him. Dissensions were still more rife among Siu chiu hwei’s partisans.
+Chin yiu liang, a general of this founder of the Tien wan would-be dynasty, had just
+captured Sin chiu (Kuang sin) on the eastern border of Kiang si after a siege which
+was famous for desperate resistance (1358). The defenders were led by Ta chin nu of
+the blood of Jinghis, and by Beyen Buga, a descendant of the Idikut of the Uigurs.
+Both these men perished in the deadly encounter. The provisions in the garrison became
+so reduced that the warriors ate the flesh of those of their comrades who had perished.
+At last they killed all of the inhabitants who through age or weakness could not aid
+in the defence and used them for food. The place was finally captured by means of
+an underground passage. At this juncture Siu chiu hwei wished to transfer his capital
+from Han yang to Nan chang fu, a recent conquest, though the general who was with
+him opposed it lest his influence might be lessened.
+</p>
+<p>The pretender went by way of Kiu kiang. Chin yiu liang went out to meet him under
+pretext of showing great honor, but when Siu chiu hwei had entered Kiu kiang, the
+gates were closed quickly behind him, and troops, waiting silently in ambush, cut
+down his attendants. Chin, master now of the Emperor’s person, spared his life and
+his title, but he confined him, and called himself Prince of Han. Somewhat later he
+marched on Tai ping, with his prisoner, and when he had captured that city he beat
+the Sin chiu to death in his barge, with a crowbar.
+</p>
+<p>Chin now proclaimed himself Emperor, named his dynasty the <span class="pageNum" id="pb403">[<a href="#pb403">403</a>]</span>Han, and returned to Kiu kiang, whence he had set out on his enterprise.
+</p>
+<p>Chagan Timur, the Mongol general, seeing the Sung party divided, planned now to capture
+Nan king with Liau fu tong and his Emperor. He so arranged the march of his three
+army divisions that they arrived over different roads simultaneously. Nan king thus
+found itself invested on a sudden. He cut off all provisions, intending to weaken
+the city, or perhaps take it by famine. When he saw that provisions in Nan king were
+exhausted, he delivered a general assault in the night time, scaled the walls, and
+took the place. Liau fu tong escaped to Ngan fong with his Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>In 1353 Togan Timur had made Aiyuchelitala his heir, and published a general amnesty.
+Seven years later the heir in accord with Ki, the Empress, his mother, wished that
+Tai ping, the first minister, should prevail on Togan to resign and leave him dominion.
+The minister would not try this experiment, hence they strove to destroy him. The
+heir had poisoned a number of the minister’s partisans to weaken him. Tai ping, exposed
+then to every blow and attack of a daring conspiracy, retired from his office. Power
+passed after that to a eunuch, Pa pu hwa, and to Cho se kien, two infamous men who
+had no thought except to increase their own wealth and authority, and who kept the
+weak and debauched Emperor in complete ignorance of all things around him.
+</p>
+<p>A quarrel between two Mongol military chiefs at this critical moment is of interest:
+Chagan Timur, acting in Shan si, had retaken Tsin ki from the rebels. Polo Timur,
+the Tai tung fu governor, declared that this district belonged to his province, and
+should not be detached from it. He advanced with troops therefore to take the place.
+Chagan protested. The Emperor settled the boundaries and the generals withdrew, each
+man to the region assigned him. Hardly had they obeyed when the Emperor commanded
+Chagan to yield up Ki ning to his rival, but Chagan replied that Ki ning was needed
+to defend Kai fong fu, and reassembling his warriors he moved now against Polo. Again
+orders came from the Emperor; the movement was stopped, and the governors laid down
+their weapons, though unwillingly.
+</p>
+<p>This same year (1360) a storm rose in the North, which at first seemed more dangerous
+by far than the rebellion in China. More than once had the Emperor ordered princes
+of his family to aid <span class="pageNum" id="pb404">[<a href="#pb404">404</a>]</span>him with troops in defending his dominions; but now one of these princes, Ali hwei
+Timur, seventh in descent from Ogotai, tried to seize the throne for his own use,
+instead of helping its occupant. This prince was advancing with aid, but when some
+days march from the Great Wall of China, he declared that Togan Timur the Emperor
+was powerless to preserve that which he had received from his ancestors; that he had
+lost more than half of it already. Ali hwei then invited the Emperor to yield what
+remained of the inheritance. Tukien Timur, whom the Emperor sent to crush this bold
+rebel, was beaten and withdrew on Shang tu to find refuge. The Mongol court was in
+terror and hurried on forces, but at this juncture the rebel prince was betrayed by
+his own men, and delivered to the Emperor’s general who commanded him to be put to
+death immediately.
+</p>
+<p>Chagan Timur, having won back Honan, put garrisons in the principal cities and passed
+over then to Shan tung to restore it to the Mongols. On reaching this province he
+received the submission of Tien fong and Wang se ching, two chiefs of the rebels.
+He divided his army into several corps and sent these into action on all sides. He
+himself went to Tsi nan, the chief city, or capital, to besiege it, and took the place
+after three months’ investment. After that he attacked Y tu, the only place left those
+insurgents at that time, 1362. Tien fong and Wang se ching repented now of having
+aided this shrewd leader of the Mongols, so they plotted death to him. Tien fong invited
+the general to a review of his army, and Chagan Timur, who accounted Tien fong as
+the best among all of his intimates, took with him only a dozen attendants. Barely
+had he entered the tent of his host when Wang se ching gave him a death blow. The
+two friends hurried then with their forces and entered Y tu as had been agreed with
+the governor. Kuku Timur, the murdered man’s son by adoption, inherited his dignities
+and title, and continued the siege of Y tu in obedience to the Emperor. He attacked
+the place eagerly, and finding resistance as brave as the onset, he turned to dig
+tunnels, and dug till he worked himself into that city and took it. The chief of the
+rebels he sent to the Emperor, but Tien fong and Wang se chin he reserved for his
+personal and exquisite vengeance. He brought them bound and alive to the coffin of
+Chagan Timur, and there tore their hearts out, those hearts he then offered to the
+spirit of his father. All <span class="pageNum" id="pb405">[<a href="#pb405">405</a>]</span>the troops of these men who had followed them into the city were put to the sword
+without exception.
+</p>
+<p>A new Emperor appeared now in Su chuan, an officer named Ming yu chin, who had been
+sent to conquer this province by Siu chiu hwei just before he was beaten to death
+with a crowbar. Ming yu chin, having learned of the murder of his master, made conquests
+for himself and finished by capturing the Su chuan capital, where he proclaimed himself
+Emperor and called his dynasty the Hia.
+</p>
+<p>Now began war between Chu yuan chang, the coming Emperor of China, and Chin yiu liang,
+that seeker for Empire who, when a general, had beaten to death with a crowbar his
+own would-be Emperor, Siu chiu hwei. Chin had taken Tai ping and advanced to the lands
+of Nan king. Chu yuan marched against him, and when he had taken Nan king he found
+Chin near Kiu kiang and cut his army to pieces. Chin fled to Wu chang. Chu yuan captured
+Kiu kiang, and then Nan chang fu. Master of this capital, he received submission from
+the principal cities of Kiang si. Chin, wishing to win back Nan chang fu at all hazards,
+equipped a vast number of vessels and laid siege to the city, which he pressed cruelly,
+hoping to take the place before Chu yuan chang could appear with relief for it; but
+those in command made a gallant defence and were able to notify Chu yuan of their
+peril. Chu yuan sailed away from Nan king to assist them with his flotilla, bearing
+on it a numerous army. To cut off retreat from his enemy he ranged all his craft near
+Hu kiu, where Lake Poyang joins the Kiang si through a channel. Chin, who had besieged
+Nan chang eighty-five days in succession, raised the siege straightway, and entered
+the lake, where he met Chu’s flotilla. The battle raged for three days, when Chin,
+who had lost most of his vessels, was killed by an arrow. Chin chan ulh, his eldest
+son, named by him successor, was captured, and his principal officers yielded to the
+victor. Chin li, the second son, fled to Wu chang and proclaimed himself Emperor;
+but besieged, and seeing his cause in utter chaos, he yielded without asking conditions.
+The surrender of this capital of Hu kuang was followed by that of the province. Conquest
+was made easy now by Chu yuan changes reputation for leniency, and the discipline
+of his army.
+</p>
+<p>Before this campaign which destroyed the would-be new dynasty <span class="pageNum" id="pb406">[<a href="#pb406">406</a>]</span>of Han, Chu yuan, learning that Chang se ching and Liu chin had captured Ngan fong,
+where the Sung Emperor was living, and that they had slain Liau fu tong, his commander
+in that city, advanced toward it and defeated Liu chin. Giving up command of his army
+then to his general, Su ta, Chu charged him in 1366 with the investing of Hiu chiu.
+The Mongols recaptured Ngan fong after Chu yuan chang had departed.
+</p>
+<p>Now new troubles burst forth among the Mongols, and first that which seemed most serious:
+After the murder of Chagan Timur, the one man who might have restored Mongol authority
+in China, Polo Timur, his opponent, strove to capture Tsin ki, and, in spite of repeated
+commands from the Emperor, he sent troops to take the place. These troops were defeated
+by Kuku Timur, son of Chagan. Polo Timur then desisted, but another event armed him
+soon against even the Emperor. The weakness of the sovereign favored factions, and
+the heir, who was unprincipled and ambitious, took active part in the struggles of
+rivals. Cho se kien, the first minister, persuaded the heir that many great persons,
+whom he named, were ready to rise in rebellion; he then induced him to ruin them.
+The prince accused these men to his father, and through his power of insistence brought
+death to two leading persons.
+</p>
+<p>Cho se kien and the eunuch, Pa pu hwa, bound to each other by criminal plotting, now
+feared lest Tukien Timur, a friend of the two men just done to death without reason,
+might avenge them, hence they decided to destroy Tukien also. They brought a criminal
+action against him. Polo Timur roused a defender to act for him. The heir, enraged
+by this daring, accused Polo himself of complicity with Tukien and had him stripped
+of his office. Polo refused to yield up command and his enemy Kuku Timur was sent
+to constrain him. Polo knew that this order had been given without the Emperor’s knowledge,
+and induced Tukien to make a feint on the capital, hence he seized the Kiu yong kwan
+fortress. They wished to bring the Emperor to banish the man who had taken possession
+of him. Ye su, who commanded the place next that fortress, attacked Tukien Timur,
+but his forces were utterly broken. Thereupon the heir, not feeling secure in the
+capital, fled northward for safety. Tukien now advanced to the river Tsing ho, where
+he halted to wait for the Emperor’s <span class="pageNum" id="pb407">[<a href="#pb407">407</a>]</span>decision. He declared that Polo Timur, by whose orders he was acting, had no dream
+of failing in duty to the Emperor, he merely desired to deliver his sovereign from
+Cho se kien and Pa pu hwa the two traitors; he would retire the moment these direst
+foes of the Emperor were given to him. They meditated long at the court over this
+proposition, counter proposals were made, but Tukien remained firm and retired only
+when the two ministers were put in his possession and Polo Timur was reinstated in
+office.
+</p>
+<p>Mongol dominion had fallen in China and civil war was raging around Shang tu. The
+heir, a rebel also, was ordered back to Ta tu by the Emperor. He obeyed, but if he
+did it was simply to assemble an army and send it under Kuku Timur to fall upon Polo
+at Tai tung fu, his headquarters. Polo, leaving men to defend the place, hastened
+on to Ta tu with the bulk of his army. The heir advanced to the river Tsing ho, but
+at sight of Polo’s large army his forces fled to Ta tu, and not feeling safe even
+in that place, went out through the western gate to join Kuku Timur, then near Tai
+yuen fu, the Shan si capital. The heir followed them. When they had gone Polo entered
+Ta tu, and going with a party of his generals to the palace fell at the feet of the
+Emperor and received pardon for those acts to which, as he said, he had been driven.
+</p>
+<p>Togan Timur made him commander-in-chief and first minister. Polo now, 1364, put to
+death Tolo Timur, the Emperor’s favorite and companion in debauchery; he drove from
+the palace a legion of parasites, among others a real cohort of eunuchs and the whole
+throng of Lamas. At his request the Emperor sent courier after courier to the heir
+demanding his return to the palace. The heir, far from obeying, resolved to try arms
+against Polo, his now all-powerful opponent. The recent example of Tukien Timur was
+in this case most apposite.
+</p>
+<p>When Polo learned that the heir was advancing he arrested Ki, the Empress, and forced
+her to send in her own hand an order by which she recalled her son to the capital.
+This done he sent Tukien toward Shang tu to oppose the heir’s Mongol partisans on
+that side. He sent Ye su, a general, to attack Kuku Timur and the heir, who was with
+him. Ye su had not marched seven leagues to the south beyond Ta tu when he saw that
+the officers in his <span class="pageNum" id="pb408">[<a href="#pb408">408</a>]</span>army were dissatisfied with Polo, so he assembled the chief ones, and in counsel it
+was resolved to obey that first minister no longer. They therefore turned back toward
+Yong ping a short distance, from which point Ye su informed Kuku Timur and the princes
+in Mongolia of the resolve they had taken.
+</p>
+<p>Polo Timur in despair at this defection sent against Ye su Yao pe yen Buga, his best
+general. Ye su surprised this man, cut his army to pieces, took him prisoner, and
+killed him. Polo Timur took the field now himself, but a rain storm which lasted three
+days and nights prevented all immediate action, and he returned to the capital. The
+opposition which he met rendered him so distrustful that he put several officers to
+death on suspicion. Seeking to drown in wine his sad humor, and the grief which had
+seized him, he grew both ferocious and pitiless. More than once, while in those moods
+he killed men with his own hand, and he soon became odious to every one.
+</p>
+<p>Ho chang, son of the Prince of Wei chun, got a secret order from the Emperor to put
+an end to Polo and his partisans, and soon he found the occasion to do so.
+</p>
+<p>Polo receiving news of the capture of Shang tu, a victory over Mongol adherents of
+the heir, hurried on to inform the Emperor, but just as he was entering the palace
+he was stopped by Ho chang’s men who opened his skull with a sabre stroke. When news
+of this death reached Tukien’s army the officers deserted their general. Tukien was
+arrested, and put to death straightway. The Emperor sent Polo’s head to the heir at
+Ki ning and an order for him to appear at the palace. The prince returned now with
+Kuku Timur, who became commander-in-chief and first minister. The heir strove to force
+Kuku Timur to persuade the Emperor to resign in his favor, and not finding the minister
+compliant grew enraged at him. The Emperor was unwilling to abdicate, but he gave
+his son power almost equal to that which he himself had, making him lieutenant in
+the Empire. Kuku Timur tried to prevent this, but failed, and was stripped of his
+dignities. Thereupon, he retired to Shang si, where he lived in a stronghold.
+</p>
+<p>While the Mongol court was thus torn asunder by dissension Chu yuan chang was extending
+his Empire continually. He lived at Nan king, working always to establish a government
+on justice and order, as recommended by ancient philosophers of China. Meanwhile <span class="pageNum" id="pb409">[<a href="#pb409">409</a>]</span>his generals Su ta and Chang yu chun attacked Chang si ching, who was master yet of
+a part of Che kiang and Kiang nan. In 1366 these two distinguished chiefs won a great
+victory over Chang si ching, took Hiu chiu, one of the wealthiest cities in Che kiang,
+and also Hang chau, the capital of that province. The next year they captured Chang
+si ching in Ping liang, and took him to Nan king directly. Chu yuan gave the man liberty
+in return for his word that he would not go from the city in any case. Chang gave
+his word to remain in it, and then hanged himself.
+</p>
+<p>Ming yu chin, who had declared himself Emperor of the Hia dynasty, died in 1366. Min
+ching, his son, who was ten years of age, succeeded, with his mother as regent. This
+same year Han lin ulh, who claimed to be of the Sung dynasty, vanished, and with him
+went his adherents.
+</p>
+<p>Fang kwe chin submitted at last. This faith-breaking pirate had refused not only to
+appear before Chu yuan chang, and send tribute, but he had acted against him in the
+North in alliance with Kuku Timur, and in the South with Chin yiu ting, who held a
+part of the Fu kien province. Chu then sent his general, Tang ho, to take the cities
+Wen chau, Tai chu and King yuen. At the approach of his forces the pirate retired
+to an island in the sea. When all those cities soon after opened their gates to Tang
+ho the pirate sent his son with submission, and put himself also at command of the
+general, who sent him off to Nan king under escort.
+</p>
+<p>Chu yuan chang undertook now the liberation of all China. Su ta, his great general,
+and Chang yu chun marched northward with an army which numbered one fourth of a million.
+While Hu ting shui, a third general, reduced Fu kien and Kuang tung, Yang king took
+Kwang si and held it. These southern provinces, tired of oppression from strangers,
+made no resistance whatever. First of all Su ta and his colleague took the country
+between the Hoai and Hoang Ho, then they crossed the latter river and entered Shan
+tung, proclaiming that barbarians, like the Mongols, were unfitted to rule a polished
+people from whom they themselves should receive law and order; that the Mongols had
+conquered the Empire, not by their merit, but through Heaven’s aid given purposely
+to punish the Chinese. Heaven, roused now by the crimes of the Mongols, had taken
+power from them to give it to a warrior filled with virtue and greatness, a warrior
+loved and respected by all men who knew him.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb410">[<a href="#pb410">410</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The generals met no resistance in any place. When all Shan tung had submitted they
+passed to Honan, where they had success of the same kind—the gates of every city were
+opened to their standards.
+</p>
+<p>Togan Timur, who was terrified at the swiftness of these conquests, sent courier after
+courier for Kuku Timur, but that general did nothing to rescue the capital; he held
+aloof and marched away toward Tai yuen.
+</p>
+<p>Master of China, Chu yuan chang proclaimed himself Emperor at Nan king on the first
+day of the Chinese year, February, 1368. He gave the name Ming to his dynasty, which
+means light, and to the years of his reign Hung wu (lucky war), a term applied also
+to this emperor himself, who after his death received the title Tai tsu, founder or
+great ancestor, which in China is usually given to the founder of a dynasty.
+</p>
+<p>Chu yuan chang, the new Emperor, left Nan king in August, 1368, crossed the Hoang
+Ho at Ping lien, and marched on the capital; all cities submitted to him willingly.
+At the same time his two generals entered Pe che li from Shan tung. At this juncture
+Che li nien, one of Togan Timur’s ministers, took from the temple of ancestors all
+tablets of the Mongol Emperors and fled to the north, the heir fleeing with him. Togan
+Timur decided to follow immediately, and naming Timur Buga his lieutenant, he appointed
+King tong as defender of the capital. Then, assembling the princes, princesses and
+high officials, he declared his resolve to retire to Mongolia. He set out that same
+night for Shang tu with his family. The new Emperor of China was soon at the gates
+of Ta tu, which he entered after a very slight struggle. Mongol dominion in China
+was ended.
+</p>
+<p>Nearly all China now received the Ming Emperor, and he set about winning what was
+still under control of the Mongols. That done he intended to follow them to their
+birthland and take it. The fleeing Mongol Emperor, Togan Timur, did not think himself
+safe in Shang tu, hence he hurried northward to Ing chang on the bank of Lake Tal,
+where in 1370 his life came to its end. He had reigned thirty-five years, and was
+fifty-one years of age.
+</p>
+<p>The Ming forces seized Ing chang and captured Maitilipala, Togan Timur’s grandson,
+as well as many princes and princesses and distinguished persons who were all taken
+back to <span class="pageNum" id="pb411">[<a href="#pb411">411</a>]</span>China. The heir escaped safely to Kara Kurum, which now became the one capital of
+the Mongols. On learning that this prince had mustered troops in his homeland and
+was about to invade China the Ming Emperor in 1372 sent a strong force, under Su ta,
+to stop him. Su ta marched to the Kerulon River and the Tula, but gained no decided
+advantage. Kuku Timur, the great Mongol general, died in 1375.
+</p>
+<p>The Mongol heir who died in 1378 had taken the title of Kha kan, White khan, that
+is Grand Khan. He was followed by his son Tukus Timur, who was complimented by the
+Ming Emperors on his accession to the sovereignty of the Mongols now driven back to
+their original home. In succeeding years the troops of this Khan advanced frequently
+to violate Chinese borders, but in 1388 the new Emperor sent an army against Tukus
+Timur which defeated him at Buyur lake very thoroughly. His wives, his second son
+and more than three thousand officers were captured. Tukus Timur was assassinated
+near the Tula while seeking safety in flight. Yissudar, who did the deed, was a prince
+of the Emperor’s family, and seized the throne left by him. The ambition of others
+roused civil war which seemed permanent. After long quarrels and short reigns a prince
+named Goltsi gained supreme power in 1403. His reign was brief also, for he fell by
+an assassin and Buin Shara was made Khan to succeed him.
+</p>
+<p>When in 1408 the Emperor of China invited Buin Shara to declare himself a vassal,
+he refused. A Chinese army now invaded Mongolia, but was defeated near the Tula. Yung
+lo, the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, advanced with a large army in 1410 to the
+Kerulon River. Prince Olotai, Buin Shara’s lieutenant, deserted him through ambition,
+retiring eastward to the Hailar River. Yung lo defeated both the prince and his lieutenant,
+the first on the Onon, the second on the eastern boundary of Mongolia.
+</p>
+<p>Buin Shara was killed in 1412 by Mahmud, prince of the Uriats, who put Dalbek on the
+throne of the Mongols.
+</p>
+<p>During two centuries Mongol princes strove unceasingly to regain lost dominion; yielding
+to China when sufficient force was sent against them, or attacking border provinces
+of the Empire when those provinces were left unguarded.
+</p>
+<p>Toward the middle of the seventeenth century, when the Ming dynasty was nearing its
+downfall, the Mongols were divided into <span class="pageNum" id="pb412">[<a href="#pb412">412</a>]</span>groups under various small chieftains, each of whom bore the title Khan.
+</p>
+<p>The Kalkas were in the North in the birthland of the Mongols. West of them the lands
+of the former Naimans and the Uigurs were occupied by the Eleuts; the Chakars, and
+the Ordos lived in the country between the Great Wall and the Gobi desert. The Manchu
+dynasty which during 1644 won dominion in China took under its protection first the
+easternmost Mongols and the Kalkas. Strengthened by them, it conquered the Chakars,
+and later the Ordos. The Kalkas had preserved thus far independence, but attacked
+by the Eleuts they found themselves forced to seek aid from the Manchu sovereign of
+China. In 1691 the Emperor Kang hi received homage from the three Kalka Khans forty
+leagues north of the Great Wall. At last toward 1760 the Eleuts themselves were reduced,
+so that most of the Mongols proper are to-day subject to China, while the rest are
+under the control of Russia.
+</p>
+<p>Remarkable as has been the part played by the Mongols in history the part to be played
+by them yet may be far greater. How great and how varied it may be and of what character
+is the secret of the future.
+</p>
+<p class="trailer center">THE END.</p>
+<p><span class="pageNum" id="pb413">[<a href="#pb413">413</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="back">
+<div class="div1 index"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">INDEX</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Abaka, Hulagu’s eldest son and heir, 294.
+</p>
+<p>Abbasid Kalifs, 97, 199, 202, 206, 223;
+<br>Rashid killed, 224, 231, 238, 247, 258.
+</p>
+<p>Abdallah, son of Kaddah, plans to establish ancient faith of Persia, 204.
+</p>
+<p>Abu Abdallah, sent to Africa; announces a Mahdi; assassinated by <span class="corr" id="xd32e3826" title="Source: Obedallah">Obeidallah</span>, 205.
+</p>
+<p>Abu Ali Mansur, tenth Kalif of the Fatimid line, assassinated, 223.
+</p>
+<p>Abu Bekr, the first Kalif, 197.
+</p>
+<p>Abul Fettah, nephew of Hassan Sabah, 215.
+</p>
+<p>Abul Wefa, an Assassin from Persia, makes a treaty with the King of Jerusalem, 220.
+</p>
+<p>Abu Mohammed, Grand Prior of the Assassins of Syria, 216.
+</p>
+<p>Adhad the Kalif, asks aid of Nur ed din; his death, 231.
+</p>
+<p>Aguta, subdues the Kitans; his death, 80.
+</p>
+<p>Aiké Charan, reveals a plot to kill Temudjin, 52.
+</p>
+<p>Aiyaruk, daughter of Kaidu, 380.
+</p>
+<p>Aiyuchelitala, heir of Togan Timur, 403, 404.
+</p>
+<p>Alai ed din, Kei Kubad, Sultan of Rūm, makes an alliance with Ashraf, 161, 162.
+</p>
+<p>Ala Kush, Ongut envoy, 62;
+<br>makes invasion easy, 83.
+</p>
+<p>Alamut, Seljuk fortress, seized by Hassan Sabah, 210, 239, 240, 241, 244.
+</p>
+<p>Alan Goa, daughter of Bargudai, 4;
+<br>her death, 6;
+<br>descendants, 7.
+</p>
+<p>Aleppo, added to the Fatimid Empire, 264;
+<br>Saladin’s great-grandson rules the principality, 258;
+<br>besieged by Hulagu, 264;
+<br>captured by assault, 265.
+</p>
+<p>Algu, deserts Arik Buga, 336.
+</p>
+<p>Alihaiya, Mongol officer, attacks Kiang ling; city surrenders, 348;
+<br>favorite of Kubilai, 349;
+<br>lays siege to Chang cha, 353;
+<br>captures the city, 354;
+<br>ordered to Tung king, 364.
+</p>
+<p>Ali hwei Timur tries to seize power, 404.
+</p>
+<p>Ali Shir, brother of Kwaresm Shah, 95.
+</p>
+<p>Ali ul Mulk, acknowledged as Kalif by Shah Mohammed, 98.
+</p>
+<p>Aly, son-in-law of Mohammed, elected; rules at Kufa;
+<br>assassinated, 197, 198, 201, 202.
+</p>
+<p>Amalric, King of Jerusalem, raises the siege of Alexandria, 229;
+<br>violates his promise, 230.
+</p>
+<p>Ambagai, descendant of Taidjuts, 9;
+<br>seized by Tartars, 12;
+<br>nailed to wooden ass, 13;
+<br>his widows, 18.
+</p>
+<p>Amid, Kubilai Khan’s Minister of Finance, killed by Wang chu, 371.
+</p>
+<p>Amid ul Mulk, vizir, favors retreat of Shah Mohammed, 113.
+</p>
+<p>Ananda, attempts to seize power, 384;
+<br>murdered, 385.
+</p>
+<p>Antchin, sent to conclude an alliance with Lyuko, 84.
+</p>
+<p>Argun, sent to capture Kurguz, 191;
+<br>becomes governor, 192;
+<br>visits Mangu’s court, 193.
+</p>
+<p>Arik Buga, brother of Hulagu, wishes to be Grand Khan, 283;
+<br>left in command by Mangu, 328;
+<br>begins a struggle for Empire, 332;
+<br>puts Apishga in prison;
+<br>takes sovereign title, 333;
+<br>defeated, 334;
+<br>sends message to Kubilai, 335;
+<br>defeated, 336;
+<br>resolves to march against <span class="pageNum" id="pb414">[<a href="#pb414">414</a>]</span>Algu; returns to China, 337;
+<br>his death, 339.
+</p>
+<p>Arslan, Khan of the Karluks, 77;
+<br>marries Altun Bighi, daughter of Jinghis, 78.
+</p>
+<p>Ashraf, acts against Kwaresmians, 153;
+<br>sends a commander to the West, 154;
+<br>sets out for Harran; joins Kei Kubad, 163, 168;
+<br>sends message to Jelal; makes a journey to Egypt, 169.
+</p>
+<p>Assassins, see Hassan Sabah, Kia Mohammed, Hassan II, etc.
+</p>
+<p>Assutai, one of the Arik Buga’s commanders, passes the “Iron Gate,” 337.
+</p>
+<p>Asukeba, heir of Yissu Timur, 388;
+<br>proclaimed at Shang tu, 389.
+</p>
+<p>Ata ul Mulk Juveini, vizir and historian, 243, 244.
+</p>
+<p>At chu, Mongol commander of fleet, captures seven hundred boats, 349.
+</p>
+<p>Aziz, grandson of Saladin, 258.
+</p>
+<p>Babek, <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 816, defeated and captured, 203.
+</p>
+<p>Badai, discovers a plot to kill Temudjin, 53;
+<br>rewarded by the Grand Khan, 60.
+</p>
+<p>Baibuga, Naiman chief, makes Wang Khan’s skull into a drinking-cup, 61;
+<br>alarmed at Temudjin’s growing power, 62;
+<br>defeat and death, 63.
+</p>
+<p>Baidju, succeeds Chormagun in Persia, 177;
+<br>demands mother of Kei Korsu, 178;
+<br>trouble with Queen Rusudan, 179.
+</p>
+<p>Baiktar, killed by Temudjin, his half-brother, 19, 20.
+</p>
+<p>Baisutai clan, origin of, 9.
+</p>
+<p>Baitulu, chief of Tumats, withdraws from obedience, 88.
+</p>
+<p>Banias, a castle in Syria, 219.
+</p>
+<p>Barans, defeated by Temudjin, 41.
+</p>
+<p>Bardjuk, chief of the Uigurs, receives Jinghis Khan’s envoy, 76;
+<br>about to marry the daughter of Jinghis, 323.
+</p>
+<p>Bartan, grandfather of Temudjin, 10;
+<br>his death, 15.
+</p>
+<p>Batra, grandson of Chingkin, 384;
+<br>sets out for Shang tu, 385;
+<br>proclaimed Emperor; takes the title Byantu; appoints his son; his death, 386.
+</p>
+<p>Batu, son of Juchi; Khan of the Golden Horde; loiters, 316;
+<br>calls a Kurultai, 317;
+<br>sends troops to escort Mangu to the Kurultai, 318;
+<br>his death, 282.
+</p>
+<p>Bar Hebraeus, a historian, 273.
+</p>
+<p>Bayan, receives command, 345;
+<br>captures Yang lo, 346;
+<br>sends Chang yu to make peace;
+<br>demands permission to continue hostilities, 348;
+<br>visits the Grand Khan, 349;
+<br>captures Chang chau, 350;
+<br>sends Empress and Emperor to Kubilai;
+<br>summoned to move on Kaidu, 352;
+<br>headquarters at Kara Kurum, 369;
+<br>declares for Timur; his death, 377.
+</p>
+<p>Bedr ud din Lulu, Prince of Mosul, arranges for Syria to pay a tax, 179;
+<br>summoned by Hulagu;
+<br>his origin, 256.
+</p>
+<p>Bedr ud din of Otrar, his hatred for Shah Mohammed, 105.
+</p>
+<p>Beibars Bundukdar, minister of Nassir of Damascus; strikes the vizir; goes to Gaza;
+sends his oath of fidelity to the Sultan of Egypt, 262;
+<br>declares for war, 268;
+<br>commands the Egyptian vanguard, 269;
+<br>sent to pursue the Mongols, 271;
+<br>asks for government of Aleppo; plots to assassinate Kutuz; murders the Sultan; is
+made Sultan; arrives in Cairo; a Polovtsi by origin, 272;
+<br>gives his former owner the government of Damascus, 273;
+<br>sends for Abul Ahmed, 274;
+<br>invested with sovereignty; orders the provinces to receive Ahmed as Kalif, 275;
+<br>sends troops to the boundary of Persia, 285;
+<br>sends envoys to the Khan of the Golden Horde, 286, 287;
+<br>hangs Hulagu’s envoys, 288.
+</p>
+<p>Berkai, son of Juchi; Khan of the Golden Horde; converted to Islam, 282;
+<br>desires the election of Arik Buga, 283;
+<br>sends an army against Kulagu, 284, 285, 287;
+<br>begins a new campaign; dies while marching against Abaka, Hulagu’s successor, 294.
+</p>
+<p>Ben Amran, a traitor, 254–255.
+</p>
+<p>Belgutai, half-brother of Temudjin, 19;
+<br>goes with Temudjin for his bride, 25;
+<br>wounded at a feast, 36;
+<br>kills Bura Buga<span class="corr" id="xd32e4068" title="Not in source"> 39</span>;
+<br>is excluded from council, 48;
+<br>made master of horse training, <span class="corr" id="xd32e4075" title="Source: 43">32</span>.
+</p>
+<p>Beglu Ali, mother of Jelal ud din, 158.
+</p>
+<p>Boduanchar, son of Alan Goa, 5;
+<br>leaves home, 6;
+<br>finds a wife, 7.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb415">[<a href="#pb415">415</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Boörchu, 24;
+<br>becomes Temudjin’s comrade, 25, 27, 31, 32;
+<br>sends troops against the Naimans; saves Sengun, 42;
+<br>escapes from Keraits, 55;
+<br>made commander of ten thousand, 67, 68, 69;
+<br>saves Chepé Noyon, 92.
+</p>
+<p>Borak, commander in Jelal ud din’s army, 146;
+<br>gives his daughter to Jelal; master of Kerman; nine of his family keep rule for eighty-six
+years, 147;
+<br>revolts, 152;
+<br>marries Beglu Ali, Ghiath’s mother; strangles Ghiath, 158;
+<br>asks the Kalif for title of Sultan; takes the name Kutlug Khan; his death; succeeded
+by Rokn ud din, 195.
+</p>
+<p>Bortai, chosen by Yessugai as bride for Temudjin, 17;
+<br>captured by Merkits, 25, 26, 27, 28;
+<br>birth of Juchi, 29;
+<br>counsels Temudjin, 30, 73;
+<br>always held the first place, 138;
+<br>Jinghis speaks of her when dying, 139.
+</p>
+<p>Boroul, found in the Churki camp and given to Hoelun, 39, 42, 53;
+<br>saves the life of Ogotai, 55;
+<br>sent to aid Wang Khan, 56;
+<br>released from nine death sentences, 70, 71;
+<br>his death, 88, 307.
+</p>
+<p>Boshin, great-great-grandfather of Temudjin, 10.
+</p>
+<p>Bugundai, fourth son of Alan Goa, 4.
+</p>
+<p>Buhadur Yessugai, father of Jinghis Khan, 15.
+<br>See Yessugai.
+</p>
+<p>Buin Shara, succeeds Goltsi on the Mongol throne; assassinated, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Bulagan, partisan of Ananda, strives to put him on the throne, 384;
+<br>killed, 385.
+</p>
+<p>Burma, struggles to drive back the Mongols, 362;
+<br>defeated, 363, 377.
+</p>
+<p>Burshi, first victim of the second Grand Prior of the Assassins, 223.
+</p>
+<p>Busi, Prince of Damascus, 219, 220;
+<br>slaughters many Assassins, 221;
+<br>marked for destruction, 222.
+</p>
+<p>Chabar, son of Timur, 381;
+<br>last real sovereign descended from Ogotai, 382, 385.
+</p>
+<p>Changan Timur, Mongol general, 312, 400;
+<br>takes Nan king; quarrels with Polo Timur; wins back Honan, 403, 404, 406.
+</p>
+<p>Chang hong fan, made commander by Kubilai, 358;
+<br>attacks Sung fleet, 359.
+</p>
+<p>Chang se ching, a Chinese rebel, 398, 400, 401, 405, 408, 409.
+</p>
+<p>Chang se te, brother of Chang se ching; defeated and captured, 400.
+</p>
+<p>Chang shi kie, 349;
+<br>assembles a fleet, 356;
+<br>makes levies in Fu kien, 357;
+<br>builds a palace, 358, 359;
+<br>loses his life in a storm, 360.
+</p>
+<p>Chao wun ping, a distinguished scholar, 301.
+</p>
+<p>Charaha, son of Kaidu, 9;
+<br>father of Munlik, stepfather of Temudjin, 18, 35.
+</p>
+<p>Charchiutai, gives his son Chelmai to Temudjin, 25, 26.
+</p>
+<p>Chelmai, son of Charchiutai, given to Temudjin, 26, 27, 32;
+<br>saves the life of Temudjin, 46, 53;
+<br>released from nine death sentences, 70, 71.
+</p>
+<p>Cheng ho shang, a Kin hero, 299.
+</p>
+<p>Chepé Noyon, aids in winning the land of the Kitans, 84, 85;
+<br>sent against the Kara Kitan usurper; Jinghis warns him not to be proud, 91;
+<br>kills Gutchluk; carries Mongol arms into Armenia; his origin, 92;
+<br>sent to capture Shah Mohammed, 114;
+<br>takes Nishapur, 115;
+<br>sacks Rayi, 116;
+<br>plunders Persian Irak, 132;
+<br>commanded to conquer Polovtsi, 133.
+</p>
+<p>Chepi, a Chinese general, sent against Java; wins a victory for Java; condemned; receives
+seventy blows, 370.
+</p>
+<p>Chilaidu, a Merkit; Yessugai seizes his wife Hoelun, 16;
+<br>Merkits attack Temudjin to take vengeance, 28, 29.
+</p>
+<p>Chiluku, ruler of Kara Kitai, grandson of Yeliu Tashi, 89, 90.
+</p>
+<p>Ching ling, made Kin Emperor, 308;
+<br>slain, 309.
+</p>
+<p>Chin ge suan, ruler of Tung king, refuses to furnish Togan with war supplies, 363,
+364, 365.
+</p>
+<p>Chingkin, Kubilai’s intended successor; his death, 364;
+<br>his exposure of Ahmed, 371, 372.
+</p>
+<p>Chin Timur, left as governor of Kwaresm, 184;
+<br>attacks Kankalis; deprived of power; sends Kelilat to Grand Khan, 185;
+<br>made governor by Ogotai, 186;
+<br>his death, 187.
+</p>
+<p>Chin yiu liang, a general of the, founder of the would-be Tien <span class="pageNum" id="pb416">[<a href="#pb416">416</a>]</span>dynasty, captures Sin chiu; beats the Emperor to death with a crowbar, 402, 405.
+</p>
+<p>Chin y, commandant of Hoang chiu, surrenders the city, 346.
+</p>
+<p>Chohaugur, leader of the Imperial troops, succeeds Tutuka; defeats Kaidu, 378, 380;
+<br>his son, 388.
+</p>
+<p>Chong hei, Emperor of China, 81, 82, 83.
+</p>
+<p>Chormagun, leader of army sent in pursuit of Jelal ud din, 164, 166, 174, 175, 176,
+177.
+</p>
+<p>Cho se kien, minister of Togan Timur, 403, 406, 407.
+</p>
+<p>Churchadai, leader of the Uruts, 33, 54;
+<br>offers to lead the vanguard, 56, 59, 68;
+<br>rewarded, 69.
+</p>
+<p>Chu yuan chang, a Buddhist priest destined to destroy Mongol rule, 400, 401;
+<br>gains power, 402, 405, 406, 409;
+<br>proclaims himself Emperor, names his dynasty Ming, 410.
+</p>
+<p>Crusaders, 220, 221, 230.
+</p>
+<p>Dair Usun, chief of Hoasi Merkits, 28, 63.
+</p>
+<p>Dargham, a commander in Egypt, 228, 229.
+</p>
+<p>Desaichan, father of Bortai, 17, 34.
+</p>
+<p>Dalbek put on the Mongol throne, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Doben, ninth in descent from Batachi, 4;
+<br>boy received in exchange for venison, 5;
+<br>descendants of Doben and Alan Goa, 7.
+</p>
+<p>Dokuz Khatun, granddaughter of Wang Khan and wife of Hulagu, 255;
+<br>her death, 256.
+</p>
+<p>Dua, put on the Jagatai throne by Kaidu, 366;
+<br>deserted by his troops, 379;
+<br>proposes Chabar as Timur’s successor; proposes to acknowledge overlordship of Timur,
+Kubilai’s son; his death, 381.
+</p>
+<p>Egypt, scene of great struggles between Kalifs of Bagdad and Cairo, 223.
+<br>See Saladin, Nur ed din, Kutuz.
+</p>
+<p>Eibeg, a Mameluk chief, marries concubine of Sultan Salih, rules Egypt, 257;
+<br>restores lands belonging to Nassir of Syria, 258, 259;
+<br>slain by his wife, 262, 263.
+</p>
+<p>Euzbeg, a general, watches India for Jelal ud din, 146;
+<br>his neglect, 151, 152.
+</p>
+<p>Eyub, commandant of Tenkrit castle, father of Saladin, 227, 228, 238.
+</p>
+<p>Fakhr ud din Saki, last commandant of Aleppo, 266, 267.
+</p>
+<p>Fang kwe chin, a pirate, 396;
+<br>shows great activity, 398;
+<br>submits, 409.
+</p>
+<p>Faris ud din Aktai, a celebrated Mameluk chief, 258;
+<br>makes Beibars Sultan, 272.
+</p>
+<p>Fatimids, first Kalif, Obeidallah, 205;
+<br>their territory; declared spurious by Bagdad; struggle to supplant the Abbasids, 206;
+<br>trained in the House of Science, 211;
+<br>doctrine, 212;
+<br>agents in Persia and Syria, 214, 231, 233.
+<br>See Assassins.
+</p>
+<p>Georgians, make a league against Jelal ud din, 159;
+<br>defeated by Jelal, 160.
+</p>
+<p>Ghiath ud din, son of Shah Mohammed, retires to Karun;
+<br>marches against Ispahan, 145;
+<br>quarrels with his brother, 146, 148, 151;
+<br>arrests Jelal’s envoys; betrays Jelal, 155;
+<br>retires to the mountains; kills Mohammed at a feast; goes to the Assassins, 157;
+<br>goes to Kerman; strangled by Borak, head sent to Ogotai, 158, 194.
+</p>
+<p>Goltsi, gains power in Mongolia, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Gumushtegin, a eunuch, guardian of Salih, son of Nur ed din, 237;
+<br>hires Assassins to kill Saladin, 238.
+</p>
+<p>Gutchluk, given as title to son-in-law of the Kara Kitai ruler, 90;
+<br>makes war on his father-in-law, 91, 92.
+</p>
+<p>Gutchluk, son of Baibuga of the Naimans, 103, 104.
+</p>
+<p>Hayton, King of Cilicia, 178, 180;
+<br>decides to visit Mangu the Grand Khan, 183;
+<br>sets out, 287;
+<br>aids the Mongols, 288.
+</p>
+<p>Hakim, 276;
+<br>claims to be fourth in descent from Mostershed; goes to Egypt, 277;
+<br>is Kalif, 285.
+</p>
+<p>Hama, has an evil influence in councils of the Emperor, 398, 399, 400.
+</p>
+<p>Han lin ulh, son of Sung pretender, 396;
+<br>disappears, 409.
+</p>
+<p>Herat, summoned to surrender, 125, 128, 129, 131;
+<br>repeopled, 190, 194.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb417">[<a href="#pb417">417</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Hoan ho Timur, grandson of Mangu, 393, 394.
+</p>
+<p>Hoelun, captured by Yessugai, 16;
+<br>gives birth to Temudjin, 17, 18, 19, 20, 39;
+<br>warns Temudjin against Jamuka, 32;
+<br>saves her son Kassar; her death, 73.
+</p>
+<p>Horchi, describes a vision, 30;
+<br>given thirty beautiful women, 68.
+</p>
+<p>Huildar, leader of the Manhuts; plants Temudjin’s standard on Gubtan, 54, 55;
+<br>his death, 56.
+</p>
+<p>Hulagu marches into Asia Minor, 184, 195;
+<br>advances to exterminate the Assassins, 241;
+<br>sends envoys to Grand Prior, 242, 243;
+<br>surrender of Alamut, 244;
+<br>gives a great feast, 245;
+<br>kills all the Ismailians; sets out to destroy the Kalifat, 247;
+<br>seduces commandant of Daritang, 249, 250, 251;
+<br>slaughters the inhabitants of Bagdad, 252;
+<br>kills the Kalif, 254;
+<br>warns Nassir of Syria, 259, 260, 261;
+<br>summons Aleppo to surrender, 264;
+<br>sacks Aleppo; receives keys of Damascus, 265;
+<br>receives news of Mangu’s death, 266;
+<br>promises to reinstate Nassir, 267;
+<br>kills Nassir, 273;
+<br>trouble with Berkai, son of Juchi, 282;
+<br>defeated near Shemaki; victorious at Shirvan, 287;
+<br>builds a palace at Alatag, 288;
+<br>extent of rule, 289;
+<br>places Uns Khatun on the Far’s throne, 291;
+<br>quells an uprising, 292;
+<br>his death, 293.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan Ben Sabah, son of Ali, sent to the Nishapur school, 206;
+<br>classmate of Omar Khayyam, 207;
+<br>gains influence over Melik Shah, 208;
+<br>favors the second son of the Sultan of Egypt; gets possession of Alamut, 209;
+<br>wins followers, secures power, 210;
+<br>causes the death of Nizam ul Mulk and of Melik Shah, 211;
+<br>his secret doctrines, 212;
+<br>selects victims, 215;
+<br>warns Sindjar, Sultan of the Seljuks, 217;
+<br>makes Kia Busurgomid his successor; his death, 218.
+</p>
+<p>Hassan, son of Kia Mohammed, Grand Prior of the Assassins, spreads report that he
+is the promised Iman, 226;
+<br>becomes Grand Prior; determines to expose the secrets of the Order, 231;
+<br>proclaims himself the Iman; celebrates the 17th Ramadan, 232;
+<br>driven to prove himself a descendant of Fatimid Kalifs, 233;
+<br>teaches atheism and immorality; assassinated, 234.
+</p>
+<p>Hussein, son of Aly, 198;
+<br>offers of support from Kufa, 199;
+<br>leaves Mecca, 200;
+<br>attacked by the troops of the governor of Kufa; his death, 201, 202.
+</p>
+<p>Hussein Kaini, an active Dayis, 204, 210.
+</p>
+<p>Ismailians, 154, 196, 211;
+<br>Ismailian doctrine, 225, 234, 236, 240, 245.
+<br>See Assassins.
+</p>
+<p>Ibn al Athir, the historian, 172, 173.
+</p>
+<p>Ibn Yunus, steals a letter from Salih of Mosul, 278;
+<br>first governor of Mosul, 281.
+</p>
+<p>Jagatai, marches to China with Jinghis, his father, 83;
+<br>receives command at Otrar, 105, 119;
+<br>quarrels with Juchi, his brother, 120;
+<br>returns to Jinghis, 126, 138;
+<br>his dominion, 141, 314, 315;
+<br>his son, 333, 334, 336, 366, 380.
+</p>
+<p>Jamuka, chief of the Juriats; descended from Kabul Khan, 27, 29, 30;
+<br>forms a party, 31;
+<br>his brother Taichar, 32;
+<br>allies himself with Temudjin’s enemies, 33, 34, 36;
+<br>influences Sengun, 43;
+<br>attacks Wang Khan and Jamuka, 46;
+<br>his forces scatter, 47;
+<br>fills Sengun’s heart with fear, 50, 51;
+<br>conspires to kill Temudjin, 52;
+<br>battle with Temudjin, 53;
+<br>message from Temudjin, 57;
+<br>betrayed and surrendered to Temudjin, 63;
+<br>words from Temudjin, 66;
+<br>his death, 67.
+</p>
+<p>Jambui Khatun, wife of Kubilai, 353, 370, 376, 377.
+</p>
+<p>Jelairs, a clan;
+<br>origin, 7;
+<br>kill Monalun, 8;
+<br>crushed by Nachin, 9;
+<br>oath taken to destroy Temudjin and Wang Khan, 9, 44.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal ud din, son of Shah Mohammed, saves his father, 104;
+<br>joined by Timur Melik, 108;
+<br>opposes retreat, 113;
+<br>with his two brothers he reaches Urgendj; attacked by Kankali Turks, 119;
+<br>defeats the Mongols at Ghazni, 121;
+<br>defends himself at the Indus, 127;
+<br>springs into the Indus, 128;
+<br>pursued to India, marries the daughter of the Sultan of Delhi, 146;
+<br>feigns ignorance of his father-in-law’s <span class="pageNum" id="pb418">[<a href="#pb418">418</a>]</span>treason, 147;
+<br>marries daughter of Sád of Fars, 148;
+<br>campaign against Nassir the Kalif; sends letter to Prince of Damascus, 149;
+<br>marches to Azerbaidjan, 150;
+<br>captures Tovin; learns of plot against him in Tebriz, 151;
+<br>abandons siege of Khalat; sets out for Kerman, 152;
+<br>marches against the Assassins of Persia; repulses Mongols, 154;
+<br>betrayed by his brother; defeated by Mongols, 155;
+<br>learns that Ghiath has gone to the Assassins, 157;
+<br>secures the district of Gushtasfi, 158;
+<br>fines his vizir for giving advice, 159;
+<br>besieges Khalat a second time; commands Moslems to pray for Mostansir, 160;
+<br>takes Khalat, 162;
+<br>falls ill; defeated, 163;
+<br>goes to Mugan to obtain warriors, 165;
+<br>surprised by Mongols; discovers the treason of his vizir, 166;
+<br>sets out for Jaraper, 167;
+<br>surrounded by Mongols, 169;
+<br>captured by Kurds; is killed; appearance as described by Nessa, 171.
+</p>
+<p>Jelal ud din Hassan of Alamut, son of Mohammed II, 239;
+<br>opposed to the doctrines taught at Alamut; poisoned, 240.
+</p>
+<p>Jinghis Khan (see early life under Temudjin), rewards his Empire builders, 68, 69;
+<br>jealous of his brother; reproved by his mother, 73;
+<br>angry at Munlik, 75;
+<br>sends envoy to Idikut of the Uigurs, 76;
+<br>intrenched in Kara Kitai, 78;
+<br>seeks co-operation of the Kitans, 81;
+<br>informed of the succession of Chong hei, 81;
+<br>sends message to the Chinese Emperor, 82;
+<br>moves from the Kerulon to conquer China; crosses Gobi; invests Tai tong fu, 84;
+<br>resumes activity in China, 85;
+<br>marries a daughter of Utubu, 86;
+<br>marches on Tangut; receives submission of Corea, 89;
+<br>Kalif requests his aid; sends message to Shah Mohammed, 100;
+<br>resolves to extinguish Gutchluk, 101;
+<br>ends Gutchluk and his kingdom; marches westward; places his sons in command, 105;
+<br>moves again to Bokhara, 106<span class="corr" id="xd32e4636" title="Source: .">,</span> 108;
+<br>enters mosque on horseback; marches against Samarkand; cuts off Jelal’s retreat, 119;
+<br>camps on the Naksheb steppes; besieges Termend; destroys Kerduan; takes Bamian; grandson
+killed, 126;
+<br>attacks Jelal at the Indus, 127;
+<br>cuts down men faithful to Jelal ud din, 129;
+<br>passes winter near the Indus; resolves to return to China; gives command to kill prisoners;
+leaves Samarkand; back in homeland 1225;
+<br>enters Tangut, 137;
+<br>his death; remains taken to birthplace, 138;
+<br>funeral chant, 139, 140.
+</p>
+<p>Juchi, son of Temudjin, his birth, 29, 50, 52;
+<br>goes to China with Jinghis, 83;
+<br>tries to save Kultuk, 88;
+<br>sent to act against cities from Jend to Lake Aral; gives orders to attack the city
+of Jend, 106, 107, 108, 119;
+<br>quarrels with Jagatai, 120;
+<br>goes north of Lake Aral and establishes the Golden Horde, 126;
+<br>Juchi’s heirs inherit from Jinghis, 141, 144;
+<br>his grandson, 367.
+</p>
+<p>Kabul, son of Tumbinai, visits China; taken prisoner, 11, 12, 15;
+<br>rivalry between descendants of Kabul and Ambagai, 16.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidan, meets Taidjut in single combat, 12, 13.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidu, saved by his nurse, 8;
+<br>from him are descended the greatest historical men of the Mongols, 9;
+<br>grandfather of Tumbinai, 10, 16.
+</p>
+<p>Kaidu, great-grandson of Jinghis Khan, advances to attack Algu, 337, 339, 361;
+<br>makes war on Kubilai, 365;
+<br>gets control of the Jagatai country, 366;
+<br>forms a new league, 368;
+<br>held in check by Bayan, 369, 376;
+<br>assumes the title of Grand Khan; his death, 380, 381, 382.
+</p>
+<p>Kamala, Kubilai’s grandson, 369;
+<br>aspires to Empire, 376, 377, 387.
+</p>
+<p>Kamil, Prince of Mayafarkin, 273, 274.
+</p>
+<p>Kamil<span class="corr" id="xd32e4705" title="Source: .">,</span> Sultan of Egypt, 163, 174.
+</p>
+<p>Kankalis<span class="corr" id="xd32e4710" title="Source: .">,</span> 101, 107;
+<br>expert to be treated as kinsmen, 111<span class="corr" id="xd32e4715" title="Source: :">;</span>
+<br>are slaughtered, 112;
+<br>dissatisfied with Jelal ud din<span class="corr" id="xd32e4723" title="Source: .">,</span> 119;
+<br>move westward; form nucleus of Ottoman Empire, 126;
+<br>closely connected with Kwaresmian rulers, 158.
+</p>
+<p>Kara Buga, Mongol commander, 276, 277.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb419">[<a href="#pb419">419</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Kara Kitai, its extent, 75, 78;
+<br>its origin, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 100.
+</p>
+<p>Kara Hulagu, grandson of Jagatai; dies on the way to his possessions, 323.
+</p>
+<p>Karmath, agent of Abdallah, 204;
+<br>captures Mecca; his followers rage for a century, 205.
+</p>
+<p>Kassar (Juchi), brother of Temudjin, 17;
+<br>together with Temudjin kills his half-brother, 19, 20, 21, 27, 35;
+<br>victory over the Naimans, 44, 45;
+<br>disobeys Temudjin, 59;
+<br>saved by his mother, 72, 73, 74.
+</p>
+<p>Kassin Almed, uncle of Mostassim, made Kalif, 275;
+<br>lost in a battle against Kara Buga, 277.
+</p>
+<p>Katchi Kyuluk, eldest son of Monalun, 7;
+<br>his descendants, 8.
+</p>
+<p>Kei Kosru, ruler of Rūm in 1238, 177, 178;
+<br>marries the daughter of Queen Rusudan, 179;
+<br>his death, 181.
+</p>
+<p>Kei Kubad, Sultan of Rūm, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 168, 169.
+</p>
+<p>Kentei Khan mountains, have two water systems, 3;
+<br>body of Jinghis carried to the Kentei Khan region, 139.
+</p>
+<p>Khaishan, son of Chingkin, aspires to power, 384;
+<br>saluted as sovereign; takes the name Kuluk Khan, 385;
+<br>his death, 385.
+</p>
+<p>Ki, wife of Togan Timur, 398.
+</p>
+<p>Kia Busurgomid, second Grand Prior, 218, 219, 225.
+</p>
+<p>Kia Mohammed, third Grand Prior of the Assassins, 225, 226.
+</p>
+<p>Kia se tao, Chinese official, makes secret treaty proposals to Kubilai, 332, 343,
+344;
+<br>master of Sung Emperor, 346, 347;
+<br>exiled and murdered, 349.
+</p>
+<p>Kitans, succeeded by the Golden Khans, 2;
+<br>a part of the Manchu stock<span class="corr" id="xd32e4791" title="Source: .">,</span> 78, 79;
+<br>Aguta subdues the Empire, 80, 81;
+<br>insurrection, 84, 85, 90.
+</p>
+<p>Kokochu, a shaman, son of Munlik, Jinghis Khan’s stepfather, 72;
+<br>called also Taibtengeri; gathers followers, 73;
+<br>is killed, 74.
+</p>
+<p>Kotyan, a Polovtsi Khan whose daughter married Mystislav of Russia<span class="corr" id="xd32e4807" title="Not in source">,</span> 133.
+</p>
+<p>Kubilai Khan, favored by Hulagu, 283;
+<br>son of Tului, 309, 318;
+<br>receives Honan from Mangu, 325;
+<br>returns to Mongolia, 326;
+<br>popular in China, 327;
+<br>accepts conditions offered by Kia se tao, 332;
+<br>urged to proceed to Kurultai, 333;
+<br>meets Arik Buga’s army in Middle Shen si, 334;
+<br>goes to Kai ping fu, 335;
+<br>attacked by Arik Buga, 336, 337, 338;
+<br>decides to conquer all China, 339;
+<br>his envoys imprisoned, 340;
+<br>delays war, 341;
+<br>assembles troops, 342;
+<br>exercised by war in his own family, 344;
+<br>issues a rescript, 345;
+<br>sends an embassy, 348;
+<br>writes to Li ting shi, 355;
+<br>summons Bayan from South China, 357, 358;
+<br>resolves to subdue China, 361;
+<br>forces Burma to pay tribute, 363;
+<br>plans second attack on Japan;
+<br>conquers Tung king, 364;
+<br>drops his campaign against Java, 365;
+<br>surprises the army of Tob Timur, 366;
+<br>crushes Nayan, 368;
+<br>leaves Shang tu, 369;
+<br>needs money, 371, 372;
+<br>his death, 373;
+<br>his capital and palace, 374.
+</p>
+<p>Kuichu, found in the Udut camp and given to Hoelun, 29;
+<br>Jinghis Khan rewards him, 70.
+</p>
+<p>Kuku Timur, son of Chagan, 404, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Kuluk Khan, see Khaishan, 385.
+</p>
+<p>Kutula, fourth son of Kabul, 12;
+<br>assembles warriors, 13;
+<br>attacked by Durbans, 14;
+<br>blood feud, 15.
+</p>
+<p>Kuku Timur, besieges Y tu, 404;
+<br>opposes the heir, 408, 409;
+<br>his death, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Kung yuan tse, descendant of Confucius, 301;
+<br>sent to Subotai, 305.
+</p>
+<p>Kurguz, Chin Timur’s chancellor, 186;
+<br>summoned to Mongolia, 187;
+<br>sent to make a census; explains accusations made against him, 187;
+<br>causes the death of Ongu; rules west of the Oxus, 189;
+<br>protects Persians against Mongols; is killed by Kara Hulagu, 191.
+</p>
+<p>Kushala, son of Tob Timur, 386, 388, 389;
+<br>distrusts his brother; poisoned at a feast, 390, 392, 394, 395.
+</p>
+<p>Kutb ud din, nephew of Borak, tries to usurp power; goes to Kurultai; obtains throne
+of Kerman; kills Rokn ud din, 195, 196.
+</p>
+<p>Kuridai, warns Temudjin of a plot to kill him, 45.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb420">[<a href="#pb420">420</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Kurja Kuz, father of Wang Khan (Togrul), 40.
+</p>
+<p>Kush Timur leads Bagdad forces, 149;
+<br>killed, 150.
+</p>
+<p>Kutuz, general of Eibeg, ruler of Egypt, 259, 262;
+<br>his origin; becomes master in Egypt, 263;
+<br>calls a council; decides on war, 268;
+<br>sends envoy to Syria, 269;
+<br>addresses his generals, 270;
+<br>wins a great victory; names his lieutenants in Syria;
+<br>leaves for Egypt; assassinated by Beibars, 272.
+</p>
+<p>Kuyuk, installed Grand Khan, 180, 181, 182;
+<br>his death, 182.
+</p>
+<p>Kwaresmian Shah, see Shah Mohammed and Shah Jelal ud din.
+</p>
+<p>Kwan sien seng, captures Shang tu, 104.
+</p>
+<p>Liau fu tong, chief of the Sung pretender, 397;
+<br>proclaims Han lin ulh, 399, 400;
+<br>seizes Kai fong fu, 401;
+<br>escapes to Ngan fong, 403;
+<br>slain, 406.
+</p>
+<p>Lien hi hien, a Uigur, Arik Buga’s best general, 334.
+</p>
+<p>Li ting shi, tries to rescue his Emperor, 355;
+<br>rescued from drowning, and slain, 356.
+</p>
+<p>Li tsong, Sung Emperor, 311, 312;
+<br>his death, 341, 358.
+</p>
+<p>Liu kara Buga, a Mongol general, 401.
+</p>
+<p>Liu sin fu, minister of the Sung Emperor, 357, 358, 359.
+</p>
+<p>Liu wen hoan, minister of Sung Emperor, 343;
+<br>surrenders Siang yang, 344, 345, 346, 348, 351.
+</p>
+<p>Lyuko, prince of Kitan dynasty, joins Jinghis, 84, 85.
+</p>
+<p>Mahmud, successor of Sindjar, 219.
+</p>
+<p>Ma ki, governor of Kuang si, resists the Mongols, 356.
+</p>
+<p>Mamun, son of Harun al Rashid, makes an effort to unite the Alyites and Abbasids,
+202.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu, son of Tului; his brothers, 318;
+<br>election declared illegal, 319;
+<br>feast of installation; plot against his life, 320;
+<br>death of his mother, 322;
+<br>goes to Kara Kurum; kills his cousin, 323;
+<br>has Ogotai’s grandson drowned, 323;
+<br>gives Honan to Kubilai Khan, 325;
+<br>makes ready to march against the Sung Empire, 327;
+<br>sets out for the Sung Empire, 328;
+<br>gives a great feast, 329;
+<br>his death, 330, 331;
+<br>wife and sons, 333.
+</p>
+<p>Mangu Timur of the Golden Horde, descendant of Juchi, 365;
+<br>sovereign of Kipchak, 366, 367.
+</p>
+<p>Mansur, son of Eibeg of Egypt, 262;
+<br>imprisoned by Kutuz, 263.
+</p>
+<p>Mao kwe, commander of the Sung forces, 401;
+<br>his death, 402.
+</p>
+<p>Massud, Seljuk Sultan, takes authority from Abbasid Kalifs, 223.
+</p>
+<p>Melik Salih Ismail, son of Bedr ud din Lulu; marries the daughter of Jelal ud din,
+last Shah of Kwaresm, 260.
+</p>
+<p>Melik Shah, Seljuk Sultan, 93;
+<br>gives an office to Hassan Ben Sabah, 207, 208, 209;
+<br>alarmed by the defeat of his troops, 210;
+<br>murdered by Hassan Ben Sabah’s Assassins, 211.
+</p>
+<p>Melik Timur, son of Arik Buga, partisan of Ananda, 384;
+<br>murdered, 385.
+</p>
+<p>Merkit, clan, the people from whom Hoelun, the mother of Temudjin, was stolen, 16;
+<br>avenge the kidnapping, 27;
+<br>hunted by Wang Khan and Temudjin, 28, 29, 30, 49, 56, 58, 62, 63, 64, 65.
+</p>
+<p>Merv, attacked by Tului’s army, 122;
+<br>invested; surrenders; slaughter of its citizens, 123;
+<br>repeopled, 128;
+<br>again destroyed, 129.
+</p>
+<p>Mien yang, taken by Siu chiu hwei, lost to the Mongols, 399.
+</p>
+<p>Mingan, a distinguished Chinese general, 84;
+<br>praised for siege work, 87.
+</p>
+<p>Ming yu chin, a new Emperor, appears in Su chuan, 405;
+<br>his death, 409.
+</p>
+<p>Moazzam, Prince of Aleppo, refuses to surrender the city, 264;
+<br>Aleppo destroyed, 265.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed, Shah of Kwaresm, withdraws from subjection to Chiluku ruler in Kara Kitai,
+90, 91;
+<br>invades the lands of the Gurkhan, 94;
+<br>is defeated, 95;
+<br>kills his brother, 96;
+<br>resolves to destroy the Abbasid Kalifat, 97;
+<br>moves toward Bagdad, 98;
+<br>receives envoys from Jinghis, 100;
+<br>his mother, 101;
+<br>assembles a large army at Samarkand, 103<span class="corr" id="xd32e5070" title="Source: :">;</span>
+<br>alarmed at the approach of the Mongol army, 104, <span class="pageNum" id="pb421">[<a href="#pb421">421</a>]</span>105;
+<br>chased by thirty thousand men, 112, 113, 114, 115;
+<br>suffering from pleurisy and weakness, takes refuge on an island, 117;
+<br>his death, 117.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed of Nessa, the historian, 161;
+<br>describes appearance of Jelal ud din, 171.
+</p>
+<p>Mohammed II of Alamut, son of Hassan II, avenges the death of his father; preaches
+the doctrine of license, crime, and vice, 234;
+<br>death from poison, 239.
+</p>
+<p>Monalun, mother of Katchi Kyuluk and Nachin, 7;
+<br>quarrels with the Jelairs; is murdered by them, 8.
+</p>
+<p>Mongith, Prince of Karak, 288;
+<br>murdered by Hulagu, 288.
+</p>
+<p>Mostansir, Fatimid Kalif at Cairo, 160, 161, 206, 208, 209.
+</p>
+<p>Mostassim, Kalif in Bagdad in 1257;
+<br>his answer to Hulagu’s summons to level the walls, 247;
+<br>advised to send gifts to the Mongols, 248, 249;
+<br>refuses to visit Mongol camp, 250;
+<br>bound to his destiny, 252;
+<br>begs for the lives of his family, 253;
+<br>murdered by Hulagu, 254, 274.
+</p>
+<p>Mostershed, the twenty-ninth Abbasid Kalif, 223;
+<br>marches against Seljuk Sultan, 224;
+<br>killed by the Assassins, 224.
+</p>
+<p>Mozaffer, son of Bedr ud din Lulu, given Aleppo, 271.
+</p>
+<p>Mozaffer, son of <span class="corr" id="xd32e5126" title="Source: Säid">Saïd</span> of Mardin, rewarded by Hulagu, 275.
+</p>
+<p>Muavia, governor of Syria, made Kalif to overthrow Aly; wins Egypt as first Ommayad
+Kalif, 197;
+<br>sole Kalif of Islam, 198;
+<br>forces the election of Yezid; his death, 199;
+<br>exile of his descendants, 202.
+</p>
+<p>Mukuli, a Jelair, given to Temudjin by his (Mukuli’s) father, 39;
+<br>rewarded by Jinghis, 67, 68;
+<br>rewarded beyond all other generals, 88;
+<br>reënters China, 136;
+<br>his death, 136.
+</p>
+<p>Munlik, son of Charaha, goes after Temudjin when Yessugai is dying, 18, 33;
+<br>marries Temudjin’s mother, 35;
+<br>gives Temudjin advice which saves his life, 52;
+<br>is rewarded by Jinghis, 72;
+<br>one of his seven sons killed by Jinghis, 74, 75.
+</p>
+<p>Mystislav, Russian prince, defeated at the Kalka, 135.
+</p>
+<p>Nachin, uncle of Kaidu, 7, 8, 9.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir, Kalif of Bagdad, ascends the throne, 96, 97;
+<br>strengthens Bagdad, 149;
+<br>his death, 160.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir Salah ud din Yusseif, descendant of Saladin, 180, 257;
+<br>rules Syria; undertakes to drive Eibeg from the Egyptian throne, 258;
+<br>envoys received by Hulagu, 259;
+<br>concludes a treaty with Mogith, 260, 261;
+<br>alarmed by the approach of the Mongols, 262;
+<br>receives a letter from Kutuz, 263;
+<br>hears of the sack of Aleppo, 265;
+<br>betrayed, and seized by the Mongols, 267, 269, 273.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir ud din, vizir of Turkan Khatun, mother of Shah Mohammed, exercises authority
+in spite of Mohammed, 103.
+</p>
+<p>Nassir ud din, famous astronomer, 244.
+</p>
+<p>Naur, murders the grandfather of Wang Khan (Togrul), 40.
+</p>
+<p>Nin kai su, Kin Emperor, 295, 300;
+<br>accepts every condition, 301;
+<br>abandons the capital, 303;
+<br>sets out to make Tsai chiu his capital, 306;
+<br>loses courage, 307;
+<br>makes one more attempt to save himself, 308;
+<br>yields the throne to Ching lin; hangs himself, 309.
+</p>
+<p>Nishapur, twelve days’ journey from Merv, attacked by Tului, 124;
+<br>city occupied, 125.
+</p>
+<p>Nizam ul Mulk, student at the Nishapur school of Movaffik, 206;
+<br>first statesman of his period, 207;
+<br>Nizam’s own statement;
+<br>killed by Hassan Ben Sabah, 211.
+</p>
+<p>Nogai, Berkai’s commander, 283<span class="corr" id="xd32e5216" title="Source: ,">;</span>
+<br>surprises Hulagu’s men, 284;
+<br>forced to retreat; is wounded, 294.
+</p>
+<p>Nur ed din, Prince of Damascus, receives command from the Assassins, 217;
+<br>son of Zenky, 226;
+<br>rules the Syrian province, 228;
+<br>conquers Haram; receives news of the advance of Amalric, King of Jerusalem, 229;
+<br>sends Shirkuh to Egypt, 230;
+<br>wishes to abolish the Fatimid Kalifat, 231;
+<br>sees with alarm the growing influence of Saladin, 236;
+<br>his death, 237.
+</p>
+<p>Nusrat i kuh, in the Talekan district, defends itself for six weeks, 121;
+<br>no living soul is spared, 122.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb422">[<a href="#pb422">422</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Obeidallah, governs in Bussorah; kills Muslim, 200;
+<br>insists on absolute surrender of Hussein, 201;
+<br>slays Hussein and his followers, 202.
+</p>
+<p>Obeidallah, son of Mohammed Alhabib, summoned to Africa by Abdallah; imprisoned; rescued
+by Abdallah; made the first Fatimid Kalif, 205.
+</p>
+<p>Ogotai, is wounded, 55;
+<br>is given the wife of Tukta Bijhi, 64, 71;
+<br>goes with Jinghis, his father, to China, 83;
+<br>placed in command at Otrar, 105;
+<br>given command at Urgendj, 120;
+<br>sent to take Ghazni, 128;
+<br>receives his inheritance, 141, 143, 144;
+<br>Borak sends him the head of Ghiath, 158;
+<br>receives the body of Shah Mohammed, 161, 164;
+<br>Tamara of Georgia visits his court, 176;
+<br>receives Kelilat, 185;
+<br>gratified by a visit from the princes of Iran, 186, 187;
+<br>receives presents from Kutuz, 188;
+<br>commands to raise up Khorassan, 190, 191, 193;
+<br>gives command over Chinese troops to three generals of that race, 295;
+<br>master of Shen si, 296, 297;
+<br>receives a message from Tului in Honan, 298;
+<br>visits Tului, 299;
+<br>master of all places around Kin capital, 300;
+<br>asks for hostages, 301;
+<br>alliance with Sung Emperor, 307;
+<br>returns to Kara Kurum, 309;
+<br>holds a great Kurultai, 310;
+<br>recalls Subotai, 312;
+<br>death of Kutchu, his favorite son, 312;
+<br>passes his time in hunting and drinking, 314;
+<br>falls ill; his death, 315;
+<br>his widow assembles a Kurultai; the influence of Ye liu chu tsai, 314, 316.
+</p>
+<p>Ogul Gaimish, Kuyuk’s widow, 319;
+<br>put to death, 323.
+</p>
+<p>Okin Barka, son of Kabul, 13, 14.
+</p>
+<p>Onguts, a tribe living near the Great Wall of China, 62.
+</p>
+<p>Onon River, its source, 2, 4.
+</p>
+<p>Order of Templars, 220.
+</p>
+<p>Osman, ruler of Samarkand, makes an attack on the Gurkhan of Kara Kitai; wins a victory;
+kills Kwaresmians; death caused by his wife, 95.
+</p>
+<p>Pa pu hwa, a eunuch, keeps Togan Timur under his evil influence, 403, 406;
+<br>Tu kien delivers his sovereign from the traitor, 407.
+</p>
+<p>Peyao, daughter of Yang Timur, marries Togan Timur, 392;
+<br>murdered by Peyen, 393, 394.
+</p>
+<p>Peyen, first minister of Togan Timur, discovers a plot to assassinate the Grand Khan,
+393;
+<br>kills the Empress Peyao, 394;
+<br>his downfall and exile, 394.
+</p>
+<p>Polo Timur, governor of Tai tung, quarrels with Chagan Timur, 403;
+<br>strives to capture Tsin ki; refuses to yield up command, 406;
+<br>reinstated in office, 407;
+<br>puts to death Tolo Timur; despair over the defection of his best general, 408;
+<br>his head sent to the heir of Togan Timur, 408.
+</p>
+<p>Polovtsi, a tribe akin to the Mongols; befriend the Mongols; are betrayed and slaughtered,
+133;
+<br>seized with terror, they desert their allies at the Kalka, 134, 135.
+</p>
+<p>Risvan, Prince of Aleppo, a friend of the Assassins, 214;
+<br>loses Apaméa; reproached by Syrian princes; his death, 215.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din, son of Shah Mohammed, holds Persian Irak, 113;
+<br>slain by Mongols, 145.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, son of Kei Kosru, sovereign of Rūm, 181;
+<br>his partisans, 182;
+<br>receives the land west of the Sivas; installed as Sultan, 183;
+<br>receives news of his father’s death; visits Ogotai; asks asylum of the Kalif; his
+death, 195.
+</p>
+<p>Rokn ud din, son of Alai ed din, Grand Prior of the Assassins, 240;
+<br>made heir; opposes his father; causes the assassination of his father, 241;
+<br>demolishes castles and gives the Mongols assurance of obedience, 242;
+<br>is given five days for surrender, 243;
+<br>visits Hulagu; marries a Mongol woman; goes to Mongolia; his death, 245.
+</p>
+<p>Rusudan, Queen of Georgia, 159;
+<br>finds an asylum in Imeretia, 175;
+<br>refuses to leave Usaneth; sends her son as hostage to Batu, 179;
+<br>attacked by King David; recommends her son to Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde; takes
+poison and dies, 180.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb423">[<a href="#pb423">423</a>]</span></p>
+<p><span class="corr" id="xd32e5387" title="Source: Sain">Saïn</span> Tegin, brother of Kulku Goa, 11;
+<br>falls ill and dies; the shaman is killed, and the family involved in a blood feud,
+12.
+</p>
+<p>Saladin, son of Eyub, 226;
+<br>his birth, 227;
+<br>goes to Egypt; is left in command at Alexandria, 229;
+<br>plot against his life, 230;
+<br>becomes vizir of the Kalif, 231;
+<br>delivers the blow which destroys the main branch of the Western Ismailites, 231;
+<br>takes possession of the Sultan’s palace; finds a splendid library, 236;
+<br>strengthens fortifications, 237;
+<br>goes to Aleppo; strong champion of the Abbasids; occupies Emesa and Baalbek, 238;
+<br>determines to destroy the Assassins; returns to Cairo, 239.
+</p>
+<p>Salah, son of Bedr ud din of Mosul; letter stolen by Ibn Yunus; goes to Syria; wife
+defends Mosul, 278;
+<br>goes to Egypt; returns to Mosul, 279;
+<br>surrenders to Hulagu, 280;
+<br>killed in a terrible manner, 281.
+</p>
+<p>Salih, son of Nur ed din, is taken to Aleppo, 237, 238.
+</p>
+<p>Samdagu, commander at Mosul, 279;
+<br>receives reinforcements from Hulagu; terms of surrender, 280;
+<br>marches on Jeziret; kills Gubeg, 281.
+</p>
+<p>Sanga, a Uigur; minister of Kubilai, 372;
+<br>his dishonesty discovered; killed by Kubilai, 373.
+</p>
+<p>Sankor, grandson of Salgar, establishes himself as master in Fars, 147.
+</p>
+<p>Sarban, son of Jagatai, favors Tok Timur for Grand Khan, 366;
+<br>offered the throne by Tok Timur; deserted by his troops; taken captive, escapes to
+the Emperor, 367.
+</p>
+<p>Sartak, son of Batu Khan of the Golden Horde, said to be a Christian, 184;
+<br>succeeds his father in 1255; his death, 282.
+</p>
+<p>Sengun Bilghe, grandson of Kaidu, 9;
+<br>given rule by Kabul, 10;
+<br>father of Ambagai, 12.
+</p>
+<p>Sengun, son of Wang Khan, defeated by Seirak, 42;
+<br>saved by Boörchu; secluded from earliest inheritance by Temudjin, 43;
+<br>his son, Kush Buga; his fear and hatred of Temudjin, 50;
+<br>goes for counsel, 51;
+<br>plots to kill Temudjin, 52;
+<br>defeated and wounded in battle, 54;
+<br>his answer to message from Temudjin, 58, 60;
+<br>his death, 61.
+</p>
+<p>Seyid Edjell, an adherent of Islam, chief minister of Kubilai, celebrated for probity;
+his death, 370.
+</p>
+<p>Shawer, vizir under the Egyptian Kalif; his struggle with Dargham, 228;
+<br>alliance with Amalric, 229;
+<br>feels his danger, 230;
+<br>killed, 231.
+</p>
+<p>Shems ud din Iletmish, once a slave; seizes a part of India; refuses shelter to Jelal
+ud din, Sultan of Kwaresm, 146.
+</p>
+<p>Shems ud din Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr; reigns in Herat, 194.
+</p>
+<p>Sherif ul Mulk, Jelal ud din’s vizir, a traitor; offers homage to Kei Kubad and Ashraf,
+165;
+<br>tortures Kwaresmian officers; his treason discovered by Jelal, 166;
+<br>killed by order of the Sultan, 167.
+</p>
+<p>Shireki, son of Mangu, accepts Tok Timur’s offer of the throne; defeated, 366;
+<br>his exile and death, 367.
+</p>
+<p>Shihab ud din, fourth sovereign of the Gur dynasty, 96.
+</p>
+<p>Shirkuk, uncle of Saladin, made governor of Emesa, 228;
+<br>goes to Egypt; fortifies Belbeis; alarmed by strength of combined armies, 229;
+<br>withdraws from Egypt; appears before Cairo a second time, 230;
+<br>becomes vizir; his death, 231.
+</p>
+<p>Sidje Bighi, chief of the Barins, withdraws from Temudjin, 35.
+</p>
+<p>Sinan, Grand Prior of the Assassins in Syria, assists <span class="corr" id="xd32e5498" title="Source: Gumushteghin">Gumushtegin</span> in a plot to kill Saladin, 238, 239.
+</p>
+<p>Sindjar, Sultan of the Seljuks, sends troops to take Ismailian castles, 217;
+<br>receives a threatening letter from Hassan Ben Sabah, 217.
+</p>
+<p>Sinkur, a descendant of Juchi Kassar, commands the right wing of Hulagu’s army, 260.
+</p>
+<p>Siu chiu hwei, a rebel chief; proclaimed Emperor; calls his dynasty Tien wan, 297;
+<br>master of Wu chang, 399;
+<br>wishes to transfer his capital to Nan chang fu; beaten to death by Chin yiu liang,
+402.
+</p>
+<p>Siur kukteni, wife of Tului and mother of Mangu, Kubilai, Arik Buga and Hulagu, 317,
+318;
+<br>her death, 322.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb424">[<a href="#pb424">424</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Sorgan Shira, saves the life of Temudjin, 21;
+<br>places Temudjin in a cart piled high with wood, 22, 23, 46, 47;
+<br>his son, 64;
+<br>is rewarded, 71.
+</p>
+<p>Subotai, called the Valiant, 32;
+<br>sent by Temudjin to seize the sons of Tukta Bijhi, 65;
+<br>rewarded for services, 69;
+<br>sent the second time, kills the two young men, 88, 114;
+<br>sacks Rayi, 116, 132, 299;
+<br>sent to subdue Kin capital, 300;
+<br>withdraws; attacks the capital a second time, 302, 303;
+<br>sends the Empresses to Mongolia, 305.
+</p>
+<p>Su ta, general of Chu yuan chang, attacks Chang si ching, 408;
+<br>wins a great victory; captures Chang si ching, 409;
+<br>marches to the Kerulon River<span class="corr" id="xd32e5549" title="Not in source"> 411</span>.
+</p>
+<p>Sutu, a Mongol commander, 356;
+<br>sends his son to Shang tu, 357;
+<br>moves against King of Cochin China; returns to Canton, 362, 363;
+<br>perishes at Kien moan River, 364.
+</p>
+<p>Sue sue, a man whose influence injures the Grand Khan Togan Timur, 398, 400.
+</p>
+<p>Tache, Mongol leader, defeated by Liau fu tong, 399.
+</p>
+<p>Tadji Baku, one of the commanders sent against Jelal ud din, 154.
+</p>
+<p>Taibtengeri (see Kokochu), puts a saddle on Temugu, 73;
+<br>is killed by Temugu, 74.
+</p>
+<p>Taidjuts, descendants of Ambagai, 9;
+<br>kill sons of Kabul, 15, 20;
+<br>capture Temudjin, 21, 22, 23;
+<br>attack Temudjin, 26, 30, 33, 34, 44.
+</p>
+<p>Taimulon, sister of Temudjin, 17.
+</p>
+<p>Talaiguta, gives his grandchildren, Mukuli and Buga, to Temudjin, 39.
+</p>
+<p>Tang dynasty, its duration, 2, 79.
+</p>
+<p>Tangut, made to pay tribute, 75;
+<br>fresh disorders break out, 77.
+</p>
+<p>Ta san kuan, a fortress belonging to the Sung Emperor, is captured by Tului, 297.
+</p>
+<p>Tatchar, son of Boroul, one of Jinghis Khan’s great heroes, 307, 308, 309.
+</p>
+<p>Tatungo, a Uigur of learning, Baibuka’s seal keeper, taken by Temudjin; teaches Temudjin’s
+sons, 63.
+</p>
+<p>Tekoan, son of Abaki, the first Kitan ruler; secures the throne for a Chinese rebel,
+79;
+<br>makes war on this rebel’s successor; captures him; calls his dynasty “Liao,” 80.
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin Uge, a Tartar chieftain from whom Temudjin (Jinghis Khan) received his name,
+17<span class="corr" id="xd32e5591" title="Source: ;">.</span>
+</p>
+<p>Temudjin, his birth, 17;
+<br>finds a bride, 18;
+<br>his character, 20;
+<br>seized by Sorgan Shira, 22;
+<br>wife stolen by Merkits, 27;
+<br>recovers Bortai, 28;
+<br>is joined by Jelairs; vision of Horchi, 30;
+<br>is made Khan; appoints officers, 31;
+<br>announces his accession to Togrul and Jamuka, 32;
+<br>attacks Jamuka, 33;
+<br>boils his prisoners; joined by several tribes; strengthens position by marriages,
+35;
+<br>quarrel at a feast, 35;
+<br>tries to win Jamuka, 36;
+<br>marches against Naimans, 41;
+<br>deserted by Wang Khan; aids Wang Khan, 42;
+<br>conversation with Wang Kang; adopted by Wang Khan, 43;
+<br>wounded in battle, 46;
+<br>is saved by Chelmai, 46;
+<br>saves daughter of Sorgan Shira; moves against Tartars, 47;
+<br>punishes uncles and cousin for disobedience; excludes Belgutai from council, 48;
+<br>marries Aisugan, 49;
+<br>asks Wang Khan’s granddaughter for Juchi, 55;
+<br>assembles forces at Kalanchin; reviews army, 55;
+<br>sends a message to Wang Khan, 56;
+<br>sends message to Jamuka, 57;
+<br>defeats Wang Khan, 59;
+<br>struggle with Baibuga, 62;
+<br>takes Kulan Khatun as wife, 63;
+<br>passes the winter near the Altai mountains, 64;
+<br>kills Jamuka; takes the title Jinghis Khan, 67.
+<br>See Jinghis Khan.
+</p>
+<p>Timur, son of Chingkin, given command by Kubilai, his grandfather, 369;
+<br>given a banquet by Bayan, 370;
+<br>chosen by Kubilai as successor, 376;
+<br>Bayan declares for him, 377;
+<br>commands Seitchaur to march into Mien tien, 378, 379, 380, 381;
+<br>his death at Ta tu, 383.
+</p>
+<p>Tob Timur, son of Kuluk Khan, 388, 389;
+<br>sends messengers to his brother; is informed by Kushala that the throne will be his
+in succession, 390;
+<br>made Emperor a second time after the murder of Kushala, 390, 391;
+<br>favors Buddhism, 391;
+<br>becomes a nonentity; his death, 392.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb425">[<a href="#pb425">425</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Togachar, son of Jinghis Khan’s youngest brother, 122, 328, 338.
+</p>
+<p>Togan, son of Kubilai, ordered to march to Cochin China, 363, 364;
+<br>is punished by the Emperor, 365.
+</p>
+<p>Togan Taissi, uncle of the Kwaresm Shah, Jelal ud din, moves on Azerbaidjan; surprised
+by Jelal ud din, 150;
+<br>sends his wife to make peace; chosen as a ruler, 156.
+</p>
+<p>Togan Timur, son of Kushala, marries Peyao, daughter of Yang Timur, 392;
+<br>made sovereign, 393;
+<br>allows Peyen to kill the Empress, 394;
+<br>removes Tob Timur’s tablet from Hall of Ancestors, 394;
+<br>causes the annals of the Liao, Kin, and Sung dynasties to be completed, 396, 398,
+403;
+<br>makes Polo Timur commander-in-chief, 407;
+<br>terrified by Chinese conquests; his death, 410.
+</p>
+<p>Togha Timur, brother of Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde, 223.
+</p>
+<p>Togrul, Khan of the Keraits, his origin, 39;
+<br>implores aid of Yessugai, 40;
+<br>deceived by Jamuka, 41.
+<br>See Wang Khan.
+</p>
+<p>Toktagha, Togan Timur’s first minister, 395;
+<br>tires of court life; is exiled; Tai ping obtains his recall, 396, 397;
+<br>leads Honan troops, 398;
+<br>is accused of dishonesty; exiled, 399.
+</p>
+<p>Tok Timur, officer in Kubilai’s army, 366;
+<br>wishes to put Shireki on the throne; is defeated; seized by Shireki; his death, 367.
+</p>
+<p>Tsui li, seizes Kin capital; proclaims Wa nien tsung regent; sends the keys of the
+city to the Mongols, 304.
+</p>
+<p>Tuguchar, left by Jinghis to guard home lands, 83.
+</p>
+<p>Tu kien Timur, sent against Ali hwei Timur, 403;
+<br>is defeated, 404;
+<br>enemies seek to destroy him, 406, 407.
+</p>
+<p>Tukta Bijhi, chief of the Merkits, 27;
+<br>death of his son, 41;
+<br>rouses the Taidjuts against Temudjin, 44;
+<br>moves against Temudjin, 49<span class="corr" id="xd32e5747" title="Source: :">;</span>
+<br>pursued by Jinghis, 63;
+<br>his death<span class="corr" id="xd32e5755" title="Source: .">,</span> 64.
+</p>
+<p>Tukus Timur, becomes Grand Khan in 1378; defeated by the Chinese; assassinated, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Tula River, its source, 2.
+</p>
+<p>Tului, saved by Boroul’s wife, 71;
+<br>goes to China, 83;
+<br>receives command to march on Khorassan, 122;
+<br>wastes the country and returns to Jinghis;
+<br>destroys Merv, 123;
+<br>his cruelty; moves against Nishapur, 124, 125, 131, 132;
+<br>inherits home places, 138, 141, 142, 296;
+<br>follows the plan traced out by Jinghis on his death-bed; enters Kin regions, 297,
+298, 299, 300;
+<br>returns to Kara Kurum; his death, 309.
+</p>
+<p>Tumbinai, ancestor of Jinghis and Tamerlane, 9, 10, 58.
+</p>
+<p>Tung Kwan, a fortress on the Honan border, 296;
+<br>betrayed and surrendered, 300.
+</p>
+<p>Turkan Khatun, mother of the Kwaresm ruler, Shah Mohammed, 101, 102;
+<br>leaves Kwaresm; puts to death many princes; captured and taken to Jinghis, 118;
+<br>commanded to look at her country for the last time, 136.
+</p>
+<p>Tu tsong, Sung Emperor, 344;
+<br>succeeded by Chao hien, 345, 358.
+</p>
+<p>Uigurs, 40;
+<br>their language, 63;
+<br>their territory, 75;
+<br>their yearly tribute, 76;
+<br>their envoys received with honor, 77, 89;
+<br>cease to pay tribute to Kara Kitai, 90;
+<br>the Idikut meets Jinghis, 104, 325, 366, 412.
+</p>
+<p>Ulakchi, son and successor of Sartak the son of Batu of the Golden Horde, 282.
+</p>
+<p>Uns Khatun, last of the Salgarid dynasty, placed on the Fars throne, 291;
+<br>marries Mangu Timur, son of Hulagu, 292.
+</p>
+<p>Uriang Kadai, son of Subotai, 325;
+<br>left to master southern regions, 326, 327, 328, 332, 333.
+</p>
+<p>Urut, clan, descended from Urudai, a son of Nachin, 9, 33, 69.
+</p>
+<p>Utchugen, a title given Jinghis Khan’s youngest brother, Temugu, father of Togachar,
+328, 367, 368.
+</p>
+<p>Utubu, becomes Emperor of China, 85.
+</p>
+<p>Vanguru, made master of nourishment, 70.
+</p>
+<p>Vassaf, a historian, 380.
+</p>
+<p>Wang Khan (Togrul up to page 38), receives his title, 38, 39;
+<br>his grandfather, 40;
+<br>wins a victory and <span class="pageNum" id="pb426">[<a href="#pb426">426</a>]</span>keeps all the booty, 41;
+<br>deserts Temudjin; is forced to beg for assistance, 42;
+<br>becomes “father” to Temudjin, 43;
+<br>marches with Temudjin to the Gobi desert, 44;
+<br>supports Temudjin, 49;
+<br>joins a conspiracy to kill Temudjin, 53;
+<br>withdraws from the battle-field, 55;
+<br>receives Juchi Kassar’s messengers, 59;
+<br>surrenders; escapes; is killed at Didik, 60;
+<br>skull made into a drinking-cup, 61.
+</p>
+<p>Wang se chin, murderer of Chagan Timur; his heart torn out by Kuku Timur, Chagan’s
+adopted son, 404.
+</p>
+<p>Wanien Khada, Kin commander, 297;
+<br>forces his way to Yiu chiu; is captured and brought before Sobotai, 299.
+</p>
+<p>Wen tien siang, made first minister, 35;
+<br>detained by Bayan; sent to Kubilai; escapes, 351;
+<br>recaptures Canton, 358;
+<br>begs for death; is freed, 358.
+</p>
+<p>Yang sai yu pwa, Mongol commander, assembles troops in Su chuan, 378.
+</p>
+<p>Yang Tekus, made heir by Togan Timur, 392, 393;
+<br>exiled to Corea, 394, 395.
+</p>
+<p>Yang Timur, son of Choahugur, 388;
+<br>marches toward Liao tung, 389;
+<br>tries to assist Yang Tekus, 392, 393;
+<br>his family extinguished, 394.
+</p>
+<p>Yao shu, adviser of Kubilai, 327.
+</p>
+<p>Yassaur, Mongol commander; attacks Malattia, 180;
+<br>moves against Alamut, 241;
+<br>leaves Ismailian territory, 242.
+</p>
+<p>Ye liu chu tsai, adviser of Jinghis and Ogotai, 142;
+<br>prevails on Ogotai to fix rank of officers, 143;
+<br>saves many people, 305;
+<br>chides Ogotai for drinking, 314;
+<br>dies of grief, 316;
+<br>renowned as a faithful adviser, 377.
+</p>
+<p>Yeliu Tashi, founder of Kara Kitai; takes the title of Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, 89;
+<br>his death, 90.
+</p>
+<p>Yessen Timur, proclaims Asukeba and advances on the capital, 389;
+<br> defeated; captured and slain, 390.
+</p>
+<p>Yessugai, son of Bartan, 10, 13;
+<br>escapes from the Taidjuts, 15;
+<br>kidnaps Hoelun, 16, 17;
+<br>poisoned by Tartars, 18, 20, 40.
+</p>
+<p>Yezid, son of Muavia; heir of the Kalif, 198, 199;
+<br>summons Obeidallah to Kufa, 200;
+<br>denies connection with plot to kill Hussein, 202.
+</p>
+<p>Yissu Timur, grandson of Boörchu; given command by Kubilai, 368, 369.
+</p>
+<p>Yissudar, Mongol commander at Hamadan, 241;
+<br>assassinates Tukus Timur, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Yissun Timur, son of Kamala, proclaims himself Emperor at the Kerulon River, 387;
+<br>enters Ta tu 1323; appoints his son Asukeba heir; dies at Shang tu, 388.
+</p>
+<p>Yissuts, a Mongol tribe which fought against Temudjin, 92.
+</p>
+<p>Ylechebe, second son of Kushala, made Emperor when seven years of age, dies soon after,
+392.
+</p>
+<p>Yshmut, son of Hulagu, sent to take Mayafarkin, 260, 273;
+<br>attacks Mardin, 274;
+<br>meets Berkai’s army, 294.
+</p>
+<p>Yuelu Timur, 389;
+<br>master of Shang tu, 390, 391;
+<br>his death, 391.
+</p>
+<p>Yung lo, the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, advances to the Kerulon River, 411.
+</p>
+<p>Yurungtash, son of Mangu, leader of Kubilai’s forces in the Altai Mountain country,
+337.
+</p>
+<p>Y wang, half-brother of the Sung Emperor; his title changed from Ki wang to Y wang,
+350;
+<br>made chief governor of the Empire, 354;
+<br>made Emperor when nine years of age, 355, 356;
+<br>has no port to anchor in; his death, 357.
+</p>
+<p>Yzz ud din, son of Kei Kosru, Sultan of Rūm, 181<span class="corr" id="xd32e5956" title="Source: ,">;</span>
+<br>joins in the sovereignty his brother, Alai ud din, 182;
+<br>offers submission to Hulagu, 183<span class="corr" id="xd32e5963" title="Source: ,">;</span>
+<br>favored by Berkai, 286.
+</p>
+<p>Zahir, son and successor of Kalif Nassir; his death, when nine months in office, 160.
+</p>
+<p>Zein ud din, vizir of Kalif Nassir, sent to Hulagu, 259;
+<br>insulted by Beibars, 262;
+<br>closes the gates of Damascus, 265;
+<br>yields power to Mongols, 266.
+</p>
+<p>Zenky, son of Ak Sunkur and father of Nur ed din, 226;
+<br>receives high office, 227;
+<br>his death, 228.
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="transcriberNote">
+<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2>
+<h3 class="main">Availability</h3>
+<p class="first">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
+Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at <a class="seclink xd32e44" title="External link" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/">www.gutenberg.org</a>.
+</p>
+<p>This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="seclink xd32e44" title="External link" href="https://www.pgdp.net/">www.pgdp.net</a>.
+</p>
+<h3 class="main">Metadata</h3>
+<table class="colophonMetadata">
+<tr>
+<td><b>Title:</b></td>
+<td>The Mongols: A History</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Editor:</b></td>
+<td>Jeremiah Curtin (1835–1906)</td>
+<td>Info <span class="externalUrl">https://viaf.org/viaf/37277243/</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Contributor:</b></td>
+<td>Théodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)</td>
+<td>Info <span class="externalUrl">https://viaf.org/viaf/44346731/</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>File generation date:</b></td>
+<td>2023-11-19 11:13:31 UTC</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Language:</b></td>
+<td>English</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Original publication date:</b></td>
+<td>1908</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>2023-11-12 Started.
+</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3>
+<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p>
+<table class="correctionTable">
+<tr>
+<th>Page</th>
+<th>Source</th>
+<th>Correction</th>
+<th>Edit distance</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e234">xi</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">today</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">to-day</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e237">xi</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Asia-Minor</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Asia Minor</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e246">xiii</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">thoroness</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">thoroughness</td>
+<td class="bottom">3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e257">xv</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">past</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">passed</td>
+<td class="bottom">3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e327">xix</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e364">xx</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e367">xx</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e370">xx</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Chepe</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Chepé</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e348">xix</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e474">xxiii</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2488">241</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2492">241</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2713">269</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3139">316</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4807">419</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">,</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e352">xx</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Nerv</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Merv</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e373">xx</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Chepe’s</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Chepé’s</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e396">xxi</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Bahadar</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Bahadur</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e418">xxi</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Busugomid</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Busurgomid</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e421">xxi</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mostereshed</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mostershed</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e426">xxii</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">established</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">establish</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e438">xxii</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mensur</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mansur</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e452">xxiii</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Palaelogus</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Palæologus</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e558">5</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">vension</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">venison</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e700">22</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Termudjin</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Temudjin</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e706">22</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Timudjin</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Temudjin</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e719">23</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">”</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e737">25</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Keraïts</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Keraits</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e777">29</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Kuichi</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Kuichu</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e787">31</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1081">67</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">’</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e803">33</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Dalan-daljut</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Dalan-baljut</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e876">42</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e879">42</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e884">42</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e887">42</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e986">55</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e989">55</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e995">55</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Boorchu</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Boörchu</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e907">45</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">he goat</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">he-goat</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e922">46</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1513">122</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2067">189</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2069">189</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2231">207</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2336">221</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">.</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e934">48</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">grand uncle</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">grand-uncle</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e958">51</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">thousand tongued</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">thousand-tongued</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1054">63</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Jemuka</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Jamuka</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1095">68</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Haraün</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Haraun</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1188">81</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Hoaï</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Hoai</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1225">85</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en"> Kin</td>
+<td class="bottom">4</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1294">93</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Carthay</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Cathay</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1340">99</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Termid</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Termed</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1373">103</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">the </td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Deleted</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="bottom">4</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1422">109</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">:</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1472">116</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">un</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">ud</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1675">140</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Kurbeldjin</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Kurbeljin</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1711">144</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">;</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1982">179</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Ogatai’s</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Ogotai’s</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e1998">181</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Behaï</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Behai</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2058">189</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">sovereign</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">sovereigns</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2107">194</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2114">194</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Afganistan</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Afghanistan</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2210">205</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Fatimides</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Fatimids</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2241">209</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Isaphan</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Ispahan</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2485">241</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3584">379</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">.</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2532">245</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">ignominous</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">ignominious</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2568">250</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2705">269</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2758">274</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2761">274</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2764">274</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2801">278</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2906">289</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2915">290</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2918">290</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5126">421</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Säid</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Saïd</td>
+<td class="bottom">2 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2665">263</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2708">269</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2722">270</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Said</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Saïd</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2730">271</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">conquerers</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">conquerors</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2747">273</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Halagu</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Hulagu</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2780">276</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mamluks</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mameluks</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2785">276</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Marmaluk</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Mameluk</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2841">283</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Halagu’s</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Hulagu’s</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2864">285</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Palælogus</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Palæologus</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2897">289</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3079">309</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Juveïni</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Juveini</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2900">289</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Alaï</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Alai</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2947">293</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">grand-daughter</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">granddaughter</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2968">295</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e2980">296</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Ogatai</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Ogotai</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3097">311</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">offereng</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">offering</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3298">339</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Haoking</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Hao king</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3346">346</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Alihaya</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Alihaiya</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3381">350</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Chiny</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Chin</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3448">360</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3558">376</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3619">384</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">instal</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">install</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3721">399</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Weï</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Wei</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e3826">413</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Obedallah</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Obeidallah</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4068">414</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en"> 39</td>
+<td class="bottom">3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4075">414</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">43</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">32</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4636">418</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4705">418</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4710">418</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4723">418</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4791">419</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5755">425</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">.</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">,</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e4715">418</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5070">420</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5747">425</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">:</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">;</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5216">421</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5956">426</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5963">426</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">;</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5387">423</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Sain</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Saïn</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5498">423</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Gumushteghin</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">Gumushtegin</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5549">424</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en"> 411</td>
+<td class="bottom">4</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd32e5591">424</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">;</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom" lang="en">.</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONGOLS: A HISTORY ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/72183-h/images/map.png b/72183-h/images/map.png
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diff --git a/72183-h/images/maph.png b/72183-h/images/maph.png
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