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.