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 [[106]]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 [[107]]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 [[108]]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.