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 [[120]]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 Juchi was enraged at being thus superseded by a younger brother, but he could not withdraw.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. [[121]]
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 [[122]]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.