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 [[128]]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 [[129]]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.