follow up the conquests won by his father. At the head of a large army he marched southwards into China to complete the ruin of the Kin dynasty, which had already been so rudely shaken, while at the same time Tulé advanced into the province of Honan from the side of Shensi. Against this combined attack the Kin troops made a vigorous stand, but the skill and courage of the Mongols bore down every opposition, and over a hecatomb of slaughtered foes they captured Kai-fēng Fu, the capital of their enemies. From Kai-fēng Fu the emperor fled to Ju-ning Fu, whither the Mongols quickly followed. After sustaining a siege for some weeks, and enduring all the horrors of starvation, the garrison submitted to the Mongols, and at the same time the emperor committed suicide by hanging. Thus fell in 1234 the Kin or “Golden” dynasty, which had ruled over the northern portion of China for more than a century.
But though Ogdai’s first care was to extend his empire in the rich and fertile provinces of China, he was not forgetful of the obligation under which Jenghiz Khan’s conquests in western Asia had laid him to maintain his supremacy over the kingdom of Khwarizm. This was the more incumbent on him since Jelāl ed-dīn, who had been driven by Jenghiz into India, had returned, reinforced by the support of the sultan of Delhi, whose daughter he had married, and, having reconquered his hereditary domains, had advanced westward as far as Tiflis and Kelat. Once more to dispossess the young sultan, Ogdai sent a force of 300,000 men into Khwarizm. With such amazing rapidity did this army march in pursuit of its foe that the advanced Mongol guards reached Amid (Diarbekr), whither Jelāl ed-dīn had retreated, before that unfortunate sovereign had any idea of their approach. Accompanied by a few followers, Jelāl ed-dīn fled to the Kurdish Mountains, where he was basely murdered by a peasant. The primary object of the Mongol invasion was thus accomplished; but, with the instinct of their race, they made this conquest but a stepping-stone to another, and without a moment’s delay pushed on still farther westward. Unchecked and almost unopposed, they overran the districts of Diarbekr, Mesopotamia, Erbil and Kelat, and then advanced upon Azerbāijān. In the following year (1236) they invaded Georgia and Great Armenia, committing frightful atrocities. Tiflis was among the cities captured by assault, and Kars was surrendered at their approach in the vain hope that submission would gain clemency from the victors. Meanwhile, in 1235, Ogdai despatched three armies in as many directions. One was directed against Korea, one against the Sung dynasty, which ruled over the provinces of China south of the Yangtsze Kiang, and the third was sent westward into eastern Europe. This last force was commanded by Batu, the son of Juji, Ogdai’s deceased eldest brother, who took with him the celebrated Sabutai Bahadur as his chief adviser. Bolgari, the capital city of the Bulgars, fell before the force under Sabutai, while Batu pushed on over the Volga. With irresistible vigour and astonishing speed the Mongols made their way through the forests of Penza and Tambov, and appeared before the “beautiful city” of Ryazan. For five days they discharged a ceaseless storm of shot from their balistas, and, having made a breach in the defences, carried the city by assault on the 21st of December 1237. “The prince, with his mother, wife, sons, the boyars and the inhabitants, without regard to age or sex, were slaughtered with the savage cruelty of Mongol revenge; some were impaled, some shot at with arrows for sport, others were flayed or had nails or splinters of wood driven under their nails. Priests were roasted alive, and nuns and maidens ravished in the churches before their relatives. ‘No eye remained open to weep for the dead.’ ” Moscow, at this time a place of little importance, next fell into the hands of the invaders, who then advanced against Vladimir. After having held out for several days against the Mongol attacks, the city at length succumbed, and the horrors of Ryazan were repeated. If possible, a more dire fate overtook the inhabitants of Kozelsk, near Kaluga, where, in revenge for a partial defeat inflicted on a Mongol force, the followers of Batu held so terrible a “carnival of death” that the city was renamed by its captors Mobalig, “the city of woe.” With the tide of victory thus strong in their favour the Mongols advanced against Kiev, "the mother of cities,” and carried it by assault. The inevitable massacre followed, and the city was razed to the ground.
Victorious and always advancing, the Mongols, having desolated this portion of Russia, moved on in two divisions, one under Batu into Hungary, and the other under Baidar and Kaidu into Poland. Without a check, Batu marched to the neighbourhood of Pest, where the whole force of the kingdom was arrayed to resist him. The Hungarian army was posted on the wide heath of Mohi, which is bounded by “the vine-clad hills of Tokay,” the mountains of Lomnitz, and the woods of Diosgyor. To an army thus hemmed in on all sides defeat meant ruin, and Batu instantly recognized the dangerous position in which his enemies had placed themselves. To add to his chances of success he determined to deliver his attack by night, and while the careless Hungarians were sleeping he launched his battalions into their midst. Panic-stricken and helpless, they fled in all directions, followed by their merciless foes. Two archbishops, three bishops, and many of the nobility were among the slain, and the roads for two days’ journey from the field of battle were strewn with corpses. The king, Bēla IV., was saved by the fleetness of his horse, though closely pursued by a body of Mongols, who followed at his heels as far as the coast of the Adriatic, burning and destroying everything in their way. Meanwhile Batu captured Pest, and on Christmas Day 1241, having crossed the Danube on the ice, took Esztergom by assault. While Batu had been thus triumphing, the force under Baidar and Kaidu had carried fire and sword into Poland. While laying waste the country they received the announcement of the death of Ogdai, and at the same time a summons for Batu to return eastwards into Mongolia.
While his lieutenants had been thus carrying his arms in all directions, Ogdai had been giving himself up to ignoble ease and licentiousness. Like many Mongols, he was much given to drink, and it was to a disease produced by this cause that he finally succumbed on the 11th of December 1241. He was succeeded by his son Kuyuk, who reigned only seven years. Little of his character is known, but it is noticeable that his two ministers to whom he left the entire conduct of affairs were Christians, as also were his doctors, and that a Christian chapel stood before his tent. This leaning towards Christianity, however, brought no peaceful tendencies with it. On the death of Kuyuk dissensions which had been for a long time smouldering between the houses of Ogdai and Jagatai broke out into open war, and after the short and disputed reigns of Kaidu and Chapai, grandsons of Ogdai, the lordship passed away for ever from the house of Ogdai. It did not go, however, to the house of Jagatai, but to that of Tulē.
On the 1st of July 1251 Mangu, the eldest son of Tulé, and nephew to Ogdai, was elected khakan. With perfect impartiality, Mangu allowed the light of his countenance to fall upon the Christians, Mahommedans and Buddhists among his subjects although Shamanism was recognized as the state religion. Two years after hisMangu Khan. accession his court was visited by Rubruquis (q.v.) and other Christian monks, who were hospitably received. The description given by Rubruquis of the khakan’s palace at Karakorum shows how wide was the interval which separated him from the nomad, tent-living life of his forefathers. It was “surrounded by brick walls. . . . Its southern side had three doors. Its central hall was like a church, and consisted of a nave and two aisles, separated by columns. Here the court sat on great occasions. In front of the throne was placed a silver tree, having at its base four lions, from whose mouths there spouted into four silver basins wine, kumiss, hydromel and terasine. At the top of the tree a silver angel sounded a trumpet when the reservoirs that supplied the four fountains wanted replenishing.” On his accession complaints reached Mangu that dissensions had broken out in the province of Persia, and he therefore sent a force under the command of his Hulagu. brother Hulagu to punish the Ismailites or Assassins (q.v.), who were held to be the cause of the disorder. Marching
