At the expiration of the winter season, or Zi Huj, Hejri 617, Chungeez Khan crossed the ford of Turmuz to Balkh; and the chiefs and people there advanced to meet him with presents, and offered their submission. Chungeez Khan, however, declined receiving the latter, not placing dependence in them; as at this period Sultan Julal-ud-din, the son of Sultan Mahummud, was creating disturbances in that part of the country. He, therefore, ordered the whole of the inhabitants to quit the city, and then murdered the males, great and small, at his leisure. He, however, reserved the women and female children. Some few Tachiks were also spared; and they, it is said, reported to Chungeez Khan that the chief people of the city, before they went to meet him, secreted the servants and soldiers of Sultan Mahummud in their houses, and that they were only in outward appearance obedient. For this reason he ordered part of the walls or dykes of the lake Gholaman Kushmushum to be thrown down by the troops of Hulaku Khan, and that the water that was contained in it should be allowed to flow into the city of Balkh. It is said that, in consequence, it remained six months under water; and at this day the marks of the water are shown on the walls of the musjid of Huzrut Khwaja Kabulakhbur. The whole of the servants of Sultan Mahummud concealed in the city were, therefore, drowned. At this time intelligence was received by Chungeez Khan than Sultan Rokn-ud-deen, the son of Sultan Mahummud Khorazm Shah, had left Isfahan, and had advanced, by the road of Rai, to the fort of Feeroze Koh, in Khorasan. For this reason Hulaku Khan, the son of Tooli Khan, was detached with a large army, by the route of Pusso Koh and Jokhcheran, to attack that fort.
It is related in different histories, that Sultan Rokn-ud-deen Ghoor Sanja, the son of Sultan Mahummud Khorazm Shah, when his father retired to the island of Abgoon proceeded to Kirman, and having taken possession of the treasure of Mullik Zowzun, marched thence to Isfahan, the inhabitants of which city opposed him, and an affray ensued, in which many were killed on both sides. Sultan Rokn-ud-deen being thus compelled to retire from Isfahan, turned his steps towards the fort of Feeroze Koh, where he remained a short time. When news arrived that Hulaku Khan was approaching by the road of Pussa Koh, Jokhcheran, Walishun, &c. with a large army, Sultan Rokn-ud-deen fortified himself in Feeroze Koh, and defended it most gallantly for six months.
It is related, that when Hulako left his grandfather to proceed by the road of Pusso Koh to Feeroze Koh, from the rugged nature of the country and roughness of the roads his horses were almost all lamed, and he was obliged to leave them behind; a detachment was, however, left to take care of them, with orders not to quit the place until Hulako returned. After the fort of Feeroze Koh was taken, Tooli Khan arrived in Khorasan, and Hulako went by the road of Chisht and Obeh, and Shafilan, to meet him, and thence by Khorasan to join his father, and the men and lame horses were forgotten. These people being unable to deviate from their orders, in time connected themselves with the Hazaras in that neighbourhood, and their posterity increasing, their place of residence was called Moori Sutur Gae—moori, signifying a horse in the Moghool language, and sutur gae, lame.
When Hulako’s army conquered the troops of Sultan Rokn-ud-deen, the son of Sultan Mahummud, and took him prisoner, the sultan was carried to Tooli Khan in Khorasan; and although every method was tried to make him kneel and do homage to Tooli Khan, the chief of the army, they all failed, for the sultan knew he should certainly be put to death, and was determined not to do his enemy so much honour. As he expected, he was slain with all his adherents, in the beginning of the year 619 Hejri, agreeing with Kowi Eel Toorki.
When Chungeez Khan had taken Balkh, he despatched Tooli Khan and Toghachar Noyaun Goor Kan, to reduce the province of Khorasan; to give them a respectable force, he selected every tenth man of his army to proceed with them, and his historians state that this tenth of his army amounted to eighty thousand men. When the troops arrived in Khorasan, they besieged a fort on a mountain, called the Silver Mountain, and employed their engines and every effort to take it: but the fort being very strong, it took them eight months to reduce it.
We left Joje, Chughtaie, and Ooktaie Khan, besieging Khorezm, which city, from the contention that arose between Joje and Chughtaie, held out seven months. Chungeez Khan was informed of this misunderstanding, and that when one attacked the city the other withdrew his aid, and that, in consequence, Khorezm was not yet taken, and he therefore despatched letters and a vukeel to his army at Khorezm, ordering them to obey his youngest son Ooktaie, and Ooktaie only, on pain of death. When his vukeel and letters arrived, the whole of the army repaired to Ooktaie Khan and offered him their obedience, and Ooktaie Khan visited his brethren, and making known his father’s orders by fair words and promises, reconciled them. After this was effected, they commenced a fresh attack on Khorezm, and as the ditch was full of water, Ooktaie ordered his troops and followers to fill it up with earth; this being done, ladders were planted against the walls, and the standards of the Moghools soon waved on their crest, and they entered the city; the different mahls and quarters of the city were, however, shut up, and the fight was maintained by the inhabitants for several days, as every house stood a siege. The number of killed in these battles was immense. At last, when the city was subdued, the Moghools separated the artizans, women, and children from the others, and drove the rest out of the city, where they were divided among the troops, and massacred without remorse; it is said that every Moghool is supposed to have slain twenty-four men.
At the time Chungeez Khan despatched an army to Khorezm, he also sent a messenger to Shaikh Nujm-ud-deen, to inform him that as his troops were about to attack Khorezm, and it was likely the city would be taken, he recommended the Shaikh to leave the city with his family and dependents, that they might receive no injury. The Shaikh in reply said, that he had lived seventy years in Khorezm, and that it would be most unworthy in him to quit his countrymen in time of distress; that as he had passed many happy days among them, it would be unmanly to refuse to participate in their misfortunes. When the city was taken, the Shaikh was put to death among those driven out of the city; this occurred in the year 618 Hejri.* It is said that Mulana Roomi has alluded to the Shaikh’s death in his works.