Historical Reference |
Chagatai also Jagatai |
Hulagu the Il Khan
The Great Kurultai of 1252At the
great Kurultai held in 1252, at the accession of Mangu,
it was determined to send an expedition into the West,
under the command of Mangu's brother Hulagu, to punish
the Ismaelites, &c. Each of the princes of the blood
was ordered to furnish one man in ten out of his army to
form an army for Hulagu, each contingent being commanded
by the near relations of the prince who furnished it; a
tugan or 100 mens of flour and an utre or fifty mens of
wine were provided for each man. Besides these there were
1,000 engineers to work the war machines. Kitubuka was
sent on with an advance guard of 12,ooo men in the autumn
of 1252 towards Kuhistan. Hulagu himself set out in
February, 1254. Leaving Kara- korum he marched for seven
days over the snowy range of Khanggai to the river Hoen
Muren, on which he proceeded in boats to the Arungu,
which falls into lake Kizilbash ; then by larch-covered
mountains to a town called Pfuhle in the Chinese
narrative of the expedition, "near which is a
mountain where the wind blows so hard that travelers are
sometimes blown into the lake;" then through a
narrow pass to Almalig, where he was feted by the princes
of the house of Jagatai, and especially by Organa, the
widow of Kara Hulagu. On his arrival in |
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