Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General by Richard A. Gabriel

Author:Richard A. Gabriel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

Map 4.1 The Mongol Campaign against the Shah, 1220

The Mongol army moved directly toward the capital of Samarkand, where Subotai thought the Shah was, only to discover that he had fled. With all of the Shah's forces deployed inside the cities of the empire, the Mongols had no fear of an attack from them and could attack the cities at their leisure. It was this sense of security that may have prompted Genghis to order the capture of the Shah, assigning 30,000 men to the task. He sent for Suhotai, Jebe, and his son-in-law, 'Ioguchar, placing each one in command of a touman, with Subotai in overall command. The task force was to pursue the Shah and capture him. The Muslim chroniclers report that Genghis told Subotai, "Do not come hack until you have taken him prisoner. If he flees before you, follow him through his domains, withersoever he may turn. Spare every town which surrenders to you, but destroy ruthlessly anyone who gets in your way and offers resistance." In addition, Subotai was given a warrant marked with the red seal of the great khan in which he promised that all those who did not resist were to be spared. Anyone who resisted was to be killed. Not only was Subotai to pursue and capture the Shah but also to accept the surrender of all those cities and towns along the way. If necessary, he was to attack and raze those towns that did not submit.

Genghis Khan was a man of his word who kept his promises, even at the cost of his son-in-law, Toguchar. For reasons that remain unclear, Toguchar defied the khan's orders and sacked a town that had surrendered to Jebe. Genghis' first impulse was to have his relative killed. Instead, he sent a common soldier to the general with instructions that 'Ioguchar was to lay down his commission and transfer his troops to Suhotai. Then he was to continue to serve in the ranks where, as events turned out, he was killed fighting as a common soldier in an assault on one of the towns.14

With Subotai in command, 30,000 Mongol soldiers set out in pursuit of the Shah, crossing the Amu Darya River and following him to Balkh. Except for his bodyguard, the Shah was unattended by troops. At Balkh, he thought of moving toward Afghanistan, but his conquest of that land had been most recent and he did not trust the loyalty of the tribesmen there. Instead, he headed south toward Khorassan and the city of Herat. Even as he fled, the Shah demonstrated some grasp of strategy. Everywhere he went he urged the populace to abandon their fields and homes and to destroy their crops and animals. In the few garrisons he encountered he exhorted them to fight to the last man, to hold the fortresses, until he could return from the west with a new army. The Muslim chroniclers, both Persian and Arab, have charged him with cowardice for these actions, but unfairly so.

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