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The satisfaction which Genghis Khan felt at the capture of Bokhara was greatly increased by the intelligence which he received soon afterward from the two princes whom he had sent to lay siege to Otrar, informing him that that city had fallen into their hands, and that the governor of it, the officer who had so treacherously put to death the embassadors and the merchants, had been taken and slain.
This continued for some time, until at last the Mongul princes began to be discouraged, and they sent word to their father, who was then engaged in the siege of Bokhara, informing him of the desperate defense which was made by the garrison of Otrar, and asking his permission to turn the siege into a blockade that is, to withdraw from the immediate vicinity of the walls, and to content themselves with investing the city closely on every side, so as to prevent any one from going out or coming in, until the provisions of the town should be exhausted, and the garrison be starved into a surrender.
Mohammed's demand and the calif's reply. The sultan calls a council. Mohammed's plan for revenge. March of the army. Failure. The calif's plans. Objections to them. Arguments of the calif. Message to Genghis Khan. Artful device. The answer of Genghis Khan. The caravan arrives at Otrar. The governor's treachery. The party massacred. Genghis Khan hears the tidings. He declares war. Preparations.
After the fall of Bokhara and Otrar, the war was continued for two years with great vigor by Genghis Khan and the Monguls, and the poor sultan was driven from place to place by his merciless enemies, until at last his cause was wholly lost, and he himself, as will appear in the next chapter, came to a miserable end.
In the great battle, in which Bajazet was defeated, and taken captive by Timur, Schildtberger was again made prisoner, and accompanied that conqueror in all his expeditions, till his death in 1405, at Otrar or Farab, though Schildtberger says that he died in his capital of Samarcand.
Their drink is beer and milk, and they subsist upon meat with rice and millet. The people are known by the name of Turks, and are of the Mahometan religion. Such of them as live in towns use the Arabian letters. Ocerra or Otrar is the capital of this country. Khorasmin or Khuaresm, is a populous, pleasant, and fertile country, containing many good and strong towns, the capital being Khorasme.
The Old or Greater Urgenz was situated near to where the Gihon discharges its waters into lake Aral; the New or Ixsser Urgenz is to be found near Chiwa, or Chiva, on the Gihon Forst. Oltrarra is properly called Otrar, and also Farab, which latter name is to be found in Abulfeda. It is situate on the river Sihon or Sire. The Chinese, who cannot pronounce the letter r, call it Uotala. Forst.
The emperor in the mosque. Desecration of the mosque. Genghis Khan makes a speech. The inhabitants give up every thing. Conflagration. Surrender of the citadel. The town utterly destroyed. News of the fall of Otrar. Plans for the defense of Otrar. Sorties. The proposal made to Genghis Khan. The siege renewed. The outer walls taken. Desperate conflicts. Kariakas and the governor. Treason.
After passing the frontier, the first important place which they reached was a city called Otrar. They were received very courteously by the governor of this place, and were much pleased with the opportunity afforded them to rest from the fatigues of their long journey.
Genghis Khan, of course, now prepared to attack the cities where the several divisions of the sultan's army had intrenched themselves. He wished first to get possession of Otrar, which was the place where the embassadors and the merchants had been massacred.
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