Firmament

The tiger fell in Pingyang and was bullied by dogs.

- Han proverb

In that year, the army of Khorezm retreated, and the main army led by Ali's second brother Musa and King Zalandin was unfortunately separated.

Musa was exiled to the nearby city of Isfahan. In order to survive, he lived incognito and worked in a carpet workshop to make a living.

Zalandin accomplished his feat on the Indus River and went into exile in his mother's native India. After receiving the report of the withdrawal of the grassland army, he immediately led a group of cronies to set off from his grandmother's house, day and night, and returned to his homeland full of ruins. He set a grand ambition to restore the Khorezm Empire.

After the massacre and conscription of the steppe army, Khorezm was already in tatters. There are very few young men left who can go to war and fight.

Zalandin thought for a long time, and finally turned his hopeful eyes to his neighbor Arabia. He decided to lend an army to the Abbasids to help him realize his plan for restoration.

Zalandin led the Lend-Lease Arab army to launch counterattacks against the southern cities of Khorezm, Isfahan, and Kerman (present-day Kerman in Iran), gradually regaining the lost territory.

One day, while Musa was concentrating on weaving carpets in his workshop, he heard rumors that King Zalandin had come to Isfahan with an Arab army. "

Musa was pleasantly surprised. He hurriedly dropped the knife in his hand and hurried out into the street, where he saw an Arab army dressed in a white robe, with a white cloth scarf wrapped around his head and a beard.

He did everything possible to find Zalandin's place to live, and excitedly reported to the king, who had been separated for several years.

When Moussa saw that Zalandin was still in style, he had mixed feelings and shed tears of excitement.

He said, "Your Majesty, you have finally returned. I am Mosa, Moses of Samarkand. I have been looking forward to your return to my homeland. I'm going blind in both eyes!"

Zalandin recognized his former bodyguard, Mosa.

He said happily, "Musa, you are still alive and healthy, and I need strong men to fight for the empire." You can continue to lead the army to fight. "

Musa hurriedly expressed his determination and said: "I, Mossa, must be a hero of the Khorezm Empire if I live, and I am also a loyal soul of the Khorezm Empire when I die." I am determined to follow in the footsteps of His Majesty the King and restore the great Khorezm Empire. "

Musa loyally followed Zalandin's charge and fought valiantly, liberating a large area west of the Amu Darya River. The restoration of the Khorezm Empire seems to be just around the corner.

Good flowers don't bloom often, and good times don't always exist.

Soon, Zalandin competed with the Abbasid caliph Nasr for world leadership, and a fierce quarrel broke out. In the end, the contradictions developed to the point of irreconcilability. Former allies turned against each other, and a large-scale war broke out.

With the strong support of Musa and other generals, Zalandin formed the army of Khorezm to defeat the Abbasid dynasty of the Arabs, the Rum sultanate of the Turkic Seljuks, and the Ayyubid dynasty of the Kurds, changing the political status quo in Arabia and Anatolia, causing strong dissatisfaction among the Arabs, Turks, and Kurds.

Although Zalandin was victorious militarily, he was politically and diplomatically isolated as never before.

In the crucial autumn of 1227, in order to prevent the resurgence of the Khwarazm Empire, the steppe state sent an expeditionary force of 30,000 men into the Iranian plateau after many years.

Zalandin led his troops in the Arab siege. Hearing that the steppe army was coming to the west again, he immediately abandoned the Arab battlefield and led the Khwarazm army to turn east and meet the military challenge of the steppe army.

They set up a decisive battle with the steppe army in Isfahan.

The

prelude to the battle of life and death had just begun, but Zalandin's younger brother was greedy for life and feared death, and became a deserter who fled from the battle, causing the Khwarazm army to repel the attack on the left flank of the steppe army, but it was surrounded by another steppe army.

Zalandin was extremely brave, taking the lead, wielding his sword to kill the enemy, and he was fighting a bloody way in the army of the steppe country. Escorted by Musa and other loyal guards, he fled from Isfakhan and retreated to Lorestan in the southern part of the Iranian plateau.

The steppe army won a great victory, but suffered heavy casualties. They finally reached the gates of Isfahan, and when they found that the defenders were determined not to surrender, they lost confidence in the attack and retreated to Murrayi on the coast of the Caspian Sea, and then to the ancient city of Neshapur in western Khorasan.

The territory controlled by Zalandin was restored to the borders before the Armageddon with the armies of the steppe state.

The

Battle of Isfahan was the largest battle between Khorezm and the Steppe State after the Battle of Balu Bay, which severely damaged the army of the Steppe Country from afar, greatly increased the morale of the people of Khorezm, and injected a powerful stimulant into the vast number of soldiers.

Zalandin was overjoyed and indulged in excessive intoxication.

Among the generals of the Khorezm army, Musa was more calm and objective.

He said frankly to Zalandin:

"Your Majesty, the army of our great Khorezm Empire has been tempered by war in the Transcaucasia, has rich combat experience, and is fighting on the home turf of Isfahan, and Your Majesty has personally commanded and made wise and decisive decisions, and the morale of the soldiers is strong, and the same hatred of the enemy, this victory of the army of the steppe country is deserved.

"On the other hand, the army of the Steppe Country, they are just a small detachment of sweeping nature, not only are they small in number, but they are also long journeys and lack of men and horses, which is really very disparity compared to the strength of our leisure and work. However, in the battle between the two sides, Your Majesty, you are almost in a predicament, which shows that our strength is still very limited.

"Considering the performance of the two sides and the geographical disparity and other factors, on the surface, it is because the prince fled from the battlefield and caused panic in our position, but in fact it proves that the combat effectiveness of the army of the grassland country is much higher than that of our army. "

The big truth is ugly, and the old sheepskin is separated from the wind.

Moussa's objective and pertinent analysis made Zalandin's heart very uncomfortable. He believed that at this time, what the army needed most was extreme praise and enthusiastic encouragement, not reason and calmness.

After the retreat of the steppe army, Zalandin did not focus on preventing the counterattack of the steppe army, but led the army to Arabia to continue plundering and expanding, and had a very unpleasant quarrel with the local princes and nobles, and continued to stretch the front until the Sultanate of Rum on the peninsula of Asia Minor.

The

Sultanate of Rum is on the rise and is no longer an Ankara lamb to be slaughtered. They mobilized actively, were well prepared, and defeated the Khorezm army that came from afar.

Zalandin had no choice but to lead the defeated army and withdraw from the Anatolian plateau in disarray.

With the drastic changes in the situation, Zalandin's temper has become more and more manic, his political decisions are rigid and self-serving, he is emotionally involved in dealing with problems, and he is increasingly unable to listen to the advice of the soldiers, and even wants to become the savior of the world. He went on expeditions to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the countries established by the Crusades on the Mediterranean coast, doing things that had nothing to do with the restoration of the Khorezm Empire.

The

soldiers' hearts began to grow resentment and resentment towards Zalandin.

In the face of the soldiers who were separated from Germany, and in the face of the army of the steppe country that swept in again, the once brave and invincible Zalandin, like his father Aladdin Mahamad, suddenly lost his courage and boldness. In the face of the approaching Prairie Nation army, his choice was to run, run, and run again.

A cowardly leader cannot be wholeheartedly supported by the people and his subordinates.

In the spring of 1231, Zalandin was chased by the army of the steppe country to the west, as miserable as a lamb in the mouth of a tiger. With no choice but to do so, he fled to Georgia, north of Iran. In the summer, he planned to flee even farther into the mountains of the Caucasus.

With tears in their eyes, Musa and the other soldiers gathered in front of Zalandin.

They bitterly admonished: "Your Majesty, we cannot walk towards the Caucasus. We can't stay in a foreign land. Your poor and loyal subjects, the remnants of the Khwarazm Empire, are looking forward to our triumphant return, and we must return to Khwarazm and live and die with the glorious and great empire. "

Zalandin lay lazily on the couch. There was always a flat and indifferent expression on his face.

He said after a while: "Well, I don't know how, my body is getting tired day by day. I just want to rest quietly now. Stand down. "

Zalandin ordered the guards to close the thick curtains, and lay limp in the dark house alone. At this time, he has no thoughts, no feelings, like a walking corpse.

Musa was disappointed when he looked at the dark house with the curtains closed, and his heart instantly turned into a cold winter dripping with ice. The soldiers spontaneously gathered together and dissatisfied: "If Your Majesty continues to be decadent like this, the Khorezm Empire will never be restored." "

They hatched a bold plan.

That night, Zalandin, the last king of the Khorezm Empire, was assassinated in a hut in the Diyarbakir Mountains.

Early the next morning, Musa sent messengers to proclaim: "The great King Zalandin of the Khwarazm Empire has died last night. His Majesty has unfortunately been despicably murdered by the wicked mountain peasants!We will avenge His Majesty without hesitation!".

Zalandin used to be a generation of heroes who were greatly admired by Hohe Bari, and finally fell into such a tragic ending, which is embarrassing. In the history of mankind, how many heroes and heroes were far-sighted and extraordinary at the beginning, and created great causes, but many people were complacent, mediocre and absurd, and did unreasonable and absurd things in the later period, and were finally spurned by the courtiers and the common people.

The Khorezmian people are a tough and resilient people. In the long history, they have been ruled by the Greeks, Iranians, early Turks, Tang peoples, Arabs, Khitans, Seljuk Turks, Gur Turks and Mongols, but they have never been willing to be at the mercy of others, and have constantly and heroically risen up against exploitation and oppression, becoming the henchmen of foreign rulers, and have been ruthlessly suppressed again and again.

Moussa and other soldiers upheld the indomitable and strong will of the Khorezm people. They buried Zalandin with tears and marched the remnants of their army eastward with the intention of returning to Samarkand. However, no matter how brave and unyielding they were, the army of the steppe country in the westward expedition was always as steady and unstoppable. After suffering several defeats in succession, they realized a painful reality: they would never return to Samarkand.

In desperation, Musa had no choice but to change his strategy and lead the remnants of Khorezm's army to advance to Arabia in the south, all the way to Jacinla. The eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea is a paradise of abundance and a beautiful home of tranquility and safety for the people of Khorezm who have experienced extreme hardship.

Musa formed a political-military alliance with King Saleh of Egypt to occupy Syria, a military stronghold. On 11 July 1244, Musa led the army of Khorezm into Jerusalem, which was occupied and ruled by the European Crusaders.

Jerusalem is a city steeped in history, halfway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea, and is known as the holy city of the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Each of the three major religions worships Jerusalem as a holy place according to their own ancient legends.

Moses vented his hatred of the loss of his country and his hatred of the Crusaders on Jerusalem. He ordered a massacre of the city's inhabitants, sacked the splendid and holy city of Jerusalem, and commanded his men to storm the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, killing several bishops who refused to leave. They dug up the remains of the kings of Jerusalem and burned them in a fire along with the cathedral.

Musa and others were not only brave and good at war, but also prepared to follow Zalandin's example in establishing a new Khorezm empire on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

There are only eternal interests among politicians, and there are no permanent allies. Moussa and Saleh are no exception. Their honeymoon didn't last long.

Saleh claimed to be the sultan and suzerain, and rightfully the idol of Moses and others. Mussa, who considered himself a political-military ally of Saleh rather than his subordinates and subjects, refused to recognize Saleh's sultanship and suzerainty. The contradictions between the two sides developed to the point of irreconcilability, and in the end they could only fight each other and compete with each other.

In March 1246, the Syrian king Ismaili, upon learning of the disagreement between the Egyptians and the Khwarazmians, immediately sent for Musa to address him as the noble king of the Khwarazmian Empire.

The Syrians hit it off with the Khwarazmians and attacked Damascus, which was occupied by the Egyptian army.

The Egyptian defenders put up desperate resistance to the coalition until the city ran out of food and water.

The princes of Homs, north of Damascus, feared that the presence of Khorezm troops in Syria would threaten their interests. He formed an alliance with the Aleppoians to flank the Khorezm army from the north and south.

Mousa led his army in a desperate battle against the coalition forces.

He rode a group of high-headed horses with red maroon, raised his swords in the cold light, and rushed to the forefront of the team.

A red-bearded Aleppo man lies on the ground and pretends to be dead. When Moses passed by, he pierced Moses's solid armor and broad chest with his sharp hair.

Moses spat blood from his mouth and fell from his horse. His eyes widened, and he struggled for a long time before taking his last breath.

The Khwarazm army was in disarray and was wiped out by the coalition forces outside Damascus.

The Khwarazm army ended a 15-year journey to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea with such a tragic end. From then on, Khorezm ceased to exist as a political and military force. This was the end of the empire's history, and it meant that all of Ali's immediate family in Central and West Asia were wiped out.

Remembrance, history is clear.

Even though Zalandin, the last king of the Khorezm Empire, was resolute, heroic, and had superhuman wisdom and strategy, he was facing the commander of the steppe country who was beyond the ancient and modern times, and he was facing thousands of fierce iron horsemen who had been baptized by fire. With such a disparity in strength, there is no doubt about the final outcome!

If father and son Aladdin Mahamad and Zalandin had been as fierce and valiant as they had been when they were young, and if their families had not been plagued by strange genetic diseases, perhaps the history of Central and West Asia would have been written in a different way. However, history is an established fact, there are no ifs and no assumptions, only ironclad facts and ruins left for future generations to ponder.