The strong dragon can't overpower the ground snake.

- Han proverb

Ali's second brother, Musa, was separated during the retreat of the main force of the Khwarazm king Zalandin and was exiled to Isfahan (in present-day Iran), where he worked incognito in a carpet workshop.

In 1224, Genghis Khan led the Mongol army to the west from Khorezm.

After receiving the report of the withdrawal of the Mongol army, the exiled king of the Khorezm Empire, Zalandin, led his cronies back from India day and night, determined to restore the empire.

Because of the massacres and extensive conscriptions of the Mongol army, Khorezm no longer had many men left to fight. Zalandin decided to lease an army to the Abbasid dynasty, which had been founded by the same Muslim Arabs.

He led this Arab army to quickly occupy the southern homeland of the empire, such as Kerman and Isfahan (in present-day Iran), and owned a large area west of the Amu Darya River, which was quite a bit of a restoration of the former empire.

One day, while Mousa was weaving carpets in a carpet workshop, he heard rumors that King Zalandin had entered the city with the armies of the Arab armies. ”

He hurriedly dropped his work, hurried out into the street, found Zalandin's barracks, and reported to King Zalandin, who had been separated for several years.

Seeing that the king's demeanor was still the same, Musa had mixed feelings, and said with tears of excitement: "Your Majesty, you have finally returned. I am Mosa, Moses of Samarkand. I've been looking forward to you for a long, long time! ”

Zalandin also recognized Mousa and said happily: "It's good that you're still alive." We now need strong men to fight for the Empire. You go ahead and lead your troops to war. ”

Musa said again and again: "Sheng, you should become a hero of the Khorezm Empire; Death will also be the loyal soul of the Khorezm Empire. I must follow in the footsteps of His Majesty the King and restore the great Khorezm Empire. ”

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

Soon after, Zalandin had a bitter quarrel with the Abbasid caliph al-Nasr over the leadership of the Islamic world. In the end, the contradictions developed to the point of irreconcilability. The two sides turned against each other and a war broke out.

With the strong support of Musa and other Khorezm soldiers, Zalandin led his army to defeat the Abbasid dynasty established by the Arabs (located in present-day Iraq and other places), the Sultanate of Rum established by the Turkic Seljuks (located in present-day Turkey), and the Ayyubid dynasty established by the Kurds (located in present-day Syria and Egypt), causing strong discontent in the Muslim world.

The victorious Zalandin fell into unprecedented isolation.

However, in the crucial autumn of 1227, in order to prevent the resurgence of the Khwarazm Empire, the Great Khan of the Great Mongol State sent a Mongol expedition of 30,000 men into the area of present-day Iran.

Hearing this unfortunate news, Zalandin, who was attacking cities in Western Asia, immediately abandoned the battlefield on the Western Front, led his army to turn east, met the challenge of the Mongol army, and set up a decisive battle with the Mongol army in Isfahan.

The prelude to the war had just begun, and Zalandin's second brother was greedy for life and afraid of death, so that although Khorezm's army repelled the Mongol army's attack on the left flank, it was surrounded by the Mongol army that circled behind him.

Escorted by Musa and many other guards, Zalandin was extremely brave, wielding his sword to fight his way through a bloody escape, fleeing from Isfahan and retreating to Lorestan in the mountains of southern Iran.

The victorious Mongol army suffered heavy casualties. When they arrived at the gates of Isfahan, they saw that the defenders of the city refused to surrender and had no confidence to attack, so they retreated directly to Murrayi on the Caspian Sea, and then to the ancient city of Neshapur in western Khorasan, Iran.

The area controlled by Zalandin and the area controlled by the Mongol army restored the border before Armageddon.

The Battle of Isfahan was the largest battle between the Khorezm Empire and the Great Mongol State after the Battle of Baru Bay, which severely damaged the Mongol army from afar, greatly boosted the hearts of the Khorezm Empire, and injected a stimulant into the vast number of soldiers and people.

Musa calmly said to Zalandin, who was overjoyed: "Your Majesty, the army of the empire has experienced victory in Transcaucasia, has rich combat experience, is fighting on the home ground of Isfahan, and Your Majesty is personally in command, and the morale is very strong, and it is natural for the Mongol army to achieve victory.

On the other hand, the Mongol army was only a small detachment of sweeping troops, with few people, and they traveled long distances, and they were tired of men and horses, which was really disparity in strength compared to ours.

The two sides are at war, but Your Majesty, you are almost in a predicament.

Taking into account the performance of both sides, geographical advantages, and other factors, on the surface, it was because the prince fled that our position was a little flustered, but in fact it proved that the combat effectiveness of the Mongol army was much higher than that of our army in Khorezm. ”

To tell the truth, the old sheepskin is windy.

Moussa's pertinent analysis made Zalandin's heart very uncomfortable. At this time, what Zalandin needed was praise and encouragement, not reason and calmness.

After the retreat of the Mongol army, Zalandin did not focus on preventing the counterattack of the Mongol army, but continued to carry out wars of looting and expansion in Western Asia, disunity with the surrounding Muslim princes, and continued to stretch the battle line until the Sultanate of Rum, established by the remnants of the Turkic Seljuks in Asia Minor.

The Sultanate of Rûm, which was on the rise, waited for its time and defeated Zalandin, who had come from afar.

Zalandin had no choice but to lead the army to withdraw from Asia Minor in disarray.

As the situation changed, Zalandin's temper became more and more manic, and he was so stubborn in dealing with problems that he could not listen to the persuasion of Mosa and other soldiers, and was bent on becoming the savior of the Muslim world, and then went to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Crusades on the Mediterranean coast to establish Christian countries, doing things that had nothing to do with the restoration of the Khorezm Empire.

The hearts of the Khorezm soldiers began to be dissatisfied with Zalandin.

In the face of the detached soldiers and the Mongol army that swept over again, the once brave and invincible Zalandin, like his father Aladdin Mahamad, suffered from a decadent disease - depression, and completely lost the courage and courage to fight against the Mongol army. Faced with the increasing approach of the Mongol army, his every choice was to run, run, and flee again.

A cowardly leader cannot be welcomed and embraced by the people and his subordinates.

In the spring of 1231, Zalandin was overwhelmed by the Mongol expedition to the west and fled to Georgia.

By August, Zalandin planned to flee further into the mountains of the Caucasus.

Musa and the others knelt in front of Zalandin and admonished with tears in their eyes: "Your Majesty, we must not go any further to a distant foreign land. Your poor subjects, the remnants of the Khwarazm Empire, are looking forward to our triumphant return. We must go back to Khorezm and share the joys and sorrows of our empire. ”

Zalandin said with an indifferent expression: "My body is tired, and I just want to rest quietly for a while. Stand down. ”

When Moussa and the others had retreated, Zalandin drew the thick curtains and lay down in the dark house.

Musa and the other soldiers looked at the dark house with the curtains closed, and they couldn't help but say: "If the king continues to be decadent like this, we will never return to the kingdom." ”

So, they get together and hatch a bold plan.

That night, Zalandin was assassinated by his men in the Diyarbakir Mountains in present-day southeastern Turkey.

Moussa and the others immediately sent someone to let out the wind: "His Majesty Zalandin, King of the great Khorezm Empire, has unfortunately been despicably killed by the evil Kurdish peasants. ”

The generation of heroes who once amazed Genghis Khan finally ended up with a tragic ending.

Actually, it's not surprising at all. In history, how many heroes and heroes were far-sighted at the beginning, affirmed the righteousness, and established extraordinary great achievements, but in the later period, they were complacent, mediocre and absurd, and went to extremes, teaching people to be unreasonable.

The Khorezmian people are a fierce 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 are not willing to be slaughtered by others, and constantly rise up to resist, becoming the henchmen of foreign rulers, and being harshly suppressed again and again.

Musa and others upheld the indomitable will of the Khorezmian people. They buried Zalandin with tears and led the remnants of the Khwarazmian army on a rapid march eastward, intending to fight back to Samarkand.

However, no matter how heroic and sacrificed they were, the Mongol army on the western expedition was the mainstay and unstoppable. After suffering several defeats, they finally realized that they could no longer return to Samarkand, so they changed their tactics and advanced to the southern Arab region to the region of Jacinra (northern Mesopotamia on the border of present-day Iraq and Syria).

For these refugees from Khorezm, who had endured extreme hardship and brutal warfare, the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea was a paradise of abundance and a safe home.

The Khwarazm army led by Musa formed an alliance with King Saleh of Egypt and was determined to occupy Syria on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. They joined forces to carry out a north-south flanking attack, and eventually captured Syria.

The next goal of the coalition is to take Jerusalem, the holy city that straddles Egypt and Syria. This was King Saleh's long-cherished wish and the true purpose of his alliance with the Khorezm army.

On 11 July 1244, the Khwarazm army under Musa invaded Jerusalem, which was occupied and ruled by the European Crusaders.

In retaliation for the Crusaders' massacre of the Muslims in Jerusalem, Muses vented his hatred of the country and his hatred of the Crusaders on the pagans in Jerusalem. He ordered a massacre of the city's Christian inhabitants, sacked the entire splendid and holy Jerusalem, and commanded men to storm the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, killing several bishops who refused to leave the city, exhuming the remains of the kings of Jerusalem, lighting a fire and burning it along with the cathedral.

These outlaws, who had fled from the Khwarazm Empire to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, were not only brave in battle, but also planned to follow the example of the late King Zalandin and prepare to establish a new Khorezm Empire here.

Politicians have no long-term allies, only their own eternal interests. Without exception, Moussa's honeymoon with Saleh did not last long.

Saleh prides himself as the sultan and suzerainty of the Muslim world, and the idol of Muses.

Musa considered himself a political and military ally of Saleh rather than his subordinates and subjects, and did not recognize Saleh's position as sultan and suzerainty in the Muslim world.

The contradictions between the two sides have reached the point of irreconcilability, and they can only meet each other in arms and compete with each other.

In March 1246, Ismaili, the king of Syria who had lost Damascus, learned of the disagreement between the Egyptians and the Khwarazmians, and immediately sent to contact Muses and called him the noble King of Khwarazm.

So, the two sides hit it off and jointly sent troops to attack Damascus.

The Egyptian defenders in the city of Damascus held their ground and put up desperate resistance until they ran out of food and water. In the end, they even began to eat dead cats and rotten dogs, which Muslims would never normally eat, which shows how shocking the scene was at that time.

Mansour, the prince of Homs north of Damascus, feared that the Khwarazm's army would gain a foothold in Syria and then take root and threaten his interests. So, he colluded with the prince of Aleppo, Nasr. The Homs and Aleppoians formed an alliance to flank the Khwarazm army from the north and south.

Mousa led his army in a desperate battle with the enemy, and was outnumbered, and all of them died heroically outside Damascus.

Musa fought with his sword held high and fought bravely, but was finally pierced in the chest by the long hair of the Aleppoan, spitting blood from his mouth and dying in anger.

At this point, Ali's immediate family in Central and West Asia all disappeared.

Khorezm's army ended a 15-year journey to the Eastern Mediterranean with a tragic end. From then on, the Khorezmians ceased to exist as a political force.

The history of the Khorezm Empire is completely over.

Remembrance, history is clear. Even the last king of the Khorezm Empire, Zalandin, was heroic, resolute, and wise, but he faced Genghis Khan, a generation of Tianjiao Genghis Khan, and thousands of fierce iron horsemen under the command of Genghis Khan who had experienced countless baptisms of war. With such a disparity in strength, there is no doubt about the final outcome!

If Aladdin Mahamat and Zalandin father and son were as fierce and brave as they were when they were young; If their families had not had inherited depression, perhaps the history of Central and West Asia would have been different.

However, history is an established fact, there are no ifs and no assumptions, only ironclad facts and ruins left for future generations to ponder.