Throw rocks upwards and watch your head.

- Yi proverb

At this time, a westward migration of an ethnic group came to the northeast of Central Asia - the Khitans.

The Khitans were originally an ethnic group in Northeast Asia where they established a powerful Khitan nation-state, the Liao State, and often bullied their neighbors, the Great Song Dynasty and Western Xia.

However, feng shui took turns, and the good times of the Liao State did not last long, and it was defeated by the newly rising Jurchen Jin State in Northeast Asia. The remnants fled in a hurry to Central Asia, where they settled down in the vast steppes. The wandering Khitan people actually survived in a desperate situation, became strong again, and dominated the vast area of Central Asia for nearly a hundred years, and were known as Western Liao in history.

In 1140, the armies of the Western Liao invaded the declining Seljuk Empire and captured the famous city of Bukhara.

Mahamad's son, Athiz, took the opportunity to rebel against the Seljuk Empire and occupied a large part of the empire, ushering in the era of Khorezm's glory.

As the capital of one of the most prosperous countries in Central Asia, Urgench is one of the most beautiful and well-equipped cities in the East, as well as an economic and cultural center.

By the time of the fourth king, Arslan, Khorezm's power was growing, and he had begun to speak up for his younger brother Qarluq in front of the Qarakhanid dynasty and the Western Liao, and repeatedly refused to pay tribute to the Western Liao.

After Arslan's death in 1172, his two sons, Takash and Sultan Shah, fought for the throne.

The elder brother Takash saw that he could not fight his younger brother, so he hurriedly asked for help from Xiliao.

Yelupu, the regent of Western Liao, had already wanted to clean up Khorezm, so how could she miss this great opportunity to be sent now? She immediately sent troops into Khorezm, expelled her brother Sultan Shah, and helped restore Takash to the throne.

At first, Takash conscientiously kept his previous promise and paid tribute to the Western Liao, who had helped him gain the throne. However, after a long time, he was dissatisfied with the arrogance of the officials of the Western Liao and the practice of forcibly levying tribute, and finally he could not bear it anymore, raised his arms and shouted, and rose up to resist the oppression of the old lord of the Western Liao.

Xiliao was dumbfounded, and the king he supported turned against the gold lord, so he turned to support Sultan Shah.

Although Western Liao was unable to put Sultan Shah on the throne, he lent him a useful army.

In 1181, Sultan Shah commanded this borrowed army westward into the Iranian plateau, invading the territory of the last Seljuk royal family and capturing Khorasan (Khorasan, mostly in present-day Iran). This victory ended more than 140 years of Turkic rule in Poland and Iran, and brought Khorasan, Lay, and Hamadan to Khorezm.

In 1194, King Tahash of Khorezm led an army to wipe out the western branch of the Seljuks, burying the Seljuk Empire once and for all, expanding its territory into present-day Iraq. Triumphant, Tahash began to proclaim himself the political and religious leader of the Islamic world - the Sultan.

Tahash made good use of stratagem, maneuvering between various forces, and sometimes uniting with Western Liao to attack the Turks in the area of present-day Afghanistan, sometimes fighting the Kipchaks with the pagan Turks, and from time to time teaching the suzerain, Western Liao, very proud.

In 1200, Tahash's son, Aladdin Mahamat, succeeded him.

When the first two kings of the Mahamat founded the Khwarazm Empire in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River, the Ghazni dynasty rose up in Afghanistan and plundered everywhere, causing unrest in everyone.

Soon, the Ghor dynasty, established by the Turks, came from behind and wiped out the Ghazni dynasty in one fell swoop. The army of the Gur dynasty took advantage of the situation and went to the homeland of Khorezm, planting a deep hatred in the hearts of the people of Khorezm.

Mahamat was indeed a man of great skill in the early days of his reign. He inherited his father's strategy and united with the Western Liao and Qarakhanid dynasties to repel the attack of the powerful rival Gur Dynasty, temporarily preserving the territory.

Unexpectedly, the army of the Gur dynasty soon fought back and went straight to the hinterland of Khorezm.

Mahamat hurriedly asked for help from Western Liao.

The Western Liao and the Qarakhanid Dynasty also had enough buddies to send troops to the aid again, helping Khorezm defeat the Gur army and drive them out of Khorezm. This victory showed that the Khorezm Empire had absolute superiority over the Ghor dynasty.

In December 1206, Khorezm seized the Gur Mountains between Herat and Bamiyan from the Ghul dynasty, forcing the Ghurn to submit to their knees.

Later, Mahamat led his army to conquer the Bhavandi dynasty on the Caspian Sea, and forced the Arab caliph of Baghdad to claim himself vassal.

When his power reached its peak, Mahamat was no longer willing to continue to serve as a vassal and tributary of Western Liao. Coincidentally, Osman, the king of Samarkand of the Qarakhanid Dynasty, was also a vassal of Western Liao, and he also had this kind of betrayal in his heart.

Mahamat and Uthman, two kings of Turkic descent and who practiced the same religion, hit it off and reached a cooperation agreement to jointly attack Western Liao.

With the cooperation of the Ottoman and Qarakhanid dynasties, Mahamat unexpectedly defeated the Western Liao, and from then on replaced the Western Liao as the big brother of Central Asia.

These princes and nobles have no political morality and political integrity to speak of, and if they have interests, they are friends with foxes and dogs, and when they have emotions, they turn against each other.

In 1212, his former comrade-in-arms, King Uthman of Samarkand, was distraught by the submission of the Khwarazmians, and in a fit of emotion, he jumped up and rebelled, slaughtering the Khwarazmians in the city.

Known for its merchantability, Khwarazm, the home of the Sogdians, Samarkand is located in the valley of the Zeravshan River, which means fertile land in East Iranian.

As one of the world's first cities, Samarkand is not only rich in natural resources and food, but also has a unique geographical advantage, bordering China to the east, Iran to the west, and India to the south. This geographical location made Samarkand a meeting place for major civilizations in the east, east, west, and north, as well as a place where countless caravans rested and traded. Wine, claysand, jataman, asana, agate, seser (turquoise gemstone), chamois...... Countless luxury goods were transported from the West to the metropolis of Chang'an, and then they sold Chinese silk, porcelain, and tea to the shores of Syria, the ports of Alexandria, and the bazaars of Constantinople in exchange for countless gold and silver coins.

Samarkand amassed a great deal of wealth by taxing camel caravans along the Silk Road.

Xuanzang, a monk of the Tang Dynasty, passed by Samarkand when he went to Tianzhu to learn scriptures, he couldn't help but praise: "The land here is fertile, the trees are towering, the flowers and fruits are everywhere, the climate is pleasant, and it is the center of the Western Regions." ”

The people of Khorezm proudly sang:

If there is a paradise on earth,

That paradise is Samarkand.

Its stone is a pearl,

Its soil is musk,

Its rain is wine......

Such a paradise-like city will inevitably become the target of war for generations of soldiers.

Mahamat had wanted to occupy Samarkand, but when he heard of the Ottoman rebellion, he was furious and immediately attacked Samarkand, executed the Ottomans and many Uighurs, and sacked the city to occupy Samarkand.

The Qarakhanid dynasty, which had ruled eastern Central Asia and the Tarim Basin for more than 200 years, came to an end.

Standing on a high slope as a victor, Mahamat witnessed the beauty of Samarkand, and felt that the current capital, Urgench, was too far west for his rule over Central Asia, so he decided to move the capital to Samarkand, which was located at the foot of the Turkestan Mountains and on the banks of the Zeravshan River.

During the 20 years of Mahamat's reign, Khorezm's power reached its peak. The territory is bounded by the Syr Darya River in the north, the Pamir and Waziristan mountains in the east, northern India in the south, and the mountains of Azerbaijan, Luristan and Khuzestan in the west, including today's Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, eastern Iraq and Israel, with a land area of more than 3.6 million square kilometers. The Delhi Sultanate and the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt in Africa, as well as the Muwahid Dynasty and the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, were much larger, and were the largest and most powerful countries in the world.

It is said that the beautiful Mahamat was able to stroke the beard of Abbasid Caliph, the supreme theocratic leader of the Islamic world at that time, in public in Baghdad, and already regarded himself as the protector of the Islamic world.

The people of Khorezm have been known for their business since ancient times. After the expansion, the territory of the empire included such shrewd merchants as Sogdians. It became a very developed area of trade, and the handicraft industry also developed rapidly, playing an important role in the trade between the East and the West. First it traded with Syria, Egypt, and cities on the northern shores of the Black Sea, and later with dynasties such as Iran, India, and China. Therefore, the nomadic Mongols called Khorezm Sartaul, the land of merchants, and the Khwarazm people called the Sartas, that is, merchants and settlers.

The language spoken by the Khwarazmian people is Khorezm, which belongs to the Indo-European Iranian language family. Later, due to the Mongol invasion and conquest, Khorezm was quickly incorporated into the Jochi and Chagatai Khanates, and the Khorezm language was gradually replaced by various Turkic languages, and it was lost around the 13th century.

The inhabitants of Khorezm wrote their language in the Aramaic alphabet in the 3rd century BC, and later invented the Khorezm script, which was written on parchment or wood chips, and coins minted were also inscribed with Khorezm. It is a pity that no one can decipher this ancient text today. After the 13th century, coins marked with Khorezm were never used.

Khorezm's culture and art are unique. The Persian epics include many works by the Khwarazm literati.

Another symbol of the Khorezm civilization is the architecture of the city. Unlike the ancient Oriental architecture represented by China, the ancient buildings of Khorezm are all brick and stone structures, and there are few trees on the oasis, so there is basically no wood. These buildings are so ingenious that they have survived to this day because they were swallowed up by the desert. At present, there are dozens of castle ruins found alone. Therefore, some historians refer to the ancient kingdom of Khorezm as the Egypt of Central Asia.

In 1217, the ambitious Mahamat rode a horse and led the mighty imperial army on a triumphant journey across Persia. Everywhere I went, the people shouted long live, nine bows and eighteen bows, and the scene was hot.

Mahamat was invincible in front of him, but a fire broke out in the backyard.

Mahamat's mother, the bald Khan Khotun, was a Khamli from Kipchak in the east, and because of her trust and reuse of the soldiers from her mother's home, Khamli, she attracted a large number of Khamli people to the south into the Khorezm country, and most of the men served in the army, so the army was in the hands of the Khamli people of the Khotun party.

Kedun's desire for power was strong, and he took advantage of his son's expedition to join forces with the generals of Kangli to move the capital back to Urgench, set up a separate court, and interfered in national affairs, causing serious discord between mother and son.

The powerful Khorezm Empire first began to inflame and festered from the inside of its body.