ganize and
combine the various hordes on a scale great enough to enable them to
force so strong a barrier. But, now that Genghis Khan had come upon
the stage, the barrier was broken through, and the terrible and
reckless hordes poured in with all the force and fury of an
inundation. In the year 1214, which was the year following that in
which Hujaku was killed, Genghis Khan organized a force so large, for
the invasion of China, that he divided it into four different
battalions, which were to enter by different roads, and ravage
different portions of the country. Each of these divisions was by
itself a great and powerful army, and the simultaneous invasion of
four such masses of reckless and merciless enemies filled the whole
land with terror and dismay.

The Chinese emperor sent the best bodies of troops under his command
to guard the passes in the mountains, and the bridges and
fording-places on the rivers, hoping in this way to do something
toward stemming the tide of these torrents of invasion. But it was all
in vain. Genghis Khan had raised and equipped his forces by means, in
a great measure, of the plunder which he had obtained in China the
year before, and he had made great promises and glowing
representations to his men in respect to the booty to be obtained in
this new campaign. The troops were consequently full of ardor and
enthusiasm, and they pressed on with such impetuosity as to carry all
before them.

The Emperor of China, in pursuing his measures of defense, had ordered
all the men capable of bearing arms in the villages and in the open
country to repair to the nearest large city or fortress, there to be
enrolled and equipped for service. The consequence was that the
Monguls found in many places, as they advanced through the country,
nobody but infirm old men, and women and children in the hamlets and
villages. A great many of these, especially such as seemed to be of
most consequence, the handsomest and best of the women, and the oldest
children, they seized and took with them in continuing their march,
intending to make slaves of them. They also took possession of all
the gold and silver, and also of all the silks and other rich and
valuable merchandise which they found, and distributed it as plunder.
The spoil which they obtained, too, in sheep and cattle, was enormous.
From it they made up immense flocks and herds, which were driven off
into the Mongul country. The rest were slaughtered, and used