Genghis Khan, having conquered the Jin capital…
1218 CE
Genghis Khan, having conquered the Jin capital of Beijing, interrupts his fighting with the Jin conquest to come to the aid of Muslim Turks opposed in Kara-Khitai by the usurper Kuchlug, the former king of the Naimans, deposed earlier in the century.
After two Mongol divisions liberate Kara-Khitai in 1218, Genghiz Khan sends a peaceful Mongol trade mission to the ambitious and oppressive shah of Khwarezm, a Turkish Muslim principality to the west of Kara-Khitai.
Having only recently conquered two-thirds of what will one day be China, Genghis is looking to open trade relations, but the Shah, having heard exaggerated reports of the Mongols, believes this gesture is only a ploy to invade his land.
Genghis sends emissaries to Khwarezm (reports vary—one stating a group of one hundred Muslim merchants with a single Mongol leading them, others state four hundred and fifty) to emphasize his hope for a trade road.