Tohtoa beki

Tohtoa-beki came from the Uduit-Merkits - one of the Merkit branches ^[2] ; his father was Tudur-bilge-chigin. During one of the battles with the Mongols, Tudur-bilge-chigin was captured by the Mongolian noon Kadan-taishi and later killed; Tohtoa, being wounded during the battle, fled along with the right wing of his father's army. Three years later, Tohtoa opposed the Mongols, but was again wounded and fled; its left wing and center of the troops were captured by Kadan-taishi ^[3] .

Tohtoa-beki's younger brother was Chiledu ^[4] ; his wife Oelun was repulsed by the Mongol leader Esugei ^[5] . With the aim of revenge, Tohtoa-beki and the Merkit leaders Dair-Usun and Haatai-Darmal circa 1184 ^{[6] [7]} at the head of three hundred soldiers attacked the son of Yesugy, Temujin , who had already died by then, and captured his wife Borte . Gathering an army, Temujin opposed the Merkits. The battle took place near Selenga , in the interfluve of Chikoy and Khilok; Merkit army was defeated. Warned by fellow tribesmen, Tohtoa-beki and Dair-Usun escaped, and Haatai-Darmala was captured by the Mongols and captured ^{[8] [9] [10]} .

In 1198 ^[11] (in The Secret Legend - 1202 ^[12] ), Van Khan came out against the Merkits and defeated them. One of the sons of Tohtoa-beki, Toguz-beki, was killed by a van-khan, and the daughters and sons of Tohtoa were also captured; later (during the raid of the Naimans on the Kereit nomads ^{[13] [6]} ) they managed to escape from captivity. Tohtoa-beki fled to Bargutin to the Bargut tribe ^{[2] [11] [14]} .

Around 1200 - 1201, Genghis Khan and Wang Khan jointly opposed the taijiuts . Upon learning of this, Tohtoa-beki sent his brothers Kodon and Orchan to help the taijiuts (one person is mentioned in The Secret Tale - Khodan-Orchan ^[15] ), but the taijiuts were defeated. In 1201, the son of Tohtoa-beki Hutu (Hoodu) participated in the election of Jamuhi , the main rival of Genghis Khan, in the struggle for power ^{[11] [15]} .

In 1204, Genghis Khan opposed the Naiman Tayan Khan . The first clash between the Mongols and the Naimans occurred at the head of the Kankharhi River. Under pressure from close associates, Tayan Khan decided to advance and the next day, crossing Orkhon , united with the tribes of Durban , Khatagin , Saldzhiut and Tatars , as well as the troops of Dzhamuha , Kerai Alin-taisha and Oirat Khudukh-beki ; Tohtoa-beki was also with them. The Naiman army was located at the southern half-mountains of Nahu-Guna. During the battle, the Mongols managed to crush and drive forward the Naiman guards. Jamuha, seeing the indecision of Tayan Khan, began to intimidate him, forcing him to climb the mountain higher and higher, and after he separated from his troops and left the battlefield. Genghis Khan ordered to cordon off the mountain; at night, the naimans decided to run, but, tearing off the heights, began to crush each other; Tayan-khan died from his wounds ^{[12] [16] [17]} .

In the fall of the same year, Genghis Khan again opposed Tohtoa-beki. On the way, the Mongol army came across one of the Merkit tribes - uvaz-merkit. As a sign of peaceful intentions, the leader of the tribe, Dair-Usun, brought and gave his daughter Hulan to Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan divided the Uzz-Merkits into hundreds, leaving them in the wagon train and placing the head in their head. But as soon as Genghis Khan left, the respect-merkits rebelled and plundered the wagons. The people of Genghis Khan who remained with the convoys entered the battle with the Merkits, and having selected the loot, they fled; a little later, Genghis Khan sent Borochul and Chimbay at the head of the right wing troops to suppress them. The Uduit-Merkits and a number of other tribes were conquered by Genghis Khan; Tohtoa-beki managed to escape to the Naiman ruler Buyuruk-khan , brother of Tayan-khan ^[14] . When conquering the Merkits, the son of Genghis Khan Ugadei was given to Doregen , the granddaughter (according to another version - the daughter-in-law) of Tohtoa-beki ^{[1] [17] [18]} .

In the spring of 1205 ^{[19], the} army of Genghis Khan attacked the combined forces of Tohtoa-beki and Kuchluk , the son of Tayan Khan, in the area of ​​the Bukhtarma River, and defeated them. Kuchluk managed to escape, but most of his troops drowned while crossing the Irtysh ; Tohtoa-beki died from a fired arrow. The sons of Tohtoa-beki wanted to take away the body of his father and bury him, but, not being able to lift it, they took only his head and fled to the Kipchaks ; Subaedei ^{[6] [20]} was sent to pursue them.

Tohtoa-beki had six sons. One of them was killed by Van Khan, three died in battles with Genghis Khan. The youngest son, Kultukan-mergen, at the end of one of the battles managed to escape to the Kipchaks. The son of Genghis Khan, Jochi sent a detachment to pursue the Kultukan-mergen, and he was captured. Struck by the accuracy of the Kultukan-mergen, Jochi asked his father to save his life; Genghis Khan refused, and the Kultukan-mergen was executed ^[1] .

• Lubsan Danzan. Altan Tobchi. Golden legend. Translation by N.P. Shastina / Rumyantsev G.N. - Moscow: Nauka, 1973.- 440 p.
• Mongolian Ordinary Izbornik // Secret Tale. The Mongolian Chronicle of 1240 Yuan Chao BI Shi. / Translation by S. A. Kozin . - M.-L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1941.
• Rashid ad-Din . Collection of annals / Translated from Persian by L. A. Khetagurov, edited and notes by Professor A. A. Semenov. - M., L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952. - T. 1, book. one.
• Rashid ad-Din . Collection of annals / Translation from Persian O. I. Smirnova, edited by Professor A. A. Semenov. - M., L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952. - T. 1, book. 2.
• Translations from " Yuan Shi " (fragments) // Khrapachevsky R. P. Military power of Genghis Khan. - M .: AST: LUX, 2005. - ISBN 5-17-027916-7 .

Literature

• Gruss, Renee . Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the Universe / per. E. A. Sokolova. - M .: Young Guard, 2008. - ISBN 978-5-235-03133-3 .
• Gumilyov L.N. Mongols and Merkits in the XII century (inaccessible link) // Scientific notes of the Tartu state. Univ., 1977. - N 416: Studia orlentalla et Antiqua: P. - C. 74-116.
• Kychanov E.I.Life of Temujin, who thought to conquer the world. Genghis Khan: personality and era. - M .: Publ. East Literature company, 1995. - S. 72, 76, 80, 105, 108, 130, 151. - 274 p. - 20,000 copies. - ISBN 5-02-017390-8 .
• Meng John. Genghis Khan. Life, death and resurrection / Transl. from English V. Artemova. - M .: Eksmo, 2006 .-- 416 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-699-13936-2 .
• Hoang Michelle. Genghis Khan. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1997 .-- 352 p. - ISBN 5-222-00396-5 .
• Igor de Rachewiltz. The Secret History of the Mongols. A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century translated with a historical and philological commentary . - Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004 .-- Vol. one.