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Hulagu Khan looked to the sea of people. The smell of sweat and horses filled his lungs. He smiled and screamed, "Today, my friends, we begin our march. Today, we write history!"
The 150,000 strong screamed back in celebration; it's the largest army ever reunited by any khan. Not even the great Genghis Khan had assembled so many strong.
Hulagu, obeying his brother's orders, Khagan Möngke Khan, marched to Mesopotamia with his great army. After subduing the Lurs, the Bukhara, the remnants of the Khwarezm-Shah dynasty, on Persia, and surviving murder attempts, Hulagu arrived at Baghdad.
The Caliph Al-Musta'sim Billah knew about the Mongols' approach. The failed assassins followed his orders, and Hulagu sent a letter with his demands. Of course, Al-Musta'sim rejected the demands and built his defence in Baghdad.
The Caliph had 50,000 soldiers and city walls to protect him. However, because of the rush of the recruitment, the soldiers were poorly equipped. Also, the Mongols marched with catapults and other siege engines.
Baghdad fell after 13 days.
Hulagu gave Al-Musta'sim a chance of begging for forgiveness to stay alive. Both the Khan and the Caliph knew those words weren't for real. After a week of being forced to watch the destruction, pillage, rape, and assassinations, Al-Musta'sim died inside a rug—Mongols believed that earth would be offended if touched by royal blood—trampled by Mongolian horses.
"We should go," Hulagu said. "The smell of decaying and rotten corpses is so bad that even after we moved away from the city, we can still smell it. We did our job. We certainly pleased the Khagan."
Some Mongols stayed in Baghdad to control the city. The rest followed Hulagu back from where they came.
The impossible happened, Baghdad fell. The Mongols now knew that nothing was impossible for them. Now, it was time to prove to the Song dynasty this truth.
THE END
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The Siege of Baghdad was a siege that took place in Baghdad in 1258, lasting for 13 days from January 29, 1258, until February 10, 1258. The siege, laid by Ilkhanate Mongol forces and allied troops, involved the investment, capture, and sack of Baghdad, which was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate at that time. The Mongols were under the command of Hulagu Khan, brother of the Khagan Möngke Khan. He had intended to extend his rule into Mesopotamia further but not to directly overthrow the Caliphate. Möngke, however, had instructed Hulagu to attack Baghdad if the Caliph Al-Musta'sim refused Mongol demands for his continued submission to the Khagan and the payment of tribute in the form of military support for Mongol forces in Persia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad_(1258)
