Chapter 11. About Horys-yuly and about robberies on that road (1110 – 1117 AD)

And after the Boryn-Inesh, the Horys-yuly stops were in the Saryk-Kun, where the fairs were held and fine sheep and sheep furs were sold, Sygyr at the ferry across the Shir, Chyrshy and Balyn on the river Saz-Idel. After Balyn, were already stationed Anchian patrols from the former Kara-Bulgarian city of Hursa . The station Balyn was built by the Karadjar djura and he named it in the memory of his birthplace.

And insignificance the Horys-yuly was the third Bulgarian road after the Nukrat and Bukhara roads, therefore the Bulgarian Kans reacted quickly and in with full power to the violations of its safety. The caravanserais in the Bolgar, Nur-Suvar and Kermek belonged to the state, in the Arbuga, Soyam-Ak and Rabat belonged to Arbuga, in the Sharyk, Burtas, Razi-Sub, Khorysdan or Kubar, Burtas-Simbir, Yozek, Yyshna, Lubat and Yauchy belonged to the Mardan-Burtas, and were served by our Bulgars.

But the stations Saryk-Kun, Sygyr, Chyrshy and Balyn were maintained by the Burtases who were paying for it a tenth part of their income to the Bellakian treasury. At the same time, the Shirian Burtases knew perfectly their relation with the Mardanian Bulgars of the Burtas extraction and also were getting along quite nicely with their Balynian and Rus relatives, the Murdasian Ulchians and the Anchians.

That part of the Horys-yuly was considered the most dangerous and vulnerable for the attacks by the Turks and Balyns, however few of them dared for the open robbery. The worst robberies were during the time of the Boryn sugyshy, in the 1110 – 1111.

In the 1107 Sharykhan, the son of Kur-Batyr, was slow with an attack on the Balyn and he was declared to be the reason for the failure of the Balynian campaign and a rebel.

Kur-Batyr headed for Baluk the Kumanian mercenary army, Ashraf in the Saksin, and then was the katavyl (head of the garrison) of the Mardanian city Sharyk. Here in 1041 was born his son Sharykhan who, per one tale, received the name of the city, and per another, the name of the Kan Sharaf. He inherited a tall stature, fearlessness and the extraordinary power of his father…

In the 1040, when a new crowd of the Turkmen came to the Kan, he ordered them, together with Rahman, the brother of Gali Kurmysh, and with Kur-Batyr, to subordinate the Burdjan. Within one year they, without special difficulties, subordinated the Djurash, Saklan, Kashek and Tamiya-Tarkhan, kicking the Rumian viceroys out from the Tamiya-Tarkhan.

The Urus Bek Ar-Aslap recognized these areas as Bulgarian, but after his death, in the 1054 his son Bat-Aslap, together with the Rumians attacked the Tamiya-Tarkhan and kicked Rahman, who was not expecting an attack.out from the city. The angry Kan transferred Rahman from the Khin-Kala to be a guard’s chief in Yauchy, and his descendants received this nickname. Losimng face by the defeat by the Burdjan Tarkhan, the Turkmens suddenly raised a mutiny and attacked Khin-Kala. For some months ours were besieged in it, lost Kur-Batyr, and only the son of Gilas, Balus, managed to defeat them.

The Turkmens fled and hid in the Urus city Buri-Aslap occupied by the Balynians. Balus wanted to erase this fortress from the face of the earth, but the brother of Bat-Aslap Syp-Bulat softened his heart with a payment of a huge tribute, combined with the news about the flight of the Turkmen to Djalda, and the promise to finish them off in case they return. In the 1060 the Turkmens came back, but were defeated by Syp-Bulat and in the majority returned to the Bulgarian service in the Saksin.

However soon it turned out that Syp-Bulat secretly hired a part of the Turkmen for the service, and for it, Balus and the young Sharykhan ruined his district. But in the same year, the Kumans themselves decided to occupy the former Turkmenian area and, installing over themselves as a Khan the former slave of Sharykhan, Asan, left the Saksin. Sharykhan had to leave with them, for otherwise, the Kumans threatened him with the decimation of his relatives.

But soon Sharykhan fell a prisoner to the Anchians, was ransomed from them by Akhad and again began to serve the State. The disfavour of Adam forced him to become a türk again, but not for long. In 1107 the Anchians, Balynians led by Бат-Balyk and Ayubai, the son of Asan, defeated Bunek, to whom for a moment joined Sharykhan, and the Khan fled to the Shir. The Uruses pursued him and in 1109, near Sygyr, took away the last camels, arbas and the yurts with families. Only Sharykhan with his troops barely had time to be hidden at the station Sygyr. The Balynians suggested to take menzel by an attack, but the Anchians, who treated Horys-yuly carefully, refused and by that rescued the Khan.

After the departure of the Uruses Sharykhan came with his troops and with the message that Balyns are ready for robberies, to Avar, the son of Rahman, who then was in Yauchy. Indignant of the behaviour of the Balyns, Avar Yauchy at his own risk accepted Sharykhan into the service. The Bek did not lose. In 1110 the son of Syp-Bulat, Bulymer, with his Balynians and the Turkmens and Ayubai shamelessly attacked the Yauchy after the refusal of Avar to turn over Sharykhan. The ours were warned about the attack by Sarychin, one of the sons of Sharykhan, who was forced to subordinate to Ayubai, and they preventively strengthened the station and placed archers there.

When the Turkmens and Kumans went in the attack, covering their way with corpses of the people and the horses, the Mardanian cavalry attacked the enemy from two sides of the ”Nose” and showered them with a rain of arrows. The Balynians found themselves in the centre of this hell and did not know how to escape from it. At last, the Kumans and Turkmens, overcoming the horror for the sake of the salvation of their lives, rushed toward the rider archers. As the enemy came nearer, the archers gave way to the placed behind them Burtasian and Arbuganian djuras, and they stopped them with a powerful spear counterattack. And when our knights pulled out cavalry sabers and axes, and the infidels turned into a chaotic panicky flight. The Balynians fled even earlier, and from that time Bulymer all his life was afraid to fight with the Bulgars.

Sharykhan with his troops threw a hot pursuit and covered the space from the Boryn-Inesh to the Shir with enemy’s corpses. In the Yauchy battle, our 6 thousand troops laid down 10 thousand enemies, losing 50 infantrymen and 450 horsemen. For his eager service, Adam forgave the Khan, and gave him for lifelong possession a tax from one aul in the Baytüba ulus of the Tiganak province.

As the old Sharykhan called himself ”Kur’s son”, that aul also began to be called Kurnali, still during his lifetime. His son Sarychin with people lagged behind Ayubai in hope for a quiet life on the Shir. But the next year humiliated Bulymer forced the son of Myshdauly to attack the Uchel and to lay at it on the slippery slopes of the Bogyltau almost all 7-thousand Galidjian army, and he himself together with Ayubai burned the Sygyr and defeated Sarychin. The Khan retreated to Yal-Inesh, the right tributary of the Shir running into it up the river, but Bulymer and Ayubai with the Balynians, Turkmens and Kumans went there too.

When they fell on Sarychin, his brother Atrak separated from Ayubai and fell upon infidels. In the end, they were defeated, but they hired into the service to the State and due to this preserved a quarter of their people. The others, mostly the old men and children, perished in the field behind the Yal-Inesh, which after that began to be called Khelek-kyry (“Disastrous“). However, this war did not calm down, for Bulymer refused to indemnify the State from his attacks on Horys-yuly.

In 1113 both sons of Sharykhan revenged Ayubai with an attack on his settlements along the Kichi-Shir, but the infidel Khan fled to Bulymer and escaped under his protection. In the same year Bulymer captured in the Rus the Bashtu throne and for it, under a contract with the Anchian merchants, indemnified the State. But in the 1116 the young Balynian Beks burned the stations Balyn, Chyrshy and Sygyr, and Ayubai together with Bunek took the Khin and drove to Rus a multitude of captured Bulgarian Turkmen and Badjinaks.

They were resettled near the Baryns, who expressed to Bulymer their discontent with his robberies on the roads. The Balynian Bek made excuses by that the young Beks made those evil deeds without his knowledge, and the Türkic Khans do not submit to him at all. Actually he did not go for a campaign only from the fear of the Bulgars. But stealthily the noxious Balynian, nicknamed by ours Karak, supported the heists.

Right after the capture by Ayubai of the Khin, he built on the Kichi-Shir, halfway from Khursa to Kharka, the fortress Chally-Kala to support the communications with the Khin and Islamic countries bypassing the Bulgar. It caused a big worry for the Kan, and the response was given immediately.

In 1117 a detachment from Bellakк, led by Avar, demolished Chally-Kala down to the base. The Anchians there surrendered without a fight and were let go. And the taken in the fortress Balyns were forced to build a fortress in the Kashan province, and it also was called Chally. In memory of it Avar took a nickname Chally-bey. In the same year the horde of Ayubai has finished also, and the Anchian Turkmens, Badjanaks and Kumans from Khin fled in a panic to Rus.

Adam pronounced himself the Kan of the Desht-i-Kypchak and re-settled the sons of Sharykhan to the Khin, but in the 1120 Atrak with a part of his people suddenly left to the Gurgjans . Then Emir Kolyn came to power and immediately demanded from Bulymer a return of the Saksin Turkmen and Badjinaks, but the Balynian refused the request of our ambassadors. When the Hins learned about it, they rose and fortified, together with a part of the Baryns, in their city Baryndiu.

And the detachment of Avar on the stand-by duty in the menzel Balyn occupied with the help of the Anchians the Khursa and threatened Bulymer with a raid to Bashtu together with the Anchian Bek and Syp-Bulat. The envoy of Avar passed to Bulymer-Karak the derisive words of the Bek: ”If you confess before the Kan of Bulgar, I will sponsor that he presented to you your gold helmet which you lost during the flight from Boryn-Inesh , and the oar which your son Djurgi lost during a hasty sail from the Bolgar”.

Knowing that all the Anchians of the Rus sympathize with the Bulgars and are ready for an opportunity to finish with Balynians together with them, Bulymer surrendered to Chally-bey all Saksins and the Baryns who joined them, and also paid the threefold price for the damage to the Horys-yuly and renewed the interrupted payment of the Djirian tribute. After that a half of his own Turkmen, Badjinaks and Kumans also fled from the Rus to the Djalda. So ended this biggest robbery on the Horys-yuly, and so Bulymer was punished for it.