Chapter 22. First reign of Altynbek (1229 AD)

Coming back, Mir-Gazi caught a cold and soon died. Gazan, Bachman, Ishtyak and Tetesh raised to the throne Altynbek, who was absolutely apathetic to the reforms of Gali. The seid in two years married the Mir-Gazi’s widow Sauliya, whom he loved all his life. And she was given in marriage at five years old. Gali widowed, being in exile, and his son Mir-Gali from the daughter of Dayr grew up in the house of the suvarbashi.

And one of the Kypchak slave-girls, whom Appak, the father of Dayr traded, was presented to the Emir of the Djurash. He, in turn, presented her to the Gyandjian Bek Nizami, who decorated the garden of the poetry by fine flowers of his dastans. I read these poems, for I knew the Farsi. And in addition to the Khorasan language I, certainly, knew the Arabian and our Bulgarian Türki. My father while still in my childhood taught me the dialect of the Ulchians, and one Sadumian trader, treated by the senior brother of Gali, the well-known Uchel tabib Isbel-hadja, taught me the Almanian.

And the languages were coming to me easy, and I even felt a necessity to study them. In the end, I read not a few of the Urus books, and one of them told very vividly about the raid of Syb-Bulat on the Bulyar. Wrote it Bulymer, who called himself Khin-Kubar, but then, when his uncle Ugyr Batavylly became his seignior, changed it and replaced his name with Ugyr. About it told me the son of Khin-Kubar , also Khin-Kubar, who came to the Balyn to settle a dispute between the Kisan and Djurgi.

And Bulymer, who owned before only the aul Khatyn, received for this the Batyshian city Kazile. It was founded by the Bulgars and Anchians, who fell behind Almysh during his move to the Bulgar. But after the death of Ugyr, Bulymer lost the city, and it was received again only by his son Khin-Kubar after the death of almost all Karadjirian Beks in fight with Subyatay. He married the daughter of Tetesh, and she succeeds in that our merchants were visiting it. Due to this, the Kazile grew into a big city, and Kasim, the son of Bulyak, who liked building palaces and even stone churches in the Rus, fortified it.

Then he returned to the State, but on the way almost got into the hands of Markas. This biy turned to Altynbek with a request to transfer to him a part of the Ars’ tribute for the plunder, but, being refused, became outraged and went with all his district under the power the Balyn. Many Urus boyars immediately settled with their ingichis on his lands for a certain payment, but soon regretted it. My son Khisam from my first wife, the granddaughter of Chalmati, who was a Deber balikbashy, summoned Gazan and with him attacked Markas. The biy escaped to me, but his district was completely ruined.

It is necessary to mention that his story caused in me not bitterness, but the joy for my son, who became a real bakhadir. Despite of the panic which enveloped the Djun-Kala, I remained quiet, for I knew, that Khisam will not attack his father. It happened exactly so. Widowed shortly before the attack of Bat-Aslap, I married Uldjan-bi, the sister of Vasyl, in the Balyn. She gave birth to my son Galimbek.

The Markas war relieved Gazan of participation in the Altynbek campaign on the Djaik against Subyatay. The Menkholian bakhadir, already knowing the strength of the Bulgarian bulwarks, now did not commence breaking through them, and decided to lure the Kan out of them on bait, Mergen. The featherbrained simpleton Altynbek, hearing about the bandit assault of Mergen on the Saksin, soon moved against him with Gali and Ilkham-Ishtyak. When he was remarked that he takes too few soldiers, the Kan flared up:“Even three thousand is too much for Mergen”. He did not expect a meeting with the Tatars to be possible, for the merchants from the Kashan assured him about their absence on all the extent of the Bukhar-yuly. But the merchants were bribed by Subyatai and told a lie…

Mergen tried to take Saksin right off the run, but was completely defeated and repelled by Bachman and grew bolder again only after the intervention in the affair by Subyatay. The Tatars besieged the city, but the Tarkhan already pulled out its population to the safe way to the Bandja, and remained to delay the enemy with a thousand of the fearless daredevils. When Tatars broke into the Saksin, Bachman retreated into the caravanserai of the Suvar-Sarai city and, having crushed up to two thousand of the Oimeks and Tatars, with 200 of his people broke through to the Idel and was gone.

The Türkmens of the Kush-Birde Khan, sent by Subyatay after him, run into oncoming in time Ablas-Khin djuras and engaged with them. Badri defended Khin to the last possibility, and then set fire to the city and left to the Burtas. Then the Subyatay himself raced after Bachman up the river, but soon he met with the Mardanian Badjanaks and started pursuing them. Carried away, the Tatars came across the Samara bulwarks and, to the joy of Mardanians, started storming them in a rage.

All the enemies would perish in the labyrinth of these bulwarks if not for Subyatay who figured out the Badjanaks’ game and pulled the troops back to the Djaik. Here before the kargatuy, in a buran , a patrol of Mergen came across the Kan and sped away. Altynbek pursued it and got into the embrace of the Subyatay’s iron wings. The mostly light-armed Oimeks of the Kan, despite of their desperate bravery, did not sustain the blow of the Tatars and dispersed. Gali fell in the fight together with all his djuras, Kazan and Kashan kazanchis and al-chirmyshes, but his sturdiness distracted the Tatars. A daring strike of the Bashkorts punched a gap in the enemy circle, holding the enemy down for some time, and allowed the Kan and Ishtyak to be saved. Then the Kan ordered to name the place of the fight, which belonged earlier to the Bellak, “Каргалы” and forever transfer it to the Bashkort.