Chapter Seven: The Mightiest Son-in-Law, Prince Temur

Due to these reasons, the relationship between the Roman Empire, the Javan Yuan, and the Ming Dynasty was quite delicate.

On one hand, the khanate was dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty’s restrictive policies, as they undoubtedly hindered trade and affected revenue. On the other hand, the Javan Yuan were hardly benevolent either. Essentially a group of middlemen, if these people controlled the South Seas, the price of all Eastern goods—whether Ming Dynasty’s re-exported merchandise or locally produced spices, silk, and porcelain—would inevitably rise.

However, the Ilkhanate was simply too far from the East. By sea, one would either have to go to Syria and then land, or to Egypt and then transfer to the Red Sea. In any case, there was no direct access to the Indian Ocean or direct participation in trade. During the later years of Basil Jerigo’s rule, the khanate began to shift some attention southward, seeking a maritime breakthrough.

At this time, the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt was engulfed in frequent internal strife, while Timur was rapidly rising in the East.

The decline of the Mamluk Sultanate was, in fact, foreseeable. Although once militarily formidable, its political system was exceedingly crude.

During this period, the core of the Mamluk Sultanate was the Kipchak slaves. These people were sold from the southern Russian steppes, carefully selected and trained to become the personal guards of the sultan and various military officers.

Though nominally called slaves, every qualified Mamluk warrior was granted a fief, effectively making them feudal knights. Officers were allowed to command different numbers of Mamluks depending on their rank, while the sultan himself controlled the largest and most elite contingent.

But the Mamluk political scene was highly unstable. Whenever a new sultan ascended, purges against the former sultan’s trusted officers and slaves were inevitable. These individuals, unwilling to submit, fought back fiercely. After more than a century of such internal conflicts, the Mamluks had lost much of their former vigor.

The rise of the Ilkhanate inadvertently dealt a blow to the Mamluks.

During the reign of Alexius Mergen, the khanate expanded eastward along the northern coast of the Black Sea, sparking a full-scale war within the Golden Horde between the Ilkhanate faction and the Blue and White Horde factions. The fragmented Golden Horde forces were unable to resist the Ilkhanate army, leading to either annexation or flight.

No one expected that this outcome would prove disadvantageous for the Ilkhanate. It disrupted the balance of power between the southern and northern military offices of the khanate, leading to Alexius’s assassination and the first civil war known as the “North-South War.” Rome even entered a period of vacant khanship governed by a council of nine nobles, profoundly shaping future history.

The impact extended far beyond them.

To maintain control, the Mamluk elite largely excluded locals, recruiting only Kipchak slave soldiers. But after the Ilkhanate’s wars with the steppe tribes ended, the khanate focused on restoring order, pacifying and incorporating many steppe people. This drastically reduced the Kipchak slave trade, weakening the already unstable position of the Kipchak Mamluks, who faced challenges from the Caucasian Mamluks and growing internal instability.

Meanwhile, Timur’s rise in the East offered the Ilkhanate a better opportunity.

Originally a minor figure of the Western Chagatai Khanate, Timur was relatively insignificant. He rose to prominence during the internal conflicts of the Eastern and Western Chagatai Khanates, skillfully playing both sides.

Though some referred to his realm as the “Timurid Empire,” Timur lacked an imposing title due to his humble origins. Not being a member of the Golden Family, the Mongol and Turkic tribes of Central Asia did not recognize him as khan, forcing Timur to use the title of Emir for long periods.

Later, after defeating another powerful warlord, Huxin, and marrying the Western Chagatai princess he inherited from him, Timur began calling himself “Guregen.”

This term means “son-in-law” in Mongolian. When Genghis Khan consolidated power, he incorporated men from other clans through marriage alliances, making “Guregen” a title connected, albeit indirectly, to the Golden Family. Thus, “Guregen” became Timur’s most renowned title, so much so that Ming historical records directly referred to him as “Prince Consort Timur.”

Subsequently, Timur’s proxy, the White Horde khan Tokhtamysh, rebelled and, using the former Golden Horde territories as a base, frequently raided Timur’s original lands in the Central Asian river valley. To address this menace, Timur personally led a large army and sought allies to curb Tokhtamysh’s power.

Coincidentally, the Ilkhanate was also engaged in battles with various steppe tribes, leading to a natural alliance. Timur advanced northward from the river valley into the steppe, moving east to west; meanwhile, the Ilkhanate’s famed general, Grand Tutor Totol Mammetnikus, led forces from Crimea, invading the heartland of the Golden Horde along the Don and Volga rivers.

Timur’s army was large and effectively a Persianized composite force. Tokhtamysh planned to use traditional steppe tactics to wear down the enemy through maneuvering before striking decisively. However, Mammetnikus’s troops crossed the Sea of Azov, directly threatening Tokhtamysh’s rear base.

The Golden Horde nobles left to defend the area repeatedly failed to break the Ilkhanate camp and were even routed in counterattacks. This deprived the White Horde forces of strategic flexibility. Growing impatient, Tokhtamysh was forced into a premature decisive battle against Timur’s army and was ultimately defeated.

This war forged a strong bond between the two states. The Ilkhanate discovered Timur’s serious lack of ruling legitimacy—surprisingly, his theoretical legitimacy still relied on his Western Chagatai wife and his puppet khan father-in-law.

For such a vast realm to carry the title of son-in-law was hardly fitting. Thus, the Ilkhanate took the initiative to offer their extensive archives, recognizing that the war-torn former Chagatai lands likely lost many records. They proposed sending specialists to investigate Timur’s genealogy to determine his true status within the Golden Family.

A group of scholars departed grandly from Constantinople, with the Timurids’ cooperation, making a show of their mission, eventually arriving in Samarkand.

The veteran scholars brought numerous purported Golden Horde archives dating back to Batu’s era. After rigorous examination alongside local Central Asian texts, they indeed discovered that Timur’s lineage was part of the long-lost Golden Family—according to seniority, they were even uncles and elder cousins of the Ilkhanate.

Encouraged immediately, they urged Timur, as a royal uncle, to ascend the throne and legitimize his rule. Thus, the Timurid regime finally became the recognized “Timurid Khanate” in both name and reality.

Timur was greatly pleased, sending vast amounts of gold and silver as gratitude to the Ilkhanate and dispatching his fourth son, Shaharu, to pay a return visit.

However, just as both sides were enjoying their victory, news arrived that Tokhtamysh was making a comeback.

Tokhtamysh was a formidable leader with considerable prestige on the steppe. Even after defeat, he retained many followers and soon expelled Timur’s puppet nobles, reclaiming the old Golden Horde capital of Bilgorasai.

This time, Tokhtamysh learned from his previous mistakes and adopted the victorious enemy’s strategies. He reached out to the dominant power in Anatolia, the Ottomans, and the Mamluk Sultanate entrenched in Egypt, forging an alliance to trouble Timur.

Timur was compelled to once again call upon the Ilkhanate for military support, preparing to eliminate Tokhtamysh swiftly before turning his forces southward to quell other enemies.