Chapter XXXIII.
The Mongol Age IV.
The inexhaustible armies of the Great Khan sow great victories across many lands against countless nations and exotic cultures, imposing the will of the Khan upon his new subjects, killing anyone foolish enough to defy the will of the Master of the Steppes and brave enough to face his armies, truly horrifying were the consequences for disobedience and bravado, the lands of the unruly were plundered, the animals slaughtered and the humans as well, few were the lands that avoided being counted in the Mongol’s bloodied tally, one such nation, or, to be precise, nations, we're the many principalities that composed Rus, called Russia or Ruthenia by other nations.
The first contact with the Eastern invaders after the Cumans were defeated and its Khan fled to the court of his son-in-law, Mstislav the Bold of Halych, who quickly rallied all of the Principalities of Rus in a coalition against the Mongol forces, and managed to get support from some neighboring European states. During the engagement, the Rus's armies attacked the rearguard of the enemy first, and the Mongols fled and spread out of their armies, the Mongols stopped at the Khalka River and assumed fighting formation after being pursued by the coalition for several days, despite the nickname, Mstislav waited patiently for the arrival of the remaining forces of the coalition, once they arrived they formed and marched in an orderly, disciplined way against the Mongols, after a cruel, confusing, excruciating and long battle, the forces of Cumania and Rus emerged victorious, of the nearly 25,000 men of the Mongol army, less than three thousand survived, only to be chased and killed shortly thereafter, and the coalition forces, who numbered near 100,000 men lost approximately 10,000 of them. Khan Koten of the Cumans emerged dripped in the blood of the two Mongol generals Jebe and Subutai, both of them fell to his sword.
While this defeat was certainly pivotal for the survival of the Rus Principalities and the Cuman Khanate as independent nations, it didn't affect the overall capacity of the Mongolian Khaganate continued its conquest of new land, this victory certainly delayed whatever plan the Great Khan had and denied him and his mighty armies of vital information and intelligence, as well of two experienced generals. The Cuman Khanate continued as ever, until Khan Koten was baptized as Jonas by Dominican priests sent by the king of Hungary, alongside his two sons Subilaj then named Daniel and Kanya, then named George, around the year 1239.
The next time that the Rus feared the Mongols were when they attacked the Caucasian realms of Georgia and the two Armenias, as well as the Persian states, the Crusader Nations, and the Easter Roman Empire. After Georgia and the Armenias fell and the Rhoman Empire and the Crusaders States we're under a relentless siege under Batu Noyan and his disciples, Cumania, Rus, and the Northern Caucasus states like Alania and Circassia we're next on the eyes of Orda Khan, who wanted his domain to expand even further until it encompassed enough territory in his eyes. Another region that is suffering a brutal invasion by Mongol hands is India, but that's a story for another time...