The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano

1262. Neither is right, nor certainly could Polo have meant the

former. When Mangku Kaan, after his enthronement (1251), determined at a great _Kurultai_ or Diet, on perfecting the Mongol conquests, he entrusted his brother Kúblái with the completion of the subjugation of China and the adjacent countries, whilst his brother Hulaku received the command of the army destined for Persia and Syria. The complaints that came from the Mongol officers already in Persia determined him to commence with the reduction of the Ismailites, and Hulaku set out from Karakorum in February, 1254. He proceeded with great deliberation, and the Oxus was not crossed till January,