Tandju Newian, the general of Mangu Khan, who covered the frontiers of Iran, sent to his master the ambassadors of the khalif of Bagdad, who complained of the atrocities of the Assassins, and besought him to extirpate the vile race. Their complaints were seconded by those of the judge of Kaswin, who was at the khan’s court, and went in armour to the audience, fearing the daggers of the Assassins, against whose crimes he raised the voice of humanity. Mangu immediately collected an army, which he placed under the command of his brother, Hulaku, whom, on departing, he addressed in the following words: “I send thee, with much cavalry and a strong army, from Turan to Iran, the land of great princes. It is thine, to observe the laws and ordinances of Jengis Khan, in great things, and in small, and to take possession of the countries from the Oxus to the Nile. Assemble round thee, with favours and rewards, the obedient and the submissive; but tread into the dust of contempt and misery, the refractory and mutinous, with their wives and children. When thou hast done with the Assassins, begin the conquest of Irak. If the khalif of Bagdad comes forward willingly to serve thee, then shalt thou do him no harm; but, if he refuse, let him share the fate of the rest.”[249] Upon this, Hulaku went from Kara Kurum to the camp, and put his forces in order, and reinforced them with a thousand families of Chinese fire-work makers. These latter managed the besieging machines and the artillery of flaming naphtha, which has been known to Europe, under the name of the Greek fire, since the Crusades; but was long before used by the Arabs and Chinese, as well as gunpowder.[250] In Ramadan,[251] he broke up his camp; and receiving constant reinforcements on his march, he halted for a month, first at Samarkand and afterwards at Kash. Hither came Shemseddin Kurt and Emir Arghun, from Khorassan, offering him its homage, and from hence he sent ambassadors to the princes of the surrounding countries, with this message: “By command of the khan, I am advancing against the Assassins, to destroy them: if ye will support me in this enterprise, your trouble shall be rewarded—your country protected; but if ye conduct yourselves negligently, I will, after having finished this affair, advance against you; so shall ye know it—it is foretold to you.” As soon as the news of the approach of his victorious standard was spread abroad, ambassadors appeared from Rum, from Sultan Rokneddin, Prince of the Seljuks in Fars, from the Atabeg Saad of Irak, Aserbijan, Kurdjistan, and Shirwan, to offer the homage of their masters.