Nishapur stood twelve days’ journey distant from Merv and in attacking it Tului was preparing to avenge Togachar, his sister’s husband, killed at Nessa. The Nishapur people had done what they could to the harm of the Mongols, and had prepared to defend themselves with all the strength of their souls and their bodies. They had mounted three thousand ballistas on the walls, and five hundred catapults. The siege was begun by laying waste the whole province, of which Nishapur was the capital. Three thousand ballistas, three hundred catapults, seven hundred machines to throw pots of burning naphtha, and four thousand ladders were among the siege implements. At sight of these, and of the vast multitude of savage warriors surrounding their city, the leaders felt courage go from them. A deputation of notables, with the chief judge of Khorassan, went to offer Tului submission, and an annual tribute. Tului refused every offer and held the judge captive. Next morning he rode round the walls and roused his troops to the greatest endeavor. They attacked all sides at once, fighting that day and the night following. In the morning the moats were full; in the walls were seventy breaches; ten thousand Mongols had entered. New assailants rushed in from every side, and there were desperate encounters at many points. Before that day had ended the city was occupied. The assailants took terrible vengeance. Togachar’s widow, one of Jinghis Khan’s daughters, rushed in herself with ten thousand warriors who cut down all before them. The slaughter continued four days without ceasing. The Mongols destroyed every living thing; even the cats and dogs in the city were killed by them (April, 1221). Tului had heard that in the destruction of Merv many persons had saved their lives by lying down among corpses, so now he ordained that all heads be cut from the bodies; of these three pyramids were constructed, one of men’s heads, a second from heads of women, and a third of children’s heads. Fifteen days did destruction of the city continue; the place disappeared altogether, and the Mongols sowed barley on the site of it. Of the inhabitants only a few hundred men were left living; these were skilled artisans. Lest some should find refuge in underground places, troops were left near the ruins to slay all who might creep out later on into daylight.