Before starting for home Jinghis gave command to kill all superfluous prisoners, that is, all who had done the work because of which they had been spared from death on the day when they were taken; only artisans were left, men needed for their skill in Mongolia. This command was not carried out, however, till the captives had hulled an immense store of rice for the Mongols; that done they were slain in one night without any exception. The Mongols took the road toward Tibet, but after some days they turned back from that difficult region and went to Peshawur, where were the roads along which they had come in the first place. As he passed Balkh on the Samarkand road Jinghis Khan issued orders to slay all who had made their way back to that city. After the death of Shah Mohammed, Chepé Noyon and Subotai, two of the three who had hunted him down to extinction, plundered Persian, that is Eastern, Irak and ruined it, and also the lands between that vast province and the Caspian. On the west they went great distances inland, including parts of Armenia, and also Georgia as far as Tiflis. In 1222 those commanders received from Jinghis reinforcements with a command to conquer the Polovtsi, a people akin to the Mongols. These Polovtsi led a nomad life in that region which stretches westward from the Caspian to the Dnieper; they were neighbors of the Russians whom they had harassed for centuries. The Mongols had obtained from the Shirvan Shah ten guards to conduct them. The commanders began very strangely. They cut off the head of one of these ten and declared that the other nine would die by the same kind of death if they should deceive them or use any treachery. Despite this cruel act the guides led the army into ambush among northern foothills of the Caucasus, and slipped away safely. The Mongols, astray in mountains and woods, were attacked upon all sides by various strong peoples; among these were the Polovtsi, to whom they were bringing destruction. Pressed hard at all points they sent to those Polovtsi this message: “Ye and we are one people, why war with us? Make peace. We will give all the gold that ye need, and many rich garments. Ye and we can work together with great profit.”