Two commandants came now, one a Mongol, the other a Persian, who gave orders to follow the wishes of Zein ud din el Hafizzi, and treat the inhabitants with justice. Soon after this Kita Buga arrived with a body of Mongols, safety was proclaimed at his coming, and respect for life and property. The citadel refused to surrender but was taken after sixteen days of siege labor. The commandant and his aid were beheaded at Hulagu’s direction. Ashraf, the Eyubite prince and grandson of Shirkuh, who after the departure of Nassir for Egypt went to give homage to Hulagu near Aleppo, had been reinstated in the sovereignty of Hims, which Nassir had taken from him twelve years before, giving Telbashir in exchange for it. Hulagu now made Ashraf his chief lieutenant in Syria. Ashraf arrived at Merj-Bargut and Kita Buga commanded Zein ud din el Hafizzi and the other authorities of Damascus to yield up their power to him. After reducing Aleppo Hulagu moved against Harem, a fortress two days’ journey toward Antioch. The garrison was summoned to surrender with a promise under oath that no man would be injured. The defenders replied, that the religion which Hulagu held was unknown to them, hence they knew not how to consider his promise, but if a Moslem would swear on the Koran that their lives would be spared, they would surrender the castle. Hulagu asked whom they wished as the man to give oath to them; they replied Fakhr ud din Saki, last commandant in the citadel of Aleppo. Hulagu sent this man with directions to swear to everything asked of him. On the faith of his oath the place was delivered. All then were ordered to go forth from Harem. Hulagu, angry that his word had been questioned, put Fakhr ud din to death straightway, and slaughtered the whole population, not pitying even infants. He spared one person only, an Armenian, a jeweller of skill, whom he needed. CHAPTER XIV VICTORY OF KUTUZ, SULTAN OF EGYPT Hulagu received news now of the death of Mangu, the Grand Khan, and deciding at once to return to Mongolia, he made Kita Buga commander of the armies in Syria, and when departing ordered him to level the walls of Aleppo and its citadel. A deputation of Crusaders came at this time to Kita Buga. It is said by historians, that Hulagu had resolved to take Palestine from the Moslems, and give it to Christians, and that he was about to do this when news came of Mangu’s demise in Mongolia. He turned homeward immediately, intending to strive for his own elevation, but he learned in Tebriz that his brother, Kubilai, was elected, and this stopped his journey.