The troubles in Fars at this time roused Hulagu’s attention very keenly. The princes of that region were subject to Mongol dominion from the first. After the death, in 1231, of the Atabeg of Fars, Saïd Abu Bekr, his son and successor, sent his brother Tehemten with his homage to Ogotai and also rich presents. The Grand Khan gave a patent of investiture with the title Kutlug Khan. Fars had been saved by prompt submission from every Mongol hostility. Its sovereign paid the Grand Khan each year thirty thousand gold dinars, a small sum if the wealth of that region be considered; presents also were given. When Hulagu came to the Transoxiana Abu Bekr’s nephew, Seljuk Shah, came with rich presents to greet him. Seljuk Shah was befittingly received at the Oxus by Hulagu; but was afterward imprisoned. Abu Bekr died in 1260, after a reign of thirty years. His son Saïd succeeded him but died twelve days after reaching the throne, leaving a son of tender years in the care of his mother, Turkan Khatun. This child, named Mohammed, died in 1262, and the Fars throne fell to Mohammed Shah, one of his uncles, a son of Salgar Shah and grandson of Saïd, son of Zengwi. This prince had commanded the contingent of Fars in Hulagu’s great campaign against Bagdad. Brave, but unsparing and dissolute, his tyranny had roused great complaints upon all sides. Called to the camp by Hulagu, who feigned a desire to consult him concerning Fars matters, the prince delayed him under various excuses till Turkan Khatun, now his wife, who was displeased with his conduct, but especially with his treatment of herself, had the man seized as he was passing the harem and taken to Hulagu, whom she informed that Mohammed Shah was unfitted to govern. This decision of the princess found favor with Hulagu, so she had her husband’s brother, Seljuk Shah, freed from prison, and though his temper was untamed and fiery, she married him soon after. One night when flushed with wine at a banquet Seljuk Shah was taunted with having risen through the favor of his wife, and not through any other cause, and when besides her conduct was described, a fit of fury seized the man. He commanded a eunuch to cut her head off immediately and bring it to him. When the black man brought the head of the princess, Seljuk Shah tore two splendid pearls from the ears, and threw them to musicians who were playing at the banquet. When this raging man heard that Hulagu’s prefects in Shiraz, Ogul Beg and Kutluk Bitikdji, disapproved of this horrible action, instead of trying to appease them he killed one with his own hand, and cut down the other through his servants; he murdered also the people attached to them. At news of these horrors Hulagu commanded to execute Mohammed Shah, to whom he had just given permission to return to his country, and ordered his generals, Altadju and Timur, to march against Seljuk Shah. Their two divisions were to be strengthened by troops from Ispahan, Yezd, Itch and Kerman.