When in 1245 Constantine returned from Mongolia, where he had found favor with the Grand Khan, Batu summoned Yaroslav a second time. Ogotai, the Grand Khan, was now dead, and in his place Kuyuk, a son of Ogotai, was reigning. To his enthronement went many vassals, all subject rulers, also Khans, relatives of Jinghis. Batu sent his brothers to this assembly, but did not go himself. Being sovereign in the Horde, one part of which was found in Asia, while the other extended deeply into Europe, he thought himself next to Jinghis, even when that mighty conqueror was living, and now, after the death of Ogotai, he felt nearer to the Grand Khan than ever. To increase the splendor of the festival, he sent his vassals to represent him, selecting from all those who ruled under him only the great ones. Hence he commanded Prince Yaroslav to visit Mongolia. Yaroslav, crushed more by misfortune than by his fifty-five years, found it difficult to endure this long, torturing journey, but he went without murmuring, understanding well that safety for Russia was to be purchased only by unconditional obedience to the will of the conqueror. Beyond the Caspian were monotonous sand plains. In reaching Central Asia he had to cross stretches of dry and parched land, waterless regions without inhabitants, where many of his men died while struggling with drought and great spaces. In the Kwarezmian kingdom they met ruins of cities; plains covered with skulls, bones and skeletons, monuments of Jinghis Khan’s terrible slaughters. On these endless expanses, Yaroslav met legions of many tongued people, all of whom, in common with Russians, were under the Mongol yoke. Beyond Kwarezm stretched boundless deserts and steppes. Again new trials and a road unspeakably difficult and exhausting, along which were still other traces of Jinghis Khan’s triumphs. And again and again Yaroslav was met by the ever present conquerors, commanding subject tribes. But all that he suffered on the road seemed as nothing compared with what he had to see and endure at the Mongol capital. Kuyuk had assembled all subject sovereigns, so that of rulers and the highest persons near them four thousand were present. The gifts which those persons brought with them formed whole camps filled with treasure. Of silver and gold alone there were five hundred wagon-loads. During the time of festivities, Yaroslav was not merely a witness of feasts, he took part in them. Among guests they gave him the first place, and distinguished him by a goblet of honor. But that special “honor” shown Yaroslav was of the kind given when a victor honors the chief among many captives, and from this honor he died somewhat later.