The Nāṣirī Generations 291.1.5

291.1.5

for we have girded up our loins to fight with thee, and are ready. Further understand, that, when we shall reach Baghdad, whether thou art in the heavens above or in the earth beneath, they will bring to thee our peremptory command, which is like unto fate’s.” The Khalifah’s reply, transmitted through his own envoys, a mixture of admonition, boasting, and defiance, concluded: “Listen, young man, therefore, to the admonition we have given thee, and retain it in thy mind; and go back again whence thou camest, otherwise prepare for war and come.” The Mughal envoys, on their return, were met outside the city by a great mob, who insulted and reviled them, and even spat upon them, in hopes that the Mughal envoys might do or say something which they might turn into a pretext for laying violent hands upon them. Here again was an opportunity for the Wazir: hearing of the disturbance, he, at once, despatched a body of his household slaves to guard the envoys, and conduct them safely out of the danger; and they, on their return to Hulaku’s camp, related all the good offices of the Wazir on the occasion. The Khalifah’s envoys, on the other hand, were angrily dismissed, with fresh threats, from the halting-place of Panj-Angusht; and their report of what they had seen and heard made the Khalifah feel anxious and downhearted. He consulted with his Wazir, whose traitorous conduct was, of course, wholly unknown to him.