Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/262

250 250 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. This narrative of Hayton's certainly contains circum- stances that appear very improbable. It is possible, however, that Mangou may have allowed himself to be baptized, without meaning to profess himself a Christian, for he was in the habit of complying indifferently with the practices of various modes of worship established at his court, but he professed no positive religion, and very likely regarded baptism as a mere ceremony of purifi- cation. The } 7 oung but vast empire of the Tartars, being perpetually surrounded by enemies, was under the fatal necessity of continually undertaking new con- quests ; and Mangou-Khan, feeling, in 1256, great doubts of the intentions of some of his neighbours, placed his two brothers, Kublai and Houlagou, at the head of two considerable armies ; the first was to march to China and conquer it, the second to invade Persia and Mesopotamia. It was just at this time that King Hayton visited Kara-Koroum, and Houlagou, before he began his march, received instructions very favourable to the kingdom of Armenia. One of the requests of King Hayton to the Tartar emperor was, as we have seen, that he should conquer the Holy Land and deliver Jerusalem from the Saracens; and Mangou now charged Houlagou to satisfy the King of Armenia in this par- ticular. Such was the origin of the famous expedition which resulted in placing a grandson of Tchinguiz- Khan on the throne of Persia, and establishing there a government almost independent of that of Kara- Koroum. Houlagou entered Persia with 70,000 horsemen, and the first year of his occupation was signalised by the destruction of the Assassins, and of some Mussulman