Tolui

Tolui (c. 1191–1232), youngest son of Genghis Khan and Börte, was reckoned the finest warrior of the four brothers and the father of two great khans. From 1211 he fought the Jin, and in 1221 Genghis sent him to subdue Khorasan with perhaps seven thousand men.

Merv surrendered on promise of fair treatment, but he broke his word and put its people to the sword. Nishapur, where Genghis's son-in-law Toquchar was killed, was stormed and nearly all slain; at Herat he killed only the garrison.

After Genghis died in 1227 he inherited most of his army and was regent, swearing allegiance to Ögedei in 1229. He routed the Jin at Sanfeng in 1230–1232 and died late that year: officially he drank a shaman's cursed potion to save Ögedei; others blamed drink or poison. His wife Sorghaghtani Beki raised Möngke and Kublai; Möngke took the throne in 1251.