Early Years
After his son Jochi's death, Genghis Khan assigned Jochi's appanages to his sons. But the Great Khan installed Batu as Khan of the Ulus of Jochi. Jochi's eldest son, Orda Khan, also agreed that Batu should succeed their father. Genghis Khan's youngest brother Temüge attended the coronation ceremony as an official representative of Genghis. When Genghis Khan died in 1227, he left 4,000 Mongol men to Jochi's family. Jochi's lands were divided between Batu and his older brother Orda. Orda's White Horde ruled the lands roughly between the Volga river and Lake Balkhash, while Batu's Horde ruled the lands west of the Volga.
In 1229, Ögedei dispatched three tumens under Kukhdei and Sundei to conquer the tribes on the lower Ural River. According to Abulghazi, Batu joined Ögedei's military campaign against the Jin Dynasty in North China while his younger brother was fighting the Bashkirs, the Cumans, the Bulghars and the Alans in the west. Despite heavy resistance of their enemies, the Mongols conquered major cities of the Jurchens and made the Bashkirs their ally. In the 1230s, Ögedei distributed lands in Shanxi, China to Batu and the family of Jochi, but they appointed their officials under the supervision of the Imperial governor likewise in Khorasan, Persia.
Read more about this topic: Batu Khan
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