Genghis Khan, having conquered the Jin capital of Beijing, interrupts his fighting with the Jin conquest to come to the aid of Muslim Turks opposed in Kara-Khitai by the usurper Kuchlug, the former king of the Naimans, deposed earlier in the century.

After two Mongol divisions liberate Kara-Khitai in 1218, Genghiz Khan sends a peaceful Mongol trade mission to the ambitious and oppressive shah of Khwarezm, a Turkish Muslim principality to the west of Kara-Khitai.

Having only recently conquered two-thirds of what will one day be China, Genghis is looking to open trade relations, but the Shah, having heard exaggerated reports of the Mongols, believes this gesture is only a ploy to invade his land.

Genghis sends emissaries to Khwarezm (reports vary—one stating a group of one hundred Muslim merchants with a single Mongol leading them, others state four hundred and fifty) to emphasize his hope for a trade road.