Möngke and Batu
An opportunity had arrived for deposing the House of Ögedei from the overlordship of the Mongols, and Batu was determined to avail himself of it. But Batu seems to allow Oghul Qaimish to serve as regent. He also suggested unruly princes listen to her words. When Batu was ill, Möngke went to the Ulus of Jochi to greet him as his mother Sorghagtani advised. Batu was much delighted on seeing him.
At last, Batu called a kurultai on his own territory in 1250. Members of the Ögedeid and Chagataid families refused to attend the kurultai that was held beyond the Mongolian heartland. The kurultai offered the throne to Batu Khan who had no interest in promoting himself as the new Grand Khan. Rejecting it, he instead nominated Möngke who led a Mongol army in Russia, Northern Caucasus and Hungary. The pro-Tolui faction rose up and supported his choice. Given its limited attendance and location, this kurultai was of questionable validity. Batu sent Möngke under the protection of his brothers, Berke and Tukhtemur, and his son Sartaq to assemble a formal kurultai at Kodoe Aral in the heartland. The supporters of Möngke invited Oghul Qaimish and other main Ögedeid and Chagataid princes to attend the kurultai but they refused each time, demanding descendants of Ögedei must be khan. In response to it, Batu accused them of killing his aunt Altalaun and defying Ögedei's nominee, Shiremun. After the assembled throng proclaimed Möngke Great Khan of the Mongol Empire in 1251, he punished the Ögedeid and Chagataid families for the organized plot against him. Möngke sent Buri to Batu who had him executed by Buri's opponent general. Eljigidei was ordered to be executed.
The Grand prince Andrey II allied with the rebellious minded princes of western Rus, giving umbrage to the Mongols. Batu sent a punitive expedition under Nevrui. On their approach, Andrey fled to Pskov, and thence to Sweden. The Mongols spread over Vladimir and harshly punished the people there. The Livonian Knights stopped their advance to Novgorod and Pskov on hearing the news about the Mongols. Thanks to his friendship with Sartaq, Alexander was installed as the Grand Prince of Vladimir (i.e., the supreme Russian ruler) by Batu in 1252. In 1256 Andrey travelled to Sarai to ask pardon for his former infidelity and was shown mercy.
During the reign of Möngke, Batu's prestige as kingmaker and the great khans' viceroy in the west reached its height. Even so, Batu allowed Möngke's census takers to operate freely in his realm. According to a Muslim chronicle and the history of Yuan dynasty, Batu had free access to the imperial treasury. Of all the grandsons of Chinggis Khaan, he and Möngke seemed most capable and the most dedicated to following the spirit of Mongolian law.
He dispatched a large Jochid delegation to participate in Hulagu's expedition in the Middle East. However, Berke's persuasion might force him to delay to strengthen Hulagu's force, little suspecting that it would result in eliminating the Jochid predominance there, for few years.
Batu, Möngke and other princely lines shared rule over the area from Afghanistan to Turkey. He left state affairs to his son Sartaq before Batu died in 1256.
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