In 1223, a Mongol horde of 20,000 warriors under the formidable general Subutai defeated a combined army of about 80,000 Russian principalities in a battle later known as the Battle of Kalka.
On that occasion, the Mongols killed over 90 percent of the enemy’s army and captured its leaders, led by Mstislav, Prince of Kiev.
The Mongols executed the prince, and the other captured nobles, by laying them on the ground and covering them with a wooden platform. The Mongol commanders had a victory feast on that platform, while the poor nobles suffocated beneath them and were finally crushed.
Can you imagine the screams and crushing bones of dying people as you actually sit on top of them and ask your servants to refill your glass of wine?
The Mongols certainly took psychological warfare to a whole new level.
In the Mongolian religion, it was believed that shedding the blood of kings or nobles would offend the sky god Tengri and the earth spirit Eya.
Spilling the victim’s blood on the ground would prevent the victim from existing in the afterlife. The Mongols believed the victim would become nothing in that case. If royal blood was spilled, then the gods would punish the Mongols with terrible natural disasters. Therefore, it was a great sin to spill the blood of a prince or a king on the ground.
The Mongols, including Genghis Khan himself, had a talent for using religion to suit their purposes. They interpreted divine law in a way that allowed them to kill kings and nobles, anyway.
Death sentences intended for the aristocracy became even more cruel because of these “workarounds”.
And so the Mongols came up with many both gruesome and imaginative ways to kill without the blood of the hapless victim touching the ground.
This included: sewing up all the victim’s openings and throwing them into the river, pouring molten metal into the victim’s eyes and ears, wrapping the man in a carpet and letting the horses run over him, breaking the spine by lifting the victim and slamming him against the executioner’s knee or a nearby rock. Also, the aforementioned putting the victims under the boards on which they sat and ate until the unfortunate person suffocated.
Even the scene in Game of Thrones where Khal Drogo kills Targaryen Prince Viserys by pouring molten gold on his head was inspired by Mongol methods.
In 1219, the Mongols invaded the Khwarezmian Empire (present-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia). During the invasion, they captured Nalchik, a member of the royal family. The Mongols killed him by pouring molten silver into his eyes and ears to punish him for his obsession with wealth.
