Kublai Khan Tangut woman as her son's nurse, whom Kublai later honored highly. On his way home after the Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia, Genghis Khan performed a ceremony on his grandsons Möngke and Kublai after their first hunt in 1224 near the Ili River. Kublai was nine years old and with his eldest brother killed a rabbit and an antelope. After his grandfather smeared fat from killed animals onto Kublai's middle finger in accordance with a Mongol tradition, he said "The words of this boy Kublai are full of wisdom, heed them well - heed them all of you." The elderly Khagan
Mongol invasions of the Levant Tekuder's conversion to Islam and attempts to make peace with the Mamluks were not popular with the other nobles of the Ilkhanate. When Tekuder's brother Arghun challenged him for the throne, Tekuder sought assistance in vain from the Mamluks, but was executed. Arghun (1284–91) took power, and as directed by the Great Khan Kublai (r.1260-94) continued Mongol attempts to conquer Syria. In late 1299, the Mongol Ilkhan Mahmud Ghazan, son of Arghun, took his army and crossed the Euphrates river to again invade Syria. They continued south until they were slightly north of Homs, and successfully took Aleppo. There, Ghazan