The same year—1227—the fierce conqueror died, in the second half of August. The cause of his death is now unknown, but a number of colorful explanations were given during the Middle Ages: it was variously said that Genghis was struck by lightning, poisoned by an arrow, or fatally wounded by a captive queen who went to his bed with a razor blade hidden in her vagina.20 Whatever the case, it was in bed that he died, and his last orders were fitting: he demanded his successors build a new city called Karakorum to serve as the capital of the Mongol empire and then gave instructions for the mass
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