forces decisively defeated Sultan Shah on the banks of river Murgabh after months of campaigning and executed their governor of Herat Bahauddin Turghil while Sultan Shah fled to Merv. The Ghurids followed their victory by recapturing Herat. Sultan Shah died after a year in 1191 possibly due to the drug overdose. According to historian A.B.M. Habibullah, the Ghurids could not annex any territory in Khurasan outside Herat which remained under the sway of Tekesh and who by 1193 captured much of the Persia along with the Trans-Caspian belt. Conversely, C. E. Bosworth stated that Ghurids annexed some part of Khurasan after their victory in Merv. Later Tekish died in 1200, which led to a brief period of struggle for the succession between Alauddin Shah of Khwarezm and his nephew Hindu Khan. The Ghurid brothers seized the opportunity and amidst the turmoil in the Khwarezmian house, invaded and captured Nishapur, Merv, Sarakhas and Tus and reached till Gorgan. The Ghurids, thus, for a short span established their sway over most of the Khurasan for first time in their history. Although, their success turned to be a short-term affair as Alauddin succeeded the throne in August 1200 and soon after recaptured his lost domains by 1201. Despite the success against the Ghurids, Alauddin sent an envoy for diplomacy to Muhammad of Ghor, probably to focus solely on overcoming from the suzerainty of Qara Khitais by sougthing peace with the Ghurids. However, the attempt turned to be futile and Muhammad marched again with his forces on Nishapur which forced Alauddin to shut himself inside the city walls. Muhammad Ghori recaptured Tus along with Herat and sacked the coutryside. Ghiyath al-Din Ghuri around this time died at Herat on 13 March 1203, after months of illness which briefly diverted Muhammad of Ghor's attention from the existing state of affairs. Thus, taking advantage of his absence from Herat where he appointed his nephew Alp Ghazi, Khwarezmian forces captured Merv and beheaded the Ghurid governor Karang there. Muhammad of Ghor, possibly to swept away the Khwarezmian Empire, laid siege to their capital Gurganj, instead of Herat which was besieged by the Khwarezmians after Ghiyath al-Din's death. Alauddin retreated on the Ghurid advance and desperately requested aid from the Qara Khitais, who sent a sizeable army to aid the Khwarezmians. Muhammad, because of the pressure from the Qara Khitai forces was forced to relieve the siege and