The tumen had been in march order since before the valley was visible.
Torghul had set the intervals before dawn, Penk's signal riders moving between the mingans while the force was still pushing through the dark road east of the Orkhon.
By the time the valley opened ahead and the city's wall-line appeared on the far side of the river plain, the army was running the way it had run through the mountain passes and the Fergana road, clean and without correction.
The civilian tail had begun separating from the column two hours out. Merchants, provisioners, and the followers that any extended march collected over months on the road peeled away from the rear in the drift of people who understood where they were permitted.
They took their place at the valley's eastern edge, well clear of the factional encampments, and made their own there.
Batu watched the valley floor from his post near the head of the march as the column came down the slope.
