In 1934, after receiving a recommendation from Maxim Gorky, the publishing house Young Guard commissioned Yan to write a story about Genghis Khan.
The trilogy garnered high praise from a wide range of experts such as historians specializing in Russian, medieval, and Oriental studies, as well as critics and literary scholars.
They are joined by bey Jalal al-Din, son of the powerful ruler Muhammad II of Khwarazm, lost while hunting goitered gazelles.
He initially achieves military success, but Genghis Khan's son subsequently breaks through his defenses, leading to a catastrophic defeat for the Khwarazmian ruler.
This betrayal leads to Mongol soldiers infiltrating Khwarazm, ultimately triggering Genghis Khan's invasion after their discovery and execution in Otrar.
Facing Mongol invasion, Shah Muhammad orders taxes to be collected three years in advance and drafts men for military service.
Turkan-Khatun, ones powerful and self-proclaimed "mistress of all the women of the universe", now sings for scraps of food at Genghis Khan's yurt, a deeply tragic turn.
After defeat, he leaps into the tumultuous Sindh River, swims to the opposite bank, threatens Genghis Khan with his sword, and then makes his escape.
For years, Jalal al-Din and his brave followers continued to fight against the Mongols, becoming a beacon of hope and inspiration for those who refused to submit to the invasion.
Besides the old faqih (religious scholar), the only other witness to the fugitive’s presence was the orphan, Yülduz, who lives with the respected Nazar-Karyazik, the stable master of the Kipchak Khan, Bayander.
Musuk is wounded during a meeting with Gleb Vladimirovich, the deposed Grand Duke of Principality of Ryazan, and Babila, a fisherman, helps build a ford across the river.
Russian princes unite to form an army under Evpaty Kolovrat to defeat the Mongols, but a traitor alerts the Khan, leading to a devastating attack.
Returning home, Nazar-Kyarizek carries empty saddles, his sons lost in the Rus' campaign, highlighting the war's true cost.
In the first part of the novel, Duda the Righteous, a skilled seal carver and advisor to the Caliph of Baghdad, learns that Abd-ar-Rahman, a descendant of Abd al-Rahman I, has appeared in the city.
Musuk, a taiji, serves the young and ambitious Khan Batu, who, recently triumphant in Zalesye, brims with youthful strength and newfound confidence.
Meanwhile, Li Tong-po and chronicler Hadji Rakhim enlighten Batu on the legacy of Iskander the Two-Horned, emphasizing that true greatness stems not only from conquest but also from mercy towards the conquered.
When Nogai tries to enter Yülduz-Khatun's chambers, Batu and Subotai trap him and send him to the "violent" detachment that includes diverse individuals like Kurdish knacker Utboy with a horse blanket made from his unfaithful concubine's skin.
Vadim, an aspiring icon painter, enters Alexander Nevsky's wife's entourage but faces accusations of demonic influence for painting the princess with blue eyes instead of the Virgin Mary.
Kievan Rus' stood in the path of the Mongol advance towards the Black Sea, a conflict that also saw the French king facing martyrdom and the Holy Roman Emperor fleeing to Palestine.
Batu himself is waiting for sad news at home: his noble wives brought his dearly beloved Yülduz to death, and she is mourned by serving intellectuals Haji Rahim and Li Tong-po.
Concluding his narrative, Hadji Rahim writes, "I can only wish my future readers never have to endure the worst our life can offer – the devastating hurricane of a cruel and senseless war".
The debate over whether Vasily Yan's extensive fiction works should be classified as novels or not raged on, with his trilogy The Invasion of the Mongols serving as a focal point.
As a result, in Vasily Yan's work, Jochi was brutally killed by mercenaries on his father's orders, with his spine broken as per Mongolian tradition.
Valentin Oskotsky believed that the most compelling aspect of this novel was the vivid depiction of Batu Khan's campaign "when the sun goes down", where Kiev defiantly stood against the Mongol forces, refusing to surrender like other cities that had fallen to the Tatars.
[10] Vasily Yan aimed to contrast Batu Khan's aggressive tactics with Alexander Yaroslavich's cautious approach, as the latter strategically avoided direct conflict with the Horde despite his victories over the Swedes and Livonian knights.
Valentin Oskotsky, a literary critic, thought that Vasily Yan's trilogy of "main books" had some success but also had some hurdles when it came to getting published because of their controversial themes.
But once World War II started, things changed, and the novel became a groundbreaking work in Soviet literature that challenged the norms of the time.
Critics like Georgy Schtorm thought Vasily Yan focused too much on traditional exoticism in the East, while Zoya Kedrina liked the colorful language but felt the plot lacked cohesion.
Critics such as Leonid Volynsky and Valery Kirpotin praised Vasily Yan's novels for bringing the past to life and showing his passion for modernity and historical truth.
[13] Lev Razgon praised Yanchevetsky as a writer who carried on the compassionate traditions of Russian literature, instilling a sense of dignity and resilience in his readers.