One day Niccolo decided to ask Kublai Khan about going home. But the Khan was immediately worried and said no. He then began to ask Niccolo a lot of questions. Why did the Polos want to go home? Why did they not want to stay with him?
So the Polos continued their usual life at the Khan’s court. But one day news arrived from Arghun, the ruler of the Mongol Empire in Persia. He was the grandson of Kublai Khan’s brother. Arghun’s wife was dead and he wanted to marry again. But his new wife had to from the most important Mongol family.
So Kublai Khan said that Arghun could marry a beautiful young princess from his court – a seventeen-years-old girl called Kokachin. At first, Kokachin began her journey to meet Arghun with three Persian ambassadors. But they turned back because of terrible fighting on the road.
Back at the Mongol court, the three Persian ambassadors secretly met the Polos. They needed to take Kokachin to Persia soon, and perhaps these three famous travellers could go with them. The Polos were, of course, very pleased with this plan and they talked to the Khan about it. In the end, he agreed. He also said that they had to return to see him.
The Khan again gave the men gold passports, and bags of valuable jewels as presents. In 1292 the group sailed from the city of Zaiton in fourteen huge ships full of food and drink for the long journey. There were hundreds of sailors, servants, and passengers on each ship.
The ships stopped at a number of places – for example, the islands of Java, Sumatra, and Sri Lanka, and also parts of India. But it was not easy travelling by sea. In Java they had to stop for months because of heavy rain, and on the two-year journey 600 passengers died from accidents, storms, or bad food. Two of those 600 dead were the Persian ambassadors.
In the end, the Polos Kokachin, and the last Persian ambassador arrived in Hormuz. But messengers from Persia soon brought bad news – Arghun was now dead. The ambassador and the Polos quickly spoke to the Persian messengers and they decided on a new plan – Kokachin could now marry Arghun’s son Ghazan.
So Niccolo, Maffeo, and Marco took the princess up to the city of Kerman to meet her new husband. Kokachin cried when the Polos left her. After a long journey together with many adventures they were now good friends.
The Polos began to turn home. But they soon had more bad news. Kublai Khan was dead. Whth his death, the great Mongol Empire stopped being so important. And for the Polos this was the end of their journeys to China.
Months later, Niccolo, Maffeo, and Marco arrived safely back in Venice. It was twenty-four years since they last left. But did their friends and familles still remember them?