When Genghis Khan cut gold, there was a coup in Xiliao, a generation away from Xinjiang and Central Asia, and the situation was chaotic. So Genghis Khan withdrew and returned. 12 18, he sent tens of thousands of generals to attack and destroy western Liao. Since then, Mongolian soldiers have opened the passage into Central Asia and Europe.
With the demise of the Western Liao Dynasty, the Mongolian army advanced triumphantly. 12 19 autumn, Genghis Khan led 200,000 troops to attack the Mongolian caravan under the pretext of being killed by the flower thorn submodule.
The flower thorn submodule is a big country in Central Asia, located in the Caspian Sea, Aral Sea and Syr Darya River in Central Asia today, with the Amu Darya River basin as the center and its national strength extending to Afghanistan and Persia. Due to corruption and incompetence, Mahamo, the king of the flower thorn model, failed to organize troops and people to effectively resist Mongolian fighters. Under the siege of the Fourth Army of Genghis Khan, he was afraid that the enemy would escape and went straight to an island in the Caspian Sea to die. Later, Mahamo's son tried to rally but was defeated by Genghis Khan. He retreated to Shenhe River (now Indus River) and fled into the rough river to escape alone. As a result, the thorn submodule perished.
Mongolian warplanes continued westward, successively captured Azerbaijan, Georgia and other countries, and crossed the Caucasus mountains to reach northern Iran. Another Mongolian army crossed the Volga River and reached the Sea of Azov, the Crimean Peninsula and the Dnieper River in Ukraine today, thus establishing the Great Mongolia across Asia and Europe.
Genghis Khan divided the vast area he occupied into hereditary territories for his three sons. The eldest son, Shu Chi, was originally called "Qincha Khanate" according to places like Huala Zimo, and its capital is located in Badusalai (now the lower reaches of Volga River); 1224 After Shu Chi's death, his son Badu succeeded Khan. The second son, Chagatai, acquired the former Western Liao Dynasty and other places, and was called "Chagatai Khanate", with its capital in Ali Muli (now northwest of Huocheng, Xinjiang). Sanzi Wokuotai was divided into the upper reaches of Irtysh River and the east of Balkhash Lake, which was called "Wokuotai khanate", and its capital was also lost (now Emin, Xinjiang).
Another attack direction of Mongolian Tieqi's external expansion is the southern countries: Jin, Xixia, Southern Song Dynasty, Tubo and Dali. From 1205 to 1209, Mongolian troops invaded Xixia three times, forcing Xixia to bow down and pay tribute. Genghis Khan asked Xixia to send troops to follow the expedition, but the Xixia king refused. After returning from the Western Expedition, Genghis Khan personally led an expedition to Xixia in the autumn of 1226 on the grounds that King Xixia disobeyed orders. During World War I in Lingzhou (now southwest of Lingwu, Ningxia), the main force of Xixia was lost, and the Mongolian army besieged Zhongxing House, the capital of Xixia (now Yinchuan, Ningxia). In June of the following year, the king of Xixia couldn't hold on and demanded surrender, but it would take a month to give up the capital. In July, Genghis Khan died in a military camp at the southern foot of Liupanshan Mountain at the age of 65. Before he died, he told his men not to mourn. King Xiancheng of Xixia killed him. Xixia perished.
After Genghis Khan's death, his sons led Mongolian soldiers to inherit his unfinished business and continue the Western Expedition.
1235 to 1244, Mongolian fighters launched the second western expedition after conquering the Jin dynasty, also known as the "eldest son's western expedition"-because this western expedition was led by the eldest son of Genghis Khan's four sons. They are: Badou, the eldest son of Genghis Khan and Shu Chi; Baidal, the third son of Wokuotai and the eldest son of Chahetai; And Meng Ge, the eldest son of Tuo Lei, the fourth son. 1240, Mongolian troops conquered Volos (now west of Volga River), and then fighters crossed Paulier (now Poland) and Madzar (now Hungary) in the eastern European plain and reached the Adriatic coast, which shocked the whole of Europe. Later, they returned to the East after receiving the news of Wokuotai's death.
125 1 year, Tuo Lei's son Meng Ge inherited Khan's position, and then decided to send his younger brother Xu Liewu to the Western Expedition. So from 1253 to 1259, Mongolian fighters made the third westward expedition. 1257 After Xu Liewu conquered Mollay (now Iranian), he continued to go south. In the second year, surrounded by the capital of the black food country (now Baghdad, Iraq), the caliph (king) of the food country was forced to surrender. Mongolian soldiers have not stopped yet, continuing to capture Mesopotamia to the west, approaching Egypt, and then setting foot on the African continent.
1260, Kublai Khan, the brother of Mongolia and the brother of Xu Liewu, ascended the great Khan position. He named the newly occupied southwest Asia Xuliewu, and called it "Ilihan State"-its territory starts from the Amu Darya River in the east, reaches Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the west, connects Qincha khanate in the north, and reaches the Arabian Sea in the south. Abaqa, son of Xu Liewu, established his capital in Maluga (present-day Iranian Tabrizi) after he ascended the throne. The State of Ilihan, together with the former Qincha khanate, Chahetai khanate and Wokuotai khanate, is called the "Four Great Khan Countries". They have always maintained a formal vassal relationship with Mongolia and the later Yuan Dynasty, thus forming an unprecedented huge Mongolian empire across Eurasia. However, because the Mongolian empire is too large, it is an unstable political and military complex under military conquest and lacks a common economic and cultural foundation. Therefore, after the establishment of the four khanates, they developed independently and soon became several independent khanates. However, before the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty maintained good relations with the Four Great Khan States. Why did the Mongols, whose civilization was not advanced at that time, achieve such brilliant results?
There are many and complicated reasons, but the following two aspects are the most basic: on the one hand, Mongolia led by Genghis Khan and others is a new force, full of vigor and vitality, and is on the rise.
Genghis Khan's "winning the world with a bow and a horse"-Mongolian nomads and Zhong Junmin are integrated and brave, which is conducive to launching a large-scale war, especially in its rising period. History has proved this, such as the Khitan nationality before, the Jurchen nationality, and the Manchu nationality after. Genghis Khan cultivated a very powerful army from the beginning of the war to the unification of tribes in the long-term combat practice. This elite rapid force, mainly composed of cavalry, is good at long-distance raids and assaults, can adopt large-scale strategic circuitous and encirclement tactics, and can quickly adopt new military equipment and technologies and apply them to combat, learning war in the war-for example, bombarding the enemy when attacking the city, first sweeping the periphery, then attacking the main enemy, besieged for a long time, and withdrawing troops to fight back. The founder Genghis Khan himself is also an outstanding strategist in the world military history. He is "deep and general, fighting like a god." He and his Mongolian soldiers wrote a glorious chapter in the ancient military history of China and even the world.
On the other hand, the opponents of Mongolian warriors are either too weak, or more backward, or once strong but declining. For example, two powerful enemies of Mongolia, the Jin Dynasty and Hua Tuo Mozi, are corrupt governments, fatuous monarchs and ineffective armies. In this context, the advantages of Mongolian soldiers and Genghis Khan's political and military talents have been fully brought into play.
Although the result of Mongolian Tieqi's three voyages to the Western Ocean objectively played a positive role in further opening up traffic between Europe and Asia and promoting cultural exchanges between China and the West, wherever Mongolian Tieqi went, it burned towns, massacred people, destroyed production and advanced civilization in a large area. This brutal war after another caused great losses and deep suffering to the people of all countries concerned for a period of time.
Map of siege of Mongolian army