Ch.309Side Story (8)

# After the Western Xia Conquest, Gurkhan Waged War Against Western Liao

After conquering Western Xia, Gurkhan proceeded to wage war against Western Liao.

The reason was that he discovered Kuchlug, who had survived the Mongol unification wars, had fled to Western Liao.

Gurkhan demanded that Western Liao hand over Kuchlug, but they refused.

Using this as a pretext, Gurkhan prepared for a full-scale invasion of Western Liao.

Some viewed this conquest as part of the steppe expansion wars.

At that time, unlike today, the Mongolian steppe only referred to the Mongolian plateau region.

The people living there were a mix of nomads who had separated from the Donghu, Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Khitan, all distinct from the Mongol proper.

Among them, Western Liao consisted of people of Khitan lineage, later called Khitai or Turks.

Due to these similar relationships, some scholars believe Gurkhan achieved ethnic unification by conquering Western Liao.

“Ethnic unification? They were simply trying to control the steppe routes.”

I refuted the wiki’s content with these words.

The concept of ethnicity was very vague in medieval times.

There was no notion that people born on the steppe should live together because they were the same ethnicity.

“If that were the case, unifying the Mongolian steppe itself would have been difficult.”

The Khamag Mongol were of Donghu lineage.

In contrast, the Keraites and Naimans were of Turkic origin.

This meant they were closer to the blonde-haired people like those in the historical Stan countries.

Additionally, groups like the Oirats and Buryats were closer to Siberian natives.

With such diverse groups becoming unified through interaction, the situation was too complex to be simplified under the term “ethnicity.”

“This feels like YouTubers reading and refuting their own wiki entries.”

I said this while scrolling down.

In conquering Western Liao, Gurkhan displayed the same approach as before.

He employed rapid cavalry tactics and aggressive strategies including two-directional attacks.

However, unlike the Western Xia conquest, this time it appears that Yesugei’s son Temujin, the Crown Prince, led the war directly rather than Yesugei himself.

The Crown Prince had served alongside the Emperor since childhood and was his legitimate successor.

Evidence of this is seen in how the Emperor designated Temujin as his successor before his family.

In fact, the first codified law created under the Emperor’s orders, the Mongol Law Draft, stated that only legitimate heirs like Temujin could inherit the Yeke Mongol Ulus.

The generals who distinguished themselves during this time were Jebe and Bo’orchu.

Jebe gained fame as a marksman, demonstrating his prowess in the Western Liao conquest by killing enemy commanders from great distances by shooting them in the head while they stood on fortress walls.

In contrast, Bo’orchu, originally a merchant, was recruited for his ability to solve supply problems during the conquest.

Anyway, Crown Prince Temujin took the lead in the conquest of Western Liao under the Emperor’s orders.

The Emperor commanded the Crown Prince to conquer Western Liao with only cavalry troops.

Obeying this, the Crown Prince led thousands of cavalry to conquer Qara-Ordo, kill the usurper Kuchlug, and make Yelu Zhilugu, the last royal of Western Liao, his subject.

He then bestowed a name upon him, and this person became the famous chancellor Yelu Chucai.

It’s important not to confuse him with another famous chancellor also named Yelu Chucai. They were active during the same period, and after Yelu Zhilugu’s death, the Yelu Chucai of the House of Wisdom became the empire’s chancellor.

After completing the conquest of Western Liao, the Crown Prince was granted its throne by the Emperor.

Subsequently, the Mongol Khagans ruled by traveling between Qara-Ordo, Ulaanbaatar, and the Great Capital.

This policy could be considered an imitation of the ancient Persian Empire.

“It wasn’t really imitation… it just happened that way.”

The Mongol territory was truly vast.

This created many inconveniences in governing the state.

One of these was determining the imperial capital, or administrative center.

During my time, Khamag Mongol was the capital, but after the Jin Dynasty conquest, it was moved to the Great Capital.

Similarly, it seems that after my death, Temujin continued his conquests, establishing local capitals and continuing his conquest activities from there.

“From a nomad’s perspective, the concept of a capital was minimal to begin with.”

Wherever the Khagan was became the capital.

Because of this, before administration was fully established—during my time and Temujin’s—we had no choice but to govern by moving between various cities.

“Anyway, it’s hard to read when it’s all war stories from beginning to end.”

My life was a continuous series of wars.

Not metaphorically, but literally.

So constantly talking about wars was somewhat tiresome.

“I’ll just read the final assessment.”

The Jin Dynasty war, the Crusades expedition, the Japan expedition, and the Southern Song conquest—there was still a long way to go.

Since it would take too long to read everything, I planned to just read the overall assessment.

“Besides, I’m more curious about my son’s story than my own.”

This wiki was boring because it was about me.

It was content I already knew.

With these thoughts, I looked at the overall assessment section.

Assessment

This is a figure whose evaluation varies greatly depending on perspective.

The Mongols, being nomadic, weren’t as interested in leaving records as Chinese, Islamic, or European cultures.

Of course, Gurkhan was somewhat better in this regard.

So while he is generally portrayed negatively by those who suffered under him, the remaining records of the Emperor help avoid this misunderstanding to some extent.

Still, it’s undeniable that during this period, the Mongols often portrayed themselves as ruthless villains or natural disasters.

In other words, as an extension of psychological warfare, they were skilled at obtaining surrender without fighting, so such misunderstandings and images were inevitable.

Achievements

1) Abolition of the class system.

The class system did not function within Mongolia.

While nobles and clan leaders existed, they had no special privileges.

Compared to 11th century Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and Goryeo, where noble privileges led to impoverished lives for the common people, the difference is clear.

Considering nomadic culture, it was difficult for a class system to exist.

For a class system to be maintained, society needed to be stable, but the Ulus continued expeditions throughout three generations—the Emperor, Crown Prince, and Grand Prince.

This led to a constant shortage of population, especially men.

As a result, it appears that even women were mobilized during the Grand Prince’s time.

In fact, during the invasion of England, the Grand Prince changed the designation from “all men between 15 and 70 years old are warriors” to “all people” regardless of gender.

2) Guarantee of religious freedom.

While the main Mongol belief was Tengri faith, it lacked systematic religious structure. Additionally, imported Siberian indigenous beliefs and shamanism were at a similar level to Tengri faith.

As a result, Mongols were very tolerant of religion as long as one didn’t deny Tengri. The Emperor himself converted from Tengri to Christianity but appears to have continued to worship Tengri.

According to the Secret History of the Emperor, Gurkhan was very tolerant of religion.

However, he immediately punished those who showed intolerance toward other religions.

The mainstream religions of the time, Christianity and Islam, were monotheistic and tended to reject other religions.

Unlike this tendency, the Mongol Empire guaranteed religious freedom, resulting in relatively less resistance compared to other conquering dynasties.

3) Prohibition of discrimination.

Gurkhan emphasized equality to the extent that he recorded it in the Mongol Law Draft.

He employed people based on ability regardless of race, religion, or birthplace.

He always mentioned not to discriminate, and his descendants followed this.

However, there is potential for misunderstanding on this point.

That is the discrimination against the Han people, an ancient civilization.

There are records that the Song Dynasty, a Central Plains civilization, was thoroughly destroyed, and the people living there were mercilessly killed.

These records are one-sided accounts from the Goryeo-Liaodong Federation, and there are no definitive records within the Ulus, so it’s uncertain.

Whether this is true or not is unclear, but since the Central Plains civilization was destroyed and Han culture disappeared, cross-verification is difficult.

The aforementioned systems were unilaterally imposed by the Mongols on other regions, causing significant backlash from locals.

As a result, those who suffered greatly dislike Gurkhan, especially Europeans who were conquered by the Emperor and Crown Prince and remained in a state of slavery until Napoleon appeared.

The same was true for the Middle East, which continued to resist even after Salah al-Din.

While there was no racial discrimination, slavery did exist.

Most notably, in the cases of the French Gurun and German Gurun, which resisted most fiercely, the majority of the population was either sold into slavery or killed, so their anger is understandable.

“If even a Mongolian wiki evaluates it this way, it must have been quite something.”

At that time, slavery existed in Mongolia.

More precisely, they were battle slaves created during the process of incorporating defeated soldiers.

“But it wasn’t just soldiers who were captured.”

Naturally, there were also civilians who resisted.

In their case, they sometimes became slaves as examples, so it’s clear that many people from regions known for fierce resistance, like France and Germany, were sold into slavery.

In medieval times, productivity was based on labor.

This meant that each person produced a productivity value of 1.

Therefore, securing more population meant more production.

There was a reason for elaborating on a story everyone knows.

“Because they completely destroyed the Song Dynasty and killed all the Han people.”

The disappearance of a population of 100 million.

Of course, most likely fled across the sea to Taiwan or escaped to Southeast Asia to avoid our eyes.

Even accounting for such variables, the disappearance of 100 million people couldn’t help but have a significant impact.

The good point was that the Earth became healthier; the bad point was that the lack of productivity slowed national development.

It seems Temujin solved this labor shortage with slaves.

And he did so by indiscriminately taking Europeans as slaves during the European expedition.