Mongol Campaign in Central Asia (original) (raw)

2023, From the Khitans to the Jurchens & Mongols: A History of Barbarians in Triangle Wars & Quartet Conflicts

Abstract

There appeared to have existed much earlier Mongol campaigns against Semiryechye and Central Asia than what the Mongol-related history had covered. In A.D. 1214, Genghis Khan, during some interval between the campaigns against the Tanguts and Jurchens, could be involved in a campaign against the Khitans in the Semiryechye (seven Balkhash Lake rivers) area. This was a campaign against the 300,000 Kara-khitai army, that was carried in Guo Baoyu’s biography, an incredible passage that debunked the prevalent missing [or compacted] one-year history of the Mongols’ Central Asia campaign as carried in the Persian and Arab records, that were invariably copycatted into the European history books as well as palmed off to China as revisionist history [that was seen in Hong Ju and Ke Shaomin’s writings]. In a battle at the E-yi-duo city of [Gu-]Xu-gui-guo state (speculated to be related to the Uygur founder-king Kutlug Boyla or Kutlug Bilge Kaghan’s Peiluo or Boyla city), Guo Baoyu was so seriously wounded that Genghis Khan ordered to cut apart an ox’s belly to put Guo Baoyu inside for preventing hypothermia. In A.D. 1217, Xin Yuan Shi stated that Genghis Khan, hearing that the Merkits were in the Naiman domain, ordered to campaign against Kuchlug, i.e., son of the deposed khan of the Naimans, who was already emperor of Kara-Khitay (Western Liao Dynasty, Qara Khitan). Genghis Khan hence sent Jebe on a campaign against Kuchlug. Xin Yuan Shi erred by one year late here. According to Yuan Shi, Genghis Khan, after return north from North China campaigns against the Jurchens in the spring of A.D. 1216, already ordered Subetei to attack the Merkits at a celebration party near the Tu’ula River, a campaign that continued till A.D. 1219, with Subetei defeating the Merkits at the Chan-he (toad) River in A.D. 1218 or Genghis Khan’s 13th year per Xin Yuan Shi. Subetei’s western campaign could be further divided into two phases of war against the Merkits and Kipchaks in A.D. 1216-1219 [with skirmish with Khwarazm in A.D. 1219] and war against the Khwarazm empire in A.D. 1219-1224 -- that Subetei’s biography bundled together in one passage. Subetei and Chepe appeared to have campaigned to the west at about the same time, with Chepe’s focus being laid on the Kara-Khitai Khitans, instead. In A.D. 1218, Xin Yuan Shi stated that Genghis Khan ordered Chepe to campaign against Kuchlug of Kara-Khitay (Western Liao dynasty). In June of A.D. 1219, Xi-yu (western territories), i.e., today’s Chinese Turkistan, killed the Mongol emissaries. Genghis Khan personally led the campaign against ‘Xi-yu’ (A.D. 1219-1224) and captured chieftain Ha-zhi-er-zhi-lan-tu (Khadie-khan).

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References (3)

  1. the death of Genghis Khan in A.D. 1227, a new Mongol army was sent to attacking Jala ad-Din who at one time defeated the Mongols near Dameghan. In A.D. 1228, Jala ad-Din, who was indulgent in drinking, was defeated. This was taken to be brother Ghiyath-al-Din's escaping to Quhistan during the Battle of Isfahan against the Mongols. In A.D. 1228, Mongol General Taymas- noyan attacked Jalal al-Din again, on which occasion Jalal al-Din was purportedly betrayed by half-brother Ghiyath al-Din during a battle near Isfahan but still defeated the Mongols. Ghiyath- al-Din was later killed by Khitan Burak-hadjib (Bo-la-ke) at Kerman where Ghiyath-al-Din fled for seeking asylum. Another Mongol army attack in the same year near Isfahan, that was considered a Mongol pyrrhic victory, caused Taymas-noyan so much loss that the Mongols withdrew. The Mongols were to renew attacks against Jalal ad-Din after Ogedei Khan's enthronement. Ogedei, before an official campaign against the land of Russia and Europe, dispatched 30,000 men against Jala ad-Din.
  2. Purportedly, the Ismaili Assassins of Persia sent a messenger to Bukhara, where Chormaqan was, and requested with the Mongols for attacking Jalal al-Din. Jala ad-Din, who first fled to Tabriz, defeated an allied army of Armenians, Georgians, Alans and Kipchaks. Jala ad-Din continued to attack Khilat (Bitlis, Turkey) and Rum instead of allying with the locals against the Mongols. In A.D. 1229, Jalal ad-Din attacked Akhlat again. In A.D. 1230, Jalal ad- Din took Akhlat, which led to an alliance between the Seljuks and Ayyubids. In Rum, at Yassicemen (west of Arzinzan or Erzincan) and on the Upper Euphrates, Jalal ad-Din was defeated by Sultan Ashraf of Aleppo and Sultan Kayqubad I (i.e., Seljuk Sultan Ala al-Din of Rum, r. A.D. 1220-1237). After defeat, Jala ad-Din escaped to Diyarbakir. In A.D. 1230, the Mongols sent Shuo-li-man (Zhuo-er-ma-han, Chormaqan, a Sunit clan person who descended from Kaidu-khan's son Chaozhenwo'ertiegai) to today's Iran for cracking down on Jala ad-Din's insurgency. Xin Yuan Shi stated that Chuo-er-ma-han and 30,000 Mongol troops defeated Jala ad-Din at He-er-la-er (Herat). Chormaqan, before attacking Jalal al-Din, invaded and occupied Mazandaran (northern Iran/Persia) and Khorasan (Khurasan) in A.D. 1230, with subordinate Dayir noyan acting as garrison commander for the Khorasan and Mazandaran territory as well as being ordered to take Kabul, Ghazni, and Zawulistan in today's western Afghanistan. Jalal al-Din fled the city of Rai when he heard of the Mongols' approaching Sarab in late A.D. 1230.
  3. In A.D. 1131, Chormaqan took over Qum, Hamamdan (Hamadan), Fars and Kirman (Kerman), and laid a siege of Isfahan. With Mongol General Taimas intruding into the Mughan plains and Arran, Jalal al-Din first fled north towards Shirvan, then southward towards Azerbaijan, then to the city of Ganjak, then fleeing through Kurdistan to Akhlat, and then gathered himself at Amid by taking a respite with the Mongols going north to Manzikert. Though, Caliph al-Nasir of Baghdad, Ayyubid sultan Ashraf of Aleppo, and the Seljuk Turk sultan Ala al-Din refused to render aid to Jala ad-Din. In a sudden Mongol raid, Jalal al-Din was defeated and fled into the Sufaye Mountains. On his way fleeing towards the Anatolia direction, Jala ad-Din was killed in A.D. 1231 in the Hakhar mountains by the locals, i.e., the Kurds. Chormaqan, after quelling Jala ad-Din, continued to subjugate Azerbaijan (A-zhe-er-bai-zhan), Armenia and Georgia (Gu-er-zhi), and organized the "scout cavalrymen garrison troops" (i.e., 'tan-ma [scout cavalrymen] chi [guards] jun [army]') to police the territory. All along, the Mongols followed Jalal al-Din and raided the environs of Akhlat and Erjish, etc. To the south, the Mongols were to sack and massacre Irbil (with the inner Irbil citadel defenders spared in exchange for surrender and tributes). Zhuo- er-ma-han, i.e., Shuo-li-man (Chormaqan), who defeated Jalal al-Din in A.D. 1231, sacked Tabriz and massacred Maragha, invaded the Mughan plain in A.D. 1233, crossed the Araxes River into Arran toward Ganjak in late A.D. 1234, invaded Georgia in A.D. 1235-1236, sacked Ganjak in A.D. 1235, and renewed attacks in A.D. 1238-1239 with five columns to echo the Mongols' Volga-Rus campaigns to the north of the Caucasus, which led to queen Rusudani's escape from Tbilisi, and sacked and massacred Armenia Major's capital city of Ani in A.D. 1239. Xin Yuan Shi stated that Chormaqan again intruded into Iraqi Arab in A.D. 1238, defeated the caliph at the Kan-ni-jin city, and diverted the army to attacking Jiao'erzhi (Georgia), and that in A.D. 1239, the Mongols defeated Jiao'erzhi (Georgia) general A-ba-ke (Prince Avak). The five columns were led by himself against Armenia north of the Araxes River, and adjutant generals Mular against the Kura River valley; Chaghatai Noya against Georgia.; and Jula and Yissaur against Arran and eastern Armenia. In A.D. 1238, Chaghatai noyan captured Lorhe where ruler Shahanshah abandoned the city, and Toghta noyan, a subordinate, attacked Gaian which was surrendered by Prince Avak. Chaghatai noyan subsequently took Dumanise and Shamshvilde, and laid a siege of Tbilisi (Tiflis). In A.D. 1238, Chormaqan's brother Jula sacked Khatchen in the Karabagh region, while Yissaur noyan pacified Hrashkaberd which was ruled by Prince Ulikum Orbelean. In A.D. 1239, Chormaqan sacked and massacred the Armenian capital of Ani, and subsequently sacked the neighboring city of Kars. In A.D. 1239, Mular attacked and massacred Shamkor in central Armenia, which was defended by Prince Vahram. The Mongols subsequently took more than half a dozen Armenian cities, and caused Prince Vahram to surrender. By A.D. 1240, all Georgia, Armenia and Transcaucasia were pacified. In 1239, on Ivane I Jaqeli's advice, Georgia queen Rusudan sent four envoys to negotiating surrender. The surrender terms, other than the tributes of gold pieces, included the stripping of the Muslim vassals like Shirvan, while retaining the Christian territory such as Armenia. Jiao'erzhi or Georgia queen Tang-mu-ta and general A-ba-ke visited Ogedei Khan in Mongolia (or alternatively, first Batu Khan's capital on the Volga and then Ogedei's court) in A.D. 1240, and received the Mongols' offer of having Zhuo-er-ma-han (Chormaqan) return the Georgian land. In A.D. 1242, Rusudani (Rusudan) paid the annual tributes of 50,000 hyperpyron (about 250 kilos of gold) to the Mongols. Tang-mu-ta, i.e., Rusudani (Rusudan) and queen of Georgian, was a daughter of Queen Tamar of Georgia by David Soslan, and succeeded brother George IV in A.D. 1223 For the one decade's rule, Shuo-li-man (Chormaqan) exercised extreme terror among the Muslims, with Arab or Kurdish historian Ali ibn al-Athir recording in al-Kamil fi at-Tarikh (complete history) the Mongols' ridiculing the locals with words "la ilaha illaallah" before the kill. Chormaqan was succeeded by Bai-zhu (Baiju-noyan) in A.D. 1241, with the prior one-year time ruled by wife Altan Khatun while he was in the paralyzed status. Baiju attacked the Seljuks from A.D. 1241 to 1243, twice attacked Baghdad in A.D. 1241 and 1246, and invaded Antioch in A.D. 1246. Baiju was of the 'qie-xue' or 'qie-xue-dai' (bodyguard) background, i.e., kheshig. In A.D. 1243, Baiju campaigned against the Rum Empire, defeated Kaykhusraw II (Kai-kuo-su) and his allies of Trebizond, Frankish mercenaries and some Georgians under Pharadavla of Akhaltsikhe and Dardin Shervashidze (from Samtskhe Duchy of Akhaltsikhe) at the Battle of Battle of Mount Kehan-shan (Kose Dag), with Rum ruler Kaykhusraw II surrendering to the Mongols later. The Mongols sent a separate army to pacifying Xi-li-ya (Cilicia), which was situated to the south of the Seljuk state. In A.D. 1245, Baiju sacked the Kai-la-tuo city, and gave it back to Tang-mu-ta (Queen Rusudan of Georgia) according to Ogedei's will. Altogether, Baiju pacified Rum (i.e., the last Seljuk sultanate), Armenia Minor (Cilicia), Malatiyah and Aleppo. After defeating the Sultanate of Rum, Baiju freed David VII Ulu from imprisonment. Queen Rusudan of Georgia sent son David VI Narin to Batu's court to get official recognition as heir apparent. While Batu supported David VI, granting him the rights above the Georgian and Armenian nobles and the Mongol tammachis, Guyuk (Guyük) Khan, a feud of Batu's, made David Ulu the senior king of Georgia and ordered Batu's protege David Narin to be subordinate to David Ulu. Dominican friar Nicolas Ascelin of Lombardy (Cremona) was sent by Pope Innocent IV to Baiju in A.D. 1245 as an emissary, with Baiju replying to have the Pope submit to the Mongols. Separately, the pope sent friar André de Longjumeau to the Levant, where he purportedly met a Mongol-designated Syriac church monk by the name of Simeon Rabban Ata. Later in A.D. 1259, the Georgians under David VI Narin launched rebellion against the Mongols.