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Chapter 91: The Rise of Genghis Khan
Taibuqa[1] waited, as the other khans gathered to the hilltop, where the Kurultai was held. This was his moment. He has been fighting a decade, defeating clan after clan, khan after khan. They gathered, one after the other, arriving naturally on horseback: Ong khan of the Keraites, Yesugei of the Khamag, and the chiefs of the Mergit and Tatar people. Taibuqa saw already the shamans of the old religion,the worshippers of Tengri, the Sky God, dressed in furs with feathers on their heads. Side by side with them, there were the most senior clergymen of the new religion: the metropolitan archbishop of Beth Kerayit, Abdishu, and the bishops of the Naimans and the Onguts. This was the new religion of the tribes in the south and west – who did not look to the Almighty Tengri, the Sky God, but prayed to Yesu, the most powerful shaman to have ever walked on earth. True, he was the Son of God, and therefore had all power.
Taibuqa was already a Christian. His tribe had converted to this faith about a century and half ago, and already has seen much of the benefits that came with it. Most importantly, the monks, zealous preachers of Yesu, brought with them knowledge. Knowledge, that the shamans never had and never will. They brought with them writing, brought with them curing of diseases and contacts.
But now it was his day. The khans of all the tribes took him and seated him on white felt, and rose him thrice into the air. They lift him and carried him around. Then they gave him the golden sword, and the archbishop poured oil upon his head. Thus was he declared to be the Genghis Khan, the Khan of Khans.
Measures were made so that such things would not happen. If one ought to be the Great Khan, and to rule all the clans, he ought not to prefer one clan over the other. Men from defeated and subdued hordes were accepted into the horde, and given position according to their capabilities.
Thus, they became one horde, under one banner. No more were there to be like fingers, one longer, one thicker, but a strong and unified fist, a fist that could strike with ease any target it pleases, a unified fist of the nomads in the Eastern Steppe…
Upon hearing of the unification of the various clans, the Uyghurs submitted and the Tanguts in Western Xia were waged war upon. Despite asking the Jin for help, they were refused, and thus the strategic Gansu corridor, linking China with Central Asia was in the hands of Taibuqa.
The next enemy were the Jin dynasty. The Jin dynasty were a foreign Tungusic dynasty, ruling over former Liao (Khitan) lands in northern China. Unfortunately for the Jin, they had many subdued peoples, who were ready to help the Mongols, such as the Onguts, who showed them a safe passage across the Gobi Desert, or the Khitans, who helped to conquer Manchuria.
The Jin were also in a state of war with their southern neighbours, the Song dynasty of China. This happened to be a strategic mistake, as that meant that they had to divide their resources to fight on two fronts, when they were badly needed to remain concentrated on halting the Naiman Empire from conquering the heartland of northern China. The conquest of northern China was particularly bloody. The invading army did not understand why one ought to cultivate the land and plow: and the horsemen did try to liberate the land from the yoke of the plough, to restore the freedom of the pastures. For the nomad, that was the natural order of things[2]
But Taibuqa looked westwards, to subdue the last of the Liao Empire, the Kara Khitai. This was a sinicized dynasty ruling over Central Asia. His armies were already exhausted, but he took advantage of the factional strife within the realm, and therefore he spared only a small portion of his army to do the job and destroy that realm as well.
The conquest of the Kara Khitai was relatively easy, as Taibuqa took advantage of extant internal disputes. More importantly, the conquest of the Kara-Khitai happened with relatively little bloodshed, as due to extensive cultural contacts between the area and the Eastern Steppe the peoples could be described as belonging to the same civilization, should I speak in the terms of S. Huntington. Usually, any surrendering city would be demanded to give a declared amount of gold, horses and recruits. Any city which offered resistance would be given to the mercy of the army for three days, and thenafter, order was restored. In all circumstances, churches, monasteries and Manichean temples were left intact and untouched.
[1] Taibuqa, the chief of the Naimans, takes up the role that historically was filled up with Genghis Khan. Why the Naimans? Well, I believe that as they were one of the first clans to convert to Christianity, and were geographically very close to the silk Road, they would get a degree of advantage over their neighbours, such as ideas and technology. With Taibuqa being a Christian, we will see a different attitude of the Naiman warfare, mainly in dealing with his enemies. Historically, it happenned quite often that the garrisons of enemy fortresses were slaughtered, despite surrendering on terms that their lives be spared. In many cases, each soldier was given a quota of heads he ought to deliver his commander. With the Naimans being Christian, and conquering Christian populations throughout much of Asia, I doubt that such unscrupulous behaviour would happen. Of course, you are going to see lootings and war crimes, yes but most likely not in such horrid manner.
[2] The very same way, as was natural for agricultural societies to expand the rule of the plough over grasslands such as the Steppe or the Prairies, which were turned in to the breadbaskets of their respective continents in our timeline. Of course, the primary reaction to any nomad once entering the sedentary society would be plunder, often accompanied by rape, looting and burning entire cities to the ground. Once conquering the sedentary are, agricultural land would be turned into pastures, causing depopulation. Of course, before the whole policy could be implemented, a reasonable official could be found, such as Yelu Chucai who would convince the invaders that they would make more profit from taxing the conquered population than from their death by starvation.
Taibuqa was already a Christian. His tribe had converted to this faith about a century and half ago, and already has seen much of the benefits that came with it. Most importantly, the monks, zealous preachers of Yesu, brought with them knowledge. Knowledge, that the shamans never had and never will. They brought with them writing, brought with them curing of diseases and contacts.
But now it was his day. The khans of all the tribes took him and seated him on white felt, and rose him thrice into the air. They lift him and carried him around. Then they gave him the golden sword, and the archbishop poured oil upon his head. Thus was he declared to be the Genghis Khan, the Khan of Khans.
Measures were made so that such things would not happen. If one ought to be the Great Khan, and to rule all the clans, he ought not to prefer one clan over the other. Men from defeated and subdued hordes were accepted into the horde, and given position according to their capabilities.
Thus, they became one horde, under one banner. No more were there to be like fingers, one longer, one thicker, but a strong and unified fist, a fist that could strike with ease any target it pleases, a unified fist of the nomads in the Eastern Steppe…
Upon hearing of the unification of the various clans, the Uyghurs submitted and the Tanguts in Western Xia were waged war upon. Despite asking the Jin for help, they were refused, and thus the strategic Gansu corridor, linking China with Central Asia was in the hands of Taibuqa.
The next enemy were the Jin dynasty. The Jin dynasty were a foreign Tungusic dynasty, ruling over former Liao (Khitan) lands in northern China. Unfortunately for the Jin, they had many subdued peoples, who were ready to help the Mongols, such as the Onguts, who showed them a safe passage across the Gobi Desert, or the Khitans, who helped to conquer Manchuria.
The Jin were also in a state of war with their southern neighbours, the Song dynasty of China. This happened to be a strategic mistake, as that meant that they had to divide their resources to fight on two fronts, when they were badly needed to remain concentrated on halting the Naiman Empire from conquering the heartland of northern China. The conquest of northern China was particularly bloody. The invading army did not understand why one ought to cultivate the land and plow: and the horsemen did try to liberate the land from the yoke of the plough, to restore the freedom of the pastures. For the nomad, that was the natural order of things[2]
But Taibuqa looked westwards, to subdue the last of the Liao Empire, the Kara Khitai. This was a sinicized dynasty ruling over Central Asia. His armies were already exhausted, but he took advantage of the factional strife within the realm, and therefore he spared only a small portion of his army to do the job and destroy that realm as well.
The conquest of the Kara Khitai was relatively easy, as Taibuqa took advantage of extant internal disputes. More importantly, the conquest of the Kara-Khitai happened with relatively little bloodshed, as due to extensive cultural contacts between the area and the Eastern Steppe the peoples could be described as belonging to the same civilization, should I speak in the terms of S. Huntington. Usually, any surrendering city would be demanded to give a declared amount of gold, horses and recruits. Any city which offered resistance would be given to the mercy of the army for three days, and thenafter, order was restored. In all circumstances, churches, monasteries and Manichean temples were left intact and untouched.
[1] Taibuqa, the chief of the Naimans, takes up the role that historically was filled up with Genghis Khan. Why the Naimans? Well, I believe that as they were one of the first clans to convert to Christianity, and were geographically very close to the silk Road, they would get a degree of advantage over their neighbours, such as ideas and technology. With Taibuqa being a Christian, we will see a different attitude of the Naiman warfare, mainly in dealing with his enemies. Historically, it happenned quite often that the garrisons of enemy fortresses were slaughtered, despite surrendering on terms that their lives be spared. In many cases, each soldier was given a quota of heads he ought to deliver his commander. With the Naimans being Christian, and conquering Christian populations throughout much of Asia, I doubt that such unscrupulous behaviour would happen. Of course, you are going to see lootings and war crimes, yes but most likely not in such horrid manner.
[2] The very same way, as was natural for agricultural societies to expand the rule of the plough over grasslands such as the Steppe or the Prairies, which were turned in to the breadbaskets of their respective continents in our timeline. Of course, the primary reaction to any nomad once entering the sedentary society would be plunder, often accompanied by rape, looting and burning entire cities to the ground. Once conquering the sedentary are, agricultural land would be turned into pastures, causing depopulation. Of course, before the whole policy could be implemented, a reasonable official could be found, such as Yelu Chucai who would convince the invaders that they would make more profit from taxing the conquered population than from their death by starvation.
- Tomislav Addai
- Word Count: 1.1k