-XXXVI-
"Absence of Hegemony"
During his rule, Temur Khan focused on stabilising his grandfather's great empire, and this meant correcting the dire inflation and aggressive foreign adventurism. Despite Dai Viet and the Khmer still standing in opposition to the Yuan, these were practically ignored during Temur Khan's early rule. Other states, like those of Malaya, likewise found themselves largely ignored by Temur Khan's more insular policies, visited mainly by independent merchants and not official expeditions. However, the Mongol ambition to control these lands still burned bright due to their great wealth, and they would be subject to a variety of intrigues relating to Mongol foreign policy. Yet due to the expenses of the Japanese invasion, none would be particularly successful and lead the Yuan into a major crisis.
End of the Pagan Empire
In Burma, the Pagan Empire nominally paid tribute since the invasion of 1284-85, but in 1294, the king Narathihapate died of a sudden illness. Immediately a great civil war began between his sons Uzana and Thihathu. The weak Uzana required the aid of his brother Kyawswa, who covertly sought Mongol aid. Yuan recognised Uzana as king, but sent only token forces to the border, mostly to disperse Shan tribes raiding Yunnan.
This act brought the downfall of Kyawswa, for fear of a Mongol invasion led to his assassination alongside his eldest son Theingapati by an aide who defected to Thihathu. Thihathu overcame Uzana's forces by 1297, capturing his brother and torturing him to death. Unfortunately, he was a cruel, wicked ruler with a decadent character and greatly increased taxes to compensate for the donations of government land to Buddhist monasteries. In 1298, he executed an ambitious general and viceroy also named Thihathu, which prompted Thihathu's brothers Athinkhaya and Yazathingyan (also viceroys), to enter into open revolt, continuing the violent civil wars within Burma.
A three-way civil war developed. The Mongols nominally backed Kyawswa's second son Kumara Kassapa, who fled to Yunnan to request aid, but Mongol activities amount to little but controlling the raids of the Shan. Thihathu ruled in Pagan, but he lacked control of much of the country, including the best agricultural land. The two brothers defended their autonomy and named Saw Hnit (younger brother of Kumara Kassapa) as their king.
Much of Mongol affairs in Southeast Asia still relied on their allies, the Sukhothai kings. Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai promoted the revolt of his son-in-law, the viceroy of Martaban, in 1294. The viceroy proclaimed himself Wareru, king of Martaban, and set about building a strong kingdom around the ocean, uniquely a state ruled by the Mon people whose power in the region had been fading for centuries. Although Thihathu of Pagan continued to attack Wareru's rebellion, as well as those of other rebels in the south, these attacks failed and only hastened the final collapse of Pagan.
The stalemate continued for several years until 1301, when a faction of warhawks in Yunnan's administration cobbled together a force of 10,000 to invade Burma. Considerations of Chagatai's ongoing invasion of India may have also prompted worries about exerting Yuan's influence in the region. The leader of this force was the Prince of Zhennan Laujang (老章), son of Toghon--reputedly Laujang wished to restore Mongol domination over Southeast Asia with the ultimate goal of conquering Vietnam to avenge his father's defeat there. Alongside Laujang was Duan Zheng (段正), Yunnan's strongest native chief (
tusi) and descendent of the Dali Kingdom's royal family and Fan Yi (樊楫), an elderly but experienced general.
Because of the small size of the Mongol force, the main striking force was to be the forces of Wareru, who had been recognised in 1298 as a direct Yuan vassal. Alongside Wareru were forces of the Sukhothai kingdom, although they had entered into a sharp decline after the death of Ram Khamhaeng in 1298. These two states could theoretically mobilise tens of thousands of warriors, augmenting the Mongol force.
The invasion began in late October 1301 but met immediate challenges thanks to attacks by the rising Tai state of Lan Na under its charismatic king Mangrai. Mangrai viewed northern Burma as territories to subdue for himself and sought to expel the Mongols. Further, he was allied with other Tai, Hmong, and Yao tribes in the hills. Constant raids from these enemies bogged down Laujang's expedition and forced a revision of his strategy. He redirected his army toward the hill kingdom of Chiang Hung, a rebellious vassal who joined Mangrai, and captured the city in early 1302 after driving off Mangrai's army. He ordered all the city's men beheaded as a warning to the Tai and installed a loyal Tai chief.
This tactic worked, and come the dry season in November of 1302, Laujang rapidly advanced south as he ravaged the northern reaches of Pagan. By January 1303, he arrived at the gates of Pagan itself. In the south, Wareru's forces likewise advanced rapidly a besieged the key city of Prome on Pagan's southern frontier and in the east, Sukhothai's forces invaded the breakaway state of Taungoo, nominally a vassal of Pagan.
Although their key ally of Prome was besieged, Athinkhaya and Yazathingyan first chose to defend Taungoo, deeming expelling foreign invaders a greater priority than subduing rebels. In May 1302, with wet season logistics impeding Sukhothai's force, the two brothers crushed the Sukhothai invaders and forced Taungoo's ruler Thawun Gyi to submit, naming him viceroy as the brothers augmented their forces and renewed their prestige.
The two brothers continued this strategy during the following dry season. In December 1302, they attacked the Mongols besieging Pagan. Although conditions within Pagan were extremely poor, the state of the Mongol army was equally poor due to the rainy season, constant attacks on their baggage train from Mangrai's army, and few reinforcements. Due to the threat of Wareru's rebellion, the two brothers chose to resolve it bloodlessly--they offered the Mongols a large sum of gold and silver in exchange for their immediate retreat. Laujang rejected this, but he was overruled by Duan, who imprisoned Laujang and the Mongol puppet Kumara Kussapa, slew those Mongols loyal to him, and immediately began the retreat, ending the Mongol invasion.
Attention now turned to Prome, the two brothers sought a decisive final battle with the rebel king Wareru. Outside Prome, the armies clashed. They inflicted heavy losses to Wareru's army, but ultimately were unable to prevail. Wareru entered Prome in April 1303, gaining control of one of Burma's most important cities and gateway to the inner Irrawaddy Valley.
Because of the threat Wareru now posed, King Thihathu negotiated peace with the two brothers that year, recognising their rule, yet this was not enough to save his rule. His land suffered heavily from the Mongol invasion, and much of Pagan was empty from famine and plague. After gaining the support of his ministers, the two brothers banished Thihathu to a monastery (where he would die within months, likely due to assassination) and installed Saw Hnit as king of Pagan.
Back in Yunnan, Temur Khan punished the leaders of the expedition for their shameful retreat. He executed Duan Zheng and his lieutenants for corruption, while Laujang was fined half the income and households allotted to him and demoted to a remote posting in Sichuan. This punishment was deemed overtly harsh by some in Yunnan's administration. Further, the soldiers detested the confiscation of the bribe and mutineed, murdering Fan Yi and joining forces with the rebellion ravaging Yunnan.
The war in Burma would continue inconclusively for several more years, with neither the brothers nor Wareru gaining the upper hand. Temur Khan's only option was to back Wareru and Sukhothai, the latter of which was increasingly incapable of mounting invasions of Burma after defeats to the two brothers. In 1304, Sukhothai mounted another expedition, this time gaining the defection of a Taungoo noble Thawun Nge, who with the aid of Taungoo's mayor Kayin Ba drove out his brother the viceroy. Back in Yuan, Kumara Kassapa demanded another invasion, but was rejected by Temur Khan.
The two brothers counterattacked this force in March 1305 and defeated Sukhothai once more. Kayin Ba died in battle, while Thawun Nge was captured and executed. Thawun Gyi was restored as Taungoo's viceroy. A concurrent attack from Wareru was also defeated that spring, although not to the extant the brothers were capable of marching on Prome. The war thus reached a stalemate.
The exhaustion of the land proved ripe for a peace negotiation. Temur Khan sent missions to Burma in May 1305, to begin the process. In exchange for the two brothers recognising Wareru as an independent ruler, the Mongols would cease their raids on Pagan's Shan allies and return Kumara Kassapa. The agreement was successful--Wareru secured his independence, while the two brothers no longer needed to worry about attacks from the Mongols or their allies. As for Kumara Kassapa, he was forced into a monastery and as with Thihathu, died shortly thereafter.
With their position secure, the two brothers set about rebuilding the country, reviewing monastic land donations and returning to royal control those deemed improper. They secured their power over an ever greater amount of royal granaries. Pagan, the former capital, became nothing but a regional center as they gradually looted it of resources and human capital as the two brothers aggrandised their own seat of power at Myinsaing.
When in 1308 ministers around their king Saw Hnit raised official protest, Saw Hnit was confined to a monastery. Athinkhaya began styling himself as a king and his younger brother Yazathingyan as a crown prince. Only the protests of the prominent dowager queen Pwa Saw forced them to treat their new viceroy of Pagan, Saw Hnit's younger brother Min Shin Saw, as king, yet this was mere fiction. It was clear that the 250-year old state of Pagan had ended, and the new Myinsaing Kingdom established in its place.
Conflicts in Java
The admiral Yighmish returned from Indonesia in 1295, greeting Temur Khan with a great tribute from Raden Wijaya's Kingdom of Sumenep. Raden Wijaya had pledged allegiance to the Mongols several years prior with the hope of gaining their support in crushing the usurper king Jayakatwang who had restored the Kingdom of Kediri, yet Yighmish's small force permitted his revolt to only seize the eastern 1/3 of Java. Although Yighmish wished to finish the job of destroying Kediri, the Yuan court denied him permission due to the cost and risks associated--he would never accomplish this task in his lifetime, for he was reassigned to command the naval portion of the fourth invasion of Japan.
In Sumenep, anti-Mongol forces in Raden Wijaya's court struck and incited the son of the prominent minister Arya Wiraraja, the general Ranggalawe who ruled the city of Tuban, into an open revolt. With little chance of Mongol intervention, Ranggalawe struck first and repelled a Kediri invasion. Then he invaded the region of Lumajang in easternmost Java and gained the allegiance of its princes through slaying Raden Wijaya's general Kebo Anabrang in a duel.
After two years of war, Ranggalawe returned to Raden Wijaya's side as they negotiated peace. Raden Wijaya was forced to surrender much to Ranggalawe, including the right to marry his firstborn daughter to his heir Kuda Anjampiani. This made Ranggalawe the effective heir of the Singhasari. In terms of territory, Ranggalawe secured the entire mainland, confining the Sumenep kingdom to the island of Madura. In all ways, Ranggalawe was now a true ruler and Raden Wijaya but his puppet. As planned, Raden Wijaya denounced the Yuan and cast off the tributary they installed.
Ranggalawe's ambitions struck too high, for in 1300 his brother Nambi revolted at the instigation of those who sought to bring down Ranggalawe, a revolt covertly backed by Raden Wijaya himself. Kediri also invaded again during this fighting and forced Ranggalawe's army away from his base in Tuban. Once again, Ranggalawe was seized by anger at the courtiers who forced these tragic circumstances. He seized an incomplete fortress his brother was building and completed it as the fortress of Arnon, a shortened form of an Old Javanese term that means "city built on anger." With this anger, Ranggalawe invaded Sumenep in 1301 and crushed their army. His brother and his family committed suicide while Ranggalawe arrested many ministers. [1]
Following that, he defeated the Kediri invaders in several battles in 1302 and 1303 thanks to the dense jungles of Lumajang crippling their supply lines. Kediri's army retreated to Tuban, where Ranggalawe attempted to recapture the city but to little avail. He was forced to make peace with Kediri and became ruler of a much reduced kingdom.
There would be no further intrigues or rebellion during Ranggalawe's rule until 1309, when his master Raden Wijaya died. Ranggalawe acted quickly and seized power in Sumenep, reducing Raden Wijaya's successor to a mere vassal. From the city of Arnon, he ruled as an independent ruler in what is known as the Kingdom of Lumajang, facing down the powerful Kediri kingdom who viewed Lumajang's resistance as an affront to its power.
Realigning Order in Southeast Asia
For several centuries, Southeast Asia was dominated by two factors--the great Khmer Empire centered at Angkor (with those Cham merchants and ship captains who served it) and the trade across the isthmus between China and India [2]. Unimaginable amounts of wealth and commerce moved back and forth by these routes as the interior produced vast quantities of rice and goods from the dense jungles. Yet the Mongol Empire touched this region as well--Khmer allies such as Champa and the Khmer Empire itself suffered Mongol raids. The ascendent power of the Sukhothai Kingdom under Ram Khamhaeng likewise taxed Angkor's resources gravely, while Mongol raids in Sumatra and Java brought chaos to regional politics.
Angkor's historic rival was Singora (sometimes called Jaba), sited on the isthmus itself [3]. Known in Chinese sources as Shepo (闍婆) and in Arab sources as Zabag, it was an immensely wealthy state that controlled the vital trans-isthmus trade and at its height ruled a network of city states from Sumatra to the delta of the Chao Phraya. But Singora was long in decline, for it did not just fight Angkor but faced invasion by outside states ranging from the Chola Empire of southern India to the various Mon kingdoms. Gradually, Singora's network of vassals disintegrated, beside those Cham kingdoms in northern Sumatra who took a leading role within Singora's politics.
Kediri on Java seemed to be the natural hegemon in the region as Singhasari had attempted to be, but it faced internal conflicts and its own struggle to conquer the kingdoms of Sumenep and Lumajang whose proximity and opposition to Kediri posed a dire threat to their heartland. Expeditions sent by Kediri were perpetually understrength and led by weaker commanders and achieved little but gaining the submission of kingdoms of Sumatra such as Jambi and Palembang.
Likewise, Sukhothai faced a crisis as their king Ram Khamhaeng died in 1298, supposedly drowning in a river. Their Lao vassals in the eastern hills clashed amongst each other and even launched unauthorised attacks on Vietnam which were eventually subdued. Ram Khamhaeng's two sons maintained an uneasy balance of power between each other. Only continued Mongol favouritism kept Sukhothai intact and powerful.
Angkor could not exploit this situation for itself. Factionalism tore at its royal court, the rise of Buddhism disrupted the social system, and the Sukhothai Kingdom destroyed many of its villages. Temur Khan sent diplomat Zhou Daguan (周達觀) to Angkor to maintain an alliance with Angkor--although he stayed only a short time, Zhou would famously compose a book illustrating Angkor's customs. Angkor's internal tensions ensured they did little but they and some of their vassals paid the occasional tribute to the Yuan in exchange for recognition.
Other states in Southeast Asia likewise found their power checked. To the south of Sukhothai lay Suphanburi, who struggled against Sukhothai over dominance of much the same territories. In these times, Suphanburi attacked the coastal city-state of Malayu, a Yuan ally [4], but were immediately told to cease in their actions. Denied diplomatic recognition, Suphanburi was forced to retreat and permit Sukhothai to claim overlordship of Malayu instead.
But a power vacuum is like any other--nature abhors it. Were there any winners in this era of decline, it was the Ligor Kingdom. This state emerged from the previous city-state of Tambralinga, conquered by Sukhothai in the 1280s after the state exhausted its resources attempting to control Sri Lanka. Ram Khamhaeng installed a relative on its throne which began the transition from Tambralinga to Nakhon Si Thammarat, better known as Ligor. After Ram Khamhaeng's death, Tambralinga's remnants attempted to retake their city. These clashes continued for several years, but by 1305 it was clear the Thai faction had come out dominant thanks to increasing weariness of the war on both sides. [5]
Ligor as a city stood at the crossroads of Khmer, Cham, Thai, and Burmese worlds, in addition to its key location on the isthmus. It began subjugating local Angkor vassals in starting in 1307, beginning the collapse of the Khmer Empire's more distant tributaries that proved crucial for its control over the trans-isthmus trade. Among its most notable vassals was the city of Singapura in the far south--this Malay city was to ascend to wealth and importance thanks to favour from Ligor.
Along with the great political changes within India and Persia, by 1310 Southeast Asia was looking to be a far different place than just 30 years prior. New powers like Myinsaing, Martaban, and Ligor challenged the dichotomy of Angkor and Singora. The Thai states proved dynamic in their own right, able to flare up into unforeseen power as Sukhothai had assuming conditions were right. Kediri never abandoned its ambitions to dominate the region. The Yuan could never grasp the complexities of this region, nor effectively exert their supposed hegemony. It was clear that at some point, a great ruler might found an empire capable of ruling the wealthy sea and land routes much as the Khmer had centuries earlier.
Conflicts with Hill Peoples
The southwestern mountains of China was a region of constant trouble for the Yuan Dynasty thanks to its rough, nigh-impenetrable terrain and diverse ethnic groups conventionally called "hill tribes" with little connection to the central government. Like their predecessors, the Yuan faced great difficulty controlling this region and the slightest issues brought forth dangerous rebellions.
Among these groups were the Yi and Miao peoples of Huguang and Yunnan [6] in the south of China. These partially Sinicised ethnic groups had long been subjugated to China as autonomous
tusi (土司) chiefdoms, but the campaigns in Japan and Southeast Asia forced a high tax burden and demands for troops on them. In 1302, Mangrai of Lan Na invaded Yunnan, so the Yuan government sent the general Liu Shen (劉深), Zhang Honggang (張弘綱), and Zheng You (郑祐) with 20,000 men to drive off his army--Liu was a veteran commander and a chief officer of the famed Bayan Hundred-Eyes during the conquest of Southern Song. Zhang had similar experience in addition to being a veteran of the second and third Japanese invasions where he served alongside his father Zhang Xi and son Zhang Ding, so it was assumed the expedition would be a success.
However, Liu was harsh in requisitioning supplies, porters, livestock, and reinforcements. Rumours grew in the hills of Yunnan and nearby Huguang that any who joined Liu's army would never see their home, while their wives and daughters would be abducted and married to Chinese or Mongol men. Yuan officials also placed heavy taxes and corvee demands to compensate for the conflict in the region.
In early 1303, Song Longji (宋隆济), leader of the powerful Miao
tusi chiefdom of Shuidong (水東) in Huguang [7], revolted against the Yuan and murdered several officials. Liu Shen's army recognised this escalation of the war and invaded Shuidong to protect his supply lines, but after a series of successful ambushes, in June 1303, Song lured Liu's men into a valley, sealed all escapes and struck in ambush. He captured or killed 9 out of 10 of Liu's men--Liu and Zheng fled by himself perished alongside their men. The Yuan general Buralqi (不蘭奚) led reinforcements, but he was faced with a revolt by mutinous soldiers infuriated the bribe money from the two brothers of Myinsaing had been seized and could not aid Liu's army. Further, Song's actions inspired the Yi people under their queen Shejie (蛇節)--a regent for her young son--to rise up as well.
Liu continued fighting the revolt to little avail in 1304, scoring a few minor victories here and there. Buralqi's victory over a rebel group and subsequent massacre of several villages took some pressure off the Yuan, but the battles were by no means over. The Mongols were running low on horses, and Laujang demanded horses for his army. Song enlisted tribal officials in Yunnan's to purchase horses for the Mongols using government funds. When they obtained these horses in early summer 1304, they invited many officials to a celebration for the beginning of an expedition, including the teenage prince Sungshan (松山), eldest son of Prince Gammala and nephew of Temur Khan who was serving as governor of Yunnan.
Song and Shejie's warriors struck right then, confiscating the horses as the officials revealed their true loyalties. Many servants, oxen, and other supplies were captured as well, and were it not for the timely action of the guards, Sungshan himself would be their prisoner. However, his mother, herself an important figure in Yunnan due to her son only being around 13 years old, did not fare so well--she was killed in the chaos [8].
The infuriated Sungshan gave Liu what reinforcements he could and ordered him to make an immediate attack--presumably this was due to his proximity to the main rebel army. Song won another victory against Liu's army and killed Zhang's eldest son Zhang Han (張漢) who had been baited into an attack to avenge his father. For this defeat, Liu and Zheng were immediately arrested and sent to the capital for an audience with Temur Khan, for Temur Khan was infuriated at the attack on his family and Liu's failure to avenge it.
To his eternal misfortune, the Chancellor who interrogated him was none other than Fan Wenhu, whom Liu had defeated in battle in 1270 back in the years Fan served as a Southern Song general. Despite Fan suffering from severe illness in his old age, it is said Fan was more sprightly in years when he took the opportunity to mock Liu for his failure and condemned him for corruption, poor leadership, and cowardice before he gleefully sentenced Liu to death. Liu and his fellow commander Zheng were beaten with a cane for fifty strokes before being beheaded.
Another army was raised, with soldiers from as far as Sichuan and Shaanxi. Command was given to Wang Weiqin (汪惟勤), Yesen-Qutlugh (也先忽都魯) and Qaradai, who was recalled from Formosa alongside a force of loyal Formosan aboriginals due to his experience at guerilla warfare. Additional local support was enlisted from Ahua Temurbuqa (阿畫帖木兒不花), a local
tusi chief and rival of Shejie and Yang Hanying (楊漢英), chief of the Bozhou tusi chiefdom. They had some success in late 1304, crushing a large army of Shejie as she invaded Bozhou due to the inexperienced soldiers, but by the end of that year Song Longji defeated Qaradai's army using his new cavalry force. The Yuan court punished Qaradai through a permanent post on Formosa, where he died in 1307.
It was clear by now that Song Longji posed a dire threat to the Yuan Dynasty's authority. Song's fierce rebellion combined with the failure in Burma, Lan Na's continued raiding, and the inability to subdue Japan, permitting the minister Aqutai and Temur's empress Bulugan to force the elderly chancellor Fan Wenhu from office. Even after Fan's removal (and subsequent death months later), te armies continued fighting throughout 1305, with successes and defeats on both sides. Only in Yunnan was there any success as Sungshan ordered spies and assassins to try and kill or capture chiefs. This permitted Laujang, Ahua Temurbuqa, and Wang Weiqin managed to defeat the rebel armies and crush many of Shejie's Yi allies, but in Huguang the rebels still held considerable power.
It would be the return of soldiers from Japan in late 1305 that marked the end of the fighting. Gao Xing, who had been held prisoner by the Kamakura Shogunate since 1303 when he was injured and captured after the Battle of Aonogahara, volunteered to redeem himself by leading some of these men. Gao received 10,000 men as reinforcements and advanced into Huguang. He was defeated in early 1306 in an ambush and lost nearly half his army to Song Longji and Shejie's force, but joined forces with some native soldiers and the remnants of Qaradai's army.
It was then he recalled a lesson from Liu Guojie, a veteran commander he once served under. While Liu had perished in Japan at the Battle of Misumi-gawa in November 1291, Liu had told him that if enemies hide in the trees, have the archers fire three times, and they will either flee or attack--he used this to some effect in Japan, and was defeated in the field rather than battle. Gao began copying this strategy, and with only 7,000 soldiers managed to crush numerous enemy detatchments and draw the enemy into battle.
But Gao was far outnumbered, for in September 1306, Song Longji attacked him with 30,000 rebels and his elite cavalry. Gao was defeated and lost 2,000 men, but managed to retreat to a safe location and lay in wait for ambush. He ordered his men to place nails in their shields and when the enemy charged, conduct a false retreat. This his men carried out, and when the enemy cavalry ran at them, they ran into the shields and the horses fell injured to the ground. Gao's army showered the horses and riders with arrows, wiping out the elite enemy force as his own men charged. It was a stunning victory that destroyed a great number of enemies.
In the days to come, Gao along with Yang Hanying and Wang Weiqin chased Song Longji's army. They smashed his attempts at ambush, and avoided an attempt by Song to battle them in the field. The Yuan forces attacked villages, executing men and taking hostages. By now, the rebels had fought over fifty battles and their warriors were growing exhausted. Several rebel chiefs surrendered, and others were captured as they took their own initiative. However, the chaos following the death of Temur Khan disrupted the Yuan armies and prevented them from fully suppressing the rebels, who along with Mangrai's army would remain a continual problem. This chaos deeply involved the Muslims of Yunnan who were hitherto loyal allies in suppressing the rebellion and worse still was the Duan family, some of whom retained a grudge against the Yuan for Duan Zheng's execution. A conspiracy grew to restore the Kingdom of Dali in Yunnan.
In summary, Song Longji rebellion was among the most devastating internal conflicts the Yuan Dynasty faced until that point. It directly attacked the prestige of the government and dynasty and cost a vast amount of resources to contain, let alone subdue. Combined with the invasion from Lan Na and various Shan and Tai chiefdoms on the border, the region became unsafe and a great number of taxpayers were captured or fled south to these states for protection. Were it not for the success of the rest of the Mongol Empire in these years, the peace treaty with Japan, and Temur's own success in diplomacy, the outlook for the Yuan would have looked far more grim.
---
Author's notes
This chapter closes a few odds and ends like the fate of Burma and Java (continuing a much older chapter). Both of these are areas which OTL Mongol power proved fleeting. Thanks to the focus on Japan, it scarcely exists but is still enough to greatly change the history.
The Southeast Asia portion owes much to the work of Liam Kelley (aka "
Le Minh Khai") who makes very compelling arguments that revises the history of an area is reconstructed from limited inscriptions, archaeology, and primarily Chinese sources--the historical record for Southeast Asia in this era is quite poor. The traditional view presenting the area as ruled by a Srivijaya Empire based in Palembang has serious problems (i.e. being based on contradictory readings of Chinese sources and its nigh-total absence in local culture compared to Singhasari or Majapahit) which the proposed solutions like Srivijaya's capital often shifting don't really resolve--I prefer Kelley's model of Srivijaya referring to Singora/Jaba/Java and Angkor's tributaries Sanfoqi and Zhenla, so that will be the one I am using going forth.
The Song Longji Rebellion and war with Lan Na occurred OTL as well, so I've kept that TTL. Unfortunately, the results are far worse due to the Yuan spending so much on Japan.
I will put the Yuan on hold for the next 2-3 chapters which will cover the rest of the Mongol Empire's affairs.
Incidentally, this TL has been nominated by some kind users for an award. I must thank all those who nominated, voted for this TL, or even considered voting for this TL--thank you so much. You can almost say that it's special, since it comes about one year after I started work on this--I can't believe the one year anniversary for this thread is next Tuesday on the 20th of February. Whether you've stuck around since the beginning or just picked this thread up after stumbling across it through whatever means, I profusely thank you!
[1] - Arnon is very near the town of Sukodono, Lumajang Regency, East Java, but it has lain in ruins for centuries
[2] - The Khmer Empire was a powerful player in maritime trade, but the Khmer people who ruled the empire itself did not partake in it. They instead outsourced it to their ethnic Cham vassals who themselves had close associations with foreign ethnic groups like Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Tamils, etc. The trans-isthmus trade was a major trade route whose importance is sometimes overlooked in favour of projecting back into history the important route around the Strait of Malacca (although that too was used).
[3] - There is much debate over the identity and location of this state, but archaeology and a careful reading of Chinese sources suggests it probably was located at modern Songkhla in Thailand. I am calling it "Singora" because that was its name in later times. It's uncertain what the kingdom called itself in this era ("Java" was an exonym), but it was certainly powerful to the point that it (along with its rival Angkor) were conflated into the supposed empire of Srivijaya on Sumatra
[4] - This city-state is often conflated with another city-state along a river of a similar-sounding name in Sumatra, but it seems clear from references to issues with the Thai that it was probably located somewhere in modern Thailand's Krabi or Phang Nga Province (possibly associated a ruin site called Bang Thung Tuek in the latter). For that matter, Suphanburi was likely the "Xian" referred to in Chinese sources and was a forerunner of the famous Ayutthaya Kingdom
[5] - Tambralinga actually conquered much of Sri Lanka for a time, but ran into serious problems controlling the area which likely led directly to its collapse. The transition from Tambralinga to Nakhon Si Thammarat is fuzzy and associated with Ayutthaya's own rise, but I've taken it TTL to be a pro-Thai faction against a faction of its previous rulers (perhaps Malays), with the Cham merchants affiliated with Angkor (its previous overlord) as a third party.
[6] - This revolt specifically occurred in modern Guizhou, which in the centuries after the Yuan was formed out of Huguang Province
[7] - Today Shuidong is located in Kaiyang, Guizhou
[8] - This was not Buyankelmish, mother of OTL Yuan Emperor Yesun Temur. Sungshan seems to have been his half-brother by a concubine. But despite his mother's lower status, she evidently held at least some power in Yunnan's affairs.
