#battle between mongolian and tangut empires

[littleeyesofpallas]

SHUT HELL[シュトヘル(悪霊)]: "Evil Spirit(s)"

[thelastdiadoch]

MONGOLS, FROM OBSCURITY (BEFORE THE RISE OF GENGHIS KHAN):

This is an expert from my post “THE MONGOLS AND THE RISE OF GENGHIS KHAN”.

According to ‘The Secret History of the Mongols’:

“At the beginning there was a blue-grey wolf, born with his destiny ordained by Heaven (Tengri, supreme god) above. His wife was a beautiful fallow doe. They came crossing the Tenggis. After they had settled at the source of the Onan River on Mount Burqan Qaldun, Batachiqan was born to them.” 

Here in the region between the Onan and Kerlen Rivers is the heartland of the early Mongols and where Genghis Khan was born. Between these two rivers was a rich and lush plain peppered with wildlife and scattered forests. Far beyond the southern waterway, the Kerlen River, were the golden sands of the great Gobi Desert which protected China from the nomadic raiders of the steppe. The densely forested Khentii mountain range, which marks the western flank of the plains, is the source of these two important rivers. In this mountain range there is one particular sacred mountain, Burqan Qaldun (“Divine, Sacred, Holy –Mountain”), which Genghis Khan often climbed to pray and meditate or seek refuge from his enemies – this mountain may even be his final resting place.

“-swallowing quagmires and the tangled woods made so impenetrable a forest that a glutted snake could not creep in” – The Secret History of the Mongols.

Mongols and Turks both claimed descent from a blue-grey wolf, something they (Turks and Mongols) frequently mention with great pride. Genghis Khan was a descendant of Borte Chino (“blue-gray wolf”) but before we speak of the Great Khan let us first speak of those who came before him. There were more than ten generations which passed between that of the blue-gray wolf and the next characters in this story. After a certain Mongol’s death his widowed wife bore three illegitimate sons which the two older legitimate sons spoke ill of, according to ‘The Secret History of the Mongols’ their mother Alan Qo’a:

“-gave an arrow-shaft to each of them and said, ‘Break it!’ One by one they immediately broke the single arrowshafts and threw them away. Then she tied five arrowshafts into a bundle and gave it to them saying, ‘Break it!’ The five sons each took the five bound arrow-shafts in turn, but they were unable to break them.” – The Secret History of the Mongols.

“You, my five sons, were born of one womb. If, like the five arrow-shafts just now, each of you keeps to himself, then, like those single arrow-shafts, anybody will easily break you. If, like the bound arrowshafts, you remain together and of one mind, how can anyone deal with you so easily?” – The Secret History of the Mongols.

She claimed that her younger sons, who she had while widowed, were sons of Tengri (”heaven”), the supreme deity of the Turco-Mongols. Genghis Khan was descended from one of these three younger sons.

“Every night, a resplendent yellow man entered by the light of the smoke-hole or the door top of the tent, he rubbed my belly and his radiance sank into my womb. When he departed, he crept out on a moonbeam or a ray of sun in the guise of a yellow dog. How can you speak so rashly? When one understands that, the sign is clear: They are the sons of Heaven (Tengri).” – The Secret History of the Mongols.

One of these five sons was Bodonchar, an illegitimate son and a simpleton who was a distant ancestor of Genghis Khan. At the time of Bodonchar’s great-great-grandson, Khaidu (Qaidu), another Mongolian nomadic faction known as the Khitans were the powerhouses of Mongolia. During a war between the Mongolian Khitans and the Mongolian Jalair, Khaidu’s family was killed and he was left orphaned. Khaidu would later overcome, subjugate and enslave these Jalair. Khaidu’s great-grandson, Khabul (Qabul), was the first khan of the Khamag Mongols and was successful at repelling an invasion from the Jurchen (Tunguscans that were Sinicized) Jinn Dynasty of Northern China and later raided them. Despite having seven sons, Khabul chose his cousin Ambaghai (Ambaqai) to succeed him. While Ambaghai was trying to marry his daughter to a Tatar (Turkish) leader he was captured by them and given to the Jinn. Before being executed he was able to sneak a message off to his son Hotula:

“When you become qa’an of all and lord of the people, learn from my example and beware of taking your daughter in person to her betrothed. I have been seized by the Tatars. Until the nails of your five fingers are ground down, Until your ten fingers are worn away, strive to revenge me!” – The Secret History of the Mongols.

Khabul’s son Hotula (Qutula) succeeded his uncle Ambaghai as Khan of the Khamag Mongols, and as he asked, Hotula Khan sought to avenge his life. Hotula Khan clashed with the Tatars thirteen times but sadly he too fell to them. In one fell swoop the power of the Mongols had again diminished and no khan had ruled over the Mongols until the reign of his grandnephew Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan also sought to avenge his death so when he launched an invasion against Jinn China in 1211 CE, he claimed one of the reasons was to avenge his ancestor.

Though Khabul’s grandson, Yesugei (Genghis Khan’s father), was not a khan he was still a well-respected and effective chief. Yesugei Baghatur (ba’atur, “hero, brave, valiant, knight, lord”) kidnapped a woman from the Merkits (Mongolian) named Hoelun, whom he would soon marry. His kidnapping of Hoelun led to a long standing feud between the two confederacies which would carry on to Yesugei’s and Hoelun’s son Temujin (Genghis Khan).

“At the time of his birth he was born clutching in his right hand a clot of blood the size of a knucklebone. Because he was born when the Tatar Temüjin Üge had been brought captive, for this very reason they gave him the name Temüjin.” – The Secret History of the Mongols.

Head over to my post, “GENGHIS KHAN, THE STALLION WHO MOUNTS THE WORLD”, to read more about how Genghis Khan was pressured into campaigning out of China toward Central Asia (Kara Khitai Khanate), to Greater Iran (Khwarezmian Empire), to the frontier of Eastern Europe (Medieval Russia and Ukraine) and back to China. I also cover Mongol shamanism and their tolerance of foreign religions, the famed ‘Yam’ pony express, their tactical use of captives and their massive deportation policy.

To read up on the early history of the Mongols, check out my post ‘THE MONGOLS AND THE RISE OF GENGHIS KHAN’. In this post I speak about the Mongolian transition from seemingly insignificant tribal confederacies into an empire that was four times the size of Alexander’s and twice the size of the Roman’s. I cover their military tactics, some of their battle formations, armaments, their rapid adaptation of foreign technologies, and their secretive order of bodyguards known as the Keshik. During Genghis Khan’s early reign the Mongols warred against themselves and their fellow steppe neighbors as well as Northern China’s Western Xia dynasty (Tanguts: Tibeto-Burmese) and eastern Jinn dynasty (Tungusic Jurchens who were Sinicized).