



I had completed my desire to combine the Mongolian people under one nation. However, I grew restless when, in 1207 AD, I realized there was more territory that my Mongolian people had wandered to.

I organized my people, army, and state to first prepare for war with Western Xia, or Xi Xia, which was close to the Mongolian lands. I correctly believed that the more powerful young ruler of the Jin dynasty would not come to the aid of Xi Xia.


Despite minor difficulties in capturing its well-defended cities, I managed to force the emperor of Xi Xia to submit to vassal status.

In 1215, I, the Glorious and Most Feared Genghis Khan, besieged, captured, and sacked the Jin capital of Zhongdu (Beijing). This forced the Jin ruler, Emperor Xuanzong, to flee his capital and establish his court south to Kaifeng, abandoning the northern half of his empire to the me.

Me, as I entered Beijing

Meanwhile, a deposed khan of the confederation that I had previously defeated and folded into my ever-growing Mongol Empire, fled west and usurped the territory of the Khan of Katay. (now known as the Western Liao).

The deposed khan’s name was Kushluk.

I bravely decided to conquer the Katay and defeat Kushluk to take him out of power. By this time my army was exhausted from ten years of continuous campaigning in China against the Western Xia and Jin dynasty. Therefore, I sent only 20,000 soldiers against Kushluk, under my younger general, “The Arrow”.

With such a small force, The Arrow was forced to change strategies and resort to inciting internal revolt among Kushluk’s supporters, leaving the Katay more vulnerable to Mongol conquest. As a result, Kushluk’s army was defeated. Kushluk fled again, but was soon hunted down by The Arrow’s army and executed.

By 1218, as a result of defeat of Katay, my Mongol Empire extended its control west finally bordering on Khwarazmia, a Muslim state that reached the Caspian Sea to the west and Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea to the south.

Khwarazmia was governed by Shah Al-Din Muhammad.


Next post;  #79    The Shah, the Ambassadors and the Silk Road