<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > introduction:</h1>
The Mongol Empire was a nightmare in the world, in which, in addition to the mighty and majestic Mongol army with clear horns, the Mongol army's strategic vision and tactical skills beyond the times were also the key to invincibility.
Where does this remarkable strategic vision come from? The answer is the wisdom of the shepherd.
In their long herding careers, the Mongols understood a truth, that is, the domestication of sheepdogs to help herding, with the help of sheepdogs, a herder can easily control hundreds of sheep.
Shepherds are of course Mongolian, and shepherds can be replaced at any time according to strategic needs.
All this was vividly embodied in the war against Xia Andongjin.
(A sheepdog can manage hundreds of sheep)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="122" >: Make up your mind to let Xixia be a shepherd. </h1>
In 1206 AD, the Mongols at the source of the River were singing and dancing to celebrate the nascent Mongol Khanate.
Genghis Khan, who was on the throne of the emperor, looked at the happy crowd, smiling and thinking in his head.
What are you thinking? The answer is how to destroy the much more powerful enemy of the Golden Kingdom than yourself.
Much stronger, not an exaggeration.
The Jin Dynasty, which occupied the Central Plains, had a population of more than 50 million and a million soldiers, while the newborn Mongol Khanate had a total population of only 700,000 and only 150,000 soldiers who could fight.
With a population gap of 71 times and a gap of 6.6 times the number of troops, Genghis Khan's desire was like a snake swallowing an elephant.
How to do it, what to do? Genghis Khan, who was well versed in sheep herding tactics, thought of finding a shepherd to be a helper, and this target was the small but tough Western Xia Kingdom.
In order to make Xixia a qualified shepherd dog, Genghis Khan took a lot of thought.
Through meticulous study of enemy troops and even the intelligence of the Western Xia royal family, Genghis Khan achieved a thorough understanding of the Western Xia and laid out a targeted strategy.
In the Western Xia, not much was known about the nascent Mongol Khanate, which in their perception was nothing more than a Mongol tribal confederation similar to the original.
(The combat effectiveness of the Western Xia army is not bad)
One was long-planned, the other was unprepared, and the first battle between the Mongols and the Western Xia broke out in 1205.
In this battle, 30,000 Mongol troops marched under the leadership of Genghis Khan's fourth son, Tuolei, and the Western Xia army faced 100,000 people.
There is a lot of difference in troop strength, but the results are surprising.
The Western Xia army, which should have taken full advantage, was defeated by the Mongol army, and the Mongols, who were well versed in the tactics of the Western Xia army, were defeated and retreated with less victory and more fighting, swept away the rich areas in northern Western Xia, and packed countless treasures back to the grasslands.
This successful raid gave the Mongols a deeper understanding of Western Xia.
Originally expected to make the Western Xia submit through the war and become his own shepherd dog, who had thought that this Western Xia was a hard bone to gnaw, and the loss of 100,000 troops still did not let go.
Genghis Khan immediately changed his strategy and decided to first cut off the allies of Western Xia, cut off the connection between Western Xia and the Western Regions, and completely isolate Western Xia.
In 1206, the Mongol Khanate destroyed the Uighur kingdom of Gaochang, the Khanate of West Khalu, and the Khanate of Eastern Khazaru, leaving Western Xia without its main allies. Subsequently, in 1207, taking advantage of the usurpation of power by Emperor Xiangzong of Western Xia, he led an army of 50,000 to raid the city of Huoluobao, a major town in the northwest of Western Xia. (Southwest of present-day Houqi, Urart, Inner Mongolia)
However, this time the attack was not smooth, and the Western Xia people, who had suffered heavy losses in the last battle, learned the lessons and changed their tactics, and fought hard with the Mongols for five months, and could only retreat.
But even so, Genghis Khan's mind of letting the Western Xia people be Mongolian shepherds was even worse, and being a sheepdog was also a skill, and if it was really weak, the wind would have no effect.
(Picture of the situation at that time)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="123" >2: Flooded Zhongxing Province's Western Xia Return. </h1>
In March 1209, the Third Mongol Conquest of Xia broke out.
This time, the Mongols fought all the way to the wind and water, straight into the Hexi region and then detoured to the hinterland of Western Xia, hitting the Western Xia army by surprise, tens of thousands of people were annihilated, not to mention, even the general Gao Linggong was captured and killed by the Mongols.
After the great victory, the Mongol army arrived at Keyimen (northeast of present-day Shizui Mountain, Ningxia) in April and marched to the gateway of Zhongxing Province, the capital of Western Xia.
The famous Western Xia general Linggong led an army of 50,000 to meet the Mongols, and the Famous Linggong of The Western Xia took advantage of the dangerous terrain of the Keyi Gate to frequently repel the attacks of the Mongol army, and the two sides held each other under the Keyi Gate for more than two months.
The reality of quite a win, as well as the geographical advantage, made the Western Xia Army a little fluttery after the victory.
Then, the Western Xia army, which was eager to win, was ambushed by the Mongols, and after a big battle, the 50,000 elites of the Western Xia were exhausted, and even the famous general Linggong was captured.
The Western Xia people were desperate, but still did not give up.
(Tenacious Western Xia people)
Under the personal supervision of Emperor Xiangzong of Xia, Li An, they held the last stronghold of Western Xia, the capital of Chengxing Province (present-day Yinchuan), so that the Mongol army could not conquer for a long time, and Western Xia really deserved to be tough.
In September, the Yellow River soared, the Mongol army diverted water to attack the city, and the water flooded Zhongxing Province, so that the Western Xia people finally panicked, seeing that the city was about to be destroyed, Xia Xiangzong sent envoys to the Jin Kingdom for help.
When the chancellor of the Jin Kingdom looked at it, he suddenly felt a sense of coldness on his lips, and asked the Jin Emperor to send troops to the rescue of Yan Yongji and attack the Mongols on both sides.
Who would have thought that this Golden Emperor Yan Yongji was a fool, and actually said that the Mongolian Western Xia dog bites the dog and lets them fight, which is the blessing of the Golden Kingdom.
Xia Xiangzong saw that the reinforcements were hopeless and the city pool would be destroyed, so he had no choice but to ask Genghis Khan to surrender.
Genghis Khan looked at the emissaries of the Western Xia and finally felt relieved.
He accepted The Western Xia's surrender request, and generously stated that he did not want the Territory of the Western Xia, just lose some money, and the only additional condition was that the Western Xia would "attach Mongolia to the Gold" and be the Shepherd Dog of Mongolia.
Xia Xiangzong, who encountered soldiers in the city, had bargaining money, and could only agree to the conditions, and also married a daughter to marry the Mongols.
The Western Xia became the shepherd dog of Mongolia, and then the nightmare of the Golden Kingdom came.
(Western Xia became a free mercenary)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="124" > three: turning the face starts with a helper. </h1>
In 1210, a war that surprised the Mongols and jin kingdoms began.
On the grounds that the Jin State had breached its alliance, Western Xia took the initiative to launch a war against the suzerainty of the Jin State, and raised 100,000 troops to attack the Jin State of Yezhou.
This was the western Xia's rebellion under the suzerainty of the Jin Dynasty, and it was also a letter of submission to the Mongols, which implied: I sincerely belong.
When Genghis Khan heard this, he did not understand the reason, and immediately echoed the attack of Western Xia and officially launched a war against the Jin Dynasty.
Fifteen thousand Mongol armies were mobilized, and the Mongol Khanate was almost out of the nest.
Emperor Yan Yongji of the Jin Dynasty was a completely mediocre lord, completely confused in the face of the joint attack of the Jin State and the Western Xia, and under his blind command, hundreds of thousands of Jin troops were turned around by the Mongols.
(Coalition attack on Jinguo)
Genghis Khan had long studied the Jin Dynasty for a long time, was very clear about the strength of the Jin Dynasty, and knew that the success of the First World War was a false proposition, so he turned to the sports warfare he was good at, regardless of the gains and losses of one city and one place, and was committed to consuming the strength of the Jin Army in the movement war, causing panic in the JinGuo.
Under the strong attack of the Mongol army, the helpless Jin Emperor Finish Yan Yongji's only thought was to cry with his subordinates.
After weeping, the Jin monarchs and subjects were united in one heart, and they forced back the first attack of the Mongol army.
In 1212, Genghis Khan attacked the Jin Dynasty again, once besieging the Jin Dynasty's Western Capital Datong Province, and in the same year the Khitan Yelü Liuge rebelled in the rear of the Jin Kingdom, and the rebel army grew to more than 100,000 people in just a few months.
After the rebellion, Yelü liugo decided to attach himself to the Mongols and became the new shepherd of the Mongols.
On August 26, 1213, emperor Yan Yongji of Jin was poisoned and killed, and Emperor Xuanzong of Jin usurped the throne.
The newly appointed Emperor YanXun was also an innocent emperor, and in the face of the aggressive Mongol army, he actually chose to voluntarily give up his territory, declaring that the Jin Dynasty would cross the river and retreat south of the Yellow River, giving a large area of territory north of the Yellow River to the Mongols, hoping to rely on the Yellow River to resist the Mongol attack.
(Lost half of the country of Jin)
This was the power of The Mongol tactics with the cooperation of the shepherd dog, the Western Xia Gan was the head dog, and the Yelü Liugo was willing to assist, and the Mongols used the sheep herding tactic to crush the Jin state's will to resist north of the Yellow River.
Subsequently, the Mongols still carried forward the tactical characteristics, occupied the hometown of the Northeast JinGuo, and then entered the northern region of the Central Plains, absorbing countless Han craftsmen for their own use. With the help of this group of Han craftsmen, the Mongols quickly established a complete set of advanced military systems.
From a nomadic unit dominated by light cavalry, it became a mixed army with both light and heavy cavalry, combined with infantry, engineers and even artillery units.
In one fell swoop, the shotgun was exchanged for artillery, and it became the most advanced military group at that time.
(Multi-armed Mongol army)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="125" > IV: Interlude-like Khwarazm and the Mongol Expedition. </h1>
The main enemies of the Mongol Khanate at that time were actually the Western Xia and Jin Kingdoms.
However, in 1215, the massacre of the Mongol caravan by Khwarazm shifted the direction of the Mongol Khanate's operations, which in turn triggered a series of serious consequences.
Before Genghis Khan took revenge on Hua Lazimo in the Western Expedition, in order to avoid future troubles, he decided to teach Western Xia a lesson first and make him more at ease.
Therefore, the fourth conquest of the Western Xia War was launched, and in the face of the Mongol army, the Western Xia lord Xia Shenzong fled without a fight and ran to Xiliang Province, leaving the crown prince Li Dewang to hold on to Zhongxing City.
As soon as Li Dewang saw that his father had run away and lost his determination to resist, he sent an envoy to seek peace, and vowed that Western Xia would always submit to the Mongols.
Seeing that the Western Xia had confessed, Genghis Khan, who had achieved the strategic goal, agreed to the Western Xia's request for peace and turned back to attack the West.
After Genghis Khan left behind ten thousand Mongol troops and more than a dozen puppet troops in the base camp, he set out.
Then came the seven-year-long Mongol First Western Expedition.
During this western expedition, the Mongols destroyed Khwarazm, conquered the entire river region, invaded the Persian Empire, controlled most of Central Asia, and opened up the long-closed Eurasian passage.
(Mongol Empire during the time of Genghis Khan)
In these seven years, Xixia and Jin guo also did a lot of great things, but the results were ironic.
First of all, Xia Shenzong, the lord of the Western Xia Kingdom, felt that the gains of "attaching Mongolia to attack the gold" were not worth the losses, and decided to ease relations with the Jin state, and took the initiative to ask for peace and restore border trade.
Who ever thought that this Jin Xuanzong was a strange thing, thinking that the Western Xia assisted the Mongols in attacking the Gold, which was completely untrustworthy, and not only did not discuss peace but insisted on attacking the Western Xia.
Not only that, Jin Xuanzong believed that the losses suffered by the Jin State in Mongolia needed to be compensated where in the Southern Song Dynasty, and ordered an attack on the Southern Song Dynasty. After the Southern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia looked at each other, they decided to jointly attack the Jin Dynasty.
Jin Xuanzong, who had no idea who the main enemy was, became a stupid churning stick at that time, making the Western Xia, the Jin Kingdom, and the Southern Song Dynasty unable to calm each other's internal friction, and the Mongols who watched laughed and blossomed.
Then Genghis Khan returned.
(Stupid Kim Seonjong)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="126" >5: Mongol attack. </h1>
In 1225, Genghis Khan, who had returned triumphantly from the Western Expedition, divided the newly conquered territory of the Western Regions into four sons and began to prepare for another attack on the Western Xia.
In 1226, Genghis Khan led an army of 100,000 to attack Xia on the grounds that Western Xia refused to recruit troops and did not want to sacrifice protons.
In the face of the aggressive Mongol army, the newly enthroned Emperor Li Dewang was a man of understanding, knowing that the United Mongolian Vajraying was wrong, and sent people to negotiate peace with the Jin state and restore the relationship between Xia Jin, and the two countries were about brothers to watch over each other, but unfortunately this belated peace negotiation was too late.
The yellow river ice age in winter gave the Mongols a boost, and the Mongol army captured the Western Xia Hexi region in ten months, besieging the western Xia town of Lingzhou, and dividing the Western Xia into two sections.
Li Dewang, the emperor of Xia Xianzong, was stunned when he saw it, and immediately died of melancholy, and was succeeded by his nephew Li Wei, the late Emperor of Western Xia, the King of Nanping.
The last emperor Li Wei saw that there was no way to retreat, and could only order all the soldiers and horses of 300,000 soldiers and horses to fight the Mongol army to the death.
100,000 to 300,000, the Mongol army is still not superior, but the morale of the Mongol army is not timid, but eager to try.
(Armageddon)
After the battle began, the Western Xia army of 300,000 troops, 100,000 defended Zhongxing Province, 100,000 guarded Xiping Province, and 100,000 were used as field troops.
The Mongol army saw that this battle was not easy to fight, and decided to confront the Western Xia army across the river, which consumed time.
The population and property occupied by the Mongol Empire were comparable to those of the weak Western Xia, a small country, and the more confrontational it was, the more the Western Xia could not stand it.
The Western Xia, who were eager to win, could not afford it, so the Mongols seized the opportunity.
The Mongol army used the tactic of "encircling points to fight for help" to besiege Xiping Province, pretend to besiege the city, and lure the Western Xia army of Zhongxing Province out of the city to fight with itself.
Subsequently, a large number of archers were set up between Xiping Province and Zhongxing Province, and ambushed the slow-moving Western Xia Iron Harriers and infantry.
After the ambush was successful and gave a large number of casualties to the Western Xia, the Mongol army did not pursue, but instead allowed the reinforcements of Zhongxing Province to enter Xiping Province, and the Mongol army once again surrounded Xiping Province, and the Western Xia reinforcements who were still setting fire to the outside of the city were in a dilemma.
The Western Xia army that entered the city was logistically difficult to maintain and could only wait for death, and the Western Xia army outside the city was threatened by Mongol riding and shooting and suffered heavy casualties.
Either waiting for death or fighting a decisive battle, the sad defender Li Deren led more than 100,000 Western Xia troops to break through and fight the Mongols to the death.
Seeing that the enemy was like this, Genghis Khan, who had already calculated everything, immediately changed his tactics, mobilized tens of thousands of archers to seal all the gates of Xiping Province, and greeted this group of trapped troops with countless bows and arrows.
Covered by a round of arrow rain, the Western Xia army suffered heavy losses, more than 100,000 troops lost most of the city and fell, and the Mongolian army suffered no more than 10,000 casualties.
After conquering Xiping Province, Genghis Khan ignored the remnants of the Western Xia army trapped in Zhongxing Province, but instead marched south to raid the Jin Dynasty, and after plundering the Guanzhong area, cut off the Jin State's assistance to the Western Xia, and further consumed the few logistical supplies in the Western Xia.
(Ranger Mongols)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="127" > VI: The End of Western Xia and the Fall of the Jin Dynasty. </h1>
Five months after the sweep of the Jin Dynasty, the Mongol army was stationed in Liupan Mountain in Western Xia to recuperate, and Genghis Khan sent emissaries to Zhongxing Province to recruit Western Xia, but Western Xia refused!
After another month, the logistics of Zhongxing Province were cut off, the grain and grass were scattered, and more unfortunately, it also suffered a major earthquake, which caused the plague to run rampant.
At the end of the Western Xia Dynasty, Li Wei, who was expecting to hold out until the Mongols withdrew, had to bow his proud head and announce his surrender.
The surrender of Western Xia coincided almost at the same time as the death of Genghis Khan (August 1226), and before his death, Genghis Khan ordered the destruction of the Dangxiang people, and if it were not for The Chakhan Li Zhi Wo Kuotai, Zhongxing Province would have ushered in a massacre.
At this point, the 21-year-long Mon-Xia War came to an end.
Mongolia's next rival was the Jin Dynasty, and this time the shepherd was the Southern Song Dynasty.
This is also evidenced by Genghis Khan's last words: use the Song and Jin Shiqiu to borrow the Song Realm, and unite with the Song to destroy Jin.
Wo Kuotai, who inherited the position, practiced Genghis Khan's last words, took advantage of the contradictions between the Jin and Song Dynasties, and with the help of the strength of the Mongol Empire that is not what it used to be, completed the counter-killing of the Jin Dynasty seven years later, destroyed this huge opponent with a population of 50 million and a million armor, and immediately attacked the Southern Song Dynasty.
At the moment of attacking the Southern Song Dynasty, countless opponents had become shepherd dogs of the Mongols.
More than 100,000 Mongol troops, in this way, used sheep herding tactics and led countless vassal peoples to attack the city, completing the conquest of Eurasia and becoming the nightmare of countless civilizations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="128" > epilogue:</h1>
The success of the Mongol Empire is inseparable from the excellent strategic vision and excellent tactical qualities of Genghis Khan's generation of Mongols.
Genghis Khan was well versed in the art of shepherding sheep and knew how to use force to fight, and at the same time, the strategy and tactics of the Mongol army were also advanced beyond the times.
From a strategic point of view, the Mongol army is well versed in knowing itself and knowing the truth, is good at finding the weaknesses of the opponent to attack, never fights hand-to-hand combat, but focuses on the war of attrition in mobile warfare, treats the enemy with no mercy, uses slaughter as a psychological offensive, forces countless enemies to land, and after the enemy surrenders, it makes full use of the surrender army to let them fight the vanguard and consume the next enemy, avoiding the loss of the Mongols.
They do not care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, pay attention to the effective forces of killing the enemy in sports warfare, and are the masters of each breakthrough.
At the tactical level, the Mongols are accustomed to using the terrain to confuse the enemy, and when the enemy feels that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, they may show the enemy to lure the enemy deeper with weakness, and the battle will be successful. Or take advantage of the enemy's mentality of pursuing a quick victory and set up an ambush to attack. After ambushing the enemy, it uses cavalry raids and flank encirclement to cut off the enemy's retreat, and then slowly drags down the opponent with repeated attacks and long-range mounted shooting.
This tactic caused countless enemies stronger than the Mongol army to be hit one after another, and they all suffered devastating blows.
Whether the Mongols attacked the Western Xia or the Jin Dynasty, the follow-up attacks on the Western Liao, Huarazimo, and even the European coalition forces used the above strategy and tactics, almost all of which were not happy, and there was no disadvantage.
It was simply the most advanced strategy and tactics of the era.
The shepherd dog tactics, the same tactical strategy as the peak of the times, and the Mongolian army that can perfectly practice the combat strategy, this is the biggest reliance on Mongolia's success.