We all know that the Jin Kingdom developed and grew under the leadership of Yan Akuta, realized the great cause of swallowing up the Liao and destroying the Song Dynasty, and had the title of "Jurchen dissatisfied with ten thousand, full of invincible". However, after the destruction of the Liao State, the Jin State did not take advantage of the strong army to conquer the Mongolian plateau under the jurisdiction of the Liao State before, but instead caused the Mongol tribes to harass the very headache, and directly let Genghis Khan sit in the later stage.
The focus of the early Jin Dynasty was on the direction of the Song Dynasty
In 1125, the Jin army captured Emperor Tianzuo of Liao at Jiashan, and the Liao state collapsed. The Murwei tribe, which had originally been attached to the Liao state, prepared to attach itself to the Jin state. However, since the beginning of the following year, the main force of the Jin army has gone south to attack the Song Dynasty, and the all-star lineups such as Yan Zongwang, Zong Han, Zong Pan, and Zong Bi have all gone to fight the Song, and not many troops have been allocated to manage the Mongolian steppe. Among them, the leader of the Qiyan tribe, Bo'er Jin Hebule, led his troops to break away from the jurisdiction of the old Liao, established themselves on the steppe, and became the new Mongol tribe, and was elected as Hebul Khan.
After the end of the first phase of the war against the Song Dynasty, Jin Taizong remembered to rule the Mongolian steppe, so as emperor, he sent out banquet invitations to all the departments of the steppe, especially the most powerful Mongol tribe.
Above_ Finished Yan Sheng (25 November 1075 – 9 February 1135), real name Completed Yan Wu Begmai
Although Hebul Khan felt that the Jin State might not have good intentions, he was invited to come to the Court of the Jin State with a dozen retinues. At first, Hebule was afraid that the Jin people would be poisoned in the wine and vegetables, and every time he ate, he had to find an opportunity to go out and vomit. However, once during the banquet, the atmosphere was very happy, and Hebul Khan drank very happily, and as soon as the wine was on his head, he began to make trouble, and even took the initiative to go to Jin Taizong and touch his beard. The guards of the Jin court were ready to draw their swords and behead them, but Jin Taizong still maintained a generous style and did not punish him.
Seeing that he had accidentally made a big mistake, he found an excuse to slip away, and the Jin Tai Sect sent people to chase after him. Jin Taizong felt that he had let go of Hebule because he was a tiger breeder, so he sent emissaries to summon Hebule, and as a result, Hebule directly killed the emissary, pulling the flag and fighting against Jin Guo.
Above_ Jin Dynasty cavalry
Jin Taizong died of illness shortly after, and the reigning Emperor Xizong of Jin sent Emperor Yanzongpan to lead the Jin army to conquer the Qiyan tribe in 1135. Historical records record that these Mongol tribes were known for their bravery and good fighting, using mackerel skin as armor to resist stray arrows. Although Yan Zongpan won this battle, he was not able to eliminate Hebul Khan.
Hebul Khan invaded the Jin kingdom again in 1139, when a group of famous generals of the Jin state were still facing Han Shizhong, Wu Jiu, Zhang Jun and others in the south, and Jin Xizong had to send Hu Shahu (not the powerful minister Hu Shahu in the late Jin dynasty) to go with more than 10,000 cavalry to conquest the Qiyan tribe, but he was lured by Hebul Khan to go deep into the Mongolian steppe, interrupt the logistics line, and then divide and defeat. This is also the prototype of genghis Khan's later tactics.
Above_ Yue Fei resisted Jin in Guangde Liujie Battlefield Boundary Map
Jin Wushu could not defeat Yue Fei, nor could he kill the Mongols
The Jin army fought the Song army on the southern front for more than ten years, during which time it sent an army to the northwest to pursue Yelü Dashi, who established the Western Liao regime, but was repelled by the other side. After the Song court recalled Yue Fei's Northern Expeditionary Army and signed the "Shaoxing Peace Agreement", the Jin State freed up its hands to clean up Mongolia. However, some of the famous generals of the Jin Dynasty died of illness, some died of war, some died of political struggles, and the most powerful general who survived was Yan Zongbi, that is, Jin Wushu. So in 1146, Jin Xizong sent Jin Wushu to lead an army of 80,000 to conquer Hebul.
Jin Wushu had previously been driven north by Yue Fei's Yue family army on the southern front, and if it were not for the assistance of Song Gaozong and Qin Ju, he was afraid that he would have run back to his hometown. This time I was ordered to go on a northern expedition, Jin Wushu thought to myself, I can't clean up the Song army, and I can't clean up your Mongolia? He drew some elite troops from the southern front, including elite abductors and archers, organized cavalry units equipped with fine leather armor, and stockpiled crossbows, making full preparations for war.
Above_ Jin Wushu generally refers to Yan Zongbi (?) –November 19, 1148) was a Prince of the Jin Dynasty, a famous general, and a founding hero
When Jin Wushu went out on the expedition, he specially left a third of his army to defend the logistics transportation line to avoid being harassed by the Mongol Rangers. Hebule again used the method of luring the enemy to go deep and cutting off the enemy's grain road against the Jin army, but they were all defused by the Jin Wushu. It was difficult for Hebule to defeat the Jin army from the front, so he took advantage of the strategic depth of the vast Mongolian steppe to play a guerrilla war with Jin Wushu. Although the Jin army was able to defeat the Mongol army in almost every field battle, it failed to destroy the enemy's living forces in large numbers, and the other side was always able to gather new forces to harass itself.
Such a famous general of the Golden Kingdom as Jin Wushu also secretly cried bitterly in the face of this method of warfare of Mongolia. After all, the Jurchens belong to the semi-fishing, hunting and semi-farming people, and in the steppe, unlike the Mongols and Khitans, there are a large number of nomadic herders who can be used for their own use, and the more the war drags on, the greater the burden, and they want to take the initiative to negotiate with Hebul. At this time, Hebule was also tired, and such a large golden army was wreaking havoc everywhere on its own turf, and it was impossible to settle it as soon as possible, so it accepted the negotiations. The two sides reached a collegial agreement: the Jin State ceded Xiping, Hebei and other 27 regiments to the Mongols, gave some rice noodles cattle and sheep every year, and in 1148 crowned Bul khan as the King of the Mongols, that is, the King of Mongolia.
Above_ Ruins of the Golden Great Wall
Through this incident, Jin Wushu realized that the active attack on the Mongols would not solve the problem, or imitate the Central Plains Dynasty to build the Great Wall. So the Golden Wall was built on the border near Mongolia, and a series of pass forts were built. After the Mongol tribes reached a collegial agreement, they continued to invade the northern border of the Jin Dynasty, and there were even rumors that "Tatars come, Tatars go, and the officials who rush to the house have nowhere to go". However, at this time, the military strength of the Jin Dynasty was still relatively strong, effectively blocking the invasion of the Mongol tribes.
Soon after, Jin Wushu and Hebul Khan died one after another, and the newly enthroned Baba Bao Khan was kidnapped by the Tatars to the Jin court because of a conflict with the Tatars. Jin Xizong always wanted to get rid of the Mongol external plague, so he ordered that Baba Boy Khan be crucified under a female donkey. This move seems to be deflating, but it makes the hatred between the Mongols and the Jin people never be able to subside.
Above_ Completed Yan Qi (14 August 1119 – 9 January 1150), real name Completed Yan Hela, Jin Xizong
During the second period of strength, the Jin Dynasty was forced to build the Great Wall to defend the Mongols
After Jin Shizong completed Yan Yong's ascension to the throne, he made great efforts to repair relations with neighboring countries and let the national strength of Jin Guo reach its peak, known as "Northern Yao Shun". Jin Shizong maintained an understanding of the Mongol threat, but he knew that the peak of the Jin Kingdom at this time was economic and people's livelihood, not the all-star military peak of the early years of the Jin Dynasty, just like the peak of the Tang Dynasty's armed forces was in the Tang Taizong period, and the economic peak was in the Tang Xuanzong period, so it was not good to take the initiative to attack the Mongolian steppe like jin Chu. So Jin Shizong continued to strengthen the Great Wall, and Xia Ming set up a border fort of seventy at the border of Taizhou and Linhuang, with 13,000 garrisons.
In 1170, the Father of Genghis Khan Temujin was poisoned by the Tatars, and the Mongol Kingdom disintegrated. The Jin Dynasty took the opportunity to expand its influence on the steppe, and the Keliebu and Naimanbu once surrendered to the Jinguo. However, at the end of the Jin Dynasty, Temujin re-integrated the old Mongol ministry and became the new frontier of the Jin Dynasty. So the Jin Dynasty continued to strengthen the defense of the Golden Wall, and regularly sent troops to the Mongolian steppe to massacre young men, aiming to reduce the young and middle-aged population of the steppe.
Above_ BoerJin Temujin (31 May 1162 – 25 August 1227), also known as Genghis Khan
During the reign of Emperor Jin Zhangzong, Temujin unified the Qiyan clan and became the new Mongol chief. In 1196, the Tatars betrayed the Jin state and were defeated by the Jin army. The Jin called on the Mongols to join them in attacking the Tatars, and Temujin responded to the call to eliminate the Tatars with the Kreb. Emperor Jin zhangzong made Temujin an official of the "Zawu Tiuri" (Zhu Qi) official position, making Temujin an official of the Jin Dynasty. At the same time, in order to defend the Mongol tribes from moving south, Jin Zhangzong built a large-scale border fortress on the basis of the existing Great Wall.
The power of the Jin state went from peak to decline in the hands of Jin Zhangzong. After becoming Genghis Khan of the Great Mongol State, Temujin wanted to conquer the Jin Dynasty in the south. However, the yuwei of Jin Shizong and Zhangzong was still there, making it difficult for Temujin to make it difficult for him to make a decision to march south. When Emperor Zhangzong died, Temujin learned that the throne was completed by The King of Wei Shao, who he had always looked down upon, and said with a smile: "I say that the Emperor of zhongyuan is a heavenly man, and such a cowardly is also for it. And a few years later, a gold war was launched.
Above_ Jurchen
The main reason why the Jin Kingdom failed to swallow Mongolia at its peak was that the Jurchens were a semi-fishing, hunting, and semi-farming people scattered in the northeast, unable to garrison enough troops and populations on the Mongolian plateau to maintain their rule over Mongolia, and the nomadic and fishing/farming areas were bounded by the Golden Great Wall, and it was difficult for the Jin State to cross this line to actually rule the Mongol tribes, and could only adopt a bondage approach.
Secondly, most of the elite generals in the early Jin Dynasty were consumed in the battlefield against the Song Dynasty, and the strength that could be used when conquering the Mongols was much worse than before. In addition, the Mongols themselves are brave and good at war, have a unique survival wisdom, and are not so easy to deal with. So it is not surprising that the Golden State could not swallow Mongolia at its peak.
Author: Iron Rider As Wind Correction/Editor: Lilith
Resources:
[1] "History of Jin", "History of Yuan"
[2] The Secret History of Mongolia, Yu Dajun
[3] "The Construction of the Golden Great Wall and the Relationship between Mongolia and Gold" Qi Li and Sun Wenzheng
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author