In 1287, at the site of Sarduru, the 72-year-old Kublai Khan personally marched and fought against 60,000 Mongol cavalry with the "Han Army" as the main force. The "Han army" repelled the Mongols with the tactics of infantry in the middle of the road and cavalry on both wings. At night, Li Ting led his troops to raid the Mongol tent, and Nai Yan fled, and was soon captured alive and executed.
In 1259, an urgent report came from Sichuan that the Great Khan Möngke was killed on the battlefield. At first, Kublai Khan continued to attack Wuchang from the south, trying to capture the city and then move north. When he learned that his younger brother Ali Buge had gathered various princes in the desert steppe, Kublai Khan signed an "agreement" with Jia Rudao, and then returned to kaiping, where he was stationed, to compete with Ali Buge for the position of The Great Khan of Mongolia.
In 1260, Kublai Khan and Ali Buge successively proclaimed themselves the Great Khan and then began a five-year long struggle. After Kublai Khan took down Ali Bu Brother, he once again concentrated his forces south to attack Xiangyang. In 1268, there was another urgent report from the northern and western regions of mobei, and the haidu of the Wokoutai family rose up and invaded the northern desert. In 1276, the Yuan army conquered Lin'an, temporarily relaxed its pursuit of the Southern Song Court, and the main force was transferred to engage Haidu.
Haidu was a cruel man, Kublai Khan could not handle it in the short term, and the situation in the northern and western regions of the desert was very bad. At this time, Naiyan, who was guarding Liaodong, gathered 60,000 soldiers and horses, claiming 100,000, in response to Haidu. In this way, the western, northern, and northeastern sides of the Yuan Dynasty were in a hurry, and Kublai Khan faced great pressure.
Naiyan, a descendant of Genghis Khan's younger brother Temuge Chijin, was the head of the "host kings". In 1217, Genghis Khan prepared a western expedition, allowing Temuge Chijin to manage the affairs of the desert and guard the ancestral family property, which was a rule of "young sons guarding the stove". Later, the Great Khan of Möngke attacked the Song Dynasty from the south, and also let his younger brother Ali Buge guard the north of the desert.
When Genghis Khan divided the fiefdoms, Temuge Chijin gained thousands of people, and then continued to expand his power, becoming the head of the "host kings" with many soldiers and horses. In 1246, Temuge led an army eastward to compete with Guiyu for the position of Great Khan. After Guiyu succeeded to the throne, he executed Temuge Chijin, but his family was not affected in the slightest.
When Temuge Chijin reached Naiyan, his family strength was quite strong, and the contradictions between him and Kublai Khan were also quite sharp. The reason is very simple, Kublai Khan implemented the "Han Law", and Liaodong was once administered by the Tokyo Province, which contradicted Naiyan who pursued the "grassland policy". Later, Kublai Khan withdrew the province of Tokyo, but Naiyan was still uneasy.
In order to maintain the stability of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan could only implement the "Han Law" and strengthen the imperial court's management of the localities, otherwise the Yuan Dynasty would soon fall into the chaos caused by the "sub-feudal system". Kublai Khan was deeply influenced by Han culture, familiar with history books, and had a good understanding of the history of the Western Zhou, Western Han, and Western Jin Dynasties, and once the power of the princes grew, a scuffle was inevitable.
In 1287, Naiyan raised an army in Liaodong, with 60,000 soldiers and horses, claiming 100,000. The "History of the Yuan" records: "King Zong was a rebel against Yan, Tabutai and Jin Jianu came to resist the war, and the number of people was 100,000, and the emperor surrounded him with various armies." Kublai Khan was 72 years old at this time, but he still had to drive the conquest himself, otherwise once the front was defeated, Haidu would go on another crusade, and the Yuan Dynasty would probably collapse. For the convenience of writing, the Yan department was called the Mongol soldiers, and kublai Khan's department was called the Yuan army, or the "Han army".
On this expedition, Kublai Khan originally wanted to lead the Mongol cavalry into battle, but the general Boyan advised him not to do so, because the Mongol cavalry were "acquaintances" and it was not easy to fight. The Mongol generals under Kublai Khan were familiar with Naiyan and longed for the "steppe policy", which was indeed not suitable for the expedition.
Bo Yan recommended li ting, a famous general of the "Han army", and asked him to lead the "Han army" to follow the emperor's personal conquest and serve as the main force of the battle, and Kublai Khan adopted his suggestion. The "Han army" of the Yuan Dynasty was not necessarily Han, the main members were the Han, Jurchen, Bohai, and Khitan people in the north, and their combat effectiveness was very strong. On this expedition, the number of "Han troops" was about 20,000, and Li Ting, a Sinicized Jurchen, was the commander.
In 1287, Kublai Khan left Yanjing (Dadu) to conquer Naiyan, with 3,000 "Tanma Red Army" as the vanguard. Kublai Khan, Boyan, and Li Ting led the main force of the "Han Army" to keep up. When the Yuan army arrived in Sarduru, it engaged the main Mongol forces in an encounter. At this time, the Mongol cavalry was about 60,000 people, and the Yuan army with the "Han Army" as the main force was only in its early 20,000s, and the disparity in strength was huge.
Kublai Khan commanded the battle in the "Elephant Public Opinion" and personally came to the front line. Kublai Khan's move, in addition to boosting the morale of the Yuan army, also wanted to shock the Mongol army with the aura of the Great Khan, so that they would retreat in spite of difficulties and not follow Naiyan's will. The Mongol soldiers did not give any face, they concentrated on attacking the "elephant public opinion", shooting with a dense rain of arrows, and Kublai Khan could only get off the horse.
The Mongol cavalry rushed to kill, and Kublai Khan asked the "Han Army" infantry to line up to meet the battle, and returned fire with a dense rain of arrows to prevent the Mongol soldiers from approaching the front. Next, Li Ting led his cavalry to attack from both flanks to harass the Mongol army, and Taboutai and Jin Jianu thought that the Yuan army might have an ambush and ordered the withdrawal. Shi Zai: "When the enemy is arrayed, a hundred crossbows are fired in unison, but there is no comeback", and the Mongol soldiers returned to the camp.
At night, Li Ting led more than a dozen people armed with firearms to raid the Mongol camp, and the Mongol soldiers thought that the main force of the Yuan army had killed them, and they suddenly became a chaotic mess and scattered. Shi Zai: "Ten strong men were drawn, armed with firearms, and entered their ranks at night, and with one shot, they killed each other and scattered." "10 people can defeat 60,000 soldiers and horses? It can only be said that the Mongol soldiers had no intention of fighting, but they were unpopular and would be defeated sooner or later.
Then, Li Ting played Kublai Khan, saying that as long as 20,000 "Han troops" were needed, they could capture Naiyan. Shi Zai: "If you get twenty thousand Han troops, use it cheaply from your subjects, and you can capture Yan." Kublai Khan did not agree, but asked Li Ting to act with Yuxi Timur. Yuxi Timur, a famous Mongol general, had been fighting in the northwest for a long time, and was not very familiar with the Mongol soldiers in Liaodong, so he was transferred to fight.
Li Ting and Yuxi Timur pursued together and fought a decisive battle with Naiyan in the Hulunbuir Grassland. The "Han Army" met the battle in a phalanx of infantry arrangements, and the Yuan Army cavalry attacked on both sides. After a fight, Naiyan was defeated and captured, and Kublai Khan wrapped Naiyan in a felt blanket and repeatedly dragged and threw him to death.
After Naiyan's death, the remnants continued to resist until 1292. In order to strengthen the administration of Liaodong, Kublai Khan established Liaoyang Province, and the northeast was increasingly closely linked to the Central Plains.
Bibliography: History of the Yuan