Chagatai (1183–1241) was the son of Genghis Khan and his wife, BoErti. He was a brilliant, intelligent, learned and awesome Mongolian general. Because Chagatai was familiar with Zaza, he was a strict law enforcer. Genghis Khan ordered Chagatai to take charge of Zaza and the law, and Genghis Khan said to his subordinates: "Anyone who has a strong desire to know the laws of Zaza and the Great Mongolian State, go after Chagatai." "After genghis Khan established the country, the Mongol military and civilians were divided among the sons and daughters, and the share of chagatai was 8,000 households and 4,000 troops. Its fiefdoms were the hezhong region, part of The Khwarazm, the Uighur region, Kashgar, Badahaghat, Barihei, Koshinin, and all the areas up to the border of Xindu (India). Later, on the basis of this fiefdom, Chagatai and his descendants established the Chagatai Khanate, one of the four major Mongol khanates, and thus became the ancestor of the Chagatai Khanate. Chagatai experienced two generations of Mongol khans, Genghis Khan and Wokoutai Khan.
Chagatai Painting/Siqin
During the time of Genghis Khan, Chagatai was often at Genghis Khan's side, following his father on his southern expeditions to the north. In 1211, Genghis Khan led a large army to march into the Jin Kingdom with his four sons. Genghis Khan led the main force across the Yin Mountains, occupied Usha Fort and Wuyue Camp, and entered Juyongguan. Another Mongol army, led by Genghis Khan's three sons Shuchi, Chagatai, and Wokoutai, crossed the border and occupied Jingzhou, Yinshan, and Fengzhou, and successively captured Yunnei, Dongsheng, Wu, Shuo, and other prefectures. In the autumn of 1213, Genghis Khan led a large army into the Jin Kingdom again, defeating the Jin soldiers at Huailai. The Mongol army took advantage of the victory to pursue the northern mouth of Juyong Pass, leaving a force to contain the enemy, personally leading a large army south out of Zijing Pass, capturing Zhuo and Yi Prefectures, and then swept through the vast area north of the Yellow River in three ways. The Right Route Army, commanding the Right Route Army of Shuchi, Chagatai, and Wokoutai, swept the counties of Shanxi on the east and west sides of the Taihang Mountains. Breaking the prefectures of Baobao, Ding, Wei, and Meng, arriving at the north bank of the Yellow River, circumnavigating the western foothills of Taihang Mountain, and occupying Ze, Lu, Liao, Yangping, Taiyuan, Ji, Shi, Lan, and Dai prefectures in three routes, and finally returning victoriously. In the battle against the Jin army, Chagatai gave full play to his heroic and good fighting style.
In the autumn of 1219, Genghis Khan organized the first western expedition of the Mongol army to punish the despicable behavior of King Shah mohammed of the Mongol caravans. The Mongol army advanced into the Syr Darya River (present-day Syr Darya), but when it resisted, it besieged the city of Chimkent (present-day Chimkent, Kazakhstan). Genghis Khan divided into four armies to capture the castles along the riverbank. The two brothers Chagatai and Wokoutai were ordered to stay for the First Route Army to attack the city of Dala. The city is located on the banks of the Xiaohun River, guarding the main traffic route between the east and the west, and is an important town in the western region, divided into inner and outer cities, with perfect garrisons, sufficient grain and grass, and 30,000 garrisons, including 10,000 elite cavalry. This was a very difficult battle, and the two brothers, Chagatai and Wokoutai, cooperated closely in command, and organized the Mongol army to attack the city for more than 5 months, which seriously dampened the morale of the defenders. In the end, the defenders were demoralized and fell into a desperate situation. The two defenders, Kharaza Khan and Hai'er Khan, had different opinions. Kharaza Khan advocated surrendering to the Mongol army and surrendering the city, while Hai'er Khan was the culprit in killing the Mongol caravan and threatened to die to the end. Kharaza Khan then led his troops to break through at night and was captured by the Mongol army. After the Mongol army found out the falsehood of the city, it captured the outer city. Hai'er Khan led his troops to retreat to the inner fort, trapped for 1 month, most of the defenders were killed in battle, the Mongol army thus captured the inner city, and the Mongol army won the victory in the Battle of Yandala. Chagatai and Wokoutai led their armies to capture the cities of Feynchak and Turkistan, and then went to Samarkand to meet the main force. In the autumn of 1220, Genghis Khan sent his three sons Shuchi, Chagatai, and Wokoutai with more than 100,000 troops to capture the yulong Jiechi City (located in the northwest of Turkmenistan, south of the Amu Darya River, the capital of the Kingdom of Khwarazm). The city straddles the banks of the Amu River and connects the castles on both sides with bridges. The Mongol army arrived at the city and sent people to persuade them to surrender, but the defenders refused, so they organized a siege of the city. The Mongol army first sent 3,000 troops to capture the Amu River Bridge, the defenders stubbornly resisted, and the Mongol army was all killed. At this time, the two generals who were in charge of the siege of the city, Shu Chi and Chagatai, had different opinions, complained to each other about the serious discord, and due to heavy casualties, the Jade Dragon Jie Chicheng attacked for 6 months without being defeated. Genghis Khan was very angry after receiving the report, and instead sent Wokoutai to command the three armies. Wo Kuotai first tried his best to reconcile the two brothers, and straightened out military discipline, the military might was greatly enhanced, wo Kuotai organized the whole army to attack the city, fiercely fought for 7 days and nights, completely annihilated the defenders, and captured the capital of the Huarazimo Kingdom, Yulong Jie chicheng. In the autumn of 1222, Genghis Khan and his three sons Chagatai, Wokoutai, and Tuolei led a large army to pursue Shahmahammad's son Zalandin, Zalandin was not an idle man, this man had the courage and strategy, organized the remnants of the Hua lazi army to resist, but finally on the side of the Middle River (present-day Indus), the Mongol army defeated the Reyland army in one fell swoop, and achieved a complete victory in the first Western Expedition of the Mongols.
In 1226, Genghis Khan led an army to western Xia. Chagatai was ordered to remain in the Mongols. In August 1227, when Genghis Khan died, the coffin was transported to the ear of the Great Hue, and the obituary was issued, and the kings, princesses, and generals of the various sects jointly held a funeral ceremony of national mourning, and they each went to their own territories.
Chagatai, in accordance with the will of his father Genghis Khan, did his utmost to ascend to the position of Great Khan. Together with his brother Torre and other relatives of the Golden Family, he performed a ceremony of three kneeling and nine prostrations. Although Chagatai was an elder brother, he had great respect for Wokoutai Khan and greatly observed the courtesy of the monarch, thus maintaining the dignity of the Great Khan. Once, after eating a meal, the two brothers of Wokoutai and Chagatai slowly rode horses, and Chagatai took advantage of the drunkenness to ask his brother to race horses to win or lose, and the chagatai horses won the race. After waking up drunk, Chagatai realized that this was inappropriate, and hurriedly led his subordinates to the wokoutai Khan tent before dawn to request punishment for violating the courtesy of the monarch. Wokoutai Khan repeatedly stated that he would not be blamed for his crime, but could not withstand Chagatai's repeated requests, and finally ended the matter by confiscating 9 horses of Chagatai. It can be seen that the brothers are harmonious and intimate. Since chagatai was enfeoffed in Central Asia, except for returning to the Mongol Khanate for important reasons, most of his time was spent in the western fiefdoms. Wokoutai Khan also had great respect for Chagatai, and all major events in the khanate were consulted by envoys first, and then proceeded with consent. Everything that happened there and every incident in Chagatai was reported to the Great Khan. When there was something important, he went to the Khan's place to attend the Kuriletai.
Chagatai ran his fiefdom in the Western Regions, basing the establishment of the Chagatai Khanate, but Chagatai died in May 1241. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, posthumously honored Chagatai as Emperor Zhongwu of Yuan Shengzong. From the establishment of the Chagatai Khanate in 1227 until the destruction of its successor State, the Yarkand Khanate, by the Dzungar Khanate, it lasted for 453 years in Xinjiang and the western region of China. During this period, they created a brilliant Chagatai culture, of which Chagatai is a representative work of Chagatai culture, Chagatai is common in Xinjiang and Central Asia in China, also used in the Mughal Empire and Egypt, and modern Uyghur is a continuation of Chagatai. The Mongols of the Chagatai Khanate consisted mainly of three parts: Baruchath, Zarayil and Kre, of which the Baruchath tribe had a generation of tyrants Timur (1336-1405) in the 14th century, who established the glorious Timurid Empire, and the two parts of Zarayir and Kri still exist in the Kazakhs. Where are the Mongols and descendants of the Chagatai Khanate now? According to scholars, they are mainly integrated among the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic groups in the western region.
——Excerpt from the "Haramulun" platform
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