Khorezm, if it were not for the Mongolia expedition to the west, perhaps there would be no sense of existence in the hearts of the Chinese people, only knowing this Central Asian country, that's all. As everyone knows, Khorezm was a great power that rose at about the same time as the Mongolia Empire, and the latter was the winner.
Why did Genghis Khan go west to Khorezm? According to the "Yuan History", the Khorezm king Mahamat did not know the height of the sky and was greedy for money, not only killed the Mongolia merchant groups, plundered goods, but also humiliated the envoys sent by Genghis Khan, angering the Mongolians.
Is the statement of "Yuan Shi" necessarily accurate? The answer is not necessarily, throughout the rise of Mongolia, Genghis Khan's humiliation of other countries is not uncommon. For example, Genghis Khan pursued the Naibarians and intruded into Western Xia territory at will.
When attacking Western Xia, Mongolia also had no reason. After Western Xia submitted, he helped Mongolia fight the Jin State and assisted the Mongolia army in its westward expedition, but later due to the national strength, Western Xia responded passively. Genghis Khan also did not "understand" the difficulties of others, and continued to fight Western Xia, but later destroyed it and razed the capital to the ground.
The Mongolia Empire and Khorezm rose at the same time, and they were destined to be difficult to coexist because there were too many entanglements of interests. Genghis Khan's expedition to Khorezm had a certain inevitability for Mongolia.
Mongolia was a steppe empire, consisting of many tribes, and the aristocracy was quite powerful, and once it stopped fighting and stopped expanding, it was easy to have infighting. It is very simple that after the establishment of the empire, the monarch's strengthening of personal power and the power of the nobility is itself a contradiction that is difficult to solve.
It is said that Khorezm humiliated the Mongolians, but it is not known that Genghis Khan first humiliated Khorezm, and did not give face to the newly rising Mahamat. Helhan's ransacking of the merchant group, Maham's favoritism in favor of Helhan, and humiliation of the Mongolia envoys were a response to Genghis Khan.
According to the History of Mongolia in Tosan, when the Mongolia pursued the remnants of Naman, they had friction with Khorezm, but did not fight. Then, Genghis Khan sent a letter hoping for "reconciliation" and the fall of peace.
Shi Zai: "Know the strength of the monarch and the greatness of the monarchy." I know that the king rules one of the vast lands of the earth, and I am deeply willing to reconcile with you. I look at the king, and I love the son. ”
Genghis Khan first affirmed Mahamat's exploits, saying that he ruled a vast area, and that Khorezm was a vast territory and was willing to maintain friendly relations with him. However, Genghis Khan regarded himself as a "father" and treated Mahamat as a "son", who could stand it?
Shi Jingjiao is the "child emperor" of the Khitan, and Liu Yu is the "son emperor" of the Jin State, both of which are despicable. Liu Yu has always been a man with his tail between his legs; But Shi Chonggui was not convinced, argued with the Khitan, often fought, and was unwilling to be humiliated.
Khorezm, with a vast territory, is several grades stronger than the Later Jin Dynasty and the "Pseudo-Qi". Moreover, Mahamat conquered the east and west, swept all the forces in Central Asia, and was known as the second "Alexander", how could he be the "son" of Genghis Khan.
It can be said that Genghis Khan provoked Mahamat first, and the latter humiliated the mission. Of course, these provocations are only a pretext for fighting, not a root cause. Genghis Khan's attack on Khorezm was inevitable for Mongolia's external expansion, otherwise it would have internal strife.
Putting aside other aristocratic factors, the distribution of the benefits of Genghis Khan's 4 sons is enough to make Genghis Khan very troubled.
The blood relationship of Jochi's "uninvited guest" caused a rift in the relationship between the four brothers, even to the point of drawing a knife to meet each other.
According to the youngest son, Tulei can take over Genghis Khan's family business, as well as most of the soldiers and horses. The old Sanwo Kuotai was clearly designated as the successor of the Mongolia Empire, and the position of the Great Khan of Mongolia was also the successor of the Wo Kuotai family.
The eldest Jochi and the second Chagatai, how to distribute it? They also needed territories, and Genghis Khan had to find a piece of land for his two sons to establish their own khanate.
How to find a territory for his son, Genghis Khan had a headache. The Mongolia steppe was saturated, and the eastern part was given to several younger brothers, who were the "host kings". Liaodong is the franchisees of the Yelu family and the Shimo family; Mo Nan is in charge of the Mu Huali family; Mobei is a young son who drags mines, and he can't tell the difference.
The Mongolia steppe is unified, that's right, the question is who will manage and how? That's the problem, and everyone wants to get the benefits. In this way, Genghis Khan could only target places beyond the Mongolia steppe, so that the nobles could have their own "industry".
For the Prairie Empire, if it wants to continue to expand, there are two directions to choose. First, go south to the Central Plains, seize agricultural areas, feed more people, and then give these nobles official positions. Second, the westward expedition to seize Central Asia, control the Silk Road hubs, and obtain commercial benefits.
Genghis Khan's Mongolia Empire also had to break through from two directions. In 1211, Genghis Khan went south, defeated the main force of the Jin State at Yehuling, and entered Shanxi, Hebei, and Shandong, capturing many prefectures and counties, opening the prelude to the southern expedition.
After 1215, Genghis Khan transferred the main force from the Jin State, and asked Mu Huali to lead 20,000 men to run Monan and North China, and then plan the westward expedition. Why don't you continue to fight the Jin Kingdom and seize the Central Plains? Genghis Khan had his own considerations.
In Genghis Khan's view, the defeat of Khorezm was more effective than the southern conquest of Jin. It was not that Khorezm was richer than the Jin Kingdom, but that Khorezm was easier to fight, Mongolia suffered less losses, and it was able to control the Silk Road to finance the next battle.
There is no doubt that the Jin Kingdom cannot win against Mongolia, but it is not easy for Mongolia to destroy the Jin Kingdom. The Jin State was established more than 100 years ago, with a high degree of feudalism and a strong ability to mobilize for war. If it weren't for Jin Xuanzong's terrible "North Lost South Supplement" operation, which completely annoyed the Southern Song Dynasty and injured the vitality, it is difficult to say whether Wokotai would have destroyed Jin in the future.
The attack on the Kingdom of Jin was a protracted war of attrition, and Mongolia could not afford to spend it. Mongolia has the advantage of a quick victory and a quick elimination of the opponent's living forces. Once the Jin Kingdom is condensed and a tug-of-war with Mongolia can only be lost.
Mongolia is strong because Genghis Khan is there, and the first generation of entrepreneurs is very capable of fighting. Genghis Khan is old, and there are deep contradictions between his sons. If Genghis Khan unfortunately dies of illness and the Mongolia army falls into the quagmire of the Central Plains, it is estimated that the Mongolia Empire will end here, and the attack between brothers is almost inevitable.
Compared to the Jin Kingdom, it was much easier to destroy Khorezm. Why? Quite simply, Khorezm is an allied state, a super "hodgepodge", with many internal contradictions and factions, and Khorezm was on the verge of civil war before Mongolia even went west.
Khorezm has always played the role of a vassal of the Central Asian powers, and not long ago it was a vassal of the Western Liao. If it weren't for the usurpation of power by Qu Zhulu, the one who entered the country, Western Liao still controlled Central Asia, and Mahama would have no chance at all.
There are not many Khorezm people, most of them are Kangli, Turkic, and Qarluq, and there are many Khitans and Vultures, who are not of the same mind as each other. For example, the Kangli clique led by the Empress Dowager tried their best to exclude and attack the eldest grandson, Zalandin, because Zalandin's mother was a Turkic and not a camp.
The reason why Mahamat moved the capital from Yulong Jiechi to Saermahand was to weaken the influence of the empress dowager. The Queen Mother wanted to form another court to compete with her son and grandson. Unfortunately, it was the Kangli people who guarded the eastern part of Khorezm and directly confronted Mongolia.
The biggest problem of Khorezm is that it has not been able to complete the integration of internal forces, and the so-called 400,000 troops cannot be gathered at all. The Mongolia attached more importance to intelligence than people thought, and Genghis Khan knew well about Khorezm's weakness and was sure of a quick victory to take Central Asia.
In 1217, the Mongolia marched westward and first destroyed Western Liao. In 1219, Genghis Khan officially attacked Khorezm, and Mahamat was powerless. In the entire process of destroying Khorezm, I didn't see Khorezm come out of the field for a decisive battle, and there was no decent mobile legion.
From the battle in 1219 to the withdrawal of Genghis Khan in 1222, Khorezm took the initiative to meet the main force of the Mongolian cavalry, and there was not a single battle. In the Battle of Balu Bay, Zalandin also had no choice but to choose a decisive battle, and the opponent was still the 30,000 Mongolia division led by the unlucky and bald man. The Battle of the India River, after Zalandin was pursued, the Jedi counterattacked, also a crushing defeat.
What's more interesting is that these battles of Zalandin were after Mahamat died of illness, and Khorezm had been defeated by the Mongolian cavalry and turned into a pot of porridge. At the beginning of the Mongolia expedition to the west and the attack on Khorezm, the other side did not resist, and they all stuck to the city, did not reinforce each other, and were broken by each other.
In 1222, Khorezm died in name only as Zalandin fled to the Delhi-Sultan border. Then, the Mongolian class returned to the steppe and planned the destruction of Western Xia. Two years later, Zalandin returned to Khorezm, and it was only a small fight, and Mongolia did not bother to pay attention to him. In 1231, Ogedai sent 30,000 cavalry to the west to destroy Zalandin.
The attack on Khorezm was more cost-effective for Genghis Khan, and Mongolia gained Central Asia, controlled the hub of the Silk Road, and obtained the funds needed for the conquest. On the basis of Khorezm and Western Liao, Jochi and Chagatai had their own territories and established the Kipchak Khanate and the Chagatai Khanate.
The Silk Road provided financial resources, and the Mongolia Empire became stronger. In 1227, Genghis Khan destroyed Western Xia, and he died of illness in Liupan Mountain, and a generation of Tianjiao fell. Seven years later, Wokotai destroyed the gold and took the Central Plains. Then, the second western expedition of Mongolia, the eldest sons went to open up the territory, and Wokuotai focused on the Southern Song Dynasty in an attempt to complete unification.