Emperor Han Wu of Qin lost his literary style slightly; Emperor Songzu of Tang was slightly inferior. A generation of heavenly pride, Genghis Khan, only knows how to bend the bow to shoot large eagles. - "Qinyuan Spring Snow"
Throughout the history of the world, Boer Jin Temujin can be called a top military figure and politician, and under his leadership, China's territory expanded to the peak, north to the north of the Yin Mountains, south to the South China Sea Islands, west to the Black Sea coast of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and northeast to present-day Sakhalin Island, with an area of about 18 million to 20 million square kilometers. It is no exaggeration to say that the name "Temujin (Genghis Khan)" was enough to make people feel frightened at that time.
However, such a great man, the record of the cause of his death in the "History of the Yuan" is only 2 sentences, 20 words:
Autumn and July noon, not hesitant. He was ugly and collapsed in the palace of the old disciples of Sari Chuanha.
(In 1227 AD, Genghis Khan died of illness and died in the palace))
Even What disease Genghis Khan was specifically infected with, how ill he was, all of them did not account, the life of a generation of heavenly pride, so hastily ended, it is obvious that such a sloppy record, it is really difficult to accept. After reviewing the historical materials, the author found that it was not that historians did not want to record, but the cause of Genghis Khan's death, which really made them difficult to record.
The first speculation: the fall of the horse said
In Volume 14 of the Secret History of the Mongols, it is written:
Genghis lived in the winter and wanted to conquer Tang Wu. From the new hour of military horses, to the autumn of the year of the dog, to conquer Tang Wu, and the lady also followed the line. In the winter, Yu'er was hunting on the ground, Genghis rode a red sand horse, and was startled by wild horses, and Genghis Khan fell off his horse.
The meaning of this passage is very easy to understand, in the autumn of the dog year (that is, the second year of Song Lizong Baoqing, 1226 AD), Genghis Khan took his wife to conquest Tang Wu (that is, Western Xia), in the winter, they passed by a place called A'er disagreement, and by the way to hunt, the result was that the red sand horse ridden by Genghis Khan was suddenly frightened, causing the unsuspecting Genghis Khan to fall off his horse on the spot, and he launched a high fever that night, and in July of the following year, he died in the palace at the age of 67.
To tell the truth, for Genghis Khan, who is good at riding and shooting, falling off a horse and dying is simply a great shame in life, and I believe that he absolutely does not want such a thing to be passed on, which is the main reason why he does not dare to record the cause of his death in the main history.
The second speculation: poisoning is said
This view comes from the Italian merchant Marco Polo's Travels of Marco Polo:
During the siege of Taijin (Jizhou, ancient fortress) during the attack on Western Xia, (Genghis Khan) was unfortunately hit by a poisonous arrow fired by Western Xia soldiers in the knee. The result can be imagined, the poisonous arrow attacked the heart, the injury was serious, and it was impossible to afford to be sick.
The so-called "open gun is easy to hide, dark arrows are difficult to defend", even if he is as fierce as Genghis Khan, there is no way to face the poisonous arrow. But to be honest, this statement is not very reliable, because Genghis Khan was more than 60 years old at this time, and as the ruler of the Mongols, he did not need to charge at all, as long as he sat in the rear, so this statement was rejected by many scholars.
The third speculation: being stabbed
In the Mongolian Origins, it is recorded that:
In the process of attacking Western Xia, Genghis Khan's army once captured the beautiful Princess of Western Xia and offered it to Genghis Khan, so beautiful, Genghis Khan was very impressed, but on the night of sleeping, the Princess of Western Xia seized the gap and successfully assassinated Genghis Khan, who relaxed his vigilance. Genghis Khan's illness worsened and he eventually died.
Later, the book was presented to the Qianlong Emperor as a gift by the Prince of Khalkhabu of Mongolia, and after Qianlong read it, he immediately had it translated into two translations of Manchu and Han, and personally titled "Drinking mongolian source stream" and included it in the "Four Libraries Complete Book", which shows that Qianlong very much recognized the "stabbing".
In addition to the above three historical theories, there are also causes of death such as lightning splitting, poisoning, and infection, but they are only widely circulated in the folk, so they are not listed here. However, the author privately believes that no matter which of the above methods of death, for a generation of heavenly arrogance Genghis Khan, it is not a "glorious method of death", compared to the death of such a nest, it is better to die on the battlefield. What do you think about that? What do you think was the real cause of Genghis Khan's death? Feel free to share your discussion in the comments section.
People often say, "History is a little girl dressed up." Mr. Lu Xun said bluntly: "History is often unreliable, and the history written by contemporaries is particularly unreliable." "In that hierarchical feudal society, the literary network was restored, and it was easy to blame, and it was almost impossible to write history truthfully and thoroughly. Because of this, the whole history is full of mysteries, and the cause of Genghis Khan's death is also a mystery.