Mongol History Interpretation - Read History to View the World. Interpretation of the Twenty-Five Histories

Author: Bai Yulin, Zeng Zhihua, Zhang Xinke / Country: Mainland China
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Publishing Date: 2006-07-01
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9. How did the Kingdom of Jin fall to the Mongols? The Mongol tribes had long been subjugated to the Jin, and even Genghis Khan himself had once held official positions under the Jin. However, after Genghis Khan unified the Mongols, his power had grown immensely, and he no longer wished to remain subservient to the Jin. For this reason, the Jin attempted to lure and kill Genghis Khan, but Genghis Khan learned of this plan in advance and decided to strike first. He led his army to attack the Jin. Genghis Khan personally commanded three invasions into the Jin territory between 1211, 1212, and 1213, effectively eliminating the Jin's influence north of the Yellow River. In 1214, the Jin Emperor Xuanzong offered a princess as a peace offering, but in May 1215, the Mongol army captured the Jin capital, Zhongdu.
In autumn 1217, Genghis Khan appointed Muqali as "Grand Tutor and King," entrusting him entirely with the task of attacking the Jin, while Genghis Khan himself focused on preparing his army for a westward campaign. Unlike the earlier Mongol policy of solely focusing on killing and looting, Muqali began to court and utilize the local Han landowner militias, sending troops to garrison the cities they captured. From 1217 to 1223, Muqali led his army to attack various regions in Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Shaanxi. He repeatedly defeated the Jin forces by leveraging the power of these regional warlords. By the time Muqali died in 1223, the Mongols had already controlled vast territories of the Jin.
After Muqali's death, his son Borjigin (Boluo) took over his position and continued to lead the army against the Jin. By 1227, the Jin's influence in Hebei and Shandong had been largely eliminated. That same year, Genghis Khan died in Qing County, Qinzhou, and before his death, he established a strategy to ally with the Song to the Jin.
In 1229, Ogedei became the Khan, and the following year, he personally led a large army to attack the Jin. The Mongol forces entered from Shanxi, crossed the Yellow River into Shaanxi, and besieged Fengxiang. The Jin relief army was defeated. In spring 1231, Fengxiang fell, and the Jin abandoned Beijing to the north, losing all territory west of Tong Pass. In autumn 1231, the Mongols launched a three-pronged attack against the Jin. Ogedei led the central army across the Yellow River and advanced eastward toward Luoyang; Orda led the left flank from Jinan westward; and Tolui led the right flank southward from Baoji, along the Han River to take the two prefectures of Tang (now Tang County, Henan) and Deng (now Deng County, Henan), then northward. The three armies agreed to meet in Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng) in the first month of the following year.
Tolui's right flank army was denied passage through the Southern Song and thus invaded Song territory, reaching Jinzhou (now Ankang, Shaanxi), from where they marched eastward, crossed the Han River, and entered Dengzhou. The Jin general Heda led 200,000 troops to defend the passes, but the Mongols bypassed the main Jin force and advanced northward toward Bianjing. The Jin forces pursued vigorously. In spring 1232, Heda's army chased them to Sanfeng Mountain in Junzhou (now Yuzhou, Henan), where Tolui counterattacked, and the Jin army was routed. The remnants retreated to Junzhou, but the Mongols recaptured it, and Heda was killed. The Battle of Sanfeng Mountain not only wiped out the Jin's elite forces but also cost them vast territories in Henan, making the fall of the Jin inevitable.
After the three Mongol armies converged, they launched a fierce assault on Bianjing, where the city's fought desperately to defend it. By early 1233, Emperor Aizong of the Jin fled Bianjing. Soon after, the Jin commander of Bianjing, Cui Li, surrendered the city. In summer 1233, Emperor Aizong fled to Caizhou (now Runan, Henan), where he was besieged by the Mongols. Meanwhile, the Mongols sent envoys to the Song, proposing an alliance to attack the Jin. In November 1233, Song general Meng Gong led 20,000 troops to join the Mongols in attacking Caizhou. In spring 1234, Caizhou fell, and Emperor Aizong committed suicide, marking the end of the Jin.
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