Hulegu missed Syria, and the Mongol army marched into Africa
The Mongol Empire's campaign to capture Syria, starting with Hülegü, actually had only a two-year window. Over the next two years, however, the situation changed dramatically, and the Mongol Empire began to move from expansion to preservation and decay.
All this can only be blamed on the timing of Meng Ke's death, which was too inappropriate. It is rumored that in August 1259, Meng Ge, the "Whip of God", died suddenly under the Diaoyu City in Hechuan, Chongqing, and the cause of death is still disputed, some believe that it was dysentery, some believe that it was an arrow, and some believe that he was injured by shelling.
But one thing is for sure, his death was very sudden, and no heirs were arranged. For more information about this incident, please refer to the humble work "Meng Ge's Death in Diaoyu City: Why the Whip of God Sweeping Across Europe and Asia Folded in the Land of the "Weak Song" Projectile.
During the reign of Möngke Khan, the Mongol Empire continued to expand externally, and wars were frequent. His second brother, Kublai Khan, fought fiercely with the Southern Song army on the Huxiang line, and this history is described in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".
Yang Guo even killed Meng Ke Khan with flying stones with his own hands in **. In fact, Meng Ge led the Central Route Army in Sichuan at that time, planning to capture Diaoyu City and then go down the Yangtze River, join forces with Kublai Khan and the right-wing army Wuliang Hatai, and jointly destroy the Southern Song Dynasty.
Hulegu, the commander of the Mongol Empire's Third Expedition to the West, had defeated the Persian state of Murayi, overthrown the Arab Abbasids, captured Baghdad and executed the last caliph, and was now planning to continue westward into Syria.
According to Mongol tradition, the younger brother Ali Buge remained in the imperial capital of Hala Holin to take charge of the solid foundation. Soon after, in September 1259, Hulegu's western expeditionary army marched into Syria on three routes, invincible, conquering the northern city of Aleppo in January 1260, entering the thousand-year-old city of Damascus in March, and by June at the latest, their influence had extended to the area of Gaza in present-day Palestine, and they were about to cross the Suez Isthmus to visit the pyramids in Egypt.
Due to the inconvenience of transportation and frequent wars in ancient times, the news of the death of Möngke Khan has not reached the front line of the Western Expeditionary Army until now. According to Mongol tradition, Hulegu could not withdraw his troops, and he had to return to his homeland to convene the Kuritai Conference to discuss the issue of the ** people.
Recall that the second Mongol expedition to the west, Batu's army had penetrated deep into Poland and Hungary, and even reached the Danube River and overlooked the Adriatic Sea. The general Subutai was looking forward to reaching the end of the continent, but because of the sudden death of the Great Khan of Ogedei, they had to withdraw all their troops.
Batu left behind some people and founded the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, which ruled Rus' for more than 240 years.
Hülegü's advantage in the Third Western Expedition far exceeded that of the Batu period. Under the direction of Möngke Khan, 2 out of every 10 people in Genghis Khan's army were drawn and the army of the Western Expedition was assembled, under the command of Hulegu.
The Jochi faction of the Golden Horde dispatched a number of suzerains to lead their troops to the war, including the eldest son of Jochi, the son of Hurda of Jochi, the son of Xiban, the fifth son of Jochi, the son of Balahan, the son of the seventh son of Jochi, the son of Huer, and the three sons of Huli, Balmigan, Balman, and Minghan, a total of 6 kings.
The materials for this battle were abundant, and in Li Yunlong's words, he had never fought such a rich battle in eight lifetimes.
In order to ensure the supply of the Western Expeditionary Army, the logistics department reserved the steppe west of Mount Tangut. In order to maintain the quality of the pastures, all pastures and mountains along the route are closed off and herders are prohibited from grazing.
The Mongol troops stationed in the Western Regions, the Hezhong region, Khorasan and other places will vacate their territories and make way to ensure the smooth advance of the Western Expeditionary Army. In addition, the Mugan steppe of Azerbaijan, which was originally under the direct domain of the Great Khan, was guarded by Baizhu who also led troops to help in the battle, and completely handed over this pastoral area to Hulegu.
After the failure of the Crusades, many small religious states on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean formed alliances with the Mongols in order to protect themselves and fight against the infidels. Among them were the king of Minor Armenia, Haitun I, and the king of Georgia, David II.
Haitun I even mobilized his son-in-law, Bohemond VI, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, with thousands of infantry and more than 10,000 horses to help. Historians speculate that after the capture of Syria, the total number of Mongol coalition forces plus the troops of the client states may have exceeded 300,000, which shows its size.
In order to cross the Nile, Hülegü absolutely "threw the whip and cut off the flow", but he had to retreat first, leaving a cowardly and unspent division of the vanguard general to continue to pass through Syria.
The strength of the partial division led by Hulagu Khan was quite weak, and the number was only about 1520,000 men, of which the Mongol cavalry was only 5,000 at its largest. After the retreat of the Mongol army, Sultan Qutuz of the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt ordered the execution of the Mongol envoys who had come to surrender and hung their heads on the gates of Cairo, while gathering troops to take the initiative in an attempt to seize Syria.
In September, a decisive battle was fought between Kutuz's army and the cowardly Mongol coalition at Ain Jaru, near the Palestinian village of Gidona. Despite the fact that the Mongols were outnumbered, they showed great courage and strength, twice breaking up the Mamluk ranks.
However, Sultan Kutuz personally supervised the battle, twice assembled in formation to withstand the Mongol attacks, and shouted "Allah Allah".
At the critical moment, there was another accident in which the miscellaneous army was useless. Musa, the general of the former Ayyubid Dynasty, led his troops to escape from the battle in the Mongol coalition army, which directly led to the chaos of the cowardly Buhua's position.
In the end, the cowardly did not spend under the backlash of the enemy's superior forces and fell into a predicament. Although he refused to retreat and commanded the remnants of his army to continue the battle, he was eventually captured.
The Mamluk Sultan Kutuz wanted to humiliate the cowardly Buhua and said: "Although you have conquered many dynasties, now, you are captured. However, the cowardly did not reply contemptuously: "Do not revel in a moment's victory!"
When the news of my death reaches Hülagu Khan, his wrath will be like a boiling sea, and the land from Azhel Byzam (Azerbaijan) to Egypt will be trampled by the Mongols. ”
I have been a slave of the Great Khan all my life, unlike you (relying on the first king to ascend the throne), you are all kingkillers! Kutuz was slapped in the face by cowardly remarks, so he was executed.
What is Hülegü doing at the moment? He had just arrived at Taoli Monastery, which is Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan Province in Iran today, and at this time he did not have the heart to avenge his father, but looked far east, ready to place a bet.
In Mongolia itself, the fourth brother Ali Buge and the second brother Kublai Khan, both said that they were the khans who should succeed to the throne, and now a fierce battle has begun. The battle for the throne of the Khan is the first real fratricidal battle within the ** family since Genghis Khan unified Mongolia.
Although there were also Jochi and Chagatai before, Batu and Guiyou, Meng Ge and Kublai Khan, if you consult the "History of the Yuan", you will naturally think that my ancestor emperor Kublai Khan called Khan first, and Ali Buge is a great rebellion.
But in the Persian history books, it is said that Ali Buge is the authentic, and it is said that the Khan came first. However, none of this matters at the moment, the key is who has the harder and stronger fists, and who can provide more chips.
Despite the chaos in Mongolia itself, the possibility of Hulegu returning to the country as supremacy was slim. So he decided to stay in Tabriz and sent emissaries to both Kublai Khan and Ali Buge, waiting for the best time.
Eventually, Kublai Khan's promise was even greater, promising to give Hulegu all the lands west of the Amu Darya River to Syria, as well as the direct territories of the major khans. This was the prototype of the later Ilkhanate, also known as the Persian Khanate, because its main territory was located in the Persian region.
At this time, Ali Buge had failed in a row, and the situation was gradually declining. As a result, the third elder Hülegü made it clear that he supported the second brother and stood on Kublai Khan's side. However, the Golden Horde of Jochi was unhappy with this, as Hulegu took away some of their interests.
Behind the entire map of the Ilkhanate (Persian Khanate) lies a complex history of partitions. During his lifetime, Genghis Khan gave his eldest son, Jochi, the newly conquered land, which included the area west of the Stone River in Yeer.
The Jochi clan had fought the Golden Horde in the Second Mongol Expedition to the West, so at the time of the Third Expedition, they had the expectation that they would be able to acquire new Western territories. In fact, six Jochi kings were added to the Western Expeditionary Army, and they did not participate in the battle for unnecessary reasons.
In particular, Transcaucasia, including Tabriz, Mehrah, Hamadan and Alan, as well as the Mugan steppes of Azerbaijan, known as the "back garden of God", were targeted by the Golden Horde.
The scenery of Transcaucasia, since the period of Ögedai, has been the direct territory of the Great Khan, garrisoned by Yuer Mahan, and later succeeded by Baizhu, and has not been divided. In the great cause of the Western Expedition, it was handed over to Hulegu on the orders of Möngke Khan, but there was no mention of the issue of the real estate certificate.
This time, in order to secure his power, Kublai Khan gave the fruits of the collective bloody battle of the Great Mongolia - the territory that originally belonged to our family - to Hulegu without a reward from the Great Khan.
According to historical records, the Jochi clan and Hülegü fought fiercely, and all of them died in a short period of time, and there are historical records that they were poisoned, hanged with a bowstring, and imprisoned to death.
Under the pretext that Hulegu killed the Caliph of Baghdad, Be'er Ge sent troops to fight, which was actually revenge and seizure of territory.
Hülegü used a preemptive strategy, despite the obstacles of the Caucasus Mountains, to take the Golden Horde, but the final result was victory and then defeat. After breaking through the Caucasus pass, his army was defeated at the Terek River, and the front returned to the traditional line of the Caucasus mountains.
However, it was the alliance of Hülegü's enemies and friends that led to the alliance between the Golden Horde and the Mamluks of Egypt, forming a north-south flank against Hülegü. During this period, the Chagatai Khanate also took advantage of the fire to loot, making Hulegu's Ilkhanate an embattled land, and finally perished less than a hundred years after its founding, earlier than the fall of the Yuan Dynasty.
As a result, the window of time for Hülegü's advance into Africa was only two years, from the annexation of Syria in 1260 to the war with the Golden Horde in 1262.
It is believed that Hülegü made a strategic mistake in 1260, leaving a small part of his forces in Syria, which led to difficulties in defense. However, from Hülegü's point of view, the situation was uncertain at the time, and his newly conquered Persian and Syrian territories might be taken away by others, and he had no need to disperse his forces to Egypt.
In addition, the cowardice of defending Syria was not calculated by the allies, which also led to difficulties in defense. Cowardly, Buhua had formed an alliance with the Frankish Crusader states in southern Syria, but the Franks suddenly turned against the water and sided with the Mamluks.
In fact, when forming an alliance, it always helps the weak but not the strong. Once Egypt is dead, it will not be spared. Therefore, the cowardly Buhua is like Sun Quan's sneak attack on Guan Yu, giving his old allies a knife.
When the Mamluks invaded Syria, the Franks provided a great deal of intelligence and support, and the Mongols were defeated at the Battle of Ain Jalu. After this, Hulegu's heart remained not in the west, and only 6,000 men were sent to retake Syria, but they were again defeated in the First Battle of Homs.
As a result, Hülegü could only maintain the status quo until he tore his face with the Golden Horde and suffered an enemy on his back. However, Kublai Khan defeated Ali Buge in 1264, stabilized the situation in Möngke proper, and canonized Hulegu as an Ilkhan, allowing him to join the emperor's side.
Kublai Khan became emperor for a complex reason. He was no longer the universally recognized leader of the Mongol branches, unable to dictate the entire Mongol community as his predecessor Möngke Khan, or to organize a massive westward expedition as his father and brother did.
These intricate conflicts of interest posed Kublai Khan with unprecedented challenges. Stavrianos, in his book The General History of the World, states that the Battle of Ain Jalu marked the beginning of the fall of the Mongol Empire and the salvation of the Islamic world.
The battle halted the expansion of the Mongol Empire and allowed the Islamic world to breathe and rejuvenate. In 1261, the Mamluk Sultan Baibers searched for the blood of the Caliph in Baghdad, found the caliph's uncle, built a grand mosque for him in the capital Cairo, honored him as the new caliph, re-established as the spiritual leader of the Green Religion, and accepted the caliph canonization, was revered as the sultan of the entire Islamic world, and the green incense was revived.
This event also marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new era. In general, Kublai Khan's proclamation as emperor marked the end of one era and the beginning of another.
In the process, the fall of the Mongol Empire and the revival of the Islamic world profoundly changed the course of history.
During the reign of Möngke Khan, the Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and Ilkhanate abolished Genghis Khan's laws and turned to Islam. At the same time, the small Crusader states that had betrayed the Mongols were purged one by one, all of which may have been due to the artillery wounds that Möngke Khan had suffered at Diaoyu City.
Therefore, the nameless Song Bingyi may be the "gunner of the century" who changed the history of mankind.