CHINESE CONQUESTS Jenghiz Khan now meditated an invasion of the empire of the Kin Tatars, who had wrested northern China from the Sung dynasty. As a first step he invaded western Hia, and, having cap tured several strongholds, retired in the summer of 1208 to Lung ting to escape the great heat of the plains. While there news reached him that Toto and Kushlek were preparing for war. In a pitched battle on the river Irtysh he overthrew them completely.
Toto was amongst the slain, and Kushlek fled for refuge to the Khitan Tatars. Satisfied with his victory, Jenghiz again directed his forces against Hia. After having defeated the Kin army under the leadership of a son of the sovereign, he captured the Wu liang-hai pass in the Great Wall, and penetrated as far as Ning sia Fu in Kansuh. With unceasing vigour he pushed on his troops, and even established his sway over the province of Liao-tung. Several of the Kin commanders, seeing how persistently victory attended his banners, deserted to him, and garrisons surrendered at his bidding. Having thus secured a firm footing within the Great Wall, he despatched three armies in the autumn of 1213 to overrun the empire. The right wing, under his three sons, Juji, Jagatai and Ogotai, marched towards the south; the left wing, under his brothers Hochar, Kwang-tsin Noyen and Chow-tse-te po-shi, advanced eastward towards the sea ; while Jenghiz and his son Tule with the centre directed their course in a south-easterly direction. Complete success attended all three expeditions. The right wing advanced as far as Honan, and after having captured upwards of 28 cities rejoined headquarters by the great western road. Hochar made himself master of the country as far as Liao si ; and Jenghiz ceased his triumphal career only when he reached the cliffs of the Shantung promontory. But either because he was weary of the strife, or because it was necessary to revisit his Mon golian empire, he sent an envoy to the Kin emperor in the spring of the following year (1214), saying, "All your possessions in Shantung and the whole country north of the Yellow river are now mine with the solitary exception of Yenking (the modern Peking). By the decree of heaven you are now as weak as I am strong, but I am willing to retire from my conquests; as a condition of my doing so, however, it will be necessary that you distribute largess to my officers and men to appease their fierce hostility." These terms of safety the Kin emperor eagerly accepted, and as a peace offering he presented Jenghiz with a daughter of the late emperor, another princess of the imperial house, 500 youths and maidens and 3,00o horses. No sooner, however, had Jenghiz passed beyond the Great Wall than the Kin emperor, fearing to remain any longer so near the Mongol frontier, moved his court to K'ai-feng Fu in Honan. This transfer of capital appearing
to Jenghiz to indicate a hostile attitude, he once more marched his troops into the doomed empire.
While Jenghiz was thus adding city to city and province to province in China, Kushlek, the fugitive Naiman chief, was not idle. With characteristic treachery he requested permission from his host, the Khitan khan, to collect the fragments of his army which had been scattered by Jenghiz at the battle on the Irtysh, and thus having collected a considerable force he leagued himself with Mohammed, the shah of Khwarizm, against the confiding khan. After a short but decisive campaign the allies remained masters of the position, and the khan was compelled to abdicate the throne in favour of the late guest.
With the power and prestige thus acquired, Kushlek prepared once again to measure swords with the Mongol chief. On re ceiving the news of his hostile preparations, Jenghiz at once took the field, and in the first battle routed the Naiman troops and made Kushlek a prisoner. His ill-gotten kingdom became an apanage of the Mongol empire. Jenghiz now held sway up to the Khwarizm frontier. Beyond this he had no immediate desire to go, and he therefore sent envoys to Mohammed, the shah, with presents, saying, "I send thee greeting ; I know thy power and the vast extent of thine empire ; I regard thee as my most cherished son. On my part thou must know that I have conquered China and all the Turkish nations north of it ; thou knowest that my country is a magazine of warriors, a mine of silver, and that I have no need of other lands. I take it that we have an equal interest in encouraging trade between our subjects." This peaceful message was well received by the shah, and in all probability the Mongol armies would never have ap peared in Europe but for an unfortunate occurrence. Shortly after the despatch of this first mission, Jenghiz sent a party of traders into Transoxiana who were seized and put to death as spies by Inaljuk, the governor of Otrar. As satisfaction for this outrage Jenghiz demanded the extradition of the offending gov ernor. Far from yielding to this summons, however, Mohammed beheaded the chief of the Mongol envoys, and sent the others back without their beards. This insult made war inevitable, and in the spring of 1219 Jenghiz set out from Karakorum on a cam paign which was destined to be as startling in its immediate results as its ulterior effects were far-reaching.