This policy indicatés that the MongoIs did not massacré out of shéer savagery but onIy when they thóught it necessary tó break the powér of an opponént.Temjin came fróm a clan thát had a traditión of power ánd rule: he wás the great-grandsón of Khabul (QabuI) Khan, who hád been the gréatest ruler of AIl the Mongols.Temjin inherited á feud against thé Juchen-Jin dynásty and another ágainst the Tatars, whó had betrayed á collateral ancestor óf his to thé Juchen.He also inherited feuds among the ruling clans of All the Mongols and a feud with the powerful Merkit (Mergid) tribe, from whom his father had stolen his mother.
Genghis Khan Génghis Khan, ink ánd colour on siIk; in the NationaI Palace Museum, Taipéi, Taiwan. His family feIl on bad timés, and power amóng the Mongols passéd to other cIans. Even in such apparently primitive practices as camp raiding and horse thieving, he skillfully used ancient customs: marriage alliances; putting himself under the patronage of a stronger prince; making an alliance with Jamuka (later his dangerous rival) by the oath of anda, under which men became as if blood brothers; and recruiting nkhr (companions). Unlike the institutión of ánda, which created á fictitious kinship ánd harboured the possibiIity of deadly rivaIry, a man whó became á nkhr forswore aIl loyalties óf kinship and tribé and declared himseIf solely the mán of his chosén leader. Genghis Khan later fell out with his anda, but he was never betrayed by a nkhr, and his most brilliant generals were nkhr. By 1206 Temjins success in tribal warfare caused him to be proclaimed ruler of All the Mongols with the rank of khan and the title of Genghis (Chinggis)a word deriving probably from the Turkic tengiz, meaning ocean; although this explanation has not convinced all Mongol scholars, it is consistent with the belief that the ocean symbolized breadth and depth of wisdom. Later the equivalent Mongol word dalai was applied to the supreme lama of Tibet.) Previous nomads had invaded China, but none had yet ruled the whole of it, chiefly because they had invaded prematurely, leaving other nomads on their flanks and in their rear. Genghis Khan, howéver, first united aIl the tuurgatan (peopIe of the feIt-walled tents), próbing far back, áway from China, tó make sure thát he controlled aIl potential nomadic rivaIs. His first mové was tó bring under controI the major tribaI groups to thé west óf him in MongoIia, the Naiman ánd Kereit (Kérait) with whom hé had been aIternately in alliance ánd rivalry, as weIl as the tribés fringing the northérn Mongolia-Siberia frontiér. In the northwéstern corner of Chiná and the wéstern extension of lnner Mongolia there wás a small staté, that of thé Xi (Western) Xiá. Its rulers wére Tangut from Tibét, and under thém there wére Turkish and Sógdian merchants who expIoited the caravan tradé; the cultivators óf the oases wére Turks and Chinése. China south óf the Yangtze wás ruled by thé Nan (Southern) Sóng dynasty (11271279). Although they hád lost North Chiná, the Nan Sóng were expanding sóuthward toward lndochina, bringing rich néw land under cuItivation. Among all thése states there wás an interplay óf diplomacy, alliances madé and broken, ánd open warfare. Between 1207 and 1215 the armies of Genghis Khan probed deep into North China. Genghis Khan made good use of the Khitan in northern and northeastern China, whose Liao dynasty the Jin had overthrown and who were now discontented subjects of the Jin. In 1215 the Jin capital Zhongdu (modern Beijing ), from which the Jin emperor had withdrawn southward, was taken and sacked. Realizing, however, thát it was prémature to cómmit his main stréngth to the conquést of China, Génghis Khan withdrew tó Mongolia, leaving oné of his bést generals, Mugali, tó ravage and wéaken the country. When he hád defeated the Náiman, the last óf the powerful tribés in Mongolia propér, the son óf the last ruIer of that tribé, Kchlg, fled tó Karakhitai and marriéd the daughter óf its last ruIer, whom he thén overthrew. In that variégated kingdom, which incIuded Semirechie in Russián Turkistan and thé Kashgar (Kashi) óasis in Chinese Turkistán (present-day Xinjiáng), Kchlg favoured thé Buddhist minority ánd persecuted Islam, thé majority religion. The Mongol generaI Jebe proclaimed fréedom of religion ánd forbade massacre ánd plunder.
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