by Samarkand and Karshi, Hulagu crossed the Oxus and advanced
by way of Balkh into the province of Kuhistan or Kohistan.
The terror of the Mongol name induced Rukneddin Gurshah II.
(Rokn al-din), the chief of the Assassins, to deprecate the wrath
of Hulagu by offers of submission, and he was so far successful
that he was able to purchase a temporary immunity from massacre
by dismantling fifty of the principal fortresses in Kohistan.
But when once the country had thus been left at the mercy of
the invaders, their belief in the old saying “Stone dead hath no
fellow” sharpened their battle-axes, and, sparing neither man,
woman, nor child, they exterminated the unhappy people.
Rukneddin having been killed, 1256 (see Assassins), Hulagu
marched across the snowy mountains in the direction of Bagdad
to attack the last Abbasid caliph and his Seljuk protectors. On
arriving before the town he demanded its surrender. This being
refused, he laid siege to the walls in the usual destructive Mongol
fashion, and at length, finding resistance hopeless, the caliph was
induced to give himself up and to open the gates to his enemies.
On the 15th of February 1258 the Mongols entered the walls
and sacked the city (see Caliphate ad fin). While at Bagdad
Hulagu gave his astronomer, Nāsir al-dīn permission to build
an observatory. The town of Maragha was the site chosen,
and, under the superintendence of Nāsir al-dīn and four western
Asiatic astronomers who were associated with him, a handsome
observatory was built, and furnished with “armillary spheres
and astrolabes, and with a beautifully-executed terrestrial globe
showing the five climates.” The fall of Bagdad was almost
contemporaneous with the end of the Seljuks of Konia as an
independent power, though their actual destruction did not
take place until 1308 (see Seljuks). One terrible result of the
Mongol invasion was a fearful famine, which desolated the
provinces of Irak-Arabi, Mesopotamia, Syria and Rūm. But,
though the inhabitants starved, the Mongols had strength and
energy left to continue their onward march into Syria. Aleppo
was stormed and sacked, Damascus surrendered (1260) and
Hulagu was meditating the capture of Jerusalem with the
object of restoring it to the Christians when he received the
news of Mangu’s death, and, as in duty bound, at once set out
on his return, to Mongolia, leaving Kitboga (Kitubuka) in
command of the Mongol forces in Syria.
Hitherto a vassal of Mangu, as is shown by his striking coins bearing the name of Mangu as well as his own, Hulagu was now recognized as ruler of the conquered provinces. He assumed the title of ilkhan, and, although acknowledging the khakan as supreme lord, was practically independent. The title of ilkhan was that borne by his successors, who ruled over Persia for about a century (see infra, “The Ilkhans of Persia”).
While Hulagu was prosecuting these conquests in western Asia, Mangu and his next brother Kublai were pursuing a like course in southern China. Southward they even advanced into Tong-king, and westward they carried their arms over the frontier into Tibet. But in one respect there was a vast difference between the two campaigns. Under the wise command of Kublai all indiscriminate massacres were forbidden, and probably for the first time in Mongol history the inhabitants and garrisons of captured cities were treated with humanity. While carrying on the war in the province of Szech’uen Mangu was seized with an attack of dysentery, which proved fatal after a few days’ illness. His body was carried into Mongolia on the backs of two asses, and, in pursuance of the custom of slaughtering every one encountered on the way, 20,000 persons were, according to Marco Polo, put to the sword.
At the Kuriltai, or assembly of notables, which was held at Shang-tu after the death of Mangu, his brother Kublai (see Kublai Khan) was elected khakan. For thirty-five years he sat on the Mongol throne, and at his death in 1294, in his seventy-ninth year, he was succeeded by his son Timur Khan, or, as he was otherwise called, Oldjeitu or Uldsheitu Khan (Chinese Yuen-chēng). The reign of this sovereign was chiefly remarkable for the healing of the division which had for thirty years separated the families of Ogdai and Jagatai from that of the ruling khakan. Uldsheitu was succeeded by his nephew Khaissan, who was gathered to his fathers in February 1311, after a short reign, and at the early age of thirty-one. His nephew and successor, Buyantu (Chinese Yen-tsung), was a man of considerable culture, and substantially patronized Chinese literature. Among other benefits which he conferred on letters, he rescued the celebrated inscription-bearing “stone drums,” which are commonly said to be of the Chow period (1122–255 B.C.), from the decay and ruin to which they were left by the last emperor of the Kin dynasty, and placed them in the gateway of the temple of Confucius at Peking, where they now stand. After a reign of nine years, Buyantu was succeeded by his son Gegen (Chinese Ying-tsung), who perished in 1323 by the knife of an assassin. Yissun Timur (Chinese Tai-ting-ti), who was the next sovereign, devoted himself mainly to the administration of his empire. He divided China, which until that time had been apportioned into twelve provinces, into eighteen provinces, and rearranged the system of state granaries, which had fallen into disorder. His court was visited by Friar Odoric, who gives a minute description of the palace and its inhabitants. Speaking of the palace this writer says:—
“Its basement was raised about two paces from the ground, and within there were twenty-four columns of gold, and all the walls were hung with skins of red leather, said to be the finest in the world. In the midst of the palace was a great jar more than two paces in height, made of a certain precious stone called merdacas (jade); its price exceeded the value of four large towns. . . . Into this vessel drink was conducted by certain conduits from the court of the palace, and beside it were many golden goblets, from which those drank who listed. . . . When the khakan sat on his throne the queen was on his left hand, and a step lower two others of his women, while at the bottom of the steps stood the other ladies of his family. All those who were married wore upon their heads the foot of a man as it were a cubit and a half in length, and at the top of the foot there were certain cranes’ feathers, the whole foot being set with great pearls, so that if there were in the whole world any fine and large pearls they were to be found in the decoration of those ladies.”
The following years were years of great natural and political convulsions. Devastating floods swept over China, carrying death and ruin to thousands of homes; earthquakes made desolate whole districts; and in more than one part of the empire the banners of revolt were unfurled. Under various leaders the rebels captured a number of cities in the provinces of Kiang-nan and Honan, and took possession of Hang-chow, the capital of the Sung emperors. At the same time pirates ravaged the coasts and swept the imperial vessels off the sea.
In 1355 a Buddhist priest named Chu Yuen-chang became so impressed with the misery of his countrymen that he threw off his vestments and enrolled himself in the rebel army. His military genius soon raised him to the position of a leader, and with extraordinary success he overcame with his rude levies the trained legions of the Mongol emperor. While unable to defeat or check the rebels in the central provinces, Toghon Timur Khan was also called upon to face a rebellion in Korea. Nor were his arms more fortunate in the north than in the south. An army which was sent to suppress the revolt was cut to pieces almost to a man. These events made a dream which the emperor dreamt about this time of easy interpretation. He saw in his sleep “a wild boar with iron tusks rush into the city and wound the people, who were driven hither and thither without finding shelter. Meanwhile the sun and the moon rushed together and perished.” “This dream,” said the diviner, “is a prophecy that the khakan will lose his empire.” The fulfilment followed closely on the prophecy. By a subterfuge the rebels, after having gained possession of most of the central provinces of the empire, captured Peking. But Toghon Timur by a hasty flight escaped from his enemies, and sought safety on the shores of the Dolon-nor in Mongolia. For a time the western provinces of China continued to hold out against the rebels, but with the flight of Toghon Timur the Mongol troops lost heart, and in 1368 the ex-Buddhist priest ascended the throne as the first sovereign of the Ming or “Bright” dynasty, under the title of Hung-wu.
Thus ended the sovereignty of the house of Jenghiz Khan in China, nor need we look far to find the cause of its fall. Brave
