Genghis Khan: The Secret History of the Mongols (2025) s01e03 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: A noble prince
reduced to poverty as a boy,
has risen above his brutal
childhood to become
a brilliant leader on
the Mongolian plains.
He is now the fearsome ruler
known as Chinggis Khan.
JOHN: What gave his followers
the idea that he was greater
than a mere conqueror was the
fact that he was so successful.
NARRATOR: He has crushed
foes, subdued rival houses,
and clawed back everything
his family lost.
PROF SNEATH: He achieves
a lot diplomatically,
which is a side to his career
that can easily be overlooked.
NARRATOR: Now, at
the age of 44,
he is the undisputed ruler
of the Mongolian people,
but he stands at the brink
of something far greater
with an insatiable hunger for
power, his eyes are set
on the world beyond Mongolia.
DR MAY: The world irrevocably
changed with his actions.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan's
ambition knows no bounds,
and soon the world will
learn the cost of standing
in his way.
PROF SNEATH: 1206, this is the
huge assembly, the Kurultai.
There would have been a lot of
ritual, great deal of luxury.
There would have been
power and pomp on display.
There are all the major Royals,
members of Chinggis Khan's
own family, are there.
DR MAY: You're gathering huge
numbers of people and livestock.
The Kurultai is where
they make major decisions.
DR FAVEREAU: Decision
concerning war,
decision concerning peace,
decision concerning
big trade treaties.
DR MAY: One most practical
reason for Kurultai is
to choose a new Khan.
DR FAVEREAU: When you become
a famous, important ruler,
you show it to the world.
You make it official
by taking a title.
Chinggis Khan is a title that
means also that something new
is going to happen under
this new ruler is sitting
on a very deep heritage, but
he is already planning to do
something new,
something bigger.
He wants to go higher
than his predecessors,
and he's able to break
tradition, and that's what,
exactly what he's
going to do.
Actually, this is the beginning
of a completely new story.
NARRATOR: It is a story
told in the legendary book,
The Secret History
of the Mongols,
a new translation helps
challenge long held beliefs
and myths about Chinggis Khan,
offering a new perspective
on his legacy and people.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
is seen now in Mongolia as
the founder of the nation,
the father who created
the Mongolian people and
the world-famous conqueror.
That being said,
there's a difference
of opinion about him.
Some people are particularly
fascinated by the glory
of that Imperial age.
Others see him as part of a
conquest dynasty that did
invade and attack
its neighbors.
The idea that the Mongols were
barbarians, that's all nonsense.
We know these are highly
sophisticated political
formations, just as complex
and sophisticated
and as hierarchical as the
dynasties around them.
So, it's another very
sophisticated political
formation, just as other
kingdoms on the Eurasian
continent were.
NARRATOR: Central to
Chinggis Khan's vision
is the unification of the
people of the Mongolian plains
under a single banner,
loyal only to him.
DR MAY: He wants to have
one single Mongol people.
There's only going to be
one group on the steppe.
Everyone is now a Mongol.
This is why the Mongols
still exist.
Is because of this
moment in 1206,
Chinggis Khan has agreed there
will only be the Mongols.
NARRATOR: To achieve this goal,
Chinggis Khan reorganizes
the military structure
of his new realm,
adapting and refining
a military system
that strengthens his command.
PROF SNEATH: This was a
really ancient system
for administration that
dates back to at least
the second century BCE,
you can see that Chinggis
Khan did revamp it.
It divides up subject that
is, commoner households
into units of 10, fitted into
units of 100 those into units
of 1000 and those into
units of a nominal 10,000
he declares exactly which of
these 1000 household units
are authorized and
supported, and exactly who
is the hereditary Noble
who will rule over it.
He could designate members
of his own royal family
or his most important
supporters as rulers
of these 10,000
or Tumen units.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
also knows he must protect
his position as leader as
one's warring households
come together under
his command.
DR MAY: This is where
the Empire really comes
into focus. He realizes he's
his single ruler of the step.
And he also needs to try to
get beyond the old system
that allowed for all the feuds,
all the fighting that have
taken place throughout
his lifetime.
He does not want
to return to that.
My sense of this is that he
does not completely trust
all of his relatives.
He is very focused on loyalty.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan has
inserted himself at the top
of an existing hierarchy
of commoners and nobles.
What was new was Chinggis
Khan's new reorganization
of the existing divisions of
power, the kingdoms within
that he had reused, absorbed
and replaced with his own
newly centralized
Imperial formation.
DR MAY: There'll be multiple
layers of authority.
He'll have his relatives, his
sons, ruling certain areas,
but he also has commanders.
They're ultimately
Chinggis Khan's men.
They ultimately
report back to him,
so they serve as a system of
checks and balances against
his relatives. Should
they ever have
some ambition to
threaten his power.
NARRATOR: The position of ruler
comes with unique dangers
and threats, so Chinggis
Khan prepares for challenges
to his authority.
JOHN: Very wisely preempts
any possible disloyalty
by creating a bodyguard.
It's called Keshig.
DR MAY: The Keshig consisted
of a total of 1100 men.
This included guards for the
daytime, included night guards,
included a special regiment
that rode with him into battle.
But in 1206, he increases
the size to 10,000.
He orders all of his commanders
to send the son to them,
and they would assemble
the bodyguard out of this.
Now this will serve
as a hostage.
It helps guarantee
good behavior.
If you misbehave, we could
possibly kill your son,
or if you misbehave,
we can kill you,
and we have someone here that
we can replace you with.
And these guys will
be great fighters.
They'll be great warriors.
So, it serves not
only a bodyguard,
but also a military academy,
an intelligence agency,
and it's a finishing
school for diplomats,
for governors to learn how to
rule on behalf of the Khan,
to understand the wishes.
NARRATOR: Genghis Khan's
reforms of the nobility
and a Kesh bodyguard make
him more powerful than ever,
but he will face untold
enemies, both from beyond
Mongolia's borders and
from closer to home.
After the death of
Chinggis Khan's father,
his mother remarried, and
this new branch of family
would soon ignite unrest.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan's
stepfather had seven sons,
and the middle one was
called K kecu Teb Tenggeri.
K kecu was his name, and Teb
Tenggeri was a title he had,
which means something
like most heavenly.
Now it seems that he was
a really powerful Shaman.
NARRATOR: The ancient faith
of the steppe rulers
was a shamanistic devotion to
Tengri, the eternal blue sky,
who controlled the
fate of the world.
DR FAVEREAU: At the
time of Genghis Khan,
they did have rituals and
believed in spirits of Nature,
trees, mountains,
rivers, lakes.
They are also ancestors.
In every important family,
people gather to celebrate
the family ancestors.
This is a very rich
set of beliefs.
PROF SNEATH: We find that
a lot of the declarations
of the spiritual and religious
refer to an overarching
heavenly power that created
destinies that favored
some rulers over others, and
that was used extensively
to justify Chinggis Khan's
claim to ultimate power.
So certainly, shamans
were important
in the Mongolian court.
DR FAVEREAU: Chinggis Khan
decided religious elites
need to be respected.
They also need to be
loyal to the power;
also, they need to stay away
and not decide for the Emperor.
That's also something
that you can see clearly
from 1206 onwards.
PROF SNEATH: At this stage, it
seems as if K kecu Teb Tenggeri
and his other brothers
become increasingly
arrogant and proud.
They seem to throw
their weight around.
A rivalry emerges.
Teb Tenggeri has started to
suggest that it's actually
Chinggis Khan's brother
Qasar, who might be destined
by Heaven to rule this
is a real threat
to Chinggis Khan himself.
NARRATOR: Teb Tenggeri's
poisonous rumors are so
persuasive that Chinggis
Khan grows suspicious
of his own brother until
their mother intervenes.
DR DASHDONDOG: Then mother
reprimanded Chinggis Khan
that you were just from the
same womb, same brotherhood.
You can't be rival
to each other.
You have to be
friendly to each other.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
finds this coming to a head
when his younger brother
comes into his tent saying
that he's been beaten up by
Teb Tenggeri and his brothers
and begging Chinggis Khan
to do something about it.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan is slow
to move against Teb Tenggeri
until his wife Börte
urges decisive action,
warning that the shaman is
too dangerous to ignore.
PROF SNEATH: In
the secret history,
we get a lot of
accounts of women,
particularly the royal women,
giving advice and guiding
the prime male characters,
Chinggis Khan is often
given advice by his wife,
Börte and his mother,
Hö'elün.
Key decisions get made
because of good advice
from one of Chinggis
Khan's female relatives,
or his wife
NARRATOR: With Börte
urging him on,
Chinggis Khan devises
a plan of action.
PROF SNEATH: The solution
is they invite all of the
brothers, including Teb
Tenggeri to meet Chinggis Khan.
In the middle of that
meeting, he sort of grabs him
and pulls Teb Tenggeri
outside, where Chinggis Khan
has got three
wrestlers stationed.
When they get Teb
Tenggeri outside,
they pounce on him
and they kill him.
DR DASHDONDOG: They broke
Teb Tenggeri's spine.
NARRATOR: Teb Tenggeri
has been eliminated.
With this merciless act.
Chinggis Khan has quashed
internal descent.
But far more dangerous enemies
await beyond the steppe
ready to challenge his power.
With his kingdom reordered
and the people of the Eastern
steppe unified under his
command, Chinggis Khan's
wealth and power surges,
but his ambition
is far from satisfied.
He wants more and plans to take
it from a wealthy neighbor.
South of Mongolia is the
Empire of the Xi Xia,
ruled by people
known as the Tangut.
DR MAY: The Tangut were a
Tibetan Burmese people
who rule this region in
what is now Gansu Ningxia,
provinces of modern
day China.
The Tangut were both the
rulers and the nobility,
but also a nomadic people.
The Mongols had long
relations with the Tangut.
What the Tangut thought of
the rise of Chinggis Khan?
They couldn't have been
too happy about it.
In 1209, the Mongols invaded.
What he wants to do at this
point is basically nullify
the Tangut as a threat
to the Mongol state
that he's just created.
NARRATOR: As they head into
battle against the Tangut,
Chinggis Khan employs
an ancient maneuver,
the feigned retreat.
DR MAY: This is a
common step tactic.
Chinggis Khan does not
invent the feigned retreat.
It's been used for
1000s of years.
What matters is how
well you execute it.
The Mongols have trained
they're able to pull off
a feigned retreat.
So it is perfect.
They sell the retreats like
they are fleeing for their
lives, that they're
terrified of the Tangut.
This lures them out into a
place where the Mongols
have already designated as
this is a spot where we're
going to annihilate you,
but then you pull back.
It's a trap.
PROF SNEATH: One of the
ancient skills of the horse
Archer was the ability to ride
their horse, but also to turn
in the saddle and shoot
backwards over the rump
of their steed.
It means that the horse
Archer can ride away
from their opponents.
If you are on a whiffed
steed, you can always outpace
the person chasing you,
but at the same time,
you can shoot back at them,
which means that you can
shoot at your enemies
without being in any
particular danger yourself.
This was a tactic used
by lots of steppe armies,
but the Mongols certainly used
it to really good effect.
NARRATOR: Coupled with
the feigned retreat,
Chinggis Khan uses another
devastating tactic
to eliminate large groups
in quick succession.
DR MAY: They used
arrow showers.
Down on a line of soldiers
trying to kill that entire area.
For the know it, the Tangut
have lost large portions
of their army.
NARRATOR: After success
on the battlefield.
Chinggis Khan's forces marched
toward the Tangut stronghold,
prepared to stop at nothing
in their quest for victory.
DR MAY: Now the Mongols
are approaching Zhongxing.
This is the capital of Xi Xia.
They blockade it.
Someone gets the bright idea
of we have a river here.
Why don't we dam it
up and flood the city.
They don't have the engineering
skills to make a dam
that is really going
to be stable.
They do successfully
flood the city,
however, the dam breaks,
and they also flood
their own camp and
almost drown themselves.
But what this effort does is
demonstrate to the ruler
of Xi Xia that the Mongols
are a real danger.
and they're not just
going to go away.
We should submit.
And so they do.
And they offer gold.
They offer furs,
Falcons.
Also the ruler gives one of
his daughters to Chinggis Khan
as a wife. So now we have
a marriage alliance.
PROF SNEATH: in this case, I
think the implication is that
by giving the Princess The
Tangut ruler of the Xi Xia,
was showing that he
accepted the overlordship
of Chinggis Khan and showed
his loyalty to Chinggis Khan,
it was a way of cementing
a political arrangement
which acknowledged Genghis
Khan's supremacy
NARRATOR: To promote
peace and prosperity.
The gifting of wives is a
common diplomatic practice.
PROF SNEATH: These kinds
of diplomatic marriages
were obviously really
important features of
courtly politics at the time.
There was lots of interest
in having additional wives
for the emperor, so that you
would get another embassy.
The kin spoke of the new
queen would have access
to the internal
decision-making processes
and the ear of the emperor
through their kins, women
who had married into
the Imperial dynasty.
Chinggis Khan must have
had a lot of queens.
Many of them were useful,
diplomatic and political
marriages, which made sense
in terms of the dynasty,
as well as possibly his
own personal lifestyle.
NARRATOR: With his
numerous wives, concerts
and concubines, Chinggis
Khan may have fathered
many children beyond those
born to his primary wife,
Borte, fueling speculation
that millions today can trace
their lineage back to
the great conqueror.
DR MAY: Someone did a study
of DNA in the late 1990s.
It showed that male chromosomes
of a singular person were
common in a certain area that
fit in the Mongol Empire.
So naturally, everyone
assumes it's Chinggis Khan,
maybe, but maybe not.
It's an intriguing idea.
Who wouldn't want to be able
to make that kind of a claim
that you're a descendant from
someone of that magnitude.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
has brought the Tangut
to their knees, and they have
paid tribute to spare
themselves from his wrath,
yet they are just one of many
enemies bordering his kingdom,
and new threats
will soon emerge.
Beyond his foreign conquests,
Chinggis Khan has tightened
his grip within his own land,
bringing any remaining local
rulers under his control.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
finishes off his old enemies,
the Merkit.
He finishes off the
Naiman to the west,
and he makes some
diplomatic conquests.
The Uyghur, which were
originally a very powerful
Turkic dynasty, swear
fealty to Chinggis Khan.
They can see the way
the winds blowing.
They can spot the up and
coming power in the region.
NARRATOR: to manage
his expanding empire.
Chinggis Khan delegates
power to his four heirs.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
was going to use his sons
as core commanders to lead
his armies on the various
different campaigns.
The Empire is getting
pretty big now,
Chinggis himself
can't be everywhere.
He wants to make sure that all
of his sons have some stake
in the new empire
that he's building,
whilst beginning to think
about what other big prizes
there might be.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan's
dominance soon draws
the attention of another
neighboring Empire.
PROF SNEATH: The local
superpower for a long time
was the Jin.
The emerging Jin formed this
really powerful and wealthy
empire in the northern
part of China,
and they were the sort of major
power players in that region.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan had
spent time in the employ
of the Jin when still
a young prince.
Although Chinggis
Khan is now ruler,
the Jin Emperor still expects
him to bow to their vast power.
DR MAY: In early 1211, an envoy
from the Jin Empire arrived.
From this envoy, he learns
that the old Emperor is dead
and the new guy is someone
that Chinggis Khan
does not have any
respect for.
Chinggis Khan listens and
he spits in the direction
of the Jin empire
and rides away.
He's not taking orders from
the Jin Empire anymore.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
is finally in a position
where he's powerful enough to
consider taking on the Jin.
NARRATOR: Before attacking the
Jin, the Mongolians prepare,
both physically
and spiritually.
DR MAY: Chinggis Khan goes up
to the mountains and prays
to Tengri and seek His favor.
They'll definitely look for
divine help wherever they can.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan also
summons his trusted generals
and military leaders,
seeking their counsel
on battle strategies.
DR MAY: While he
demands loyalty,
he does not want yes men.
He wants people to point out
that might not be a good idea,
he may not be happy about it,
but he's going to listen
to it and consider it.
He always listens
to his commanders,
particularly those
who rose up with him,
working out what would
be the best approach.
How can we improve how we
fight so we don't make
the same mistakes.
We got to move an army from
here in central Mongolia
to the Jin empire.
We got to cross the
open steppe.
We got to go across bounds.
We got to cross the
Gobi Desert.
What does that require?
They have to figure
out the logistics.
Ultimately, he will
make the final decision.
He knows what the
Jin are capable.
They have the army
of roughly 600,000
which easily is five times
greater than the Mongol army.
PROF SNEATH: It's a
really big step to take
on this very formidable
dynasty.
But Chinggis Khan is finally
powerful enough to do it.
DR MAY: The Jin are facing an
enemy that they think they know.
They haven't realized that
things on the steppe
have changed.
These are not the Mongols
of the 12th century.
This is a whole new power
organized for warfare.
PROF SNEATH: Chinggis Khan
advances into Jin territory.
He invades in 1211,
the way the Jin had layered
their defense is
they had a zone of clients
who would be a buffer zone
between them and the
possible steppe powers
like Chinggis Khan.
These either defeated or some of
them recruited by Chinggis Khan.
A common narrative was that
the Mongols sort of kidnapped
engineers and other skilled
people and forced them
to fight in their armies.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
rides into battle against
his most formidable foe yet
he must rely on cunning
and sophisticated
maneuvers to overcome
their superior strength.
DR MAY: The Mongols
do something
a little bit unexpected.
They don't just invade
as one big army.
They split up, and they're
going all over the place,
pillaging and plundering.
The Mongols seem like
they're everywhere.
PROF SNEATH: So this
idea of maneuver,
of coordinating strikes
between different mobile
armies simultaneously to
rendezvous on targets.
DR MAY It's difficult for
the Jin to really grasp
how many soldiers that
Chinggis Khan really has.
the Mongol army, they could
field armies that were
more sophisticated as
well as more skillful.
In many cases, they
were outnumbered,
but they were usually
more maneuverable.
Like other steppe armies,
they were cavalry only.
This was a really
superb advantage,
because if you come from a
sedentary or agricultural
state, many of your troops
and soldiers are likely
to be infantry on foot.
That makes for a
very slow army.
In comparison, an army that's
composed completely of cavalry
can move faster, and that's
one enormous advantage.
He's perfected his art
of war, the tactics,
the strategies he wants to
use, and the Mongols
execute them brilliantly.
It's not that the
Jin are incapable.
They're just meeting
a superior foe.
PROF SNEATH: Jebe,
one of his generals,
advances and then does a
feigned retreat to sort of
draw out the Jin forces.
And as they come out,
these different units
follow one at a time.
He can then round on them
and sort of defeat them
one after the next.
DR MAY: Chinggis Khan was in
the Jin Empire for 10 years.
He knows how they think.
He knows how they operate.
PROF SNEATH: Typical use
of mobility and trickery
to defeat opponents that might
have been numerically superior.
DR MAY: They win a couple
very important victories
that completely demolish
the armies of the Jin.
Every time the Jin sent an
army out, the Mongols routed,
things on the
steppe have changed.
Chinggis Khan is not a
young, inexperienced guy.
He has begun to change the
art of war in the step.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan
drives deeper into the heart
of the Jin Empire, his
forces leaving a trail
of devastation as they ravage
village after village,
seizing anything of value.
Relentless in his
pursuit of victory,
Chinggis Khan targets the
Jin's center of power.
PROF SNEATH: Zhongdu was the
capital of the Jin empire.
It was enormously
well fortified.
It was miles and miles of
wall all the way around,
and also towers, even small
forts that were placed
at strategic points to
help defend the city.
So it was a really formidable
defensive obstacle
for the Mongols to besiege.
NARRATOR: As the
Mongol assault begins,
the Jin leadership is already
crumbling under internal
conflicts, weakening
their resistance.
DR MAY: We're beginning to
see some people change sides.
The Jin will go through
a number of emperors,
some Jin commanders,
they'll join the Mongols.
Sometimes because, well,
you can either join or die,
or they decide, these guys
actually seem to know
what they're doing,
let's join the winner.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan senses
the Jin's internal weakness
and presents them
with an ultimatum,
submit and pay tribute or
face complete destruction.
DR MAY: In 1214, the
Mongols make peace.
PROF SNEATH: They
come to terms.
They agree to a
big, huge tribute.
DR MAY: We get lots of treasure
We get lots of good stuff.
The new Jin Emperor will also
give Chinggis Khan a princess.
PROF SNEATH: And those are
the conditions under which
Chinggis Khan withdraws
his armies.
NARRATOR: Although Chinggis
Khan commands a smaller force.
He has compelled the Jin
to submit to his will.
He has been fighting
for three years,
and leaves with a new wife,
vast treasures and abundant
resources, but the Jin have not
seen the last of Chinggis Khan.
With tributes secured and
a peace treaty in place,
Chinggis Khan and his army
prepare to withdraw
from Jin territory.
DR MAY: They're not
necessarily trying
to conquer the Jin empire.
Their early actions in
the first few years
are very much to
secure the borders.
He wants to make sure that
it is safe from invasion
and from Jin meddling.
However, as the campaigns
go on, people have this
annoying tendency to either
flee, which means if you want
to get more plunder, you
have to keep going deeper
into the Jin empire, or
possibly even worse,
they surrender and
want you to rule them,
so you have to stay and
deal with these people.
So the Mongols will bring
in former Jin officials
that they feel that they
can trust and allows them
to be ruled as they were
used to being ruled.
We get another layer
of Mongol governance,
not only does he have his
relatives, his generals,
also the local administration.
NARRATOR: Although the
Jin Emperor has admitted
to the Mongol army, he
makes a reckless decision,
one that will prove costly.
DR MAY: The new emperor
decides to move from Zhongdu
to Kaifeng, which is 550
kilometers south southwest
of modern Beijing, so far
away from the Mongols.
Why does he do this?
Some people think
maybe disease.
There's a lot of death and
destruction in the area.
But the other thing is,
the Mongols have caused
so much damage in that area,
it is not a secure zone.
That's really not
where you feel safe.
Even if you have a peace
treaty, you have to be
a little bit nervous
about that. So he moves.
For Chinggis Khan, this is
seen as an act of betrayal.
We made peace.
You've just demonstrated
that you don't trust me.
So it's on.
NARRATOR: The Emperor's
ill-advised move provokes
the Mongols into launching
a second assault
on the Jin's capital,
Zhongdu.
DR MAY: The Mongols once
again invade Chinggis Khan
again has immense
emphasis on loyalty.
If you switch sides in
the middle of the battle,
most likely he's
going to execute you.
He doesn't have any
patience for that.
PROF SNEATH: The siege
of Zhongdu stretched on.
It wasn't over quickly.
It was a really formidable
defensive obstacle
for the Mongols to besiege.
DR MAY: It's an immense city.
What they do is they
leave detachments
round the city to
basically blockade it.
From Kaifeng, the Jin
emperor, authorizes attempts
to save the city, but the
Mongols will defeat these
as they come.
The Jin armies will have
archers, crossbow men,
giant crossbows, a contraption
that could shoot a giant
crossbow bolt several 100
yards and neutralizing
anything it hits.
So for the Mongols to take
this they had to figure out
how to overcome all these
obstacles, eliminates threats
from the fortresses.
NARRATOR: Instead of
breaking through the city's
fortifications, the Mongols
choose a more ruthless strategy.
They will starve the
city into surrender.
PROF SNEATH: Siege warfare
in this age was a really
terrible ordeal for the
occupants of any city.
They were cut off
of stocks of food.
They begin to starve.
DR MAY: It is not uncommon for
people in Zhongdu late at night.
You might get nabbed
in the alley
and become someone's dinner.
Cannibalism is very real in
Zhongdu in the later months
of the siege.
the siege lasts no more than
a year before it finally
surrenders.
People are starving.
They can't put up a
further resistance.
The city falls.
PROF SNEATH: Although they now
control a lot of Jin territory
and have displaced the Jin
Dynasty itself that has had
to relocate and flee, it is not
as if the fighting was over.
Chinggis himself left one of
his best generals, Muqali,
who for many years continued
the campaign against the Jin
there was an ongoing
rolling campaign of mop up
that was masterminded
by Muqali.
And one of the reasons
why he was so respected
in the Chinggis core was
because it was recognized
that this was an enormous
effort that he undertook,
that eventually bore fruit
when the Mongols eventually
came to control the whole of
the Northern Chinese plain.
DR MAY: The Jin Empire
will hold out until 1234,
it does not go away easily.
NARRATOR: Although it will
take many years for the Jin
to be fully defeated.
The Mongolians are building
a fearsome reputation
on the battlefield,
and they will ensure
that their brutal actions
become legendary.
DR MAY: In many places, they
would wipe out everybody,
but maybe a handful
of people or one guy,
and that one guy would
always tell the story,
and the story was
always scary.
They killed everyone. They
came back five days later,
they killed even more people
who came out of the rubble.
So the fear is building.
There's one story told by a
Persian chronicler Juvayni
that 60,000 virgins leapt off
the walls to their death,
rather than be taken
by the Mongols.
Another story tells of a caravan
coming from Central Asia.
It was sent by the
Kharazmshah to find out
what's going on in China.
And as they're approaching,
they see these white mountains.
They think they're
covered with snow,
but then they realize
they're just piles of bones
from the Mongol conquest
in northern China.
As a pro Zhang du the
road is getting slick,
and it seems wet, and they
discover it's from human fat
that's been melted.
You get this sense of
overwhelming dread about
the Mongol invasions.
The Mongols are not
simply another army.
They're a force of nature.
They are the apocalypse
incarnate.
NARRATOR: Chinggis Khan,
having fearlessly battled
the once mighty Jin empire,
now turns his gaze west
to empires filled
with untold riches.
These lands, unaware of
the approaching storm,
will soon feel the
devastation
of his relentless force.