Kublai Khan

The mysterious deaths of three Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, the Siege of Baghdad (1258), and unequal distribution of war spoils strained the Ilkhanate's relations with the Golden Horde. In 1262, Hulagu's complete purge of the Jochid troops and support for Kublai in his conflict with Ariq Böke brought open war with the Golden Horde. Kublai reinforced Hulagu with 30,000 young Mongols in order to stabilize the political crises in the western regions of the Mongol Empire.[33] When Hulagu died on February 8, 1264, Berke marched to cross near Tbilisi to conquer the Ilkhanate but died on the way. Within a few months of these deaths, Alghu Khan of the Chagatai Khanate also died. In the new official version of his family's history, Kublai refused to write Berke's name as the khan of the Golden Horde because of Berke's support for Ariq Böke and wars with Hulagu; however, Jochi's family was fully recognized as legitimate family members.[34]

Kublai Khan named Abaqa as the new Ilkhan (obedient khan) and nominated Batu's grandson Mentemu for the throne of Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde.[35][36] The Kublaids in the east retained suzerainty over the Ilkhans until the end of their regime.[27][37] Kublai also sent his protege Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq to overthrow the court of the Oirat Orghana, the empress of the Chagatai Khanate, who put her young son Mubarak Shah on the throne in 1265, without Kublai's permission after her husband's death.

Prince Kaidu of the House of Ögedei declined to personally attend the court of Kublai. Kublai instigated Baraq to attack Kaidu. Baraq began to expand his realm northward; he seized power in 1266 and fought Kaidu and the Golden Horde. He also pushed out Great Khan's overseer from the Tarim Basin. When Kaidu and Mentemu together defeated Kublai, Baraq joined an alliance with the House of Ögedei and the Golden Horde against Kublai in the east and Abagha in the west. Meanwhile, Mentemu avoided any direct military expedition against Kublai's realm. The Golden Horde promised Kublai their assistance to defeat Kaidu whom Mentemu called the rebel.[38] This was apparently due to the conflict between Kaidu and Mentemu over the agreement they made at the Talas kurultai. The armies of Mongol Persia defeated Baraq's invading forces in 1269. When Baraq died the next year, Kaidu took control of the Chagatai Khanate and recovered his alliance with Mentemu.

Meanwhile, Kublai tried to stabilize his control over the Korean Peninsula by mobilizing another Mongol invasion after he enthroned Wonjong of Goryeo (r. 1260–1274) in 1259 on Ganghwado. Kublai also forced two rulers of the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate to call a truce with each other in 1270 despite the Golden Horde's interests in the Middle East and the Caucasus.[39]

In 1260, Kublai sent one of his advisors, Hao Ching, to the court of Emperor Lizong of Song to say that if Lizong submitted to Kublai and surrender his dynasty, he would be granted some autonomy.[40] Emperor Lizong refused to meet Kublai's demands and imprisoned Hao Ching and when Kublai sent a delegation to release Hao Ching, Emperor Lizong sent them back.[40]

Kublai called two Iraqi siege engineers from the Ilkhanate in order to destroy the fortresses of Song China. After the fall of Xiangyang in 1273, Kublai's commanders, Aju and Liu Zheng, proposed a final campaign against the Song dynasty, and Kublai made Bayan of the Baarin the supreme commander.[41] Kublai ordered Möngke Temür to revise the second census of the Golden Horde to provide resources and men for his conquest of China.[42] The census took place in all parts of the Golden Horde, including Smolensk and Vitebsk in 1274–75. The Khans also sent Nogai Khan to the Balkans to strengthen Mongol influence there.[43]

Kublai renamed the Mongol regime in China Dai Yuan in 1271, and sought to sinicize his image as Emperor of China in order to win control of millions of Han Chinese people. When he moved his headquarters to Khanbaliq, also called Dadu, at modern-day Beijing, there was an uprising in the old capital Karakorum that he barely contained. Kublai's actions were condemned by traditionalists and his critics still accused him of being too closely tied to Han Chinese culture. They sent a message to him: "The old customs of our Empire are not those of the Han Chinese laws ... What will happen to the old customs?"[44][45] Kaidu attracted the other elites of Mongol Khanates, declaring himself to be a legitimate heir to the throne instead of Kublai, who had turned away from the ways of Genghis Khan.[46][47] Defections from Kublai's dynasty swelled the Ögedeids' forces.

Painting of Kublai Khan on a hunting expedition, by Han Chinese court artist Liu Guandao, c. 1280.

The Song imperial family surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, making the Mongols the first non-Han Chinese peoples to conquer all of China. Three years later, Yuan marines crushed the last of the Song loyalists. The Song Empress Dowager and her grandson, Emperor Gong of Song, were then settled in Khanbaliq where they were given tax-free property, and Kublai's wife Chabi took a personal interest in their well-being. However, Kublai later had Emperor Gong sent away to become a monk to Zhangye.

Kublai succeeded in building a powerful empire, created an academy, offices, trade ports and canals and sponsored science and the arts. The record of the Mongols lists 20,166 public schools created during Kublai's reign.[46] Having achieved real or nominal dominion over much of Eurasia, and having successfully conquered China, Kublai was in a position to look beyond China.[48] However, Kublai's costly invasions of Vietnam (1258), Sakhalin (1264), Burma (1277), Champa (1282), and Vietnam again (1285) secured only the vassal status of those countries. Mongol invasions of Japan (1274 and 1281), the third invasion of Vietnam (1287–88), and the invasion of Java (1293) failed.

At the same time, Kublai's nephew Ilkhan Abagha tried to form a grand alliance of the Mongols and the Western European powers to defeat the Mamluks in Syria and North Africa that constantly invaded the Mongol dominions. Abagha and Kublai focused mostly on foreign alliances, and opened trade routes. Khagan Kublai dined with a large court every day, and met with many ambassadors and foreign merchants.

Kublai's son Nomukhan and his generals occupied Almaliq from 1266 to 1276. In 1277, a group of Genghisid princes under Möngke's son Shiregi rebelled, kidnapped Kublai's two sons and his general Antong and handed them over to Kaidu and Möngke Temür. The latter was still allied with Kaidu who fashioned an alliance with him in 1269, although Möngke Temür had promised Kublai his military support to protect Kublai from the Ögedeids.[46] Kublai's armies suppressed the rebellion and strengthened the Yuan garrisons in Mongolia and the Ili River basin. However, Kaidu took control over Almaliq.

Extract of the letter of Arghun to Philip IV of France, in the Mongolian script, dated 1289. French National Archives.

In 1279–80, Kublai decreed death for those who performed slaughtering of cattle according to the legal codes of Islam (dhabihah) or Judaism (kashrut), which offended Mongolian custom.[49] When Tekuder seized the throne of the Ilkhanate in 1282, attempting to make peace with the Mamluks, Abaqa's old Mongols under prince Arghun appealed to Kublai. After the assassination of Ahmad Fanakati and execution of his sons, Kublai confirmed Arghun's coronation and awarded his commander in chief Buqa the title of chancellor.

Kublai's niece, Kelmish, who married a Khongirad general of the Golden Horde, was powerful enough to have Kublai's sons Nomuqan and Kokhchu returned. Three leaders of the Jochids, Tode Mongke, Köchü, and Nogai, agreed to release two princes.[50] The court of the Golden Horde returned the princes as a peace overture to the Yuan dynasty in 1282 and induced Kaidu to release Kublai's general. Konchi, khan of the White Horde, established friendly relations with the Yuan and the Ilkhanate, and as a reward received luxury gifts and grain from Kublai.[51] Despite political disagreement between contending branches of the family over the office of Khagan, the economic and commercial system continued.[52][53][54][55]

The Yuan dynasty of China, c. 1294

Kublai Khan considered China his main base, realizing within a decade of his enthronement as Great Khan that he needed to concentrate on governing there.[56] From the beginning of his reign, he adopted Chinese political and cultural models and worked to minimize the influences of regional lords, who had held immense power before and during the Song dynasty. Kublai heavily relied on his Chinese advisers until about 1276. He had many Han Chinese advisers, such as Liu Bingzhong and Xu Heng, and employed many Buddhist Uyghurs, some of whom were resident commissioners running Chinese districts.[57]

Kublai also appointed the Sakya lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa ("the Phags pa Lama") his Imperial Preceptor, giving him power over all the empire's Buddhist monks. In 1270, after the Phags pa Lama created the 'Phags-pa script, he was promoted to imperial preceptor. Kublai established the Supreme Control Commission under the Phags pa Lama to administer affairs of Tibetan and Chinese monks. During Phagspa's absence in Tibet, the Tibetan monk Sangha rose to high office and had the office renamed the Commission for Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs.[58][59] In 1286, Sangha became the dynasty's chief fiscal officer. However, their corruption later embittered Kublai, and he later relied wholly on younger Mongol aristocrats. Antong of the Jalairs and Bayan of the Baarin served as grand councillors from 1265, and Oz-temur of the Arulad headed the censorate. Borokhula's descendant, Ochicher, headed a kheshig (Mongolian imperial guard) and the palace provision commission.

In the eighth year of Zhiyuan (1271), Kublai officially created the Yuan dynasty and proclaimed the capital as Dadu (Chinese: 大都; Wade–Giles: Ta-tu; lit. 'Grand Capital', known as Khanbaliq or Daidu to the Mongols, at modern-day Beijing) the following year. His summer capital was in Shangdu (Chinese: 上都; lit. 'Upper Capital', also called Xanadu, near what today is Dolon Nor). To unify China,[60] Kublai began a massive offensive against the remnants of the Southern Song in 1274 and finally destroyed the Song in 1279, unifying the country at last at the Battle of Yamen where the last Song Emperor Zhao Bing committed suicide by jumping into the sea and ending the Song dynasty.[61]

Chinese opera flourished during Yuan China.

Most of the Yuan domains were administered as provinces, also translated as the "Branch Secretariat", each with a governor and vice-governor.[62] This included China proper, Manchuria, Mongolia, and a special Zhendong branch Secretariat that extended into the Korean Peninsula.[63][64] The Central Region (Chinese: 腹裏) was separate from the rest, consisting of much of present-day North China. It was considered the most important region of the dynasty and was directly governed by the Zhongshu Sheng at Dadu. Tibet was governed by another top-level administrative department called the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs.

Kublai promoted economic growth by rebuilding the Grand Canal, repairing public buildings, and extending highways. However, his domestic policy included some aspects of the old Mongol living traditions, and as his reign continued, these traditions would clash increasingly frequently with traditional Chinese economic and social culture. Kublai decreed that partner merchants of the Mongols should be subject to taxes in 1262 and set up the Office of Market Taxes to supervise them in 1268.[65] After the Mongol conquest of the Song, the Muslim, Uighur and Chinese merchants expanded their operations to the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.[65] In 1286, maritime trade was put under the Office of Market Taxes. The main source of revenue of the government was the monopoly of salt production.[66]

The Mongol administration had issued paper currencies from 1227 on.[67][68] In August 1260, Kublai created the first unified paper currency called Jiaochao; bills were circulated throughout the Yuan domain with no expiration date. To guard against devaluation, the currency was convertible with silver and gold, and the government accepted tax payments in paper currency. In 1273, Kublai issued a new series of state sponsored bills to finance his conquest of the Song, although eventually a lack of fiscal discipline and inflation turned this move into an economic disaster. It was required to pay only in the form of paper money. To ensure its use, Kublai's government confiscated gold and silver from private citizens and foreign merchants, but traders received government-issued notes in exchange. Kublai Khan is considered to be the first fiat money maker. The paper bills made collecting taxes and administering the empire much easier and reduced the cost of transporting coins.[69] In 1287, Kublai's minister Sangha created a new currency, Zhiyuan Chao, to deal with a budget shortfall.[70] It was non-convertible and denominated in copper cash. Later Gaykhatu of the Ilkhanate attempted to adopt the system in Iran and the Middle East, which was a complete failure, and shortly afterwards he was assassinated.

桑哥 Sangha was a Tibetan.[71] A rich merchant from the Madurai Sultanate, Abu Ali (in Chinese, 孛哈里 Bèihālǐ or 布哈爾 Bùhār), was associated closely with its royal family. After falling out with them, he moved to Yuan China and received a Korean woman as his wife and a job from the Mongol Emperor, the woman was formerly Sangha's wife and her father held the title of 채송년 Chaesongnyeon during the reign of Chungnyeol of Goryeo according to the Dongguk Tonggam, Goryeosa and Liu Mengyan's Zhōng'ānjí (中俺集).[72][73]

Kublai encouraged Asian arts and demonstrated religious tolerance. Despite his anti-Daoist edicts, Kublai respected the Daoist master and appointed Zhang Liushan as the patriarch of the Daoist Xuánjiào (玄教, "Mysterious Order").[74] Under Zhang's advice, Daoist temples were put under the Academy of Scholarly Worthies. Several Europeans visited the empire, notably Marco Polo in the 1270s, who may have seen the summer capital Shangdu.

During the Southern Song, the descendant of Confucius at Qufu, Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou, while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. From that time up until the Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs, once in the north in Qufu and the other in the south at Quzhou. An invitation to come back to Qufu was extended to the southern Duke Yansheng Kong Zhu by the Yuan dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan. The title was taken away from the southern branch after Kong Zhu rejected the invitation, so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng.[75][76][77][78][79][80][81] The southern branch still remained in Quzhou where they lived to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000.[82]

Yuan Emperors like Kublai Khan forbade practices such as butchering according to Jewish (kashrut) or Muslim (dhabihah) legal codes and other restrictive decrees continued. Circumcision was also strictly forbidden.[83][84][85]

The "Muslim trebuchet" (or Huihui Pao) used to breach the walls of Fancheng and Xiangyang.

Thirty Muslims served as high officials in the court of Kublai Khan. Eight of the dynasty's twelve administrative districts had Muslim governors appointed by Kublai Khan.[86] Among the Muslim governors was Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who became administrator of Yunnan. He was a well learned man in the Confucian and Daoist traditions and is believed to have propagated Islam in China. Other administrators were Nasr al-Din (Yunnan) and Mahmud Yalavach (mayor of the Yuan capitol).

Kublai Khan patronized Muslim scholars and scientists, and Muslim astronomers contributed to the construction of the observatory in Shaanxi.[87] Astronomers such as Jamal ad-Din introduced 7 new instruments and concepts that allowed the correction of the Chinese calendar.

Muslim cartographers made accurate maps of all the nations along the Silk Road and greatly influenced the knowledge of Yuan dynasty rulers and merchants.

Muslim physicians organized hospitals and had their own institutes of Medicine in Beijing and Shangdu. In Beijing was the renown Guang Hui Si "Department of extensive mercy", where Hui medicine and surgery were taught. Avicenna's works were also published in China during that period.[88]

Muslim mathematicians introduced Euclidean Geometry, Spherical trigonometry and Arabic numerals in China.[89]

Kublai brought siege engineers Ismail and Al al-Din to China, and together they invented the "Muslim trebuchet" (or Huihui Pao), which was utilized by Kublai Khan during the Battle of Xiangyang.[90]

In 1285 the Drikung Kagyu sect revolted, attacking Sakya monasteries. The Chagatayid khan, Duwa, helped the rebels, laying siege to Gaochang and defeating Kublai's garrisons in the Tarim Basin.[95] Kaidu destroyed an army at Beshbalik and occupied the city the following year. Many Uyghurs abandoned Kashgar for safer bases back in the eastern part of the Yuan dynasty. After Kublai's grandson Buqa-Temür crushed the resistance of the Drikung Kagyu, killing 10,000 Tibetans in 1291, Tibet was fully pacified.

Two dragons chasing a flaming pearl was a symbol associated with Goryeo.

Kublai Khan invaded Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula and made it a tributary vassal state in 1260. After another Mongol intervention in 1273, Goryeo came under even tighter control of the Yuan.[96][97][98][99][100] Goryeo became a Mongol military base, and several myriarchy commands were established there. The court of the Goryeo supplied Korean troops and an ocean-going naval force for the Mongol campaigns.

The Gangnido reflects the Chinese geographical knowledge during the Mongol Empire about countries in the West.[101]

Despite the opposition of some of his Confucian-trained advisers, Kublai decided to invade Japan, Burma, Vietnam, and Java, following the suggestions of some of his Mongol officials. He also attempted to subjugate peripheral lands such as Sakhalin, where its indigenous people eventually submitted to the Mongols by 1308, after Kublai's death. These costly invasions and conquests and the introduction of paper currency caused inflation. From 1273 to 1276, war against the Southern Song dynasty and Japan made the issue of paper currency expand from 110,000 ding to 1,420,000 ding.[102]

The Japanese samurai Suenaga facing Mongol arrows and bombs. Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba (蒙古襲来絵詞), circa 1293.

Within Kublai's court his most trusted governors and advisers appointed by meritocracy with the essence of multiculturalism were Mongol, Semu, Korean, Hui and Han peoples.[86][103] Because the Wokou extended support to the crumbling Southern Song dynasty, Kublai Khan initiated invasions of Japan.

Kublai Khan twice attempted to invade Japan. It is believed that both attempts were partly thwarted by bad weather or a flaw in the design of ships that were based on river boats without keels, and his fleets were destroyed. The first attempt took place in 1274, with a fleet of 900 ships.[104]

The second invasion occurred in 1281 when Mongols sent two separate forces: 900 ships containing 40,000 Korean, Han, and Mongol troops were sent from Masan, while a force of 100,000 sailed from southern China in 3,500 ships, each close to 240 feet (73 m) long. The fleet was hastily assembled and ill-equipped to cope with maritime conditions. In November, they sailed into the treacherous waters that separate Korea and Japan by 180 kilometres (110 miles). The Mongols easily took over Tsushima Island about halfway across the strait and then Iki Island closer to Kyushu. The Korean fleet reached Hakata Bay on June 23, 1281, and landed its troops and animals, but the ships from China were nowhere to be seen. Mongol landing forces were subsequently defeated at the Battle of Akasaka and the Battle of Torikai-Gata. Takezaki Suenaga's samurai attacked the Mongol army and fought them, as reinforcements led by Shiraishi Michiyasu arrived and defeated the Mongols, who suffered around 3500 dead.[105]

The samurai warriors, following their custom, rode out against the Mongol forces for individual combat but the Mongols held their formation. The Mongols fought as a united force, not as individuals, and bombarded the samurai with exploding missiles and showered them with arrows. Eventually, the remaining Japanese withdrew from the coastal zone inland to a fortress. The Mongol forces did not chase the fleeing Japanese into an area about which they lacked reliable intelligence. In a number of individual skirmishes, known collectively as the Kōan Campaign (弘安の役) or the "Second Battle of Hakata Bay", the Mongol forces were driven back to their ships by the Samurai. The Japanese army was heavily outnumbered, but had fortified the coastal line with two-meter high walls, and was easily able to repulse the Mongolian forces that were launched against it.

Japanese samurai boarding Yuan ships in 1281.

Maritime archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida led the investigation that discovered the wreckage of the second invasion fleet off the western coast of Takashima District, Shiga. His team's findings strongly indicate that Kublai rushed to invade Japan and attempted to construct his enormous fleet in one year, a task that should have taken up to five years. This forced the Chinese to use any available ships, including river boats. Most importantly, the Chinese, under Kublai's control, built many ships quickly in order to contribute to the fleets in both of the invasions. Hayashida theorizes that, had Kublai used standard, well-constructed ocean-going ships with curved keels to prevent capsizing, his navy might have survived the journey to and from Japan and might have conquered it as intended. In October 2011, a wreck, possibly one of Kublai's invasion craft, was found off the coast of Nagasaki.[106] David Nicolle wrote in The Mongol Warlords, "Huge losses had also been suffered in terms of casualties and sheer expense, while the myth of Mongol invincibility had been shattered throughout eastern Asia." He also wrote that Kublai was determined to mount a third invasion, despite the horrendous cost to the economy and to his and Mongol prestige of the first two defeats, and only his death and the unanimous agreement of his advisers not to invade prevented a third attempt.[107]

Kublai Khan invaded Đại Việt/Annam (now Vietnam) in a total of five separate incursions between 1257-92, with major campaigns in 1258, 1285, and 1287. These three campaigns are treated by a number of scholars as a success due to the establishment of tributary relations with Đại Việt despite the Mongols suffering major military defeats.[108][109][110] In contrast, Vietnamese historiography regards the war as a major victory against the foreign invaders whom they called "the Mongol yokes."[111][108]

The first invasion began in 1258 under the united Mongol Empire, as it looked for alternative paths to invade the Song dynasty. The Mongol general Uriyangkhadai was successful in capturing the Vietnamese capital Thang Long (modern-day Hanoi) before turning north in 1259 to invade the Song dynasty in modern-day Guangxi as part of a coordinated Mongol attack with armies attacking in Sichuan under Möngke Khan and other Mongol armies attacking in modern-day Shandong and Henan.[112] The first invasion also established tributary relations between the Vietnamese dynasty, formerly a Song dynasty tributary state, and the Yuan dynasty.[113]

Intending to demand greater tribute and direct Yuan oversight of local affairs in Đại Việt and Champa, the Yuan launched another invasion in 1285. The second invasion of Đại Việt failed to accomplish its goals, and the Yuan launched a third invasion in 1287 with the intent of replacing the uncooperative Đại Việt ruler Trần Nhân Tông with the defected Trần prince Trần Ích Tắc. By the end of the second and third invasions, which involved both initial successes and eventual major defeats for the Mongols, both Đại Việt and Champa decided to accept the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty and became tributary states to avoid further conflict.[114][115]

Three expeditions against Burma, in 1277, 1283, and 1287, brought the Mongol forces to the Irrawaddy Delta, whereupon they captured Bagan, the capital of the Pagan Kingdom and established their government.[116] Kublai had to be content with establishing a formal suzerainty, but Pagan finally became a tributary state, sending tributes to the Yuan court until the Yuan dynasty fell to the Ming dynasty in 1368.[117] Mongol interests in these areas were commercial and tributary relationships.

Kublai Khan maintained close relations with Siam, in particular with prince Mangrai of Chiangmai and king Ram Khamheng of Sukhothai.[118] In fact, Kublai encouraged them to attack the Khmers after the Thais were being pushed southwards from Nanchao.[118][119][120] This happened after king Jayavarman VIII of the Khmer Empire refused to pay tribute to the Mongols.[118][121][122] Jayavarman VIII was so insistent on not having to pay tribute to Kublai that he had Mongol envoys imprisoned.[118][122][120] These attacks from the Siamese eventually weakened the Khmer Empire. The Mongols then decided to venture south into Cambodia in 1283 by land from Champa.[123] They were able to conquer Cambodia by 1284.[124] Cambodia effectively became a vassal state by 1285 when Jayavarman VIII was finally forced to pay tribute to Kublai.[123][125][126]

During the last years of his reign, Kublai launched a naval punitive expedition of 20–30,000 men against Singhasari on Java (1293), but the invading Mongol forces were forced to withdraw by Majapahit after considerable losses of more than 3000 troops. Nevertheless, by 1294, the year that Kublai died, the Thai kingdoms of Sukhothai and Chiang Mai had become vassal states of the Yuan dynasty.[116]

Kublai gives financial support to the Polo family.

Under Kublai, direct contact between East Asia and Europe was established, made possible by Mongol control of the central Asian trade routes and facilitated by the presence of efficient postal services. In the beginning of the 13th century, Europeans and Central Asians – merchants, travelers, and missionaries of different orders – made their way to China. The presence of Mongol power allowed large numbers of Yuan subjects, intent on warfare or trade, to travel to other parts of the Mongol Empire, all the way to Rus, Persia, and Mesopotamia.

Rabban Bar Sauma, ambassador of Great Khan Kublai and Ilkhan Arghun, travelled from Dadu to Rome, Tuscany, Genoa, Paris, and Bordeaux to meet with European rulers in 1287–88.

In the 13th century, the Sultanate of Mogadishu, through its trade with prior Chinese regimes, had acquired enough of a reputation in Asia to attract the attention of Kublai Khan.[127] According to Marco Polo, Kublai sent an envoy to Mogadishu to spy out the Sultanate but the delegation was captured and imprisoned. Kublai Khan then sent another envoy to treat for the release of the earlier Mongol delegation sent to Africa.[128]

Chabi, Khatun of Kublai and Empress of the Mongol Empire

Kublai first married Tegulen but she died very early. Then he married Chabi of the Khongirad, who was his most beloved empress. After Chabi's death in 1281, Kublai married Chabi's young cousin, Nambui, presumably in accordance with Chabi's wish.[140]

Principal wives (first and second ordos):

1. Tegülün Khatun (d. 1233) — of unknown parents; she is known to have been from Khongirad
   • Dorji (b. c. 1233, d. 1263) — the director of the Secretariat and head of the Bureau of Military Affairs from 1261, but was sickly and died young.
2. Empress Chabi (b. 1216, m. 1234, d. 1281) — daughter of Alchi Noyan (Anchen) from Khongirad.
   • Crown Prince Zhenjin (1243 – 1285) — Prince of Yan (燕王)
   • Manggala (c. 1249–1280) — Prince of Anxi (安西王)
   • Nomughan (d. 1301) — Prince of Beiping (北平王)
   • Kokechi (d.1273)- Prince of Yunnan
   • Grand Princess of Zhao, Yuelie (赵国大長公主) — married to Ay Buqa, Prince of Zhao (趙王)
   • Princess Ulujin (吾魯真公主) — married to Buqa from Ikires clan
   • Princess Chalun (昌国大长公主) - married to Teliqian from Ikires clan
   • Grand Princess of Lu, Öljei (鲁国长公主) — married to Ulujin Küregen from Khongirad clan, Prince of Lu
   • Grand Princess of Lu, Nangiajin (鲁国大长公主) — married to Ulujin Küregen from Khongirad clan, Princess of Lu, then after Ulujin's death in 1278 to his brother Temür, and after Temür's death in 1290 to a third brother, Manzitai
   • Princess Jeguk
3. Empress Nambui (m. 1283) — daughter of Nachen, who was the brother of Empress Chabi
   • Temuchi

Wives from third ordo:

1. Empress Talahai (塔剌海皇后)
2. Empress Nuhan (奴罕皇后)

Wives from fourth ordo:

1. Empress Bayaujin (伯要兀真皇后) — daughter of Boraqchin of Bayauts
   • Toghon — Prince of Zhennan (鎮南王)
2. Empress Kökelün (阔阔伦皇后)

Concubines:

1. Lady Babahan (八八罕妃子)
2. Lady Sabuhu (撒不忽妃子)
3. Qoruqchin Khatun — daughter of Qutuqu (brother of Toqto'a Beki) from Merkits
   • Qoridai — Commander of Möngke in Tibet
4. Dörbejin Khatun — from Dörben tribe
   • Aqruqchi (d. 1306) — Prince of Xiping

1. Hüshijin Khatun — daughter of Boroqul Noyan
   • Kököchü (fl. 1313) — Prince of Ning (宁王)
   • Ayachi (fl. 1324) — Commander of Hexi Corridor
2. An unknown lady
   • Qutluq Temür (fl. 1324)
3. Asujin Khatun (阿速眞可敦)[141] — probably from Asud tribe