13. Chinggis and His Mongols Were Open-Minded About Adopting New Methods So Long as They Were Effective
Just like Mongol tumans, as one Napoleonic corps fixed an enemy in place, the remaining corps would rush in and concentrate upon their sister corps in contact with the enemy, and what had been a widespread advance resembling outstretched fingers would transform into a clenched fist. Chinggis and the lieutenants he trained were not conservative when it came to warfare. Having already revolutionized Steppe warfare and discarded many of the olden tribal ways of fighting, Chinggis was not particularly wedded to any traditions. He and his subordinates were instead open-minded and receptive to adopting the military techniques of others, provided they were effective. For example, the Steppe had no tradition of siege warfare, yet the Mongols successfully besieged and captured numerous cities by employing Chinese, Persian, Arab, and European specialists. Within a generation, the Mongols became the greatest practitioners of siege warfare since the ancient Romans.
