9. Setting Out to Conquer the World
Genghis Khan then set out to conquer world, beginning with China, which was fragmented at the time into various dynasties. He started with the Western Xia, and reduced them to vassalage, before turning to the more powerful Jin in 1211, capturing and sacking their capital in 1215 after a victory in which hundreds of thousands were massacred. That forced the Jin emperor to abandon the northern half of his empire.
Genghis, who found himself ruling a domain that included tens of millions of Chinese peasants, at first wanted to simply kill them all and transform the land into pasturage suitable for Mongol herds. Then taxation was explained to him, and he was persuaded that many live peasants translate into a steady stream of income and wealth. He interrupted his campaign against the Jin after a city governor in the powerful Khwarezmian Empire to the west executed Mongol envoys sent by Genghis to its emir. The emir’s refusal to surrender the offending governor was one of history’s biggest mistakes.
