Story 22. The situation of the East Asian world when Genghis Khan's ancestors survived the war

 Story 22. The situation of the East Asian world when Genghis Khan's ancestors survived the war

There were empires that were somewhat unfamiliar to the historical consciousness of Koreans: the Xiongnu Empire (4th century BC - 5th century AD), the Turkic Empire (6th - 8th century), and the Uyghur Empire (742 - 840 AD). This is because the historical consciousness was dominated by the old idea of ​​viewing East Asian history centered on Chinese history, which was reduced and distorted, and also the world view that was overly expanded with regard to China or Europe was mainstream. It is not much different from looking at and judging the current world situation from the perspective of the United States or Europe and looking at the present and future of the survival of countries, companies, and individuals. It cannot be said that it is not excessive to emphasize how much what we have learned is full of bias and distortion, and how important the view of history is, and how the ideology and ideology that dominates the era are truly important. In the dynasty era, we should look at it from the perspective of that era, in the era when nationalism and statism were formed, we should look at it from the perspective of that era, in the era when imperialism ruled the world, we should look at it from the perspective of that era, and in the era of the democratic republic, we should acknowledge the perspective of that era. Although the communist ruling system has collapsed to some extent, it has been transformed into an absolute monarchy system, and in the present era where many authoritarian systems that only look like democracy and capitalism ruled by the people exist, it is considered that this is an era that requires insight and consciousness that penetrates history.

I read a book called <World History Read Backwards> when I was young. It was a letter that Nehru of India sent to his daughter from prison. I read the book several times at the time and realized that the perspective of world history was written purely from a Eurocentric perspective, and the highly civilized Mesopotamia, India, and Central Asia to their east were excluded, and the history of Asia was written only from a Sinocentric perspective. The shock of Korean history actually came earlier when I read Shin Chae-ho’s <Joseon Sanggosa>, a small book that I bought while wandering around the used bookstore in Cheonggyecheon after entering college. Since I had been learning Korean history in the 1960s and early 1970s, which was completely covered by Lee Byeong-do’s colonial view of the Korean History Society, I felt like I was seeing a new horizon of the vast history of the Korean people that had been hidden. After that, I became interested in history, especially ancient history, and as I went on to compile world history and traveled to many countries around the world for work, I opened my eyes to the great world history that flows through history. On the other hand, when I was young and stuck in the valley of Yangpyeong, I read the entire volume of <A Study of History> by Toynbee, who had compiled world history as a British diplomat, and this became the opportunity for me to become interested in the rise and fall of human civilization. Later, I became interested in the unknown Eurasia, but at the time, there was little to read. However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I began reading about Eurasia, Turkey, Persia, Ukraine, and countries related to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Looking at the international situation in East Asia at the time when Kiyan and Nekuz, the two people known as the ancestors of Genghis Khan, barely survived the legendary story of the “Great War between the Tatars and the Mogors (Mongols)” between the Mongols and the Turkic tribes, survived in the foothills of the Yalu River and escaped there, it will be helpful to trace the ancestors of Genghis Khan and learn about the political situation and historical circumstances of the surrounding countries at the time.

When Gojoseon flourished, the Xiongnu Empire (4th century BC - 5th century AD) in the northern grasslands united the nomads and fought for dominance with the various countries of the Central Plains, which were the settled dynasties. After the Han Dynasty (202 BC~AD220) unified the Central Plains, it fought numerous wars of invasion and defense with the Xiongnu for a long time, fighting for control. After that, even after the collapse of Gojoseon (2333 BC~108 BC) and the fall of the Han Empire, the Xiongnu Empire continued to divide, but it maintained a huge empire that had influence from present-day Central Asia to Mongolia and northwestern Manchuria. After that, the Gokturks (6th century~8th century) flourished, unified the northern nomadic tribes, and formed a huge empire. 

While the Asian plate experienced the rise and fall of numerous dynasties in the north and the Central Plains in the south, Goguryeo (37 BC~668), which ruled Northeast Asia, maintained its dynasty for 700 years by cooperating and restraining various dynasties in the Central Plains and the Yi Dynasty. Historically, when the dynasty that unified the northern nomadic tribes flourished, all the dynasties of the Central Plains paid homage to this northern dynasty as vassals, which shows how powerful their armies were. This was the case with the Xiongnu Empire (4th century B.C.–5th century AD), and with the Xianbei and the incomplete Rouran Dynasty (330–555), the various dynasties of the Central Plains paid tribute or sent princesses to maintain their marriage lineage and seek the safety of their dynasties. 

When the great Turkic Empire (6th–8th century) expanded into the Eastern Turkic and Western Turkic, it ruled a huge empire that was wider than the territory ruled by the Xiongnu Empire, from the Caspian Sea coast of Central Asia to the west bank of the Liao River in the east and the entire northern part of the Yellow River in the south. The Gokturks fought numerous wars with Goguryeo and held an absolute throne as a nomadic empire spanning Central Asia and East Asia until they were destroyed by the unification of the Sui dynasty that arose in the Central Plains and the subsequent unification of the Tang dynasty (618–907). It is generally accepted that the Li dynasty of Li Yuan, the founder of the Sui dynasty and the Tang dynasty, was of Xianbei origin. The Xianbei were a nomadic tribe in the northwestern region of the Central Plains (present-day Shaanxi, Huabei, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) who were subjugated by the Xiongnu, but they emerged and grew in power around the 1st century when the Xiongnu were weakened, defeated the Xiongnu, and the Xianbei people prospered, began to conquer the Chinese in Hebei Province, and enslaved the Han Chinese. Among the Xianbei tribes, the Tuoba Xianbei established the Northern Wei (386–584) in the northern part of the Central Plains during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Five Hu inland regions of China, and only those who served the Xianbei as their lords could obtain positions among the Han Chinese. This period is called the Southern and Northern Dynasties (386–589), and it was a time of conflict between the nomadic Northern Wei dynasty and the Han Chinese Southern Dynasties (Song, Qi, Liang, and Jin), which were unified by the Xianbei Sui Dynasty (581–618). The Wei of the Tuoba Xianbei was called the Northern Wei to distinguish it from the Wei of Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period, the Shu and Wu dynasties. During the period when the Northern Wei ruled over the Central Plains and northern China, the Eastern Jin, Song, and Qi dynasties rose and fell in the south, and this period is called the Southern and Northern Dynasties period in Chinese history. 

During this period, the Xianbei-affiliated Yuan Empire emerged, centering on the Mongolian region, and competed with the Northern Wei and Southern Dynasties of China, as well as Goguryeo in Northeast Asia, from the 4th to the 6th centuries. With the decline of the Turks, the Sui and Tang Dynasties (618–907) of the Xianbei lineage dominated the Central Plains and entered into a war with Goguryeo for hegemony in Northeast Asia that lasted for a long 70 years. This was an international war for hegemony in Northeast Asia, with Goguryeo receiving help from the Western Turks, and the Tang Dynasty allied with Silla, the Eastern Turks, and the Shiwei of northern Goguryeo, a huge international war for hegemony in East Asia. Ultimately, after the death of Gaesomun in Goguryeo, the eldest son of Gaesomun, Gaenamsaeng, who fled to Tang due to the internal power struggle among the three brothers, and his clan, and the Tang's allied forces of Silla and Silwi, collapsed in 668, losing the Northeast Asian hegemony that had been held for 700 years. 

After that, Dae Joyeong took the lead in founding Balhae, and in 732, a war broke out between Balhae and Tang. At that time, Gaeboksun, a third-generation descendant of Gaesomun's family, triggered a war with Balhae in an attempt to restore the Goguryeo Dynasty that had been lost. This war is called the legendary "Great War between the Tatars and Mogol (Mongols)" by the Turkic and Tatar descendants, and this journey has been about the two men who survived and escaped from this war, Kiyan and Nekuz, who are the two legendary figures that the descendants of Genghis Khan call the ancestors of their Mongol tribe. 

Meanwhile, when the Tang Dynasty (618-907) held hegemony over the Central Plains with Chang'an as its capital, Balhae emerged in the northeastern region centered around Manchuria, Silla emerged in the central and southern Korean Peninsula, and the Khitan (mid-5th century) emerged in the Liaoxi region, while the Shiwei occupied territory in the Amur River basin in northwestern Balhae. At this time, the Khitan people, who would later take the form of an empire that would become the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), emerged in Inner Mongolia and the Liaoxi region northwest of the Liao River. 

On the other hand, the Uyghurs subdued the nomadic tribes in the Gobi Desert and the Mongolian grasslands, forming the Uyghur Empire (742-840), and the Tibetan Empire (Tibet 617-842) flourished in the western region of the Tang Dynasty, and the Uyghurs in the grasslands and wilderness and Tibet (Tubo) in the mountainous southern region fought for balance and hegemony in the form of three kingdoms. Here, since the trade routes connecting the East and the West generated enormous wealth, controlling the Silk Road meant gaining wealth and power, so the Uyghurs and Tibetans were always hostile to each other. The emergence of the Uyghurs, a tribe of the grasslands, is interesting. The Uyghur (Uyghur回鶻) group began to emerge in history after the 7th century, but their existence was already known before. 

According to Chinese records, they appeared during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and are descendants of a group called Gaocha or Chikreuk. ‘Chikreuk’ is a translation of tiglig or tegreg, meaning cart, and is the name they gave to carts with high wheels. In 605, when the power of the Chikreuk (Chikreuk) under the control of the Western Turks grew, the Western Turkic Khagan made a surprise attack on them and killed their leaders. When the people living in the Selenge River and the Tianshan area joined the Western Turkic groups due to the attacks of the Western Turks, the Uyghur military group grew to 50,000 men. Then, in 646, when Xue Yantuo rebelled against the Tang, the Uyghurs helped the Tang to defeat Xue Yantuo, and the Uyghur leader Tomi Tuo was appointed as the Han Hao Do by the Tang for his achievements, but he also clashed with the Tang over the interests of the Hexi Corridor, a key point on the Silk Road. Finally, the Uyghurs had an opportunity to emerge as the rulers of the steppes. 

In the 740s, when the Second Turkic Empire suffered internal strife, the Uyghurs attacked and defeated the Turks, and the era of the Uyghur Empire followed the Second Turkic Empire. This was in 744, and in 755, An Lushan and Shi Shiming from Sogd, who were in control of the military power in the northern border region of the Tang Dynasty (present-day Beijing), rebelled and trampled Luoyang and Chang'an, the capital at the time. This was the time of the famous Gyeonggukjisaek(A very beautiful woman for whom the kinh neglect the nation's affairs,risking the fate of kingdom).

During the reign of Lady Yang Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong, they hurriedly abandoned Chang'an and fled. At this time, the Uyghurs sent a powerful cavalry to help the Tang Dynasty and saved the Tang Dynasty from crisis. After that, when a rebellion broke out again, the Uyghurs sent troops to the Tang Dynasty and saved it. However, they plundered the extremely weak Tang City of Luoyang and married a Tang princess to form a family. The Uyghur Empire controlled the grasslands and the Silk Road for a century, but due to frequent internal strife, they attracted external forces, and even the powerful cavalry army of 100,000 to 200,000 could not support the empire. In 840, it was defeated by the Kirghiz near Lake Baikal, and the remaining 100,000 or so troops clung to the Tang Dynasty and were suddenly attacked and destroyed in 843.

Originally, from the founding of the dynasty, the northern ethnic group, the Xianbei, took the lead in establishing the Sui and Tang dynasties, and with the help of the northern Turks and later the Uyghurs, the Tang dynasty was sustained. In the early Tang Dynasty, the excellent politics of Emperor Taizong led to prosperity in both foreign and domestic affairs, and in the middle period, the country greatly prospered economically, culturally, and politically until the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and Emperor Xuanzong. However, when Emperor Xuanzong became close to Yang Guibin, the country began to decline, and eventually the capital Chang'an was conquered by the An Lushan Rebellion. Starting around 710, the Tang Dynasty's local powers, the military and taxation authorities, gained power, and as seen in the An Lushan Rebellion, it reached a point where it was difficult to sustain itself without the help of the northern ethnic groups in the 9th century. The Tang Dynasty, which declined due to the Huang Chao Rebellion (875-884), was destroyed by Zhou Zhong in 907. 

After this, the Khitans in the Liao River region flourished and formed a huge empire that controlled the central plains and the northern grasslands. At this time, Balhae was destroyed in 926 by the Khitans (Liao Empire 916-1125). (The chaos caused by the military and administrative power of the military commanders is very similar to the way the Qing Empire fell due to the conflicts between the warlords in each region in the late Qing Empire.)

The legendary “Great War of the Tatars and the Mogors (732-743)” of all Turks and Mongols was one of the major events that occurred in the international environment of the fierce power of the steppes, the north, and the central plains of East Asia, and the ancestors of Genghis Khan who survived lived at the foot of the Amnok River and moved to the Mongolian plains because of the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the rise of the Khitan Empire, the collapse of Silla, the rise of Goryeo, and the fall of Balhae by the Khitan, which forced the descendants of Goguryeo and Balhae to flee to the Mongolian region.

Now, let’s trace the actions of the ancestors of Genghis Khan in earnest.