Story 62. The attack on the Jin Dynasty’s Beijing in revenge for the death of Okin Barkak, the great-uncle of “Arslan Khan” of the Kongrat tribe

 

Story 62. The attack on the Jin Dynasty’s Beijing in revenge for the death of Okin Barkak, the great-uncle of “Arslan Khan” of the Kongrat tribe

 

A little before Yesugei Baatar, the father of Temujin, met Aelun Ujin, “Arslan Khan,” the maternal cousin of the Kongrat tribe, who was indignant at the death of Yesugei’s great-uncle Okin Barkak, launched a war of revenge for his death.

<The Secret History of the Mongols> mentions “Burte Ujin”, the wife of Genghis Khan, and her father, “Dey Sechen.”

However, this history book does not record genealogy beyond these two generations.

However, “The Garden of Fortune” is a valuable history book that records all the ancestors of Burte Ujin’s ancestors, and the “Arslan Khan” mentioned in this history book is Burte Ujin’s grandfather and Dey Sechen’s father. <The Garden of Fortune> is the “golden book” of the Kongrat tribe, so it also lists the ancestors of all generations.

“Dey Sechen” appears as “Dey Noyan of the Kongrat tribe” in Western history books such as <The Garden of Fortune>, and he was the brother-in-law of Yesugei Khan, the father of Genghis Khan, and the father-in-law of Genghis Khan.

                      Bust of King Hailing Yang of the Jin Dynasty at the Manchuria Jin Museum

                      Namuwiki, Google

 Episode 1. The emperor who killed Ambagai Khan and Okin Barkak is King Haeling

 This incident in which Aldan Khan of the Jin Dynasty killed Okin Barkak and Ambagai Khan occurred just before the birth of Temujin in 1162, during his father’s youth and middle age and his grandfather’s middle age and old age.

At that time, Ambai Khan, who was the “Khan” of Kamak Mongol (all Mongols), was the cousin of Temujin’s grandfather Vartan Baatar, so “Ambagai Khan’s daughter” was the father of Genghis Khan. If we look at the time period of these people and find out who reigned as emperor just before 1162, we can find out who the “Altan Khan” mentioned in <Tarikh-e Monghul, 集史 History of Mongolia> is.

 Assuming that the “Altan Khan” who committed the disaster was “Hailing Yangwang (海陵煬王) Wan Yan Liang (完顔亮)” who was born to a Balhae Dai (大氏) mother as the 4th emperor of the Jin Dynasty, as shown in the generation comparison chart of the three Konggrat tribes above.

 Because Okin Barkak and Ambagai Khan were the grandfathers of Genghis Khan, Ambagai Khan’s daughter was the 8th cousin and sister of her father Yesugei Khan. If so, she was Genghis Khan’s great-aunt, and a generation before 1162, when Temujin was born.

 Some believe that he was killed sometime between 1135 and 1149, during the reign of King Hee-jong.

“After ascending to the throne of Khan, Ambagai (俺巴孩, Eom Pa-hae) decided to marry his daughter to the chieftain of the Tatar (塔塔兒, Tap-tap-a) tribe, and on the way to escort his daughter, he was captured by the Tatars (塔塔兒人, Tap-tap-a-in) along with Okin Barkak (幹勤巴兒合, Gan-geun Pa-a-hab, the eldest son of Kabul Khan) and sent to King Hee-jong (熙宗, Jin).

As is well known, he was put to death by “being nailed to a wooden donkey,” a punishment that was only given to rebellious nomads. Unlike the <Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty> edited by Baositao, the <Secret History of the Mongols> does not know the birth year of Ambagai Khan, but it is believed that he died in 1156, during the reign of King Hailing Yang. However, the basis for this estimation is unknown.

 It is time to examine which of these two opinions is closer to the truth.

“Altan Khan,” who ruled the Jin Dynasty a generation before Genghis Khan, was the third emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Emperor Xizong of the Jin Dynasty, who reigned from 1135 to 1145. Wan Yan Dan (完顔亶, 1119–1149). However, the 4th emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Hailing Yanliang (完顔亮, born in 1122, reigned from 1149 to 1162), was between 1 and 12 years before the birth of Genghis Khan.

 Among these two emperors, Altan Khan, who killed “Okin Barkak” and his party, must have been during the era of “Hailing Yanliang (海陵煬王, born in 1122, reigned from 1149 to 1162)”, who ruled the Jin Dynasty for 12 years just before the birth of Genghis Khan, rather than Xizong (熙宗), who reigned from 1135 to 1149. Because after that disaster, 13 Tatar revenge wars took place during the time of his grandfather and father, and Temujin was born in 1162, when the last revenge war ended in victory.

In the end, the story is that “Hailing Yangwang (海陵煬王) Wan Yan Liang (完顔亮)”, who had been in power until a year before Temujin was born, killed Ambagai Khan, the Khan of Kamak Mongol (All Mongols), who was killed right before Temujin was born.

 The same conclusion can be reached by looking at the records in <Tarikh-e Monghul, 集史 History of Mongolia>.

When Okin Barkak, the eldest son of Kabul Khan, was killed, it was after Kabul Khan had handed over his position to his “cousin Hambagai Khan” in his later years. The time when Kabul Khan's eldest son, Okin Barkak, was killed by "Altan Khan" was later than when Kabul Khan was assassinated by Jin Taizong Gogogai (吳乞買, Wu Jiemei) in 1135.

At this time, the Mongol Kabul Khan's nemesis, Jin Taizong, had already passed away, and Xizong (熙宗) had taken his place in the Jin dynasty. Xizong ruled the Jin dynasty for 14 years, and it is possible that he killed two Mongol rulers during this time.

However, considering that the reign of "Hailing Yangwang (海陵煬王) Wan Yanliang (完顔亮)", who succeeded him as the fourth emperor, coincides with this time, it is certain that he committed this heinous crime.

 Arslan Khan of the Kongrat tribe, the family of Genghis Khan's wife, who was indignant at the death of Ogin Barkak, attacked the Jin Dynasty's Beijing in revenge for the death of his great-grandfather's cousin.

At the same time, according to <the Secret History of the Mongols>, Genghis Khan's Mongol tribe, enraged by the deaths of Ambagai Khan and the two others, fought fiercely against the Tatar tribe, who captured the two leaders of their tribe and took them to Altan Khan.

 Genghis Khan's father Yesugei Baatar, who was enraged by the unjust deaths of his great-uncles Okin Barkak and Ambagai Khan, also participated in this war. As a result, Yesugei won the last battle and finally captured the Tatar tribe's leaders "Temujin Uger" and "Gori Boka" and returned home. At the very moment he arrived home, Genghis Khan was born. This was exactly 1162, and this year was still closest to 1161, the last year of the reign of King Haeling Yang.

 Based on this, it is clear that the time when Okin Barkak and Ambagai Khan were killed was the era of King Haeling Yang, who reigned for 13 years just before 1162, the year when Genghis Khan was born.

“Altan Khan” who killed Okin Barkak and Ambagai Khan was King Haeling Yang.

 This King Haeryeongyang was the brother-in-law of King Jonggan (遙王宗幹), the eldest son of King Taejo of Jin (阿骨打), and was born from the mother of the “Balhae Daessi (大氏)”, which refers to the lineage of the last king of Balhae, Daeinseon.

If so, Okin Barkak of the Korras tribe and his cousin Ambagai Khan had maternal bloodlines that branched off from their 17th ancestor “Daeyabal (大野勃)” generation, and also had paternal bloodlines that branched off from the same ancestor in the generation of “Golden Jar = Geumhaeng”, and were killed by the Jin emperor of the Yekires (役拏氏, Yeokra clan) lineage, who were descendants of Hambo, a brother tribe.

 “Altan Khan” King of Hailing Yang (海陵煬王) killed Okin Barkak and Ambagai Khan, so Temujin also later swore to heaven “King of Jin (金主) Gyeong (璟)”, that is, in the 6th year of Taihe (泰和) of Zhangzong (章宗), that is, in 1206, he swore revenge on the Jin emperor who killed Ambagai Khan.

 At that time, he “raised the nine-white flag (九ㅇ白旗)” and proclaimed himself “Genghis Khan (成吉思皇帝, Emperor Seonggilsa)” at Saeam (源, Won) of Onon River (斡難河, Alnan River). And at the same time, as the “Bon-gi-je-il” of the “Yuan-shi” says, he vowed to take revenge on the Jin emperor who killed his great-grandfather Ambagai Khan, and to subdue the Jin Zhang-zong.

The “Tarikh-e Monghul, 集史 History of Mongolia” also states that at this time he said, “Oh, high heavens, ∙∙∙∙∙I will make my uncle Okin Barkak (斡勤巴兀合黑, 얼근파올합흑) and Ambagai Khan (俺巴孩汗, 엄파해한) pay the price of their blood. I will execute Altan Khan as a humiliating punishment. ∙∙∙∙Please help me!”