Chinggis Khan's terms to the Jin envoy
Editorial contextThe envoy's own report says nothing about his audience, so Bretschneider adds the entry from the Yuan shi, the official history of the Mongol dynasty. Chinggis reminds him that he had offered peace if the Jin ruler gave up everything north of the Yellow River and took the lesser title of wang (king), but his general Muqali had since conquered those lands anyway. On the next page the Khan adds that the Jin must also hand over the cities of Kuan si that still held out, and only then may their ruler keep the south as a king.
The emperor said to him: "I formerly asked of your sovereign to cede the land north of the Yellow River, and to reign over the country south of it with the title of wang (king). On these conditions I would have suspended the war. But now Mu-hua-li … has already conquered all these countries, and you are compelled to sue for peace."
About Chinggis Khan and the Jin envoy
Keep in mind
Not part of the envoy's report. Bretschneider notes that the Yuan shi dates the events of the western campaign a year too early.
A hundred cities, none with a Chinese name
Editorial contextHeading west past the Tangut frontier, the envoy says he passed more than a hundred cities with no Chinese names and was told of many tribes living there. The list runs on over the page (Mo-li-hi, Mo-k'o-ti, Ho-li-ki-sz, Nai-man, Hang-li, Gui-gu, T'u-ma, Ho-lu), ending 'all are barbarian tribes'. Bretschneider identifies them as the Merkits, perhaps the Mekrins, the Kirghiz, Naimans, Kankali, Uighurs, Tumats and Karluks, peoples Chinggis had just brought under his rule. None of them is called Mongol or Tatar.
I passed through more than a hundred cities: not one of them had a Chinese name. Inquiring about the country, I was told that many tribes were living there, namely, the Mo-li-hi
About Steppe tribes: Merkits, Kirghiz, Naimans, Kankali, Uighurs, Tumats, Karluks
Keep in mind
Bretschneider warns that the envoy's route and distances are too vague and exaggerated to trace, and that his line about rivers flowing east and west is copied from the Han history.
The Karakhitai: steppe exiles who swapped carts for camels
Editorial contextThe envoy tells how Ta-shi (Yelu Dashi), a Khitan of the fallen Liao house, fled north-west with the frontier tribes, moving from pasture to pasture for years. Blocked by rocks and snow, they abandoned their carts, loaded their goods on camels, conquered the Muslim lands and founded an empire. After a regent princess was executed for killing her husband and a weak ruler took over, the realm decayed, and the few Khitan left had adopted Muslim customs and dress. It is a compact picture of a nomad people turning into a settled empire and then dissolving into its subjects.
They were obliged to leave their carts behind, and to carry their baggage on camels. Thus they arrived in the country of the Hui-ho (Mohammedans), took possession of the land and founded an empire. … the empire fell into decay, and was finally destroyed by the Hui-ho. At the present day there are few of these people left, and they have adopted the customs and the dress of the Hui-ho.
About Karakhitai (Western Liao), Khitan exiles
Keep in mind
Told from the Jin side; Bretschneider points to the fuller Liao history account in his Part II. The Changchun diary (W113, p.73) blames the fall on the Naiman prince Guchluk and the Sultan of Khwarazm rather than simply 'the Hui-ho'.