The Rise of the Mongols

Hangzhou has been Conquered

by

Manny Mandizha

4/29/1296

The New Yuan Sun

Hangzhou-- The city of Hangzhou has been besieged by the powerful and well known Mongols or the Yuan. In the midst of the massacre and chaos Lai Saido, the interim general committed suicide and his councilman Teng Jin on his behalf surrendered the city. The Yuan then claimed the former Southern Song capital for themselves as their own. Now a question arises will the Yuan rule China?

            Well to start off with what has been called a great tragedy by some it all began when the Great Song empire broke and the Southern Song took overall power. “After this a line of immature and childish rulers came to power” says Teng Jin “It was fate that the Song empire would die in the hands of someone irresponsible, just like Lai Saido.’”General Lai was infamous for his amazing parties yet in terms of militaristic strength his army and his methods were known to fail and be weak. Lai was in fact believed to have been having a party when the city was ambushed.

           

            Yet while Lai was enjoying himself the impressive and well disciplined Mongol army came marching from the north having taken over seven or so other cities in China. Yet they were slightly deterred when they’re great leader Menghai Khan died. Though saddened his son Tumbuk Khan decide to take the throne and as his father left into the afterlife he promised he’d take over China. He’d start with Hangzhou.

            “ The day of the ambush it was sunny,” said Yan Lin the daughter of a city noble “ I was going out to my garden when a vicious looking group of men who obviously weren’t form here, raided my home!” Yan Lin is exasperated as she recalls this. Her father was imprisoned and her expensive decorative property was damaged. It is said by Teng Jin who was also arrested that Lai saw the ambush occurring “he went grim then prayed for a good twenty minutes he left, and went to a cliff by the seaport and jumped off.” Teng Jin in fear ran over to the city gate and surrendered the city gate in Lai’s name to he Mongols. Lai was distraught upon his arrest and his only words were “ I thought Lai was a great and fighting general yet he proved to be a coward when it truly mattered. He also lost my friendship, a twenty year friendship.”

            Now, as life goes on the future of China and the Southern Dong Dynasty is unknown yet this may be the future. All Song flags and emblems were destroyed and replaced with Yuan banners. Yet as the future is unforeseeable, the present isn’t. Tumbuk is the new king of Hangzhou.

           

The Best Thing that ever Happened to China

The Best Thing That Ever Happened To China

by

Manny Mandizha 5/6/1296

The Southern Song Dynasty has pretty much died. Only a week ago the infamous Lai Saido committed suicide after the city of Hangzhou had been conquered by Mongols. Thousands of jiaozi, the song monetary unit, lost in an intensive raid. Why did this happen? The Southern Song were a weak dynasty and now we are blessed to have a new strong peoples to once again rise China up again.          

A long line of young rulers had been controlling the Southern Song Dynasty. Weak, inexperienced, immature, foolish little boys took control of the throne. So after many of these young rulers one couldn’t take the pressure they threw responsibility to a drunkard who had no discipline. Then the Yuan being the most opportunistic peoples overtook the Song. It was only a matter of time that a backwater nation would die.

China’s major problem with the new regime is that they are foreign and some will say they will only do as badly as the Song. Truth is under the Song most of the major seaports were shut off from certain groups and civilizations. So the Song couldn’t have had the art, medicine, literature, and exotic crop plants, the diverse Mongols did. The Mongols own one of the biggest landmasses ever. It stretches from Western Poland to Central China, it’s huge! They have hundreds of allies in the surrounding area and being diverse they’d let us believe our own religions and keep our traditions. The Mongols would be beneficial for us in the long run, more than the ignorant Song would have anyway.

         China is always evolving and it has just went a step farther. This is the future and if we are obedient and conform to the new government China will be a great empire. No, the greatest empire ever. We will deserve to call ourselves the ‘Middle Kingdom’, again.

Dinner With Monks: A taste of Buddhism and Diversity

Dinner With Monks

by

Manny Mandizha 6/7/1296

The New Yuan Sun

While I was trekking up a small hill looking for inspiration for my next story, I found something better. Over the greenish gray boulder mass I saw a small hut. My curiosity arose and I walked closer. I smelled incense and salts. The place was serene and quiet. Too quiet. Where am I? I thought. The Yuan Dynasty had come into the country, yet they were barbarians, this was unlike them. Then a voice awoke me back to the real world, “Hello, hello who’s there?” I turned to see a squat bald man in his late forties. Fear struck me and I was compelled to run, until I saw the man before me stand still.           

His name was Tung Jen a former soldier he found peace in Buddhism. What is Buddhism you ask? It is a belief or rather a way of life in which one lives with only the necessary amount and in balance with nature and all other forms of life. Teng told me about reincarnation and karma. He explained how how you acted on earth now,  affected the future lives you will have when you are reincarnated. Also if you are kind and humble you would leave the cycle and go to the heavens. Teng also had other friends, they are called monks, who came and welcomed me a Chinese outsider to stay for a light dinner and an overnight stay in the guest room. Just before I slept though I watched Jen read the Tripitaka aloud and how he prayed deeply and soulfully. It was moving.

         Well I will not lie I expected the Buddhists or Mongols in general to be rough and have no sense of respect for other life. They were kind, excepting of all groups and loved the world around them. I learned a valuable lesson and I will try to be less of the xenophobe I was back then.

Weaponry: From The Yuan Point of View

The Gunpowder Rocket

by Manny Mandizha

         While the Tang (another previous dynasty) was responsible for the invention of gunpowder, it was the Yuan who made the gunpowder rocket. A powerful weapon capable of devastating entire villages if aimed correctly and precisely. The idea first came to the Yuan after a violent fight  with Song warriors which ended in the Yuan suffering many causalities. The usually dominant Yuan asked the question, how did we almost get destroyed? Well after careful research the Yuan realized that the Song had gunpowder, the Yuan realized they had to utilize the heavy duty explosive. So after conquering a couple of Yuan villages, the Yuan interrogated enough Chinese pyrotechnics to realize the properties of gunpowder. This helped them to avoid being defeated by the infamous powder but then they asked how can we use this?                  

        Yuan warriors used their excellent craftsmanship and creativity to mold rockets. Then they filled these sleek and aerodynamically favored weapons with gunpowder. The Yuan then lit the rockets and they traveled hundreds of yards. Now these rockets were just rockets, right? Wrong. They traveled hundreds of yards and had intense, fiery explosions which killed dozens of people on impact. Why was this beneficial? Aren’t all weapons supposed to do some sort harm? Why was this special? It was not only was impressive but effective. The Yuan defended their territory from invaders for eighty-nine years with this weapon. Also they continued to invade newer territories with this same weapon.  

      So now this little rocket isn’t so abstract and awkward sounding or looking. It was one of the most well known objects in the history of projectile weaponry. It is also the reason the Yuan were successful for so long. Overall, the Yuan dynasty was  honestly one of the most dominant dynasties because of this little rocket.

And now a word from the Governor of Far West

Interview with Gao Kegong

by

Manny Mandizha 4/23/1285

                  Gao Kegong is a wealthy government official who is just as famous for his skills as an artist as he is a diplomat. Here he is interviewed with five questions which really explain his choices and ideas.

How is your art influenced? You are Yuan but you have many friends and Southern Song influences.

         My art is influenced by both dynasties. The Song were sedentary yet extremely meaningful in their art, yet the Yuan were robust and colorful. I had to incorporate both cultures into my artwork. It is colorful yet calm and meaningful in a silent way.

Who mentored art unto you?

         My good friend and former Song government councilmen, Zhao Mengfu taught me everything I know. I loved art but my father was a great political figure. What do I do? Of course extremely spiritual Mengfu told me to follow my heart. I did. I made art and studied hard to become heir to the “throne” and the legacy my father left behind.

You detest the current imperialism, why?

         Detest, is a strong word. I just disagree with the violent way rulers come into power and the way they enforce their rule. It is brutal on the people. Especially, the poor, who are defenseless and often get killed if the power struggles become violent or physical. My father told me I am lucky to be wealthy. I shouldn’t abuse it.

Now to your painting, which is your most meaningful work?

         I have made many works it is hard to tell yet all of them were anti imperialist. Again, I only disagree with imperialism because the poor are suffering. My greatest works though I feel are my mountain paintings, they are symbolic of nature and life being unified and bigger than all adversity.

You are Yuan, do you feel that your dynasty owning a massive landmass and having dominated in hundreds of wars is becoming power hungry and tyrannical?

         No, power is power. My people wish not to own the whole world but change it into a place of solidarity and to also have one solid system we can all rely on. I don’t agree with the methods of “change”  such as ruthless slaughter yet it will end well soon.....hopefully.

Map of the Greater East region of the Yuan Empire

YUAN MAP

by Manny Mandizha

(This is a map of the east Yuan Empire. kids.britannica.com)
     

Here as you can see the Yuan empire’s (1279-1368) not only was spread over modern day China but it extended into western Europe. The Yuan or Mongols were famous for their amazing land conquests. These people woke up every day with the hope of someday owning the world.The “Asian Conquest” started somewhere in between modern day Turkey and Afghanistan. They took over small towns and cities, this lead them to big capital cities  and eventually entire nations, followed. Aside from good planning the Mongols were friendly and tolerant. Their conquests were rarely violent and few people died, if any at all. The Chinese conquest specifically was not mild, thousands of jiaozi ( an ancient Chinese monetary unit) were lost in property damage. The Southern Song ( the previous dynasty) was decimated and went extinct shortly after they were captured. There former territory growing from the tiny wisp of South China  to a massive land mass containing over 65 modern day countries. The taking over of the capital, Hangzhou was extremely rare in the fact the Mongols were hostile and imprisoned and willingly hurt people.Yet no matter what the emotional outtake of event, the Mongols ended up expanding there empire and writing history.