The Mongol Empire shrank by 95%, lost Lake Baikal, and Inner and Outer Mongolia were rich and poor, why?-Entering China

Under the whole world, it is not the king’s land. On the shore of the land, it is not the king’s minister.

The Mongol Empire established by Genghis Khan, with a population of about 1 million and an army of less than 200,000, destroyed more than 40 countries, conquered more than 700 ethnic groups, ruled over a population of 600 million, and an area of 33 million square kilometers, while the later Soviet Union was 22.4 million square kilometers.

Today’s Mongolia is still a landlocked country with an area of about 156.65 square kilometers, which is 95% smaller than at the peak of the Mongol Empire. So how did the Mongol Empire become what it is now?

At the height of the Mongol Empire, the Yuan Dynasty plus the four khanates (Kipchak Khanate, Chagatai Khanate, Ögedai Khanate, and Ilkhanate) spanned the Eurasian continent, stretching from the Sea of Japan in the east, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, Siberia in the north, and the Indochina Peninsula in the south.

However, these regimes were not subordinate to each other, and the Mongol Empire gradually disintegrated.

During the era of Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty retreated to Saiwai, and they were still on the Mongolian Plateau, maintaining military pressure on the Ming Dynasty, known as the Northern Yuan Dynasty in history. Later, the Northern Yuan Dynasty was in civil strife, and the successor went to the country name Yuan and changed it to Tatar. The Mongol Warat tribe took advantage of the situation and competed with the Tatars for the Mongol throne, and the two sides continued to friction, and their forces rose and fell. During the era of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the Ming army went out of the fortress many times and launched fierce attacks on Tatar and Warat.

At that time, the Tatars were very embarrassed, and the Ming army pursued them to the north. But it is too early to say that the descendants of Mongolia are no longer good.

In 1449 (the fourteenth year of the orthodoxy of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty), the leader of Wara also led his army south to attack the Ming Dynasty and approached Datong.

Under the bewitchment of the eunuch Wang Zhen, Zhu Qizhen of the Ming Dynasty led an army of 500,000 people to conquer despite the opposition of his ministers. As a result, the Ming army was surrounded by the Wara army in Tumubao, Ming Yingzong was captured, 66 ministers such as Kuang Yu, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and Wang Zuo of Hubu were killed, and the Ming army suffered more than 200,000 casualties, and the main force of the three major battalions of the Beijing Division was lost.

Later, the Mongol tribes were at war with the Ming Dynasty, and their strength gradually recovered. However, another powerful tribe, the Jurchens, has risen strongly in the northeast. Taking advantage of the civil strife in Tatars, the Jurchens invaded on a large scale, and the Tatars were not only defeated, but also dedicated the jade seal of the country taken away by Emperor Yuan Shun to the Jurchens.

After Huang Taiji got the jade seal, he named the country “Great Qing”, and the Mongolian tribes were incorporated and attached to the Great Qing Dynasty, and Mongolia, as a symbol of power, did not exist. No one expected that it was not the Ming Dynasty in the south that destroyed Mongolia, but the Manchu Qing in the east.

Soon after, Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide. Wu Sangui released the Qing troops into the customs, the Ming Dynasty fell, and the Qing Dynasty was established.

However, the peaceful days of the Mongols did not come, and since the entry of Tsarist Russia into Siberia, they have repeatedly invaded the south. In the face of the advanced weapons of the Russian army, the Mongols were defeated, and the Qing Dynasty had no substantial military support except for signing a treaty with Russia, and the Mongols had to withdraw from the Baikal region.

Lake Baikal, as the Mongols call the North Sea, is a sacred place. Whenever the Central Plains Dynasty was strong and the nomads in Mobei retreated to the vicinity of Lake Baikal, the Central Plains Dynasty was also beyond its reach. It is a pity that the Russians came from the north and occupied Lake Baikal, which is now the northern border of Mongolia, and there is still some distance from Lake Baikal.

Later, Mongolia became independent under the deception of the Soviet Union, but Mongolia’s territory has shrunk by 95% compared with the Mongol Empire, and it is a landlocked country that cannot see the sea, not even Lake Baikal.

How is Mongolia doing after independence, let’s compare Mongolia with China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Mongolia covers an area of about 1,566,500 square kilometers, and Inner Mongolia covers an area of about 1,183,000 square kilometers.

Mongolia has a population of about 3.5 million (2023) and is sparsely populated. Inner Mongolia has a population of about 23.96 million (2023), and the population is thriving.

Mongolia’s total GDP is about $19.872 billion (2023), which is about the same as many small counties in China, with a per capita GDP of about $5,764. Looking at Mongolia’s brother Inner Mongolia, the total GDP is about $352 billion (2023), and the per capita GDP is about $14,700 (2023).