Barring the earliest days of the united Mongol Nation’s campaigns outside of Mongolia, it was the Chinese who were not just integral, but the very backbone of their military machine. Realistically, few – if any – of their major conquests would be been possible without both the technical know-how and expertise, not to mention the overwhelming numbers, of China.

The Mongols, though renowned and feared for their stepperider tactics, were rather amazingly few in number, and primitive in their ways of war. This takes nothing away from their effectiveness or ferocity, mind you… the results clearly speak for themselves… but even the other stepperiders who faced off against Temüjin’s forces, such as the Naiman, made jokes about how skinny the Mongol horses were, how their saddles didn’t even fit right, and how they had leather everything because they couldn’t afford metal. Even unto Temüjin’s own coronation as Genghis Khan, Mongol warfare was almost all about personal debts and vendettas, blood feuds and sworn brotherhood… certainly nothing about “nation-building” or imperial conquest. That had been understood and used by the emperors of China – Han and otherwise – since as early as the Han dynasty. They would routinely play one side off of the other, pitting them against one another at intervals to ensure that they could never unite and pose a significant threat to the core regions of China like back in the dark days of Western Han, when the Xiongnü Empire had ravaged the land. That, of course, had rather spectacularly backfired in 1206 with the unification of the tribes under Genghis.

All this is to say that, really, there were probably no more than 100,000 to 200,000 actual “Mongols” in the Mongol Army at any given time. The rest were a multiracial conscript army, taken from surrendered populations as part of the “tax” they were required to pay. Young men “of fighting age” taken far from their homes perhaps never to see them again, and put to the task of imperial conquest. This was the fearsome, unstoppable Mongol horde.

So, what would life have been like?

It certainly depended on one’s particular station within the army. A “fresh recruit” – i.e. someone having just been taken as a part of a city surrender during an active campaign – would be treated as little more than a herd-animal, to be driven like game toward the next redoubt or city gate, as little more than a body to soak up arrow-fire. Those that managed to prove themselves capable of combat and survival, however, could expect to quickly be given a modicum of respect and even authority within the ranks. Certainly they would never be a high general – at least, not in Genghis’ army (his grandson Khubilai’s would be a decided different story in that regard) – but treated as an equal soldier in all other respected: given food, shelter, armaments, sometimes even armor, and wages. Looting was an integral part of warfare, of course, but in the Mongol system it was done with a systematic refinement seldom seen. Soldiers were not to keep any loot for themselves, but rather to turn it all over to the central authority – ostensibly the Great Khan himself, but more typically to the general commander of the operation. It would then be divided up amongst the great Mongol lords, who would themselves divide it further among their lesser subjects, on and on down the line. Very Reaganesque. Much Trickle-Down.

So, as a basic soldier, you would maybe have seen some very cool treasures – but you couldn’t possibly have kept them. Even to “steal” so much as an extra arrow-string without proper authorization could be an executable offense. There were very few second-chances given to those outside of the elite nobility. Life would have been tough, but relatively predictable and, barring the actual chaos of battle, relatively stable. You knew where your next meal was going to come from, and that you’d definitely have it… farmers couldn’t always say the same.

On campaign in Genghis’ army, forces were deployed in a classic concentric ring pattern: the leader would be positioned in the middle with his personal guardians (in the case of the Great Khan, the elite Kheshig) surrounding him. Further out, his lieutenants would be stationed in a ring, with their own subordinates around then, and so on. This made the horde seem very chaotic to an eye looking for straight lines and regiments, but in fact it was optimal both for protection and communications. Soldiers themselves were deployed in squadrons of 10 (called Arban). The horde was decimal from top-to-bottom. Ten was the basis for everything. Ten Arbans formed a Zuul; ten Zuuls a Mingghan; and ten Mingghans formed the maximal Mongol force, a Tumen of 10,000.

At the level of the Arbans, soldiers were essentially group together – regardless of former personal allegiance, tribe, or ethnicity – and then expected to flippin' deal with it. Transfer of soldiers between Arbans was forbidden – these guys were now your brothers, like it or not. They were expected to eat together, sleep together, and become – in short – a proper fighting unit. Everything about Mongol combat tactics reinforced the central overriding them: that You, the Individual, do not matter. You are part of a larger whole. You are one ant in the colony. Your personal prosperity, honor, and even life, are secondary at best to the Greater Whole. When the Mongols faced off against other cultures in which personal prowess and chivalrous honor was much more strictly adhered to (knightly European lords, and bushidō Japanese samurai, to name a couple), their foes were often baffled (often unto their own deaths) by the fact that Mongols simply did not care about any of that nonsense. They attack en masse, always. It had been drilled into them so hard, all day, every day, that they were a unit, and they functioned as one. If one member of your Arban advanced, you all had to advance, or the whole squad would be punished. If one whole Arban advance, you’d better believe that the whole Zuul must advance, or they’d all be punished. If one of them was captured, their squad had better recapture him or they’d all face execution for deserting their comrade. So, no calling our your foe, no honorbound duels – just industrial-grade death meted out at wholesale prices.

Continued...