How Indonesians Defended against the Mongols - Medieval History

While the invasions of Japan are the  most famous of the failed Mongol naval expeditions of the thirteenth century, it  was not the only one. In the early 1290s, Mongol ruler and Emperor of the  Yuan Dynasty, Khubilai Khan, ordered a fleet to sail from southern  China to Java in modern Indonesia; a campaign which resulted in a humiliating  retreat.The expedition against Java was one of the last military campaigns ordered by Khubilai in his  long life, and like many of these later invasions, cost

the Yuan heavily in men and resources for  little gain. In this part of our series on how to defend against the Mongols, we look at how  the inhabitants of Java were able to prevent their islands from becoming part of the Mongol  Empire, with little damage to their own people. This video is sponsored by our  kind youtube members and patrons, without whom our work would have been impossible.  Patrons and Youtube members get 2 exclusive videos weekly and can currently watch the completed  series

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a special discord server, where we are very active and much more. Thanks for supporting  us. We couldn’t be doing it without your help! In the thirteenth century, Eastern Java and parts  of the neighbouring islands of Sumatra and Borneo came under the influence of the Kingdom of  Tumapel, named for the city of the same name on the island of Java; it was also known as  the Kingdom of Singhasari, thanks to its King Jaya Wisnuhardhana, who changed it to. The Tumapel  kings were not absolute rulers,

as much of their kingdom was made up of loosely controlled vassal  kings and chiefs. But they controlled a lucrative position along the maritime trade routes through  Indonesia and across the southern coastline of the Eurasian landmass. By the twelfth century, Java  was a leading exporter of goods from China to India, especially rice, pepper and safflower  dye, while In turn, importing gold, silver, lacquerware, iron goods and ceramics from China.  The southeast Asian sea trade was a valuable m

arket which had been expanding considerably  since the ninth century, and one which attracted the attention of a man hungry for world conquest. By the 1280s, the Mongol Great Khan Khubilai had successfully conquered China, but other victories  were frustratingly eluding him in Central Asia, Japan, Vietnam and Burma. As he advanced in  years, the knowledge that he was failing to bring the rest of the world under Mongol authority  weighed heavily on him. Now in his seventies, with his poor health,

depression, deaths of  his friends and family, increasing removal from affairs of state and awareness of his own  impending mortality, Khubilai became desperate for victories to console his aching spirit. Economic aspects too, were not to be overlooked, and were simply a factor in the inevitable  universal domination. Khubilai’s Yuan dynasty, while influenced by China’s Confucian norms and  traditions, maintained the Mongolian practicality regarding merchants. Rather than treat them  as inheren

tly lower class, they were invited and rewarded, and trade encouraged. The Yuan  government partook in this with the conquest of the southern Chinese coastline, establishing  a Bureau of Maritime Trade at the major port of Quanzhou. The Bureau not only oversaw and  taxed the trade in and out of Quanzhou, but sought to actively encourage it  while settling foreign traders there. Contacts were made across the region, from the  Southeast Asian coast through the Philippines, Indonesia including Java

and Sumatra, to India  and the Iranian coastline. There is evidence for south Indian-style Hindu temples with Tamil  transcriptions in Quanzhou from this period, a significant Muslim population and resettled  Persians who called the city Zayton, by which Marco Polo recorded the name. Speaking of Polo,  there is also evidence for an Italian trading community in Quanzhou. It was an entry point  for the world; it was the port that Ibn Battuta, during his journeys in the 1340s arrived at.  The Yuan

Dynasty had a keen interest in trade, and sought to extend their control over  it throughout the region— at the same time extending the Mongols’ heavenly  Mandate to rule the whole of the world. With these considerations, Khubilai Khan increased  diplomatic missions across the seas of southern Asia, from Malabar to Sri Lanka, ordering the  monarchs and peoples across the sea to submit to the Great Khan. As it was an old tradition  to send a yearly tribute for the privilege of trading with China

, most regional states already  undertook a nominal submission in order to have greater access to Chinese ports. While traditional  Chinese dynasties were generally content to accept the trade and maintain the image of themselves  as the centre of the world even if they did not exercise actual authority in these states, the  Mongols were often not quite as lenient. To be a vassal to the Great Khan meant the potential  of making all resources and peoples available to the Khan’s desires, measured

through census  and Mongol-appointed overseers. When Khubilai sent his diplomatic missions over the seas,  they often were sent to not just reaffirm or increase the tribute, but to increase the extent  to which these overseas monarchs needed to comply with the will of the house of Chinggis Khan. One such mission led by an envoy named Meng Qi, arrived in the court of Kertanagara, the king  of Tumapel, sometime in the 1280s. Kertanagara had been the King since the 1260s, and had shown  himself a h

aughty individual and firm adherent to Tantric Buddhism. Since his ascension he had  expanded his kingdom over eastern Sumatra and most of Java. By all accounts, Kertanagara was  quite keen to solidify his control of trade and spice routes, and much less keen on sharing it  with the distant Khan. In the various sources, after feeling offended by the envoy Meng Qi and  his demands, Kertanagara’s either insulted him, branded his face with a hot iron, cut his nose  off or outright killed him. In ei

ther case, he had committed a grievous insult on  an envoy of the Great Khan, which as you may have heard, was not something taken lightly. Kertanagara’s calculation was likely a simple one. He did not want to increase the share of tribute  sent to China for the privilege of trading, but still wanted that Chinese trade. It was a  reasonable assumption that the island of Java was well outside the range of an actual  attack from China, leaving him physically secure from any repercussions. Once ten

sions  had cooled, Kertanagara could hypothetically send an apology mission and resume trade. These were reasonable assumptions, but Khubilai Khaan was not feeling reasonable. By the later  1280s, the deaths of Khubilai’s closest confidant, his wife Chabi, chosen heir Jingim and his most  important advisers, as well as alcoholism and depression had clouded his judgement. Khubilai’s  earliest campaigns against the Dali Kingdom and Song Dynasty were marked by thorough preparation  and intelligence

gathering, taking advantage of weaknesses within the enemy to bring the final  victory. Decades later, isolated and depressed, surrendered by yes-men who lacked the ability  to stand up to him and desperate for victory, Khubilai had come to rely on throwing manpower  at a problem, hoping tactical successes would lead automatically to strategic victories.  Khubilai’s knowledge of Java was minimal, but he did not care. The ruler of some island in  the sea had no right to insult the Master of the

World. Thus, Khubilai ordered an attack upon the  Kingdom of Tumapel and bring Kertanagara to heel. At least, this is the understanding from the  Chinese language sources of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In the medieval Javanese and Balinese  sources, the incident with Meng Qi the envoy is unmentioned. Instead, Khubilai was a friend of the  minister Madura Wiraraja, who requested Khubilai provide military assistance to the royal family of  Tumapel. In this version, Kertanagara was usurped by a ma

n named Jayakatwang, and Khubilai’s forces  quite respectfully came, defeated the usurper, placed the rightful heir, Kertanagara’s  son-in-law Raden Vijaya, on the throne and took in exchange only a beautiful princess  for Khubilai to marry. Generally speaking, most reconstructions rely on the Chinese account,  though the Javanese sources are interesting for how they justify and depict the Yuan presence. Regardless, an invasion fleet and army were prepared in 1292. 20,000 men, mainly from southe

rn  China, were mobilized aboard 1,000 vessels. The army was led by the former Song commander  Gao Xing, the navy by an Uighur named Yiqmis, and all were under the overall command of a Mongol  called Shibi. The commanders prepared carefully, having learned from the disastrous naval assaults  on Japan and Đại Việt. They had onboard a year’s supply of grain and 40,000 ounces of silver  to purchase more supplies. The commanders met with Khubilai himself before their departure: the  Khan of Khans to

ld Shibi to leave naval matters to Yiqmis’ expertise, and that they must proclaim  on their arrival they were not an invasion force, but merely there to punish Kertanagara  for harming a Yuan envoy. If true, it may reflect an understanding that facing battle  in unknown lands, against a foe they did not know, was not ideal; the strategy it seems was to  simply overawe the Javanese, the mere threat of their presence anticipated to be enough to earn  a victory. The fleet set out in winter 1292-93,

making a short stopover in Champa, now paying  tribute and at peace with the Mongols. There, officers were dispatched on diplomatic missions  to Lamuri, Samudra, Perlak and Mulayu in Sumatra, seeking tribute and submission. By March  1293 the fleet was off the coast of Java, and preparing to make landfall. It was decided to  send a diplomatic force ahead of the main fleet, to convince Kertanagara to submit and avoid having  to make landfall at all. If there was no progress on the diplomatic fro

nt in a week, then the  fleet was to follow up as a show of force. The diplomatic mission found no success, for  matters had changed considerably in Java by the time of their arrival. The haughty  king of Tumapel, Kertanagara, was dead, slain by his vassal, Jayakatong of Gelang, based  in the city of Kediri. Kertanagara’s son-in-law, Raden Vijaya, based in Majapahit, was  resisting him, and the Yuan had arrived in the midst of a civil war. A week after the  envoys were sent, the armada landed at

Tuban, where part of the army under Gao Xing and Yiqmis  disembarked and marched to Pachekan. The rest of the army was to follow aboard the ships under the  command of Tuqudege, sailing through the Straits of Madura and rendezvous with the land force. At  Pachekan, Jayakatong’s navy blocked the Brantas River, but made no move against the Yuan. The  Yuan commanders landed and set up a banquet, inviting the Javanese to come over and discuss  terms. No response was made by the Javanese, and after

a while the Yuan fleet and army  advanced. Jayakatong’s navy retreated before them and after garrisoning Pachekan, the Yuan  forces made their way inland along the Brantas. As they moved inland, they were greeted by  envoys of Raden Vijaya, begging Yuan help: the young prince had only a small force, and  Jayakatong of Gelang’s army was on its way to attack Vijaya’s base at Majapahit. In exchange,  Vijaya would submit to the Great Khan. Seeing supporting Vijaya as the key to gaining the  submissi

on of Java, Yiqmis ordered Gao Xing to take a part of the army and intercept Jayakatong,  while Yiqmis took the rest of the force to reinforce Majapahit. Jayakatong managed to evade  Gao Xing and reached Majapahit, only to find Yiqmis had already assembled his forces to meet  Jayakatong's tired troops. After a night of stand, the next day Gao Xing arrived with the rest  of the Yuan troops, and altogether they drove off Jayakatong’s army. Raden Vijaya once again  promised his total submission to

the Great Khan if the Yuan forces helped him defeat Jayakatong for  good, and after providing them maps, a week later they set off for Jayakatong’s capital at Kediri. The Yuan moved in three columns: the fleet on the Brantas River under Tuqudege, with Gao Xing  and Yiqmis taking their forces up either bank, while behind them traveled a large force from  Majapahit under Raden Vijaya. The army made good time and reached Kediri within a few days, finding  Jayakatong prepared with a large force. The

next day, from the morning until early afternoon,  Jayakatong’s force advanced three times, and three times they were repulsed with heavy  losses by the arms of the Yuan Dynasty and Majapahit. By the end of the day, Jayakatong’s  army broke, fleeing across the river or into Kediri with Jayakatong. An assault on the city  followed, and by nightfall Jayakatong surrendered. For the next week, the Yuan were the masters  of Java. Raden Vijaya’s promised submission now had to come: for this, he desir

ed to return to  Majapahit with a small, unarmed Yuan escort to properly witness his formal submission. While  that force departed for Majapahit, Shibi sent most of the army back to Pachekan, while he  stayed in Kediri with a small force, thinking he had handily conquered Java for the Khan. Once Raden Vijaya saw that the Yuan troops had let their guard down, at the end of the day  he killed the Yuan escorts who followed him back to Majapahit, rallied his armies and urged the  people of Java to r

epel the foreign invaders. Only narrowly did Shibi escape the trap for him  at Kediri. He fought his way back to Pachekan, losing up to 3,000 men. Back aboard the  ships the commanders argued over whether to counter attack or to retreat, ultimately  choosing the latter. Not knowing the country, outnumbered and unlikely to find local support,  they understood further combat would likely only have one disastrous outcome. With that,  Shibi ordered a withdrawal back to homeport. While they did bring

back some trophies, maps of  Java, population registers, spices, gold, silver, rhino horn and prisoners, this did not offset  the costs of the campaign. Not as disastrous as the invasions of Japan or Vietnam, even this  tactically well-executed campaign could not be turned into a strategic victory, and resulted  in a humiliating retreat. Khubilai was furious, punishing the commanders, stripping them of a  third of their property and rewarding them with 50 blows from the rod. Once Khubilai Khan

died in  early 1294, there was no stomach to avenge that defeat, or those others suffered in Southeast  Asia. By contrast, Raden Vijaya established a powerful empire based in Majapahit that came  to rule most of modern Indonesia and Malaysia, founded in part with Mongol assistance. By  the end of the 1290s, after Khubilai’s death, Vijaya sent missions to the Yuan Dynasty  to resume valuable trade contacts. Despite their reputation for destruction across much of  Eurasia, in the Javanese chronicl

e there is but a single reference to the Mongols destroying  towns and sending people running in flight: reflective of the hope for a less-destructive  campaign, perhaps helping with the memory of the invasion becoming that of Khubilai coming to  assist his friends in exchange for a beautiful princess. It was a rather different view than  their forces earned in many other places. In the end, Java successfully defended the  Mongols with perhaps the most minimal amount of destruction to their own

lands; through  guile, they took advantage of a well-prepared, but hesitant, Yuan army, and were thereby able  to not only use Mongol troops to their advantage, but inflict upon them a defeat with  relatively little bloodshed. In many ways, it was the most effective, least cost-intensive  and most beneficial resistance put up by any of the states we have looked at over this series. Our  series on how the various peoples defended against the Mongols will continue in the near future, so  make sure

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