Unlike many Mongol leaders who were willing to massacre to gain any advantage, Muqali usually attempted to convert foes into friends by more conciliatory means.
15 Facts About Muqali
1.
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Muqali was "unquestionably one of the leading Mongol personalities and a supreme leader".
3.
Muqali, third son of Gu'un U'a, was born into the 'White' clan of the Jalair tribe, who had been the hereditary serfs of the Borjigin Mongols.
4.
Muqali played a prominent role in the following campaign against Jin, including in the 1211 Battle of Yehuling, the decisive battle in the first stage of the Mongol conquest of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in northern China.
5.
Muqali set up a Chinese-style court protocol and wore Chinese-style imperial robes.
6.
In 1217, Muqali attacked modern-day Hebei Province, northern Shandong Province, and northern Shaanxi Province, controlled by the Jin dynasty.
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In 1220, Muqali turned his attention to the rest of Shandong Province, conquering part of it; four towns were captured, but the hard-pressed Jin forces managed to hold on elsewhere in the province.
8.
Muqali crossed the Ordos in mid-1221, spending the rest of the year conquering major cities in northern and central Shaanxi.
9.
Muqali then left Monggu Buqa in charge in Shaanxi and Gansu, and moved with the main army to Yuzhou, from thence to Jizhou, conquering all the Jin strongholds in the valley of the Fen River.
10.
Muqali then took the strategic Hezhong at the end of 1222, conquering the major cities along the river.
11.
On his deathbed, Muqali declared with pride that he had never been defeated.
12.
Muqali was described by Chao Hang as a very tall man with a dark complexion and wavy whiskers, who was "generous and fond of conviviality, and amusing episodes about him have been preserved in the Sung envoy's account".
13.
Muqali had eight other wives, four Mongols and four Jurchen.
14.
Muqali received many posthumous honours, since as early as the 1320s.
15.
Muqali is considered a superb leader, and one of the "very few men who could exert a real influence on Genghis Khan's decisions".