Sung (or Song) China was the dynasty before that headed by Kublai Khan, the Yuan dynasty. I thought Song China invented paper money too, but I guess that's why we need revisionist books like these.
Given how the Mongols worked, I would not be surprised if the Sung Dynasty did and the Mongols just translated it to their Empire. However IIRC in the book it was Ghenghis, not Khubalai that introduced it. The Mongols had trouble defeating the Sungs. Even during Khubalai's reign they were fighting the Sung's constantly and slowly taking cities and land from them.
It is weird how the Mongols didn't invent anything other than military and diplomatic tactics. In other areas they just took what they found and applied it based on merit. They didn't have much in the way of cultural, religious or social inhibitions toward technology and its application to trade and state. Probably because they were a Steppes people and not an urban one.
* It was Ghengis just before his death that introduced paper money. It's value was backed by silk and metals.
'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
Yes, IIRC both the Song had been busy technologically innovating during their entire rivalry with the Mongols, but the Mongols matched or stole the tech with seeming effortlessness. This even included naval tech which you wouldn't expect steppe nomads to have much background in.
The Song is sometimes called the Chinese Renaissance and sometimes the world's first modern society. It's alien, but seems more sympathetic and recognisable to me, with its merchants, metropolises, and tech, than the stretch from around 1500-1850. Maybe that just means I should read more.
I did not know that the kamikaze (divine wind) ruined the first Mongol invasion fleet of Japan, and that the second was sunk by bad weather. There were huge numbers in the fleet too; 100,000 soldiers or so in the second invasion attempt. Hard to argue they were a steppe nomadic political organisation by that stage.
'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
Comments