So with all that background, let us return to the question of Mongol awesomeness. First, five arguments for awesome. One, the Mongols really did reinvigorate cross-Eurasian trade. The Silk Road trading routes that had existed for about a thousand years by the time the Mongols made the scene had fallen into disuse. But the Mongols valued trade because they could tax it. And they did a great job of keeping their empire safe. It was said that a man could walk from one end of the Mongol Empire to the other with a gold plate on his head without ever fearing being robbed.