Mongol conquest of the Qara Khitai Mongol conquest of the Qara Khitai The Mongol Empire conquered the Qara Khitai in the years 1216–1218 AD. Prior to the invasion, war with the Khwarazmian dynasty and the usurpation of power by the Naiman prince Kuchlug had weakened the Qara Khitai. When Kuchlug besieged Almaliq, a city belonging to the Karluks, vassals of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan dispatched a force under command of Jebe to pursue Kuchlug. After his force of 30,000 was defeated by Jebe at the Khitan capital Balasagun, Kuchlug faced rebellions over his unpopular rule, forcing him to flee to modern Afghanistan, where he was
Religion in the Mongol Empire interests of the next life. Thus he invited Sakya Pandita to his ordo. Prince Kötön was impressed and healed by Sakya Pandita's teachings and knowledge, and later became the first known Buddhist prince of the Mongol Empire. Kublai Khan, the founder of Yuan dynasty, also favored Buddhism. As early as the 1240s, he made contacts with a Chan Buddhist monk Haiyun, who became his Buddhist adviser. Kublai's second son, whom he later officially designated as his successor in the Yuan dynasty, was given a Chinese name "Zhenjin" (literally, "True Gold") by Haiyan. Khatun Chibi influenced Kublai to be converted to