Battles & Wars › Medieval wars › Genghis Khan
Battle of Yehuling (Badger's Mouth)
autumn 1211· Battle· Asia & Pacific
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
Genghis Khan's Mongols routed a much larger Jin Chinese army at a mountain pass northwest of Beijing in 1211.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
In 1211 Genghis invaded the Jin, the Jurchen-ruled empire of northern China. The Jin massed a large army, which Chinese and Persian sources put at several hundred thousand, in the hills at Yehuling ('Wild Fox Ridge') near Zhangjiakou. A Jin envoy reportedly defected and revealed their plans. Mongol troops under Muqali charged a narrow front, the Jin cavalry broke, and mounted archers pursued the retreating army through the pass called the Badger's Mouth (Huan'erzui).
Why it matters
It destroyed the main Jin field army, opened the road to their capital Zhongdu (Beijing), which fell in 1215, and began the Mongol conquest of China.
How we know
Mainly the Yuan Shi (the official history of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, compiled 1369–1370), the Jin dynastic history and Rashid al-Din's Persian chronicle; all were written later and disagree on details.
Still debated
Army sizes are likely inflated, and the date within 1211 and the course of the fighting are uncertain.
Connections (3)
▸Genghis Khan crushed the Jin army at Battle of Yehuling (Badger's Mouth)Mostly agreed
The connection
Having united the Mongols in 1206 and forced the Western Xia kingdom to submit, Genghis Khan turned on the Jin, who had long played steppe tribes against each other. At Yehuling his outnumbered cavalry broke the main Jin field army, the first great Mongol victory over a Chinese empire.
When and how
Yehuling, near Zhangjiakou northwest of Beijing, autumn 1211; Genghis Khan and his general Muqali against the Jin field army.
How sure are we?
The Yuan Shi and Jin dynastic histories record the battle and the Jin defeat, though they were written more than a century later and differ on details and numbers.
Debates and open questions
How large the Jin army was, and whether the battle was one clash or a series of fights over weeks, is unclear.
▸Battle of Yehuling (Badger's Mouth) opened the road to Siege of Zhongdu (Beijing)Well documented
The connection
At Yehuling, the Badger's Mouth pass northwest of Zhongdu, the Mongols destroyed the main Jin field army in 1211. With few troops left to face them in the open, the Jin retreated behind city walls, and Mongol raiders roamed north China, leading to the siege of the capital in 1213.
When and how
Mountain passes northwest of modern Beijing, autumn 1211; Zhongdu besieged from 1213.
How we know
The Jin and Yuan dynastic histories record the defeat and the Mongol advance on the capital that followed.
Debates and open questions
Jin army sizes at Yehuling, sometimes given as hundreds of thousands, are probably exaggerated, and the battle's exact place and date are uncertain.
▸Battle of Yehuling (Badger's Mouth) was won by horse archers with the Composite bowMostly agreed
The connection
Mongol horsemen carried powerful composite bows and two or three quivers of arrows, and could shoot accurately from the saddle at speed. At Yehuling, once the Jin line broke, mounted archers pursued and kept shooting into the retreating army, turning a defeat into a rout through the Badger's Mouth pass.
When and how
Yehuling and the Badger's Mouth pass, near Zhangjiakou in northern China, autumn 1211.
How sure are we?
Chinese sources describe the charge and pursuit; the composite bow as the Mongols' main weapon is well documented by John of Plano Carpini and others.
Debates and open questions
The sources stress a cavalry charge under Muqali more than archery, so how much arrows rather than shock attack decided the battle is unclear.