The 1205 Raid
The Yuanshi and XiXia Shu Shi, both credit leadership of the campaign to Yelu Ahai, a member of the aristocratic Khitan clan that provided the Liao and Qara Khitan emperors. Born sometime around 1150, Yelu Ahai is noted by the Yuanshi as being a grandson of a governor and son of an imperial secretariat official. He is described as being bold, resolute and courageous, and for having a great strategic mind. He first encountered Temujin whilst acting as a Jin envoy to Toghoril Ong Khan, and on a second diplomatic mission to the Kereyid gave Temujin his brother, Yelu Tuhua, as a hostage and defected to the Mongols.
The XiXia Shu Shi states that in third month of 1205, so possible March or April, Ahai and his co-leader, entered Da Xia. The Mongols attacked and sacked a fortified settlement called Lijili and then went on to ravage the states of Guazhou and Shazhou, which contained the towns known to us as Anxi and Dunhuang. This attack was in the west of the Tangut country.
In the fourth month, so potentially April or May, the Mongol forces regrouped and raided Luosi city, before deciding to withdraw to avoid the worst of the summer heat. They looted the city and took people and livestock back across the Gobi to Mongolia.
The account states that the Tangut emperor, Huanzong, did not resist this attack, but the damage caused by the Mongol raid was rapidly repaired after the Mongol exit. In November, Huanzong sent or led the Tangut army across the border in a retaliatory raid but encountered no Mongol army.
The 1207 Raid
The XiXia Shushi states that the motivation for the attack was An Quan’s seizure of the throne from Emperor Huanzong the previous year and Chinggis Khan had come to chastise the new Tangut Emperor. Beyond this statement there is no indication of the leadership for this campaign.
The campaign was launched in October or November 1207 with a 450-odd km jaunt across the steppes south from the Tola River in central Mongolia. They took water at the Onghin Gol and continued south until they met the Gurban Saikhan Mountain range where they turned south-east. They crossed the Gobi Desert, the Tangut northern border, traversed the Langshan, or Lang Mountains, and ended up at a town named Wulahai, which was situated somewhere around the northwestern bend of the Huang He. The total length of this journey was around 1000km and the Mongol army ended up in the heart of Da Xia.
Wulahai submitted to the Mongols who set up a base of operations and spent the winter raiding in all directions from the city. The Mongol army enjoyed a five-month vacation at Wulahai before An Quan was able to get his army together. The XiXia Shu Shi states that Chinggis Khan recognised the Tangut’s strength and didn’t want a fight; so in February or March 1208, he gave the order for the Mongols to retreat.
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| Possible routes for the Mongol raids of 1205 and 1207. Drawn by Corey Still, Mongol Empire Podcast (2026) |