INFORMATION FROM YÜAN SHIH ON THE MILITARY COOPERATION BETWEEN THE GOLDEN HORDE AND THE YÜAN DYNASTY
Research objective: to reveal relations in military affairs between the Golden Horde and the Yüan Dynasty on the basis of the data of the Chinese dynastic history Yüan shih. Research materials: because of the large distance between these medieval Chinggisid powers, internecine strife between the houses of the Jochids and Toluids, armed conflicts between Arik-Boke and Kublai and due to the fact that the rulers of the Jochid ulus supported Arik-Boke, their state became independent from the Great Mongol Empire. Later on, long-term military conflicts and political turmoil interrupted communication between Sarai and Khanbalik. The Jochid ulus and the Yuan dynasty conducted their own foreign policies. However, communication between them was not interrupted and some information from the Golden Horde still fall in Chinese chronicles. One of the important and fundamental sources relating to the Mongol history is Yüan shih (History of the Yüan Dynasty). This written source contains some materials (although in fragments) revealing the nature of the relations between the Yuan Dynasty and the Golden Horde. Research results and novelty: the author has provided information that the military units composed of the peoples of the Golden Horde (primarily of the Ases and Kipchaks, as well as of the Russians) were among the troops in the Yüan Empire. At the same time, their proportion was significant both in the composition of commanding staff, as well as among ordinary soldiers. However, the source does not contain any information about the conditions under which these warriors arrived in China as well as about the routes they were moving. It is indisputable fact that they were sent to the Far East from the Jochid ulus during the highest power of this state in the reign of khan Uzbek. Perhaps it was an indication that the Yüan emperor displayed his authority over Sarai Khan in the political sense as well.