During the reign of
Kublai Khan, the
Great Khan of the
Mongol Empire and the founder of the
Yuan Dynasty, a large invasion fleet was sent to
Java with over 20,000–30,000 soldiers by the
Great Khan Kublai in
1293. This was a
punitive expedition against
Singhasari King Kertanegara who had disrespected the Yuan by tatooing on a
Han Chinese messenger Meng Qi (孟琪)'s face and cutting his ears and refusing to pay tribute.
Background
Kublai Khan had sent envoys to many states in order to maintain trade and cultural contact and request them to put themselves under his protection and to pay tribute. Men Shi or Meng-qi, one of his ministers who was sent to Java, was not well received in Java. The king of Java,
Kertanagara, was offended by his proposal and branded him in the face with a hot iron as was done to common thieves, cut his ears, and scornfully sent him on his way.
After defeating Srivijaya in
Sumatra in 1290, Singhasari became the most powerful kingdom in the area. But Jayakatwang, the Adipati (Duke) of Kediri, a vassal state of Singhasari, had usurped and killed Kertanagara. Most of his relatives and former royal family members hated him. After being pardoned by Jayakatwang with the aid of Madura's regent, Arya Wiraraja, Raden Wijaya, Kertanegara's son-in-law, was given the land of Tarik timberland. He then opened that vast timberland and built a new village there. The village was named
Majapahit, which was taken from a fruit name that had a bitter taste in that timberland (maja is the fruit name and pahit means bitter).
The
Great khan was shocked and ordered a punitive expedition against this king, whom he labeled a
barbarian, in 1292. According to the Yuan shi, the history of the
Yuan Dynasty, 20,000-30,000 (Tong jian ganagmu) were collected from
Fujian,
Jiangxi and
Huguang in Southern
China, along with 1,000 ships, and provisions for a year. Officers were
Mongol Shi-bi, Ike Mese
Uyghur and Gaoxing
Chinese. What kind of ships they used for the campaign is not mentioned in the history of the Yuan Dynasty, but they were apparently large since smaller boats had to be constructed for entering the rivers of Java. It is known that they stopped at Ko-lan (Billiton).
Invasion
The Mongols traveled along the coast of
Dai Viet and
Champa along the way to their primary target. The small states of
Malay and
Sumatra submitted and sent envoys to them. Yuan commanders left
darughachis there. After arriving in Java, Shi-bi split the forces up into one group sent ashore and a second which proceeded by boat, had gone ahead first before the main army. As noted in Kidung Panji-Wijayakrama, they probably looted the coastal village of
Tuban.
When the Mongolian Yuan army sent by Kublai Khan arrived in Java, Wijaya allied himself with the army to fight against
Jayakatwang and gave the Mongols a map of the country
Kalang. According to the Yuan-shi, Wijaya attacked Jayakatwang without success when he heard of the arrival of Yuan
navy. Then he requested their aid. In response, Yuan generals demanded his submission to their emperor and he accepted it.
The account of the war which appears in the Yuan-shi (Books 210) is brief:
“… The soldiers from Dahanese came to attack Wijaya on the 7th day of the month, Ike Mese and Gaoxing came on 8th, some Dahanse were defeated, rest of them fled to the mountains. On the 19th day, Mongols and their allies arrived in Daha, fought more than 100,000 soldiers, attacking 3 times, killing 2,000 outright while forcing many thousands into the river where they drowned. Jayatkatwang retreated into his palace …”
Once Jayakatwang was destroyed by the Mongols,
Raden Wijaya returned to Majapahit, ostensibly to prepare his tribute settlement, leaving his allies to celebrate their victory.
Shi-bi and Ike Mese allowed
Raden Wijaya to go back to his country to prepare to send tribute and a new letter of submission. But Gaoxing disliked the idea and he warned other two. Wijaya asked the Mongols to come his dominion unarmed. Raden Wijaya quickly mobilized his forces again, while 200 unarmed Yuan soldiers headed by 2 officers were sent to
Raden Wijaya's country. They were ambushed and destroyed by Wijaya's army and then he quickly turned on the Mongol main army in a surprise attack, killing many and sending the rest running back to their ships.
The Yuan army had to withdraw in confusion as they were in hostile territory. It was also their last chance to catch the monsoon winds home; otherwise, they would have had to wait for another six months on a hostile island. The Yuan army lost more than 3,000 of its best soldiers.
Aftermath
Three generals, who had gotten much booty in gold, precious stones and some captives, went back to their empire with the surviving Mongol soldiers. Upon their arrival, Shi-bi was condemned to receive 70
lashes and have a third of his
property confiscated for allowing Wijaya to escape. Ike Mese also was reprimanded and a third of his property taken away by the court of the Yuan Dynasty. But Gaoxing was awarded 50 taels of gold for protecting the soldiers from a total disaster. It was Kubilai Khan's last expedition.
Later, Shi-bi and Ike Mese were shown mercy and the Emperor restored their reputation and property.
Majapahit became most powerful medieval state of its era in modern
Indonesia.
See also
