Two mutually opposite phrases are attributed to the creator of the world Mongol Empire.
The first one goes like this:
I want a girl with a golden dish to be able to pass from the Yellow Sea to the Black Sea without fearing either for the dish or for her honor.
And the second is like this:
The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take away their property, to see their loved ones weeping, to ride their horses, to clutch their daughters and wives in his arms.
In any case, both were quite in the spirit of the shaker of the universe. Genghis Khan did indeed ensure that the roads in his empire became completely safe for travelers. Under him and his successors, international trade reached unprecedented heights. Under him, however, many cities were destroyed and entire regions fell into desolation. Even settlements that did not resist were often robbed and ravaged.
This style of treatment of the defeated was dictated by the harsh steppe laws, which said that if you don’t do it, they will do it to you. And Genghis Khan, who changed many of them, it was this part that he decided to leave untouched. For example, when he finally defeated the Tatar tribe hostile to the Borjigin family, all the men of this people were exterminated. Anyone taller than a cart wheel.
A noble Tatar woman named Yesugen was then taken to the khan’s bed. She had a calm character and quickly accepted her fate. The girl told where to find her older sister Yesui, who was much more beautiful. Each became the consort of a great khan. Yesui’s husband snuck into the victory feast to steal his beloved, but Genghis Khan noticed that she turned pale in the face, organized a search and the cheeky man was immediately sent to heaven.
Before and after the ruler of the Mongols always took the first beauties from the defeated tribes — it was always a standard practice among the Mongols. When the Merkits stole his favorite wife Borte into captivity, Genghis Khan got rid of them and took the daughter of the chief of this tribe.
Well, and, accordingly, every Mongol soldier, officer and military leader did the same at his level. Military spoils, including young beautiful women, were what medieval people went to war for. When the defenders of a city stopped resisting, the attackers were in their own right.
And warlords, even if they wanted to leave the locals alone to ensure future profits, couldn’t always stop it. For example, when Merv, Bukhara, and Samarkand fell, the Mongols took all the inhabitants out into the fields. All the men’s heads flew off and all the women were taken advantage of by the insatiable victors.
In other cities and countries the nomads did the same. By the time they began their campaign into Eastern Europe, they were already confident of their invincibility. And immediately after their entry in limits of the first Russian princedom have rolled out demand to share the daughters, and also to give to the wife of prince Eupraxia …
Slaves, which made up a significant part of the military booty, usually moved behind the convoy, which carried food and captured treasures. Of course, innocent beauties were highly prized. They were left intact to be sold later. But beautiful women who gave birth experienced all the misfortunes of foreign captivity, because they were not treated according to the Hague Conventions.