Sky here with another episode of the History Employed Podcast.

Genghis Khan, his sons and his grandsons,

controlled all of Eurasia in the High Middle Ages with an empire that spanned from

Hungary and the West to China in the East. But one thing they handled poorly was

water. The horseback army of the step had to wait till winter to travel through Russia to go over frozen rivers and a large river was enough to stop a Mongol army in its tracks as was the case with the Song Dynasty in China and the Anse River.

But Koolai Khan managed to overcome this difficulty.

So much so that there's a carved inscription to him, north of Beijing, that was made in 1342.

There refers to Kubli as Emperor of the Seas and Great Khan of the Empire.

By the time of his death, the Mongols controlled the most powerful Navy in the world.

So how did a nomad come to conquer China and master the sea?

We're going to explore that question with today's

guest Jack Weatherford, author of Emperor of the Seas, Kublai Khan and the Making of China, and he's also

the author of Genghis Khan in the Making of the Modern World.. Kubla Khan was a Renaissance man before the Renaissance.

He brought mathematicians to his court where they invented modern cartography and celestial measurement.

He introduced paper money.

And he controlled a merchant fleet of over 17,000 ships that move spices, porcels,

anything that could be imagined across the world.

We're going to look at all his successes but also his failures, how his Navy failed to capture Japan when it was destroyed by the

divine wind, but most of all how Chinese naval hegemony changed the world forever.

Hope enjoy this discussion with Jack Weatherford. And one more thing before we get started with this episode,

a quick break for word from our sponsors. Your early work, Gingis-Con in the Making in the Modern World is the best known recent history of the Mongol Empire.

Can you briefly summarize that book so we understand your perspective on the Mongol Empire

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