Christian Turks Opened the Great Wall. Genghis Walked Right In.

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]In 1211, a Christian Turkic tribe unlocked the Great Wall for Genghis Khan. They were called the Ongud, roughly 4,000 tents of Turkic nomads guarding the northern frontier of Jin China. For decades, the Jin Dynasty paid them to watch the passes near Fengzhou.

[00:00:16]Their job, stop steppe raiders before they reach Beijing.

[00:00:20]The Ongud were also Nestorian Christians. Crosses hung in their tents alongside steppe banners. Their chief was Alaqush digit quri. In 1204, he had already tipped Genghis off about a planned Naiman attack. When Genghis turned south in 1211, Alaqush made his choice. He refused Jin orders to seal the passes. The surviving record says the Ongud guided the Mongols straight through the Wabu ing pass, bypassing the main Jin defenses. The Jin field army was caught in the open at Yehuling.

[00:00:51]Likely 100,000 soldiers were destroyed in a matter of days. Within 4 years, Mongol riders sacked Zhongdu, the Jin capital that would later become Beijing.

[00:01:01]Alaqush was assassinated by rivals for siding with the Mongols. Genghis avenged him and married his own daughter Alakhai into the tribe. For the next century, Ongud princes ruled north of the wall as Mongol in-laws. Their Christian bishops wrote to the Pope in Rome. The Great Wall didn't fail in 1211. The men paid to guard it simply unlocked the gate.