The Mongol Silk Road Schism: Trade and Treason

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a forgotten fracture in the Mongol Empire: the vicious trade war between Khubilai Khan's Yuan dynasty and the Chagatai Khanate under Kaidu. They trace how the Silk Road—once the empire's greatest unifier—became a battleground of tariffs, spies, and outright theft. We hear about the desert ambushes at Khotan and Kashgar, the Mongol-Persian merchants who switched loyalties, and the quiet diplomatic missions that tried to mend the rift. The episode also examines the role of the ortoq merchant associations, the strange fate of Marco Polo's family in this hostile climate, and how Khubilai's economic retaliation—closing the northern route and building a canal network—reshaped Eurasian trade forever. Along the way, the hosts touch on the Yassa's commercial laws, the black market in horses, and the bitter irony that the Mongol Peace, meant to unite the world, ended up financing its own destruction. It's a tale of caravans, coin, and the slow strangling of an imperial idea. #SilkRoad #MongolEmpire #KhubilaiKhan #Kaidu #TradeWar #YuanDynasty #ChagataiKhanate #Ortoq #MarcoPolo #CentralAsia #TarimBasin #Khotan #Kashgar #MongolPeace #EconomicHistory #MedievalTrade #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo