Governance of the Mongol Empire's Western Frontier

Timeline

1. 1270–1275Northern rim of the Dzungarian Basin · DzungariaAfter the fall of the Naiman khanate, their people scattered along the Altai and northern Dzungarian rim; in the 1270s some descendants still lived nomadically, sometimes submitting to or drifting from Chagatai princes and Kaidu's forces, becoming a mobile force in frontier politics.
2. 1272–1278Talas · Seven Rivers regionKaidu integrated military and political resources in the Seven Rivers and northern Tianshan, controlling postal relay stations and pasture distribution, gradually becoming the most powerful prince on the western frontier, in complex interplay with the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate.
3. 1274–1279Beshbalik · Northern Tianshan routeThe Yuan established pacification commissions on the northern frontier, dispatching darughachi to oversee taxation, postal relay stations, and military affairs, interlocking with Chagatai princes' domains; the western frontier showed a multi-layered structure of direct Yuan rule, princely partition, and tribal autonomy.