The Warehousing System and the Great Qan’s Financial Geography in the Mongol Empire
Authors:   The Korean Association for Mongolian Studies, Seol Paehwan 
Published: March 2024

This study explores when and how the warehousing system 倉庫制 in the Mongol Empire (1206~1370) had been established, developed, and administered. The warehouse, as an administrative service to accumulate and redistribute treasures, shows the relationship between the procurement of imperial materials and the circulation of commodities as well as the great Qan’s financial geography. The study examines the way in which the Mongol Emperor of Qa’an procured and controlled materials and treasures, and therefore to characterize the Mongol’s development of its own, especially in the fiscal finance.
The first Mongol warehouses, balaqat in Mongol, were set up by Ögödei Qa’an in Mongolia in 1229. They consist of grain-houses (倉 cang in Chinese, anbār in Persian) and treasuries (庫 ku in Chinese, khazāna in Persian). Since Qubilai Qa’an sat on the throne in 1260, warehouses were increasingly built up. The number of grain-houses increased with the consolidation of the Southern Song in 1279. While land taxes 稅糧 traveled from Jiangnan provinces on the sea route to a capital city of Dadu 大都, the main base of grain supply was moved from Qiansicang 千斯倉 in the northeast to Wansinancang 萬斯南倉 in the south. Four Imperial Treasuries of Trillion 萬億四庫 beside Jishuitan 積水潭 storing valuables such as paper money, jade wares and others, served as the leading treasuries of the Empire.
The warehouses were located along the middle and lower part of the Yellow River, the streams in Jianghui 江淮, as well as next to the canal in Huabei 華北 area. Geopolitically speaking, they mostly belonged to the central domain of Fuli 腹裏 (qol-un ulus in Mongol), supervised by the Central Secretariat 中書省. The fact that Large grain-houses and state treasuries were intensively stationed in the capital cities of Qara Qorum 和林, Dadu and Shangdu 上都, and their vicinities demonstrates their relevance to the Qa’an’s seasonal journey sites. The Qa’an stood in the center of collection, control, and consumption of imperial materials and treasures.
In staffing, warehouse officials 倉庫官 (khazāna-chī in Persian) were originated from balaqači 八剌哈赤 and sangči 倉赤 in Mongol respectively. They came from keshig 怯薛, the Mongol imperial guards. Balaqači was appointed as a treasury official 庫官 or a gatekeeper general 封門官員, and sangči as an official of treasuries or grain-houses by the Qa’an in person to the warehouses in Dadu and nearby. This is called belge selection 別里哥選, or imperial appointment 宣授.
The expansion of warehouses caused shortage of staffing in the Mongols. Considering staff’s personality and richness, the Yüan Dynasty appointed officials such as directors of collection 監納 or commissioners 大使 among Central Asians 色目人 and Chinese 漢人 through the selection process of the Secretarial or Presidential Councils 尙書省, called general selection 常選, or imperial decree appointment 勅授. And Bureau clerks 司吏 with richness, working career, governmental salaries, and mature age could be advanced to lower staffs in charge, or deputies 副使 in district warehouses 各路倉庫.
Warehouse officials from the Mongols, Central Asians and Chinese show a ratio of 1 to 3 to 6. While more Mongols and Central Asians worked in Qara Qorum, the Chinese staffing grew larger particularly in grain-houses as time went by to the late period of the Empire.