Bayan of the Baarin Bayan of the Baarin ( 1236 – January 11 , 1295 ) , also known as " Bayan chingsang " ( Mongolian : Баян , ) or , to Marco Polo , as " Bayan Hundred Eyes " ( probably from a misunderstanding of ) , was a Mongol general . He commanded the army of Kublai Khan against the Song Dynasty ( 960 – 1279 ) of China , ushering in the Song collapse and the conquest by the Yuan Dynasty of southern China . " Bayan " literally means " rich " in the Mongolian language . Background . Born a grandnephew of Nayagha , a general under Genghis Khan , Bayan came from the Mongol Baarin tribe . Nayagha , together with Bayan ' s grandfather Alagh and Alagh ' s and Nayagha ' s father Shirgügetü Ebügen , appear in the " Secret History of the Mongols " . However , at least one well - respected scholar presents Bayan as a Turk whose family had long served the Great Khans . Early career . His grandfather Alagh was the viceroy in Khorazm province under the Mongol Empire . Bayan ' s father died during the Mongol siege of the stronghold of the Assassins ( " Hashshashin " ) . While Bayan served in Persia with Hulegu ' s army , Kublai Khan recalled him . Kublai liked him , but he did not hold commanding rank in the Yuan army . After the success of the Battle of Xiangyang in 1273 , Kublai appointed Bayan as the commander of the Yuan army and general Aju agreed the decision . Bayan married the niece of Kublai ' s Khatun Chabi of the Kunggirat . The conquest of southern China . The Song Emperor Duzong died in 1274 , and his four - year - old son Zhao Xian became the Emperor Gongdi ( reigned 1274 – 1276 ) . The Mongols sent Shi Tianze and Bayan on a full - scale campaign against the Song . Shi Tianze died en route . Bayan ordered that Aju head the first column and depart for the Yangtze from Xiangyang , with Lu Wenhuan as fore - runner general ; the second column headed by Mang - wu would depart from Yangzhou , with Liu Zheng as forerunner general . Bayan took numerous cities on his march , slaughtered the inhabitants of one town , and killed and captured numerous Song generals . The Song Dowager Empress and Regent , Xie - shi , had no choice but to rely on Jia Sidao for fighting the Mongols . More Song generals surrendered , including Fan Wenhu in Sichuan and Chen Yi in Huangzhou ( Huanggang area , Hubei ) . Hearing that Liu Zheng had died , Jia Sidao experienced a brief ecstasy and led an army of about 130 , 000 against the Mongols , but he suffered defeat on the Yangtze River . The populace of the Jiangsu areas , around the Yangtze , including Zhenjiang and Jiangyin , deserted their homes in the face of the Mongol attacks . Jia Sidao sent an emissary to Bayan to discuss a truce , but Bayan declined to negotiate . Jia Sidao asked the dowager empress to relocate the Song capital , Hangzhou , but Empress Xie - shi refused to move . Several ministers at the Song court requested that the regent deprive Jia Sidao of his posts , and the Song released former Mongol emissaries like Hao Jing as a good - will gesture . At this point Zhang Shijie of E ' zhou ( Hubei Province ) , Wen Tianxiang of Jiangxi and Li Fei of Hunan came to the east to help the Song court . A Song general abandoned Jiankang ( i . e . Nanking ) , and the Mongols took Changzhou and Wuxi . Kublai Khan then sent Lian Xixian and Yan Zhongfan to the Song to discuss a ceasefire . Lian Xixian asked Bayan for bodyguards , but Bayan advised that the more bodyguards Lian took with him , the more the likelihood that the Song Chinese might harm him . Lian obtained 500 soldiers , but once he arrived at Dusong - guan Pass , the Song General Zhang Ru killed Yan Zhongfan and captured Lian Xixian . ( The History of Yuan Dynasty states that the Song killed Lian too . ) Bayan deplored the Song behavior , and sent another emissary , Zhang Xu , to the Song court , together with a Song emissary ; but a Song border general had Zhang Xu killed . Then the Mongols stopped peace talks and attacked Yangzhou on the northern bank of the Yangtze ( Changjiang River ) and defeated two generals under Li Tingzhi . Jiading surrendered next , and a Mongol fire attack defeated Zhang Shijie ' s navy on the Yangtze . Wen Tianxiang arrived in Lin ' an ( Hangzhou , the Song capital ) , but the Empress Dowager did not take his advice . Jia Sidao was expelled from the capital , and the escort official killed him en route . The Mongols took Taizhou in Jiangsu and slaughtered the inhabitants of Changzhou . In Hunan , Li Fei died , and the Song lost both Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces . After taking over Dusong - guan Pass , the Mongols started to close in on the Song capital . A Song minister called Liu Yue , sent to the Mongol camp to sue for peace , received a rebuff from Bayan , who said that the Song Emperor obtained the throne from a child and would lose it in the hands of a kid . The Song sent Lu Xufu to the Mongols to express a wish to become a Mongol protectorate , but the Mongols declined the proposal . The Song ' s new prime minister , Chen Yizhong , sent Liu Yue to the Mongols in an attempt to gain acknowledgment as a Mongol vassal , but a Song Chinese civilian killed Liu Yue en route , at Gaoyou of Jiangsu Province . The Mongols then sacked Jiaxing and An ' jie of Zhejiang Province . Wen Tianxiang and Zhang Shijie advised that the Song court relocate to the islands ioffshore , but Prime Minister Chen Yizhong decided to send the imperial seal to the Mongols in token of surrender . Bayan demanded that Chen personally come to the Mongols , and Chen fled to Wenzhou , a southern Zhejiang coastal city . Zhang Shijie led his people into the sea . The Song appointed Wen Tianxiang as the rightside prime minister and ordered him to go to the Mongols to seek peace . Bayan arrested Wen after he accused Bayan of invasion . In AD 1276 , Bayan took over Lin ' an and forced the dowager empress to issue the surrender order . He sent the Song royal family , including the dowager empress and Emperor Gongdi , to Peking . Turk minister Ahmad Fanakati was jealous with Bayan ' s success and tried to calumniate him that he plundered Chinese commoners . Later military career . Kublai dispatched his favorite son Nomukhan , another son Kokhcu , Mongke ' s son Shiregi ( Xi - li - jie ) and Muqali ' s grandson An - tong against Haidu , the grandson of Ögedei Khan to Almaligh in 1275 . Following year , Shiregi defected to Haidu ' s side and arrested the prince and An - tong due to another relative Tokhtemur ' s conviction . Then they sent Nomukhan to Mongketemur of Golden Horde and An - tong to Haidu . Kublai then ordered prime minister Bayan to counter Haidu , who had started to close in on Karakorum and rebel princes . Bayan defeated Shiregi and his followers . After that Tokhtemur and Shiregi destroyed unity they sought and turned into robber bands . Shiregi killed Tokhtemur . But he was arrested by his former ally Chagatai prince Sarban . He gave Shiregi to Great khan to spare his life . In 1278 , the Golden Horde court released Nomukhan and sent him to Yuan Dynasty . Rashi ad - Din wrote that Tode Mongke released Nomukhan and expressed his willingness to submit to Kublai after his sons ' 10 years hostage in Crimea . But some historians think that Mongketemur released the princes . Kublai recalled Bayan when Nai - yan ( the great grandson of the brother of Genghis Khan ) reportedly planned rebellion in the areas between the Onon and Kerulen rivers of Mongolia . Bayan went to meet Nao - yan and failed to persuade Nai - yan . Bayan fled back to the Mongol capital . A Mongol minister recommended to Kublai that pacifying the khanates in the west would lead Nayan to submit . Kublai therefore ordered this minister to go west : and he claimed that Nai - yan had already submitted to Kublai . Hence the khanates all succumbed to Khubilai . After that , Khubilai led an army northward against Nai - yan . Seeing that his Mongol soldiers fraternized with the Nai - yan soldiers , Khubilai adopted the advice of a Chinese in having the Chinese army act as the forerunner column . General Li Ting tricked Nai - yan into a retreat and then defeated Nai - yan ' s army of 100 , 000 in a night attack with cannons . Nai - yan was captured and executed . The battle was later reported by Marco Polo to Europe . A remnant of Nai - yan ' s people then fled to Manchuria and attacked eastern Liaoning Province . The Liaodong Xuanweishi ( ) of the Yuan , Ta - chu ( ) , asked for aid , and Kublai sent his son over . Ta - chu defeated the Nai - yan remnants under Khadan ( Descendant of Genghis Khan ' s another brother ) and chased them westward to the Altai . Ta - chu won the title of " wan hu " . Nai - yan remnants , however , still remained for some time . Bayan received orders to counter Kaidu , who harassed Helin in the west ; and Prince Timur ( grandson of Kublai ) had the duty of guarding the Liao River area in the east . When a Mongol official defected to Kaidu and attacked Kublai ' s grandson Kamala ( or Gemala ) near Hang ' aishan Mountain , Kublai would lead a column to the north . Kaidu retreated thereafter . Bayan would continue warfare with Kaidu for some time before he left the post at Helin . Unfortunately , some ministers accused him of Kaidu ' s desertion . He was sent to China far away from Mongolia for a while . Temur was appointed a governor in Karakorum and Bayan became a minister . Later life . Bayan met and swore loyalty to Kublai Khan before the latter ' s death in 1294 . With the support of minister Bayan Kublai ' s grandson Timur became Kublai ' s successor , the Emperor Chengzong after the Yuan court went through a power vacuum for a few months . Bayan died on 11 January 1295 . Popular culture . Bayan was a major character in the novel , and later movie , " The Black Rose " , written by Thomas B . Costain . In the film he was played with a mixture of culture and menace by Orson Welles .