So in the 12th century a Song emperor had to pay a nomad warlord in the north 100k “taels” of silver and 200k bolts of silk a year. He fomented revolt by a vassal warlord to main warlord to take him down. But new guy’s clan took over more territory and the capital and drove the Songs south and they then had to pay 200k taels, 250k bolts of silk. On a shrunken territory/tax base. 

Moral of the story. I don’t know. I’m not sure there’s one. Be a warlord rather than a Song emperor?

The history of China appears to be a history of paying off warlords who then kept coming back for more.

Delver at contraptions.venkateshrao.com, running summerofprotocols.com, host of /gloom ☀️

This second clan of warlord nomads… eventually triggered the rise of Genghis Khan.