Mongols

[SirGarnet]

This I hope may advance the Mongol intro somewhat.

This list covers the armies of the various Mongol khanates from 1494 to 1698 as well as major rebellions of Mongol troops in the service of Ming China, such as the Ordos rebellion of 1592. [Such Mongol rebellions might have Ming ally contingents]
(I assume this list represents those shown in blue on this map and those to the west are covered by Tatars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mongolia_1500_AD.jpg)

Mongol tribesmen were the primary threat to China’s northern western frontier until the Jurchen coalesced as the Manchu. Incursions were stimulated by epidemics, droughts or Chinese unreadiness. Although they could conduct sieges and defend towns, cavalry charges prepared by shooting remained their normal tactics.
The Mongols were dangerous even when disunited, but from the 1530s to the 1550s an ambitious and skilled tribal leader named Altan Khan reunited the Mongol tribes across a thousand miles of the Chinese frontier. When the Ming repeatedly refused to allow trade or provide tribute, the weak defense posts were unable to stop massive raids of often hungry Mongols increasingly deep into China in search of food and loot. Beijing’s suburbs were ravaged, the fearful Ming troops unwilling to face the Mongols outside the city walls. The Great Wall and other fortifications were built, which the Mongols had to circumvent.

Peace was restored in 1571, when Altan Khan happily received recognized vassal status and accompanying Chinese subsidies and trade rights. Conflict resumed in 1582 after his death, with wars, raids and rebellions, but the Mongols ceased to be a major threat, eclipsed by the rise of the Manchu, with whom the Mongolian tribes allied from 1612-1624 and to whom they submitted in 1635 after an unsuccessful revolt.

Note re Ordos Rebellion - September 25, 1592 – a cannon barrage preceded a breakout attempt for m the siege of Ningxia, aided by 18,000 cavalry under Jorightu who were defeated by the larger Ming forces in a long morning battle that saw the Mongols enveloped.