6 Genghis Khan also believed that his empire needed a fast communication system, which led him to create the yam. 7 .
The yam consisted of a large series of military posts with about twenty to thirty miles of space in between, with horses and supplies being provided by local citizens at each post.8 The yam system was praised highly by several foreigners, including Marco Polo, who stated in his book The Travels of Marco Polo, that because of the yam system's efficiency, messengers could cover around 200 to 250 miles in one day by switching horses at each post.9 Eventually, the yam ended up being used by people other than just royal messengers, some of which were people such as diplomats and merchants.10 .
Thirty-three years after Genghis Khan's death in 1227, his grandson, Kublai Khan, focused on enhancing his grandfather's trade system by making it international via negotiating with other countries and empires, which would not only help his empire acquire new treasures and luxury items, but also increase the empire's wealth, as he could tax foreign traders to use his trade networks. His first step towards international trade was to allow citizens of non-Mongol areas to live in the city of Khanbalik, the capital of the Mongol empire. He did this by evenly dividing up the city into sections for different communities such as the Middle East and China. This was done to increase interest in profits from international trade. 11 Eventually, Khanbalik was host to merchants from several other far away countries, such as Italy, India, and North Africa.12 What is more, he decided to let Muslim merchants, called ortoq, to use the yam as well, but on the condition that he was allowed to tax them for using it.13 .
In addition, China allowed the Mongols to use their ports, such as Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and even China's Grand Canal, to trade by boat, making trade between the two areas easier.14 Along with China, Kublai also had a good trading network throughout Europe.