Being good at tactics can win battles. Being good at strategy can win a war. Being good at economy allows you to win war after war.
https://www.czdefence.com/article/infantry-wins-battles-logi....
This, mixed with the fact that Russia and the Middle East are thousands of miles away from the Mongolian and Chinese capitals made it inevitable that a leader on one side of the empire would ignore their overlord on the other side. Thus, the empire would fracture quickly (and pretty much did as soon as the family ties to Genghis Khan were loose enough).