Chaghan Temur (, Mongolian:{{MongolUnicode, ᠼᠠᠭᠠᠨᠲᠡᠮᠦᠷ),

Courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Tingrui (廷瑞), was a

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

officer and military leader of Naiman Kazakh ethnicity.

Life

Chaghan Temur's family originated from Beshbaliq, today Jimsar County in Xinjiang. His great grandfather migrated to China following the Mongols' invasion. When he was young, Chaghan Temur passed the

imperial exam The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

and obtained the degree of

Juren ''Juren'' (; 'recommended man') was a rank achieved by people who passed the ''xiangshi'' () exam in the imperial examination system of imperial China. The ''xiangshi'' is also known, in English, as the provincial examination. It was a rank high ...

. In the year of 1351, there was an outburst of bandit raids in Chaghan Temur's hometown. Counties nearby were attacked and sacked. Out of self defense, Chaghan Temur organized local militia in Shenqiu to fight off the bandits. The news of a Juren improving public security was heard in the court. In 1352, Chaghan Temur became the

darughachi ''Darughachi'' (Mongol form) or ''Basqaq'' (Turkic form) were originally designated officials in the Mongol Empire that were in charge of taxes and administration in a certain province. The plural form of the Mongolian word is ''darugha''. They w ...

of Runing Fu. He was able to gather as many as 10,000 people under his command at the time. In 1355, he marched northward. After a series of successful battles, he managed to pacify the chaos of

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

. The imperial court rewarded him with a civil position. In 1356, he was appointed the Bingbu Shangshu (Minister of war). The rest of his life was spent on battlefield. The Yuan dynasty was in utter turbulence.

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

farmers were oppressed under Yuan rule. Riot leader such as

Han Shantong Han Shantong ({{zh, t=韓山童, p=Hán Shāntóng; died 1351), born in Luancheng, Hebei, was one of the early leaders of the Red Turban Rebellions. He claimed to be the descendant of Emperor Huizong of Song (1082–1135), the penultimate empero ...

and

Liu Futong / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...

caused the dynasty to strive for survival. Chaghan Temur managed to defeat Liu's force in Henan and consequently rescued

Khanbaliq Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...

from the starvation resulted by the disruption of transportation of essential food supplies from South to North.Chen,Bangzhan. Yuanshi Jishi Benmo(元史紀事本末).vol.4 Eventually Chaghan Temur was assassinated by Wang Shichen, a surrendered leader of farmer riots, in the year of 1362. Posthumously, he was granted the title "Prince of Yingchuan" (潁川王) and a posthumous name "Zhongxiang" (忠襄), according to Confucian traditions. His nephew and step-son

Köke Temür Köke Temür (; Mongolian: ᠬᠥᠬᠡᠲᠡᠮᠦᠷ, Köketemür, Хөхтөмөр; died 1375), sinicized name Wang Baobao (), was a prominent general of the Yuan dynasty of China. History He was born in Henan province. His paternal line orig ...

was also a general who fought for the failing Yuan dynasty.

Sources

Yuan dynasty generals Yuan dynasty politicians