The Yongle Emperor's campaigns against the Mongols happened from 1410 to 1424. It comprised five aggressive military expeditions by

Ming China The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

's armies against the Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and other Mongol tribes.

Background

During the reign of the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, founding emperor of the Ming dyna ...

, the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered to Ming China in 1387 and Tögüs Temür of the Northern Yuan was defeated by a Ming army led by General Lan Yu in 1388.Rossabi 1998, 227. Many Mongol tribes of

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

surrendered to

and were subsequently incorporated into the

Uriankhai Uriankhai is a term of address applied by the Mongols to a group of forest peoples of the North, who include the Turkic-speaking Tuvans and Yakuts, while sometimes it is also applied to the Mongolian-speaking Altai Uriankhai. The Uria ...

Commanderies (known as the "Three Commanderies") to serve at the empire's northern frontier regions.Chan 1998, 222. However, the Oirat Mongols (the principal group of the Western Mongols) and Eastern Mongols remained hostile toward Ming China and each other. The Ming court had dispatched the ambassador Guo Ji to the Eastern Mongols, demanding that they submit as a tributary to Ming China. However, in 1409, Bunyashiri of the Eastern Mongols executed the Ming ambassador.Perdue 2005, 54.Chan 1998, 226. By contrast, Mahmud of the Oirat Mongols had sent a tributary mission to the imperial Ming court in 1408. By establishing relations with the Oirats, Ming China effectively used them to offset the Eastern Mongols. There was growing enmity among the Ming court toward the Eastern Mongols for their refusal to accept tributary status and for the killing of a Ming emissary.Rossabi 1998, 228. Between 1410 and 1424, the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...

led five military campaigns against the Mongols.Chan 1998, 223.

Course

First campaign

In the winter of 1409, the

made preparations for his military expedition.Rossabi 1998, 229. On 25 March 1410, he departed from Beijing on his military expedition against the Eastern Mongols.Perdue 2005, 55. He brought with him an estimated 100,000 soldiers, even though the '' Mingshi'' gives an unlikely figure of 500,000 troops. They made use of 30,000 carts for transport. They traveled respectively to Xuanfu, Xinghe, and Kerulen. The Ming army, advancing from Xinghe, stopped at Minluanshu, because the Yongle Emperor held a large military parade before the Oirat Mongol envoys. At the northern shores of Kerulen, he had carved into the rocks "Eighth year of the Yongle ''geng yin'' (year), fourth month ''ding you'' (month), sixteenth day ''ren zi'' ay 19, 1410 the Emperor of the Great Ming passed here with six armies during the punitive expedition against the barbarian robbers." Bunyashiri wanted to flee from the advancing Ming army, but Arughtai disagreed with him. Therefore, the two Mongol leaders and their forces each separated to a different direction. The Ming army first gave chase to Bunyashiri. On 15 June 1410, they annihilated Bunyashiri's forces at the

Onon River The Onon is a river in Mongolia and Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Онон

The Ming army advanced via Xinghe to Kerulen, to meet the Oirats in battle at the upper Tula River. The battle between the Ming army and Oirats ensued between the upper courses of the Tula and Kerulen rivers. The Oirats were overwhelmed by the heavy bombardment of the Ming cannons. They were greatly reduced and were forced to retreat.Chan 1998, 227. Mahmud and the puppet khan Delbek fled from the Ming army. The Yongle Emperor returned to Beijing in August 1414. Arughtai excused himself from battle on the claim that he was allegedly unable to join due to illness. Even though Mahmud sought out reconciliation with Ming China, the Yongle Emperor looked to the thought with much suspicion. In any regard, before anything could happen, Arughtai had attacked and killed Mahmud and Delbek in 1416.

Third campaign

Arughtai hoped to gain rewards from the Ming court for his services against the Oirat Mongols. The Ming court bestowed only titles onto Arughtai and his mother, but did not give him the commercial privileges that he wanted. Arughtai became increasingly hostile and began attacking caravans at the northern trade routes to Ming China. By 1421, he had stopped sending tribute to Ming China. In 1422, he attacked and overran the frontier fortress Xinghe.Perdue 2005, 56. This would prompt Ming China into launching a third military campaign. Many senior officials opposed the expedition and urged the Yongle Emperor against launching it, because they found that it placed too great of an expense to the empire's treasury, but the emperor rejected his officials' words of advice. Eventually, resulting from their opposition, Minister of War Fang Bin committed suicide, while Minister of Revenue Xia Yuanji and Minister of Works Wu Zhong were imprisoned. On 12 April 1422, the emperor and his army left Beijing toward Kulun. The Ming army supposedly comprised 235,000 soldiers according to Rossabi (1998). They had 235,146 men, 340,000 donkeys, 117,573 carts, and 370,000 ''shi'' of grain according to Perdue (2005). The Yongle Emperor led his army toward Dolon, where Arughtai was encamped. A force of 20,000 troops was detached to the Uriankhai Commanderies, which had fallen to Arughtai; they recaptured it in July. The Ming army struck fear into Arughtai, who avoided engagement by fleeing far into the steppe. They responded with the destruction and plundering of Arughtai's encampments. The frustrating and unedifying situation caused the Yongle Emperor to shift his attention to mercilessly attacking and plundering three

Mongol tribes who were not involved with Arughtai's hostilities. The plunders and attacks against any Mongols who found themselves in the path of Ming armies would be repeated in following campaigns. The Ming army returned to Beijing on 23 September.

Fourth campaign

In 1423, the Yongle Emperor launched a preemptive strike against Arughtai's forces.Rossabi 1998, 230–231. Leaving from Beijing in August, the Ming armies traveled through Xinghe and Wanquan. However, Arughtai withdrew and fled from the advancing Ming army once again.Rossabi 1998, 231. Esen Tügel, an Eastern Mongol commander, surrendered to Ming China. The Ming army returned to Beijing in December 1423.

Fifth campaign

Arughtai continued raiding the northern frontier at Kaiping and Datong. In 1424, the Yongle Emperor responded by launching his fifth campaign.Chan 1998, 228. He gathered his army at Beijing and Xuanfu. In early April, he departed from Beijing toward Arughtai's forces. They marched through Tumu and north to Kaiping. Once again, Arughtai avoided engagement by fleeing from the Ming army. Some of the Ming commanders wanted to pursue Arughtai's forces, but the Yongle Emperor felt that he had overextended himself and pulled back his army. On 12 August 1424, the emperor perished during the return to Ming China.

Notes

References

Literature

* * * * {{authority control Wars involving the Ming dynasty Wars involving the Northern Yuan dynasty Yongle Emperor Military history of Zhangjiakou