Esen Tayishi

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Esen Taishi (* before 1439 ; † 1455 , Chinese  也先台吉 , Pinyin Yexian Taiji ) was in the 15th century, a leader of the Chorosen , a oiratischen Mongol tribe . He became famous for the capture of the Chinese Ming Emperor Zhengtong in 1449 during the Tumu Crisis .

Rise to power

In 1439 Esen succeeded his father Toghon Tayishi as leader of the Chorosen. His father had significantly expanded the territory of the Oirats and increased their recognition by other Mongol tribes. Under Esen's leadership, the Oirats also conquered the rest of Mongolia, including subjugating the Jurchen and Urianchai and taking control of the Hami oasis on the Silk Road between the Gobi and Takla Makan deserts .

In order to secure his position under the Mongols, Esen married the daughter Uvais Khan (1418-1428), as this could trace his ancestry back to Genghis Khan . Uvais Khan, the leader of the Chagatai Khanate , had been defeated several times by Esen and even captured twice. For the second release, Esen demanded the hand of Uvais Khan's daughter. For the marriage, Esen nominally converted to Islam .

The conflict with the Ming

Many of Esen's activities irritated the leaders of the Ming dynasty ruling China at the time . The Ming had for some time followed the policy of " divide et impera " with their northern neighbors , maintaining separate trade and tribute agreements with many tribal leaders at the same time, which they could play off against one another by rumors of conspiracies and arousing envy . A united Mongolia under one leader would not have been so easy to rule with such a policy. In addition, some of the tribes conquered by the en inhabited areas also claimed by the Ming, and other tribes were pushed south into Chinese territory by the conquests of the Oirats. In addition, the Hama Oasis did not pay tribute, which had previously gone to the Ming, when Esen convinced their leaders to pay tribute to him in the future.

The situation was exacerbated by the fact that Esen significantly increased the frequency of the Mongolian tribute missions to the Ming, so that they were forced to offer increasingly expensive hospitality, regardless of the actual tribute payments or the trade agreements concluded with the Mongols. The reports that are still available today suggest that the balance on these tribute missions tipped more and more in favor of the Mongols and that the Ming suffered considerable losses. Another of the methods commonly used by the Ming so far to deal with the situation, namely creating rivalry between Mongolian tribal leaders, failed completely because they underestimated the extent of Esen's power and built opponents who were nowhere near like Esen's status . A prime example of such an inadequate rival is the then reigning Khan Toghto Bukha .

Some Chinese negotiators made Esen promises that were not covered by the leadership, such as several offers to marry Esen's son to a Chinese princess. To Esen's displeasure, such promises were regularly not fulfilled by the imperial court.

Invasion of China

In retaliation for real and imagined insults, Esen led the Oirats to invade northern China in 1449, which culminated in the unexpected capture of Emperor Zhengtong during the Tumu incident . The large-scale campaign, led in three parallel advances, began in July 1449. Khan Toghto Bukha led the eastern advance, and Esen led the troops that captured the city of Datong in August .

The Ming Emperor Zhengtong, acting on extremely bad advice, decided to go to battle himself at the head of his troops. This had dire consequences.

The initial mistakes of the Chinese

The Mongol campaign was a result of raids and massacres of Chinese troops, although the Imperial forces in the area are estimated at up to 500,000 soldiers. Esen Tayishi only had about 20,000 horsemen who mainly expected to carry out the traditional Oirat border raids.

Datong was outside the protection of the Great Wall . After the first attack, in which Esen cut down the defenders of the city, he withdrew with his horsemen into the steppe. The emperor and his hastily assembled army decided to turn back on reaching Datong. On the four-day march back to the wall they were repeatedly attacked by the riders of the Oirats, and the weather was not favorable either, with rain and thunderstorms. Eventually the Ming soldiers reached Tumu Fort ( Tumubao ). Instead of being able to take a position that could be safely defended, they were pushed against the northern fortress wall.

The capture of the emperor

Most of the remaining soldiers as well as the officers and high-ranking court officials with the exception of the emperor were killed by the attackers. Esen itself was still near Xianfu, one way from Tumu. When the captured emperor was brought to his camp, Esen first tried to extort a ransom for the emperor after he had gathered major forces near Beijing within six weeks . Surprisingly, his request was rejected by Yu Qian , the new commander-in-chief of the Ming. He sent word that the life of the emperor was not as important as the fate of the empire. This attitude was at least partly due to the fact that in the meantime Zhengtong's half-brother Zhu Qiyu had ascended the throne and was proclaimed the new emperor under the name of Jingtai .

The Siege of Beijing

After the attempt to obtain a ransom failed, Esen began a siege of the capital. However, the new commander of the Ming, Yu Qian, made clever use of the city's defenses and ployed lists to discourage the besiegers. So he feigned the loss of control over a city gate and thus lured the Mongols to penetrate the city. By closing the gate, Yu Qian succeeded in severing and overpowering part of the Mongols from the main force, killing Esen's oath brother. When reinforcements finally came in from the south, Esen withdrew with his army.

Esen was then forced to resume negotiations with the Ming, as the Mongols had to rely on trade with them. In order to normalize relationships again, Esen had to accept worse conditions than before. Even his hostage, the former emperor of China, was released after a few years and succeeded his half-brother to the throne after his death.

Rebellions and death

Many among the Mongols believed that Esen had been too weakened by the diplomatic defeat after his military victory, and some attempts were made to disempower him. The most notable attempt was that of the reigning Khan Toghto Bukha, who openly led his troops against Esen in 1451. However, they were outnumbered by the Oirats and their allies, and the Khan was captured and killed trying to retreat.

Esen Tayishi was able to regain his former power by proving himself in a fight against rivals like the regular Khan Toghto Bukha. Political relations and trade with China had also resumed, and during Esen's rule the Oirats undertook a successful expedition to Moghulistan , Tashkent and Transoxania , reaching the Kipchak steppes in southern Russia between 1452 and 1455. They returned home with rich booty.

After defeating Bukha in 1453, Esen claimed the title of Khan for himself. The Ming Emperor was among the first to recognize this claim, but the other Mongols, Oirat or not, accepted it with rejection or anger. Although Esen was linked to the royal line of Temüdschins through his marriage , it seems unlikely that he would have been elected Khan. The leadership among the Mongols was not passed on via the firstborn son ( primogeniture ), but via the Kurultai , a system of the elective monarchy in which the tribal leaders entitled to vote chose a khan from among their number. Dissatisfaction with Esen's claim soon resulted in open revolt against his leadership.

Esen Tayishi was murdered by the son of a political opponent whom Esen had killed in 1454, one year after his attempt to obtain the title of Khan. After his death, the Oirats could no longer maintain their supremacy among the Mongols and remained at odds with one another for a long time.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Лев Николаевич Гумилев: Древняя русь и Великая степь. Мысль, Москва 1989, ISBN 5-244-00338-0 , Глава XXXII: Белая орда.
personal data
SURNAME Esen Tayishi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 也先 台 吉 (simplified Chinese); yěxiān táijí (Pinyin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Leader of the choroses of an Oirat Mongol tribe
DATE OF BIRTH before 1439
DATE OF DEATH 1455