War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900–1795 by Lorge Peter Allan

Author:Lorge, Peter Allan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2011-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

Yuan rule after Khubilai

Peace proved difficult for the Yuan dynasty, since it retained the military orientation of Khubilai and the Mongol war machine. Chinggis created the Mongol polity and found that it needed the goal of conquering the world, and both Möngke and Khubilai had perpetuated a nearly continual state of war. The Yuan government was built on the assumption that it would continually need to extract resources from its subject population for the next campaign. This explains Khubilai’s desultory campaigns late in his reign, which drained financial resources and accomplished very little. Furthermore, the imperial family was a constant and uncontrollable drain on the imperial treasury. In many respects, the Yuan state primarily served the interests of the Mongol aristocracy. That aristocracy fought jealously over the control of Yuan state through the imperial family.

Khubilai’s grandson Temür (1265–1307) succeeded to the throne and tried to maintain his grandfather’s policies as best he could. The main exception to this policy was in the realm of war.29 Temür cancelled a planned campaign against Vietnam (Annam) and chose not to invade Japan a third time. Most importantly, he was fortunate in his conflict with Khaidu (c. 1235–1301) and Du’a (1282–1307), khans, respectively, of the Ögödei and Chaghadai khanates. Both men had opposed Khubilai’s claim to be Khaghan since the late 1260s, and had not only resisted his attempts to destroy them but even expanded their realms.

Temür continued to commit China’s resources to this Mongol political and military struggle, initially without much success. Du’a destroyed the main Yuan army in Mongolia in a surprise attack in 1298, necessitating a change of command and the dispatch of new Mongol and Chinese troops from China the following year. Although the Yuan army managed to defeat Khaidu that fall, the decisive battle occurred in September of 1301. The clash of the armies was not decisive, but, as was so often the case in the steppe environment, where wars were often fought based upon personal politics rather than the interests of a coherent polity, it was the fate of the political leaders, who were also the commanding generals, which made the battle important. Khaidu died shortly after the battle and Du’a was wounded, prompting Du’a to initiate peace talks with Temür.

Temür was acknowledged as Khaghan over all the Mongol khanates in 1304, something Khubilai had never been able to achieve.30 Mongol unity was still notional, however, and did not lead to a reinvigorated project to conquer the world. Even within Yuan territory, Temür failed to address the problems of the imperial treasury, or the bloated and ineffective bureaucracy. His attempt to set up a smooth succession foundered when his designated heir suddenly died in 1306. Temür himself died the following year without having established a new heir. The succession broke down into bloodshed, with one of the contenders for the throne, Ayurbarwada (1285–1320), actually storming the palace to displace the empress’s regency. Ayurbarwada deferred to his older brother, Khaishan, in return for being made heir apparent.31

Khaishan was not a Chinese emperor in manner or attitude.

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