᭿ Translated excerpt from Ochir, A., et al. (eds), Mongol Ulsyn Tüükh (The History of ), : Mongolian Academy of Science, 2004 19

THE CRISIS OF THE FORTY AND THE FOUR

L. Jamsran

(I) ATTEMPTS TO OVERCOME A CRISIS OF STATE: THE GAIN IN STRENGTH

he Mongolian imperial state could not contain the rebellions in , and Tretreated into its homeland around 1368. The ‘Red Turban’ rebels went on to establish the with its capital in Nanjing. In this period, Mongolian lands were divided into three parts: the ‘central’ division, comprising East Mongolia; the West, or Oirat, Mongolia; and the South-Western part, the Uriankhai frontier. After the collapse of the Yuan in China, emperors and rulers of the ‘Golden Lineage’ [of Chinggis ] (altan uruq, altan urag) still sought to re-establish their rule of China, and the Ming empire maintained a hostile policy towards the Mongol state, attempting to eliminate it and annex its territory. The result was continuous warfare; large forces of Chinese troops would penetrate deep into East Mongolian territory, killing and capturing the local population and plundering their property. The heartland of the ‘golden lineage’ thus became a particularly vulnerable region. The local popula- tion struggled to resist not only Chinese attacks, but were faced with Mongol aristocrats who had become accustomed to a luxurious sedentary lifestyle having spent several decades ruling China and who, by retreating into nomadic Mongolian territory, endangered the land. Civil war broke out, as nobles ruling their subjects in Mongol localities struggled to become independent of the [Yuan] emperor (Yeke Qaghan, ikh khaan – ‘great emperor’). The situation was complicated both by relentless struggles between aristocrats who hoped to regain control of China, and by continuous Chinese attacks. These were the internal and external factors that led to political disintegration in Mongolia. After the Mongolian political centre moved back to its homeland, the cradle of the ‘golden lineage’, East Mongolia became the focus of armed conflict. In comparison with East Mongolia, Oirat or Western Mongolia had a good level of internal unity, at first, and was less subject to military attack. Consequently, the Oirats used their political unity and economic superiority to try to unite all the . Having been just four myangan (mingghan – units of a thousand) in the times of the Great , the Oirats, who had been subjects of the Mongol emperors, had grown to four tümen (units of ten thousand). 498 THE

In the late fourteenth century, when East Mongolia had become a site of continuous political crisis and struggle, Ugechi Khasakha the lord of the Khoit, re-established the League of the Four Oirats, that had been dissolved a century before, and became its khan, organizing the Oirat into the Baatuud, Barga, Buriad, Khori, Tümed and divisions. Breaking away from East Mongolian rule, Ugechi Khasakha began to chal- lenge the political authority of members of the Golden Lineage. At that time a Taiyu (Teivei) [from the Chinese taiwei – senior military official] named Khuukhai served as the representative of the Four Oirats in the court of the Mongol Great Khaan (emperor), Elbeg the Compassionate, who ruled from 1393 to 1399. Elbeg had Khu- ukhai executed, but when he learned that the charges against him had been false, he was filled with remorse and told the victim’s son, Batula (also known as Makhamu [Makhmud], ‘I executed your father as a result of a false accusation. Now let me make you Minister of State (chingsan). You will govern the Oirat jointly with their ruler Ugechi Khasakha.’1 Elbeg also married his daughter, Samar, to Batula. Ugechi Khasa- kha was furious at the royal decree, declaring ‘This emperor has established a luckless state, killed his younger brother (Prince Kharkhutsag), wedded his bride (Khungoo) and made her queen, slew my official Khuukhai Teivei lawlessly, being deceived by his bride, then became ashamed and gave the Oirats to my subject Batula, while I the rightful lord am still alive.’2 He began to muster his military forces. The newly appointed Batula was also looking for a chance to take revenge on Elbeg Khaan for the killing of his father. The effect of Elbeg’s appointment was to help unite both these hostile parties against him, and in 1399 Ugechi Khasakha and Batula jointly attacked Elbeg Khaan and killed him. In one way or another, Elbeg’s lawless approach had accelerated the independence of both the unruly Oirats, who were using all their means to break away, and of some East Mongolian nobles. Indeed, from this period on, a civil war developed between the Mongol emperors and the aristocrats that was to continue for a long time. The social and political causes of this conflict developed in the time of Elbeg Khaan. Although Elbeg’s eldest son Güntömör (1377–1402) inherited his father’s throne in 1400, Ugechi Khasakha had him assassinated in 1402, and supreme power in Mongolia passed to the Oirats. In 1402, with the support of some East Mongolian aristocrats such as Arugtai Taish (Taishi), Ugechi Khasakha assumed the imperial throne, taking the title of Guilichi Khaan and making Ölziit his queen. This lady was, in fact, the first wife of Elbeg Khaan’s younger brother. When Elbeg had his younger brother killed, at the instigation of Khuukhai Taiyu, and married his bride, Ölziit was pregnant. She bore a baby boy who was named Ajai (1400–?), and she later took revenge on Khuukhai Taiyu by convincing her hus- band to have him executed. Ugechi Khasakha, however, did not reject her son Ajai, but treated him as his own. The Mongolian sources give only a sketchy account of Ugechi Khasakha’s elevation to the imperial throne. But the Chinese sources provide some information on him, under the name Guilichi Khaan. For example, the sources record that he abandoned the dynastic name of Yuan and took instead Dadani (Tatar). For this reason East Mongolia was referred to by the term ‘Tatar’ during the Ming. Ugechi Khasakha’s homeland was beyond and Ningxia. On ascending to the Mongolian throne Guilichi Khaan sent a letter to the Ming emperor requesting ‘the exchange of envoys, improved relations and living in peaceful happiness as one family’.3 In return, the Ming emperor sent Guilichi Khaan and his ministers a decree of appreciation and precious gifts. Guilichi Khaan appointed Markhasan and Arugtai of as Ministers of State (chingsan) and