| Tumu Crisis | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Mongolia | Ming Dynasty | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Esen Tayisi | Wang Zhen | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000 men | 50,000 men | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 20,000 men | ||||||
The Tumu Crisis (Chinese: 土木之變; pinyin: Tŭmù zhī bìan); also called Crisis of Tumubao (土木堡之變); or Battle of Tumu (土木之役), was a frontier conflict between Mongolia and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 8, 1449. Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led Esen Tayishi (d 1455 Chinese也先台吉 was a leader of the Oirad Choros tribe in the 15th century Wáng Zhēn ( 王[[wikt 禎|禎]] was the first Ming Dynasty Eunuch with power in the court (see Battle of Tumu Fortress) Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led First Reign Zhu Qizhen was the son of the Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji and his Empress Sun Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz This outcome was largely due to the Chinese army's remarkably bad deployment. The Ming expedition is regarded as the greatest military debacle of the dynasty.
In July 1449 Esen Tayisi (也先) of the Oirat Mongols launched a large-scale three-pronged invasion of China. Esen Tayishi (d 1455 Chinese也先台吉 was a leader of the Oirad Choros tribe in the 15th century This article deals with the Oirat ethnic group For the obsolete term for the Turkic Altays see Altay people. He personally advanced on Datong (in northern Shanxi province) in August. Datong ( is a city in the northern Shanxi Province in China, and is located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of ( Postal map spelling: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the People's Republic of China. The eunuch official Wang Zhen, who dominated the Ming court, encouraged the twenty-two year old Zhengtong Emperor to lead his own armies into battle against Esen. A eunuch (ˈjuːnək is a Castrated man in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences the term usually refers to those castrated in order to Wáng Zhēn ( 王[[wikt 禎|禎]] was the first Ming Dynasty Eunuch with power in the court (see Battle of Tumu Fortress) Esen's raiding army in size is unknown but a best guess puts it at some 20,000 men. The Ming army of about 50,000 men was hastily assembled. Its command was made up of twenty experienced generals and a large entourage of high-ranking civil officials, with Wang Zhen acting as field marshal.
On August 3, Esen's army crushed a badly supplied Chinese army at Yanghe, just inside the Great Wall. Events 8 - Roman Empire General Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus. The Great Wall of China ( or ( is a series of stone and earthen Fortifications in China, built rebuilt and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th The same day the Emperor appointed his half-brother Zhu Qiyu as regent. Zhu Qiyu (September 21 1428 &ndash March 14 1457 was Emperor of China of the Ming Dynasty from 1449 to 1457 as the Jingtai Emperor. The next day he left Beijing for Juyong Pass. The objective was a short, sharp march west to Datong via the Xuanfu garrison, a campaign into the steppe, and then to return to Beijing by a southerly route through Yuzhou. Datong ( is a city in the northern Shanxi Province in China, and is located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of In physical Geography, a steppe ( German, from степь - "a flat and arid land" степ - /stɛp/ тал - tal дала - /dɑlɑ/ pronounced
Initially the march was mired by heavy rain. At Juyong Pass, the civil officials and generals wished to halt and send the emperor back to Beijing ,but their opinions were overruled by Wang Zhen. On August 16, the army came upon the corpse-strewn battlefield of Yanghe. Events 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting When it reached Datong on August 18, reports from garrison commanders persuaded Wang Zhen that a campaign into the steppe would be too dangerous. Events 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica. The "expedition" was declared to have reached a victorious conclusion and on August 20 the army set out back toward China proper. Events 636 - Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine
Fearing that the restless soldiers would cause damages to his estates in Yuzhou, Wang Zhen took the decision to strike northeast and return by the same exposed route as they had come. The army reached Xianfu on August 27. Events 479 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan On August 30, the Mongols attacked the rearguard east of Xianfu and wiped it out. Events 1363 - Beginning date of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders— Chen Youliang and Soon afterwards, they also annihilated a powerful new rearguard of cavalry led by the elderly general Zhu Yong at Yaoerling. On August 31 the imperial army camped at the post station of Tumu. Events 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the Throne Wang Zhen refused his ministers' suggestion to have the emperor take refuge in the walled city of Huailai, just 45 km ahead.
Esen sent an advance force to cut off access to water from a river south of the Chinese camp. By the morning of September 1, they had surrounded the Chinese army. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Wang Zhen rejected any offers to negotiate and ordered the confused army to move toward the river. A battle ensued between the chaotic Chinese army and the advance guard of Esen's army (Esen was not at the battle). The Chinese army lost all organization and was almost annihilated. The Mongols captured a huge quantity of arms and armour while killing most of the Chinese soldiers. All the high-ranking Chinese generals and court officials were killed. According to some accounts, Wang Zhen was killed by his own officers. The Emperor was captured, and on September 3 was sent to Esen's main camp near Xianfu. Events 36 BC - In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius
The entire expedition had been unnecessary, ill-conceived, and poorly commanded. The Mongol victory was won by an advance guard of perhaps as few as 5,000 cavalry. Esen, for his part, was not prepared for the scale of his victory or for the capture of the Ming Emperor.
At first, Esen attempted to use the captured emperor to raise a ransom and planned to conquer the undefended Ming capital of Beijing. However his plan was foiled, due to steadfast leadership of the Ming commander in the capital, Yu Qian. Yu Qian ( (1398-1457 a native of Qiantang (modern-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang province) was the Chinese Defence Minister of the Ming dynasty. The Ming leaders rejected Esen's offer, Yu stated the country was more important than an emperor's life.
The Ming never paid a ransom for the return of the Emperor (Esen let him go home after four years). Esen himself faced growing criticism for his failure to exploit his victory over the Ming and he was assassinated six years after the battle in 1455. AssassiNation is the sixth album by Krisiun, released in 2006 on Century Media.
Although the Mongols later occupied the Ordos desert, they never again seriously threatened the Ming state.
References
- Cambridge History of China, Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty", edited by Twitchett and Mote, 1988. Denis Crispin Twitchett (1925-2006 was a British Sinologist. He was a lecturer at the University of London (1954-56 and Cambridge (1956-60 the Chair of Chinese at the universities
- Frederick W. Mote. "The T'u-Mu Incident of 1449. " In Chinese Ways in Warfare, edited by Edward L. Dreyer, Frank Algerton Kierman and John King Fairbank. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.
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