Temur Khan: 2nd Emperor of the Yuan dynasty

Oljeytu Khan Temur was the Yuan dynasty's second emperor, reigning from May 10, 1294, to February 10, 1307. Apart from being Emperor of China, he is also known as the sixth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire or Mongols, although this title was the only nominal due to the empire's partition. He was a capable Yuan ruler, and his reign created the power structures for the next few decades. In Mongolian, his name translates to "blessed iron Khan." Temur was the grandson of Kublai Khan and the son of Crown Prince Zhenjin. During his reign, the Mongol Empire's western khanates accepted the Yuan dynasty's dominance.

On October 15, 1265, Temur, the third son of Zhenjin of the Borjigin and KOkejin of the Khunggirad, was born. Because Kublai's first son, Dorji, died young, Zhenjin, Kublai's second son and Temur's father was named crown prince. He died, however, when Temur was 21 years old in 1286. Kublai maintained a close relationship with Zhenjin's widow KOkejin, who was a strong supporter of his. Temur was a Buddhist, just like his grandpa Kublai. In 1287, Temur accompanied his grandpa Kublai to put down an uprising led by Nayan and other rival relatives. Then he and Kublai's official, Oz-Temur, arrived in the east to defend the Liao River area and Liaodong from Nayan's ally, Qadaan and beat him. In July 1293, Kublai appointed Temur as the princely overseer of the Karakorum and its environs. While defending Mongolia, three Chagatai princes submitted to him. Kublai Khan's old officers petitioned the court to summon a kurultai in Shangdu after his death in 1294. Because Zhenjin's second son Darmabala died in 1292, only his two sons Gammala and Temur, were left to rule. It was suggested that they competed to see who knew most about Genghis Khan's sayings. Temur triumphed and was crowned Emperor.

Temur Khan, the Yuan dynasty's Emperor, was a capable ruler.  Temur retained the empire in the same state as Kublai Khan had left it. However, he did not accomplish anything and continued many of Kublai Khan's economic reforms and attempted to rebuild the economy from Kublai Khan's costly campaigns. He allowed the empire to recover from its wounds, particularly those caused by the Vietnam War. Many other high-ranking positions in his empire were occupied by Mongols, Han Chinese, Muslims, and a few Christians of various ethnicities. Temur's administration exhibited ideological reverence for Confucianism and Confucian thinkers. Temur issued a proclamation honouring Confucius shortly after his accession. Temur made Harghasun, a Confucian scholar close to Temur, the right grand chancellor in the secretariat.

Nonetheless, the Mongol court did not accept all of Confucianism's principles. Temur renamed his mother's ordo Longfugong palace, which became a focus of Khunggirad power for the next few decades, and bestowed more guards and possessions. An array of Chinese officials and Muslim financiers aided Mongol and Westerner politicians. Bayan, the great-grandson of Saiyid Ajall Shams al-Din, who was in charge of the Ministry of Finance, was the most important Muslim statesman. The Yuan court established policies to promote political and social stability under Mongol officials Oljei and Harghasun. During Temur's rule, portraits of the khagans and khatuns were ordered to be painted. Tibetans gradually become more prominent in the administration. The Tibetan Khon family was revered, and one of their sons-in-law became an imperial son-in-law in 1296. Temur overturned his grandfather's anti-Taoist stance by appointing Taoist Zhang Liusun as co-chair of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies. Temur established the Orthodox Unity School in 1304, appointing the Celestial Master of Dragon and Tiger Mountain as its leader. In 1297, he outlawed the sale and distillation of alcohol in Mongolia, and in his book The Empire of Steppes, French historian René Grousset praised his efforts.

Temur was opposed to putting the people under any further fiscal strain. Several times, for part or all of the Yuan, exemptions from levies and taxes were given. Temur spared Khanbaliq and Shangdu from taxes for a year after his enthronement. He also gave the Mongol commoners a two-year tax-free period. In 1302, he made it illegal to collect anything other than the stipulated tax quotas. However, the government's financial situation deteriorated, and the draining of monetary reserves severely eroded the paper currency system's legitimacy. Corruption among Yuan officials became a concern.

After the Kaidu–Kublai battle, which lasted more than 30 years and caused the permanent division of the Mongol Empire, a truce between the Yuan dynasty and the western Mongol khanates was achieved in 1304 during Temur's final years. As a result, Temur Khan was formally recognized as their suzerain. While the truce was short-lived and the conflict was soon restarted, it did maintain the Yuan dynasty's nominal authority over the western khanates for a few decades. Temur died without a male successor on February 10, 1307, in the capital Khanbaliq, after his sole son Teshou died a year earlier.

Southeast Asia

Temur halted all plans for further advances to Japan and the Đại Việt, whose new ruler had snubbed his grandfather's emissary in 1291, soon after his enthronement in 1294. Temur dispatched messengers to Japan and Champa to obtain submissions. Champa accepted the requirements, but the Kamakura shogunate refused, and late in Champa's reign, the Japanese Wokou attacked Ningbo in Zheijiang province. In 1295, 1297, and 1300, the monarchs of Đại Việt, Burma, and Sukhotai came to Khanbalik to welcome him as their master. To demonstrate his goodwill, Temur dispatched Đại Việt envoys, and the Tran court began dispatching tribute missions. However, in 1296, Temur's government put down rebellions headed by tribal chieftains like Song Longji and female leader Shejie in the southwestern mountainous territory. The generals Liu Shen and Liu Guojie took months to put down these uprisings.

Temur dispatched a contingent of the Yuan army to Burma in 1297 at the Burmese prince Tribhuvanaditya. They were successful in driving the Shans out of Myanmar. Envoys from Cambodia and Siam also visited Temur. In 1296, he dispatched Zhou Daguan to Khmer Cambodia, and Zhou chronicled his expedition. Athinkaya assassinated his brother Tribhuvanaditya in 1299 after he had submitted to Temur in 1297. Temur's protectorate, Tribhuvanaditya, was dethroned in 1300, prompting a retaliatory expedition towards Burma. The Shan warlords of Babai-Xifu, who were feuding over Pagan's royal succession, ravaged the Yuan lands. In 1301–1303, Temur dispatched his Yunnan-based force to prevent Babaixifu's (Lanna Kingdom of Chiangmai) progress. Despite the failure of those campaigns, Athinkaya and the Shan lords submitted their submissions. In 1301–03, a Yunnan official, Song Longji, and the Gold-Tooths revolted against the costly expedition. The uprisings were eventually put down. Following Temur Khan's command to withdraw his troops from Burma, the Tai monarchs controlled Central and Southern Burma, paying nominal homage to the Yuan dynasty.