Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temur: 12th Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Jayaatu Khan, commonly known as Emperor Wenzong of Yuan, was an emperor of the Yuan dynasty born Tugh Temur. Apart from becoming Emperor of China, he is known as the 12th Great Khan of the Mongol Empire or Mongols, even though this title was only nominal owing to the empire's split. He reigned from October 16, 1328, to April 3 1329, before abdicating in favour of his brother Khutughtu Khan Kusala, and then from September 8 1329, until September 2 1332, after his brother's death. Tugh Temur restored the Khayishan line to the throne thanks to his father's devoted followers, but he tortured his elder brother Kusala's family and subsequently felt regret for what he had done to him. In Mongolian, his name translates to "Blessed/Lucky Khan." Tugh Temur was a cultural patron who wrote poetry, painted, and read classical literature. His poetry and calligraphy, both of which he was extremely accomplished, have survived. In addition, he ordered and closely oversaw the compilation "The Imperial Dynasty's grand institutions for governing the world," which declared his reign as a new beginning, taking stock of previous administrative practices and norms while looking ahead to a new chapter in the Yuan dynasty government. However, his rule was brief, and his administration was in the hands of powerful officials like El Temur of the Qipchaq and Bayan of the Merkid, who had assisted him in winning the succession fight in 1328.

He was the younger brother of Kuala and the second son of Khayishan (Kulug Khan or Emperor Wuzong) and a Tangut lady. When his father Khayishan died unexpectedly, and his younger brother Ayurbarwada inherited the Yuan throne in 1311, his grandmother Dagi and other Khunggirad faction members, including Temuder, removed him and his brother from the central government because Khunggirad khatuns did not mother them. Tugh Temur was exiled to Hainan after Ayurbarwada's son Shidibala gained the kingdom in 1320. When Shidibala was killed, and Yesun Temur became the new monarch, Tugh Temur's situation improved. He was made Prince of Huai and moved to Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing) and subsequently Jiangling. He had already demonstrated a wide variety of intellectual and artistic interests by this time and surrounded himself with several renowned Chinese literati and artists. Nevertheless, Tugh Temur and Kusala, as the persecuted sons of Khayishan Kulug Khan, still retained some sympathy among the Borjigin princes and the residual devotion of some of their father's supporters who had survived successive political purges.

The death of Yesun Temur Khan at Shangdu in 1328 provided a chance for Khayishan's line to emerge. El Temur's political cunning, whose Qipchaq dynasty had achieved its pinnacle under Khayishan, was largely responsible. In the capital Khanbaliq (Dadu, modern Beijing), he organized a plot to topple the palace in Shangdu. He and his entourage had significant geographical and economic advantages over Yesun Temur's followers. El Temur summoned Tugh Temur to Khanbaliq since his more powerful brother Kuala remained in Central Asia. In September, he was crowned as the new king of Khanbaliq, while Yesun Temur's son Ragibagh, with the help of Yesun Temur's favourite servant Dawlat Shah, ascended to the throne of Shangdu. Ragibagh's soldiers pierced the Great Wall at many locations and advanced as far as Khanbaliq's fringes. El Temur, on the other hand, was able to shift the tide in his favour rapidly. Restorationists from Manchuria (Liaodong) and eastern Mongolia surprised the loyalists with a surprise attack. On November 14, their army, led by Bukha Temur and Orlug Temur, descendants of Genghis Khan's brothers, besieged Shangdu while most loyalists fought on the Great Wall front. The loyalists in Shangdu surrendered the next day, and Dawlat Shah and most senior loyalists were captured and executed. Ragibagh had been reported missing. The road to reinstating Khayishan's imperial line was cleared with Shangdu's capitulation, while supporters elsewhere continued to battle until 1332.

At the same time, his older brother, Khutughtu Khan Kusala, collected assistance from Mongolian princes and generals and the Chagatai Khanate and marched into the Karakorum with a massive military force. Tugh Temur announced abdication and called his brother after recognizing the difficulties. Kusala, accompanied by the Chagatayid Khan Eljigidey, enthroned himself north of Karakorum on February 27, 1329. Tugh Temur was proclaimed heir apparent after El Temur delivered the imperial seal to Kuala in Mongolia and indicated Dadu's intention to welcome him. According to legend, Kusala's retainers treated him badly when he arrived at Kusala's camp, leaving him scared and enraged. Kusala, on the other hand, praised El Temur and named him grand counsellor of the Secretariat's right-wing, with the title of Darqan taishi. Kuala then selected his loyalists to key positions in the Secretariat, the Bureau of Military Affairs, and the Censorate. Kuala encountered Tugh Temur at Ongghuchad near Shangdu on his route to Dadu on August 26. He died abruptly four days after supper with Tugh Temur or was allegedly poisoned by El Temur, who feared losing power to princes and officials of the Chaghadayid Khanate and Mongolia who had followed Kuala. On September 8, 1329, Tugh Temur was returned to the throne. His plotting and triumph over the loyalists and Kusala's murder put an end to Mongolia's steppe candidates' dominance. Tugh Temur's government carried out a brutal cleansing of its opponents. Leading followers of Yesun Temur's successor Raghibagh were killed and deported, and Tugh Temur's government seized their property. Tugh Temur rejected Yesun Temur's and Raghibagh's posthumous names and demolished the chamber in the imperial shrine containing Yesun Temur's father Gammala's tablet. El Temur purged pro-Kuala officers and gave warlords authority.

Efforts to Win Recognition

Because Tugh Temur's ascension was so illegal, it was more necessary for his administration to rely on lavish enfeoffments and large rewards to garner support among the aristocracy and officialdom than it had been for any previous reign. During his four-year reign, he was bestowed with twenty-four princely titles, nine of which were of the first rank. Seven of the nine first-rank princes were not even related to Kublai Khan. In 1329, not only were imperial gifts returned but all of the estates taken from Shangdu loyalists were also handed to princes and officials who had contributed to the restoration; in total, 125 holdings are estimated to have changed hands.

Tugh Temur attempted other steps to gain acceptance from the other Mongol khanates to recognize him as their nominal suzerain. For example, Tugh Temur dispatched three princes to the Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and Ilkhanate with rich presents. He also dispatched Muqali's descendant Naimantai to Eljigidey, a staunch supporter of Kusala, to present him with the royal seal and presents to appease him. Tugh Temur, on the other hand, was successful and received positive feedback. As a result, Tugh Temur was able to reclaim suzerainty over the Mongol realm and retain strong ties with the three western khanates.

Administration and Court Life

El Temur and Bayan of the Merkid ruled Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temur's four-year reign. They gained a level of authority and prestige never previously reached by any official in the Yuan as the people were primarily responsible for the restoration's success. They established their power bases in the bureaucracy and military, and El Temur and Bayan of the Merkid eclipsed tugh Temur's position. Tugh Temur granted honourable titles to his father's former ministers and restored the honours of Sanpo and Toghto, whom Ayurbarwada had punished. Most of the important jobs in his government were awarded to the participants in the restoration. Although a few Muslims held positions in the provinces, they were not represented in the central administration. In the latter half of 1330, the Emperor personally performed the big sacrifice to the sky, which a deputy had hitherto performed. In January 1331, he issued a general amnesty and declared his infant son Aratnadara to be the heir apparent. Budashiri, Tugh Temur's consort, had Babusha, the widow of Kusala, murdered by a eunuch because he had a vendetta against her. To ensure her son's succession, she deported Kusala's son Toghon Temur to Korea; nevertheless, Aratnadara died just a month after being named heir. His son's unexpected death threw off tugh Temur's succession plan. Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temur induced his second son, Gunadara (Kulatana), to live with El Temur and recognize him as his father, changing his name to El Tegus in the process. Tugh Temur's court sought to cut expenditure on imperial gifts, Buddhist sacrifices, and palace costs since the government's fiscal deficit grew dramatically, reaching 2.3 million dings of paper money in 1330 alone. With such procedures in place, they were able to keep the budget deficit under control and maintain enough grain stockpiles.

Rebellion

The additional expenditures of the battle against the loyalists, the repression of ethnic minority revolts, and natural catastrophes put a strain on Tugh Temur's government's finances. The battle in Yunnan continued with shaky results, but Imperial commander Aratnashiri conquered the Lolos and other mountaineers, killing two of their leaders after amassing an army of 100,000 soldiers. He seemed to have put down the insurrection and brought peace to Yunnan and Sichuan. However, Lo yu, one of Yunnan's rebel chiefs, had retreated to the mountains, where he gathered a body of his people and, splitting them into sixty small teams, overran the Chunyuen region wreaking havoc. Tugh Temur's army marched against them and stormed their main fortress. Prince Tugel's three sons and two brothers were taken prisoner, while a third brother killed himself rather than fall into the imperial army's clutches. Tugel's supporters abandoned the campaign in March 1332. Six hundred thirty thousand dings of paper money were spent on this campaign. Tugh Temur, who liked the high life, showed little interest in this far-off campaign. The Emperor's actions created widespread resentment, and Yelu Timur, the son of Ananda, who sought to claim the throne in 1307, conspired with the leaders of the Lama sect in China to depose him. However, the conspiracy was discovered and properly executed.

Academy, arts and learning: Tugh Temur was a talented poet, calligrapher, and painter well-versed in the Chinese language and history. Tugh Temur is recognized for his cultural contributions, even though El Temur has significantly limited his real power. Tugh Temur implemented numerous steps respecting Confucianism and fostering Chinese cultural values while posing as a cultured king of the Yuan. In 1330, he bestowed laudatory titles on numerous previous Confucian sages and masters. He performed the suburban sacrifices to Heaven, making him the first Yuan emperor to execute this significant traditional Chinese state observance in person. Each year, the court honoured numerous men and women for their filial piety and virtue to promote Confucian morals. To keep the Chinese from adopting Mongolian, and therefore un-Confucian, traditions, the government ordered in 1330 that males who accepted their widowed stepmothers or sister-in-law as spouses would be penalized.

Meanwhile, in 1329, officials of the Mongols and Muslims were allowed to observe the Chinese custom of three years of mourning for departed parents to urge them to imitate Chinese practices. He was a Neo-Confucianist who also practised Buddhism and supported Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism. He oversaw the construction of Master Zhaozhou's Stupa in the Buddhist Bailin Temple. His most substantial effort to promote Chinese learning was establishing the Academy of the Pavilion of the Star of Literature, which was founded in the spring of 1329 and was intended to carry out "several tasks relating to the transmission of Confucian high culture to the Mongolian imperial establishment." These responsibilities included explaining Confucian classics and Chinese history to the Emperor, educating the scions of high-ranking notables and younger members of the kesig, collecting, collating, compiling books, and appraising and classifying the imperial collection paintings and calligraphic works. Many famous Chinese literati, as well as the greatest Mongolian and Muslim professors of Chinese study at the period, were among the 113 officials who consecutively served in the school. In the Yuan dynasty and Chinese history, concentrating so many talents in one governmental agency to conduct different literary, artistic, and educational tasks was unparalleled.

The school was in charge of putting together and releasing several publications. However, its most significant achievement was the creation of the Jingshi Dadian, a massive institutional compendium. The goal of gathering and systematizing all essential Yuan official papers and regulations in this book, following the pattern of Huiyao of the Tang and Song dynasties, was apparent to demonstrate that Yuan governance was as flawless as that of preceding Chinese dynasties. This enormous endeavour began in May 1330 and was finished in thirteen months. The Yuanshi (History of Yuan), a collection of treatizes written at the commencement of the Ming dynasty, was later built on top of it.

Later Life

The Academy of the Pavilion of the Star of Literature had a limited influence on the government as a whole since the bureaucracy was dominated by El Temur, whose dictatorial reign indicated the empire's collapse. In early 1332, only six months before Tugh Temur's death, El Temur gained control of the institution. Tugh Temur's death signalled the end of the academy. Tugh Temur expressed regret for what he had done to his elder brother, Kusala, and his plan to give the kingdom to Toghon Temur on his deathbed, even though El Tegus was still alive. Because Toghon Temur was far from the central authority, Kuala's second son Rinchinbal was installed by El Temur only at six when Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temur died on September 2, 1332.