When the Mongols Stole the Chinese Emperor

How one faithfully battle lead to the Ming Emperor being taken hostage

The battle between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde in 1363. Both the Golden Horde and the Oirat Horde were remnants of the old Mongol Empire headed by Genghis Khan. Courtesy of Wikicommons.

During the times when dynasties ruled China, the emperor was a vital figurehead for the country and its people. Many believed that it was only through divine favour that a dynasty could lead China, a concept known as the Mandate of Heaven. Once a dynasty was granted the Mandate of Heaven its members had the god-given right to rule the people of China, a privilege that could only be taken away by the successful overthrow of the dynasty.

If a dynasty could be overthrown it was seen as the gods removing their Mandate of Heaven, a privilege received by their predecessor. As such you would think that the emperor would be protected at all costs and anything would be done to bring him home in case of capture by an outside force. Such an assumption turned out to be false in the case of Emperor Yingzong of Ming.

Wrong advice

朱祁鎮 (Anglicised: Zhu Qizhen), later Emperor Yingzong of Ming, was born 29 November 1427 in the Ming Empire. The early 1400s proved to be a prosperous time for the empire meaning that the young emperor was born into a wealthy and relatively stable domain. These conditions meant that when he ascended to the throne at the age of 8 his position was quite safe.