Conflict With The Ming
Esen's policy irritated or threatened the Chinese Ming Dynasty. The Ming had for some time pursued a "divide and rule" strategy in dealings with their northern neighbors, maintaining trade and tribute relationships, functioning as a kind of state-subsidized monopoly, with multiple leaders who they could then turn against one another by inciting jealousy or suggesting intrigue. A unified Mongolia under one ruler was, however, much less susceptible to such tactics. Also, many of the tribes brought under Oirat dominion by conquest either had inhabited areas claimed by China already, and other tribes had been pushed south into Chinese territory seeking to escape Oirat subjugation. The Chagatayid Hami oasis, furthermore, had paid tribute to the emperor before Esen convinced its ruler that bounty should go to the Oirat instead. Throughout the 1440s, Esen increased both the frequency of tribute missions to China and the number of representatives sent on each mission, meaning that the Chinese were obliged to provide ever-more expensive hospitality to the Mongols, irrespective of the actual trade or tribute being negotiated, and, according to surviving Chinese accounts, the Oirat demanded more and more lucrative tribute and trade agreements further skewed in the Mongols' favor.
One Chinese tactic for dealing with the situation, provoking rivalry between Mongol leaders, failed completely as they underestimated the degree of power Esen wielded and chose "rivals" too far below him in status for the strategy to be effective, including the figurehead Khan Togtoo Bukha. In addition, their other main tactic, meeting each demand for increased tribute or trade value with a decrease, backfired as well.
Esen encouraged hundreds of Mongol, Hami, and Samarkand based Muslim merchants to accompany his missions to the Ming Emperor. Since 1439 the Emperor Togtoo Bukha and Esen had been sending envoys to China, often numbering more than 1,000. In response to this inflation of numbers, the Zhengtong Emperor (1427–64) decreased the gifts to Esen and Togtaa-Bukha Khaan and closed border-trade with the Mongols.
Read more about this topic: Esen Taishi
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