Now comes the great cause, and beginning of ruin for the ruling line of the Mongols in China: the struggle among members of that line for dominion. Though Bayantu was made heir on condition that he appoint to that dignity one of his nephews, he removed his nephew, Kushala, the eldest son of Kuluk Khan (Kaishan) the late Emperor, and sent him to live in Yun nan as its governor. The officers of Kushala’s household looked upon this as exile, and in crossing Shen si they persuaded many Mongol commanders in those parts to take arms in Kushala’s favor. But when Kushala saw himself abandoned soon after by those very officers, he fled to the Altai for refuge among the Khans of Jagatai. Thereupon the Emperor appointed as heir his own son Shudi Bala.
Bayantu died in February, 1320, his age being somewhat beyond thirty years.
His first minister was a Mongol named Temudar, who made himself odious by countless deeds of injustice. Accused by the censors of the Empire, he was driven from office, and given a death sentence, but the Empress delayed the execution. While the case was still pending Bayantu died, and the Empress reinstated her favorite in all former dignities. Shudi Bala, or Gheghen Khan, the new Emperor, mourned sincerely for his father, fasted long and gave large sums in charity. Through regard for his mother he did not act against Temudar, but he gave his confidence to Baidju, a descendant of Mukuli, Jinghis Khan’s great commander. Temudar [[387]]took revenge on many of his enemies, but after his death which took place in 1322 a host of accusers attacked this oppressor. Fear restrained them no longer, hence they called loudly for justice and obtained it as far as was possible at that time. The Emperor degraded the dead minister by cancelling his titles, destroying his tomb, and seizing his property. Those who had shared in Temudar’s crimes, among others his adopted son Tekchi, formed a plan to assassinate Shudi Bala and Baidju, his first minister, and give the throne then to Yissun Timur, a son of Kamala, brother of Kuluk Khan.
Tekchi, being military inspector, had immense power in the army, and he sent off in secret to Yissun Timur, who was then at the Tula, an officer named Walus. This man bore a letter with sixteen names affixed to it. In this letter the plan was explained, and Yissun invited to be Emperor. The prince had Walus arrested and sent at once an account to the Emperor of the plot against his person. The couriers were late in arriving. The conspirators, fearing lest the plot be discovered, resolved to finish all without waiting for an answer. Shudi Bala had set out from Shang tu, his summer residence, for Ta tu, the chief capital, and while he was spending the night at Nanpo, the conspirators killed Baidju in his tent to begin with, and then forced the guard of the Emperor’s pavilion. Tekchi himself slew his sovereign. Shudi Bala was only twenty-one years of age when his death came. This was the first death by assassination that there had ever been in the Imperial family of the Mongols. Two princes, Antai Buga and Yesien Timur, seized the great seal, with other insignia of dominion, and bore them to Yissun Timur, son of Kamala, who proclaimed himself Emperor at the Kerulon River, and granted a pardon to all men.
At first he intended to place at the head of affairs those who had brought him dominion through their murders; but when experienced advisers explained to the new sovereign clearly that if this were done the whole nation might suspect him of complicity, he had Yesien Timur with two other conspirators arrested and executed in the place where the Emperor and his minister had been murdered. He then sent two officers bearing an order to put to death Tekchi with his accomplices, also their families, and then to confiscate their property.
Sonan, son of Temudar, had been condemned simply to exile, [[388]]but when the ministers remarked that he had cut off Baidju’s shoulder with a sabre stroke, Sonan suffered death with the others. Those princes of the blood who had joined the conspiracy were sent to various places of exile.
Yissun Timur entered Ta tu in December, 1323, and early the following year he appointed as heir his son Asukeba. This paltry monarch did nothing of note while in power, and died when thirty-six years of age. Though Asukeba, who was eldest among the four sons of the Emperor, was heir by appointment, his right to the Empire was challenged. It will be remembered that when Bayantu had succeeded Kuluk Khan he did so on condition that he make a son of the latter his heir. Instead of doing that he kept the place for his own son and removed to a distance Kuluk’s sons, Tob Timur and Kushala. When the conspiracy against Shudi Bala, or Gheghen Khan, had succeeded, the second of Kuluk’s sons was in Southern China, the first in the west far beyond the Altai.
It was easy for Yissun Timur to seize power in their absence, and he did so. Five years later he died in Shang tu, where he had gone to pass the summer.
The Empress now sent Upetala, a minister of State, to Ta tu to seize each department seal. Her son Asukeba, at that time nine years of age, had been declared heir when in his fifth year, but Yang Timur, governor of the capital, was the chief of a party which wished a son of Kuluk Khan to be Emperor. Yang Timur, son of Choahugur, was distinguished as a warrior, while his position was strengthened by the fame of his father and grandfather. Raised to high dignities through Kuluk Khan, by whom he was favored, this governor felt himself bound to the sons of that Emperor by gratitude, as well as self-interest. When setting out for Shang tu some months earlier Yissun Timur had given him power in the capital. Yang Timur now summoned high officials to the palace and proposed the elevation of one of Kuluk’s sons to Empire, threatening with death all who showed opposition. After this declaration he arrested Upetala, and other high functionaries; these men he replaced by others in whom he had confidence. The troops, who had no knowledge yet of his intentions, were ordered to kneel, looking southward, and touch the earth with their foreheads. This was to indicate that through them Yang [[389]]Timur had proclaimed Tob Timur Emperor. That prince was then in Nan king. The minister had urged him to hasten, and now announced his early arrival.
Three descendants of Jinghis with fourteen high officials conspired to slay the first minister for his unparalleled daring. Yang Timur, learning of their plot, seized the seventeen and put to death every man of them.