Changes

==Post-Yuan==

==Post-Yuan==

Mongol groups continued to clash with the Ming from time to time. One prominent battle, the [[Battle of Tumu]], took place in [[1449]].<ref>Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 385.</ref> Another Mongol group came as far as the gates of Beijing in [[1550]], but left without attacking the city. Many of the Mongol tribes were united under Altan Khan around that time, and marauded along China's northern border until, in [[1570]]-[[1571]], they submitted to the Ming Emperor, swearing to cease their raiding forever, in exchange for trade privileges and annual gifts or payments. Altan was granted title as a Ming "prince," and several of his chief followers were granted lands and titles as well; the Khan promised to discipline his people harshly should any of them break the agreement terminating border raids. This also meant the Ming were bound, too, to remain at peace with the Mongols, and not launch attacks on them without sufficient provocation.<ref name=huang108>Ray Huang, ''1587: A Year of No Significance'', Yale University Press (1981), 108-109.</ref>

Mongol groups continued to clash with the Ming from time to time. One prominent battle, the [[Battle of Tumu]], took place in [[1449]].<ref>Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 385.</ref> Another Mongol group came as far as the gates of Beijing in [[1550]], but left without attacking the city. Many of the Mongol tribes were united under Altan Khan around that time, and marauded along as much as one thousand miles of China's northern border. Each raid could involve as many as 100,000 mounted warriors, and while they never made much headway into Chinese lands (that was not their intention), neither were they ever defeated or stopped by the relatively sparse and disorganized Ming armies.<ref>Ray Huang, ''1587: A Year of No Significance'', Yale University Press (1981), 175.</ref> This continued until, in [[1570]]-[[1571]], they submitted to the Ming Emperor, swearing to cease their raiding forever, in exchange for trade privileges and annual gifts or payments. Altan was granted title as a Ming "prince," and several of his chief followers were granted lands and titles as well; the Khan promised to discipline his people harshly should any of them break the agreement terminating border raids. This also meant the Ming were bound, too, to remain at peace with the Mongols, and not launch attacks on them without sufficient provocation.<ref name=huang108>Huang, 108-109.</ref>

With the death of Altan Khan and his son, however, the confederation began to fall apart, and under Altan's grandson Curuke, raids resumed along the [[Gansu province|Gansu]]-[[Qinghai province|Kokonor]] border. When pressed, these Mongol leaders, only loosely faithful to Curuke, asserted that they were only raiding the Tibetans and Turks (Uighurs), not the Chinese. In [[1590]], however, a Ming general operating in that area was captured and killed. While the Court hesitated to take any punitive action, and Mongol violence against the Chinese in that area very soon came to an end, the forces dispatched to coordinate border defense, under minister of war Cheng Lo, took action. They burned down numerous Mongolian Buddhist temples and destroyed Mongol lumber reserves, as well as setting fire to a large swath of grassland. The Mongols then withdrew more completely from the area.<ref name=huang108/>  

With the death of Altan Khan and his son, however, the confederation began to fall apart, and under Altan's grandson Curuke, raids resumed along the [[Gansu province|Gansu]]-[[Qinghai province|Kokonor]] border. When pressed, these Mongol leaders, only loosely faithful to Curuke, asserted that they were only raiding the Tibetans and Turks (Uighurs), not the Chinese. In [[1590]], however, a Ming general operating in that area was captured and killed. While the Court hesitated to take any punitive action, and Mongol violence against the Chinese in that area very soon came to an end, the forces dispatched to coordinate border defense, under minister of war Cheng Lo, took action. They burned down numerous Mongolian Buddhist temples and destroyed Mongol lumber reserves, as well as setting fire to a large swath of grassland. The Mongols then withdrew more completely from the area.<ref name=huang108/>