Biography

Toqto』a was born to the Merkid aristocrat Majarday (also rendered as Chuan) in 1314. His uncle was Bayan of the Merkid (d. 1340), who had been raised to the rank of grand councillor during the reign of Toghon Temur (r. 1333–1370), the last Yuan emperor.

Toqto』a was given a Confucian education. Fearing that his uncle's ambitious character would harm their family's prestige, Toqto』a and his father, allied with the Khagan, organized a plot to dismiss Bayan. In March 1340, they closed the gates of the palace walls while Bayan was hunting in the nearby countryside. They refused to let him in and soon afterwards arrested him. Bayan was sent into exile and Toqto』a toppled him. In November Toqto』a replaced Bayan as grand councillor.

In 1343 Toqto』a led a team of officials to quickly compile dynastic histories of the Liao, Jin, and Song dynasties. The immense work was done within a relatively short period (a few years), which caused a lack of proofreading and textual criticism. The three works produced were:

• The History of Liao, or Liao Shi (遼史 Liáo Shǐ; "Dynastic History of the Liao Dynasty"), finalized in 1343.

• The History of Jin, or Jin Shi (金史 Jīn Shǐ; "Dynastic History of the Jin Dynasty")

• The History of Song, or Song Shi (宋史 Sòng Shǐ; "Dynastic History of the Song Dynasty")

At the time some Chinese scholars argued that as the Khitans were former nomadic barbarians, their Liao dynasty did not deserve a compiled standard official history. Due to the dispute over whether the Liao dynasty should be considered a legitimate dynasty, the Liao Shi was not officially compiled until 1342–1343, when Toqto』a finally decided to treat the Liao, Jin, and Song dynasties all as legitimate dynasties in Chinese history. The compilation of the Liao Shi was finished in one year by highly skilled imperial historians, but without elaborate proofreading and textual criticism. Because of this double time and lack of supporting context, the Liao Shi is known for its technical errors, naiveness, lack of precision and over-lapsing. It has been argued the compilation team did not have suitable contextual material to provide an in-depth analysis, and audacious comments.

In 1344, however, a grand plan to divert the Yongding River to facilitate water transport to the capital of Dadu (modern Beijing) generated heavy opposition, and Toqto』a resigned, joining his father in Gansu. During the 1330s, plague and famine devastated the Huai River area, while unrest appeared in the South Chinese, Manchurian, and the Tibetan borderlands. Massive flooding of the Yellow River inundated more than a decade of cities, putting the Grand Canal out of service and beginning the river』s migration to a new channel north of the Shandong peninsula. Meanwhile, piracy made the sea route for transporting South Chinese grain to the capital increasingly risky. Toqto'a's successor, the new councillor, Berke-Buqa, was too weak to handle all those issues. In August 1349, Toqto』a was recalled to the imperial capital and reappointed grand councillor.

In the winter of 1350–51, Toqto'a's attempt to suppress the activities of the pirate chief Fang Guozhen failed. With the support of Emperor Toghan-Temür, Toqto』a advocated rerouting the Yellow River back to its southern channel as a way to repair the Grand Canal. In April 1351, he began his great project, employing 150,000 civilian workers, 20,000 soldiers, and 1,845,636 yastuq of paper currency. Earlier issues of paper currency had been limited by silver reserves, but Toqto』a issued 2 million ding of unbacked paper currency to pay for labor and materials. This certainly affected the empire's overall economy.

When the religiously oriented Red Turban Rebellion broke out in Yingzhou in 1351, the Yuan attacks failed. Toqto'a was ordered to march against them and assembled an army of mostly Chinese volunteers in 1353–54. He was successful in defeating the rebels. On October 23, 1352, he retook the strategic city of Xuzhou after a six-day siege. Other provincial officials raised Han Chinese, Mongol, and Miao armies to attack the rebels. By winter of 1353–54, the 「Red Turban」 movement was virtually extinct. Even so, piracy and the occupation of the Grand Canal at Gaoyou by the salt smuggler Zhang Shicheng still blocked grain shipments from the south and caused hunger in the capital. Toqto』a proposed another grand plan for rice farming in central Hebei, importing 2,000 South Chinese farmers and spending 5 million ding of currency, all the while assembling another army to attack Gaoyou and reopen the Grand Canal.

However, Toqto'a's former protégé and now court rival Hama of the Qanqli and the heir apparent, Ayushiridara, backed by the Emperor's Korean consort Lady Ki, falsely accused him of corruption and induced the Khagan to strip him of his dignities in 1354. They quickly arranged his dismissal and banishment by imperial decree, just as the siege of Gaoyou was nearing victory.

Although Toqto』a had a vast number of loyal troops under him, on January 7, he accepted the Khagan's (Emperor's) decree and gave instructions to his soldiers that they must respect their new commander who had come to replace him. Because of his popularity, many of the troops under his command refused to serve under a new commander and left the army or joined the rebels. While Toqto'a was in exile in Yunnan, he was poisoned by Hama's assassins on January 10, 1356.

In popular culture

• Portrayed by Jin Yi-han in the 2013 television series Empress Ki.

生平

脫脫幼養於伯父伯顏家，從浦江吳直方學。十五歲時，任皇太子阿剌吉八怯憐口怯薛官。天曆元年（1328年），襲授成制提舉司達魯花赤。二年，入朝覲見元文宗，元文宗見而悅之，說「此子後必可大用。」遷內宰司丞，兼前職。五月，命為府正司丞。

至順二年（1331年），授虎符、忠翊侍衛親軍都指揮使。元統二年（1334年），任同知宣政院事，兼前職；五月，遷中政使；六月，遷同知樞密院事。至元元年（1335年），脫脫擒獲唐其勢同黨答里及剌剌。歷太禧宗禋院使，拜御史中丞、虎符親軍都指揮使，提調左阿速衛。

至元四年（1338年），進御史大夫，仍提調前職，大振綱紀，中外肅然。跟隨元順帝從上都還大都時，至雞鳴山之渾河，元惠宗準備在保安州打獵，馬蹶。脫脫諫言：「古者帝王端居九重之上，日與大臣宿儒講求治道；至于飛鷹走狗，非其事也。」順帝採納他的諫言，授金紫光祿大夫，兼紹熙宣撫使。當時伯顏為中書右丞相，權傾朝野，向為元惠宗所忌；脫脫恐受其累，與惠宗密謀逼退伯顏；先是將他當河南行省，途中改為廣東縣令。伯顏走到江西時病死。至元六年（1340年）農曆十月，脫脫為中書右丞相，大改伯顏舊政，復科舉取士。

至正三年（即1343年），脫脫主編《遼史》、《宋史》、《金史》，任都總裁官。至正四年（1344年）農曆五月，脫脫因病辭職；至正九年（1349年）農曆閏七月，復出為中書左丞相（次相）。至正十年（1350年）農曆四月，脫脫被任命為中書右丞相（首相），發行新鈔票「至正交鈔」，並派賈魯治理黃河，成績斐然卓著，贏得水患災民的民心，上賜號答剌罕，被讚譽為「賢相」。至正十一年（1351年），修黃河工人作亂，組織抗元紅巾軍。至正十二年（1352年）九月，脫脫親率大軍鎮壓徐州紅巾軍芝麻李部，執意屠城，軍事成就卓著，功封太師。

至正十四年（1354年），脫脫被派往討伐高郵（今屬江蘇省）張士誠叛軍；正酣戰即將攻陷張士誠駐守的高郵城之際，為朝中彈劾，功虧一簣；事因皇太子愛猷識理達臘不滿「未授冊寶之禮」，而支持康里人哈麻彈劾脫脫。至正十五年（1355年），脫脫被革職流放雲南，後被中書平章政事（副相）哈麻假傳元順帝詔令自盡。

至正二十二年（1362年），死後七年，脫脫昭雪復官。

影響

脫脫雖和元順帝一樣希望振興元朝，但他後來不獲元順帝信任，乃至被賜死，使得他殫精竭慮改革元朝黑暗腐敗統治的計劃與努力付諸東流，也成為元朝走向滅亡的轉捩點。

注釋