Tuo Tuo

Toghto (Tuo Tuo), courtesy name Dayong, of the Merkit clan, was the son of the chancellor Majartai and was raised by his uncle Bayan. In 1340 he helped Emperor Shun remove the overbearing Bayan and became Right Chancellor that year, restoring the civil service examinations Bayan had abolished and reviving lectures on the classics at court, a programme known as Toghto's renewal. From 1343 he served as director-general of the commission that compiled the official histories of the Liao, Jin and Song. Back in office as chancellor, in 1351 he put Jia Lu in charge of conscripted labourers to repair the Yellow River dikes and also reformed the paper currency. In 1354, while besieging Zhang Shicheng at Gaoyou, he was impeached by Hama and others and stripped of command just as the city was about to fall; banished to Yunnan the next year, he was poisoned on a forged edict early in 1356. The court cleared his name and restored his titles in 1362.