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Tang Qishi
Son of El Temur who fought for Wenzong in 1328, became chief councillor of the left and was executed by Bayan in 1335 after a failed palace coup
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Tang Qishi, a Kipchak, was the son of El Temur. When his father seized Dadu for Tugh Temur in 1328 he was given the pass at Gubeikou to hold and led charges in the fighting against the Shangdu armies. After El Temur's death in 1333 his uncle Sadun became chief councillor of the left and Tang censor-in-chief. When Sadun died Tang took his place as chief councillor of the left, but real power lay with Bayan, the chief councillor of the right, and Tang complained that the empire belonged to his own family and asked who Bayan was to outrank him. In the sixth month of 1335 he and Sadun's brother Dari conspired with Prince Qonghor Temur and burst into the palace with armed men; the plot failed and he and his brother Taraqai were executed. Their sister, Empress Bayaut, who had tried to shield Taraqai, was expelled from the palace and poisoned.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–1335 CE