Tuotuo Buhua

Toghtoa Bukha was a scion of the old Yuan imperial house, descended according to Mongol chronicles from Ayushiridara, the last Yuan emperor to rule from the steppe; the Ming called him the Tatar khan. Around 1433 the Oirat leader Toghon raised him as Great Khan with the title Taisun Khan, but real power stayed with Toghon and then with his son Esen. He sent tribute missions to the Ming every year and was addressed in Ming letters as the khan of the Tatars, receiving generous gifts in return. According to the Ming History, when Esen planned his great invasion of 1449 the khan tried to talk him out of it, and was then sent with Uriankhai troops against Liaodong while Esen entered by Datong, leading to the Ming defeat at Tumu. He later quarrelled with Esen over the succession and was routed early in 1452; the Ming History says Esen hunted him down, while Mongol sources say he fled to his former father-in-law Shabdan, who killed him.