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Shi Heng
Ming general who helped Yu Qian defend Beijing against the Oirats in 1449, joined the coup that restored Emperor Yingzong in 1457, and died in prison in 1460
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.
Shi Heng came from Weinan in Shaanxi and served in the Zhengtong years as a frontier commander around Datong. When the Oirats invaded in 1449 he was beaten at Yanghe and fled back alone, and was jailed; after the emperor's capture at Tumu, the war minister Yu Qian had him released and put in command of the capital armies. In the tenth month the Oirats closed on Beijing, and Shi Heng ambushed and drove them back outside the Desheng Gate, for which he was made Marquis of Wuqing. In 1457 he joined Cao Jixiang and Xu Youzhen in the palace coup that restored Emperor Yingzong, became Duke of Zhongguo, and helped bring false charges that led to Yu Qian's execution. He then filled posts with his own men and grew overbearing; when his nephew Shi Biao was charged in 1459, he was removed from office. In 1460 he was imprisoned for treason and soon died in jail, and his property was confiscated.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–1460 CE