Toghon Temür

Toghon Temür (1320–1370), temple name Emperor Huizong, was the last Yuan emperor to rule China and the first of the Northern Yuan. Eldest son of Emperor Mingzong, he was born in exile and, after his father's suspicious death, was banished to Goryeo and then Guangxi. In 1332, on his brother Rinchinbal's death, El Temür delayed his enthronement until 1333. In 1340, helped by Bayan's nephew Toqto'a, he removed Bayan.

The official histories of the Liao, Jin and Song were finished in 1345. Floods and famine then undermined the court, and the Red Turban Rebellion of 1351 broke Yuan power; the emperor dismissed Toqto'a in 1354 and withdrew from governing.

He fled Dadu at midnight in September 1368 as Xu Da's Ming army closed in. Mongolian chronicles preserve a poem in which he mourns the lost capital. He died at Yingchang in 1370 and was succeeded by his son Ayushiridara.