阿敏 Āmǐn

In the fourth year, the army took Yongping, Luanzhou, Qian'an and Zunhua, and the emperor ordered A'min and Shuotuo the beile to garrison them with five thousand men. A'min was stationed at Yongping and sent generals separately to hold the three cities, and by proclamation brought Zhenzi Town to surrender. The Ming Commissioner of Military Affairs Sun Chengzong led troops to attack Luanzhou; A'min sent several hundred men to relieve it, and withdrew the garrison of Qian'an into Yongping. The Ming troops pressed Luanzhou hard, and the gushan ejen Tu'erge and others, commanding the garrison of Luanzhou, could not hold out, abandoned the city and fled to Yongping; Ming troops intercepted them, and over four hundred of our men died. A'min ordered the gushan ejen Chahala and others, commanding the garrison of Zunhua, also to abandon their city, and then killed all the Ming generals and officials who had surrendered, slaughtered the townspeople, took their gold and silk, and left by night through Leng Pass and returned east. Edit

The emperor had just sent Dudu the beile to relieve them when he heard that A'min and the others had abandoned four cities and come back. The emperor took his seat in the hall, assembled the beile and ministers, and proclaimed an edict condemning A'min and the others. When A'min and the others arrived, he ordered them to camp fifteen li from the city, and again proclaimed an edict and reproached them. The emperor, thinking of the soldiers who had fallen into the enemy's hands, was grieved and shed tears. After three days, he summoned the beile and ministers to assemble below the palace gate, took his seat in the hall, and ordered Yuetuo the beile to declare to the assembly: "A'min has relied on evil for a long time. In Taizu's time, he incited his father to wish to move to live at Heichemu; Taizu convicted father and son, and later pardoned them. After his father died, Taizu cherished and raised A'min as if he were his own child, and appointed him Heshuo Beile. When the emperor succeeded to the throne, he treated him with courtesy as before. When the army campaigned against Korea, after the covenant had been settled and a hostage received, he was unwilling to withdraw the army and wished to live in the royal capital with Dudu, and only desisted because Ji'erhalang remonstrated strongly. This was the first sign that A'min harboured disloyal intentions. He captured a beautiful woman and presented her to the emperor, and afterwards asked for her back himself. The emperor, perceiving his resentment, said: 'Why should we spoil brotherly harmony over one woman?' and gave her to the Brigade General Lenggeli. When we attacked Chahar, the Tushetu efu broke his covenant and made friends with Chahar; the emperor was angry and broke off with him. A'min sent him armour, helmets, saddles and bridles, and told him all the emperor's words. The marriages of the beile's sons and daughters must be reported to the emperor, but A'min privately married his daughter to the Mongol beile Saite'er, and when the banquet was held, the emperor did not attend, and A'min constantly harboured resentment and anger. In Taizu's time, the frontier garrisons had fixed boundaries, but he crossed the boundary and moved to Heichemu. The emperor rebuked him for abandoning his post without authority, which showed disloyal intentions, and A'min could not answer. When the emperor went on campaign and ordered A'min to stay in charge, he only indulged in ease and pleasure and went hunting repeatedly. When Yuetuo and Haoge returned first from the campaign, he sat and received their obeisances, just like a ruler of a state. When he took over the garrison of Yongping, he said wildly: 'Since the city has been taken, why were its people not killed?' He also told the troops openly: 'Now that I have come here, how can I let you go back without your appetites being satisfied?' He plundered Zhenzi Town and seized all its wealth, and also drove the surrendered people off and distributed them among the Eight Houses as slaves. Ming troops besieged Luanzhou for three days and nights while he held troops in hand and did not go to its relief himself; he slaughtered the officials and people of Yongping and Qian'an and carried back all the wealth, silk and livestock. He destroyed the foundations of the enterprise and deliberately let our army be wounded and ruined." He ordered that his crimes be deliberated. All said: "He should be executed." He ordered him confined. He left him six estates, two gardens, twenty bondservants, five hundred sheep and twenty cattle, and gave all the rest of his property to Ji'erhalang. In the eleventh month of the fifth year of Chongde, he died at the place of confinement. Edit

A'min had six sons, of whom five held titles: Ai'erli, Gu'ermahun, Gong'a, Guogai and Guolai. Ai'erli, Guogai and Guolai were all enfeoffed as Duke Who Guards the State; Ai'erli was put to death for an offence, and Guogai was given the posthumous name Duanchun. Edit