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Secondary sourcePainting2006

Yongle Emperor's Second Campaign Against Northern Mongolia

竹围墙 · 2006

A modern schematic map illustrating the Yongle Emperor's second military campaign into Mongolia, showing troop movements and commanders.

A later schematic map depicting the Yongle Emperor's own military campaign against the Mongols.

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A schematic military map on a beige background showing the Ming campaign against the Mongols. Blue rivers are labeled in Chinese characters. Green arrows show Mongol forces moving northwest, and red arrows show Ming army movements converging toward them from the east and south. Place names include 忽蘭勿失溫, 三峽口, and 撒里怯兒. An inset box on the left enlarges the area with the labels 瓦剌軍 and 明軍機動部隊, and three Ming commanders named 李彬部, 柳升部, and 陳懋部.
竹围墙, Yongle Emperor's Second Campaign Against Northern Mongolia, 2006. Digital illustration.

About this source

What it is

This is a modern schematic military map, made in 2006, showing the Ming army's movements during the Yongle Emperor's second campaign against the Mongols. It uses arrows and Chinese place names to show Ming forces converging on Mongol troops, with named commanders.

Why it matters

The Yongle Emperor personally led several military campaigns against Mongol groups to the north of China. This map is a later attempt to reconstruct one such campaign, reflecting how historians and illustrators try to visualize military history long after the events.

Look closer

  • Why might a modern illustrator choose to show this campaign as a map rather than a painting of the emperor?
  • What does the map include, and what might it leave out about the experience of the soldiers involved?
  • How reliable do you think a map made centuries after the event can be?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Yongle Emperor on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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