Yongle Emperor's campaigns against the Mongols

The Yongle Emperor's campaigns against the Mongols consisted of five large-scale military expeditions undertaken by the Ming dynasty into Mongolia between 1410 and 1424, each led personally by the Yongle Emperor. His goal was to subjugate the Mongols, and he encouraged conflict between the Eastern Mongols and the Oirats (Western Mongols). In 1410, he defeated the Eastern Mongols in two battles and maintained good relations with them for the next decade. In 1414, during the second expedition, he successfully attacked the increasingly powerful Oirats. From 1422 to 1424, after a long hiatus, he launched annual campaigns into eastern Mongolia but was unable to engage the enemy in battle. On the return from his final campaign in 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successors subsequently renounced further expeditions into the steppe.