Committee Description:

In the fifteenth century, a crisis was posed to the ruling Ming Dynasty of China, shaking the Middle Kingdom from Beijing to Guangzhou and kickstarting a chain of events that would ultimately bring an end to the Ming Dynasty. Weak governance and greedy eunuchs had indulged the Yingzong Emperor, and the walls of the northern border had begun to crumble. 

Despite complaints from numerous military officials, the court in Beijing had decided to stick their heads in the sand, leaving the generals and governors to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, the Oirat chief Esen sat in his court of Kobdo, nestled in the Altay mountains to the west, as he contemplated how to strike at a weakened China. However, he wanted one thing. The capture of the Ming emperor, the evisceration of China and her riches, and the resurgence of Mongol rule over the Chinese subcontinent. Will the different moving parts of the Middle Kingdom be able to finally unite in the face of this existential strife, or will the sun finally set... in the east?