1363
Timur emerges in Transoxiana
A Barlas chieftain near Kesh, lamed by an arrow in earlier raids, joined the service of the Chagatayid khan Tughlugh Temur and learned the politics of steppe diplomacy. Within seven years Timur would seize Samarkand, kill his brother-in-law, and begin three decades of campaigns that would reach Damascus, Delhi, and the gates of Beijing.
Battle of Lake Poyang
Zhu Yuanzhang's smaller fleet trapped his Red Turban rival Chen Youliang on the great inland lake of Jiangxi in a battle involving hundreds of warships. Fire ships burned Chen's tower-ships against the shore. Chen took an arrow through the eye. Zhu emerged the unrivaled rebel chief in southern China, master of the Yangtze valley.
Philip the Bold takes the Duchy of Burgundy
John II of France granted his fourth son Philip the vacated duchy of Burgundy as an appanage, rewarding the prince who had fought beside him at Poitiers as a fourteen-year-old. Philip's descendants would accumulate Flanders, Artois, Holland, and Luxembourg, turning Burgundy into a semi-independent Middle Kingdom between France and the empire that would challenge both crowns.
Timur allies with Husayn to seize Transoxiana
The limping Barlas warlord and his brother-in-law Husayn defeated the Chagatai khan Ilyas Khoja near Samarkand, beginning Timur's transformation from bandit chief to empire-builder. The two men divided Transoxiana between them, an arrangement that both knew was temporary. Within seven years Timur would murder Husayn, claim sole rule, and launch the campaigns of conquest that would reshape the map.