After the Emperor's refusal of his famous "Thất trảm sớ" ("Petition of beheading seven corrupt officials"), Chu Văn An decided to leave the royal court, which was now full of corrupt mandarins and bad cohorts. At that time, the situation in China was very complicated with the struggle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, both of whom tried to mobilise support from Đại Việt. However, Dụ Tông maintained a neutral attitude to concentrate his army along the southern border against Champa. Despite his effort, Champa's forces still posed concerns for Đại Việt's border and launched several skirmishes while many revolts were taking place and causing diversions in Đại Việt. While being modest and diligent under the regency of Minh Tông, the independent reign of Emperor Dụ Tông saw extravagant spending on the building of several luxurious palaces and other pleasurely indulgences. Dụ Tông introduced theatre, which was considered at the time to be a shameful pleasure, in the royal court. Hierarchy and order were completely discarded by the Emperor, and he had the princes and princesses of the royal family do trivial tasks such as folding paper fans in the market. During official audiences, when Dụ Tông felt happy, he would step off the throne to dance with his ministers. One time, the Emperor was so drunk that he fell into a pool of water and caught a disease that was only cured after a long period of treatment. The Emperor died on 25 May of the Lunar calendar, 1369, at the age of 33 following a reign of twenty-eight years. He did not have any posthumous name and was buried in Phụ Tomb. Dụ Tông had one wife, Queen Nghi Thánh, who was daughter of the Prince Huệ Túc Trần Đại Niên. Being impotent, Dụ Tông had no son of his own and before his death, he issued an edict that the throne would be passed to Dương Nhật Lễ despite the fact that his appointee was not from Trần clan while the royal family still had several capable princes available for the position.