Turning over the history of the Yuan Dynasty, we found an interesting phenomenon that the change of rulers of the Yuan Dynasty was too frequent. The dramatic rule here makes one wonder whether they expanded their territory to 33 million square kilometers. Was it the mighty Mongol iron horse that terrified Eurasia at the time?
Sweeping through Eurasia, to the struggle for power and profit, just want to lie flat
From the time Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty set the name of the state as "Dayuan" to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, there were 14 emperors in the Yuan Dynasty in these 98 years, of which Kublai Khan occupied 23 years, the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Yuanhui, occupied 36 years, Emperor Chengzong reigned for 12 years, and Emperor Renzong reigned for 8 years, of which three Yuan Emperors, Zhenjin, Dala Ma Bala and Gan Ma La, were all emperors who were crowned by their sons after they succeeded to the throne. In the middle, there are 7 real reigning emperors divided into 19 years. As if some kind of imperial experience activity, a year or two of reign time, only enough to have a dry addiction.
However, starting with the Mongol tribes, chiefs also changed frequently. In addition to Genghis Khan taking the lead in unifying Mongolia for 21 years, Wokoutai ruled for 12 years, Möngke reigned for 8 years, and there were 4 emperors left to share 12 years, each with only three or four years of reign.
Frequent imperial successions and almost constant military expeditions have travailed the entire history of the Mongol Empire.
During the time of Genghis Khan, the Liao Emperor Yelü Dashi led his men and horses to flee to Yemi on the eve of the destruction of the Liao State, established the Western Liao Empire, and once dominated the existence of Central Asia, but it declined later and met Temujin. In 1218, the general Zhebei rebelled against the Western Liao, and the Western Liao perished; the Khwarazm state, which had been replaced by the hegemon of Central Asia, took the initiative to provoke the Mongols, and as a result, they were all destroyed.
In 1227, Genghis Khan died of illness during his western expedition to Western Xia, leaving a will stating that Wokoutai should be put on the throne, and the other brothers should obey and unite. For the next two years, wokoutai's half-brother Tuolei regent the state. The Mongol soldiers and horses of the Western Expedition heard the news and returned to the Dynasty, ending the first Western Expedition that lasted 7 years. Two years later, Wokoutai inherited most of the power and land.
After stabilizing the situation, in 1235, wokoutai sent his eldest brother Chishu to continue the western expedition, that is, the famous "eldest son's western expedition" in history, along the way conquered the Russian Principality of Liezan, Malim and other places north of the Caucasus, and in 1241, the Mongol army was divided into two routes, one defeated the combined polish and Gellan forces, and the other attacked Hungary, successfully occupying all of Hungary. In November of the same year, Wokoutai died, and when the news reached the army, Akatsuki's son Batu abandoned his offensive, turned his head and retreated east, establishing the Khanate of Chincha on the east bank of the Le River, administering the area between the Irtysh, danube, and Caucasus mountains.
Another brother of Wokoutai, Chagatai, had long ago established the Chagatai Khanate, mainly in the original Western Liao, including the area between the North and South Tianshan Mountains and the present-day Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers.
Empress Zhaoci, the imperial concubine of Wokoutai, took the opportunity to take the throne as Khan, but she killed her ministers, tampered with various effective decrees, and made a mess of the government, especially the deposing of Genghis Khan's "Zaza", which led to the disobedience of the princes and their own government, and the Mongol Empire was on the verge of dispersion. Five years later, his son Guiyu ascended the throne, and in a limited period of three years, although he made up for his mother's chaotic government, the time was too short, he died of illness from a weak age, and his empress Hai lost his way and listened to the government under the support of the kings for three years, but her presence led to the further division of the Mongol Khanate, not only unable to manage the kings, but even his two sons could not control it, and established a mansion separately, calling himself orthodox. With her bad luck, she encountered natural disasters and droughts, and the water weeds and livestock on which the nomadic people depended for their survival died in large numbers. The government of the DPRK is in chaos, and the people are suffering.
In 1251, Möngke was enthroned, and Sea Lost tried to assassinate Möngke through witchcraft, but was drowned in the river by Möngke. After Möngke ascended the throne, the first thing was the Western Expedition, and he sent his brother Hulagu to lead an army of 100,000 to continue fighting along the footsteps of his father. This time it took 8 years to reach the south of the Caspian Sea, conquered Iraq, continued the western expedition, flattened Mesopotamia, and approached Egypt. In 1260, the Sultan of Egypt defeated the Mongol army south of Damascus, which stopped the Mongol iron horse from advancing westward. However, at this time, the news of Möngke's death in 1259 also reached Hulagu's army, and he had no intention of expanding anymore, so he took the opportunity to return home with his army. In the same year, Kublai Khan won the battle for the Khan's throne, and Hulagu went west to establish the Ilkhanate in the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus, also known as the Ilkhanate.
When Möngke was supported, the Mongol nobles who were originally in the Wokoutai clan stopped doing it. Therefore, all the Mongol emperors at that time had sworn an oath to be loyal only to the descendants of Wokoutai as Khans. But Möngke was the son of Tuolei, not the orthodoxy they thought they were. As a result, Wokoutai's grandson lost his door and brain, and was executed after the failure of the sneak attack on Meng Ge, who was then accused by the prince of the Wo Kuotai clan.
After Möngke's death, Ali Buge and Kublai Khan competed for the Khan's throne. It turns out that the dragon gave birth to nine sons, each with different ones, Ali Bu Brother and Kublai Khan are both the sons of Tuo Lei, but the political views are diametrically opposed, Ali Bu Brother is very opposed to Kublai Khan's acceptance of Han culture, and the two brothers are therefore fighting for the head.
In the end, Kublai Khan won, and the emperor hai of the Wokoutai clan supported Ali Bu brother and established the Wokoutai Khanate with the help of various forces. In 1264, Ali chose to submit to Kublai Khan, but Haidu stuck to the Wokoutai Khanate, and the rebellious mind was very obvious.
However, by this time, the vast territory of the Mongol Empire had taken on a complete shape, consisting of the Yuan Dynasty, the central government that ruled the Central Plains, and four nominal vassal states. Their relationship, that is, the four feudal states were willing to call the Yuan Dynasty a big brother, but the rules of the big brother could not affect the khanates at all. No matter how much Kublai Khan himself studied Han culture, he acknowledged in the founding edict and the history books compiled by the Yuan Dynasty that he took over the Central Plains from the Song Dynasty. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang also recognized the Yuan Dynasty as a former dynasty of the Ming Dynasty in his own compiled history of the Yuan Dynasty.
So, as an aside, did the four Mongol states at that time also belong to China? This is a matter of opinion.
Then again, although Kublai Khan moved the capital to the Central Plains, the Mongols were not born to govern the country. Including the previous Western Expedition, it was also burned and looted all the way, setting fire to the city at every turn, diverting water to flood the city, and slaughtering the city after the city was destroyed. All in all, they will only fight, they will not defend the city. After Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, he still embarked on the old road of conquest to the outside world, and the western expedition was not easy to fight, so it was changed to the eastern expedition to fight Japan. The success or failure of the Crusade is not discussed here, focusing on the domestic situation that affected the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.
At home, he initially reused Han chen, using the administrative setup left over from the Han court, and was more ideologically inclusive, allowing Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism to go hand in hand, and even actively accepting Christianity and its followers. Economically, he borrowed from the "banknotes" that appeared in the Song Dynasty, that is, paper money, to promote commercial development and circulation. In terms of policy, the policy of persuading farmers for a period of time has also been implemented.
The mystery of the short life of the Yuan Dynasty, which perished in less than a hundred years
However, the fall of the Yuan Dynasty may have left a foreshadowing at the beginning. The ruler may be culturally inferior and afraid of eventually being replaced by the Han, so he tries his best to suppress it. The people of the Yuan Dynasty are divided into four classes, the first class is naturally Mongols, and the second class is composed of Western Xia, Central Asians, Europeans and Uyghurs, also known as Western Chinese. The third class were Han Chinese, including the Han, Khitan, Jurchen and Goryeo people who had been ruled by the Jin Dynasty, but the Han and ethnic minorities who had long held the Central Plains were called "Nan people". This division is very similar to the caste system in India. As long as they are Mongols, stupid as pigs can also enjoy the high-ranking officials Houlu, and the "Southerners", although full of poetry books, still have to bear examination papers that are several times more difficult than the Mongols, and many excellent students have no chance to serve the country at all. Not only is there no way to change fate with knowledge. It is also very unfair in law, if the Han and the "Nan people" and the Mongols have a dispute, they must fight back and scold and do not return the mouth, and even if the Mongols kill these two types of people, they are only given some funeral expenses, and the most they can be beaten by the government can be beaten by the government.
If you don't study and don't become an official, can the Han people cultivate land? The imperial court would divide a large amount of land among the Mongol nobles and temples. And where does the land come from? It is to snatch it from the hands of the peasants. The peasants had no land, but they still had to pay taxes, and they had no choice but to rent the land of the temples and the nobles. Pay rent, pay taxes, tired and tired may not have enough to eat. So what to do if you can't eat enough, borrow usurious loans, what to do if you can't pay back, sell your children and sell your daughters and sell your wife, and finally you are really oppressed and can't stand it, only the opposite.
If you think about the life of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, you know how miserable the low-level people of the Yuan Dynasty were.
And the root cause of all this, in addition to the Yuan Emperors after Kublai Khan lying on the merit book and not thinking of making progress, there is also a reason that their minds are not focused on governing the country at all, and even the old ancestors have forgotten the skills of the southern conquest and the northern war, and they are bent on fighting for power. In order to get support, the land and money they rewarded the nobles often came at the mouth, and when they had no money, they would find the people to increase their income. And as long as you become the emperor, you can be carefree, eat every day, you can also command the world, the money spent is not your own, think of the beauty, and do not have to be like your ancestors, eat and sleep in the wind, and risk your life to fight.
Therefore, in addition to Kublai Khan's expedition to Japan, the later rulers of the Yuan Dynasty did not send troops out at all, the so-called raising troops for a thousand days to use troops for a while, the soldiers and horses did not practice, over time, they also lost their vigor and combat effectiveness, and finally they were beaten by the peasant rebel army to find teeth on the ground. However, the former Mongol Iron Horse actually had no intention of saving face, but colluded with the superiors and subordinates in the army, and still could ask the imperial court for a reward all the way without blushing.
Therefore, after Kublai Khan, no one who became emperor was enough to serve the people, and there were always greedy and insufficient clans and nobles who fought each other in order to seek greater privileges and benefits. The rewards given to the nobility were so great that the treasury was empty, and the paper money issued by Kublai Khan was now being indiscriminately distributed, causing severe national inflation.
Later, the operation of selling officials was not unexpected, and the price was clearly marked. Of course, this kind of investment is to make money, and when it is spent to buy official goods, it is necessary to turn the local people and the officials at all levels under the rule over and over again. In the end, government officials simply brought scales when they met, and the superiors directly received money for seeing each other, birthday money, and chasing festival money, and nothing could be found in any name, as well as sprinkling money. The feelings are not deep, and it is not much gold and silver to see the tribute. In the Ming Dynasty love novel "Jin Ping Mei", there is a plot about meeting qian, and the twentieth time: "They all take the money here, and they don't ask him to come out to see him." ”
And when the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Yuan hui, took over, there was only an empty shell left. His policy reforms had no popular support; he wanted to suppress the rebellion without a strong army, and the last general he trusted, he broke away and died in political struggle.
In this way, the cauldron of the world was smashed tightly and firmly.