This article is written with reference to historical sources and personal opinions, and relevant literature sources have been marked at the end of the article.
I have to fight the water of the rise of the ears alive, Jun Nai said this, it was better to ask me to be in the dry fish as soon as possible.
- "Zhuangzi · Foreign Objects"
(Detail of the hunting picture)
In the first year of Yuanrenzong's reign, in 1314 A.D., a man named Tokhtar was born.
He is a nobleman of the Yuan Dynasty, the second generation of officials and the second generation of rich people born with a golden spoon, his father Mazartai was an important member of the Renzong Dynasty, and his uncle Boyan was a hot minister.
The Mongolia aristocracy we have in our impression is rough and simple, straightforward, good at riding horses, studying swords, fond of Buddhist affairs, and hunting all day, but the detachment is very different.
"Yuan History · Volume 138· The Biography of Detachment": Detachment, the word is very useful, and it is born to be different, which is different from the usual.
At an early age, he was quick-witted, flexible, and smarter than the average child.
Moreover, he did not grow up in the living environment of traditional Mongolia aristocracy, he is not only good at learning martial arts with guns and sticks, but also very fond of reading and is very keen on Confucian culture.
Anyway, you see, this person is really unusual.
Brother is very strong, a stone bow is said to be open, what a strong horse, take off to ride two laps, keep the tame obedient, and because of the Confucianism, his cultural attainments are also very good, painting is not bad, writing is better, so this buddy is simply a polygon warrior with comprehensive development, is a civil and military all-rounder.
At the age of fifteen, Tokhtar became the cowardly and cowardly official of Asujiba, the crown prince of Taiding's Emperor · and Sun Temur.
At the time of his birth, the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty was the fourth emperor Yuan Renzong's son · Aiyu Li Bali Bada.
(Detachment image)
Emperor Taiding, on the other hand, was the fifth emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.
Cowardly and cowardly Xue Guan, this is equivalent to the captain of the garrison of the Prince's East Palace and the prince's cultural teacher.
We must know that to be the prince and the prince's teacher, this position is extraordinary, it can be said to be very promising, very potential, for example, for Toto, Asujiba is now the prince, then he will be the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty in the future, if Asujiba becomes the emperor, then Tokhtar will be promoted to the emperor, and the new emperor will definitely reuse the old ministers of the clan like Toto.
Theoretically it is true, but it is a pity that after the death of Emperor Taiding, although Asuji eight ascended the throne, but Asuji eight was too young, only five years old when he was the emperor, the lord Shaoguo doubted, and could not obey the public, as a result, another Mongolia clan called Ba'er only ·Jin Tutimur launched a mutiny, pulled Asuji eight off the horse, and became the new emperor, that is, the eighth emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Wenzong.
This mutiny, we call it the Battle of the Two Capitals, what does it mean, after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, three capitals were set up, namely Shangdu, Zhongdu, and Dadu.
Yuan Shang is all in Xilin Gol, Yuan Zhong is in Hebei, and Yuan Da is in Beijing.
Asuji 8 succeeded to the throne of Emperor Taiding, and he ascended the throne in Yuanshangdu, while Tutimur was proclaimed emperor in Dadu.
Moreover, when the little emperor Asujiba was proclaimed emperor in Shangdu, Tokhtar was his loyal supporter, and in the process of Tutimur sending troops from Dadu to attack Shangdu, Tokhtar also gave advice to Asujiba to resist the enemy.
So from this point of view, Wenzong must not be able to keep Tokhta, because Tokhtar is a confidant of the former emperor, and the two are in a hostile state.
(Portrait of Yuan Wenzong)
But then again, Yuan Wenzong is a person, he is still relatively virtuous, he is also very particular, he knows how to cherish the virtuous, he knows that Totoku has the ability and is a talent, so he did not condemn because of this, but let Totoku be reused in the new dynasty.
It would be too much of an exaggeration to say that this is a capable person who can adapt to any environment, and the reason why Tokhtar was able to obtain the appointment of the new emperor of this dynasty as a former important minister is that he has a good uncle.
Although Tokhtar supported Asujiba at that time, his uncle Boyan stood in camp early and chose to support Wenzong, and Boyan can even be said to be one of the heroes of Wenzong's mutiny.
When Yuan Renzong and Yuan Wenzong were in power, the general environment of the Yuan Dynasty was still tending to be good, and if Renwen and Wenzong evaluated them by the profession of emperor, they were all decent.
It's just that, after Wenzong, the situation began to take a sharp turn for the worse.
Soon after Wenzong gained power through a mutiny, he had a very interesting idea for no reason, that is, he wanted to give up the throne to his elder brother Xiao'er, only · and Shi.
Wenzong and Heshi are the sons of the third emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Wuzong, who is only · of Haishan, Wenzong is the younger brother, and Heshi is the elder brother, Wenzong thinks that the eldest and younger are orderly, and they have the throne, so they should let the supreme power to their elder brother to enjoy, and simply gave the throne to Heshi, but after Zen was finished, he regretted it again, so Wenzong killed Heshi and returned to the throne.
After Emperor Wenzong, there were two emperors, one was Emperor Ningzong's · Yixuan class, a seven-year-old little emperor, and he was also very soy sauce, and died of illness after reigning for forty-three days.
(Portrait of Emperor Yuan Shun)
After Emperor Ningzong, he was the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Huizong's son was only · Tuo Timur, of course, we are more accustomed to calling him Emperor Shun of Yuan, but the name Emperor Shun was not given to him by the Yuan people, but the name Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty who eliminated the Yuan Dynasty, arranged for him, which means Shuntian to inherit the order.
Translated as "Iron Pot".
And the Yuan Dynasty at that time was a big iron pot full of holes.
The rule of the Yuan Dynasty began to have problems from the period of Wuzong Haishan, from the first year of Yuan Wuzong Haishan to the first year of Yuan Tong of Emperor Shun, but in 25 years, there were eight emperors.
What is this, this is a frequent power struggle among the Mongolian aristocracy, and power struggles often turn into large-scale civil wars.
The last time the ruling class fought at such a level was the Eight Kings Rebellion, which was enough to end the fate of the Western Jin Dynasty.
In addition to the turbulence of the times, the rule of the Yuan Dynasty over the common people of the world was also quite bad, and one of the most striking features was the exploitation of the bureaucratic class, which was very serious.
This Dayuan court loves to collect money, and it likes to change the law to loot money from the hands of the people.
If you get married, you have to pay money to the government, you have to pay money to the government for funerals, you have to pay money to the government if you want to go to court, you have to pay money to find a job, and you have to pay money during the New Year's holidays, anyway, there is no place not to pay.
Then a reader said, I don't do anything, I lie at home all day long as an otaku, and the government can't pay me back, right?
I'm sorry, but I have to collect money if I have nothing to do.
The oppression and exploitation of the common people by the bureaucracy was one thing, and the extravagance of the emperors and nobles of the Yuan Dynasty was another.
The author gives an example, you can take a peek at the leopard, when Wuzong Haishan was in power, the imperial court earned 2.8 million ingots a year, but the emperor could spend more than 8.2 million ingots in less than a year, so what is so much money used for, basically eating, drinking, and having fun, anyway, it is rarely used in the right place.
Earning a piece and spending ten dollars a day, the state finances soon fell into trouble.
(Yuan Dynasty tomb painting)
At the same time, when there were serious problems in the development of the dynasty, natural disasters continued to break out.
In the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, torrential rain produced more than 400,000 victims.
In the second year, there was a severe drought in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and there were 590,000 victims.
In the third year of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhejiang was affected by another disaster, and there were 400,000 victims.
And since the beginning of the third year of Zhizheng, the Yellow River has burst its banks three times in a row, and the starving people are innumerable, and most of the family members of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, died of hunger and disease in the floods of the Yellow River.
Although the situation is not optimistic, when Emperor Yuan Shun first ascended the throne, he still wanted to make a difference, and wanted to make every effort to turn the tide by the way, so the first problem in front of the emperor was that he had to take back his sovereignty.
Boyan, a powerful minister who started from the Renzong period, has been mixed up step by step to the Shun Dynasty, and has become an indispensable minister, with strong energy and great power, covering the sky with one hand in the court, and even Emperor Shun himself is supported by Boyan.
Boyan is cunning and suspicious, and no one can trust him, but the only thing he can trust is his eldest nephew.
It must be admitted that because Boyan is a powerful minister, his uncle who has taken off the shadow of Mengyin is also smooth sailing in the court, and his official fortune is prosperous.
This Boyan brother pays great attention to cultivating Toto, and once wanted to arrange Totoku as the emperor's close minister, of course, this motive is not very pure, Boyan wants to get Totoku to the emperor's side, the fundamental purpose is to let Totoku spy on the emperor.
But the strange thing is that although Boyan took Totok as his own, Totok never recognized him as an uncle.
In Totoh's eyes, his uncle is not a minister, but a rebel, for so many years, his uncle is the sole authority but perverse, in Totoh's view, his uncle is the root cause of the gradual decline of the imperial court, so he is not only unwilling to be used by his uncle, but has always wanted to bring down his uncle.
(Boyan image)
He is loyal to the imperial court, willing to serve the Son of Heaven, worried about the fate of the country, and in the face of his uncle's disaster to the country and the people, he must make a choice.
The Confucian teacher of Totok when he was a teenager was a great Confucian named Wu Zhifang, this Wu Zhifang had a great influence on Toto, Totoku wanted to bring down his uncle, wanted to make his uncle suddenly, and when he was undecided, he ran to ask Wu Zhifang's opinion, and the two had a conversation, which was like this:
Tokhtar asked: Uncle is already very arrogant, if the son of the day is angry, then our people will be naked. If you are undefeated.
Uncle Boyan is a powerful minister, and he has threatened the emperor's rule, if we don't take him down and control him, our entire family will be destroyed.
Wu Zhifang replied: "Biography" has it, 'righteousness destroys relatives'. The doctor knows that he is loyal to the country, and he cares about it. ”
The eldest husband should be loyal to his country and the monarch, and must kill his relatives as a last resort. (The above two sentences are recorded from the "Yuan History")
It is not so much that this is Wu Zhifang's answer, but that before he opened his mouth to ask Wu Zhifang, Totoku had already made a decision.
Soon after, Tokhtok and Emperor Shun staged a coup d'état, and the two monarchs and ministers fought to overthrow Boyan and sent Boyan to Henan.
His most trusted nephew turned his hand and defeated himself in the political arena with the puppet emperor he supported, but Boyan was not surprised, before being assigned, out of kinship affection, Tokhoff also personally went outside the city to bid farewell to Boyan, Boyan did not get angry, nor did he complain and reprimand, but looked at Tokhoff with a very strange look, looked, turned around and left.
Boyan fell, and the person in power was naturally the number one contributor to this coup, and because of this, he was able to get rid of the prime minister.
Achieving fame and fame and worshipping the king is really a great pleasure in life, but at this moment, I can't be happy.
At this time, the problems faced by the Yuan Dynasty had intensified, and he himself was entrusted by the king, so he had to act immediately.
(Yuan Dynasty banknotes)
Facts have proved that Tokhtar is indeed very capable, the economy collapsed, he issued paper money, the Yellow River flooded, he exerted his efforts to control the river, the peasants revolted, he suppressed the uprising, but the decline was irreversible.
In fact, it cannot be said that it is irretrievable, and there were several opportunities to reverse the defeat of the Yuan Dynasty during the reign of Toto, but unfortunately, Emperor Yuan Shun did not cooperate with him.
So some readers said that Boyan was brought down by Tokhtar and the emperor together, and the phase of Tokhtar was also given by the emperor, and the emperor almost bet all the hopes of saving the fate of the dynasty on Toto, how could the emperor not cooperate with him?
Actually, it's very simple, because Emperor Shun was the last emperor.
The last emperor in a stormy situation, he was alone, and he had to appoint capable ministers to help him, this person could be Boyan, Toto, or anyone.
However, it is precisely because of being the last emperor that he is inevitably suspicious, sensitive, and contradictory.
Tokhtar is not doing well, he is angry, he is angry, he will blame Totok, but if Totoh does well, he will worry that Tokhtar is too powerful and has overturned himself, so the emperor must not only reuse Toto, but also beware of Totok, often Tokhoff has just done a little achievement, and when he is just about to expand the results, the emperor will run out to suppress Totok, which will lead to the existing victory can not be saved, and the future achievements will be wasted.
History is always strikingly similar, when hundreds of years later in the northwest bandits, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong made a rebellion, Chongzhen appointed the governor of the bandits has just achieved some victories, Chongzhen suspects that they have a self-respecting army, and the tail is not big, so each governor can not do it for a long time, change this on that, change that and this, dozens of governors can not fully overcome the banditry, which is not because their ability is not good, but they can not get the trust of the king, can not get the trust, let alone have enough time to play.
Moreover, Emperor Shun is not exactly the same as Emperor Chongzhen at the end of the Ming Dynasty, although he is as rigid and suspicious as Chongzhen, but he does not have Chongzhen's courage and confidence from the beginning, and he does not have Chongzhen's hard-working and simple character.
When Emperor Shun first ascended the throne, he thought that he could change everything, but when he deeply understood the current situation of this empire, he could only calmly accept the fact that he could not change.
(Peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty)
When the Yellow River flood was controlled by the night of the Emperor, Emperor Shun was feasting in the palace, and when Emperor Shun was still drunk and obsessed with gold when he was racking his brains to improve the economic system, and when the soldiers of the Great Yuan fell on the battlefield one after another, the palace was already blissful and all night.
Not only the emperor, but even the ministers of the imperial court were rarely willing to cooperate with Tokhtar, they could not see Tokhtar's efforts to revive the empire, but only hated Tokhtar's high position, and always wanted to destroy the results of his efforts, the purpose was only to harm others and himself.
In the fifteenth year of Zheng, Tokhtar led a large army to surround Zhang Shicheng, the leader of the peasant rebel army, and was about to eliminate Zhang Shicheng on the spot.
The elimination of Zhang Shicheng represented that the Yuan Dynasty had achieved a huge phased victory in suppressing the peasant uprising.
However, at the last moment, Emperor Yuan Shun was either afraid that Tokhtar would control a large amount of military power and try to stand on his own, or he was provoked by traitorous ministers, so he issued an order to let Tokhto's class return to the court.
Everyone knew that the elimination of Zhang Shicheng would be a turning point in the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, but Totok did not disobey the order, but said:
The generals are in the army, and the king's orders are not subject to it. is to fight against the Son of Heaven, what is the righteousness of the monarch and the minister?
He calmly handed over the military power, returned to the Beijing Division, and waited for the fall.
As a Confucian minister, he recognized the integrity of the king and the death of his ministers, and he had no intention of disobeying the will of the Son of Heaven.
And the so-called fall, naturally, is to be dismissed, Emperor Yuan Shun took away all his positions, and sent him to Yunnan.
The capital of the Yuan Dynasty was in Beijing, and it was also called Khan Bali in Turkic language, which means the residence of the Han Dynasty.
The imperial city is magnificent and magnificent, the front and the back city, the left ancestor and the right society, the red tile and gold brick, magnificent and bright.
In the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, built a city here as the political, economic and cultural center of the Yuan Dynasty.
The city is the same as it was back then, but today is finally different from the past.
On the day he left Dadu, he remembered for no reason that he had seen off his exiled uncle Boyan and looked at him, and he finally understood the meaning contained in that look.
If there are lines here, then it should be the voice of Detached from his heart, his words to Boyan through time and space.
"Uncle, my nephew has now been stripped of his fame, exiled to Yunnan, and will never be an official again, until now, I finally understand that if this world is stable, virtuous and traitorous, my efforts alone are useless, at this time, I have been extremely tired, overwhelmed, originally I thought that the Son of Heaven would trust me, but he has been different from that year, I originally thought that my colleagues would work together in the same boat, now it seems, but they are all rebellious people can not speak the same language, my career has ended, life has also gone to a dead end, Presumably, this great yuan country will not last long..."
It's a drop in the bucket to put out the fire, and everything is in vain.
Before he arrived in Yunnan, he was given death by the traitorous ministers.
Twelve years after Toto's death, Yuan died.
Resources:
The Heroes of the Early Days· Volume 1
"Yuan History· Volume 138· The Biography of Detachment
Yuan Shundi's New Treatise, Journal of Northeast Normal University: Philosophy and Social Science Edition, No. 3, 1999, 20-25, 6 pages
Beyond "Ethnic Politics": An Exploration of the Logic of the "Roots" of the Yuan Dynasty, Historical Research, 2024, No. 4, 24-44, 21 pages