Chapter 38 Chapter Thirty-Seven Yuan Government’s Policies of Granting Land and Establishing Officials

The Yuan government often gave land. In the Yuan Dynasty, official land was given to kings, princesses, concubines, officials, eunuchs, and temples and Taoist temples. Those who are soldiers and nobles are of course Mongols. On the one hand, they enjoy political privileges, and on the other hand, they use Muslims to run various profitable businesses in order to exploit them.There are Tartar kings, false kings, false princes, false princesses, etc., who all handed over the silver taels to the Muslims or lent them to the people for interest.For example, after ten years of lending one ingot of fifty taels of silver, one thousand and twenty-four ingots of interest will be obtained, which is called "Lamb's interest".But folks usually only take three percent of the interest.

There are various inequalities in treatment between the Han and Hui ethnic groups.For example, during the reign of Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty, the government collected all kinds of horses, but Semu people only picked two out of three horses, and all the horses of the Han people were confiscated.For example, when holding an official position in the government, when the rank is determined, the Zhusemu people are often one rank higher than the Han people. Among the Han people, artisans had the highest status.For example, there was a massacre in Baozhou, but the craftsmen were exempt.Many Han Chinese who were not craftsmen pretended to be craftsmen, so they were spared.

Another example is that when the Mongols entered Bian, according to the old system, those who attacked the city and failed to surrender would be killed.At that time, Yelu Chucai refused to listen to his persuasion, so he said: "All craftsmen such as bows, arrows, armors, gold and jade live together in this city. If you kill them all, you will get nothing. But they are all craftsmen who can be used. Wouldn't it be a pity?" So the imperial edict could be waived, and the lives of 1.4 million households in Biancheng were saved. In the Yuan Dynasty, all Mongols or Jin people treated craftsmen quite favorably.For example, "Jingxiu Anthology" contains: "The people of gold migrated to the south, and the workers who moved to the states moved to Yanjing." And "Yuan History Zhang Huizhuan" said: "When the Song Dynasty was destroyed, there were 300,000 households who were born in the south of the Yangtze River as craftsmen. Choose them with skills. More than 100,000 households are craftsmen."

People in the Yuan Dynasty appointed official positions, and they were also divided into three levels: military, civilian, and craftsman. There are many craftsman officials, who have the same status as military and civilian officials, and are called "juyuan officials", which shows that craftsmen have a good status. In Yuan Dynasty, the status of craftsmen was particularly respected.For example, in the time of Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a man named Sun Cheng from Hunyuan who was good at making armor. Later generations gave him the title of Duke of Shenchuan County, and posthumous posthumous title of Zhonghui after his death;Another example is that among the Hui people at that time, there were those who were good at making pillows and those who were good at decorating sculptures, and they all presented them with public titles and posthumous titles.As for those who practice astronomy, ephemeris and yin and yang divination, everyone in the Yuan Dynasty gave them the status of craftsmen and doctors.The rule of the Mongols is a bit like the rule of ancient aristocracy and feudalism.They lack the cultivation of spiritual life, only a kind of religious superstition.