Chapter 4 2. Efforts to reorganize the empire - Kublai Khan's "Great Yuan Dynasty"

Genghis Khan, who lived his life based on grassland nomadic civilization, might never have dreamed that he would become the emperor of farming civilization in the future, and would be called "Emperor Taizu Wu" by his grandson.The "Yek·Mongol·Ulus" (Great Mongolian Kingdom) established by himself also evolved into the "Great Yuan Dynasty". For him, Kublai Khan was the quintessential offspring—a grandson who violated tradition and violated his precepts. Of course, Kublai Khan would never admit his dishonesty. He tried more than once to bring those disobedient cousins ​​back to his control, fought against the sea capital of the Ogodei Khanate, and insisted on dealing with Chagatai Khan. The canonization of the Khan and his efforts to maintain the suzerainty over the Ilkhanate are all to show that he is the legitimate Khan of the Mongolian Empire.

But in reality, he knew that he could no longer return to the era of his grandfather, father, and brother. The empire that relied on tradition, force, and blood relationship was gone forever.He must find new ways to reorganize the empire. He needs a jurisprudence, a new one that fundamentally defines his status. In East Asia, no one can deny that the Chinese emperor is the "Son of Heaven" and the king of the central government.This means that titles that represent civilization, holiness, and tradition have great appeal and are ready-made legislatures. Isn't China, which has always been called the "celestial dynasty", about to be conquered by itself?Isn't the Chinese emperor who has always been called the "Son of Heaven" about to become his own captive?Why can't this ancient and sacred legal system take over by itself?

Becoming the son of heaven and the emperor can not only stabilize the rule of the Han Dynasty, but also bring a new halo to his identity as the Great Khan of the Empire. Therefore, in addition to insisting that he is the orthodox "Mongolian Khan", Kublai Khan issued an imperial edict, proposing to "set out the regulations of the saints and talk about the custom of the previous generation", "the beginning of the law "Spring and Autumn", the large-scale " "Yi" of "Qianyuan" and became the emperor of China. In "Empire of the Steppes," René Grousse says that Kublai Khan "made the Mongol Empire the Chinese Empire. . . . and he became the rightful monarch of an empire with a history of fifteen centuries. His dynasty . . . Follow in the footsteps of the 22 previous Chinese dynasties."

There is some truth to this statement, but rather than saying that Kublai Khan turned the Mongol Empire into the Chinese Empire, it is better to say that he merged the two empires into one in parallel and reassembled the Mongol Empire. Since it is parallel, as the supreme ruler, he has to take on two roles. And with two jobs, the title has to be a little more troublesome.Kublai Khan ratified all the Mongolian Khans before him as the emperor's temple name. Although he only served as a supervisor of the country, he was also regarded as "Ruizong".He has opened up a new era by himself, so he is naturally the "ancestor".

In order to show the identity of the "Mongolian Khan", the Khan name cannot be abolished, and Kublai Khan's name is "Xue Chan Khan".Afterwards, all the emperors followed suit. Yuan Chengzong Tiemur, Khan, was named "Wanze Dukhan"; Yuan Wuzong, Haishan, was named "Qulu Khan"; Khan"; Emperor Yingzong Shuode eight assassins, Khan title "Gejian Khan"... In 1279, the Southern Song Dynasty perished, and there was only one Chinese emperor left. Kublai Khan officially named the country "Yuan", and everything seemed to be accomplished.

It's a pity that in the era when legal authority is determined by force, any gorgeous coat can only be a decoration.From the beginning to the end, Kublai Khan could only be a Mongolian Khan who was not worthy of the name-the brother khanates did not buy his account of the new legal system at all, and only had a false name in their hands. A false name is a false name, at least the other brothers don't even have a false name, they can only be their own "Golden Horde Khan", "Chagatai Khan" and "Ier Khan".And he himself can only concentrate on doing a more practical job—Emperor Dayuan.

However, the khan and the emperor are different. The khan belongs to the grazing grassland, belongs to the iron-blooded war, and belongs to the cruel conquest; while the emperor belongs to the farming field, belongs to the books and books, and belongs to the etiquette education. To be an emperor is to be Sinicized. This wasn't a problem at first.Kublai Khan once admired the Han civilization very much. When Mengge Khan was appointed to be in charge of the Han land in Monan, he vigorously recruited Han Confucian scholars and promoted Sinicization.In his "Jinlianchuan Shogunate", there are groups of Han Confucian scholars, Liu Bingzhong, Yang Weizhong, Yao Shu, Hao Jing, Wang Wentong, etc. are the essence of them.With their assistance, he set up disciplines, set laws, set up provincial departments, dismissed officials, lenient taxes, lightened corvees, defied debts, and emphasized agriculture and mulberry; under their planning, he violated traditions and competed with Ali Boke ; Surrounded by them, he became the Great Yuan Emperor.

In his army, the Han people Shi Tianze, Li Fen, Zhang Rou, Yan Zhongji, etc. are all generals with heavy soldiers in their hands, and they are also important guarantees for him to be able to rule the world. However, the problem still exists. Before entering the Central Plains, the Mongols engaged in a relatively simple nomadic-hunting economy.Compared with the Tuoba Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen (Manchu) and other ethnic groups who lived in the fortress for a long time before going south, and had more contact with the agricultural society, the Mongols have almost no contact with and understanding of agricultural civilization.It is much more difficult for them to recognize the importance of the agricultural economy and to accept a related set of superstructures and ideologies.

After the founding of the Northern Wei, Liao, and Jin dynasties, the only systematic advanced culture they came into contact with was the Han culture.After the founding of Mongolia, in addition to Han culture, it was also influenced by Tibetan Lamaism culture, Central Asian Islamic culture and even European Christian culture.For Mongolian rulers with poor native culture, Han Confucian culture was not the only good way to govern the country. Coupled with the fact that Kublai Khan regarded himself as the "Great Mongolian Khan" and never gave up his suzerainty over the Four Great Khanates, it was necessary to maintain the important position of the Mobei Grassland in the country's political life.Naturally, it will be difficult for his descendants to get rid of the influence of the grassland standard policy and become a thorough emperor instead of being a "big sweat".

With such a problem, as long as there is a little disturbance, the pace of Sinicization will suddenly stop. What's more, as a dynasty conquered by force, chaos is always inevitable. In 1262, when Kublai Khan had just ascended to the throne of God and was fighting fiercely with Brother Ali, Li Fen, the governor of the Jianghuai region he trusted, rebelled with the whole of Shandong. Political affairs Wang Wentong. Although Kublai Khan sent troops to suppress Li Fen, he only persisted for five months before his family was wiped out. Wang Wentong and his son Wang Luo were also killed for conspiracy.However, two highly valued Hanchens inside and outside unexpectedly rebelled, which greatly affected Kublai Khan's enthusiasm for Sinicization.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Semu crowd, who had been dissatisfied with Kublai Khan's re-use of Han people, spoke up: "Although Huihui stole the country's money and things, he dared to rebel if he was not a scholar."The Semu people are good at managing money, they don't have as many ethics as the Han Confucian scholars, and they are outsiders like the Mongols. As long as they help the emperor to collect wealth and satisfy their own selfish desires, they will not have any ambitions.Kublai Khan, who felt that the Han people were not of one mind after all, began to use Semuren again.Appointed Ahema, a native of Fenakte in Central Asia, to lead the left and right divisions of Zhongshu, and later served as a transit envoy for all roads, and merged the left and right divisions into Zhongshu. . The promotion of Ahema, who had "repeatedly destroyed Han law", as prime minister marked that Kublai Khan had stopped the process of Sinicization.In the Yuan Dynasty, the traditional Mongolian fiefdom system, official craftsman system, expelling slavery system, excessive court grant system, and commercial Uto (usury) system were preserved intact. These backward systems and the tax and grain system implemented in the Central Plains (including land tax and small tax, stipulating that those with more land taxes pay land tax, and those with more small taxes pay small tax) and the two-tax system implemented in Jiangnan (tax payment in summer and autumn) were implemented simultaneously. .National finance, local finance, and aristocratic food cities intersected each other, and slavery and the commodity economy operated simultaneously. The contradictions and chaos that emerged can be imagined. The Yuan Empire was the strongest during the time of Kublai Khan, and it was so powerful that it covered up all kinds of problems.But this multi-national system is a seed, a seed of the collapse of the empire again.