Chapter 5 3. The growth of a seed

In 1294, Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty "Xue Chan Khan", died.Because the prince Zhenjin died before him, the emperor's grandson Tiemur succeeded to the throne, and it was Yuan Chengzong's "Wanze Duhan". After Chengzong came to the throne, he announced in the edict that he would follow the rules of the previous dynasty, but he also made many adjustments to the policies left by his grandfather. First, he stopped the attack on Annan (now Vietnam), released Annan's envoys, and at the same time refused He accepted the minister's suggestion to continue the crusade against Japan, and sent envoys to Japan to restore diplomatic relations.So as to concentrate on governing internal affairs.

During the thirteen years of his reign, Chengzong's performance was basically an emperor's benevolence and civil governance, which had almost nothing to do with the imperial khan of gold and iron horses. In order to rest with the people, he repeatedly issued edicts to reduce taxes and taxes. The larger ones included the 1294 reduction and exemption of the current year's silver and salary banknotes, as well as the land tax of the inner counties and half of the summer tax of the year in the counties and counties south of the Jianghuai River; Urgently needed construction, exempting the money and food owed before May of this year; in 1296, the rich and powerful gentry were required to pay the hidden Jiangnan farm rent to reduce the burden on the common people; Three-tenths of the rent, all the disaster-stricken areas are exempted, the elderly, the weak, the disabled, and the sparsely populated households are exempted from poor taxes for three years, and all civil engineering projects in that year are stopped; In 1304, he ordered officials all over the world to be sympathetic to the people, reduce penalties, and exempt victims of disasters from paying taxes for one to three years.In view of the excessive land rent of tenants in the south of the Yangtze River, it is a permanent rule to reduce the land rent by two tenths on the basis of three tenths in the past.At the same time, the mountain farms and river ponds are open to the people for harvesting.

In order to have an efficient administrative team, he put a heavy hand on the administration of officials.In the second month of his ascension, he issued an edict to the various departments of corruption and visitation to promptly investigate the cases of fraud and treachery by officials of the transshipment department, so as to prevent the officials in charge of finances from being rich in corruption.In October of the same year, the Minister of Zhongshu was required to restrain the subordinate palace officials, and those who perfunctory in official affairs were punished with flogging. In July 1295, an edict was issued to warn all officials that anyone who committed the crime of embezzlement again would be given a second-class crime.Soon, the handling of the crime of embezzlement was changed to a third class; in 1302, because of the corruption and bribery cases of Jiangnan Zhu Qing and others, Chengzong dismissed 18,473 corrupt officials and tried 5,176 unjust cases.

In order to prevent the Zong Wang from interfering with the government, he rewarded the kings, princesses, and sons-in-law many times, and increased the salaries of officials. On the other hand, he issued an edict to prohibit the kings from interfering in local administration without authorization. The only thing that could make him look like a descendant of Genghis Khan was to send troops to conquer the Eight Hundred Daughters-in-law Kingdom (now northern Thailand, northeast Myanmar, and the capital of Chiang Mai, Thailand) in 1300.In the second year, because the countries of the Golden Tooth (now in western Yunnan, China and Lashio, Myanmar) blocked the Yuan Dynasty's conquest of Myanmar and returning to the army, an imperial edict was issued to conquer the countries of the Golden Tooth.However, as the war situation was unfavorable, he soon stopped using troops. At the same time, he reached a settlement with Khan Duwa of the Chagatai Khanate and Khan Chabal of the Wokutai Khanate who opposed him as orthodox. It started, and the war in the Northwest that lasted for decades was subsided.

Chengzong didn't know Chinese and couldn't read Chinese classics, but his actions almost met the standard of an ideal Han emperor.The only regret is that he cannot and dare not change the one-country-many-system left by his grandfather Kublai Khan.All he could do was to let this ominous seed germinate slowly and not grow up in his hands.The history books commented that he "governed with a vertical arch, he can be said to be good at keeping success", which should be a fair theory. In June 1305, Chengzong made his only son Deoksug the crown prince.Unexpectedly, only half a year later, the young crown prince died of illness.At this time, Chengzong was also seriously ill, and this blow made him lingering on the sick bed and unable to get up. He had to be ruled by Empress Buluhan, and the prime minister of the court was entrusted with Haladasun, the right prime minister.

In the first month of 1307, Yuan Chengzong "Wanze Duhan" Timur died of illness in Dadu Palace.Because the prince died early, the inheritance of the throne became a problem. In terms of blood relationship, the sons of the Chengzong brothers are the most qualified to inherit the throne.Prince Zhenjin has three sons, the eldest son Gan Ma Ba La, the second son Da La Ma Ba La, and the third son is Cheng Zong.Ganmala had a son and grandson, Tiemu'er, and Dalamabala died young, but left behind two sons, Haishan and Aiyu Libalibada. Since Chengzong has three nephews, he can make the country and people's hearts safe by picking any one, but things don't always go so smoothly.

Empress Buluhan of Chengzong didn't like any of the three sons, but preferred Anxi Wang Ananda, the son of Mangala, the younger brother of Prince Zhenjin, and the left prime minister Ahutai also gave her great help. This Ānanda Tajiu town border gate, with 200,000 troops under his command, is strong, plus he is the grandson of Kublai Khan, so there is no problem in succeeding to the throne.But Ananda was an extremely devout Muslim, and ordered all his subordinates to believe in Islam.Once he becomes emperor, it can be said that he will inevitably Islamize the Yuan Dynasty.This caused dissatisfaction among many ministers.

Haladasun, the prime minister of the right, was the one who opposed the most fiercely. While hiding the jade seal, official seal and treasury key in his own hands and refusing to hand them over, he sent someone to ask Haishan, the son of Ramabala, to return to Beijing to succeed him. When Haishan was in Yuan Chengzong, he kept guarding the border and fought against the two Khanates of Chagatai and Wokuotai. He once won the victory and even killed the Khan Haidu of the Wokuotai Khanate, which forced the two countries to seek peace. He was named King Huaining by Chengzong.He is of noble blood and meritorious service, and is the heir to the throne preferred by most noble ministers.

But after all, he was far away, and after getting the news, he led his troops back to the capital, and it was difficult to arrive suddenly.And Ananda is in Dadu at this time, and may succeed to the throne at any time.In order to take the lead, Haladasun urged Haishan's brother Aiyu Liba Libada, who was in Huaizhou (now Qinyang, Henan) at that time, to go to Beijing. Aiyu Liba Libada learned Confucian classics from Taichang Shaoqing Li Meng since he was a child.Thanks to the advice of the teacher Li Mengjin, he made up his mind to go to Dadu with his mother Daji and his wife.After entering Beijing, he joined forces with Haradasun to put Queen Bruhan under house arrest, imprisoned Ananda, and executed Ahutai to stabilize the situation.

At this time, most of them are already in the hands of Aiyu Liba Libada, and he can completely ascend the throne as emperor.But because he was deeply taught by Confucianism, he insisted on waiting for his elder brother Haishan to return to Beijing to ascend the throne. Because of his younger brother's humility, Haishan succeeded to the throne smoothly, and he was "Qulu Khan" for Wuzong.As a reward for his younger brother, he named Aiyu Liba Libada the "Crown Prince", and agreed that his brother would be his brother, and his uncle and nephew would pass it on. Yuan Wuzong liked to overhaul temples and palaces, and rewarded courtiers excessively, which led to the emptiness of the treasury.If you have no money at hand, you will give titles indiscriminately.The history books say that "therefore, his title was too prosperous, and the officials who were awarded from afar, Xilai was too long, and he was widely rewarded with grace".Although he has only been in power for four years, the seed that Chengzong dared not touch has grown vigorously.

In 1311, Yuan Wuzong died of illness, and his younger brother Aiyu Liba Libada succeeded to the throne as "Puyan Duhan" of Renzong. Influenced by Confucianism, Renzong was "kind and filial in nature, intelligent, respectful and thrifty, proficient in Confucianism, and well aware of Buddhist scriptures", and understood the principle of "self-cultivation and governance of the country, Confucianism and Taoism are the most important", so he naturally wanted to be a "sage king".As soon as he ascended the throne, he tried his best to eradicate the seed that had grown up.He issued an edict to abolish Shangshu Province, reduce redundant staff, and rectify the government.In 1314, a "pioneering work" was implemented-opening the imperial examination to obtain scholars. In terms of martial arts, he sent troops to the northwest to defeat the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate without spending money, and he made some achievements in stabilizing the border. However, Renzong's mother, the Empress Dowager Daji, especially favored Tiemu Dier (Ye Shiyan and Ye Shiyan had an affair), and restricted Renzong everywhere.And Renzong was a filial son who dared not disobey his mother. The so-called "serving the empress dowager, he will never disobey his color; when he treats his ancestors, he will always be polite." As a result, many reform measures were aborted midway and could not be implemented. After being emperor for nine years, Renzong had no choice but to pass away with regret. Before that, he violated the agreement with his elder brother Wuzong, instead of making Wuzong's son the crown prince, he made his son Shuodebala the crown prince.This can be regarded as a disadvantage. In 1320, Shuode Bala, the son of Renzong, succeeded to the throne as Yingzong's "Gejian Khan".He rejected all courtiers such as Tiemu Dier, and did not pretend to be the queen mother who interfered in the government affairs everywhere. In 1322, Empress Dowager Daji and Tiemu Dier died of illness one after another. Yingzong took full control of the power of the government and began to implement reforms with Baizhu as the right prime minister. Baizhu is a descendant of Mu Huali, a wise general beside Genghis Khan, and the grandson of Antong, the prime minister of Kublai Khan. He was only in his early twenties at this time. Due to the vigorous and resolute actions of the monarch and his ministers, within two years, new policies came out one after another: Carry out the labor aid law, and the people's fields are drawn three times per 100 mu, and the labor aid is paid by the year; Promulgated the "Dayuan Tongzhi", supervised the country's political system laws and regulations, and promoted the Han law; Redundant posts are abolished, floating fees are saved, taxes and duties are reduced to relieve agricultural labor; Widely employed Han officials and Confucian scholars, such as Zhang Gui, Wu Yuangui, Wang Yue, Wu Cheng, etc.; Published the "Guidelines for Zhenjutai", requiring the recommendation of talents and the selection of talents; Dismiss the Huizhou government and redundant officials and redundant positions, streamline the organization, control financial use, implement the labor service law and reduce corvee. All of a sudden, the world was in awe of it, praises were made at home, and politics was a new thing. However, Yingzong's reforms were too hasty, and the strength of the conservative Mongolian nobles was not weakened. The court and China immediately assembled their huge opposition forces.Headed by Tie Shi, the official censor, Tie Muer, who knew the affairs of the Privy Council, and Shi Tuer, the chief minister, a long list can be pulled out: Chijin Tiemuer, the former political officer of Pingzhang, and the former political officer of Pingzhang in Yunnan Province. Wan Zhe, Tiemu Die's son Qian Zhishu Shi Suonan, Tie Shi's younger brother Xuanhui envoy Suonan, Dianrui envoy Tuo Huochi, Privy Council deputy A San, Qin Shu Privy Council Shizhangtai, guard Tuman and other kings According to Tibuhua, Polo, Yuelu Temur, Qulubuhua, Ulusbuhua and so on. Others are nothing, but Tie Shi, the leader of the opposition group, is not only Yingzong's wife-in-law, but also holds the power of the imperial army, which is extremely dangerous for Yingzong.However, because Yingzong had a good relationship with the queen, he couldn't bear to add more crimes, which caused a catastrophe. In May 1323, when Yingzong and Baizhu returned to Dadu from Shangdu, they were stationed at Nanpo Station, 20 miles southwest of Shangdu.It is known as the "Nanpo Change" in history. Yingzong died at the hands of rebellious ministers before his aspirations were fulfilled. The history books say that Yingzong "resulted in execution", which would lead to "the treacherous party fears punishment, and then creates a big change." In fact, if Yingzong really died in execution, it will Tie Shi and others who were originally Tiemu Dier's henchmen were all killed, so where did the "big change" come from? With the death of Yingzong, the hope of eradicating that seed was shattered again, and the Yuan Dynasty also went to the road of no return from prosperity to decline.