Chapter 62 Lost Jiangshan and fled to Mobei

Emperor Yuan Shun hid in the palace, while doing carpentry and practicing double cultivation, he was at ease.But at this time, the situation outside the palace was very bad. The struggle within the Yuan Dynasty intensified, and civil upheavals in various places were raging. The rule of the Yuan Dynasty had reached a precarious level.At that time, there was a popular song among the people, which sang this kind of crisis: Since Emperor Yuanshun ascended the throne, the courtiers in power have changed several times.The first is Boyan, who is self-willed in dictatorship, greedy and violent. Most of the world's tributes go to his family, and officials from the provinces, Taiwan and courts mostly come out of his sect. He is also a standard "ethnic discriminator".The founding of the country in the Yuan Dynasty originally divided the people of the world into Mongolian, Semu, Han, and Southerners in the order of conquest, and implemented a policy of ethnic inequality.This Boyan went one step further. At that time, there was a civil uprising in the south, so he persuaded the emperor to kill all Han people with the five surnames Zhang, Wang, Liu, Li, and Zhao.Fortunately, Emperor Yuan Shun was still normal and didn't listen to him.He is so powerful that every time he goes on tour, the banners block out the sun, and his attendants fill the streets, but Emperor Shun's chauffeurs and guards are pitifully few, making him look like his attendants instead.Emperor Shun was naturally upset about this, so he planned to deal with him.Finally, with the help of Boyan's nephew Tuotuo, Boyan was finally expelled from the court, and later Boyan died on the way of relegation.

Boyan died, and his nephew Tuotuo came to power.He is not as domineering and domineering as his uncle. He is a very wise and talented man. During his reign, he abolished Boyan's old politics, rehabilitated the unjust prisons of the kings, restored the imperial examinations, and presided over the revision of the twenty-four histories. The three histories of Song, Liao, and Jin were known as "virtuous prime ministers" for a time.However, although these policies were welcomed by the Han scholars, they inevitably violated the interests of the conservative Mongolian nobles. In the end, Tuotuo was overwhelmed by the opposition forces in Mongolia, so he had to leave.Later, Emperor Shun really didn't have any capable people around him, so he was called to clean up the mess.It's just that although Tuotuo was talented, he had no choice but to "be born in the end of the world and lose his luck".Therefore, in order to solve the financial crisis and the flood problem of the Yellow River at that time, he had to resort to suicidal policies. This is what the little song sang "open the river and change the root of the disaster".

In response to the lack of finances during Emperor Shun's reign, Tuotuo began to reform the banknote law, printing more "Zhizhengbao banknotes" to replace the already popular "Zhongtongbao banknotes" and "Zhiyuanbao banknotes", the so-called "Money buys money".Banknotes are banknotes, which first appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty and were called "Jiaozi". At first, they were only popular among the people. Later, the imperial court found that it was very profitable, so it was changed to official management.But the issuance of banknotes requires a deposit, which must be based on copper coins or silver silk, otherwise a piece of thin paper is worthless, and no one dares to use it, so it will not be able to circulate.This point can be guaranteed when the government is operating normally, so the popularity of paper money is not a big problem.However, once the government's financial situation is out of order and tensions arise, they all start to think about the principal of the banknotes. They feel that the common people will not dare to obey the order of the emperor, so they wantonly increase the circulation of banknotes. Start a "no-cost business".However, although the emperor's orders are powerful, they can't resist the laws of the market. The result of the excessive issuance of paper money is that the paper money depreciates rapidly, the economic order is completely destroyed, and finally the entire financial system collapses.Since the Northern Song Dynasty began to use paper money, the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty have a lot to do with the inflation caused by the excessive issuance of paper money.With Tuotuo's knowledge and ability, and he also majored in the national history of the Song and Jin dynasties, he would not fail to understand the serious consequences of doing so, but due to the severe financial situation, he had to adopt such a policy of drinking poison to quench thirst.In the twelfth year of Zhizheng (1352), 1.9 million ingots of Zhizheng banknotes and 100,000 ingots of Zhiyuan banknotes were printed.In the 15th year of Zhizheng (1355), as many as 6 million ingots of Zhizheng banknotes were printed.The capital uses ten ingots of material banknotes, which cannot be exchanged for a bucket of millet. The banknotes handed over are scattered all over the world.The banknote law of the Yuan Dynasty was so bad.

At that time, it had been several years since the Yellow River burst, and hundreds of thousands of people along the coast of Shandong and Henan became refugees.After getting rid of the prime minister, he called a group of ministers to discuss the management of the river, and decided to dredge the fortress at the same time, divert the river east, and return the Yellow River to its original course.Its fee is taken from the new banknotes issued.In April of the eleventh year of Zhizheng (1351), the government dispatched 150,000 migrant workers from Bianliang, Daming and other thirteen routes, and 20,000 soldiers from Luzhou and other garrisons for service.From the start of construction in April to the completion of construction in November, the Yellow River resumed its old course.

This was a good thing in the first place, but the imperial court's funds for building the Yellow River have been exploited layer by layer by those corrupt officials, and very little can be distributed to migrant workers, let alone new money that is not worth a penny.Moreover, in order to meet the construction deadline, nearly 200,000 migrant workers were mobilized in a short period of time, and they did not hesitate to double their labor, resulting in many casualties of migrant workers, wailing everywhere, and anger.At that time, the "White Lotus Religion" was popular among the people, founded by Han Shantong, who preached that the coming of Maitreya Buddha would bring light to the world.The so-called "Heaven sends the demon army to kill the injustice, the injustice kills the injustice, the injustice kills the injustice, and kills the injustice." There are also many Bailian believers among the migrant workers.Liu Futong, Han Shantong's disciple, ordered his disciples to bury a one-eyed stone man in advance. When the folks opened the river, they dug out the stone man with the words on the back: "The stone man has one eye and stirs up rebellion in the Yellow River." It caused a sensation far and near.After the completion of the project, except for a small number of migrant workers who returned to their hometowns, most of the migrant workers gathered under Liu Futong and became the main force of the uprising army. Because they wore red scarves on their heads, they were called the "Red Scarf Army".

The Red Scarf Army first advocated the banner of righteousness, and uprising armies all over the country also rose one after another.The Yuan Dynasty government sent people to suppress it in a hurry, but had no choice but to press the gourd to float the ladle, and then suppressed one place, and another place rose again.The world was in chaos.In the fourteenth year of Zhizheng (1354), a peasant army led by Zhang Shicheng captured Gaoyou, causing panic in the Yuan court.Gaoyou is the hub of the Grand Canal. Being occupied by Zhang Shicheng means cutting off the water transportation of the North-South Grand Canal, which is equivalent to choking the neck of the Yuan government.Therefore, in September of this year, Tuotuo received an imperial edict to control the kings and provincial armies. All government orders were carried out cheaply. He also mobilized troops from the Western Regions and Western Fans to help in the battle.Zhang Shicheng's army was trapped for three months, and the army was already discussing surrender. Seeing that Tuotuo was about to win, Emperor Yuanshun suddenly issued an imperial edict to dismiss him, which caused a dramatic change in the entire battle situation.

This is in turn related to the power struggle between the DPRK and China.Tuotuo looked down on Ha Ma, the courtier next to Emperor Shun, so Ha Ma spoke ill of him in front of Emperor Shun.In addition, Queen Qi's conspired with Hama to make Qi's son Aiyou Zhili Dala the crown prince, but Tuotuo opposed it. Empress Qi's mother and son hated Tuotuo deeply.Tuotuo left Gaoyou as a teacher, and Qi's empress, mother and son, and Hama ordered the supervisory censor to impeach Tuotuo.So Emperor Shun issued an edict to cut off Tuotuo's official rank. In the second year, he ordered Tuotuo to be exiled in Yunnan, and Timur was also exiled in Sichuan first.Ha Ma sent to kill Tuotuo with medicinal wine, acting as the prime minister.

The Tuotuo army was originally mobilized from various places, but they dispersed after hearing the edict.The sergeants who had nothing to surrender turned their backs and joined the Red Turban Army, and the Yuan Army quickly disintegrated.The Battle of Gaoyou was not only the key to Zhang Shicheng turning defeat into victory, but also a major turning point in the national situation.Tuotuo was the pillar of the Yuan Dynasty, and the corrupt Yuan Dynasty was even more powerless to save the peril after his death.The people who revolted like a raging fire spread all over the Central Plains, and the country of the Yuan Dynasty was crumbling.

At that time, the peasant uprising armies all over the country no longer regarded the Yuan Dynasty army in their eyes, and began to fight each other.Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang became the final winner among all the rebels.After eliminating and integrating Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and other soldiers from all walks of life, Zhu Yuanzhang formally established the Ming Dynasty, and ordered his general Xu Da to launch the Northern Expedition in the twenty-seventh year of Zhizheng (1367).On the 28th day of the seventh month of the same year, under the command of Xu Da, the Ming army fought all the way to Tongzhou without encountering decent resistance.

Facing the crisis situation, the ministers suggested to Emperor Shun to defend Dadu and wait for reinforcements, but Emperor Shun would not listen. He said: "I will never repeat the mistakes of Emperor Huiqin of the Northern Song Dynasty." On the night of July 28, He escaped from Jiandemen with the prince and concubines in a hurry, went north to Shangdu, and returned to the vast grassland where his ancestor Genghis Khan lived.But his good luck helped him again, and he escaped at the right time. On the second day of August, Xu Dajun invaded Dadu, and the prison king Tiemu Erbuhua left behind by Emperor Shun was executed. declare the end.

Emperor Yuan Shun fled back to Mobei, and Zhu Yuanzhang thought that he had made everyone so happy that he could be described as "Kesun's destiny", so he gave him the posthumous title of "Emperor Shun".But this Emperor Shun still used his title of Dayuan Kingdom in Mobei, and continued to be the emperor of Dayuan, known as Beiyuan in history.Emperor Shun died of illness after being the emperor of the Northern Yuan Dynasty for two years, and the people of Yuan Dynasty gave him the temple name of Yuan Huizong.