Chapter 31 Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan

Those of us who teach history want to give some pointers to beginners, so that they can see the relationship between the rise and fall of China today and the outstanding people and deeds of the past two thousand years, but it is not easy to start when the Yuan Dynasty is mentioned.Just talking about the original materials, the "Yuan History", "Yuan Dianzhang" and "Yuan History Leibian", etc., have already made us breathless if we are not interested in being experts in Yuan history.In addition, Mongolia's "Golden History" (which has been translated into Chinese) should also be compared with Chinese materials.However, the special research of modern scholars is not all in Chinese and English. Most of the readings are still in Russian, French, German and Japanese.

In the past, the methods of teaching history either emphasized the lack of civil rule in the Yuan Dynasty, or emphasized the martial arts of Genghis Khan.For example, as mentioned earlier, we often hear the Mongols talk about conquering the world immediately and governing it immediately.In Zhao Yi's "Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories", there are Mongolian emperors who do not know Chinese, and they themselves are recommended by powerful officials.Moreover, they divide the whole people into four classes, one is Mongolian, the other is Semu (that is, all kinds of eyes, mainly the Turkic Huihe party in the hinterland of Central Asia), the third is Han (northern people, including the Jurchens and Koreans), and the fourth is Semu. For the southerners.There is also a saying that according to occupation, monks and Taoists are higher than officials, and Confucian scholars are lower than prostitutes.Fan monks are respected as national teachers, and those who manage money are all ministers of accumulation.This kind of statement is not completely wrong, but it is too simplistic of history, too inclined to notes and materials, and it is easy to follow the rumors from the facts, and finally fall into abuse.The racial concept of the Yuan Dynasty people is true.However, Liu Bingzhong, Yao Shu, and Xu Heng used literature attendants to create the system for the ancestor Kublai Khan. Shi Tianze and Dong Wenbing fought for the founding of the Yuan Dynasty for decades. Youcheng discussed the matters of the Privy Council (Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan and member of the Military Committee), which shows that the Han people were not completely discriminated against.Even in the later period, it was difficult for the Han people to hold great power in the court, but they still had no excuses and were effective in correcting and prosecuting Mongolian Semu ministers as censors at Yushitai.And He Weiyi can be regarded as an extremely human minister if he is the doctor of the imperial censor and the prime minister of the left (his failure to die well in his last years is a political problem of the Yuan Dynasty court, and has nothing to do with race).

For example, when it comes to the martial arts of the Mongols, it is true that there are also popular stories.The area conquered by Genghis Khan and his descendants stretched across Europe and Asia, and there is no second such empire in the history of the world that can hold a candle to it.This aspect is certainly due to the fact that there was no powerful military and political organization between Europe and Asia in the 13th century, which was enough to call to resist the large-scale offensive launched by the Mongols from the grasslands; on the other hand, it was also due to Temujin's organizational genius.At that time, the Mongols had a population of less than two million, but they were divided into countless tribes, fighting each other frequently.Temujin merged them into a huge nation-state military organization by means of alliances, alliances, attacks and conquests. In 1206, he was recognized by the chiefs and was given the title of Genghis Khan, which was Germanic compared to Hitler. The "leader" of the nation was more than seven hundred years earlier.

Under the leadership of Genghis Khan, Mongolia was all soldiers.His military system is composed of tens of units, hundreds and thousands, and there is no salary.As long as the leaders of each army are capable, they can be promoted very quickly, regardless of seniority.Soldiers are extremely hardworking. Marco Polo said: "They can bear hardships like no other in the world. They can go without food for several months and live on the milk of mare and the animals hunted by bows and arrows." He also said: "If under special circumstances, they can gallop for ten days at a time without eating fireworks." If we think this passage is exaggerated, the story of another chieftain in "Yuan Shi" "Taizu Benji" also has "Zhongdao" When food is exhausted, goat's milk is squeezed for drinking, and the blood of camels is stabbed for food."Under normal circumstances, the Mongolian army had no large or small luggage, and the soldiers only carried skin bags to hold water, and they also used them as floating bags for crossing rivers.They can pretend to sleep on horseback, march day and night when necessary, and change horses to continue advancing when the environment permits.

Such a troop of soldiers, riding is part of their daily life, coupled with strict military discipline, and because the technology of the day has not produced countermeasures to deal with cavalry charging in dense formation, it is no wonder that Genghis Khan's troops are so powerful. It's too late.They used to march at high speed and surrounded the enemy with coordinated tactics of several columns.If the enemy resists firmly, start feigning retreat, and counterattack when the enemy's action and vigilance are negligent.Genghis Khan did not blindly implement a brutal policy, but he did not hesitate to burn and kill after the siege battle as a warning to the enemies who would resist through the city walls, sometimes extremely cruel.He also used the "fifth column" to spread rumors in the enemy's rear, and drove refugees to the enemy's territory, so that they first created an atmosphere of terror.But as soon as normalcy is restored, all cruel methods will stop immediately, and soldiers who commit crimes will be sentenced to death.

The conqueror of the thirteenth century did not focus on luxury items, nor was he attached to a luxurious life, so he could spend his life in conquest.Genghis Khan's motives make it difficult for future generations to guess.Western books unanimously say that he once said to people: "The greatest joy in life lies in conquering, overcoming enemies, chasing them, seizing their property, making their loved ones cry, riding their horses, and embracing their wives and daughters. "However, this kind of willful attitude is difficult to coexist with his strict discipline, and the method of being able to let go and take back. It is also contrary to his purpose of establishing the four khanates. There is no such record in Chinese sources.

After Genghis Khan conquered Yanjing for the first time in Xixia, he moved west to destroy Xiliao, and then marched to capture Huacizimo (a Turkic kingdom in Central Asia under the Soviet Union today). He himself went to the upper reaches of the Indus River.His princes and generals traveled north of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, and had carried the war to Europe.However, Genghis Khan swept through Hebei, Shandong and northern Shanxi, and did not eliminate Jin who moved his capital to Bianjing (Kaifeng). "History of the Yuan Dynasty" said that when he was dying, his last words were false in the Song Dynasty to defeat Jin.He died when he attacked Xixia again in 1227.

After his death, his descendants destroyed the gold, marched on the Volga River, destroyed Moscow, occupied Kyiv (the capital of Ukraine), and invaded Poland, eastern Germany, and Hungary.When it was about to develop into Western Europe, the Great Khan Okuotai died in Mongolia at the end of 1241. According to Genghis Khan's family law, his descendants would return east to elect the successor Great Khan.Xi Ou then breathed a sigh of relief.The Mongols' westward invasion also reached its climax in 1241, and it was considered a miracle that it never made a comeback.Judging from various signs, the Mongols developed too fast, occupied too much land, and the descendants of Genghis Khan multiplied too much. Their great empire could not be fixed and unified, and the khanates were also affected by local customs, political and economic forces. , the princes and military officers have lost interest in continuous conquest without purpose.

But when we talk about it here, we will also encounter many technical difficulties.Is the above the history of China or the history of the world?Or is it part of the connection between Chinese history and world history?Although Genghis Khan adopted the dissuasion of the Liao-born Jinchen Yelu Chucai, he did not treat North China as a pasture land. He was not interested in the cultural relics of the Central Plains, and Yanjing was destroyed by him.Even if we should respect the contributions of ethnic minorities to history today, there is a limit.Can we regard such a character in the wilderness as a national hero who is capable of conquest and has never been in the middle of the country?

Temujin or Genghis Khan is called Yuan Taizu only because his grandson Kublai Khan created a Yuan Dynasty in China, and he is the future ancestor.He also respected his grandfather as "Emperor Shengwu", and did not refer to Genghis Khan as Taizu until after the Taimiao was established.However, the author of "Yuan History" simply wrote him as a pioneer in Chinese history.He described the pregnancy of his maternal ancestors as "white light coming in from the skylight in a dream at night", and also used the adjectives "increasing merit" and "a gentleman's degree" to modify his personal character.In addition, the family law established by Genghis Khan, called Yasa, is also transliterated as Jasagh.The Persian historian has said that this law "concerns every case, and in every case there is a regulation of disposition". Although "Yuan History" mentioned "Zhasa", it never explained what it was, but it also called "Zhiyuan Xinge" and "Feng Xian Hong Gang" and other Chinese-style laws.Genghis Khan also established that the Great Khan was not only the lord of the East, but also the head of the three khanates in the West (that is, the Chaktai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Persia, and the Golden Horde in Russia). The "Yuan History" did not mention the election of those who were called "Suddenly and Taiwan" at the royal meeting. In 1260, Kublai Khan ascended the throne in Kaiping, which obviously violated the family law, because the royal meeting on that day had publicly elected his younger brother Ali Buge as the Great Khan. After that, the brothers still used the army for 4 years. "The Benji of the Ancestors" only describes the traditional formula of "the kings and ministers persuaded to advance, the emperor gave up three times, and the ministers insisted on it".It can be seen that the people of the Ming Dynasty compiled the "Yuan History" and worshiped Kublai Khan as the ancestor and Genghis Khan as the ancestor. Han people in the Central Plains.

Moreover, the mention of Genghis Khan today can also cause a real international problem: the Mongols not only live separately in Inner and Outer Mongolia, but also maintain the two autonomous republics of Buryat and Kalmyk in the Soviet Union.Generally speaking, the people in these four regions regard Genghis Khan as a national hero.On the one hand, the Soviet Union seems to be supporting Outer Mongolia, but on the other hand, it does not allow Outer Mongolia to praise Genghis Khan.American writer Harrison Salisbury said: "Patriotic Russians hate Genghis Khan, as if his invasion was just yesterday." Some Soviets also scolded the Mongols in the 13th century, and simply scolded China in the 20th century together, and even Looking forward to a "yellow peril" appearance, it is publicized everywhere in Europe and America.The reason is that two of the four khanates built by Genghis Khan are in today’s Soviet Union, and the Golden Horde, in particular, governs Moscow and Kyiv, occupying this area for nearly two and a half centuries (1240-1480). Many Soviets not only think that Humiliation, and thus the development of history hindered Russia's contact with the West, which became a major cause of cultural backwardness in the future. However, this book is based on the fact that the situation in China today is already clear, and there is no need to falsify or evade historical facts when explaining history in a situation where the rain has passed and the sky is clear (see "Introduction" and the first paragraph of "The Alliance of Chanyuan").The story of Genghis Khan can be included in the history of the world, and it can also be included in the history of China.If included in the history of the world, we can speculate: Although in the 13th century, the arid areas around the Great Gobi Desert had reached the limit of the population that the way of life could supply at that time, and because of this, there was an internal and external imbalance, which encouraged the Mongols to use Their primitive and brutish way of earning a living spread outward.It's just that once Genghis Khan launched this kind of movement, he didn't know how to stop it.If this subject matter is included in Chinese history, the story of Genghis Khan is only the background of the appearance of the Yuan Dynasty, not its essence. As for our determination of the Yuan Dynasty's position in Chinese history, the superficial knowledge we know can also provide us with a rough outline (history is continuous, and the preparation work of experts is endless, and we can't wait complete set of materials). From the above sections of this book, it can be seen that the Second Empire formed by the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties was open-minded (financial revenue and armaments grew larger and larger, and the economy also expanded). In contrast, the Third Empire formed by the Ming and Qing Dynasties was restrained. sex.The Yuan Dynasty was a short dynasty, in between, and could only complete a transitional task in history.Therefore, in many places, the Yuan Dynasty showed its dual character.On the other hand, it can continue to use technological advantages, maintain shipbuilding, promote sea transportation, promote international trade, build canals through the Shandong highlands, use firearms, and use Chinese and Persian engineers in an interchangeable manner to design cannons and crossbows. The posthorse conveyed news, strengthened the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures, used Guo Shoujing and Jia Lu to emphasize water conservancy, tested solar eclipses, and revised the new calendar; In business, he organized and managed the people's "community" in North China, divided the people into "military households" and "civilian households", paid attention to the inheritance of occupations, and advocated Taoism (see the chapter "Taoist" in this book for details). "Zhu Zhu" is the main one (the classics annotated by Zhu Xi, only "Spring and Autumn" can be interpreted with Zuo Zhuan, etc., and "Book of Rites" can be interpreted with ancient Shu Zhu), all of which laid the foundation for the conservatism of Zhu Ming Dynasty. To investigate the origin of this dual personality, we still have to start with Kublai Khan, who was the real entrepreneur in the Yuan Dynasty. After the death of Genghis Khan, the Great Khan became Kublai Khan's uncle Ogotai.Wo Kuotai reigned for 13 years, and the Great Khan who succeeded him was his son Guiyou.Guiyou reigned for 3 years, and the successor Great Khan was Kublai Khan's elder brother Mengge.All of the above have gone through the "hugeertai" election process. The first two times were held in Karakoren, the capital of Mongolia (Chinese name Helin).Although the last time was held in the area of ​​the Golden Horde, the princes and nobles still gathered in Karakoren afterwards to show the legitimacy of their elections.Not only did Kublai Khan not follow this procedure, but Karakolun was permanently abandoned by him. He later called Kaiping (today's Duolun in Inner Mongolia) the upper capital, and Yanjing became the capital after he rebuilt it.The emperor lived in Shangdu every spring and summer, and stayed in Dadu in autumn and winter, as did other emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, which was unique in the Genghis Khan system. It turned out that when Meng Ge became the Great Khan, he had attempted to dismantle the entire Southern Territory. In 1257, Meng Ge led the army into Sichuan to attack Chongqing, and Emperor Kublai Khan attacked Ezhou (Wuchang). Gansu entered Yunnan via Xikang, and it was Nanzhao on that day.After Kublai Khan returned to the north, this army stayed in the south and was commanded by Wu. At this time, it could also be supported by his younger brother.In this way, the western part of the Southern Song Dynasty can be cut into several sections.Unexpectedly, in 1259, the army was plagued by an epidemic, and Meng Ge died under the city of Hezhou (Hejiang, Sichuan). The Mongolian army gave up the entire offensive, and the Song Dynasty only extended his life for more than ten years. It turns out that Meng Ge's arrangement was taken by his younger brother Ali Boke in Guodu Town.This person is close to the royal officials, and also has the support of the Western Khanate.Kublai Khan presided over the civil affairs in North China for many years, trusted Chinese Confucian officials, and was far from the mainstream of Mongolia, so he could not win the hearts of the people.Therefore, "Khubilai Ertai" promoted Ali Buge as the Great Khan, and Kublai Khan was still in Kaiping, so he established himself as emperor.The so-called "following the public opinion, urging to become a great treasure", and using Ali Buge to "rebel" and edict the world, only has the effect of propaganda in China, and cannot win the sympathy of the Mongolians.Moreover, Meng Ge's widow, Kublai Khan's eldest sister-in-law, was still on the side of Ali Buk. Kublai Khan's policy was to defend from the south and attack from the north.On the one hand, he sent people to contact Jia Sidao in the Southern Song Dynasty in an attempt to make peace, on the other hand, he sent the Koryo prince Wang Dian back to the country and made him the king of Koryo to strengthen his flanks. "Yuan Shi" has the number of Wenqi silver taels given to the kings and queens of the previous dynasty, and it is said that "it is normal for the age".Therefore, the measures taken on that day will also become permanent policies in the future. It can be said that Kublai Khan’s belittling of the Han people and the rise of the Mongols began not long after this time. The prohibition of the people from carrying weapons was announced after he ascended the throne. His fiscal and taxation policies were especially affected by the containment of the North.This intertwined relationship between individual race and national policy has never ceased until the rest of Kublai Khan's life.Brother Ali Buk was defeated and captured in 1264. Kublai Khan spared the death of his younger brother. Some younger brothers and nephews from the Western Khanate also expressed their obedience to him in name, but his nephew Haidu never recognized Kublai Khan’s status. Gathered more than 50 Mongolian princes in Central Asia, and fought against the Yuan army for dozens of forty years. In 1287, Naiyan, the fourth grandson of Genghis Khan's brother, joined forces with him and attacked from east to west in northeast China today. The situation was serious for a while.Kublai Khan was seventy-four years old, and he was still in charge of the expedition, and some soldiers were still transferred from the south. In 1289, Haidu violated the border again, and the emperor conquered it himself.Therefore, when we talk about Yuan Shizu and the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, this factor must also be included in the calculation.