Chapter 33 Emperor Yuan Shun

Emperor Yuan Shun is worthy of our special discussion here, not because of his personality and actions, but because of his special situation.There were a total of 11 emperors in the Yuan Dynasty. The first emperor, Shizu Kublai Khan, reigned for 34 years from the day he became emperor (the previous 12 years were not called the Yuan Dynasty).The next nine emperors only experienced a total of 38 years.But the last Emperor Shun reigned for another 35 years.During these 35 years, the Yuan Empire went from a helpless situation to collapse.In the end, the Northern Expedition of the Ming army was like destroying the dead.The fall of the Yuan Dynasty was similar to that of several other dynasties.It's just that we usually see alien races taking over, and the northern nomads invaded south with powerful cavalry, invincible.This time, however, the ethnic minorities dominated and swept North China from the south of the Yangtze River.Yuan will either die or fall.In the end, Emperor Shun didn't open the Jiande Gate in Dadu (Beijing) until Tongzhou fell, and ran northward in 1368, which was also the first year of Ming Hongwu.Two years later, Emperor Shun died of dysentery in Yingchang (North of Duolun), Inner Mongolia. All his empresses, concubines, and grandchildren were captured by the Ming army, and only the prince fled with more than ten riders.The Ming Dynasty believed that Tuo Huan Tie Mu'er decided to flee to Mobei without fighting against the city on the eve of the country's ruin and his family's death. It was "following the destiny", so he was called Emperor Yuan Shun.

Traditional historians focus on "dynastic history". Shundi Yuyu's 35-year ruling power and prestige of the Yuan Dynasty have been declining. place. We don't think that the history of each dynasty is full of lessons from other dynasties.Under the special circumstances mentioned above, there is also a chance to see the essence of traditional Chinese politics.And the failure is not necessarily due to mistakes. Sometimes a certain humanistic factor is destined to fail to develop smoothly under a certain environment.We have seen that although a minority has gained political leadership and is unwilling to accommodate the needs of the majority political system, its rule cannot last long.Although we criticize this system from the perspective of today (because this is the primary purpose of reading history today, that is, to rationalize the status of people today), on the other hand, we also understand that at that time it was limited by the technical capabilities of the organization. at least (otherwise we would not be able to understand why history cannot be shortened, and why China cannot immediately leapfrog into modern times).

The Yuan Dynasty was followed by the Zhu Ming Dynasty.The many facilities of Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang seem extremely out of date today, but he wanted to do that at that time.Only by reading the history of the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties in one breath, can we realize that his situation is different from ours, and the background here is also a part of Emperor Yuan Shun. It is not easy for us to see his personal character from the biography of Emperor Shun.Traditional historians also tend to write him as a typical king of subjugation.For example: He likes field hunting. Once he hunted in the willow forest for thirty-five days.He also had Western monks to teach him "the art of luck in sex" or "the secret method of goodness".Some private notes said that he had public adultery with lamas, and even involved officials' wives and daughters.He also built a dragon boat in the inner garden when the state affairs were in trouble. "The emperor made the shape himself, and the length of the bow and tail was 120 feet."In addition, he taught court ladies to use various musical instruments and danced before praising Buddha, which are all evidences of his "indolence in political affairs and neglect in banquets".This statement is exactly the same as the record of the behavior of many other subjugated kings. Regardless of whether it is true or false, it is suspected of distorting the facts if it is just to attribute the fall of the Yuan Dynasty to the lack of moral responsibility of the last emperor.

Tuohuan Tiemuer turned out to be a victim of court politics in the Yuan Dynasty.As the eldest son of the former emperor, he was exiled, first lived on an island in the north of Korea, and then settled in today's Guilin, Guangxi. He had read a small amount of Chinese books, but his roots were not deep. In 1333, at the age of 13, he suddenly had good luck and was welcomed by several powerful officials to become emperor.But for the first 7 years, he was completely under the influence of Boyan who established him (many Mongolians use this name, this is not Boyan who destroyed Song Dynasty) and the empress dowager and aunt at that time. In 1340, he used Boyan's nephew Tuotuo (many Mongols also used this name, see below) to stage a coup, exile Boyan and Buda, and become emperor independently.Judging from his demeanor, Emperor Shun was a powerful politician, suitable for survival, flexible, willing to make compromises, and good at using one person or institution to balance another person or factor.For example, he himself is fond of Buddha and presides over various rituals of Buddhism, but he often attends sutra banquets and listens to Confucian officials explaining poems and books.Under his command, the Mongols and Semu people had the upper hand, but he cited a Han man, He Weiyi, as the royal censor and Prime Minister Zuo.He said that as a rule, only Mongols could fill these posts, and the emperor congratulated Mongolia on the name Taiping, insisting that he occupy this post, and ordered provincial and Taiwan officials to use southerners as well.There is no extreme rhetoric in his record.Whether he accepts the advice of his ministers or not, he does not pursue the advicers. We imagine that due to the difficult situation of the court at that time, Tuohuan Tiemuer can only make do with the reality.Although he has no leadership ability, but it is not for his wit and tact, it would be difficult for him to stay in power for such a long time.

In short, the situation of Emperor Shun was already arranged in the era of Emperor Shizu of Yuan Dynasty.Kublai Khan was determined to preserve the integrity of the Mongolian lineage and language. This was incompatible with the conditions in China where small farmers were the main body of society, bureaucratic politics was practiced, and enlightenment was used as an administrative tool. Even if Kublai Khan did not Racist at heart, his policies have had racist consequences.And invisibly, the tribal thinking of the Mongols has been brought into the politics of Dadu.Even Genghis Khan's family law, which produced the Great Khan through the "sudden and powerful" election method, left a bad influence on the politics of the Yuan Dynasty.Kublai Khan's own claim to be emperor was already illegal, and the heir to the throne would also be pre-appointed as prince (even brothers would become emperor and prince for each other).But the new emperor ascended the throne in Shangdu, and the Mongolian vassal kings were there, and they had to stay in Shangdu every spring and summer. If a certain faction firmly opposed it, it would be difficult to stay in power for a long time even if they were lucky.This also conflicts with the concept of the highest authority in the world that the Son of Heaven issued the Mandate of Heaven in the autocratic era.Besides, the empress of the Yuan Dynasty, as a rule, had her household registration, money and food, and subordinate officials, which were more than enough to represent the interests of her family.These conditions contributed to the instability of court politics.Among the nine emperors before Emperor Shun, Yingzong and Mingzong were murdered. Emperor Shun was only 9 years old and disappeared during the mutiny. Ningzong was only 6 years old and died two months after reigning. Historians still suspect that his death was accidental.The above has not counted Ananda, the king of Anxi between Chengzong and Wuzong.Like Emperor Shun, he was flocked to Dadu, but he was escorted to Shangdu to be killed just before he became emperor.

Since the ancestor Kublai Khan, there was only one emperor in the Yuan Dynasty who had the experience of leading troops in battle. This was Emperor Shun’s grandfather who later called Haishan the Emperor Wuzong. fight.The latter never recognized Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty as legitimate, and even though the Yuan Emperor was the emperor of China, he was not the Great Khan of the Mongols (detailed at the end of the book "Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan").He gathered many descendants of Genghis Khan, and at one point deported 700,000 people between the two parties to China.Two years after Haishan town of Mobei, Haidu died, his alliance collapsed, and Haishan continued to carry out five years of mopping up work, permanently eliminating the threat to the Yuan Empire in the northwest, before returning to Shangdu as emperor.Because of those who made military exploits under him, three powerful ministers were born.One is Yan Timur, the other is Kang Li Tuotuo, and the last one is the above-mentioned Boyan. Both Yan Timur and Kang Li Tuotuo are from Semu, and belong to the Turkic language family of Central Asia, while Boyan belongs to the Although Mier Jijiao was a Mongolian, he did not belong to the orthodox Yuan Dynasty royal family.In 1333, Wu Zong had already passed away, and the throne of the Yuan Dynasty had gone through a lot of twists and turns, but at this time Kang Li Tuotuo had died early. Although Yan Tiemu'er also participated in supporting Emperor Shun, and made his daughter the first queen of Emperor Shun, He himself died two months before Emperor Shun's official ascension to the throne, and two years later, his family was liquidated, among which Boyan had the most power, so Boyan became the only domineering official in Emperor Shun's court.

Not long after Emperor Shun ascended the throne, Boyan appointed the Taishi as Prime Minister of You and named him King of Qin (it is said that there was an earthquake in Qinzhou that day).German Sinologist Herbert Franke said: "He was definitely against the Chinese, so he clashed with the young emperor, who preferred to serve Mongolian officials who were more or less concerned about Chinese traditions." However, Tuohuan Timur became emperor at the age of 13, and saw his queen being led to death by Boyan at the age of 15. His sympathy and inclinations will not have any real effect within seven years of his ascension to the throne. up.

Under the auspices of Boyan, the Yuan Dynasty abolished the imperial examination.This kind of public examination system started too late in the Yuan Dynasty. It was not held for the first time until 1315. It has been 55 years since the founding of the country. In addition, the system divides Mongolian Semu people into one subject and Han Nan people into another subject. Therefore, The population of the former two groups only accounts for 3% of the whole country, but their allocated places account for 50% of the total.Moreover, with a few exceptions, the high officials in the court have always been arranged by Mongolians and Semu people.So far, even this kind of examination has just been carried out for 20 years, and it has also been stopped. In the future, except for a few students who were born in schools, they will rely on the merits of their fathers and ancestors to shadow officials, or use officials to fill officials, or serve as guards for a long time. Recently, he was promoted.

Boyan rebelled against the Han people again, and reiterated that the Han people, the Koreans and the southerners were not allowed to carry weapons. "Yuan Shi" said that he once proposed to kill people with the five surnames Zhang, Wang, Liu, Li, and Zhao, which seems unreasonable to read.However, he did issue an edict in the name of Emperor Shun: "Banghu in Runing, Zhu Guangqing in Guangdong, and Nie Xiuqing are all Han people. Han people who have officials in provinces, Taiwan, courts, and Hanlin can learn about the method of arrest." And it is even more inappropriate. What makes sense is that he also forbade the Han people from learning Mongolian and Semu languages.On the one hand, the laws of the Yuan Dynasty clearly stipulated that all the official seals of the fifth rank and above must be in Mongolian as the original and in Chinese as the copy.

After Boyan's defeat in 1340, many of his measures were abandoned, such as the resumption of the imperial examination.It’s just that some of the original racial inequalities still exist, such as “All Mongols fight with Han people, beat Han people, Han people do not report back, and must sue to Yousi”.Another example is "the Mongols who beat the dead of the Han people because of disputes and drunkenness will be punished and sent to the expedition, and all the money will be collected and buried."This kind of provision is consistent with the Yuan Dynasty and Emperor Shun.When we present these documents today, we are not specifically complaining about injustice for the Han people (because complaining about injustice has no strong historical significance), but to point out that the people of the Yuan Dynasty did not understand the true character of the Chinese bureaucratic organization, so they did not understand the nature of their own actions. true meaning.

In the long run, if the Mongols decided that the status of their own rulers and the secondary status of the Semu people should be maintained for a long time, like a hereditary class, their political system should also constitute a "feudal" form.That is to say, from the beginning, the method of decentralization of power was used to allow the clan princes to preside over various civil and criminal matters within their fiefs. The royal family only required them to supply military personnel and horses, and pay tribute on time, and then the fiefs could completely The second level of feudalism is carried out, so that the whole society can be formed into a pyramid, and the whole people have the order of seniority and inferiority, and it will never change through inheritance.What's more, real estate should not be separated from the political power, and managers should be warriors, so as to prevent social mobility from shaking the entire system.Those who enjoy the same privilege also have their fixed functions in society.When the Germanic tribes conquered Western Europe before the Middle Ages, they used this system to produce the Western feudal system, which lasted for hundreds of years.But in fact, Kublai Khan's organizational system adopted a centralized system. Not only was the local government divided into roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties, officials were appointed by the majority, and the central government dispatched the Secretary of State, the Privy Council, and the Yushi tower. The "Hundred Officials" in "Yuan Shi" has many names, and there are 42 ranks of civil officials and 34 ranks of military officials. ) were also supervised by the central government with officials and divisions, and Buddhist temples became banks for the nobles to cash out their money.Therefore, the nobles who eat and pay have no responsibility at all, but because of their wealth, they open the door to strife and competition. The Mongols tend to be practical and impatient with the moral concepts and abstract principles of traditional Chinese politics.Little do they know that although bureaucratic politics has countless pretentious places, its advocacy of self-restraint and concession to others is not all pretentious.And there is no real difference whether this kind of moral concept is really pursued by everyone wholeheartedly, or it just becomes a kind of pressure in the society.At a time when hundreds of millions of soldiers and civilians cannot be individually managed without any mistakes, the spiritual power of these abstract principles cannot be ignored.At the very least, they maintain the logical integrity of the bureaucratic system and indirectly cultivate the confidence of the people in the dynasty.Generally speaking, Mongolians cannot realize that this cultural factor is an administrative tool; the language barrier undoubtedly has a decisive influence.Even Renzong Aiyu Libali, who had the most respect for Confucianism, was only translated into Mongolian by the emperor's order.Due to the huge psychological and social distance between the two sides, the gap cannot be bridged. At that time, the Han left many records that the Mongols were illiterate and they disdain to be with them.In fact, bureaucrats cannot recite poems and books, and the emperor’s imperial edicts are copied in slang. This does not necessarily constitute an administrative error in itself, but collectively, these factors constitute the reason why the ruler cannot win the automatic cooperation of the ruled in China’s special environment. The key point is that Boyan just made this gap more obvious to the public. Several dynasties in China have "ZTE".Probably the military system and fiscal taxation in the early years of the dynasty have become outdated by the mid-term, and ZTE needs to struggle a lot. Generally, new arrangements, reorganizations, or partial revisions have to go through the middle class of society (Chinese writers emphasize "scholar-bureaucrats" Foreign writers refer to it as the "gentry class") in order to penetrate into the people at the grassroots level. At this time, it is not a mere order from the imperial court that can achieve the goal, nor can it be effective only through military operations. The confidence of the people in the dynasty, It is often possible to influence the overall situation.Here we can also assert that the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongols did not pass this magnetism.If the records in the past were not too bad and people's hearts were scattered, Emperor Shun's dynasty had the leadership of Tuotuo (this is Boyan's nephew, not Kangli Tuotuo), who compiled the three histories of the Liao, Jin and Song Dynasties, the Jialu River, and the Yellow River. Entering the old way, and expanding Timur's military leadership, the court once again subdued Fang Guozhen and resumed shipping. It seems that there is no hope of ZTE. The proximate cause of the fall of the Emperor Shun Dynasty was that due to financial bankruptcy, the paper money issued by the government depreciated, and it was impossible to provide timely relief in times of famine. In 1351, the peasants rebelled and spread to all parts of today's Anhui, Henan and Hubei, cutting off the traffic between the north and the south. So Zhang Shicheng, a salt disciple, took the opportunity to occupy the rice-producing areas in the southeast, and Fang Guozhen, a pirate, blocked the sea transportation to the north.Only Polo Timur and Expansion Timur can fight in the Yuan army.The latter was originally named Wang Baobao, and he took the Mongolian name because his uncle Chahan Timur was the adopted son.At this time, the Yuan army was recruiting troops, paying soldiers, and accepting rebels on the spot.Polo and Chahan went to war again because of the internal strife in Shanxi.So where are the Mongolian cavalry and the Tanma Red Army (organized by people other than Mongolia) who were originally known for their toughness?The simplest answer is that for decades, they have only had privileges and no regular functions. , the base areas in Inner and Outer Mongolia also could not be mobilized for a while.A notable example is that one of the Peasant Army's leaders called "Mr. Guan" used the guerrilla method to attack Baoding first, but then went west to take Datong, and then went out to occupy Shangdu. , and later entered the Northeast, went to Liaoyang to go to Koryo, then turned back and threatened Shangdu, and finally surrendered to Polo Timurnan, but it has been 6 years since entering the land of no one. In the last ten years of the Yuan Dynasty, there were many conspiracies in the court, and the generals who could fight were executed, which was exactly the same as the collapse of the dynasty presided over by the majority. In the end, there was only one expansion Timur (his name means Qingtie), Zhu Yuan Jing also called him a "strange man", but it was too late, and he could only follow the "Northern Yuan" government in exile and pledge his allegiance to Beyond the Great Wall. China's "Second Empire" was managed by the Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty and Sui Dynasty. It was carried forward by the Tang Dynasty, and it was reunified with the Song Dynasty after the decentralization of power in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.The experiments of the Yuan Dynasty did not produce any positive results.When Zhu Yuanzhang organized the Ming Dynasty, on the one hand, he seemed to act freely, and the whole empire was at his mercy; developed.