Han Chinese strategists influenced Kublai Khan with Confucian culture

Unlike other Mongol emperors, Kublai Khan has had sincere respect for Han culture and history since he was a child, and he can sincerely appoint Han Confucians in political practice, which is very valuable in that era of wars and chaos and the division of the world, which is the main reason why he can become a generation of famous monarchs in Chinese history. Because of Kublai Khan's attitude and policy, the Han Confucians who were under the chaotic world and the rule of foreign nationalities not only got a chance to survive, but also gave many outstanding people among them the opportunity to leave their names in history, and also enabled them to make their own contributions to The history of China. Their greatest contribution was to transform Confucianism from theory into concrete political tactics, and to use clever persuasion techniques that Kublai Khan was willing to accept and implement. This cannot but be said to be the greatest political wisdom of Confucian culture, and from the perspective of historical development, it is also the greatest contribution of Confucian culture to China's Taoli civilization.

Among Kublai Khan's Han Confucian advisers, Liu Bingzhong had the highest status and the greatest merit. At the time of his death, Kublai Khan sighed and said: "Bingzhong has followed me for more than thirty years, has always been careful and careful, does not avoid hardships and dangers, and sincerely confesses." In particular, his Yin and Yang Techniques are more proficient and wonderful, and he can predict events, not bad at all, only I know the details of it, and no one else can hear it. Another Han Confucian scholar, Wang E, also commented on Liu Bingzhong, saying: "The conspiracy of the counselors, the great plan of the society", it can be seen that this is the conclusion of the people of the times. Yin and yang are one of the essences of Confucian culture, and the number of techniques is only the specific application of yin and yang. These secret techniques were not the main factors on which Liu Bingzhong relied for meritorious service, and could only be regarded as a slight trick. Judging from the historical records, he was particularly helpful in Kublai Khan's political and strategic decisions.

When he first went to see Kublai Khan, after a face-to-face conversation, he thought that Kublai Khan was the ming lord who could be assisted by the Mongols, and at that time he wrote thousands of words to set the general policy for Kublai Khan. The essence of this book is still preserved in the biography of Liu Bingzhong in the "History of the Yuan", and its main points include:

The Confucian canons, ritual music, Dharma, and the teachings of the Three Principles and Five Constants are the guarantees of the success of the emperor, and whoever does what he does according to this thing can become a wise monarch, and vice versa, he will become a monarch and a defeated lord, which has been repeatedly proved by countless historical facts in Chinese history.

The success of the emperor is related to both the current situation and the quality of the politician himself, and the two are corresponding to leave a glorious page in history, and Genghis Khan is the best example.

Force can seize the world, but it cannot rule the world, and the so-called "taking the world immediately, not ruling the world immediately" is the experience of Chinese history and one of the objective laws. This is a warning against the Mongols' superstitious belief in force.

The reign of Brother Möngke did not affect the imperial aspirations of His brother Kublai Khan. He illustrates this with the examples of the Duke of Zhou and the King of Wu, and explicitly told Kublai Khan: "For a thousand years, do not lose it." This played a key role in strengthening Kublai Khan's confidence in coveting the throne, and also pointed out the right way to realize his imperial ambitions.

A successful monarch depends on a man of both talents and moral character. One commands a hundred officials inside and governs the people, and the other commands three armies outside and stabilizes the four sides. The task of the monarch is to find the right person and let him serve as the general and minister to realize his ideals for himself.

To rule the world, there must be a perfect bureaucratic system, and the bureaucratic system of the Han Dynasty established according to Confucianism has been proved by history to be effective, and no matter which nation rules China, it must be followed and cannot be violated. This was the key to guiding the Sinicization of the Mongol regime.

If the emperor wants to rule for a long time, he must be people-oriented. The so-called "Son of Heaven takes the world as his home and Zhaomin as his son", everything about the emperor and his state power depends on the zhaomin to provide, the zhaomin have difficulties, the emperor and his state power must also be rescued in time, the two sides must be like fish and water, no one can be separated from the other. This is the best political lesson for the Mongols who are about to enter the Central Plains.

The monarch mainly maintains wisdom and does not make mistakes; first, he must cultivate a large number of talents and ensure that talents can smoothly enter political posts, that is, to form a complete system of schools and officials; second, the monarch at the top must have a broad political temperament, that is, the so-called "gentleman does not waste people with words, does not use people to abandon words, and opens up the way of speech." "Those who conceal the wisdom of the king are heresies of selfishness. Ordinary people are blinded, it is only a matter of one person, and when the emperor is blinded, it is related to the world. Therefore, the emperor must be able to distinguish between the gentleman and the villain, and reuse the gentleman without being deceived by the villain. Confucius said "far away from the people" and "the one who destroys the state with an evil mouth", both of which refer to this point.

In order to maintain the stability of the country under the heavens, the emperor must talk about "profit", and the Confucian debate on righteousness and profit has a complete theory, not only "righteousness" without "profit". Seeking profit must conform to the great righteousness of benefiting the country and the people, and not only must we not harm the people for self-interest, but we must not benefit the country and harm the people.

For the emperor, a rare treasure is not a treasure, and a talented person is the greatest treasure. Concentrating the wisdom of each individual is the basis of the success of the wise king.

Liu Bingzhong's letter is a complete political program and a specific political tutorial for Kublai Khan, who has long had the ambition of an emperor, and it has long-term guiding significance for Kublai Khan's later reign as an emperor, and can be said to be the biggest political strategy of Confucian culture for foreign rule. In fact, it was not Liu Bingzhong who advised Kublai Khan from a political strategy and pointed out the direction, and all other Han Confucians who entered Kublai Khan's supreme think tank all had similar political taoisms or chapters, and the content was similar, such as Xu Shilong's suggestion to Kublai Khan: "Your Majesty's emperor China, when doing Chinese things", Liu Zhen told Kublai Khan: "Since the ancient emperor, the four seas are not one family, not orthodox." Wang Yan suggested that the history be revised and established the Hanlin Academy, Xu Heng proposed: "For the sake of the government must be because of the way of the first king", and so on, all of which are using Confucian culture to influence the Mongol emperors and transform the Mongol regime, which should be said to be a fundamental counter-offensive of the Han people after they were unable to achieve military victory over Mongolia, and it is also the best far-sighted consideration for protecting the long-standing Chinese culture. After receiving political education from Liu Bingzhong and others, Kublai Khan entrusted them with important tasks, such as making Liu Bingzhong the Taibao and responsible for the affairs of Zhongshu Province. After his death, he posthumously gave him the title of Taifu (太傅) and was enfeoffed as the King of Changshan. In the Yuan Dynasty, the three dukes of Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao were the highest official positions in the country, and only the meritorious yuanxun could obtain this position. In the entire Yuan Dynasty, only Liu Bingzhong was given the title of Taibao among the Han people, which shows Kublai Khan's respect for him. Other Han Confucians, as long as Kublai Khan regarded them as usable talents, also assumed different positions, and infiltrated a large number of Han Confucian cultures into the Mongol regime, from the country's policies and plans to the specific measures of a certain official position, and the Yuan court established by Kublai Khan was deeply influenced by the Confucian culture of the Han people.

These influences are tangible, such as Liu Bingzhong's use of Confucian yin and yang culture to build a city for Kublai Khan, and built Kaiping City, which became Kublai Khan's later Shangdu. Later, he built Yanjing for Kublai Khan, that is, Zhongdu, which was later the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, which became the capital of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the predecessor of present-day Beijing. Kublai Khan claimed to be the empress, and the whole system of his founding, such as the issuance of seals and uniforms, the ceremony of the court, the giving of Feng Lu, and the system of fixing officials, were all formulated by Liu Bingzhong, Zhang Wenqian, Xu Heng and others for the sake of overall consideration. Even after Kublai Khan destroyed the Song Dynasty, he agreed that the name of the country would be "Da Yuan", which was also a sentence taken by Liu Bingzhong from the Confucian classic "Zhou Yi" from "DaZha Qianyuan". Another example is Guo Shoujing's use of traditional Chinese methods to correct the calendar, deducing the "Chronological Calendar", which was promulgated by Kublai Khan and inherited by the Ming and Qing dynasties, and so on, all of which have a tangible impact.

But more are invisible influences, such as Liu Bingzhong and others for Kublai Khan day and night to explain Chinese history and Confucianism, write books and things, give advice, these things are subtle, are invisible influences, and are more profound and long-term influences, Kublai Khan under these invisible influences, his political and military decision-making and strategy, it is inevitable to bring the brand of Confucian culture.