The Yuan Dynasty once had a glorious history, its founder was Kublai Khan, but before Kublai Khan there were already several Mongol pioneers who seized a large area of land for Mongolia, such as Genghis Khan. With the continuous expansion of their power, the claws of their war naturally reached the Song Dynasty in the Central Plains.
It was not until later that Kublai Khan unified the country and established a great empire ruled by mongols. However, the Yuan Dynasty was not a long-lived dynasty, it only existed for more than ninety years and triggered many civil uprisings, of which Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youyi were the most powerful, and eventually the Yuan Dynasty fell and the Ming Dynasty began.
Kublai Khan was able to establish the Yuan Dynasty, indicating that he had a strong military strategy, but he did not rule the country.
We all know that Kublai Khan was a Mongol, and the Mongols grabbed food on horseback every day and lived in tribes, so they did not know much about the Han culture in the Central Plains, and they did not know how to govern the country and rule over a large area of land and people.
With which tribe he has hatred, he develops his own power to conquest, but once he has power in his own hands, he does not know how to calm the contradictions and consolidate the country.
Therefore, after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the population was divided into four levels, and the Han people were the lowest one.
Even though many Han Chinese were killed or wounded in the war, the number of Han Chinese was still huge. There must have been many remnants of the old dynasty when a dynasty was just established, so what to do with these populations and armies was obviously a very important matter.
The Yuan Dynasty regarded the Han people as the lowest people, and oppressed and squeezed the Han people, which eventually led to many peasant uprisings in the late Yuan Dynasty, the people's lives were miserable, coupled with the corruption of the rulers in the later period, the demise of the dynasty was inevitable.
Immediately after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, how did Zhu Yuanzhang treat the people and troops left over from the Yuan Dynasty?
Zhu Yuanzhang's life before the uprising was very bitter, and when he was young, he herded cattle for the landlord in his home. In the years that followed, the years were poor. Zhu Yuanzhang and the Zhu family, who made a living as farmers, had to disperse and embark on their own roads of desert escape. Zhu Yuanzhang was cornered, cut his home, and defected to the Huangjue Temple to become a monk.
But life in the temple was not good, he did a lot of rough work every day, and in less than a year, the abbot of the temple sent him down the mountain with others to make a fortune. He once again embarked on the road of wandering, but in the three years of wandering, he saw the warmth and cold of the world and broadened his horizons.
I think this special experience also laid the foundation for his future great career.
After Zhu Yuanzhang joined the rebel army, his status gradually increased, and he eventually became the leader with the support of the crowd. He also established a political power in Ying tianfu and ascended the throne. After ascending the throne, the Northern Expedition continued, driving the Mongols beyond the Central Plains.
In times of war, it was inevitable to kill people, but when the war was over, he treated the Mongols left behind by the Mongols equally, treating them as the people of the Ming Dynasty. And he came up with a very effective method on the way to deal with the Mongols.
Let's talk about that.
First of all, with regard to the handling of the remaining troops, Zhu Yuanzhang did not exterminate them all, but installed those Mongols who were willing to surrender or be arrested into the Ming Dynasty's army, of course, not all of them were organized into a team, but they were scattered arrangements, so that the Han people assimilated them, whether it was behavior habits or thoughts, they could not be motives against the Ming.
Secondly, it is stipulated in the daily life habits such as language, requiring Mongolians to speak Chinese and wear Han Chinese costumes, and all are prohibited from wearing Mongolian costumes. Undoubtedly, this is a cultural means.
None of this seems special, and you listen to me slowly. In addition to the previous household registration and living habits, Zhu Yuanzhang also proposed that marriageable Mongolian women must marry Han Chinese and intermarry between the two ethnic groups.
During the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, the "noble Mongol bloodline" must not have allowed marriage to "inferior Han Chinese". I think this change in Zhu Yuanzhang is also to enhance the status of the Han people in the eyes of the Mongolian people, and not let them regard the Han people as inferior people. And through intermarriage to dilute their bloodline, the Mongols were Sinicized.
Seeing these, I had to admire Zhu Yuanzhang's wisdom. His purpose is clear, and I think it is precisely his characteristics that have laid the foundation for the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years, and every emperor of the Ming Dynasty has also taken him as an example to learn from.
One of his favorite words I like the most: "I am the right cloth of Huaihuai, and the world is in my hejiayan!" ”