The Mongol Yuan Empire swept through the land of China by its own powerful force, and The Jin, Western Xia, Tubo, and Dali were wiped out one after another by the Mongol army. The most difficult to deal with is the Southern Song Dynasty, which seems to be weak and has persisted for 45 years. In 1279, at the Battle of Yashan, the Southern Song army was completely destroyed, and the Southern Song Dynasty minister Lu Xiufu committed suicide by holding the last emperor and throwing himself into the sea. This event represented the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, and since then the land of China has fully entered the era of Mongolian rule. But the rule of the Mongol Yuan Empire lasted only 89 years, what exactly caused this situation?
First, there were many factions within the Mongolian nobility
The ascension of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Mongolian Yuan, was itself the result of a military struggle. Due to the sudden death of his predecessor, and without leaving any will. In this situation, the Mongol nobles engaged in infighting. After a life-and-death struggle, Kublai Khan became the new Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. But Kublai Khan's position was not stable, and he relied entirely on force to maintain his rule. During temujin's time, there were fewer contradictions within the Mongol nobility. But as time went on, generations of aristocrats became increasingly distantly related. They do not pay attention to the kinship between them, but only talk about their own interests. After Kublai Khan, there was no strong emperor within the Mongol Yuan. Factions also gradually formed within the Mongol nobility, and they formed interest groups. In order to protect his own interests, he even joined forces to drive the emperor off his horse. In the 25 years after Emperor Chengzong of Yuan, Meng Yuan changed 8 to emperor in one breath, which shows how much chaos has reached within the Yuan court.
By the middle of the 14th century, the rule of the Yuan Dynasty was terminally ill. After the Mongols entered the Central Plains, they quickly began to degenerate. It turned out that the tiger and wolf divisions that swept through Europe and Asia had become vulnerable one by one, and even ran away when they saw the rebel army. The aristocrats of the Yuan Dynasty only cared about their own interests, and completely disregarded the life and death of this regime. When the last famous minister of the Yuan Dynasty led a large army to the south, all parties within the Yuan court were constrained, and finally they were defeated. Yuan officials broke out many civil wars in order to go all out, and this rotten habit has existed since the middle of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da to command an army of 300,000 troops to the Northern Expedition. At this time, there was still a civil war within the Yuan court, and Wang Baobao, who was guarding the front line of Hebei and Shanxi, was fighting with Li Siqi, who was guarding the Shaanxi region. Such a dynasty should have been swept into the garbage heap of history long ago.
Second, the high-pressure ethnic policy and the imperial examination system
The racial oppression of the Yuan Dynasty was very severe, the Mongols were the first race on the top, and the vast number of Han Chinese were reduced to the fourth race. In order to prevent the Han chinese from rebelling, the Yuan court stipulated that only every 5 households could have a kitchen knife. In the laws of the Yuan Dynasty, it was stipulated that the Mongols did not need to pay for their lives at all, but only needed to compensate some money. This barbaric policy was not even as good as that of the Liao State, although the Liao State was also a state founded by ethnic minorities, but the law in the middle and late Liao State stipulated that the Khitan people needed to pay for their lives to kill Han Chinese. In this regard, the Mongols are far behind. The oppressive policies of the Mongols caused widespread resentment among the Han Chinese, and although a small-scale uprising was not yet able to overthrow the Yuan court, it was a prelude to the storm. Zhu Yuanzhang put forward the slogan of "expelling Hu Yu and restoring China", which won the support of the vast majority of Han Chinese.
In addition to the ethnic policy, the Yuan court's imperial examination policy was also very bad. The Mongols were a horseback people who believed in the supremacy of force. Therefore, the treatment of literati was very low, and the literati who were high in the Song Dynasty at that time were inferior to ordinary prostitutes in the Yuan Dynasty. Many talented literati would rather die than become officials in the DPRK. The Imperial Examination of the Yuan Dynasty was intermittent, and some literati could not be reused even if they entered the court. Yuan Ting only believed in their own people, and always fought and pulled at the same time for Han Chen. After the Red Turban Rebellion in southern China, countless literati served with various rebel armies. Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youyu, Ming Yuzhen, and Zhu Yuanzhang all had their own think tank groups, while Yuan Ting was unable to form his own "General Staff Think Tank" from beginning to end. "Don't underestimate the role of the literati, although they can't fight on the battlefield, they can make strategic planning and be responsible for logistics." Zhu Yuanzhang's success was inseparable from the efforts of li shanchang, Liu Bowen and other literati.
Serious corruption and natural disasters have exacerbated all of the above
The administrative supervision department of the Yuan Dynasty was very bad, and although it also set up the Imperial History Platform, it was similar to waste. Local officials of the Yuan Dynasty could unscrupulously raid the local people without worrying about being tracked down. The oppression of the people by the officials of the Yuan court reached the point of sucking the marrow out of the bones, and when the Yuan Dynasty fell, all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes reached more than 1,200 kinds. In the late Yuan Dynasty, the Yellow River flooded almost year after year, and the people on both sides of the Yellow River were miserable. The Yuan court ostensibly promised to repair the embankment, but the court was reluctant to spend money. In the end, the money for the repair of the embankment was distributed to the farmers. At the end of each dynasty, there were always disasters, and at the same time as the Yellow River flooded, drought and plague occurred in the Huai River Valley. This series of natural disasters has stimulated the people, and once there is a little flame, it can ignite a raging fire. In 1351, with the one-eyed stone man being dug up by the migrant workers who repaired the river, the huge Red Turban Army uprising was finally about to begin.