What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
After sixteen years of tireless anti-Yuan struggle, forcing Emperor Yuanshun to flee most of the capital and go to the capital, coupled with eliminating Chen Youyu and Zhang Shicheng successively, and recruiting Xu Shouhui, Fang Guozhen and other major competitors, Zhu Yuanzhang finally sat on the dragon chair dingding The Heavenly Palace and opened the Zhu Ming generation.
Zhu Yuanzhang urgently needed to make rapid changes to the current political, military, economic, social, and ethnic policies. In short, the issue of ethnic policy is particularly difficult to think about. The Han Chinese, who had been oppressed by the Mongol Yuan for a hundred years and humiliated to the extreme, re-adhered to the imperial program, and they were eager to peel the skins and dig out the hearts of the Mongols and the Semu people to be happy and sweep away the haze. As far as the leading body of the imperial court with Zhu Yuanzhang as the core is concerned, this issue cannot be thought of as simple as this issue. What should be done with the Mongols and Semu who did not follow Emperor Yuanshun back to the desert and remained within the territory of the Ming Dynasty?
Officials of the Yuan Dynasty
Looking back at the rule of the Mongols and Theemu nobles over the Chinese Han Chinese, it is naked racial oppression and class oppression. The Mongols seized the first night of Han women, did not allow Han Chinese to become high officials, discriminatedly treated them as judges, formulated a differentiated prison system, and deprived Han people of the right to own land... The ethnic policy of the Yuan Dynasty is a bad record.
Zhu Yuanzhang could have proposed a "revenge" ethnic policy, expelling or slaughtering the Mongols and Semites who had returned to China under the Ming Dynasty. However, if this matter is not handled well, it will cause ethnic contradictions, disputes and even wars. The fundamental reason for the demise of the Yuan Dynasty lies in this, and Zhu Yuanzhang will not fail to understand this truth. If handled well, it will be a feat of national integration and prosperity, which is conducive to reunification and stability.
As early as when Zhu Yuanzhang announced the Northern Expedition, in order to win the support of officials and the people in the north and to break the resistance confidence of the Yuan army, he specially asked the civilian official Song Lian to write a northern expedition document, clearly proposing that "if the Mongols and Semu are not of the Chinese ethnic group, they are born between heaven and earth, they can know etiquette and righteousness, and are willing to be subjects, and they are no different from those who are raised in the Middle Xia."
Zhu Yuanzhang
In essence, Zhu Yuanzhang was to restore the hierarchical order of feudal traditional culture that had been passed down from generation to generation, showing the idea of Han chauvinism, that The Han chinese in Middle-earth were orthodox, that all four sides were Yidi, and that the Mongols had simply usurped the throne. Although the land of China is now the domain of the Han Chinese, Yidi is still treated with courtesy. Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang's new ethnic policy was proposed, it met the requirements of the people of a higher class and was supported by the people, and the rule of the Yuan Dynasty quickly collapsed. After ascending the throne, it was decided to continue this ethnic policy.
We can see that Zhu Yuanzhang scolded the Yuan Dynasty government, scolded the Yuan Dynasty generals, cursed the Mongols, and the class oppression of the Han people by the Semu nobles, which should be distinguished from the ordinary Mongols and Semu people, after all, they were bullied by the Yuan Dynasty nobles like the Han people. This is the wisdom of Zhu Yuanzhang's governance. Obviously, it could alleviate the mentality of the Mongols and The Semites against the Han and Ming court.
But Zhu Yuanzhang did not merely pander, but wanted to completely return to the traditions of Chinese civilization: all officials "restored the prestige of Han officials", and the people had to restore the style of the Tang Dynasty to show orthodoxy. Hufu, Hu language and Hu surname were banned throughout the country, and the braided hair left by the Mongols at that time was abolished.
Domination is not necessarily as brutal and violent as the Yuan Dynasty, and it is better to assimilate through strong cultures and institutions in the silent place. After all, the Mongols and Theemu people could not be killed, and the cost of management was also reduced for the imperial court, killing two birds with one stone.
Specifically, the Mongols and The Semu entered various fields of the Ming Dynasty and also played a great role. For example, in each ministry there are those who have done Shangshu and Shilang, and those who have done prefects and counties in localities. In the military, a relatively fair selection system was implemented, and Mongolian officers and Semu officers abounded, and even the pro-army with interests had Mongolian officials.
The Mongolian surname was changed to a Han surname
In order to better rule and assimilate the Mongols and Semites who remained in the Central Plains, the imperial court issued a decree to give the Mongols and Semu Han names. Not only that, the Mongols and Semu people can learn Han Chinese characters and integrate into Han society, which fully reflects the Ming Dynasty's magnanimity towards the foreign races that once oppressed them.
In terms of the marriage of the Mongolian Semu people, the "Great Ming Law" stipulates: "All Mongolian Semu people, listening to the marriage of the Chinese, must be willing to marry each other, and are not allowed to marry each other, and the offender is eighty, and the male and female officials are slaves." His Chinese those who do not want to marry Hui Chincha, obey the self-marriage of this kind, and are not prohibited. In other words, the Mongols had to intermarry with the Han Chinese, but they needed to be consensual, and those who violated it were severely punished, or even enslaved. However, it is not allowed to marry between the Mongolian Semu peoples themselves, so that their clans are slowly assimilated. Since then, generations of Mongols and Semites have taken root in China, scattered all over the country and changed their surnames and descendants, no different from the Han People.
The Ming Dynasty greatly promoted the integration and development of all ethnic groups, and China was not only a country of the Han nationality, but also a country of all the ethnic groups in this land who were willing to contribute.