By the 29th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1292), seeing that he was about to die, Kublai Khan remained ambitious and used troops everywhere, and as a result, even the national treasury was almost hollowed out. Only then did he give up and decided to retreat to the second place, no longer conquering the great powers, bent on bringing the little-known island of Java into the sphere of influence of the Great Yuan.
Why did Kublai Khan lock in such a small island nation? In addition to the external cause of Java's small territory and easy conquest, there is also an internal cause that is not known to outsiders. When Kublai Khan was the king of the domain in his early years, he met a Javanese merchant who told him many times about the country of Java: there were the most beautiful women in the world, unparalleled scenery, and all kinds of curiosities. Kublai Khan, like the chinese emperors of all times, was greedy and arrogant, thinking that by virtue of the great prestige of the "Heavenly Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven", he would send an envoy at will, and without any effort, the small country would obediently call him a tribute.
Who knew that after Java saw the envoys of the "Heavenly Kingdom", not only did it not bow down, but instead made the ministers stab their faces in public, humiliated them greatly, and expelled them from the island. When Kublai Khan heard what had happened to his envoys, he was so furious that if he hadn't been able to spare his hand at that time, he would have beaten Java violently. In order to shame yixue, Kublai Khan entrusted the heavy responsibility of subjugating Java to Zhongshu's right hand man.
Bu Kumu did not approve of Kublai Khan's expansionist policy, because of the perennial use of troops, the increasing taxation, the people are difficult to load, and the rebels are emerging in an endless stream. According to official statistics, in the 10 years before Kublai Khan's death alone, there were more than 500 peasant uprisings in various places. However, Bu Kumu did not speak bluntly—he was too familiar with Kublai Khan's temper, and Kublai Khan was never soft on his subjects who went against his will. The more he couldn't get along with him, the more he insisted on his opinion.
Therefore, Bu Kumu and his subordinates reached a consensus, obeying Kublai Khan's decisions verbally, never being tough; but when implementing them, they could drag on, and if he asked, he would first "draw a cake to fill the hunger". The "delaying strategy" of not neglecting the wood really worked, at least temporarily stabilizing Kublai Khan.
In his later years, Kublai Khan had limited mobility and could not do many things himself, but he was not confused, and soon discovered that Bu Kumu deliberately perfunctory himself. Once, when summoning Bu Kumu, Kublai Khan asked him aloud why he did not carry out his orders. Bu Kumu had already thought of a countermeasure and said, "I am vigorously supervising the construction of warships, you patiently wait for three years, once the warships are built, I will take down all the countries you want!" Kublai Khan was very happy to see that he was so confident, as those countries had been assigned to the territory of the Great Yuan.
In order to avoid Kublai Khan's suspicions, Bu Kumu also issued a military order, of course, he did not rely only on bragging to delay time, but targeted. One day, he put a map in front of Kublai Khan and pointed at it, saying that he would soon take down the countries above. Kublai Khan was old, lacked the wisdom of his youth, and naively thought that these countries had become a bag. From this point of view, on some specific occasions, "seeking in the middle of the song" is indeed better than "taking in the straight". Although the "painting cake" is also full of hunger, it must also vary from time to time, otherwise it will not only be useless, but also likely to humiliate itself.