There are many short-lived dynasties in Chinese history, and as long as they are short-lived dynasties, there will be shocking positive performances. For example, in only 14 years, the Qin Dynasty established the first unified feudal state in the history of the mainland, unified writing and weights and measures, and built the world-famous Great Wall. In only 37 years of the Sui Dynasty, the first imperial examination system, the system of mutual supervision of the three provinces, and the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal were praised as "meritorious in the future". Today's dynasty is even more amazing, which once created the largest territory in the world in history - the Yuan Dynasty, not only the largest territory, but also some other firsts. However, this dynasty was relatively short-lived, and died in only 98 years. What is the reason for the rapid demise of such a country with the most powerful war machine, which extends to parts of Europe?
First, the change of power was too frequent, and the court infighting was too chaotic.
As the first unified dynasty established by ethnic minorities, the Yuan Dynasty changed a total of 11 emperors in the 98 years of its founding (1271-1368), and we only count those emperors during the reign of the Central Plains. Even if there are frequent changes in power, a smooth transition can be made to maintain policy consistency. The point is that the transmission of the throne is still particularly chaotic, how chaotic is it? In most cases, relying on the elder forces in the tribe to discuss and decide, those who are not satisfied will use the army to fight, and there is no system of primogeniture.
The first Yuan ancestor, Kublai Khan, reigned for 35 years, and first he became emperor after a war with his brother Ali Buge. In fact, from the perspective of history, his younger brother Ali Buge succeeded to the throne in the capital and Lin under the recommendation of the leaders of various Mongol tribes, which should be regarded as orthodox. Kublai Khan claimed to inherit the throne on the way to attack the Southern Song Dynasty with the support of some generals and some Han Chinese, so the Mongol tribes did not recognize it. Ali Buge led the Mongol cavalry south to fight his brother Kublai Khan, who was victorious, thus becoming the Great Khan, and then establishing the Yuan Dynasty. He died at the age of 77.
The second Yuanchengzong Timur, who reigned for 13 years, competed with his brother Gan Mara the King of Jin for the throne, and the two fought and recited the ancestral teachings in a competition, and his brother Gan Ma Ra the King of Jin ranked second because of his stutter. Temur successfully ascended to the throne. He died at the age of 42.
The third Yuan Wuzong Haishan, who reigned for 4 years, originally wanted to make Ananda the throne of the great khan, but Haishan's younger brother staged a coup to get rid of Ananda and put his brother Haishan on the throne. Haishan died at the age of 30. Haishan saw that his younger brother was so emotional, so he agreed that his brother would end up and his uncle and nephew would pass it on, and the descendants of the two would take turns to sit in the village. The real situation was that the younger brother had too weak troops at that time, and he couldn't kill the Haishan brother who had a heavy army, so he made a favor.
The fourth Yuan Renzong Aiyu Riba Libada reigned for 9 years. He was the younger brother of Haishan, and after Haishan's death, he inherited his brother's throne as agreed between the two. At the age of 35, he died of chronic excessive drinking, gastric perforation or cirrhosis. During his reign, he tore up the agreement with Haishan about the inheritance of the imperial throne and nephews, and directly passed the throne to his son.
The fifth Yuan Ying Zong Shuode Bara, reigned for 3 years. The implementation of the New Deal offended the tribal conservative forces and was assassinated in the Nanpo Change.
The sixth Taiding Emperor, Sun Temur, reigned for 5 years and died of illness at the age of 52.
The seventh young emperor, Azovjiba, reigned for 27 days and was killed at the age of 8.
The eighth Yuanwenzong Tutheimur, who reigned for 4 years, killed the 8-year-old little emperor Azokiba and came to power. He died at the age of 29.
The ninth Yuan Mingzong and Shizu, who reigned for 184 days, were poisoned at the age of 29.
The tenth Yuanning Zongyi Xuanqing class, reigned for 52 days, and died of illness at the age of 6.
The eleventh Emperor Yuanhuizong (Emperor Yuanshun) Tuhuan Themur, who reigned for 36 years, died of dysentery at the age of 49.
In the period of 98 years, we deduct the first Kublai Khan for 35 years, the last Yuanshun Emperor for 36 years, the remaining 27 years, 9 emperors, an average of 3 years for one.
As a people on horseback, their system of non-primogeniture may also be for the survival of the fittest, ensuring that the best is elected the next emperor. However, they did not expect that the tribes had different interests, and that behind the individual was often an interest group. In the process of power struggle, killing, trickery, intrigue, etc. are used to the extreme. Such frequent changes in the imperial throne caused the ministers of the DPRK to always choose sides, using the pitiful peace time to study who was stronger, and did not have time to pay attention to the imperial government.
The last great khan of the Yuan Dynasty to rule the Central Plains was Emperor Yuanshun, and it was strange that he was competing for power with his son, the crown prince Aiyou Zhi Lida wax. At that time, there were mainly three Yuan Dynasty generals who led troops abroad, the old marshal Polo Timur, the rising star Kuangkuo Timur was also called Wang Baobao, and there was also a Han general Li Siqi, who each had troops on one side. Emperor Yuanshun favored Polo Timur, the crown prince secretly contacted Timur, and Li Siqi was Han and ignored for the time being.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang's rebel army in the south was fighting with another rebel army, Zhang Shicheng, at this time, if the Yuan Dynasty seized the fighter plane and took the opportunity to go south, it was entirely possible to suppress the rebel army. It is a pity that the royalists and princelings did not care about the rebels and fought each other for the most part.
The final result was also unexpected, the emperor won the royal family and continued to sit on the dragon bed, but the prince was also safe, and was also named the generalissimo of the army and horses, sitting in the capital; Polo Timur was killed in the black cauldron, and King Baobao of Timur was promoted to deputy marshal of soldiers and horses, and replaced the prince in his march to the south to suppress the rebel army. However, from then on, Emperor Yuanshun and the crown prince did not believe him, so Wang Baobao became a loner; Li Siqi grew up in the Guanzhong region, and also established an anti-insurance alliance with the generals of Guanzhong Province; Zhu Yuanzhang successfully annexed Zhang Shicheng and unified the south. In this way, the biggest winners turned out to be Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Siqi.
Wang Baobao, who had become a loner, simply broke the jar and broke, ignored the appointment of the imperial court, and even sent troops to Guanzhong and Li Siqi's anti-Baobao clique, resulting in the empty strength of Dadu, Shandong and Henan, and was driven straight in by Zhu Yuanzhang and destroyed the Dayuan dynasty in one go.
Second, reckless economic policies and barbaric methods of extraction.
After Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, there have always been two schools of economics in the DPRK. One faction was the Confucian faction, represented by the Han Xu Heng, who believed that after reunification, they should rest and recuperate, reduce taxes, and develop production to maintain the long-term vitality of the imperial court. The financial faction, led by Ahma, believed that the property of the Han and Nan people (Southern Song people) should be directly extracted, and violent plunder should be used to quickly obtain wealth.
Emotionally, Kublai Khan preferred the predatory theory of the financial management of the Semei people, and in fact adopted this approach. This policy of simple and crude plunder of wealth had serious consequences and negative effects, caused serious damage to the productive forces, not only did the people at the bottom not get the benefits brought by the new dynasty, but also shook the trust of the Han landlord class in the Yuan dynasty and increased the sense of crisis. The long-term result is that the foundations on which the entire society rests are not only not consolidated, but also ruthlessly destroyed.
The reckless economic policy was also reflected in the indiscriminate issuance of paper money, and even the unlimited appropriation of the principal of banknotes as a reserve fund to maintain the operation of the country, and the direct consequence was the destruction of the credibility of the Yuan Dynasty. Throughout the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, soaring prices, currency devaluation, inflation, etc. often occurred.
The Yuan Dynasty, as the world's first country to use paper money as a circulation currency, the first generation of banknotes issued in 1260 has a strict exchange relationship with the banknote principal, which is divided into silver and silk, the specific exchange relationship is 1,000 equals 1 pass, 50 guan equals 1 ingot, 2 guan exchange silver 1 tael or silk 2 taels, 1 ingot for 25 taels of silver or 50 taels of silk. At that time, it was indeed a pioneering initiative and played a positive role in promoting the development of commerce and trade.
However, by 1276, the constant years of conquest and the high rewards given to the tribes led to a huge financial deficit, and they had to overissue a large amount of banknotes. By the time of Yuan Chengzong, the plundering methods of the financial faction could no longer meet the demand, so they had to directly use the banknote principal.
In order to regulate the exchange relationship, the Yuan Dynasty adopted another simple and crude method - issuing new banknotes, it has to be said that these practices are original, if Keynes was born in the Yuan Dynasty, then economics must have been discovered many, many years in advance.
When the first new currency was issued in 1287, the ratio of old banknotes to new banknotes was 5:1, which was equivalent to 80% plundering and 80% of assets.
Soon, this immediate method of plunder quickly spread in the hands of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, and the more it grew, it seemed to be addicted to issuing new banknotes.
By 1350, Emperor Yuanshun, in 63 years, a total of 4 times 5 versions of new banknotes were exchanged, the most serious one was the newly issued "Supreme Great Silver Banknote" in 1309, 1 tael of silver can be exchanged for 50 banknotes, compared with the original banknote in 1260 1 tael of silver exchanged for 2 taels of banknotes, a full 25 times depreciation!
Because the credibility of paper money has been reduced to zero, in the end the whole society has to return to the original way of bartering, and people simply use paper money as sacrificial paper money.
It's not just cutting leeks, it's really leeks, uprooted.
Third, radical ethnic policies and sharp ethnic contradictions.
As mentioned above, Kublai Khan's ascension to the throne was due to the support of some Han landlords. However, after achieving unification, he favored the Mongols and the Semu, placing the Han and Nan at the bottom.
The first class: Mongols, that is, the people of the Great Mongolian Empire founded by Genghis Khan.
The second class: the Semu people, mainly refers to the peoples of Europe and Central and West Asia conquered by the Mongols, and later the Yuan Dianzhang was clearly defined as everyone except the Han, the Koryo people, and the barbarians.
The third class: Han people, refers to the Jin Dynasty people, including Han and Khitan, Jurchen and other ethnic groups.
The fourth class: Nanren or barbarian, that is, the last conquered Southern Song remnant.
Of course, this is only a macro-classification method, in fact, there are many Han people who have a very high status, and many Mongols have been reduced to the lower class. The vast majority of Han and Nan people in the third and fourth classes were Han Chinese, and this classification was actually a strategy by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty to try to divide the Han ethnic group and use the Han to control the Han.
Discrimination against Han and Nan people is mainly reflected in some systems of the Yuan Dynasty and the Yuan Dianzhang.
The administrative level of Zhengba Pin and above has special Mongolian officials such as Daru Huachi, equivalent to the chief inspector, and Han and Semu people of the same level are subject to his official system and command, and Han people cannot be appointed to the position of Daru Huachi.
When the Mongols beat the Han, the Han were not allowed to fight back; The Mongols killed the Han only by exiling them to the north, which happened to be the homeland of the Mongols; Or fifty-seven times of punishment, pay a part of the deceased's family a portion of silver taels. However, if the Han killed the ancients, they had to be sentenced to death and their families had to compensate for the silver and property.
Although the imperial examination system was also implemented in the middle and late Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols and Semu only needed to take two exams, while the Han people needed to rely on three, which was unfair in the system. The number of admitted Mongolians, Serbs and Han people is equal, seemingly equal, but in fact, the population base is hundreds of times different, which is completely unreasonable.
The Han banned all controlled weapons, not even the iron forks used for agricultural work.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition put forward the slogan "Expelling the Tatar slaves, restoring China, establishing a Gang and Chen Ji, and providing relief to the Si people", most cities in Shandong and Henan basically surrendered with open doors and only encountered the resistance of a few Mongol generals.
Fourth, the flooding Yellow River, the relentless glacier.
According to scientists, the entire reign of the Yuan Dynasty was at a historically low temperature level, known as the "Ramadre cold phase" period, which lasted until the Qing Dynasty in 1715, as confirmed by Mr. Zhu Kezhen's "Preliminary Study of Climate Change in China in the Past 5,000 Years" published in the first issue of the Journal of Archaeology in 1972. The southward movement of glaciers has led to a cold climate that has greatly reduced crop yields. According to statistics, there were a total of 36 winters in the Yuan Dynasty with unusually cold temperatures. The nomadic Yuan court underestimated the extent to which this cold weather would damage agricultural civilization, and did not adjust relevant policies such as taxation in time to alleviate increasingly acute class contradictions.
As we mentioned earlier, the main policy of the Yuan Dynasty was the financial management faction, which advocated looting rather than rest. Although the later emperors woke up, the ancestral doctrine was difficult to change, and the change of imperial throne was too frequent, and the ruling program was too late to formulate, let alone reform. The harsh climate and the brutal government of the dynasty undoubtedly increased the burden of the Han people, who were mainly agricultural, and led to a sharp increase in the number of hungry people.
Another natural disaster is the bursting of the Yellow River. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Water Resources in 1982, the number of Yellow River breaks every 30 years ranked second in history in the Yuan Dynasty. According to the Yuan history, in 1344 alone, due to heavy rain for more than 20 consecutive days, the Yellow River burst its banks three times, flooding 18 prefectures and townships, countless old and young women drowned, and young and middle-aged people who ran fast became hungry and displaced.
It takes a lot of money to control the Yellow River, where does it come from? I had to take the aforementioned over-issuance of banknotes, once again trigger inflation, and use a pile of waste paper to seize the money, and the result is to enter a vicious circle, and finally everything is lost.
Epilogue:
From the day of its establishment, the entire Yuan Dynasty went faster and faster on the road to digging a hole for itself. The entire political system has rotted to the bone marrow, and when we talk about any reason, another or several reasons will be involved, one link is linked to the other links, and it cannot be untied one by one, and can only be completely solved by cutting it off with a knife. Any tinkering will be met with a greater backlash from the original interest groups, making its death faster. The end result is to build a whole new dynasty to replace it, in order to solve the problem.
When Zhu Yuanzhang's troops marched north to the Henan region of Shandong, they encountered no decent resistance at all. It is not that the generals at the end of the Yuan Dynasty did not resist Zhu Yuanzhang's rebel army, but everyone knew that this dynasty was no longer saved, and preserving their strength was the way out.
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