Sentence / Kodama
The rise and fall of dynasties has verified a truth many times, fighting the world and guarding the country are two completely different logics, although the Yuan Dynasty is very explosive in the entrepreneurial stage, but it has been stumbling in the stage of keeping the business, and almost all the elements of the demise of the dynasty have been gathered.
Like the Western Han Dynasty, the Mongol Empire adopted a feudal system in the entrepreneurial stage, and the existence of a large number of kings not only dispersed the power of the imperial court and became the biggest threat to the imperial throne, but also monopolized a considerable amount of wealth, which was the main factor leading to the financial difficulties of the Yuan Dynasty.
According to the principle that the Mongol Empire was shared by the descendants of Genghis Khan, the Yuan Dynasty adhered to the feudal system from generation to generation-
Between 1307 and 1308, Haishan was crowned with 19 kings, of which 14 were "one-character kings"; during the reign of Shuode Bara, 7 were crowned as kings; after the accession of Yesun Temur, 24 new kings were crowned after his accession to the throne; during the four years of his reign, Tutimur was crowned with 24 kings, of which 9 were "one-character kings"...
These kings enjoyed very large administrative, military, financial, and judicial powers in their domains, and although Renzong Aiyuli Bali Bada had ordered the removal of the kings' Zaru Huchi (judges) and in 1315 decreed that the Daru Huachi of the kings' fiefdoms should be appointed by the Zhongshu Province to take back their administrative and judicial powers, Renzong eventually gave up the checks and balances on the kings because of their strength.
On the contrary, in order to get the support of the kings, the emperor also rewarded them on a regular basis-
In 1294, within two months of his accession to the throne, Timur rewarded the kings with only 270,000 ingots in the treasury, and the Timur dynasty rewarded the king several times that of Kublai Khan; after Haishan ascended the throne, the reward to the king was as high as 1.7 million ingots; after the accession to the throne, the king was rewarded with 39,650 taels of gold, 1849050 taels of silver, 223279 ingots, and 472488 pieces of cloth...
No way, the emperor was the backbone of the Yuan Empire, and the emperor had to get their support to control the bureaucracy, and the rewards were also part of the Mongol system, and the emperor had to enforce them.
If the emperor limited the power of the emperor, or if their wealth was reduced, the kings would rebel against the emperor in a minute, and on September 4, 1323, 5 of the 16 rebels who staged a coup d'état to kill Yingzong Shuodeba were Zongwang. The reason is that Yingzong not only limited their power, but also canceled the annual gifts to the emperor on two occasions due to financial difficulties.
With both power and interests at the same time, King Zong cooperated with his courtiers to kill the emperor.
Because the kings held the military power of the Mongol headquarters, they often seized the imperial power by force with the army in their hands, and the ascendancy of Haishan and Yesun Temur was because of the blessing of the military power of Mobei. During the reign of Tutimur, several suzerains were involved in eight rebellions.
It can be seen that the existence of King Zong is a simultaneous constraint on the imperial power, wealth, and justice of the Yuan Dynasty. In addition, the power of the Yuan Dynasty was also dispersed by those hereditary Wanhu, Qianhu, and Cowardice, resulting in the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the empire was already scattered, and the emperor could only control Dadu and some of its surrounding areas.
In addition to King Zong, the ministers of the Yuan Dynasty were also an extremely powerful force. With the deepening of the expansion war, those Mongol generals have gradually entered the core of the empire and developed into a family by virtue of their military exploits, passing on titles, wealth, resources, etc. through inheritance. When Timur ascended the throne, Boyan stood on the steps with his sword in his hand and forced everyone to make a statement, which proved the rise of the bureaucracy of the Yuan Dynasty.
When Renzong loved and educated Li Bali Bada, Temu Die'er became a powerful minister with the support of the empress dowager, and deeply influenced the power structure of the imperial court and the emperor's decision-making. In the early years of Yingzong Shuode's reign, Temudiel's power had developed to the point of near-dictatorship.
Since Wenzong Tutimur relied on Yan Tiemur and Boyan to successfully win the throne, Wenzong had to give these two people a "dividend" of power after ascending the throne:
Yan Tiemur was named the king of Beiping, and was given the honorary titles of Ara Khan and Taishi to the Mongols and Han respectively; Boyan not only wore the labels of Taiwei, Taibao, and Taifu, but also served as the imperial historian, the left prime minister of Zhongshu Province, and the secretary of the Privy Council, and was knighted as the king of Junning.
At the same time, Boyan also controlled the two guard institutions of Zhongyiwei and Xuanyi Wanhu.
▲The army is the standard configuration of the ministers Source/Internet
In other words, the power of Yan Tiemur and Boyan has extended to all the sensitive areas of the Yuan Empire, and has reached the point where the emperor can be deposed. In order to entrap Boyan, the emperor even married Kublai Khan's granddaughter to Boyan.
On the contrary, although Wenzong Tutimur was extremely talented, he was essentially a puppet character, ruling by the arch.
Later, Emperor Shun was happy to be close to Muer, and he was also a puppet in the early days, and the temple was completely controlled by Boyan. In 1335, with Boyan becoming the prime minister, his power grew to the extreme in the empire, controlling all the business of the Yuan Dynasty.
In 1340, although Emperor Shun ousted Boyan from power, the genes of the ministers always existed in the body of the empire, and to a certain extent, Tokhtaku was also a minister.
Of course, the heroine is not absent in the history of the Yuan Dynasty. Due to the special culture of nomadic peoples, women have always played an important role in the political ecology and have a certain right to speak, and Mongolia has such a convention: before the death of the Great Khan and the new Great Khan ascended to the throne, political affairs were taken care of by the empress.
Therefore, Mongolian women also have more opportunities to infiltrate the center of power -
On February 2, 1307, Chengzong Timur died, because there was no heir designated, so the court was immediately divided into two factions, one of which was an alliance composed of the empress Buruhan and the left prime minister of Zhongshu Province, Ahutai, and other ministers to prepare to elect Anxi King Ananda as the emperor;
The heroine's interference in politics caused chaos in the Yuan Dynasty to a certain extent.
▲ The heroine's involvement in politics is also a feature of the Yuan Dynasty Source/Stills
Like all dynasties, natural disasters were not absent in the history of the Yuan Dynasty -
From 1348 onwards, the Yellow River swelled and burst its banks frequently, causing the Yellow River to divert and flood, in the summer of 1351, the Huai River valley burst, in the 14th century, there were at least 36 cold winters, and at the same time, floods and droughts broke out more frequently than ever, and often accompanied by plagues, and after the accession of Emperor Shun Tuhuan Timur, the empire recorded famines almost every year...
The outbreak of natural disasters is first and foremost the destruction of productive forces, and at the same time means a reduction in taxes, and the financial pressure will be even greater because the imperial court will also have to provide disaster relief.
The expenses were already large, and the unbridled support of the Yuan Dynasty emperor for religious causes further increased the financial pressure-
After Wuzong Haishan ascended the throne, Buddhist temples were built in Dadu, Shangdu and Wutai Mountain; The Emperor's Hall built by the Tibetan monk Ba Sipa was even higher than the standard of the Confucian Temple; the Dazhao Xiao Temple, built by Yingzong in Shou'an Mountain, west of Dadu, took three years, and tens of thousands of soldiers participated in the construction of the project; in 1324, Emperor Taiding's grandson Temur built worship temples in Shangdu and Shanxi respectively; Emperor Shun was also a believer in Buddhism, and once even sponsored 108 monks to visit the imperial city...
How to put it, the Yuan emperor used the power of religion to achieve rule over the various ethnic groups within the country, but the excessive belief still increased the financial burden to a certain extent.
Of course, the main cause of financial pressure is the phenomenon of redundant officials -
In 1294, after Chengzong Timur ascended the throne, the number of officials in the capital of Jingshi exceeded 10,000, and the phenomenon of overstaffing in local provinces was more serious; after Haishan ascended the throne, in order to thank those who supported him, he appointed more than 300 officials in the first two months, and in 1307, there were 14 ministers in Zhongshu Province, 4 imperial historians, There were 32 privy councillors, a serious overnumber, and when Emperor Shun, there were 96 people in charge of justice in the imperial court alone, and the number of cowardly Xue at this time was 13,000, plus all the officials, the number of officials in the Yuan Dynasty at the time of Emperor Shun was 33,000...
Behind these establishments are a large amount of fiscal expenditure.
What's more, corruption is just as rampant. In 1303, officials from the imperial court conducted surveys in seven districts, and found that 18,473 people had serious financial problems, involving 45,865 ingots. This was a matter of the Chengzong Timur Dynasty, and the corruption in the later period was certainly more serious.
Of course, the emperor's personal expenses are greater, and regardless of the cost, for example, the emperor has to have a large number of transportation and service departments to cooperate with the capital every year, and its cost is also a big data, and it has to be spent every year.
In addition to the usual expenses, the biggest expense is the war. At the time of his accession to the throne, the war with the Chagatai Khanate and the Ögedai Khanate continued, and in 1300–1303 he launched an expedition against Burma and the small states of present-day northern and eastern Burma with 800 daughters-in-law.
At the same time, civil wars that erupted due to power struggles also incurred huge costs, such as the civil war of the Dadu faction in 1328, which cost several times the annual income of the imperial court.
Of course, local uprisings, the Yuan Dynasty also needed to spend energy and money to deal with -
In 1281, after the southern uprising led by Chen Guilong was put down by Kublai Khan, as many as 20,000 people were beheaded. In order to quell a rebellion in Fujian, Kublai Khan even dispatched 100,000 troops; in the autumn of 1315, a large-scale uprising broke out in Ningdu, Jiangxi, and the leader of the uprising, Cai Wu, proclaimed himself King Cai; between 1295 and 1332, 24 uprisings broke out in Han and 131 in minority areas;
These uprisings, large and small, not only severely weakened the Yuan dynasty's control over the empire, but also further increased the financial burden.
Since Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, the empire had serious financial problems, and as a result, due to the more problems that arose in the later period, and the imperial court never implemented effective policies at the economic level to increase revenue, the result was that the financial problems became more and more serious.
In 1307, the regular income of the imperial court was 4 million ingots, while Haishan spent 10 million ingots and 3 million stone grain in the year of his accession, and in 1310, the banknotes borrowed by the imperial court were already as high as 10603100 ingots. In 1350, the ruling Tokhtar prepared to issue new banknotes, and the following year issued 2 million ingots, with no financial resources behind it...
How to say it, the Yuan Dynasty has not solved the financial problem from the founding of the country to its demise, resulting in a high fiscal deficit, and it is not wrong to say that the Yuan Dynasty died in a financial collapse.
In addition to financial problems, the Yuan Dynasty never solved cultural problems.
Of course, due to the frequent infighting, the Yuan Dynasty simply did not have the time and energy to solve these things. According to statistics, in the historical period from the accession of Chengzong Timur to the accession of Emperor Shun (1294-1333), in just 39 years, 9 emperors of the Yuan Dynasty ascended the throne, of which 6 ascended the throne in a huge controversy, 2 were killed, and 1 disappeared after being overthrown.
Of course, the infighting in the Yuan Dynasty had a genetic memory, because Kublai Khan defeated his younger brother Ali Buge by virtue of his military superiority. Just as Li Shimin gave the Tang Dynasty a bad start to the succession, Kublai Khan also injected the gene of civil war into the Yuan Dynasty.
The fierce infighting not only weakened the cohesion of the empire, but also made the culture unable to be unified, and the lack of cultural unity meant that the Yuan Dynasty could not concentrate resources on internal affairs and diplomacy, the most specific manifestation of which was:
The laws are not uniform, and the imperial examination cannot be smoothly promoted.
Since its founding, the Yuan Dynasty has not enacted a nationwide legal code, and it was not until the accession to the throne in 1311 that Renzong Aiyu Li Bali Bada ordered Zhongshu Province to begin the compilation of laws. In 1316, a code containing more than 2,400 legal provisions, divided into four categories: precedents, regulations, edicts, and other categories, was compiled.
However, it was not until 1323, when Emperor Yingzong Shuode Ba Ra ascended the throne, that a new code of laws was enacted.
Needless to say, it must have been strongly opposed by the Mongol nobility and the Semu elite. Even though the Yuan dynasty promulgated new laws, the kings handled cases in Mongol traditions within their fiefdoms, and the new laws were of very limited use.
As a result, Youngjong eventually died in a coup d'état carried out by the old forces.
▲Yingzong Shuode Ba Ra died in a coup Source/Stills
As for the imperial examinations, Kublai Khan was not prepared to implement them from the beginning in order to ensure the interests of the Mongol aristocracy and the Semu elite, although he also cooperated with the Han elite in building schools. It was not until 1315 that Renzong officially opened the department, but in order to ensure the hereditary privileges of the Mongol nobility, the number of people in each palace examination was always limited to 100. A total of 16 examinations were held in the history of the Yuan Dynasty, and only 1,139 people passed the Jinshi examination, accounting for only about 4% of the number of civil officials in the same period.
In 1335, during the dictatorship of Boyan, the scientific expedition was canceled for a time. In the historical period of 1336 and 1339, the Yuan Dynasty did not hold imperial examinations. Boyan's perception is:
The imperial examination system is a challenge to the superiority of cowardice.
Yes, like the Lang officials in the Qin and Han dynasties, the Yuan Dynasty's cowardly Xue was also the talent training base of the empire, and in the early days of Emperor Shun's accession, the number of cowardly Xue was as high as 13,000.
Like Liao and Jin, the Yuan Dynasty only opened a small opening at the level of talent circulation, and the essence was still tribal politics and aristocratic politics.
It was not until after Boyan lost power that the imperial examination system was implemented again, but the strength was still limited.
In the end, the Yuan Dynasty's Zongwang, Wanhu, Qianhu and provincial governors all became warlords within the empire, gradually drifting away from the imperial court, coupled with peasant uprisings in various places, Emperor Shun could only control Dadu and some nearby places, and when the Ming Dynasty was strong in the north, he could only return to the grassland again.
How to say it, the Yuan Dynasty collected almost all the chronic diseases in the nomadic culture and the agrarian culture that affected the life span of the dynasty, and it was impossible to live long at all.
However, because the Yuan Dynasty inherited the plate of the Mongol Empire, after Kublai Khan ascended the throne, many problems could not be moved, and could only be controlled in a small area.
There is only so much that I can summarize the reasons for the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, and we will continue to add them in the comment area.
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