Throughout China's history, up and down the five thousand years, there have been hundreds of emperors in history, some of whom have made great achievements in battle, some of whom have been mediocre in their lives, and some of whom have been depressed and degenerate. And every founding emperor is undoubtedly worthy of respect by future generations, including many wenzhi martial arts masters, leaving a strong mark in China and even in human history.
The first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, was such a great man, with his own talents, not only created a new dynasty, but also led his men and horses to conquer most of Asia, which can be said to be a tyrant. His existence is not only the history of a dynasty, but also the development process of the entire Chinese history.
First, the young are much more helpful
Kublai Khan was born in 1215 AD, the grandson of Temujin. When he was young, he knew a lot of cultured people in the Central Plains and knew the situation there very well, so he had a lot of staff under him, all of whom were Central Plains people.
During the time of the Wokoutai Khan, the central plains cultural people Dou Mo and Yao Shu began to do things for them, and later these two people were hired by Kublai Khan with very generous treatment and entrusted with heavy responsibilities. Dou Mo taught Kublai Khan the Knowledge of the Three Principles and Five Constants, while Yao Shu taught Kublai Khan a lot of Confucianism. Later, Kublai Khan met a monk named Zi Cong in Helin, who was highly used by Kublai Khan because he had read many books and knew many things in the world. In 1250, Zi Cong suggested to Kublai Khan that the shortcomings of the imperial court at that time should be rectified, the taxes of the peasants should be reduced, the peasants should be encouraged to work in agriculture, and more schools should be built so that people could learn knowledge.
In 1242 AD, Zhao Bi, a native of Xijing, also came to Kublai Khan's side. Zhao Bi knew Mongolian, and he helped Kublai Khan translate the book "University Yanyi", and later Zhao Bi recommended Wang Hu to work under Kublai Khan, helping Kublai Khan to learn literary knowledge such as the "Filial Piety Classic" and "Shang Shu". In 1247, Zicong recommended Zhang Wenlian to Kublai Khan, zhang Wenlian was appointed by Kublai Khan as the secretary of the palace, and later became more and more trusted in him, and it was also in this year that Zhang Dehui recommended More than 20 people including Yuan Haowen to Kublai Khan.
In July 1251, Kublai Khan's eldest brother Möngke became the Great Khan of Mongolia. That is, Yuan Xianzong, because Kublai Khan was the eldest of Möngke's brothers and was very knowledgeable, so not long after Möngke became the Great Khan, he let Kublai Khan manage the affairs of Mo Nan.
During this period, Kublai Khan reused many people in the Central Plains, such as Liu Bingzhong, Xu Heng, Yao Shu, etc., and advocated the implementation of etiquette in the Central Plains, and later he also accepted the title of "Great Master of Confucianism". In 1252, when the Song Dynasty's army came to attack the Central Plains, Kublai Khan asked the Great Khan to set up some official positions there, and then Kublai Khan took his men and horses to attack the southern region. In the years that followed, Hu Biye helped his brother in many battles, invincible and invincible.
Second, the historical merits after the Great Khan
In 1259 AD, Kublai Khan's brother Möngke died of illness, Kublai Khan's brother made him the Great Khan on his deathbed, and he thought that he was not capable of doing this position, because he was still taking people and horses on the expedition, and he could not return to the north immediately, so he took his men and horses to attack the Southern Song Dynasty, and fought a lot of victories, and later his men told him that his brother Ali Bu Brother wanted to do this position, and let him quickly return to the north, and then Kublai Khan claimed to attack Lin'an, So the Southern Song Dynasty sent people to negotiate peace with Kublai Khan and gave Kublai Khan a lot of land, so Kublai Khan returned to the north on the same day.
In 1260, Kublai Khan arrived in Yanjing with his men and horses, disbanded the others there, and spent a winter there preparing to ascend the throne in the spring of the following year.
In May 1260, Kublai Khan ascended the throne as Great Khan and succeeded his brother, calling himself "Yuan" and changing his era name to "Zhongtong". In 1264, Kublai Khan's "Five Years of Central Unification" was also for the "First Year of the First Century"
。 In 1264, he changed the name of the country to "Dayuan", and Su Bilie became the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1264, Kublai Khan changed Yanjing to Zhongdu. Later, in 1272, he adopted Liu Bingzhong's suggestion, changed zhongdu to Dadu, and established the capital here. In 1274 AD, Kublai Khan let his men and horses lead 15,000 people, using more than 900 warships, to attack Japan, and later because the Japanese army resisted fiercely, it only won the battle at the beginning, did not dare to chase too far, and encountered typhoon weather, many battleships were destroyed, so they withdrew. In 1275, Kublai Khan sent an emissary to Japan, but the emissary was killed as soon as he arrived in Japan. So Kublai Khan was very angry and once again asked his men and horses to prepare to go out on a campaign. But it was still defeated in 1281. In 1276, Kublai Khan's Yuan army captured Lin'an, Emperor Gong of Song surrendered, the Southern Song Dynasty officially perished, and by 1279, the Yuan army had defeated the last Southern Song army at sea.
In Kublai Khan's later years, because his wife died, and his heirs also died, he began to drink heavily and overeat, resulting in many diseases, and in 1294 AD, Kublai Khan died of illness.
Third, the policy of incumbency
After defeating the Southern Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan appointed as many officials of the Southern Song Dynasty as possible, he paid great attention to the selection of talents, let many people with real talents and practical learning manage the country, and established provinces, Zhongshu Province, which is the beginning of China's provincial system, and set up many departments that benefit the people, but also strengthen the management of border areas and consolidate their ruling position.
Kublai Khan was the first to invent paper money, he used money as the basis of finance, and later his men did not pay attention to this policy, resulting in very serious inflation, Kublai Khan knew about it, severely punished these people, and in order to organize the depreciation of banknotes, he issued new banknotes.
Kublai Khan also exerted great control over grain, advocating the hoarding of grain in large quantities during the bumper harvest years, and when the grain harvest was not good, he distributed these grains to the relief of the people.
In addition, in terms of religion, he also implemented a management policy, established a general system to manage Buddhist monks, later, some people tried to rebel against him, but eventually he suppressed it, and added the management of the monks, and later in order to make the Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist people live in harmony, he built Taoist temples, provided funds, and gave them the immunities and privileges of your peers.
Kublai Khan even sought the help of the few foreign Christians in China at the time. Christians had come here before Kublai Khan became the Son of Heaven, but in contrast, Kublai Khan was more sincere in inviting and recruiting foreign Christians.
During Kublai Khan's reign, he also strengthened the unity of the nationalities and promoted the great unity of the nationalities, and he greatly admired Confucian ideas and ordered the establishment of the Hanlin and Guoshi Academy, which specialized in collecting and recording the history of Liao and Jin.
summary:
Kublai Khan, as a heavenly son who conquered other regions and expanded his territory, did bring disasters to the people of the conquered areas, but he was still a relatively successful founder of the new order, he was one of the few rulers who attached great importance to the culture of the Central Plains and respected Confucian culture, although his family was mainly nomadic, but he paid great attention to the production and development of agriculture in the Central Plains, and his greatest advantage may be to accept the culture of the Central Plains and carry it forward. Kublai Khan's life has too many legends, of course, there are negative measures, but in general, as the founder of a dynasty, he is undoubtedly successful.
bibliography:
History of the Yuan
Kublai Khan's Challenge
Mark Polo's Travels