Deep down, Kublai Khan was adamantly opposed to the Mongol split because he wanted to be the Great Khan. If the Mongol patriarchs have all split up, then what does it mean that he is the king of the sect? Objectively, however, he became the culprit in the division of Mongolia. Why?
First, Kublai Khan was the one who created the division.
(Statue of Kublai Khan)
When Möngke Khan died in battle in the Southern Song Dynasty Diaoyu City, Ali Buge, who was in charge of the Mongol homeland, wrote several times to summon Kublai Khan to return to his homeland and elect a new Great Khan at the Kuritai Assembly. But Kublai Khan did not dare to go back, because he was worried about two problems: First, once he returned, he left his own base camp and left his own army, so that he would most likely be imprisoned by Ali Bu brother. Second, if kurita was really convened to elect a new Great Khan, Kublai Khan would certainly not have won. Because according to the tradition of the young son shou stove, everyone will choose Ali Bu Brother; according to the battle merits, everyone will choose to fight a large piece of West Asia, and the battle achievements are higher Hulagu. So Kublai Khan would never go back.
Not only did Kublai Khan not return, but he also came to his capital Kaiping and established himself as the Great Khan of the Mongols. Obviously, Kublai Khan's act was a serious disruption to the Mongolian electoral system and fundamentally caused the division of Mongolia.
When Kublai Khan did not return to Mongolia and established himself as The Great Khan, Ali Buge gathered all the Mongol nobles in Mongolia and held a Kuritai assembly. Although not all the kings and nobles came, they were still representative. However, Kublai Khan refused to admit it and raised an army to fight Ali Buge. Obviously, competing with the Great Khan elected by most of the Mongol kings and nobles was another act of division.
(Kuritai Conference)
Second, Kublai Khan was the one who instigated division.
In order to achieve victory, Kublai Khan sent people to contact Hulagu, hoping that Hulagu would support him. The condition for Hulagu was to allow Hulagu to form a free kingdom.
Originally, Hulagu was planning to go back to the Kuritai Conference and run for the Great Khan. When Kublai Khan gave him this condition, he suddenly realized that there was no need to go back at all. Because even if you go back to compete, you may not be able to win over Ali Brother. Now that you have a free kingdom, why not enjoy it?
It can be said that the division of Hulagu, instigated by Kublai Khan, was the first and largest division of Mongolia.
After the division of Hulagu, the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate, including the host kings, also began to split. And the division of everyone, Kublai Khan is basically helpless. It wasn't that he couldn't beat them, it was because he couldn't find a reason to beat them. Since you Kublai Khan agreed to hulagu's division, why did you disagree with our division?
(Hulagu)
Third, Kublai Khan was the one who expanded the division.
When Kublai Khan was vying with Ali Buge for the Khan's throne, the descendants of the Wokoutai family, who had originally been severely suppressed by Möngke, rose strongly.
The rise of Haidu was directed at Kublai Khan. And because he had to deal with the powerful Haidu, Kublai Khan had to win over the descendants of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. And the method of co-optation is the same as that of Hulagu, which is to allow them a high degree of autonomy. It's really about agreeing to their splintering. In this way, in addition to recognizing the independence of the Ilkhanate, Kublai Khan successively recognized the independence of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. Finally, it was necessary to recognize the independence of the Wokoutai Khanate.
In this way, the entire Mongol Empire was divided into the Yuan Dynasty and the Four Khanates.
(Reference: Yuan Shi)