Summoning of the Great General of the Great Qin Empire

Chapter 218

Yelu Chucai was born in Yanjing (now Beijing) on ​​June 1190, the first year of Jinzhangzong Mingchang (July 7, 24). He came from a Khitan noble family and was the ninth grandson of Liao Taizu Yelu Abaoji. The eighth grandson of Dan Wang Yelubei, the son of Yelulu, Shangshu Youcheng of the Jin Dynasty.Its name and characters are taken from the allusion in "Chunqiu Zuoshi Zhuan" that "although Chu has talent, Jin practically uses it". The Mongolian name is Wutusaheli, which means "long-bearded man".

In June of the second year of Mingchang (1191), Yelu Lu passed away. Yelu Chucai was two years old at the time (there are also reports that he died in the first year of Mingchang and the third year of Mingchang). He settled in Yizhou Hongzheng (today's Yi County, Jinzhou) with his mother Yang. , received a comprehensive education from his mother, entered Lushan Xianzhou Academy [12] at the age of 12, and studied poetry and calligraphy at the age of 13.

Since Yelu Chucai's grandfather, his family has been an official in the Jin Dynasty for generations, and they often live in Yanjing.At that time, Yanjing had a profound foundation of Han culture, which made the Yelu family influenced by Han culture for generations, forming a family tradition of reading and knowing etiquette.Yelu Chucai has been influenced by Confucianism since he was a child, and his ideal is to govern the world according to Confucianism.Inheriting the family tradition, Yelu Chucai has learned Chinese books since he was a child and is proficient in Chinese. At a young age, he has "extensively read a lot of books, bypassing astronomy, geography, laws and calendars, spells, and interpretations of old doctors and divination. Ruosu built ".

In the sixth year of Taihe (1206), according to the system of the Jin Dynasty, the son of the prime minister could be given the post of provincial governor, but Yelu Chucai did not take office.Wanting to participate in the imperial examination, Jin Zhangzong asked those taking the examination many things about the trial.At that time, 17 people participated in the examination, but only Yelu Chucai's answer was excellent, so he was recruited and awarded the post of commission, and later served as Tongzhi of Kaizhou.

In the second year of Zhenyou (1214), Jin Xuanzong moved south to Bianjing, and Yelu Chucai's brothers Yelu Biancai and Yelu Shancai accompanied him.However, Yelu Chucai stayed in Zhongdu, and was appointed by the prime minister Wanyan Chenghui who stayed in Yanjing as a member of the left and right department.

In the tenth year of Genghis Khan (1215), the Mongolian army captured Yanjing. Genghis Khan learned that he was brilliant and full of economics, so he sent someone to ask him about his plans for governing the country.According to Grusser's "Prairie Empire" records: "After occupying Beijing, Genghis Khan selected a Khitan prince, Yelu Chucai, among the captives who were willing to support the Mongolian rule. , was appointed as a minister.

In the 14th year of Genghis Khan (1219), following Genghis Khan's expedition to the west, Chang Xiao used the way of conquering, governing the country, and calming the people. He has repeatedly made outstanding achievements and is highly regarded.

In the 21st year of Genghis Khan (1226), he followed Genghis Khan in his expedition to Xixia. He warned state and county officials to prohibit the state and county officials from recruiting and killing without authorization, so as to curb the trend of corruption and violence.

After Wokuotai Khan ascended the throne, Yelu Chucai advocated the establishment of imperial rites and advised Prince Chagatai (brother of Taizong) and others to perform courtesy as a monarch and ministers to respect the power of the Khan.From then on, he became more and more important and was known as the "Minister of the State".When he first took charge of taxation matters in the Central Plains region, he proposed to enact the "Eighteen Things" and establish governors of prefectures and counties to separate the military and civilians. He formulated preliminary laws and opposed the conversion of Han lands into pastures. He established a taxation system and set up ten collection offices in Yanjing and other places. tax office.

In the third year of Wokuotai Khan (1231), he served as Zhongshu Ling (Prime Minister).Since then, he actively restored the rule of culture, and gradually implemented the plan of "ruling the country with Confucianism" and "establishing the system, discussing rites and music, establishing ancestral temples, building palaces, creating schools, setting up imperial examinations, pulling out hermits, visiting old people, promoting virtuous people, seeking founders, and persuading The political views of farming and mulberry, suppressing leisure and idleness, saving punishment, thinning taxes, advocating fame and integrity, denouncing vertical and horizontal, eliminating redundant staff, deposing cruel officials, advocating filial piety and fraternity, and helping the poor.

In all aspects of politics, economy and culture, he has made great efforts and made many pioneering works.Mainly protect agriculture and implement the feudal taxation system; reform the political system and promote and reuse Confucian officials; oppose the massacre of lives and protect the lives of the people; , sorting out Confucian classics.The emerging Mongolian nobles gradually gave up the backward nomadic way of life, and adopted the Han traditional ideas and systems centered on Confucianism to govern the Central Plains.It turned the troubled times of constant wars into peaceful and prosperous times, preserved and continued the development of the advanced feudal agricultural civilization of the Central Plains, and laid the foundation for Kublai Khan to establish the Yuan Dynasty later.

Yelu Chucai also advocated using the principles of Confucius and Mencius as the principles for governing the country and using Confucian scholars to serve as officials at all levels.Yelu Chucai is worthy of being called the "craftsman who governs the world" and has made important contributions to the development of Mongolia. He is the No. 1 person in promoting the acceptance of Chinese traditional culture by Mongolian nobles.In order to commemorate Yelu Chucai's contribution, the Mongols built a temple specifically for him, which is still preserved in the Summer Palace in Beijing.

Yelu Chucai served in the two dynasties of Genghis Khan and Ogotai Khan for nearly 30 years, and most of them have contributed to the assistance.When the queen broke away from the title system of Legona, she was gradually excluded because she repeatedly impeached the queen's favorite Oduraheman.

On May 1244th (June 6th) in the third year after Naimazhen (20), Yelu Chucai died of grief and indignation at the age of 55. "The mainstay is broken, and the Tibetan boat moves in the middle of the night." When the news spread, the country was filled with grief. Many Mongolians wept bitterly, as if they had lost their relatives.The scholar-bureaucrats of the Han nationality shed tears in mourning for this outstanding Khitan politician.There was no music in the Mongolian Kingdom for several days.Just as Mu Zhiqian, a contemporary of his, said in "Zhongshu Yelugong's Elegy": "Suddenly reported the stars of Taiwan, but still yielded fresh scallions, and the people were so moved that they called Cangmin with tears."

After the death of Yelu Chucai, Empress Nai Mazhen carried his body back to the hometown of Yanjing according to his last wish, and buried him on the bank of Wengshan Po (now Kunming Lake) at the foot of Yuquan Mountain, which Yeluu Chucai was very attached to during his lifetime. His deceased wife was buried together.And built a temple statue for it, the ceremony is extremely grand.

In the first year of Zhishun (1330), Emperor Wenzong of the Yuan Dynasty bestowed on Yelu Chucai the meritorious official of Yinliang Zuoyun, Taishi, and Shangzhu Kingdom after the national discussion, and was granted the posthumous title of "Wenzheng" as King of Guangning.

At the beginning of the founding of Mongolia, the military and political integration system was implemented. There were only ten thousand, one thousand, and one hundred officers who commanded the army. There were no officers who governed political affairs.In order to change this situation, Yelu Chucai made a suggestion: "Officials should be set up at the local level to rule the common people, and another ten thousand households should be set up to manage the army, so that the military and government can contain each other and prevent arbitrariness." Wo Kuotai adopted it.According to his suggestion, Wo Kuotai also established Zhongshu Province, the highest administrative agency in the central government, and appointed Yelu Chucai as Zhongshuling.

When the Mongolian army invaded Asian and European countries and conquered various ethnic groups in the country, it implemented a brutal policy of massacres.Under Yelu Chucai's persuasion, the massacre of the city gradually became less common.

Genghis Khan did not formulate a complete law, "Zhasahei" is just a customary law applicable to the grassland.After the scope of Mongolian control expanded to the Central Plains, the number of criminal cases increased greatly, and the situation became much more complicated. Yelu Chucai proposed "Eighteen Things Cheaper" as a temporary law, strictly prohibiting local officials from killing ordinary people without authorization, and prohibiting businessmen and wealthy lords from embezzling public property. Crack down on hooligans and hooligans to kill and steal, and prohibit landlords and rich people from seizing farmers' fields. In this way, social order will gradually stabilize.

In addition, under the suggestion of Yelu Chucai, Wokuotai changed the old feudal system of "cracking soil divisions", established ten tax collection envoys in various places, and established the "five silk" system (5 people pay 1 catty). silk), bringing the power of taxation to the central government.

In terms of economy, Yelu Chucai advocated that the central plains had been devastated by wars for many years, production was sluggish, and the people were in poverty.

In terms of military affairs, Yelu Chucai proposed reforming the Mongolian military-civilian integration governance method, advocating the separation of military and civilian governance, setting up prefectures and counties to manage civil affairs;In this way, military power, political power, and financial power are separated, so that they can check and supervise each other.It coordinated the contradictions between the Han landlords and the Mongolian nobles, consolidated the foundation of Mongolian rule, accelerated the pace of Mongolian unification of the country and the establishment of centralized politics, and had a profound and huge impact on the history of Mongolia and the Central Plains.

In education, Yelu Chucai vigorously advocated Confucianism and admired Confucius.With the consent of Emperor Taizong, he restored the Confucian Temple, gave preferential treatment to the descendants of Confucius, established Guozixue, and educated the people with feudal culture.In 1237 AD, Yelu Chucai proposed to resume the imperial examination to obtain scholars.In the second year, the Yuan Dynasty opened a course to recruit scholars for the first time, and more than 4000 people were admitted at one time.The resumption of the imperial examinations improved the status of Confucian scholars in the Central Plains, recruited a large number of talents for the country's discovery, and laid the foundation for the development and prosperity of the Mongolian Empire during the Kublai Khan period.

When Mongolia destroyed the Jin Kingdom, Tubo, and Dali and conquered the Southern Song Dynasty, many celebrities such as Yuan Haowen, Zhao Fu, Dou Mo, Wang Pan, etc. were protected and used.This had a great impact on the rise of northern academic style. In 1237, with the demise of the Jin Dynasty and the expansion of the ruled area, the country needed a large number of talents to govern the country.Yelu Chucai said: "Those who make utensils must use good craftsmen, and those who keep them must use Confucian ministers." Wo Kuotai followed his opinion, "I ordered Xuandezhou to teach Liu Zhong to take the exam with the prefecture, and to use the meaning of the scriptures, Fu, and theories. For the three subjects, if a Confucian scholar is captured and becomes a slave, he is also ordered to be tried. If his master hides and does not send him, he will die. There will be 30 and [-] scholars, and one in four will be exempted from slavery."

("History of the Yuan Dynasty: Biography of Yelu Chucai") Many talents were selected this time, such as Yang Huan, Zhang Wenqian, Zhao Liangbi, Dong Wenyong and others. They later became famous officials in the Kublai Khan era. In order to complete the sinicization of Mongolia Made a huge contribution.This examination enabled a large number of Confucian scholars to improve their status and receive preferential treatment in class and service, and played an important role in various fields of culture, education, politics, and economy.

Yelu Chucai also taught Confucianism to the Mongolian nobles.He first started by respecting Confucius. After the fall of the Jin Dynasty, he "sent people into the city. After asking Confucius, he got 51 generations of Sun Yuanxi, who attacked Fengyan Shenggong and served Linmiaodi." He also lectured to the ruling group. Gradually, Guozixue was also established in the capital.

He also made contributions to literature. Yelu Chucai set up a classics office in Pingyang and a editing office in Yanjing to sort out and edit classics; he preserved important documents about Liao history.As a descendant of Khitan, Yelu Chucai attached great importance to preserving the culture of the Liao Dynasty.The longest extant Khitan poem of the Liao Dynasty, "Drunken Yige", was translated by Yelu Chucai into a long poem in Chinese seven-character style and preserved in "Zhanran Jushi Anthology".As far as his cultural contribution is concerned, Yelu Chucai is a giant enough to shine in the annals of history.

Yelu Chucai also resolutely opposed the brutality of war[17].According to Mongolian practice, when a city that desperately resists is broken, the city must be massacred as revenge.Yelu Chucai urged Taizong to change this barbaric practice and save the lives of ordinary people.Taizong adopted his suggestion, a catastrophe that destroyed the agricultural civilization of the Central Plains was prevented, and millions of people in the Central Plains were preserved.This is Yelu Chucai's greatest contribution to Chinese history and Chinese civilization.

In order to make the Mongolian upper class accept Han culture, Yelu Chucai used the pragmatism of the Mongolian aristocrats, called rule according to the custom, and mainly started from the protection and appointment of Confucian talents and the dissemination of Confucian ethics, but it was basically not adopted.Yelu Chucai knew that the system of the Central Plains must be used to rule the Central Plains, and it was the Han Confucian scholars who were familiar with the rule of Han law.So when he gained power, he vigorously protected Han Confucian scholars and introduced them to official careers.

In 1230, Yelu Chucai set up ten roads in the Central Plains, and each road appointed chief and deputy tax collectors, all of whom were Confucian scholars.The details are as follows: Chen Shike and Zhao Fat in Yanjing, Liu Zhong and Liu Huan in Xuande, Zhou Li and Wang Zhen in Xijing, Lu Zhen and Liu Zizhen in Taiyuan, Yang Jian and Gao Tingying in Pingyang, Wang Jin and Jia Cong in Zhending, Zhang Yu and Wang Rui in Dongping , Beijing Wang Deheng, Hou Xian, Pingzhou Jiaguyong (Jurchen), Cheng Tai, Jinan Tian Muxi, Li Tianyi ("Yuan History Baiguan Zhi") This is the beginning of the Mongolian supreme ruling group appointing a large number of Han people.

Mongolia is a nomadic nation in a slave society.His various systems and social organizational forms are based on the tribal chieftaincy system.Such systems were undoubtedly extremely backward for the advanced Central Plains region, and could not adapt to the social requirements of the time.Yelu Chucai saw this and carried out reforms in all aspects

In the autumn of 1229, the Mongolian King Zong and ministers held a Hulin Leta (meeting) in Qudiao Alan, Qululian River.At the meeting, the issue of succession was discussed for forty days. It was not until No. 40 that a result was reached, and Wo Kuotai came to the throne.When Wokuotai Great Khan came to the throne, Yelu Chucai formulated the ceremonies for the establishment of the book in accordance with the tradition of the Central Plains Dynasty.This kind of etiquette requires the elders of the royal family to worship in Banlie, which is very different from Mongolian customs.Yelu Chucai started to work with Prince Chagatai.He said: "Although the king is a brother, he is a minister, and he should worship. If the king worships, no one dares not to worship." Said: 'The true society is also the minister of Ji.' Since then, the nobles of the country have worshiped." ("Yuan Shi · Yelu Chucai Biography")
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, there have been conflicts between the central and local governments.To consolidate a feudal dynasty with a vast territory, a practical administrative system must be in place to facilitate central control of local areas.Yelu Chucai was no exception. One of his biggest goals in carrying out administrative reforms was to weaken local power and strengthen centralization.

In 1231, Yelu Chucai was appointed as Zhongshuling, and was ordered to set up the Zhongshu Province (the Zhongshu Province did not exist in the Jin Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it was only an institution that issued imperial edicts and had no administrative power. In the Jin Dynasty and In the Tang Dynasty, Shangshu Province was in charge of administration.) The Mongol Empire began to have a central administrative organization.Although Zhongshu Sheng is only a team like the secretariat, because it is related to important affairs such as issuing documents and processing documents, the actual power is still very large.

During the rise of Mongolia and the conquest of the Kingdom of Jin, a large number of officials of the Kingdom of Jin and the leaders of the armed landlords belonged to Mongolia, mainly Han, but also Khitan and Jurchen.From the 13s, they gradually became the new dignitaries under the Mongolian regime, forming a local power of the autocratic side.The enfeoffment system was also implemented during the Mongolian period.The ruler entrusted some states and counties in the north to the kings, heroes, and sons-in-law as "voting".Yelu Chucai's fiefs were Zhending Road Gucheng, Anping, Raoyang, Wuqiang and other places.The official positions and sites of these dignitaries are hereditary.

In their jurisdiction, they have military, civilian, and financial powers in one. They are not only military chiefs, but also chief executives. They can establish their own government offices, appoint subordinate officials, set their own taxes, and collect taxes.This is very similar to the feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty.Although their offerings and troops are the main sources of Mongolia's finances and military, their dominance of one side is fundamentally not conducive to Mongolia's rule.In addition, each Han dynasty has a group of dependent populations who combine soldiers and peasants and a large number of slaves. This phenomenon of strengthening the dependence relationship in life is actually a regression. It is a management method of tribal chiefs and slavery, and it is also a sign of the early Mongolian enfeoffment. It is a special combination of the system and the feudal production relations in the Central Plains.

In 1230, Yelu Chucai wrote a letter proposing to separate the army, civilians, and finances, which was another attempt to implement Han law.However, this policy was resisted by the dignitaries, and Mongolia was still under conquest from all sides at that time, so it was not implemented very well, but it was basically achieved "taxation controls the money valley", while the plan for the separation of duties between the people and the army was not implemented. Had to put it on hold.

In 1235, the big judge lost his luck. Hu Tu Hu checked the accounts of the Central Plains and obtained more than 110 million households. According to the Mongolian tradition, he distributed 76 households to the kings and nobles. The rest of the "drop-out households" belong to governments at all levels.Yelu Chucai tried his best to object, saying, "Splitting the land and dividing the people will easily create dissatisfaction. It is better to give them more gold and silk." Wo Kuotai said, "What has been promised?" It is awarded in the middle of the year, and it is okay if you are not good at scientific collection." So the "five households" system was established, that is, every five households jointly paid one catty of silk to the recipient.In addition, one catty of silk produced by every two households is given to the government as a national tax.So the right to taxation was taken back.Prevented local forces from becoming stronger.

Mongolia expanded outward for the purpose of plunder.After arriving in a certain place, they always robbed all their property, used the captured people and craftsmen as slaves, and distributed them to nobles and generals according to their merits.This method of plundering has caused great damage to social productivity and is not suitable for the farming economy and is not conducive to the rule of the Central Plains.At that time, for the Mongolian rulers, they did not know what taxation was, let alone the great role of taxation in the management of the Central Plains.But Yelu Chucai has seen this and has a preliminary governance plan.

As a nomadic people, the Mongolian rulers did not know the importance of agricultural economy to the economy. Some ministers pointed out: "The Han people are useless to the country, but Xikong people think of pasture land." Yelu Chucai firmly opposed it and seized Wo Kuotai. Wanting to increase financial revenue to better promote the expansion of the army, he said: "Your Majesty will make a southern expedition, and the military needs should be funded. Sincerely set the Central Plains land tax, commercial tax, salt, wine, iron smelting, and mountains and rivers. At the age of one year, you can get 50 taels of silver, [-] horses of silk, and more than [-] stones of millet, which are enough to supply, so what does it mean to be useless?"
So Wokuotai adopted Yelu Chucai's advice and divided the country into ten roads. Each road was set up with chief and deputy tax envoys. They were directly subordinate to the Khan, and they were in three places with the civil servants in charge of civil affairs and the tens of thousands of households in charge of military affairs. All irrelevant.The ten roads are: Yanjing, Xuande, Xijing, Taiyuan, Pingyang, Zhending, Dongping, Beijing, Pingzhou and Jinan.The tax collection system has been continuously improved. After 1236, the Central Plains tax system was roughly determined:

1.
Land tax: 3 liters per mu in upper field, 2 liters per mu in middle field, 2 liters per mu in lower field, 5 liters in paddy field

2.
Ding tax: Check the number of Ding households, each Ding pays 1 shi of millet a year, 5 liters of slaves and maidservants, half and half of slaves and maidservants in new households, and no payment for old and young.Where there are many fields with few people, the land tax is calculated, and those with few fields and many people are calculated by the small tax.

3.
Household tax: The household tax is paid on a household basis, and there are two types: silk and silver. ("A Brief History of the Yuan Dynasty" Qiu Shusen)

In order to implement the taxation system smoothly, two problems must be paid attention to in the era of war and chaos. One is to keep a sufficient number of people as much as possible, and the other is to make these people stable instead of exile.In terms of retaining a sufficient population, Yelu Chucai mainly changed the old custom of the Mongolian army massacring the rebels.When Subotai was about to capture Bianliang, he reported to Wo Kuotai that he was going to massacre the city.Yelu Chucai said in a memorial: "If you have the land but no people, how will you use it?" So Wo Kuotai ordered that the slaughter be exempted, saving the lives of 147 million people.

As soon as the example of Bianliang was opened, many cities that fought back were spared from massacre.The preservation of the population has prevented the Central Plains from being in a plight of thousands of miles of uninhabited people, and the potential for economic development in the Central Plains has been preserved.In addition, the aristocratic local forces at that time levied taxes and labor indiscriminately, loan sharks exploited the people, and a large number of people fled.Yelu Chucai used the power of the central government to control local taxation and reorganize usury debts, which eased the contradiction to a certain extent.

However, in practice, the Mongols' taxation was very irregular. They were often levied many times a year or apportioned temporarily, which made the people miserable, a large number of farmers fled, and the number of refugees increased greatly.During this period, Yelu Chucai had to take measures to compile refugees, resettle them on the spot or repatriate them to their original places; reorganize the tax collection system, and strengthen the supervision of local tax collection officials and princes and ministers.

The backward form of social organization in Mongolia determines that its legal system must be extremely naive.With the expansion of Mongolia's ruled area, social security, official system and other problems became more and more serious.The "Zhasa" set by Genghis Khan, which is similar to the internal rules of the tribal alliance, cannot adapt to the complex social situation at all.At that time, the prefects and counties were rampant with corruption, the rich arbitrarily annexed land, and the phenomenon of hooligans murdering and stealing goods was very serious.Aiming at the social reality, Yelu Chucai put forward "Cheap 18 Things" as a temporary law based on several legal principles of the Central Plains.Specific regulations were made on issues such as local officials' unauthorized divisions, businessmen's embezzlement of official property, non-payment of taxes by Mongolian Semu nobles, embezzlement of official property, and death sentences.This made the social situation better at that time.

The degree of civilization of the Mongols determines that they cannot formulate laws that are in line with the Central Plains. In addition, due to the deep degree of Sinicization of the Jin Dynasty, its "Taihe Law" is a relatively complete law that is more applicable to the Central Plains. The Mongols stole it. Lazy, adopt the "Law of Taihe" in the occupied Central Plains.Later, when the Yuan Dynasty was established, Kublai Khan hardly re-enacted any laws. Instead, he changed a bit on the basis of the "Taihe Law" and promulgated the "Yuan Decrees". The legal provisions of the ethnic hierarchy system have obvious traces of Mongolian customary law.

Yelu Chucai's political aspirations were realized during Kublai Khan's time.During Kublai Khan's reign, he re-established the feudal centralized system of power and various corresponding laws and regulations. The creation of Zhongtong and Zhiyuan established the system of the Yuan Dynasty.

The military and political ruling institutions of the central government are mainly composed of Zhongshu Province, Privy Council and Yushitai.The Zhongshu Province is equivalent to the Shangshu Province of the Jin Dynasty. It leads six ministries and is in charge of the national government affairs.The Privy Council "is in charge of the secret affairs of the soldiers and soldiers in the world".Yushitai "in charge of prosecuting the good and evil of all officials, and political gains and losses." The central institutions include the Hanlin National History Academy, the Dasinongsi, etc., and the ad hoc institutions include the Xuanzheng Yuan and the Dazong Zhengsi.

The highest local administrative body was the Shilu Propaganda Department during the time of Kublai Khan. They acted independently and had greater autonomy. Of course, this autonomy was much smaller than that of the khanates, but compared with the central government in the Han system. The relationship between the localities was stronger, and some officials (mainly Han Chinese) hoped to strengthen their control over the localities, so they made suggestions to Kublai Khan (of course, this was in line with Kublai Khan's wishes).Therefore, the central government "appointed important ministers to act in various places to exercise the powers of the Zhongshu Province, referred to as the province".Later, it became a fixed institution and became an effective connection between the local and the central government.The administrative agencies below the provinces are: roads, government offices, states, and counties.The kings and relatives still retained considerable privileges in the fiefdoms of the provinces in the interior, but they were also incorporated into the prefecture and county system in terms of their administrative system.

To sum up, it can be seen that during the Kublai Khan period, the central and local administrative institutions were more complete, basically inheriting the administrative institution model of the Central Plains Dynasty since the Han and Tang Dynasties and adding some institutions that adapted to the characteristics of the tribe (such as the Xuanzheng Yuan, present-day Tibet, Nepal and other places ).The center of the organization is the Zhongshu Province, and the subordinate administrative agencies at all levels are directly subordinate to the emperor through the Zhongshu Sheng. It can be seen that the framework of the administrative organization actually inherited the conception and setting of Yelu Chucai.In addition, the institutions at all levels under the control of the Privy Council, such as Wanhufu, are separated from the local prefectures and counties, and there are special supervisory institutions—the Imperial Envoy Platform and its subordinate units—to investigate the gains and losses of officials. These follow the Yelu Chucai " Some political thoughts of separation of military and government, centralization of power, and independence of judicial inspection".This system is obviously very efficient for the rule of the Central Plains.

After Kublai Khan ascended the throne, he basically inherited the taxation system of the Yelu Chucai period.Only the amount of taxation was adjusted, and on the basis of the old system, the period of payment, the method of receipt, the prohibition of closing, and the method of accounting were clearly stipulated to make it more perfect.The improvement of the taxation system marks the recognition of the Mongolian rulers to the agricultural economy (the economic model of the Central Plains), and it can also be seen that Yelu Chucai's contribution to taxation is unprecedented.

However, in the Mongolian territory, the economic components are diverse, including agricultural economy (mainly in the Central Plains), commercial economy (all over the country, mainly managed by people with colored eyes, and the royal family, princes and ministers are willing to invest) and nomadic economy (mainly in Mongolia) Plateau and grassland areas), the Mongolian nobles did not value the farming economy, but were enthusiastic about the huge profits brought to them by overseas trade, which was very different from the agricultural-based thinking of various dynasties.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the above-mentioned cases of arbitrary expropriation were still serious.

The system of selection is the system of selecting officials.At the beginning of Zhongtong (the year of Kublai Khan), "Dingdu Province and the system of the three left and right departments, the officials, households, and rituals are the left three departments, and the workers, soldiers, and punishments are the right three departments. Until 1264, The feudal lords have been guarded for generations, cut off and merged the officials of various prefectures, prefectures and counties, and carried out the relocation and transfer law." At this point, the power to appoint and transfer officials at all levels began to be transferred to the central government, and the first generation election system was established.

The first attempt at the imperial examination in the Yuan Dynasty was the "Wuxu Selection Examination" (introduced above).However, the Yuan Dynasty never truly promoted Confucianism. As mentioned above, promoting Confucianism would improve the status of the people of the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. This was not something the Mongolian nobles were willing to do.So they adopted a method that suited the situation. During the Yanyou period (Renzong, mid-to-late Yuan Dynasty), they began to set up a system to recruit scholars. The main content was Confucian classics. Its scale was not as good as that of the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was just a way for the rulers to calm the world and the people. Forget it, it is very difficult for southerners to enter the officialdom.So we have to say that the imperial examination system of the Yuan Dynasty was just a form and did not go very far on the basis of Yelu Chucai.

The role of talents: Yelu Chucai once networked many talents, and they were all capable ministers of reform during the Kublai Khan period.Among them, Zhang Wenqian and Wang Pan are the most famous and influential.

Zhang Wenqian served as Zhongshu Zuocheng, "establishing guidelines, explaining benefits and diseases, and doing things to stabilize the country and facilitate the people." But also, the reason for the rest of the good people to be slaves has been discussed and decided, and we must abide by the law." ("Yuan History Zhang Wenqian Biography") prevents a large number of people from becoming domestic slaves.Wang Pan was a member of the Hanlin Council and a bachelor of Hanlin. "It's because the palace has not been built, and the court instrument has not been established. Whenever there is congratulations, the ministers and subordinates gather in front of the tent hall." Wang Pan wrote: "It is appropriate to order the Xuanhui Yuan to be born in two provinces and to have a hundred customary names, each according to the order of the class. He listened to the generals and others calling for praise and then advanced. Then the ritual system was established." Moreover, when the imperial court was downsizing the organization, he also wrote and remonstrated and observed the envoys.And "Those who think that they have meritorious service should be removed from office or given titles such as kings, such as the system of feudal lords in the Han and Tang Dynasties. It is okay. It is not suitable to be appointed to a position." Nobles easily entered officialdom because of their family status.

There are also many talents: for example, Dong Wenyong devoted himself to the standardization of local administration; Zhao Liangbi was a general at that time, conquering the east and west; Dou Mo made certain achievements in culture and education. He was a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and had great influence on the royal family. The flourishing academic style has a great influence.

(End of this chapter)