I, the great ancestor of Emperor Shengwu, take Ganfu as the symbol and SHEN WOO as the imperial plan. The sound of nature, vast territory and abundant resources, and wide maps are unprecedented in ancient times. Those who are old enough to stay in the imperial court and apply for the throne are said to have achieved great things and should be settled in Hongming as soon as possible. Of course, what did it have to do with me in ancient times? The name of the founding of the country can be called Dayuan, which means "dry yuan" in the Book of Changes. -"The Establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC)"
Kublai Khan in Yuan Shizu
The name of Dayuan is taken from the meaning of "Daizai Gan Yuan" in People's Republic of China (PRC)'s imperial edict. There is an important point to draw here. The title of the Yuan Dynasty is really "Dayuan", and the word "Dayuan" must be added, unlike the Tang and Song Dynasties, which was just a prefix. Since then, the titles of the Ming and Qing dynasties have also learned from the Yuan Dynasty, and the word "big" has to be added. So there is nothing wrong with the sentence "I am dead in Qing Dynasty".
No matter how powerful the empire is, it will collapse one day, but the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty is too fast. Fast enough to see the Yuan Dynasty from its establishment to its demise. The Southern Song Dynasty perished in 1279. 135 1 year, Hanhe launched an uprising under the slogan of "Restoration of the Song Dynasty". From 1279 to 135 1 only 73 years. That is to say, if you witnessed the tragic sea battle at Yashan when you were ten years old, if you were lucky enough to see Han Liner become the "Emperor of the Song Dynasty" in your eighties. Give another more vivid example. Just like grandfathers born before the founding of the People's Republic of China, they are still sitting in the sun at the door, which is what it feels like. So, why did such a powerful meta-empire end so soon? Let's start from the beginning.
The Yuan Dynasty fought the Southern Song Dynasty for forty years. During these forty years, the economy of the Southern Song Dynasty was dragged down by the war, and the Yuan Dynasty was not much better. Kublai Khan used precious metals such as gold and silver as currency, which was different from other countries. He is more keen on something advanced, which is the paper money we use now. Paper money is easy to use, but it will be eaten by paper money if it is not handled properly. Because the Yuan Dynasty's military expenditure for waging war was basically maintained by printing money and distributing money, when the war could not be won, it would lead to price increases in different degrees.
In the first year of Kublai Khan (1260), the legal tender "Zhongtongchao" was issued. At the beginning, only 73,400 banknotes were issued. By 1.275, the year before Lin 'an broke, the paper money in China had soared to 1.4 1.9 million. The high military expenditure made the Yuan Empire miserable, and the people in the former rulers' areas were exploited by the rulers. Now it will continue to be exploited by the yuan dynasty, which was in great crisis.
Zhong Tong Yuan Bao jiao Chao
Fortunately, in 1276, the rich Southern Song Dynasty fell under Dayuan fighters. Although the war did not officially end until 1279, a large number of gold and silver and the prosperous commodity economy in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces saved the Yuan Empire. It is precisely because of this crisis that Kublai Khan's next administration was able to proceed smoothly. Friends will find that the rise and fall of the Yuan Dynasty is closely related to paper money. Suddenly I feel that history will be much simpler.
The generals of the Mongolian empire can work for Khan, which is directly related to Mongolia's continuous rewards and punishments. Sweating will give a great reward to the victorious general. This kind of reward will not be too much of a problem when the war is won. Whether it is Huatuo Mozi, the Western Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty or the Southern Song Dynasty, they will all gain great wealth. However, when the Mongolian empire became the Yuan Dynasty and the war no longer gained a lot of wealth, these rewards would fall on the government of the Yuan Dynasty.
In the later period of Kublai Khan's rule, the Great Yuan Empire was once again in crisis. The emergence of this crisis is still directly related to the war. Japan and Myanmar are not going well. The huge military expenditure all fell on the Yuan government. In the twenty-four years of the Yuan Dynasty alone, the military expenditure generated by the war was as high as 500,000 yuan. The amount of this military expenditure is more than 10 times of the annual income of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Such a high military expenditure is bound to cause serious economic turmoil. In order to make up for the shortage of finance, the Yuan government still adopted the old method of issuing more money. In this way, the Yuan Empire once again fell into an endless cycle in which the war was not smooth, printing money, continuing to fight in the hope of relieving the crisis, and then the war was not smooth. Finally, in order to get rid of this endless cycle, the Yuan government thought of ways to exchange money. Unfortunately, this further triggered a social crisis.
In addition to the central banknotes, RMB banknotes are issued, and the parity between RMB banknotes and central banknotes is 1:5, that is, RMB banknotes are 1, and there are 5 central banknotes; The price ratio of silver to yuan notes is 1:2, that is, silver is 1 and yuan notes are 2. At the same time, people are forbidden to buy and sell gold and silver privately. Except for the devaluation of 80%, other legal status remains unchanged, and it circulates with RMB banknotes.
For example, if you feel dizzy. For example, I had 100 RMB, and I could only change 20 RMB. Because silver is the standard unit of measurement. This 20 yuan note is equivalent to 12 silver. At that time, two central banknotes were exchanged for 1 two silver, which was converted into 20 central banknotes. Are you stupid? It's like saving 100 yuan and becoming 20 yuan overnight. This kind of thing was done three times in the Yuan Dynasty. These four kinds of banknotes are unified banknotes, yuan banknotes, large silver banknotes and orthogonal banknotes. In fact, there is no way to change money. The tax revenue of the Yuan Dynasty is too wonderful.
Since Kublai Khan's late Yuan Dynasty, people's lives have been miserable. At that time, Shanxi had a bumper harvest year after year, but it was still unable to pay the taxes of the Yuan Dynasty. Compared with other dynasties, the tax in Yuan Dynasty was different from agricultural tax in kind, but commercial tax. It looks so high-end, but only if it can be operated well.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the financial crisis continued, and the method adopted was to raise the price of salt. Salt is an indispensable necessity, and ordinary people can be self-sufficient through farming. But salt can't be solved by yourself. You must buy it. Moreover, the price of state-owned salt is getting higher and higher, and we can only make a living by buying private salt. Later, in order to sell official salt, the government adopted the method of apportioning salt tax. According to the number of residents (or families), the amount of salt is compulsory and the salt tax is levied according to the amount. Whether you eat official salt or not, you have to pay salt tax. As the salt tax becomes heavier and heavier, it can only be "the food of a lifetime, without paying the price." If you are slow, you are not interested in borrowing money. Reward your wife if you are in a hurry. "
Just then, the natural disaster came. In the 11th year of Zheng Zheng (135 1), the Yellow River burst its banks in Kaifeng and seized the Huai River and entered the sea. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the artery of north-south transportation, was cut off, which seriously affected the transportation of most materials. Because of the rebellion in Fang Guozhen, there was no shipping for a long time. If the canal goes wrong again, the Yuan government will basically be in a dying state. In order to save the Yuan Dynasty, the Prime Minister appointed Jia Lu, a water conservancy expert, as the chief engineer and began to dredge the Yellow River. Finally, the Yellow River finally re-entered the sea, but the death knell of the Yuan government also sounded. Because the Yuan government still paid wages by spamming paper money, a large number of river workers rebelled in the end. With the folk song "One Stone Man Stir the Yellow River with One Eye to Rebel against the World" as the call, and under the banner of "Restoration of the Song Dynasty", a large-scale Red Scarf Army uprising broke out.
In this way, the rescued Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was interrupted again. Under the attack of the rebel army, the shipping and river transportation in the south completely collapsed, and the Yuan government lost all the taxes in the south. Eighteen years later, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, Yuan Shundi returned to his hometown and became the emperor of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.