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Published on July 5, 2022 • 13 minutes to read
Kublai Khan led the Mongols to defeat the Central Plains, achieving what his grandfather achieved His ambitions led him to rule one of the largest empires in history.
html In 1259, the fourth Mongolian Khan Mengge passed away. His brother Kublai Khan never doubted who was his legal heir.
Although Mongol continued to rule the Mongols as far west as Syria , Kublai Khan proved to be an excellent general, conquering large areas of what is now the southwestern Central Plains and modern Vietnam .
He has proven his mettle, but there are others trying to rule.
News came from Kublai Khan that his other brother Ali Buge also wanted to be emperor.
Kublai Khan, then 45 years old, hurried to his residence in Xanadu (later known as Utopia in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem "Kublai Khan") and decided to What to do in one step.
Kublai knew that whoever succeeded Mongke would need strong diplomatic and military skills to piece together a vast land stretching from the northern Central Plains to Persia to Russia.
In response to the threat from Alibaba, he chose an impressive ritual that would give him unshakable legitimacy.
After consulting his advisors, Kublai Khan decided to solidify his claims by casting the I Ching, an ancient Chinese divination system with ties to both Confucian and Taoist .
The solemn ceremony showed that if Kublai Khan persisted in the right path, he would achieve noble success.
Kublai Khan's decision to choose Chinese tradition over Mongolian tradition was a powerful reminder of what would become a lifelong dilemma.
Kublai Khan was driven by the unrealized dream of his grandfather, the fearsome conqueror Genghis Khan , who wished to unify all of China under Mongol rule.
Kublai Khan knew that conquering the Central Plains was one thing, but ruling was another.
This required a delicate balance to attract new subjects while remaining loyal to the Mongols.
The I Ching rituals and their elaborate blend of piety and politics paid off, and Kublai Khan came to power as Kublai Khan, defeating Alibaba four years later and becoming the sole ruler of the world's largest land empire. , extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea .
raise the khan
In 206, Genghis Khan unified the tribes of the Mongolian steppes and set their warlike sights far from home.
When Genghis Khan was young in 1227, they almost conquered the northern Central Plains Jin Dynasty and large areas of Central Asia.
Khan means "ruler" and is often written as khan or khan.
After Genghis Khan, his son Ogedei became the second Khan, and his son Ju Yuke became the third Khan.
In 11251, the throne was passed to Meng Ge, son of Genghis Khan Torre .
Kublai Khan was born in 1215.
Their mother was Sorjani, a member of an Eastern Christian sect.
As the wife of Torre, she masterminded dynastic politics with great skill, ensuring that Mongke succeeded in becoming the fourth khan in 1251.
She also played a crucial role in shaping Kublai Khan.
Solgani ensured that Kublai Khan was taught the Mongolian tradition.
She encouraged tolerance of other faiths, including Islam , and hired Chinese tutors for Kublai Khan to learn the local traditions and foundations of Buddhism and Taoism .
This multicultural education later helped him understand the importance of tolerating the traditions and beliefs of conquered areas.
As a warrior, Kublai Khan claimed to be the grandson of Genghis Khan.
1251 When Mongke became khan, Kublai Khan participated in his brother's territorial expansion, a process driven by the time-tested Mongol methods of extreme brutality.
Trusted Advisor
Mongolian women during Kublai Khan's time enjoyed a high social status in their society compared to other cultures.
They enjoy more rights, including the ability to own and inherit property.
Historians attribute their status to the nomadic origins of the Mongols.
As the warriors rode away, women organized and ran the camp.
From commoners to nobles, women were encouraged and expected to become capable managers.
Kublai Khan's mother, Solgani, raised her son to value education and lessons from other cultures.
Kublai Khan’s wife Xia Bi is no exception.
A smart, independent, open-minded woman, her traits complemented Kublai Khan's priorities as a leader, and the two became a power couple.
Xia Bi's ability to navigate the Central Plains and Mongolian culture helped her husband do the same.
Tension and Victory
After he was proclaimed khan in 1260, Kublai Khan had to deal decisively with Alibaba's claim to the throne before he could return to campaigning.
Internal tensions are becoming as big a threat as external enemies.
Despite the solemnity and power of the title of khan, Kublai Khan's accession marked the beginning of the fragmentation of the Mongol lands into sub-khanates.
The Golden Horde on the Volga River , the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Iran , and the Central Plains territories ruled by Kublai Khan himself.
After the defeat of Ali Buge in 11264, Kublai Khan restarted military operations against Song Dynasty in the southern part of the Central Plains three years later.
The rulers of the Southern Song , a territory with a population of about 50 million, developed a culture of innovation and conducted the first experiments with movable type long before printing technology was introduced to Europe.
A booming economy fueled the growth of cities, some of which reached peak populations of over 1 million.
To Kublai Khan, the land of Song seemed ripe for occupation.
The Song Dynasty had resisted the Mongol invasion for many years.
They have skilled military commanders, gunpowder and sophisticated military hardware, including siege engines .
When Kublai Khan resumed hostilities, it was clear that the final game was imminent.
The war was long and hard.
Knowing that Kublai Khan's advantage lay in the rapid attack of the Mongolian cavalry on the open ground, the Song Dynasty took advantage of his weakness and retreated to a strong position.
A long and drawn-out siege unfolded.
Kublai Khan began a coastal offensive campaign to cut off the Song Dynasty's supply routes.
This was a risky strategy for a commander rooted in steppe culture.
By 1273, the perseverance of the Mongols led to the fall of Xiangyang City.
The prosperous country of the Southern Song Dynasty gradually fell apart politically.
279 The Southern Song Dynasty finally fell to Kublai Khan, and China was unified for the first time in centuries.
A New Beginning
As Kublai Khan captured more and more of the Song Dynasty, he declared his rule a new dynasty in China.
html In 11271, Kublai Khan established himself as Emperor Yuan, which means "Great Yuan".
Relying on his education and his current advisors, Kublai knew that it was more important to embrace the culture of the Central Plains.
He adopted the Central Plains costumes and customs, adopted the Central Plains governance and management methods, and formed a team of local consultants to help him manage the country.
The most important one is Liu Bingzhong.
In the early days of Kublai Khan's reign, the Khan moved the Mongolian capital from Karakoram to Xanadu, expecting that the Central Plains flavor of Kublai Khan's rule would become stronger and stronger.
Built for government and business, its luxurious facilities impressed the Venice traveler Marco Polo when he met Kublai Khan.
"In Arcadia, Kublai Khan..."
are all mentioned in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous 1816 poem "Kubla Khan", who became Kublai Khan in 1274. Summer capital.
The dark brick walls still stand, but the grand palace with its marble and gilded rooms that Marco Polo described is gone.
After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, the city lingered, but was probably abandoned in 1430.
Today, the site is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In order to concentrate the empire more on the territory of the Central Plains, the capital was moved southeast to Dadu (today's Beijing).
Marco Polo is famous for serving in the court of Kublai Khan, an event that demonstrated the Khan's openness to foreign customs.
Whether marked by notable military defeats, such as his attempts to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281, or by successes such as the conquest of Vietnam and Burma, Kublai Khan's subsequent rule relied heavily on Non-Mongolian military personnel and foreign advisors.
Despite this, the hierarchy of the Yuan Dynasty was rigid, with the Mongols at the top, followed by the Central Asians, and then the Central Plains people.
Although Kublai Khan relied on some Central Plains men as close advisors, the Central Plains aristocrats were distraught at how they were excluded from top positions in the Yuan government and the Yuan Dynasty's abolition of civil service examinations essentially cut off the brightest from opportunities for employment and social advancement. Dissatisfied with the best in Central Plains society.
At the same time, the Mongols were dissatisfied with the increasingly Central Plains-centric nature of Kublai Khan's imperial power structure.
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Kublai Khan had already chosen his grandson Timur as his heir when he died in 1294 at the age of 79.
He said his remains, now lost, should be buried on a mountain in the northeast along with those of his grandfather Genghis Khan.
mongolia.
Despite living in the Central Plains for so many years, Kublai Khan's heart always belonged to the Mongolian grasslands.
Conquering the Central Plains and establishing the Yuan Dynasty will be his greatest achievement.
However, he could not have done so without adopting the customs of the Central Plains, thereby alienating the Mongolian nobles who regarded the Central Plains as inferior.
The tense relationship between the Mongol elite and their subjects, especially the Central Plains people, played an important role in shaking up Mongol rule.
Although Kublai Khan would leave behind a relatively stable and prosperous empire upon his death, he would survive less than a century of his life.
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