At the end of Yuan Dynasty, peasant uprisings broke out in various places, Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, they attacked each other. Finally, after Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, Daming was established. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the "Entitlement to the Central Plains", the core content of which was "expelling Hulu, restoring China, setting up an outline for Chen Ji, and relieving the people.
Zhu Yuanzhang dispatched Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead an army of 200,000 to the northern expedition. Unexpectedly, the Yuan army was already a paper tiger, vulnerable to a blow. A large number of nobles drove out of Beijing. Emperor Yuanshun only wanted to escape by himself, ignoring the unarmed Mongolian women.
It is not difficult to imagine that when Zhu Yuanzhang's army broke through the gates of Beijing, Emperor Yuan Shun might not even be able to save his life, and ran away in a hurry, even his own concubines were ignored. It's worth taking away, let alone those ordinary Mongolian women. These Mongolian women who had no time to escape became Zhu Yuanzhang’s prisoners. How should Zhu Yuanzhang deal with these Mongolian women?
Many people have their own suggestions. Some people think that all the captured Mongolian women should be executed and the compatriots killed by the Mongolians should be avenged; others think that these captured Mongolian women should be avenged. Including the lowest class of slaves gave the Mongolian people a taste of slavery; some others suggested that these captive Mongolian women should be rewarded to soldiers who made meritorious service in the war.
After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang gently shook his head and refused. Zhu Yuanzhang talked about his disposal method and said that you may not believe it, that is to release all the captured Mongolian women and let them choose freely. Those who want to return to Mongolia will return to Mongolia, and those who want to stay and live will stay. . However, it is okay to stay, but it is not allowed to retain Mongolian customs. To follow the Han culture, you can only marry a Han.
In fact, this is not a big restriction. If these Mongolian women are willing to stay in the Central Plains, they will naturally live according to the customs of the Central Plains. As for marriage, no matter who they marry, they must get married. All they need to do is to marry a man who loves her, and live a life in peace.
Zhu Yuanzhang was too kind to his former enemies, "repaying grievances with virtue". We know that the Mongols under the Yuan Dynasty divided the people into four classes: first-class Mongolia, second-class Semu, third-class Han Chinese and fourth-class southerners. Some people such as Zhu Yuanzhang belong to southerners, have the lowest social status, and are exploited by Mongolians.
According to legend, more than a dozen families have only one kitchen knife to share, and all things going out are restricted. They also need to be handed over to the Mongolian soldiers frequently. The Mongols do not regard the low-status Han people as "people". They often beat, scold, and kill them. After all, they are low-status people. Killing does not cost their lives, only a small amount. Compensation.
If others do not say, Zhu Yuanzhang himself was deeply exploited and victimized by the Mongols. His grandfather, parents, brothers and sisters were oppressed by the Mongols and died. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang hates Mongolia very much. But now, Zhu Yuanzhang gave up the opportunity to retaliate against the Mongolian people and released all the captured Mongolian women, allowing them to choose freely. Why is that?
It turns out that Zhu Yuanzhang only hates the ruler of Mongolia, he does not hate the common people. As for Mongolian women, there is no deep hatred of them. In nomadic peoples like Mongolia, the status of women is not high, and they do not abuse the Han people in the Central Plains. Therefore, the decisive Zhu Yuanzhang generously spared thousands of Mongolian women.
Zhu Yuanzhang let go of these Mongolian women, there is another consideration, that is, he wants to win over the Mongolians through his preference for Mongolian women. At that time, although Emperor Yuanshun abandoned Beijing and fled to the Mongolian grasslands, there were still many troops. The Yuan Dynasty just lost Beijing, their military strength still exists, and they can still compete with Zhu Yuanzhang's army. On the Mongolian grasslands, there are thousands of Mongolian cavalry who have not been sinicized. The existence of these cavalry is always an endless trouble for the Ming who just established by Zhu Yuanzhang.
If Zhu Yuanzhang kills these captured Mongolian women, then the Mongolian army will hate Zhu Yuanzhang very much, unite, and fight to the death with the Ming army. Now Zhu Yuanzhang has released these Mongolian women. By sending them back to Mongolia to reunite with their relatives, the hostility of these Mongolian troops towards Zhu Yuanzhang and Daming can be eliminated. Without the motive for revenge, the Mongolian army would not become the enemy of the Ming army.
Zhu Yuanzhang is a very outstanding politician. He "repayed grievances with virtue" and released the captured Mongolian women, effectively weakening the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian army. Thousands of Mongolian women are accustomed to life in the Central Plains and do not want to return to the grasslands where material is extremely scarce. Most of them stayed in the Central Plains, accepted sinicization, intermarried with the Han nationality, and were completely assimilated after a few generations. We should praise Zhu Yuanzhang for his handling of the enemy.
