The Yangzhou Prefecture is not far from Zhennan Prince's Mansion. On the north and south streets, the road paved with stone slabs is also very spacious and flat. However, Ma Shao felt that the road was so difficult, and his heart was even more bitter, but he had to go on. Yesterday, he accepted Zhang Ting's proposal, and issued a notice in the name of the province to recruit warriors, gather the young men in the city, and collect food; while going to Zhennan Prince's Mansion to ask Tuo Huan to "come out of the mountain" and preside over the plan to defend the city.

Ma Shao was actually very reluctant to do this trip, both disappointed with the current situation and dissatisfaction with the court. As a northern Han man who had experienced the alternation of Jin and Mongolia, he initially hoped to realize the wish of every scholar to peace in the world when the regime changed. After responding to the imperial edict, he immediately devoted himself to the work of rebuilding a new order with passion, but soon felt that there was a big gap between reality and ideals.

As a Han man born under the Jurchen dynasty, and as a Han man who was influenced by nomadic culture and Confucian culture education, he knew that after the establishment of a few nomadic regimes in the north, they began to change from plunder to rule, and gradually changed the political center from original place to Han. The Northern Wei moved the capital, and the Liao Dynasty set the Five Capitals to achieve the purpose of ruling the Han land. The senior management no longer regarded the Han land as the target of plunder, but actually used it as its own ruling area.

However, nomadic regimes first face a problem - whether to accept the sinicization. If they accept the sinicization too much, they will be completely annexed by the Han culture. If they accept the less, their national strength will be weak and unpopular. After experiencing the lessons of the fall of the ethnic minority countries in China, the Liao and Jin dynasties adopted neutral policies on this issue, and they all adopted two systems, namely the so-called "north-south officials".

That is, the Han people in the Han area used the Han system, while the tribe used the native system. In the later period, they mostly took the unified orientation into the Han system, and administrative institutions and legal classics were gradually transformed into the Han system, implementing the imperial examination system, appointing Han officials, learning Chinese characters, etc., and gradually began to transform from ethnic minority regimes into Han nationality regimes. What Ma Shao regretted was that the Mongols completely abandoned this set and implemented the "grassland fundamental system" throughout the year. The Mongols still set up their political center in Helin, and most of them were just the government's location, and they refused to fully accept the Chineseization from their original hearts.

This inevitably leads to conflicts. The Mongolians implemented the livestock separation method on the grassland, established post stations, and appointed Nentuh Chi as grassland production officials. Every year, a large amount of income from various places was transported to the grassland, subsidies were provided to the Mongolians who remained in the grassland, and relief was implemented when disasters occurred. The entire empire existed to transfusion blood to the grassland, and a large number of institutions were set up to deal with grassland matters.

Although some changes were made, government departments, official positions and related systems were established in the Central Plains regime, but the old Mongolian system such as the Otu system and the old Mongolian officials such as the Daluwachi were retained in large numbers. This played a positive role in maintaining the original Great Mongol Empire, strengthening the rule of the original empire, but it played a negative role in the ruling areas of the Yuan Dynasty.

The grassland-based system directly affected the policy of the Yuan Dynasty. It always regarded various places as conquered and plundered areas, rather than ruling and absorbing areas. In particular, it implemented the household system, and divided the residents' ranks by assets to collect taxes; it also implemented the various households' ranks according to occupations, beliefs, etc. It also divided them into Mongolia, mother of the genus, northerners, and southerners according to race. This discriminatory system made the high-level Mongolian kings arrogant and extravagant and respected their own troops. The Han people at the bottom were not as good as death, and they were like slaves.

Such a system led to almost extinction of social mobility among all ethnic groups. Although the Mongols were the dominant ones, the Semu people could serve as deputy. The Han people in the north and south could not. Originally, the Han people could make progress through the imperial examination system, but the court only treated Confucianism as a religion like Buddhism and Taoism. Although Confucius' status increased, the status of Confucian scholars actually dropped greatly. They were listed separately and like monks and Taoists, they had to live in special places. Enrollment in schools was equivalent to education, and even for a period of time they were forbidden to become Confucian scholars.

Ma Shao and some great scholars in the court thought that the reason for this was the Mongols' lack of understanding of the Han Confucian thought, and they did not "respecte Confucianism" like other dynasties. The Mongolian tribes originally believed in the shamanism and the immortality of the heavens. During the Temujin period, Qiu Chuji, the chief of Quanzhen, went to the Western Regions at the age of 74 to persuade them to stop killing and do good, which also led to the heyday of early Taoism dominating the Yuan Dynasty.

Later, Naizhen believed in Buddhism, which later triggered the debate on Buddhism and Taoism. Buddhism, which was known as the Desheng Buddhism became the mainstream of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and once forced the Taoist people to convert to Buddhism and burn Taoist scriptures. Later, there was a dispute between the Red and Yellow Sects within Buddhism, and the top leaders were involved in sectarian conflicts. As a result, the thought was extremely chaotic, and political struggles often involved sectarian struggles. With the reopening of the Mongolian Western Expedition and the Silk Road, a large number of Central Asian and Arabs brought in the ***, Nestorians, Zoroastrianism, Orthodox, Judaism, Manichaeism, and Shiva religions.

Although this has formed a grand scene where a hundred religions gather together, the sect management is still in chaos, which leads to ideological confusion. In the selection of officials, the policy of mutual communication between officials was implemented, the policy of Qiu Xue entering the court was implemented, the Mongolians and Semu people acted as the Que Xue army, and they could rely on the emperor's trust and assistance in handling the government to enter the list of appointments of central officials. The status of officials at the bottom was equal to that of officials. After being familiar with official duties, they could be transferred to officials, and the room for promotion of officials increased.

The former relies on blood relationship and nepotism, while the latter accumulates experience in exam work, which are advantages that Confucian scholars do not have. It makes it difficult for most officials to have no traditional Confucian education and it is difficult to become aware of their thoughts. The officials who uphold the idea of ​​being public in the Han area have little influence, which indirectly leads to a decline in the quality of officials.

Although the call for the opening of the imperial examinations was very high after the founding of the country, it was not implemented once. Scholars could only enter the government through introduction, which almost completely blocked their channels for promotion, and a few who were responsible for replenishing officials and instructors were only at the bottom. Ma Shao knew very well that after the Han people who occupied the status of civil officials died and retired during the founding of the country, it would be difficult for Han officials to participate in the imperial court. However, the path of Confucianism to retire was cut off, and a large number of talents were hoarded among local tyrants, which indirectly caused the loss of talents, but it would make local forces bigger and compete with the court, and many other disadvantages.

Han officials also tried to change this situation with the help of Kublai Khan's trust in Han officials, but no matter how hard he tried, it was difficult to gain full trust. That is, he was trusted by Kublai Khan and granted the leadership to eliminate the remnants of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Hongfan, who was the so-called lord in Zhang Ting. It was not that he was born as a marquis of the Han army and made great contributions to destroying the Jin and Song dynasties. It was more because he had also joined the Qiexue army as a qualifier and won the trust and appreciation of Kublai Khan.

After the efforts of the Han officials failed, they turned to influence the princes and foreign officials who were close to the Han people, trying to exert influence through curves and achieve the goal of sinicization, but they were defeated again and again by the sect kings. Many people were either killed or deposed in the fight. Even after Zhenjin, who had received complete education from the Han Confucians, succeeded to the throne, the honeymoon period lasted only for a few months, and they had to neglect them again. Many Han officials left the center and were forced to leave Beijing to serve. The situation was even worse for them...

"Youzheng, Zhennan Prince's Mansion has arrived!"

"Oh!" The guard's reminder interrupted Ma Shao's contemplation. He looked up and saw that he was actually fifty steps away from the gate of the royal palace, but he had to dismount and walk over to show respect. Although he was quick to learn these "bad habits" in his heart, he was very disdainful of the essence as if he was abandoned. However, he had to leave the stirrup on the dismount stone next to the road and walk forward.

Zhennan Prince Mansion covers a wide area, occupying almost half of the most prosperous main street in Yangzhou, with a total of 100 acres of land. Although it sounds not big, it is the main city of Yangzhou, where every inch of land is valuable. According to rumors, the Khan of the Khan not only rewarded him with this treasure land in order to resettle this brother, but also expelled the surrounding residents and gave him a lot of money to repair it. He ignored the lives and deaths of the original residents and even allocated these people to his family.

Tuohuan's income was not just that. He also obtained the right to operate Yangzhou Salt Industry. In just two years, he recovered his vitality and purchased a lot of land along the river. It can be said that from Yangzhou to Kaifeng, east to Haikou, west to Xiangfan, all have their own industries. On weekdays, salt merchants gathered in front of the Li Mansion just to get some salt in his hands. I wanted to meet him. It was really like climbing the sky. A branch could collect money and it was sluggish. It can be seen how much profit he made from it.

Although Ma Shao, who has been with the royal identity and privileges for many years, has long been accustomed to this kind of behavior of gaining benefits in the officialdom, he has never visited Yangzhou for a long time. In addition to being unwilling to gain a reputation of being inclined to become powerful, he is also dissatisfied with these people in his heart, disgusting his appearance as too ugly, and even disdain to cover up, which is no different from forcing him to rob him.

Recently, due to the siege of the Song army, the business route was cut off, and the Zhennan Prince's Mansion became deserted. Ma Shao and his party walked to the front door and followed him to call the door and handed over a famous post. Of course, they were also inevitably rich. Although the door was a little dissatisfied with the income, it might be due to his identity. In addition, it was an extraordinary period, he just frowned and went in to report. After waiting for about one stick of incense, the door opened the side door and let Ma Shao and others enter the house. Of course, the swords and other sharp weapons that he carried with him must be kept temporarily.

Ma Shao had something in mind, so he had no time to care about these small things, and he had no intention of appreciating the magnificent royal palace. Instead, he followed the officials of the royal palace around the main hall and walked towards the back hall. In fact, it was said that it was the back hall, but it was actually a few huge palace tents, and he was immune to it. Although these Mongolians had been in the Central Plains for many years, they were not sure whether it was because of their unforgettable intentions or habits. They lived in tents on weekdays, and even Kublai Khan set up tents in the harem.

"See Your Highness, King Zhennan!" After reporting, Ma Shao entered the tent and smelled a strong smell of alcohol, but he politely said upward without looking at him.

"Please sit down, please don't be polite!" Tuo Huan waved his hand and asked him to get up, pointing at himself and let him sit down.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Ma Shao then looked up at the King of Zhennan. He was only about thirty years old and strong, and looked like a big khan Kublai Khan. But he was old and had a look of aging on his face. He leaned lazily on the blanket, and there was wine and meat on the short table in front of him. Obviously, the man got up early in the morning and drank it. He glanced at the tent, except for the waiters, the cooks and the two officials who were cooking, he sat down next to him, and then the waiters brought wine and meat.

"Your Highness is so safe!" Ma Shao sat down and greeted again.

"What's wrong with me, a free prince? It would be better if there were no thieves outside the city!" Tuo Huan took a sip of wine, picked up a piece of meat and ate it and smiled.

"Your Highness seems to be very disgusted with the pseudo-emperor of the Southern Dynasty!" Ma Shao knew that the little thief in his mouth was the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty, and he spoke with hatred in his words.

"Hmph, I have an irreconcilable grudge with him. If it weren't for him, how could I end up like this..." Speaking of the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty, Tuo Huan opened up his conversation, thinking that he was really an enemy. Since he was named King Zhennan and arrived in Jiangnan, the little thief escaped and rushed to Qiongzhou, and the two began to talk endless grudges.

Several times the expedition against Qiongzhou failed, he was driven from Jingjiang to Ezhou, and from Ezhou to Yangzhou. Now he hid in Yangzhou, and he was chased here. During this period, the prince who was most favored by the Khan and who might inherit the Khan throne was punished and forbidden to visit Beijing. He lost his fiefdom and neglected for the emperor's brother, becoming a scattered prince with almost no power. Compared with the fact that he had tens of thousands of troops and managed half of the rivers and mountains at the time, he was extremely desolate.

"Your Highness, time has changed, and the past needs to be put aside, don't be upset!" Ma Shao listened to Tuo Huan chattering about his hatred for many years with the young emperor of the Southern Dynasty. He saw that he had drunk a few more bowls of wine, and he was already a little drunk. Before he could even say anything, he interrupted.

"Yes, the past has become clouds, what's going on!" Tuohuan smiled bitterly on his face, and thought to himself what happened today. He told an outsider about this. After drinking a sip of wine, he sat upright and said, "Ma Youcheng has been in Yangzhou for a long time. There must be important things to do today. You can say that I will do my best!"

"Your Highness, can you tell the current situation?" Ma Shao saw that Tuo Huan seemed to have changed into another person in an instant, his eyes shining brightly, showing the majesty of a king, and no longer had the lazy look he had just seen, so he bowed to him and asked bluntly.

"Although I no longer care about the affairs of the court, I still know a little about what is happening in front of me." Tuohuan curled his lips and said with some disdain, "At present, the Southern Army invaded the border, our army was repeatedly unfavorable and suffered heavy losses, but the reinforcements were delayed. After the defeat of the Badu, the guy said he was sick but he was not out of here. The rest of the people had their own thoughts, but the Southern Army wanted to tighten the encirclement and attack the city!"
Chapter completed!