On this day, 731 years ago, on February 18, 1294 (January 22, 1294, the 1294 lunar calendar), Kublai Khan passed away. Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan (September 23, 1215-February 18, 1294), his full name was Kublai Khan, a Mongolian, the fourth son of Tuolei, and his mother Ruheteini. On May 5, 1260, under the support of some princes and ministers, he ascended the throne and became Emperor of the Greater Mongolia (the Great Khan of the Mongolian Empire reigned from 1260 to 1294), but was not universally recognized. On December 18, 1271, Kublai Khan changed the name of the country from "Greater Mongolia" to "Greater Yuan", changing from emperor of Greater Mongolia to emperor of the Yuan Dynasty (reigned from 1271 to 1294), officially establishing the Yuan Dynasty and becoming the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. There are four prophets worshipped all over the world: Christians call their God Jesus Christ, Muslims call it Mohammed, Jews call it Moses, and Buddhists call their first god Sakyamuni. To me, all four of them pay tribute to this-Kublai Khan, known as Yuan Shizu according to the temple name of the emperor of China, and Emperor Xue Chan according to Mongolian. He is the fourth son of Genghis Khan, the fourth son of Tuolei, the "genius of the generation." He once suffered from foot problems, but this did not prevent him from making many achievements on the battlefield like other Mongolian aristocratic children. At the age of 17, his father Tuolei died of drinking Shamshui because of the defeat of Khan Wogedai. Kublai Khan, his mother Ruhetei and his brothers joined his uncle Wogedai. Life under someone else's roof was not comfortable, but with Kublai Khan's brother Mengge being elected as the Mongolian Khan at the Huliletai Conference in 1251, the Tuolei family began to gain power. Kublai Khan was appointed by Mengge as Prime Minister of the Southern Han Dynasty, managing Henan, Shaanxi and other Han regions. He appointed Han scholars and achieved positive results. This experience made Kublai Khan the one with the most positive attitude towards Han culture among Mongolian princes. While Kublai Khan gradually grew up, the Mongolian conquests were in full swing around the world. After Mengge ascended the throne, it became a national policy to destroy the struggling Southern Song Dynasty regime. In 1253, Kublai Khan was sent by Mengge to the south to conquer Dali, a friendly country of the Southern Song Dynasty. With the cooperation of General Wuliang Hetai, he destroyed this country with a history of more than 300 years and formed a semi-encirclement of the Southern Song Dynasty from the southwest. In 1257, Mengge personally led an army to attack Song Dynasty, and Kublai Khan was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the East Route Army. Two years later, Mengge died in artillery fire outside Hezhou. Kublai Khan received a secret report from his wife and hurried back to the north to compete with his sixth brother Ali Buge for the position of Khan. In 1260, Kublai Khan and Ali Buge successively declared themselves Great Khan in their respective base areas of Kaiping and Helin, but Kublai Khan's side obviously received the support of more powerful figures. After four years of civil war, Kublai Khan won a complete victory and became the unique Khan. But he was soon not satisfied with the title of Great Khan, and he wanted to become the ruler of the entire China. In 1264, Kublai Khan moved his capital to Yanjing (present-day Beijing) and changed his name to Zhongdu. In 1271, in accordance with the etiquette of China's feudal dynasties, he issued an imperial edict to ascend the throne, calling himself emperor and founding the country with the name "Dayuan." He was the actual founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China. At the same time, the time was fully ripe to destroy the Song Dynasty. After training a powerful navy, the final obstacle to the destruction of Song Dynasty was eliminated. After six years of fierce siege, Xiangyang City was captured. In 1274, General Bo Yan led his army from Xiangyang and followed the river. The Song army surrendered on the lookout. Two years later, Lin 'an was captured, and then pursued the exiled Southern Song regime from the land and sea routes, and finally annihilated the remnants of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1279. In addition, during the Kublai Khan era, he also sent troops to other countries many times, including sending troops to Japan twice, sending troops to Annan twice, sending troops to Myanmar twice, and even in 1292, he sent troops to Java Island in the Pacific Ocean. Most of these wars have not achieved sustainable results. Kublai Khan made many contributions to China's territory. In 1264, Kublai Khan established the "Marshal Office of the Minister of Comfort Sidu" in the Tubo area where he had surrendered, responsible for handling and administering local military and political affairs. This was the first time in Xizang's history that it was included in the territory of China's central government. In 1284, Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan sent personnel to Taiwan to "publicize and pacify." In the same year, a government management agency-the Inspection Department-was established in Penghu. Taiwan was included in the territory of the central government of China for the first time in history. During the Kublai Khan era, provinces were established in Yunnan, which was a key step in completing China in Yunnan. During Kublai Khan's era, the descendants of Genghis Khan had established many regimes in the world, mainly the four khanates, which ruled more than half of Eurasia. Kublai Khan was the nominal sect leader, but the ties between the khanates had gradually become estranged. Only his fifth brother Hulagu established the Ilkhanan State in West Asia still maintains relatively close relations. Kublai Khan was basically just a ruler in East Asia. As a conqueror, Kublai Khan brought disaster to the people of the conquered areas, but he can still be evaluated well in history because he was not only a destroyer of the old order, but also a relatively successful builder of the new order. He was one of the few Mongolian rulers who could attach importance to Han culture and admire Confucianism. Although he came from a nomadic people, he attached great importance to the restoration and development of agriculture in the Central Plains. He established institutions specializing in agriculture such as the "Agriculture Department" and the "Agriculture Department". He used the results of persuasion to farmers as the main criterion for assessing officials, and ordered people to edit "Nongsang Collection". After a long period of war, the restoration of agriculture is of great necessity and space. Kublai Khan grasped this and achieved good results. In terms of political system, Kublai Khan mostly followed the system of the Han Dynasty of the previous generation (of course, this was an innovation for the Mongolian rulers). He established the Central Book Department, the Privy Council, and the Yushitai in charge of administration, military affairs and supervision at the central government. In addition, he also established institutions such as the Hanlin Academy, which also made innovations, such as the Xuanzheng Yuan to take charge of religion. The Yuan Dynasty's greatest contribution to China in terms of political system was the provincial system and the developed station system. These two systems are generally believed to have originated in the Middle East. In fact, they also had prototypes in previous generations in China. However, the vast territory of the Yuan Dynasty "crossed Yinshan in the north, crossed quicksand in the west, and ended in the left of Liao in the east, and the surface of the South Vietnam Sea" prompted the rulers to strengthen these two systems. The provincial system has continued to this day, and the developed post station system played a great role in the prosperity of commerce in the Yuan Dynasty. After the end of the large-scale war, the economy of Kublai Khan's Empire quickly recovered. Prosperous commerce and frequent external exchanges were two major characteristics of this era. Marco Polo, a Venetian, is a witness to all this. However, the degree of Sinicization of the ruling ethnic groups in the Yuan Dynasty was still relatively low among the ethnic minorities who settled in the Central Plains in China in the past. Institutional imitation does not represent cultural integration, and Kublai Khan's own tendencies cannot affect the entire Mongolian ruling class. The imperial examination system never became a stable system in the Yuan Dynasty. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty also implemented the notorious policy of classifying citizens into four classes according to ethnic composition. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty were never able to take root in China, which was the main reason why their rule in China lasted less than a hundred years. Despite this, with these achievements, Kublai Khan is still firmly ranked among the 100 most influential emperors in the world, ranking 78th in this ranking. Comments: Kublai Khan was one of the early Mongolian aristocrats who was more receptive to the Han culture of the Central Plains. He respected Confucianism and Buddhism, and was also willing to imitate the system of the Han dynasties of the previous generation. However, as a member of the world-wide Mongolian Empire and a representative of the ruling class of nomadic peoples, the difference between him and previous China emperors is still very obvious. He did not focus mainly on consolidating China's ruling system, but had a more open spirit and greater enthusiasm for exploring land beyond the boundaries of traditional China.