He didn't blow out other people's torches, but he burned his beard.

- Uyghur proverb

The descendants of the Khorezm people (also called the Hui people), Saidianchi Gansiding, were praised by the government and the opposition before and after his death. However, his fellow countryman Ahma was not so lucky.

Ahma worked hard for the Great Yuan Dynasty during his lifetime, boldly reformed, offended a large number of powerful people, and was punished by exhumation and desecration after his death, and was scolded by later generations for nearly a thousand years.

Ahma was born in Phenakta, in the Khorezm Empire (on the right bank of the Syr Darya River southwest of present-day Tashkent, Uzbekistan). His youth was spent during the Mongol army's westward expedition. Because of his cleverness and cleverness, Ahma became an attendant to Kublai Khan's future father-in-law, Hongjira Zhichen.

When Hongjira Zhichen married his young and beautiful daughter Chabi to Kublai Khan as a blessing, he sent Ahma as his daughter's dowry to the future Great Khan, and sent it to the palace of the Great Yuan Dynasty, where she became a courtier in the palace of Empress Chabi in the future.

Once, Kublai Khan led the empress and a group of officials to the outskirts to hunt. Suddenly, a large wild boar sprang out of the dense forest and pounced on the hunters. The wild boar pounced on the two guards' horses, and then pounced directly on the white horse that Kublai Khan was riding.

Ignoring his own safety, Ahma jumped off his horse, picked up his spear, and poked the boar in the stomach.

The wild boar dropped Kublai Khan and turned to pounce on Ahma.

Ahmad pulled out the dagger from his waist and stabbed the boar in the neck.

The boar struggled a few times and kicked his leg to death.

Kublai Khan took a closer look at the brave young man. I saw that he had a slender and tall figure, with thick eyebrows and beard on his long face, and he was a standard Huihui.

The super-talented Ahmad soon stood out and was appreciated and reused by Kublai Khan.

In 1261, Ahma served as the Tongzhi of Shangdu, and later led the left and right departments of the Zhongshu, and also served as the transfer envoy of the Zhulu Capital, and assumed the heavy responsibility of managing the financial endowment.

Taxation is an important pillar of national finance, and salt tax is an important source of tax revenue. The ban on illicit salt and the increase in salt taxes are a major aspect of Ahma's finances.

In 1263, in response to the disadvantages of the times, Ahmad asked Kublai Khan to set up a Zhulu Transit Department to strengthen tax management

Ahma said: "The people of Taiyuan make nitrate salt privately and sell it everywhere. When people everywhere saw that their salt was cheap, they rushed to buy it. The official salt of Jiezhou (located in present-day Yuncheng, Shanxi) could not be sold. As a result, the annual salt tax is only 7,500 taels. I ask that the salt tax there be increased by another 5,000 taels from this year, and that all monks, soldiers, and craftsmen have to pay it. The people privately make their own salt and let it be at their own convenience. ”

Kublai Khan was very much in favor of Ahma's idea.

Cracking down on tax evasion and tax evasion by collusion between officials and businessmen is another powerful measure for Ahma's financial management.

Many of the Mongol nobles of the Great Yuan joined forces with the wealthy merchants to engage in commercial activities, relying on their power to refuse to pay taxes, which was a blatant violation of the law.

Ahmad had to fight against them if he wanted to manage the country's finances, which violated their economic interests, which naturally aroused their opposition and caused the disasters that Ahmad encountered in the later period.

Ahma also attaches great importance to mining and smelting production.

In 1263, Ahma learned that there were many iron-making workshops in Junzhou (today's Yuzhou), Xuzhou and other places in Henan, so he organized 3,000 workshops to make iron for the government, and handed over 510,000 tons of wrought iron every year. The government then used this iron to cast 100,000 pieces of agricultural tools, and exchanged them with farmers for 40,000 stone of grain.

After the Great Yuan established the state envoy, Kublai Khan appointed Ahmad as the official minister of Pingzhang and the head of this envoyship.

Soon after, Ahma's envoy to the state made a suggestion to Kublai Khan: "Among the cloth collected in Tokyo every year, sheep can be bought on the spot. If the fineness of the gold and silver is not suitable, it is suitable for recasting. Don't be afraid that the stone wool from the Red Mountain is woven into cloth and burned with fire but does not burn, please send officials to organize mining. ”

The next day, they reminded Kublai Khan: "The state costs are enormous. This year, the emperor has spent 4,000 ingots since he arrived in Kyoto, and I am afraid that the budget for the coming year will be insufficient, so we must make careful calculations and save money. ”

A few months later, the envoy of the state submitted another proposal: "The silver mine mined by Huanzhou Yu has reached 160,000 catties. Every 100 catties of ore can get three taels of silver and 35 catties of tin. It is hoped that the cost of mining will allow the sale of tin to provide for it. ”

Kublai Khan was very satisfied with the work of the envoy and adopted all the above suggestions.

These initiatives objectively contribute to the development of agricultural and mining production.

Ahma vigorously promotes the manager system. The manager, also known as the hook test, is a means of financial auditing, mainly sent by the imperial court officials to various places to liquidate the money valley, to prevent the concealment of the powerful and the corruption of officials. For example, some people in the local area pass off ripe land as wasteland to avoid paying taxes, some people hide their household registration in order to avoid bad luck, and there are also rich people who buy poor people's land but still have the poor people pay taxes, resulting in a lack of income and small people complaining of illness.

On one occasion, Ahma's Shangshu province demanded a nationwide survey of household registration, promulgated regulations, put an end to fraud, and increased taxes.

Yu Shitai said: "Now that locusts are being hunted everywhere, and the people are already very troubled, let's talk about the matter of checking the household registration for a while." ”

Kublai Khan adopted the advice of the Imperial Historical Tower.

After some time, Ahmad insisted on his point of view and said: "Recently, due to the military boom, the taxes of the common people have been reduced, and the transfer officials have been abolished, so that the governors of various provinces have also been in charge of commercial taxes, so that the state cannot make ends meet. In my opinion, it is better to check the number of households, set up a metropolitan transit department according to the distance and proximity, increase the original tax amount as appropriate, and select honest and promising officials to take care of their affairs. One should be public and private drum cast iron, set up by the government to sell, and prohibit people from making bronze privately. If this is the case, there will be no shortage of people's power and the state will be enriched. ”

He asked Kublai Khan to edict the world: first, to verify the population throughout the country; The second is to set up a Zhulu Transit Department to strengthen the management of revenue and expenditure.

Due to the huge deficit of the state and the fact that it was unable to make ends meet, in order to increase the fiscal revenue and meet the needs of the army expansion campaign, the Hook Examination Qian Valley was frequently carried out as a means to make up for the financial deficit and loot wealth.

When the Great Yuan had just established Shangshu Province, Kublai Khan issued an edict: "All the officials who are selected and appointed shall agree on the qualifications and grades of the officials and report to the Shangshu Province, and the Shangshu will consult the Zhongshu before hearing about the Great Khan." ”

Ahma, however, promoted officials without authorization, did not allow the officials to draw up preliminary opinions on their use, and did not consult the Ministry of Books.

Prime Minister An Tong reported the situation to Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan was very annoyed when he heard this, and summoned Ahmad to question him.

Ahmad replied unhurriedly: "I will handle everything big or small, and of course I should choose who I use." ”

An Tong was speechless, so he had to say to Kublai Khan: "From now on, only the heavy punishment and the transfer of the road manager will be handed over to me, and the rest of the things will be handed over to Ahma, so that the authority of each department will be clear." ”

Kublai Khan smiled and agreed.

In the early days of Kublai Khan's ascension to the throne, officials at all levels of the imperial court did not have any money, which was tantamount to openly allowing them to extort the people, and corruption was abundant, which seriously affected the normal ruling order and was a major social problem that needed to be solved urgently.

After taking office, Ahad vigorously advocated the implementation of the official system. He instituted regulations to reduce the number of prefectures and counties, to approve the number of officials, to distribute salaries and public land according to the rank of officials, and to evaluate the merits of officials. However, it was not implemented for various reasons. In 1266, after Ahma served as the envoy of the state system in Zhongshu Pingzhang, he officially stipulated the salaries and occupations of officials at the capital, prefecture, prefecture, county, and division levels. In 1270, he regulated the duties of officers. Later, although there was a temporary suspension of salaries and a reduction in the number of salaries, the system of official salaries was established as an important system. Extorting people and embezzling money is no longer legal. In 1267, Daru Hua Chi Ailu and the governor Zhang Hongfan of Daimyo Road were dismissed for embezzling official money.

Ahmad also set up leveling warehouses on various roads, and used 12,000 ingots as banknotes to buy and sell gold and silver to maintain price balance and ensure the credibility of paper money. In the early days, the banknote law was implemented very effectively, and paper money was used for taxes such as salt and tea, which ensured a strong material foundation for paper money. The Yuan Dynasty banknote method is the world's earliest pure paper money circulation system, and has a special position in the history of the world's currency system. However, due to the continuous use of troops and the huge expenses, the issuance of paper money continued to increase, and inflation began to appear, the depreciation of paper money, and the price of goods soared.

In 1275, Boyan and Nuhai led the Yuan soldiers to invade the Southern Song Dynasty and occupied a large area of territory.

Kublai Khan arranged for Ahma to consult with the ministers to implement the Great Yuan's salt and banknote laws in Jiangnan and to carry out the trade in medicinal materials.

Ahma soon proposed a plan: collect medicinal materials according to household registration in Nanjing, Weihui (today's Weihui in Henan) and other roads; 120,000 catties of official salt were sold in Caizhou, and people were prohibited from trading privately.

Kublai Khan thought it was feasible.

Ahmad is resourceful and talkative. Everyone praised Ahma for his ability. The Great Khan Kublai Khan also held him in high esteem.

Kublai Khan, eager to build a prosperous and powerful country, and seeing Ahma's talent, let him do things boldly, and adopted all his suggestions.

Over time, Ahmad became a powerful minister under one man and above ten thousand, so he began to dictate power and become more rigid and self-serving.

The right prime minister, An Tong, was very uncomfortable when he saw Ahma's long-term dictatorship, so he played Kublai Khan and said: "Most of the people under Kusin, the son of Ahma, the governor of Dadu Road, are incompetent. Ahmad and Zhang Hui held the power of the prime minister, did business, and reaped the benefits of the world, and the victimized people had nowhere to complain. ”

When Ahmada learned about it, he argued: "Who is talking nonsense like this? Zhang Hui and I want to debate with him in court. ”

An Tong also said to Kublai Khan: "Kusin's subordinates seek personal gain in the timber trade between the government and merchants, and the charges are clear. ”

Kublai Khan said: "If this is the case, find out and remove him from his post." ”

An Tong then denounced that Hu Xin was involved in a leak case.

Kublai Khan rebuked An Tong and said, "He still doesn't know about his subordinates' business with the Hu people, so how can he hand over state secrets to him?" ”

Later, Cui Bin, the Chinese scholar Zuo Cheng, told Kublai Khan: "Hangzhou is a big place, and the responsibility is not light." Ahma's unscrupulous son Mo Suhu served as Daru Huachi and Peihu Fu, is it the way to award officials based on talent? In the past, Ahmad himself asked for the removal of his sons, but now he himself is in an important position, and his entire family is placed in key departments. This is a self-denial of the preface, which is detrimental to justice. ”

Kublai Khan, seeing the increasing number of reports against Ahma, was a little shaken in his thinking, so he ordered the removal of many of Ahma's sons from their posts, but did not deal with Ahmad himself.

Kublai Khan once said to the Huaixi propaganda envoy Angier: "The person who is the prime minister must go to the future, investigate the geography, and do his best." The one who has all three of these is a competent prime minister. Ali Hague, Maiding, etc., cannot be prime ministers. Among the Hui people, only Ahmad could serve as prime minister. ”

It can be seen how much Kublai Khan trusted Ahma.

Ahma's long tenure in a high position naturally led him to form his own clique, and his policies touched the interests of the powerful and angered many people inside and outside the court.

An Tong tolerated it for a long time before reporting to Kublai Khan: "I have often said lately that it is appropriate for the Shangshu Province, the Privy Council, and the Imperial Historical Observatory to report to the emperor in accordance with their own routines, and that major issues should be decided by the ministers of the chamberlain, which the emperor has already decreed." Now everything is reported by the province of Shangshu of Ahma, which seems to be contrary to what the emperor had promised before. ”

Kublai Khan said: "You are right, where did I think that Ahmad would dare to do this because he has my full trust? There are some issues that I have not consulted with you that is not right. It should be like you said, and it would be better for each of the three to do things according to the usual system. ”

An Tong took the opportunity to expose: "Many of the officials used by Ahma are incompetent. However, Ahma had already been declared with the consent of the Great Khan. They should be evaluated more often after taking office to see if they are really competent. After being in office for a long time, the individual's character and talent can be seen. ”

Kublai Khan nodded yes.

Ali and Ahma and Saidianchi had some face-to-face contacts because they were both Hui people of Khorezm. After Nuhai became the chief general of the Great Yuan, he had a lot of dealings with Ahma, and he also discouraged him from paying attention to protecting himself so as not to anger everyone.

Ahmad was in the midst of the spring breeze and did not listen to Nuhai's advice.

In April 1282, Kublai Khan traveled to Shangdu, accompanied by the crown prince Zhenjin.

The king of Qianhu in Yidu (present-day Qingzhou, Shandong Province) was usually vicious and hateful, and knowing that many people resented Ahma, he secretly cast a large copper hammer and vowed to smash Ahma to death with the copper hammer.

At this time, there was a demon monk surnamed Gao who practiced secret arts in the army.

Wang Zhu conspired with them, falsely claiming that the prince was coming back to do Buddhist things on March 18 of the lunar calendar, and entangled more than 80 people to sneak into the capital city at night.

When the day was about to dawn, Wang Shu and Monk Gao sent two monks to Zhongshu Province and assigned them to buy fasting goods.

The officials of Zhongshu Province felt a little strange and interrogated the two monks, but did not ask any questions.

At noon, Wang Zhu sent Governor Cui to pretend to pass on the prince's password, asking the privy deputy envoy Zhang Yi to send an army to gather in front of the East Palace that night.

Zhang Yi did not find out that this password was fake, and immediately commanded his subordinates to lead the troops to the East Palace.

At this time, the king himself rode a big horse to meet Ahma, pretending that the crown prince was about to arrive, and asked all the officials of Zhongshu Province to meet him in front of the palace.

Ahma sent Tuohuan Cha'er and others to ride out of the pass, and traveled more than ten miles north, and met a group of people disguised as the crown prince, such as Wang Shu and Gao Monk.

The false prince rebuked the others for being rude, and killed them all under the pretext of riding their horses and entering the Kinder Gate from the south.

It was the second watch of the night, and no one dared to ask who they were.

They walked to the front of the East Palace, and everyone dismounted and stood solemnly, except for the fake prince who rode on horseback and commanded, called all the officials of Zhongshu Province to the face, loudly reprimanded Ahma, and ordered his men to smash Ahma's head with a big copper hammer.

Ahmad immediately fell to the ground and died.

Then, the fake prince killed Ahma's comrades Hao Zhen and Zhang Hui.

The officials of the Privy Council, the Imperial Observatory, and the Left-behind Division all watched nervously from a distance, not knowing why.

Shangshu Zhang Jiusi felt that something was wrong with the situation, and shouted loudly that there was fraud in it.

The remaining Staruhua Chibodun picked up his club and rushed forward, knocking the false prince on his horse to the ground.

The others also reacted and quickly shot with random arrows.

The rebels fled immediately. The high monk escaped. Wang Shu stepped forward and voluntarily accepted the charges.

When Kublai Khan heard the news of the rebellion in Dadu, Long Yan was furious and immediately ordered the officers around him to rush to Dadu to deal with the sinners who committed the rebellion.

The Yuan army captured Wang Zhu, Gao Monk and Zhang Yi, beheaded them in the market, and then chopped the corpses into meat sauce.

Before his execution, Wang Shu shouted loudly: "Wang Shu has eliminated the harm for the world, and if he dies today, he will have someone who will write the truth about this matter for me one day." ”

After Ahma's death, many of Kublai Khan's crimes were revealed to him.

When Kublai Khan heard this, he deliberately rebuked angrily in order to calm people's hearts: "Ahmad is innocent of death!" The king killed well. ”

Kublai Khan ordered his subordinates to dig up Ahma's grave, open the coffin, abandon Ahma's body outside the Tongxuan Gate, and let the wild dogs bite the former Aiqing.

The officials and people of the capital gathered outside the city gate to watch, sighing.

Ahma's sons and nephews were all killed, and their family's property was confiscated.

Imperial court officials searched Ahma's concubine's residence and found two acquaintance skins hidden in her closet, with both ears still on them.

An official of the court interrogates a eunuch who was in charge of a cabinet for Ahma.

The eunuch was also inexplicable and didn't know why.

The court officials also found two silk paintings painted by a person surnamed Chen. The palace of several armored horsemen guarding a tent is depicted, and the soldiers are stretched out into the tent, like stabbing horns. The court officials also found Cao Zhengui's handwriting in calculating Ahma's birth date and Wang Tai's judgment in vain, both of which were suspected of misdeeds.

After hearing the report, Kublai Khan ordered the eunuch and the four close friends of Ahma, Chen, Cao, and Wang, to be skinned and displayed to the public.

As everyone knows, these are all the hands and feet of Ahma's political enemies.

Ahma, a Hui from Khorezm, worked hard for the empire and enjoyed the blessings during his lifetime, but after his death, he was notorious as a criminal minister, and his stench was left behind.