Trust God, but don't forget to lock the door.

- Indian proverb

Gong Yuan's descendant, Gong Runzu, returned from the resignation of Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and lived in seclusion in the bamboo alley of Jinling to read and write poems to pass the time. Although he was determined not to get involved in officialdom and eunuchs, he was concerned about the future and fate of the Great Song Dynasty every day. However, every day came the news of the defeat of the Southern Song Dynasty and the relocation of the imperial court.

Gong Runzu was full of grief and indignation, and hated the cowardly and cowardly surrender faction very much in his heart.

After the army of the Great Yuan Dynasty occupied Jinling, the Jiankang Mansion was changed to Jiqing Road, and the Yunjin of Jinling became the imperial article of the Great Yuan Dynasty. They set up East and West Weaving and Dyeing Bureaus in the city, and organized more than 6,000 professional craftsmen to produce a large number of silk fabrics.

Jinling gradually became the center of the textile industry in the Jiangnan region.

In 1278, when the news of the crushing defeat of the remnants of the Southern Song Dynasty at Yashan came, Gong Runzu's patriotic heart was instantly shattered: my beloved Great Song Dynasty was completely extinct!

For several days in a row, he borrowed wine to drown his sorrows, ignoring his clothes and eating rice and vegetables, like a walking corpse.

Sometimes, Gong Runzu would take his children and grandchildren to Niushou Mountain in the southern suburbs of Jinling, pay their respects in front of the old castle where the Southern Song Dynasty resisted the invasion of the Jin Kingdom, remember Yue Fei, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty who had defeated the Jin army in this area, and pay tribute to the 100,000 soldiers and civilians buried in the South China Sea.

In 1314, the Great Yuan Dynasty restored the imperial examination of the Central Plains Dynasty.

The Gong family is a scholarly family with unique advantages, and the young people in the family are eager to try. However, when they saw the quota allocation, they were dumbfounded: Mongolians, Semu, Han and Nanren took 75 candidates for each of the township examinations, and 25 candidates for each of the Hui examinations. The Mongols and Semu only take two exams, and the Han people need to take three exams

A descendant of the Gong family named Gong Bi said dissatisfiedly: "The number of Han people is large, at least a hundred times that of the Mongols and Semu people, but the people admitted are the same!" This way of equal distribution is actually biased in favor of the Mongols and Semu people, and excludes us Han Chinese! ”

Another descendant of the Gong family said contemptuously: "The Mongols and Semu people who are new to the culture of the Han people naturally find it difficult to compete with the Han people with a high level of education, and they clearly want to prevent the Han people from obtaining more positions by limiting the number of places." I advise you not to have naïve illusions. ”

A descendant of the Gong family said: "I think it's right to set the quota in advance. The Mongols and Semu people originally had their own language and script, but now it will be difficult to use our Han language for the exam. It doesn't seem fair to adopt one criterion. ”

Gong Bi shouted and reproached: "Fair? The land is ruined, and the people are miserable, and this is what you call justice? You just go and recognize the barbarians as your ancestors! ”

The others were so frightened that they hurriedly told Gong Bi to shut up, so as not to cause death if it spread.

The descendants of the Gong family remembered the family motto of their grandfather Gong Runzu that they were not allowed to engage in politics, and retreated in the face of difficulties.

Gong Bi planted plum orchids and bamboo chrysanthemums in his small yard all day long, wrote poems and paintings, and entertained himself.

One day, a group of Dayuan soldiers broke into the courtyard of the Gong family's house, shouting to cut down all the bamboos in the yard.

Gong Bi asked dissatisfiedly, "Why did you cut down my bamboo?" ”

A petty official replied: "The government has an order, in order to prevent traitors from using bamboo to make bows and arrows and rebel, from today onwards, all Han people are prohibited from buying and selling bamboo, let alone planting bamboo without permission." ”

Gong Bi was so angry that he couldn't speak, and watched in amazement as the soldiers swung their machetes and chopped down the emerald green bamboo to the ground, and then tied it up with a rope and carried it out.

He whispered at the back of the soldier: "These thieves! Wait and see! ”

Gong Bi had the right to curse the Mongols in secret.

The Great Yuan Dynasty stipulated: If the Mongols beat the Han because of a dispute, the Han people were not allowed to fight back, but only complained to the government, and violators were punished; The stipulation was later extended to include the Mongols and Semu beating the Han Chinese, and there was no reply.

The law also stipulates that if a Mongol kills a Han Chinese because of a dispute or drunkenness, he will only collect burial expenses from the perpetrator and sentence him to be conscripted into the army, and he does not need to pay for his life; The Han Chinese were to be executed if they killed a Mongol, or even if they only wounded a Mongol, they were punished with death. The same crime of theft is committed, and the face of the Han people must be tattooed, and the Mongols must be tattooed. If the judge tattoos a Mongol's face without authorization, he will be dismissed. The Luster is also exempt from the punishment of the stab.

As a result, the Mongols and Semu people were even more arrogant and could oppress the Han Chinese at will.

The Great Yuan Dynasty first deployed the Mongol army and the Tanma Red Army to garrison Henan, Shandong and other places, cultivating the fields with Han Chinese farmers and monitoring their every move.

Later, the imperial court sent the Han troops in the Central Plains to guard all parts of the Yangtze River and important places, and mixed with the newly annexed Han army in the south to prevent the Han people in the south who were extremely hostile to the Great Yuan from making trouble. In order to prevent the Han rebellion in the south, the government forbade farmers in Jiangnan to use iron farming tools.

Peasants all over the south of the Yangtze River are miserable.

Wang Changshun, a descendant of Wang Chen, a native of Taiyuan, has long been ancient. It was his grandson Wang Jinyi who inherited the Wang family business and continued to open a restaurant.

Wang Jinyi is lively and active by nature, likes to make friends with three religions and nine streams, in addition to opening a store on weekdays, he also likes to play and sing, and invites a group of folk artists to sing in his store, and provides them with tea and rice for free, which not only satisfies his literary and artistic hobbies, but also solves the problem of the artist's full stomach, and also attracts many customers who listen to the play while eating for the store.

After the Dayuan army entered Taiyuan, every 20 Han families in the city were organized into a class. The main task of the first lord was to monitor the words and deeds of the Han people, and to prohibit the Han people from lighting lamps, traveling, and activities after the first watch in the evening, and the martial law was not lifted until the fifth watch in the morning of the next day. The cost of eating and drinking for the first owner is also borne by these 20 Han families.

One day, the Mongolian lord came to Wang Jinyi's restaurant and announced loudly: "I am ordered to announce that in order to prevent the traitors from taking the opportunity to gather a crowd to make trouble, it is forbidden for the Han people to pray to the gods and race the shrine, play with guns and sticks, learn martial arts, and sing operas. Offenders are liable to imprisonment. ”

Wang Jinyi and the artists dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, so they had to stop performing.

Master A continued: "From now on, only Han people are allowed to share one kitchen knife for every five families, and the excess will be confiscated. The Han people were also not allowed to travel on horseback, nor were they allowed to use horse-drawn carts or plough land, so they handed over all the horses and sent them to the front line for the officers and soldiers to use to conquer the enemy. ”

Wang Jinyi panicked when he heard this, and hurriedly begged: "Sir, my family runs a restaurant." There's no kitchen knife here. If 5 companies share a kitchen knife, what can I do with my business? ”

Master A looked at Wang Jinyi for a while with small eyes that narrowed into a slit, and then said, "Kitchen knives are resolutely not allowed to stay overnight in the store. Restaurants and butcher shops can make an exception for a kitchen knife. However, the owner had to hand me the knives at the end of the house every night and pick them up the next morning. However, shops that use special kitchen knives are required to provide free meals for officers and soldiers at all times. ”

Wang Jinyi's head thought about it, although it would cost a lot to provide free meals to officers and soldiers, as long as the restaurant was open, he would not worry about not making a profit, so he thanked again and again: "Thank you, Master A, I am so polite!" ”

Lord A's face changed suddenly, and he shouted: "Don't act!" ”

One morning, Nuhai, who had just finished breakfast in Dadu New Town, was walking alone in the courtyard of his mansion when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the courtyard door.

So early, who is it? Nuhai immediately asked his subordinates to open the courtyard door to see what was going on.

Coming in were three or five heralds from the Great Yuan Palace. Among them, the leading herald announced loudly: "The Great Khan has ordered Sai Azar, the second son of Nuhai, the great master of the Great Yuan, to enter the palace immediately. ”

Nuhai couldn't help but think: If it is basically peaceful today, why is the Great Khan in such a hurry to summon my son into the palace? What's more, Sai Azar is just the president of the Colored Hui Chamber of Commerce, and he doesn't know what kind of military affairs such as arranging formations and fighting wars?

Time is of the essence, and Nuhai should not be allowed to think too much.

Nuhai hurriedly instructed his subordinates to dress Sai Azar in a neat suit, and specially instructed the etiquette matters to be paid attention to when meeting the Great Khan, so he urged Sai Azar to go on the road quickly.

At noon, Nuhai, who was napping on the kang, heard the sound of gongs, drums and suona outside the courtyard, so he pushed open the window and looked out. He saw Sai Azar dressed in red and jumped out of the carriage and stepped into the mansion with joy.

He was followed by a team of drummers.

As soon as he stepped into the threshold of the main hall, he immediately bowed to Nuhai and reported: "Father, the Great Khan has appointed me as the Minister of Finance in charge of the country's finances. ”

When Nuhai heard this, he let go of his high heart and said with a smile: "Thank you for the support of the Great Khan." The Minister of Finance has a great responsibility. The finance ministers of the previous dynasty had almost no good deaths. Remember, you must work tirelessly and hard, and you can't live up to the trust of the big man. ”

Sai Azar replied: "The son remembers. ”

Sai Azar's siblings and children gathered around him to congratulate him on his promotion to a high official in the imperial court, which had earned him face for the Sartars.

Sai Azar's elderly mother, Su Li, also said happily: "The official position of Minister of Finance has a good reputation. What kind of general did you (Dad) use to be, and you know how to siege and kill people all day long. I was so scared that I couldn't eat well and sleep well every day. ”

Nu Hai's big eyes widened, and he shouted at Su Li: "I'm destroying the enemy and defending the country and the family!" You old grandma of Salta, all day long, your mouth is full of nonsense. ”

Su Li retorted with a smile: "You and I are both Hu people, and what you say is naturally nonsense." ”

The family, young and old, burst into a laugh of delight.

Since then, Saï Azar has entrusted his brother Salman with the management of his own business and the affairs of the chamber of commerce, and he goes to the court early every morning to handle official business, and sometimes has to go to other places to make rounds.

Although the Great Yuan Dynasty did not explicitly stipulate the ethnic hierarchy, it still treated the people of the whole country differently in actual management. The Mongols, as the ruling class, had the highest social status. The establishment of the Great Yuan meritorious color eye people. The status of the Han people was relatively low. In particular, the Han people in the south, who were the most rebellious and the last to conquer, were the most oppressed.

From the very beginning, Kublai Khan was very uneasy about the Han people in the depths of his heart. In order to rule over the Han people, who constituted the absolute majority of the population, although he adopted many rules and regulations of the Great Song Dynasty, appointed a number of Han officials, and took advantage of the Han landlord class, he and his successors tried their best to prevent the Han Chinese from surpassing the Mongols in terms of the number of officials, the level of education, and the experience of rule, and did not allow the Han to occupy important official positions.

The prime minister of Zhongshu Province, the highest administrative body of the central government, usually had to be a Mongol lord. In the early days of the establishment of the Great Yuan, Shi Tianze, a Han Chinese, and Yeluzhu, a Khitan of Mongolia, were appointed as prime ministers, and it was clearly stipulated that Han people could no longer serve as prime ministers.

The Great Yuan court strictly prevented the Han people from mastering the important affairs of the military aircraft, and clearly stipulated that the Han people could not know the military situation. The Privy Councillor (Prefect), who held military power, were all Mongol ministers except for a few Semu, and there was no Han Chinese.

Dayuan appointed Daru Huachi as the chief governor of local governments at all levels below the provincial level, and stipulated that the Mongols should also serve as the chief ministers. If there were really no suitable Mongols, they could choose among the noble-born Semu people, and the Han Chinese who took up the posts were repeatedly forbidden or dismissed, and only in the remote areas of the south where the Mongols refused to go to the post were Han Chinese officials allowed to be allowed as officials.

Compared with the Han people, the Semu people were given preferential treatment in Dayuan, especially many Semu Hui people were reused. Some of the upper-class Hui people like Sai Azar served as generals in the army, some were government officials, and some were big businessmen who colluded with the government. They can hold positions that Han Chinese officials cannot hold. There are as many as 320 people in Dayuan who hold important positions such as the left and right prime ministers of Zhongshu Province and the political affairs of the peace chapter and the governor of the province. As many as 65 people have served in important positions such as prime ministers, ordinary chapters, and political participation in 10 provinces.

Iran, the main language of the Semu Hui (i.e., the various languages of the East Iranian language family), became the second official language after Mongolian.

In terms of imperial examinations and admissions, the Semu people enjoyed almost exactly the same preferential treatment as the Mongols.

The imperial court saw that the Semu Hui were better at managing money than the Mongols, so they used 2 million taels of silver to contract the taxes of the Central Plains to the Semu Hui.

The Semu Hui merchants, on the other hand, used their political privileges to do business on a large scale, lending usury, and obtaining high profits.

Although the laws of the Great Yuan stipulated many privileges for the Mongols and the Semu people, only a small number of Mongol nobles and Semu nobles really used the law to run amok everywhere. The vast number of Mongolian farmers and herdsmen and ordinary Semu people, like many Han Chinese, lived a difficult life of oppression and exploitation. There were even some poor Mongols who were sold into slavery in foreign lands and abroad.

The anger of the people at the bottom is buried deep in their hearts. They look forward to the day when it will erupt like a volcano.