Talking about Kublai Khan's unfortunate old age

Kublai Khan in his later years also suffered a series of setbacks and misfortunes in his personal life. 128 1 The death of his favorite wife, Cha Yu, left Kublai Khan in loneliness and pain. Xia Bi's son Jin Jin has been made Crown Prince. Cha Yu is also the only woman among Kublai Khan's wives who has a memorial tablet in the ancestral hall. In the early days of Kublai Khan's rule, Cha Yu was an indispensable assistant. It may be purely coincidental, but it is undeniable that after her death, Kublai Khan personally and even the whole of China suffered a series of drastic changes. Cha Yu may not be able to stop these disasters, but she may be able to exert her influence to curb some strange decisions made by Kublai Khan at that time.

After Chabi died, Nanbi became Kublai Khan's wife. She is a distant relative of Chubby. It may be that Chubby personally chose her as his successor after learning that his health was deteriorating. Unfortunately, we don't know her successor as well as we do. It is said that when Kublai Khan was getting older, Nanbi made important political decisions by himself. Perhaps because of his sadness and disappointment at the death of relatives such as Cha Yu, Kublai Khan rarely saw people in his later years. His courtiers had to report to him through the south wall, and she told them Kublai Khan's decisions and orders. According to the historical data of China, Kublai Khan allowed her to issue imperial edicts in her own name when she was seriously ill, but they did not point out which specific decisions were made by Nanbi. Like many other Mongolian queens and nobles at that time, she was very confident and influential politically.

There are few records about Kublai Khan's other wives. Traditionally, Mongolian Khan has four wandering ears, and Kublai Khan is no exception. His first wife, Tie Gulun, died before she became a great Khan in 1260. His most famous and influential wife, Chabi and Nanbi, belong to the second model. Zabi bore him four sons, and Nanbi bore him one son. Zhen Jin, the son of Cha Yu, was chosen as the successor of Kublai Khan, and Duo Er, another son, died before his father. The other two sons, Mangla and Namu Khan, were not chosen as heirs. However, we can see that Kublai Khan has enough trust in them. Mangla was the king of Anxi (now Shaanxi Province) and Namuhan was the king of Bei 'an. Kublai Khan sent them to several important military expeditions. His other sons, including Tuo Boshu, also undertook important military tasks, but they were also influenced by the conquered regional culture. For example, Ananda, son and heir of Mangra, grew up in a Muslim family. In addition, according to Rushdodin's records, after he came of age, he converted most of his150,000 troops to Islam. We know nothing about Nanbi's son. Similarly, we know nothing about Kublai Khan's third and fourth wives, except that they gave birth to seven other sons.

Cha Yu is undoubtedly Kublai Khan's favorite wife. Her death and the early death of Crown Prince Jin in 1285 not only broke Kublai Khan's heart, but also destroyed his succession plan. Cha Yu's prominent position can be confirmed by the fact that among all Kublai Khan's wives, only her portrait has been preserved, which was jointly drawn by Han and Mongolian painters. This undoubtedly partly explains why Kublai Khan made capricious decisions in his later years, because he was deeply disappointed with the death of Cha Yu.

What also made him sad was the death of his favorite son Jin Jin. Zhenjin was his chosen successor, and he was carefully trained to undertake the important tasks of Khan and Emperor China in the future. The teachers in Jin and Jin Dynasties were some of the most famous figures at that time. His subjects ranged from the history of China to Buddhism, all of which made him fully capable of assuming the heavy responsibility of ruling the empire. However, he died just after forty years old, which made Kublai Khan disheartened and the whole court was filled with gloomy atmosphere. Timur, the son of Jin Jin, was later elected as the successor of Kublai Khan, and became the emperor of China and Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty in 1294.

Only two daughters of Kublai Khan have been mentioned in history, and we don't know how many daughters he has. However, this generation of young Mongolian court women have little influence on politics. From Genghis Khan's mother Khe Elun to Chabi, Mongolian women are very powerful. However, Kublai Khan's daughter did not play any role in politics. Maybe they are influenced by China culture. China culture forbids women to participate in politics and tries to limit their political influence. On the other hand, maybe Kublai Khan's daughter is not interested in politics at all. Whatever the final explanation, China historians only recorded the names of Kublai Khan's two daughters. According to records, Miao Yan was a devout Buddhist. She became a nun, lived in Tanzhe Temple in Xishan, Beijing, and was buried there after her death. She worships Guanyin bodhisattva. Serve the Buddha day and night, kowtow devoutly, and make her forehead and footprints clearly visible on the stone steps? . Her portrait hangs in the temple, and the printed guide to Beijing by 1935 says that her portrait is still hanging there intact. Hudu Li Jie lost is another daughter of Kublai Khan, and also left her name in history. As mentioned above, her father used her to achieve his political goals. He married her to korean king, and this marriage strengthened the alliance between Yuan Ting and its North Korean dependencies. We don't know much about other stories about Kublai Khan's daughters, but what is certain is that they are not as confident and full of personality as other women of Kublai Khan's contemporaries and before.

Personal misfortune combined with the failure of domestic and foreign decision-making made Kublai Khan feel heavy pressure, and also made him turn to extravagance and seek comfort and satisfaction. Palace banquets are becoming more and more luxurious. Banquet dishes are mainly Mongolian dishes with meat. In order to make Kublai Khan feel comfortable, the daily meals are also carefully prepared and quite luxurious. Instant-boiled mutton and roast whole sheep are two must-have dishes, plus other fatty foods as a supplement to meat. A typical meal may include roast mutton, eggs, saffron mixed with lettuce, pancakes, sugar tea, miso (sour horse milk) and a kind of beer made from millet. The banquet diet is naturally more particular. Mongolians never care about overeating, especially on formal occasions. Overeating has become a habit rather than an exception. Mongolian Khan has always been addicted to alcohol, and Kublai Khan also developed this bad habit at this time. He is addicted to myth and wine, which makes him unable to solve the political crisis he faces.

His eating habits also caused health problems. In the last ten years of his life, he has been plagued by obesity and other diseases brought about by it. Liu Guandao's portrait at 1280 has exposed his fat figure, but in the late 1980s, his eating habits really got him into trouble. He was so fat that he began to suffer from gout and other diseases. His drinking habits aggravated his physical illness. Kyle. Polo was one of the people who witnessed the unrestrained banquet in Mongolian court. Like many other Mongolians, Kublai Khan could not control his drinking habits, especially when he was controlled by sadness and aging. He used various methods to treat his illness, from medicines and doctors in Southeast Asia to wizards in South Korea, but none of them solved the problem, and his habit of overeating remained the same.

Aging, burnout, disappointment and alcoholism finally sounded his death knell. According to Chinese information, he was extremely depressed as early as 1294. He even refused to meet the people who traditionally came to pay New Year greetings to Khan. Bo Yan, his old friend in the army, went to Yuan Ting to visit him, hoping to cheer him up, but in vain. Kublai Khan's health deteriorated rapidly. /kloc-In February of 0/8, at the age of 80, he died in the rosewood hall in his palace. Princes and ministers came to the Yuan court in succession to express their condolences and respect to Kublai Khan's grandson and heir, timur, the later Emperor Chengzong. The Mongolian Hanting Court then called Hulitai to elect a successor, but actually only recognized Kublai Khan's choice. Kublai Khan was gradually replaced by the method of China people choosing the heir to the throne, which once again showed Kublai Khan's efforts to gradually adapt to the habits of the Han nationality.