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the yuan dynasty adopted a unique management model for goryeo. although the mongol rulers set up a province in goryeo and nominally exercised direct rule, the kingdom of goryeo did not disappear with the establishment of the zhengdong province. the king of goryeo also served as the prime minister of the zhengdong province. the goryeo dynasty, which was both a province and a country, in its continuous interaction with the yuan dynasty, not only stirred up the rise and fall of the yuan empire, but also changed the future political structure of east asia.

the war created a completely surrendered goryeo

after the rise of the goryeo dynasty, there were military conflicts with the liao and jin regimes in china. the liao and jin regimes, which had absolute military superiority, were always satisfied with only formal suzerainty over goryeo. during the mongol empire in the 13th century, its requirements for surrounding vassals changed to complete surrender.

from 1231 ad to 1273 ad, mongolia launched as many as seven consecutive wars against goryeo in order to force goryeo to surrender. the war extended from the yalu river to the southeast corner of daegu and gyeongju. the goryeo dynasty completely surrendered. under the high military pressure of the yuan dynasty, the territory of the goryeo dynasty retreated from the lower reaches of the yalu river and the great wall to the mercy ridge and tieling lines. the yuan dynasty established dongning prefecture (pyongyang) and shuangcheng general administration office (shuangcheng general administration office) in the newly expanded territory. the junction of hamgyeong province and gangwon province on the korean peninsula today, close to the current dividing line between north and south korea). in addition, tamna (jeju island) was also captured by the yuan dynasty, and the daruhachi and tamna military and civilian general administration offices were established.

starting from king chungryeol of goryeo, successive kings of goryeo married princesses of the yuan dynasty. the princesses of the yuan dynasty interfered in goryeo's political affairs, and the prince born to the princess succeeded the king of goryeo. goryeo thus entered the "mongol interference period." during the "mongolian intervention period", mongolia required goryeo to perform the "six things" that its dependent countries should perform:

the first is for the ruler to come to court; the second is for the children to be sent as hostages; the third is to register the people; the fourth is to assist the army; the fifth is to set up a post station; the sixth is to set up daru huachi (the governor), and at the same time bear the responsibility of tribute girls, tribute officials, obligations such as tribute eagle.

among them, the establishment of daruchachi not only supervises goryeo on behalf of mongolia, but also sets up a patrol station to be responsible for public security and reconnaissance, which is equivalent to turning some goryeo counties into counties. under this series of military and political measures, the goryeo kingdom had actually begun to "internalize" towards the yuan dynasty.

"loyal minister of the great yuan dynasty" and "the king of goryeo is no longer intact"

in the special dual structure of goryeo and yuan dynasties, the king of joseon himself was the central link in the entire system. unlike the losers we imagined who were willing to take advantage of the situation, the royal family headed by the king of korea was indeed very loyal to mongolia (especially the later emperor of the yuan dynasty). take guangzong, the first korean king who surrendered in the yuan dynasty, as an example. when he was sent to mongolia as a hostage, he relied on his keen political intuition to make good friends with kublai khan, who was the emperor's younger brother at the time. according to the "history of goryeo":

(yuan dynasty) emperor xianzong yanjia, while brother alibo blocked his troops in shuoye. the princes were suspicious and did not know what to follow. at that time, kublai khan, the emperor's younger brother, was observing troops in the south of the yangtze river. wang sui of goryeo went south to the pass and reached the outskirts of liangchu. the emperor's younger brother settled in xiangyang and led the army northward. the king wears a soft-horned black gauze futou, a purple robe with wide sleeves, and a rhinoceros-like wat. he greets dao zuo with coins. his appearance was picturesque, and he was able to maneuver well. all the officials were impressed by his character and ranked behind him. the emperor's brother was surprised and said: "the country of goryeo has been conquered by emperor taizong of the tang dynasty. now his son has come to me. this is god's will." ." he praised him greatly and went to kaiping mansion.

the good encounter brought enough political credibility to the goryeo royal family, and also provided a political foundation for the goryeo royal family to continue to manage the old country after the "annihilation" of the country. after ascending the throne, king guangzong of north korea went to beijing twice to "visit" kublai khan in person, becoming the first king in the history of the goryeo dynasty and even the korean peninsula to make a pilgrimage to a foreign country as a monarch. later, guangzong relied on kublai khan's army to settle the powerful ministers in the court during his domestic coup. it can be said that he established an extraordinary and special relationship with the emperor of the yuan dynasty. it is no wonder that kublai khan was willing to let this korean the king and his descendants continued to manage the old country and concurrently served as pingzhang political affairs (prime minister) for the yuan dynasty's expedition to the eastern provinces.

king chungryeol, the son of guangzong, was even more submissive to the yuan dynasty. he not only invited troops and marriages from mongolia, he even shaved his hair and changed clothes in goryeo, imitating the mongolian clothes, and even "led hundreds of officials" "xingmiaolian temple congratulates the emperor, and officials from all provinces to the lower levels use incense and congratulations on the first day of the lunar month." loyalty to kublai khan was refined into daily life. starting from king chungryeol, the posthumous titles of the goryeo kings no longer refer to ancestors or clans (self-derogation to avoid suspicion). at the same time, it has also formed a political convention that the king of goryeo must be appointed with the consent of mongolia before he can become the king.

what is even more exaggerated is that king chungryeol of goryeo actually compiled the national history for the yuan dynasty.

"(king zhonglie) ordered ren yi, a fellow editor of national history, and jin bao, an editor of the history museum, to write "the deeds of the late emperor."

"history of goryeo" volume 95 "ren yi's biography of ren yi":

"zhonglie chao... also wrote "the deeds of yuan shizu"."

the king of goryeo regarded kublai khan as the "first emperor" who was superior to his own country and integrated him into his country's historical narrative. this is a magical story that is difficult to find in world history. it also shows the loyalty of the goryeo dynasty to the founding royal family of the yuan dynasty. .

as mentioned above, since the king of goryeo is also the prime minister of zhengdong province, he can no longer be called the complete king of goryeo. although he can retain the power to appoint and remove officials within his own kingdom system, he cannot resist the yuan dynasty's influence in goryeo. to station and promote officials directly under the imperial provinces, the yuan court would directly send officials, including daru huachi, to the provinces to collect tribute in goryeo, but it was difficult for the goryeo king to govern them. goryeo's highest official office, zhongshumenxia, ​​was also renamed, downgraded to the fourth rank of government office, and used the seal of the yuan dynasty. this also marked the yuan dynasty's inclusion of goryeo in the administrative system. during the reign of emperor chengzong of the yuan dynasty, the yuan court even "believed that the country was self-inflicted with unrest, and sent pingzhang political minister kuolijisi and other officials to work with the king to suppress it." it shows that the yuan dynasty once directly sent the provincial chief officials to co-manage the korean peninsula with the king of goryeo.

however, in the dualist political structure of the korean peninsula where the emperor of the yuan dynasty and the monarch of the country coexisted, the traditional elite group in the kingdom of goryeo positioned the country as a special political system within the framework of the "emperor-princes", although they and the king were both " minister of the yuan dynasty", but the king is still their "sovereign". on this basis, in addition to his loyalty to the yuan dynasty, the king of goryeo still maintained a basic understanding, that is, goryeo "still has a country name" and he still had to rely on his country's loyalty to withstand unexpected events.

the bigger reason why kublai khan maintained the existence of the goryeo royal family was his ambition towards japan. the so-called expedition to the east, as the name suggests, means "conquering japan eastward." in the tenth year of the yuan dynasty (1273), the important town of xiangyang in the southern song dynasty fell. the yuan dynasty did not need to attack the southern song dynasty through goryeo; goryeo naturally became the yuan dynasty's base for attacking japan. in the first month of the eleventh year of the yuan dynasty (1274), kublai khan sent hong chaqiu and others from korea who surrendered to the yuan dynasty to urge korea to build 300 large ships and formally put the plan to conquer japan into effect. the king of korea sent jin fangqing and others to take charge of korea. a total of more than 30,000 korean craftsmen and civilians were mobilized for the work. it was said in history that "there was a constant stream of post and horsemen, the affairs were troublesome, the deadlines were urgent, and the people were suffering as fast as thunder and lightning." in may of that year, 15,000 yuan troops from the eastern expedition came to goryeo. in the same month, wang chen, the crown prince, married kublai khan's daughter kudulu jieli in dadu of the yuan dynasty. this political marriage was also to stabilize goryeo's status as a stable base for the yuan dynasty's eastern expedition.

goryeo officials who yearned for the yuan dynasty

under the dual management model of "emperor-princes", the princely states had their own staff, but they were also monitored by officials loyal to the emperor. projected into the kingdom of goryeo, there are not only the confidants of the princes who regard goryeo as their base, but also the "loyal ministers" of goryeo who are devoted to the emperor of the yuan dynasty.

during the era of king chungryeol, the yuan dynasty's zhengdong province gradually developed into a "king king" institution that was above the bureaucracy of the king of goryeo and could issue instructions to it. although most of the provincial officials were koreans, in the administrative agencies of the empire, under the influence, a huge gap formed with the goryeo kingdom government.

first of all, as officials of zhengdong province, they introduced the "dayuan tongzhi" to the peninsula and used it, which was equivalent to popularizing the decrees of the dayuan court to the korean peninsula. therefore, there is a saying that "the provincial officials are the ones who enforce the "tongzhi"" . after being appointed as pingjang of the eastward provincial conquest, korigisi came to goryeo and tried to reform the slave labor law on the peninsula with park hong, a provincial official from humble origins, and transformed goryeo's backward system of "conforming to the humble and not to the good" into china's inherent "be good and not humble" (one good person will always be good, and one will not inherit the humble status of his parents), thus shaking the local slavery system and arousing the opposition of the local goryeo nobles, and ultimately returned without success. these "translators", represented by pu hong, who were proficient in mongolian, relied on their relationship with the shangguo to get rid of their humble status and became provincial officials in the eastward expedition. they had no good impression of the traditional goryeo royal family, but hoped that use the yuan empire to change your hometown.

not only translators, but also in the yuan dynasty, koreans who passed the imperial examination were sent to serve in zhengdong province, such as li gu, "the official of hanshan county became his own son". he stayed in china for six years and recognized the yuan dynasty. very deep. he once angrily criticized the shortcomings of goryeo's national government and said:

"the country is in peace and the people are in profit. the generals have their roots and ends. they speak to the court and the emperor. how can he remain silent because of the anger of the princes?"

this concept of "the world is one family" and the awareness of "the emperor's ministers" show that a considerable number of goryeo intellectuals at that time had the yuan dynasty's concept of a big country.

of course, the consequences of such "loyalty" are often dismal. in december of the third year of king chungryeol (1277), former general wei deru (goryeo), zhonglang general lu jinyi, jin fuda and others (to yuan ting) falsely accused king chungryeol's confidant jin fangqing of plotting rebellion. as the marshal of the eastern province, hong chaqiu, a korean, used this intention to implicate king chungryeol in order to "abolish the country and turn it into a province". this represented the special mentality of the korean people who highly recognized the yuan dynasty. these loyal ministers of the yuan dynasty who intended to overthrow the king of koryo were either transferred away from the kingdom of koryo by kublai khan, or they "died with rotten tongues" after reporting on the activities. people at the time thought they were being punished by heaven, and suffered counterattacks and revenge from the king of koryo.

goryeo, dae yuan and east asia heading towards change

the unique dual-monarchy relationship between goryeo and the yuan dynasty not only created a surprising precedent in the history of state relations, but also injected unexpected factors into the major changes in the east asian pattern after the 14th century.

first of all, during the war between yuan and goryeo, the yuan dynasty established dongning prefecture (pyongyang) and shuangcheng general administrative office in the newly expanded territory. most of its officials were hereditary warriors from the northern border of goryeo who were the first to surrender to the yuan dynasty, such as zhao hui from goryeo. he zhuoqing and others became the hereditary general manager of the shuangcheng office and the head of thousands of households, and successfully became the "dalu huachi" under kaiyuan road in liaoyang province of the yuan dynasty. they were authentic koreans of the yuan dynasty.

during the same period, li anshe, the great ancestor of li chenggui, the founder of the korean dynasty, also surrendered to mongolia together with zhao and zhuo, and was transferred to the wedong area (kongzhou) on kaiyuan road, where he served as the head of the first thousand households of five thousand households in nanjing and other places. , started a family legend of five generations of mongolized koreans. it was precisely because of the special relationship between the goryeo dynasty and the yuan dynasty that both generations of li chenggui's father and ancestor continued to pay homage to the king of goryeo while holding the military title of the yuan dynasty. in the end, this mongolian family successfully set things right and returned to goryeo at the end of the yuan dynasty. the warrior's life ruined the goryeo dynasty.

the special close relationship between goryeo and the yuan dynasty also allowed eunuchs and tribute girls from goryeo to fill the yuan dynasty society. based on the cultural needs of the mongolians and the social aesthetic reality, tribute girls from goryeo became the first choice in yuan dynasty society. in the middle and late yuan dynasty society, and even after the yuan dynasty, there was a trend of nobles taking goryeo women as their wives and concubines, forming a trend of admiration. the unique social trend of goryeo women to improve their social status.

the most famous of these goryeo tribute girls in the yuan dynasty is empress qi, the third empress of the yuan shun emperor. she not only gave birth to the prince aiyou shili dara for the yuan shun emperor, but also conspired with her son to force the emperor shun to become a monk. position, eventually triggered a protracted civil war in the yuan dynasty, leading to the collapse of the mongol empire.

in addition, the successive collapse of the goryeo dynasty and the yuan dynasty put a large number of jurchens living in the liaoyang province of the yuan dynasty into a relative power vacuum. the jianzhou jurchen ancestor timur, the fierce brother of the oduoli tribe, was here. during this period, it moved from the mudanjiang river basin to the banks of the yalu river and the tumen river, and moved between the newly born korean regime and the ming dynasty. it grew wildly between the white mountains and black waters, and finally converged into a torrent that changed the pattern of east asia.

references:

1. xiao qiqing: "history of general affairs and translation in the yuan dynasty - communicating figures in a multi-ethnic country", edited by the china yuan history research association: "yuan history series" no. 6, china social sciences press, 1997 edition.

2. zhang chunhai: "the class divisions and identity differentiation of the goryeo elite after surrendering to mongolia—and on their differences in attitudes towards yuan dynasty law", "anhui historiography" issue 3, 2024.

3. liu yingsheng: "yuan history, ethnic and frontier research collection", shanghai ancient books publishing house, 2008

4. wei zhijiang: "research on the history of sino-south korean relations". sun yat-sen university press, 2006

5. [dprk] zheng linzhi: "history of goryeo", southwest normal university press, 2014