In fact, the Yuan Dynasty was already the most technologically advanced and militarily powerful country in the world. Although its population and comprehensive national strength are not as good as that of the Southern Song Dynasty, its pure military strength is far superior to that of the Southern Song Dynasty. Just as Britain's comprehensive national strength was not as good as that of the Qing Dynasty during the Opium War, its scientific and technological military strength was far superior.
Because Mongolia was founded in the war, it paid special attention to craftsmen. In the process of sweeping Eurasia, the Mongolian army always ordered to protect craftsmen from being killed, although it killed many enemies. Therefore, it can be said that the Mongolian army recruited the best craftsmen from all over the world at that time to build equipment and engineering equipment for Mongolia's military operations. After Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, the household registration of craftsmen was compiled into another book called "Artisans". Give special treatment to outstanding craftsmen, such as exempting forced labor, rewarding living expenses, paying wages and other forms of material support.
If we say that in the Mongolian and Jin wars, the equipment of the Mongolian army was not as good as that of the Jin army, relying on cavalry tactics, but in the Yuan and Southern Song wars, the weapons and equipment of the Yuan army had already surpassed that of Song Jun, and it could not only win with infantry in the mountains, but also win with water army in the rivers and seas.
Comparing the number of armies of the two countries, the total number of troops in Song Jun actually far exceeds that of the Yuan Army, but in terms of individual combat capability, one Yuan Army can be worth five or six Song Jun, and in terms of fighting will, the Yuan Army also far exceeds that of Song Jun. Although Song Jun fought to defend the country, in fact, the corruption and incompetence of the Southern Song government led to the alienation of the army. Not only weak soldiers surrendered to the Yuan Army, but even capable generals like Liu Zheng and Lu finally gave up their integrity and worked for the Yuan Army. Bo Yan went down to the south of the Yangtze River. He is very famous. He attacked the weak by force. For example, the battles of Yingzhou, Shayang New Town, Ezhou, Jiading, Dingjiazhou, Yuezhou, Jiaoshan and Lin 'an were all won easily.
In the end, Zhang Hongfan led the army to attack and destroy Zhang Shijie and other Song Jun, which was only the aftermath of the war in the Song Dynasty. However, the fact that Song Jun was completely annihilated at the end of the Yashan naval battle also reflected the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty, such as less naval forces, strong fighting capacity and advanced firearms. This is clearly reflected in Wen Tianxiang's poem "Poem of Lonely Minister Tianxiang Sitting in the North Ship and Crying for the South".
Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, five dynasties and ten countries have coexisted in China, and Liao, Song, Jin, Southern Song, Xixia, Mongolia, Gaochang, Dali and Tubo have coexisted. This competitive division lasted for three or four hundred years. After the destruction of the Song Dynasty in the Yuan Dynasty, it ended the split situation of coexistence of multiple regimes and established a multi-ethnic unified country, with the territory in the Arctic desert and Hainan in the south. In the imperial edict of establishing the title of title, the Yuan Dynasty said: "The map is wide, which has never existed before. According to Geographical Records of Yuan History, from feudalism to counties, there were people all over the world. Although Han, Sui, Tang and Song dynasties flourished, their territory was vast and salty. Its land exceeds Yinshan Mountain in the north, quicksand in the west, Liaozuo in the east and sea surface in the south. The establishment of Yuan Dynasty, a vast multi-ethnic country, is of great significance and basically laid the territory of the Chinese nation.
The unified Yuan Dynasty promoted the economic and cultural exchanges and frontier development of the people of all ethnic groups in China. Breaking this boundary brings politics, economy and culture closer together. Many Chinese classics have been translated into minority languages, and minority works have also been introduced to the mainland. Han soldiers and civilians who migrated to Mongolia, Hexi, Yunnan, Northeast China and other places brought advanced production tools and technologies and made great contributions to the development of the motherland's frontiers. The production technologies of many ethnic minorities, such as Mongolian carpet-making, Uygur silk weaving, wine-making and Tibetan architectural art, have spread to the mainland, which has promoted the further development of related industries in the Central Plains.
The unification of the Yuan Dynasty greatly strengthened the cultural exchanges and transportation between China and foreign countries. In the Yuan Dynasty, the traffic between China and the West was developed, and ships from China reached Africa all the time. China's major scientific inventions, such as printing, gunpowder, papermaking and compass, were introduced to Europe during this period. China's goods are also exported to all parts of the world. Persian and Arabian scientific achievements in astronomy and medicine were also introduced to China. Businessmen and envoys from Europe, Africa and Asia introduced China to other countries in the world. Through these businessmen and envoys, the people of China opened their eyes and learned more about the world.