元代怯薛遣使初探

A Preliminary Study on Keshig Dispatched as Envoy in the Yuan Dynasty

由于怯薛"根脚显赫",地位尊宠,与皇室关系密切,常被朝廷选派为使臣出使。怯薛使臣在劝降招谕、海外寻宝、绥和诸王等方面有着出色的表现,在政治、军事、外交等方面发挥了重要作用。派遣怯薛承担出使任务是元代使臣出使的一个重要特征,这与蒙古早期的家臣制有着深厚渊源。

Because Keshigs had a high social position and a close relation with the royal family in the Yuan dynasty, they were often dispatched as envoy to fulfill their missions like the persuasion of the enemy to surrender, the searching for treasures abroad, the appeasing of the princes and so on. Because they usually had achieved their goals, they had great influence on politics, military affairs and diplomacy. This practice with its traits of the times had a close relationship with the retainer-system of the early Mongolian society.