Creative statement: This article is compiled based on historical content, the relevant details in the article may be changed, please do not relate to reality, please read rationally
Those who are familiar with history know that the Qing Dynasty was one of the largest dynasties in the ancient territory of the mainland, and almost completely controlled the Central Plains, China, Northeast China, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Mongolian Plateau and the Western Regions!
It can be said that it has ruled over a total of more than 13 million square kilometers of land for more than 100 years!
As a result, there is such a view in the historical circles: that is, without the emergence of the Manchu Qing regime, China would not be able to conquer such a vast territory, and the final land area will be unacceptable!
So whether this point of view is reasonable, this article will take you to a detailed analysis.
The reason why some people hold the above view is nothing more than the following two reasons.
One reason is that they think that the Manchu rulers who have the status of "Hu" know better how to rule the Hu people in Saibei, while the Han rulers do not have this advantage!
The second reason is: the territory of the Song and Ming dynasties as the Han regime was very small, especially the Ming Dynasty before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, and the territory of the later period shrank to only eighteen provinces of the Han Dynasty!
It is precisely because of this that there is a remark on the Internet: that is, if there is no Qing Dynasty, let the Ming Dynasty continue.
Until the time Europe and the United States come to China, China's territory may only be more than 3 million square kilometers in size!
And this view is actually outrageously wrong, first of all, it is not only the Hu regime that knows how to rule the land of the Hu people.
"The annexation of the Western Regions by the Western Han Dynasty, the recovery of the Southern Xiongnu by the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the domination of the Western Regions and Mobei by the Tang Dynasty" are all typical cases of the Central Plains regime co-opting and ruling the Hu people.
Later, the Ming Dynasty also restored the momentum of the Han and Tang dynasties' external expansion, not only controlling Qinghai and Tibet in the west, but also controlling the northeast in the east, and even went on many northern expeditions to penetrate into the grassland area.
Compared with the later Qing Dynasty, what the Ming Dynasty lacked was nothing more than the Mongolian steppe and the Western Regions.
In contrast to the Han and Tang dynasties, the Ming Dynasty did not possess the Western Regions, but it controlled Qinghai-Tibet and the Northeast.
As for the reason why only the eighteen provinces of the Han Dynasty remained in the territory of the late Ming Dynasty: it was because in the late Ming Dynasty, due to the weakening of the national power, the control of the frontier was lost, which is also a common problem of the shrinkage of the territory at the end of any dynasty!
In the later period of the decline of the Qing Dynasty, it was also the same continuous loss of cities and land!
In all fairness, in terms of the control of the Manchu, Mongolian, Hui, and Tibetan plates, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was really stronger than the Han dynasties of the previous dynasties: that is, the control of the Mongolian steppe!
Why? So let's take turns to interpret the four regions of Northeast China, Qinghai-Tibet, Western Regions and Mongolia.
But before interpreting it, I would like to explain a concept to you: that is, "the rule of bondage".
"Bondage rule" means that the central government has set up special administrative units in minority areas.
Except for the political subordination to the central dynasty and the economic tributary obligations of the region, all other affairs were managed by the regional minority chiefs themselves!
One of the interpretation regions: the Northeast region
Strictly speaking: the Manchu regime did not have complete de facto control over the Northeast.
At that time, the only "county-like" counties in Northeast China were Fengtian (present-day Liaoning), Jilin, and the southern part of Heilongjiang (Changbai Mountain in the Songnen Plain).
It is also because these places have been garrisoned by the Qing Dynasty for a long time, so the control is slightly stronger.
However, in the northern part of Jilin and Heilongjiang, that is, the Sanjiang Plain, the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang are basically ruled by the people.
Let the local Jurchen tribes of the East China Sea submit to the Qing Dynasty, and when there is nothing to do, just pay tribute to mink and ginseng.
This is also the reason why, in the late Qing Dynasty, Russia took away the Outer Northeast so easily.
In this regard, the Qing Dynasty was not much stronger than the Ming Dynasty, which directly ruled the northeast and south, set up the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, and governed various guards.
In the north-central part of the Northeast, it was also practiced in bondage, allowing the local indigenous tribes to submit to the cause.
In contrast, the Ming Dynasty's control over Jilin was weaker, while the Qing Dynasty's control over Jilin was stronger.
And the reason for this: it has a lot to do with the fact that the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty itself originated in the Jilin region!
Interpretation area 2: Qinghai-Tibet region
The Qing Dynasty actually did not actually control the Qinghai-Tibet region!
Nominally, the Qing Dynasty ceded Kangzang to Sichuan, made Amdo a separate province of Qinghai, and then occasionally sent troops into Weizang.
But with the exception of the Huangshui Valley, where Xining is located, the rest of the world is still ruled by the Bondage.
In this respect, there was no difference between the Qing and Ming dynasties' rule over the Qinghai-Tibet region.
Interpretation of the third region: the region around the Western Regions
The Qing Dynasty's control over the Western Regions was divided into two parts, namely Northern Xinjiang and Southern Xinjiang.
In the northern frontier north of the Tianshan Mountains, because of the long-term war between the Qing army and the Dzungaria, the northern frontier was finally occupied by force, and the rest of the Dzungaria were also moved.
At the same time, the Xibe people, the relatives of Manchuria, were also allowed to immigrate to reclaim northern Xinjiang, so the Manchu Qing Dynasty actually controlled northern Xinjiang!
However, for the southern part of Xinjiang, the Qing Dynasty canonized the local officials of various regions and ruled directly over the matter.
In this respect, the Qing Dynasty and the Han and Tang dynasties were very similar, but different.
The Han and Tang dynasties were not enough nomadic in northern Xinjiang, and they directly ruled the country, and they also "canonized and fetted" the indigenous city-states in the western part of southern Xinjiang.
However, for the eastern part of southern Xinjiang, the "county rule" was implemented.
During the Han and Tang dynasties, they were all stationed in Luntai (Kuqa) in the central part of southern Xinjiang for a long time.
The difference between the two is that the Qing Dynasty's actual control area of Xinjiang was northern Xinjiang and then confined to southern Xinjiang, while the actual control area of Xinjiang by the Han and Tang dynasties was the eastern part of southern Xinjiang, and the northern and western parts of southern Xinjiang.
In terms of the overall control of Xinjiang, the Qing Dynasty and the Han and Tang dynasties were actually "half a catty and eight taels".
Interpretation of the fourth region: Mongolian generation region
Whether it is the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, or the Ming Dynasty, they all went deep into Mobei when they were strong, "sealed the wolf Juxu", "Le Shi Yanran", and when they were in decline, they could only "look at the grassland and sigh".
In the effort to control the grassland, the Han Dynasty rebelled against the Southern Xiongnu, the Tang Dynasty briefly set up the Hanhai Protectorate, and the Ming Dynasty briefly canonized the tribal leader of the grassland as king.
However, these are short-term "fetters and rules" or "partial fetters", and there is no "long-term and overall fetters" at all, let alone "areas under actual control"!
The Qing Dynasty achieved a long-term "fettered rule" over Outer Mongolia, and a long-term "actual control rule" over Inner Mongolia.
After reading the above four regions, if we replace the successive Qing dynasty with a Han dynasty after the Ming Dynasty, we will call it the "new dynasty" here.
So, will this "new dynasty" be able to achieve a certain degree of control over the Manchu, Mongolian, Hui, and Tibetan regions like the Qing Dynasty?
First of all, we need to clarify how this hypothetical "new dynasty" is established, and there are only two ways:
The first was that the strongest of the peasant rebels became the founders of the "New Dynasty".
The second is that the peasant rebels take the lead, but in the end they compete with the strongest of the regular warlords to become the founder of the "new dynasty".
However, the "new dynasty" will eventually confront the Qing state in northern Saibei, which is different from the "Song-Liao confrontation".
Before the Song-Liao confrontation was formed, the Central Plains experienced a period of secession of five dynasties and ten kingdoms, and before the five dynasties and ten kingdoms, it experienced a period of hundreds of years of "late Tang Dynasty town secession".
The powerful strength of the warrior group made the Song Dynasty overkill, and the suppression of the military generals was exaggerated.
This reduced the Song dynasty's ability to conduct foreign wars, and the late Ming dynasty largely died due to Emperor Chongzhen's reluctance to delegate power.
Therefore, the "new dynasty" may sum up the lessons of the fall of the previous dynasty, and will not be excessively strong and weak like the Song Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty, and depreciate its martial arts.
In addition, in view of the great threat of the Qing State to the Central Plains in the late Ming Dynasty, the "new dynasty" of the Central Plains will inevitably take the Northern Qing Dynasty as the first major enemy.
In the early days of the new dynasty, wars would be staged for a long time in the Shanhaiguan and Liaoxi areas.
With the national strength of the new dynasty in the Central Plains, it is not a big problem to destroy the Qing kingdom in the time of one or two generations of emperors, recover Liaodong and control the northeast under normal circumstances.
Moreover, due to the failure of the Ming Dynasty's policy of "razing and destroying the Jurchens" in the northeast.
This lesson would also prompt the new dynasty to move more Han Chinese from the Central Plains to enrich the Liaodong and Jilin generations.
The situation in which the new dynasty actually controls Liaodong and Jilin and binds the middle and lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River will be very similar to the Qing Dynasty in history.
Moreover, since the new dynasty will not restrict the migration of Han Chinese, the population of the northeast region will also be rapidly enriched in the long run.
Then, it will be very difficult for Tsarist Russia to invade the Northeast, and the Outer Northeast will not be cut off so easily.
Now that the Northeast region has been won, the next arena will become the new dynasty vs. Dzungaria!
Dzungar is a unique regime that uses Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion and respects the Fifth Dalai Lama as its teacher, so that it can unify the entire Mongol world to the greatest extent.
This includes Qinghai Mongolia, Mobei, Southern Mongolia, Northern Mongolia, and even Tibetan tribes.
This means that the Dzungar Khanate can control the three major sections of Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet, and form a great geographical advantage over the Central Plains and the Northeast!
This is also the reason why the Qing Dynasty fought for three generations of emperors, and almost exhausted the national strength to pacify Dzungaria.
The Qing Dynasty pacified Jungar, on the one hand, because of the help of Monan and Mobei Mongolia.
If it is replaced by a hypothetical new dynasty, without the help of the Mongolian steppe tribes.
The new dynasty's solution to the threat to the northwest is more likely: first defeat the Dzungar attack, and then wait for an opportunity to disintegrate the opponent.
Next, the new dynasty is likely to send troops to occupy southern Xinjiang in the same way that the Western Han Dynasty occupied southern Xinjiang and cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu, and won over various oasis agricultural city-states in southern Xinjiang.
In addition, an organization similar to the "Western Regions Protectorate" was set up to cut off the connection between Dzungaria and Tibet.
At the same time, the new dynasty will also make a northern expedition to the Mongolian steppes to defeat the wall-to-wall grass that is waiting between Dzungaria and the new dynasty.
He then canonized and promised various benefits to prevent them from becoming the helpers of Dzungar in his southward journey.
Finally, taking advantage of the internal struggle for the defense of the Dzungar Khanate, the new dynasty is likely to favor moderates close to the Central Plains to ascend to the throne.
Eventually, the Qinghai-Tibet tribes will continue the tradition of the original and early Ming Dynasty and fall to the new dynasty of the Central Plains, continuing the tradition of "fetters and submissions", and southern Xinjiang is also likely to be classified as semi-real control by the new dynasty of the Central Plains.
The new dynasty would set up garrisons in key cities and relocate Han Chinese from the interior to garrison them.
The Dzungar regime in northern Xinjiang is likely to continue to nominally belong to the new dynasty and receive the title of county prince like that of Joseon.
Finally, will the Mongolian ministries be unified soon? The answer is obviously no.
The Mongolian steppes were first controlled by the Qing and then by Dzungeal.
After the new dynasty destroyed the hegemony of Dzungaria, it would take at least a hundred years or so for the steppe tribes to form a truly unified regime.
Of course, the final unification may not happen!
Because of the more than 270 years of the Ming Dynasty, except for several northern expeditions in the early Ming Dynasty.
For 200 years, the grassland has not been interfered by any foreign forces, but what is the result?
As a result, Mongolia, which was originally divided into only two parts, Tatar and Warat, continued to split into more than 30 tribes by the end of the Ming Dynasty.
We don't know the reasons for the continuous division of the steppe forces, but it is likely that Tibetan Buddhism cultivated a religious aristocracy, which then formed a feudal separatist force.
This is more akin to the Tibetan Empire, after the division of Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism completely replaced Bon and became the only religion in the plateau.
The Tibetan Empire was never unified again, and the situation of fragmentation lasted for thousands of years.
In this way, the hypothetical new dynasty of the Han people after the Ming Dynasty is likely to be like the "Bondage of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau": the leaders of the various tribes of the Mongolian steppe were canonized as Tusi and Dharma kings, and directly ruled the Mi.
In fact, in fact, the "alliance flag system" organized by the second emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji, is not original.
It was the policy of "confined grassland" in the late Ming Dynasty that gave Huang Taiji great inspiration.
Due to the characteristics of the Central Plains of the new dynasty, the possibility of marriage with the Mongolian tribes is not very large, so the "fetters of the steppe tribes" is a high probability event.
However, like the Qing Dynasty, it is relatively unlikely that it will be able to actually control southern Mongolia.
As for the saying circulating on the Internet: "If there is no Qing Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty, but a new dynasty of the Han people, then the territory of China will only be the eighteen provinces of Guannai".
For this statement, after our whole argument, it is completely okay to laugh it off!
The pictures of the story materials are all from the Internet, please read it rationally!