In the sixteenth year of Zhizheng (1356), after Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to capture Jiqing, he established a privy council according to the military leadership system of the Yuan Dynasty and commanded his generals. With the increase of strength, Zhu Yuanzhang also set up the Marshal's Office of the Unified Army in Jiqing and the Wing Marshal's Office in various important areas, in charge of the generals in various places.
Taizu jiqing, that is, set up the Privy Council and took it upon himself. He also placed the Marshal's Office of the Commander of the Wing Army.
In the 21st year of Zhizheng (1361), after Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youyi at the Battle of Longwan, he abolished the Privy Council and established the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, with his nephew Zhu Wenzheng as the Metropolitan Governor and commanding his generals.
The Privy Council was abolished and the Metropolitan Governor's Office was replaced. With Zhu Wenzheng as the governor of the capital, he controlled the Chinese and foreign militaries, and set up officials such as Sima (司馬), joining the army, experience, and capital affairs.
In the twenty-third year of Zheng, Zhu Wenzheng, who had made great contributions in the Battle of Hongdu, plotted to launch a rebellion because he was dissatisfied with Zhu Yuanzhang's meritorious service, although Zhu Yuanzhang promptly disposed of Zhu Wenzheng after receiving the secret report.
But he was determined to eliminate the hidden danger of the excessive power of the Metropolitan Governor
So he added left and right governors to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.
After the establishment of Daming,
The concentration of military power in the hands of a small number of generals in the metropolitan governor's palace was clearly contrary to Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of strengthening imperial power
Therefore, the decentralization of power in the metropolitan government became his inevitable choice.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Zhu Yuanzhang divided the capital governor's mansion into five governors' mansions: the middle army, the left army, the right army, the front army, and the rear army, and each province had a left and right governor, and a zhengyi product. In this way, the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army inherited the supreme military command of the Metropolitan Governor's Office and was in charge of all the guards except the twelve guards of the pro-army army.
But it lost the power to mobilize troops.
Even so, from the thirteenth year of Hongwu to the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies was still very large, and the selection and replacement of the generals of the WeiShou, the training of the Weishou soldiers, the management of the military household Tun Tian, and the acquisition of military intelligence were all controlled by the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army. furthermore
Major military operations concerning the security of the Empire could only be decided after consultation between the Emperor and the Governors of the Five Armies.
The great power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies means that the status of the Military Department is low, and not only the deliberative military department of major military operations is not allowed to participate, but even the Affairs Department of the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army is not allowed to interfere. such
In fact, the Military Department is equivalent to the information transmission agency of the emperor issuing orders to the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.
The ancestral capital of the five armies is not allowed to be heard by outsiders, but the governor of the Indian capital is in charge. Former Soldier Shangshu Kuang Ye asked Wu Mou, the Marquis of Gongshun, for a roster audit, and Wu heard about it as usual, and Kwong was afraid to thank him.
However, with the sudden death of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming in the first month of the tenth year of Xuande, the Sanyang cabinet took advantage of Ming Yingzong's young age to help Wang Ji of bingbu Shangshu to the position of commander of the Ming army at the Battle of Luchuan.
For the first time, the Military Department touched military command.
Under the leadership of Wang Ji, the Ming army confirmed the victory of the Battle of Luchuan three times in succession, and the civilian officers of the military department, who had always shown their courtesy and elegance, fully demonstrated their ability to control the war, but there were a large number of military generals with outstanding military achievements and knighthood sitting in the governor's palace of the five armies, and the rise of the military position was still full of resistance. In this case,
The change of the civil fort provided an excellent opportunity for the rise of the military department.
During the Tumu fort rebellion, Ming Yingzong was captured, more than half of the 200,000 Ming troops who participated in the battle were lost, and the backbone of the military general Xun Gui's clique, the British Gong Zhangfu, the Marquis of Taining Chen Ying, the Governor of Qimadu Jingyuan, the Pingxiang Bo Chen Huai, the Xiangcheng Bo Li Zhen and others, as well as the new forces that had been carefully trained by them, were all killed. In the next defensive battle of the Beijing Division, Shangshu Yuqian of the Army turned the tide with his own strength,
This has left the impression in the minds of the world that civilian officials have to rely on civilian officials at critical moments.
Therefore, after the Jingtai Emperor ascended the throne, yu Qian tidued the Jingying, the status of the military department began to rise, and the power of the governor's office of the five armies began to gradually weaken.
During the Jingtai period, whenever there was a major military operation, Zhu Qiyu would consult with Yu Qian, and the selection and replacement of the generals of the Wei Institute, the training of the Wei Shou soldiers were all transferred to the Military Department, and the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies was only left to manage the household registration of the military households and Tuntian, and the status of the Military Department had risen.
After the restoration of Emperor Mingyingzong, although he suppressed the military department by abolishing the regimental battalion set up by Yu Qian and recalling the defenders of Tianxia Town, shi Heng was accused of plotting against him.
Daming completely shifted from paying equal attention to literature and martial arts to emphasizing literature and suppressing martial arts.
During the years of Chenghua and Hongzhi, the power to manage the household registration of military households was also transferred to the Military Department.
The Governor's Office of the Fifth Army was completely reduced to a nominal department.
Whoever attacked in the foreign military service in Beijing to replace you, the Capital Guard Office presented to the province,
report
Please decide. Later, it was changed to the Military Department.
During the Zhengde period, Emperor Mingwu suppressed the position of the military department by favoring the general Jiang Bin and setting up two official halls, but with the death of Emperor Mingwuzong, all these efforts were in vain.
During the Jiajing period, the remaining power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies to manage the military household Tuntian was transferred to the Hubu.
The Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies became an indispensable department,
The left and right governors of the Five Armies Governor's Mansion became honorary titles for military generals. Thereafter, in the event of conquest, the military generals were controlled by the inspector or governor with the rank of military department.
Where the number of soldiers and horses in the world is large, it is appropriate to grant, remove and conquer the opportunity to enter and stop. In the thirteenth year, the Governor's Mansion was divided into the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and if he thought that the rank of the character was as good as his death, and the soldiers were transferred to it, their powers were gradually divided. The so-called five governors are only empty names and imaginary numbers.
The dynasties after the Qin and Han Dynasties did not strictly divide the military generals and civilian officials, and the rulers most valued the ministers in fact, both civil and military, and the Tang Dynasty even had the custom of entering the dynasty after the bian shuai made meritorious service. In this case, there would be no problem with the weakening of the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the status of the military department.
After the Song Dynasty, in order to prevent the emergence of the situation of the division of feudal towns, there was a clear division between civilian officials and military generals, but civilian officials viewed war more from a political point of view, and military generals viewed war more from a military point of view, and under the transformation of civil officials in the Song Dynasty, the training of military generals simply emphasized martial courage and despised strategy. In this case, the weakening of the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the status of the military department will cause problems.
When ming dynasty civilian officials who viewed the war from a political point of view like the Song Dynasty civilian officials commanded the military generals to fight, there was often an embarrassing phenomenon: the military generals who quickly entered the battle would be accused by the civilian officials of being rash and brave and eager to kill; the military generals who chose to wait for a favorable opportunity to go to war again would be accused by the civilian officials of fearing the enemy and avoiding the battle and raising the Kou to protect themselves.
In this case, the military general became the war machine of the imperial court, completely losing the initiative in the war, if the civilian officer in charge of the military general had a good military quality, it is better to say, once the civilian official is like Yang Ho, what awaits the Ming army is the fiasco like Sal Hu.
In addition, in order to prevent the rise of the military generals' power, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty also rejected all suggestions that would help improve the combat effectiveness of the army, such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayu in the Wanli Period, who had proposed a plan to reorganize the Ming army, but the result was rejected by the civilian officials.
Daming thus missed the last good opportunity to improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
What is more serious is that the weakening of the power of the governor's office of the five armed forces and the rise of the status of the military department have created a new problem: civilian officials despise military generals, and military generals violate the yin and yang of civilian officials. In this case, it became inevitable that civilian officials and military generals would be separated from Germany in the war, and the result was a fiasco like the Battle of Songjin that was constantly staged in the Ming army.
It is precisely because of the weakening of the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies and the rise of the status of the military department that the military situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty appeared determined by the military quality of civilian officials, and when Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengzuo, Sun Chuanting and other civilian officials with higher military attainments were present, the military situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty was very good, and when they were killed or captured one after another, the military situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty took an instant turn for the worse, and perished shortly after.
Therefore, the weakening of the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies and the rise of the status of the military department became the second straw that crushed Daming.
[The Forty-fifth Lecture on the History of the Late Ming Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period, References: "History of Ming", "Ming HuiDian", "Records of Ming Taizu", "Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming", "Records of Emperor Ming Yingzong", "Records of Emperor Ming Dynasty", etc. 】