Through the deployment of defense in the "Gansu Town Battle and Defense Map", the border crisis of Gansu Town in the Ming Dynasty is examined.
The "Gansu Town Battle and Defense Map" is a map of the local border defense presented to the military headquarters by the Gansu border officials in the twenty-third year of Jiajing, depicting the border defense crisis and defensive strategy of the thirteen guard houses in Gansu Town, aiming at the timely and effective military defense of the northwest frontier.
By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the town of Gansu had transitioned to a defensive center on the three sides of Shaanxi.
Helan Mountain became a new route for The Mongol tribes to enter the border south, and the northern part of the Hexi Corridor was constantly on fire.
Due to the southward migration of the Mongol tribes and the eastward invasion of Turpan outside Jiayuguan, the southern and western borders of Gansu Town were in trouble.
During this period, Gansu town was trapped on three sides, and the border defense situation was grim. Under the defensive strategy of defending mainly, the Ming Dynasty abandoned Hami and restored tribute relations with Turpan. As a result, in the twenty-three years of Jiajing, the main border defense crisis faced by Gansu Town was the north-south attack of the Mongol tribes, and the defensive means adopted were to rely on the fortifications centered on the Great Wall, and selectively included the Fan ethnic group in the defense system.
Gansu town hangs on the northwest border, and the south, north and west sides are connected to the outside world, facing a three-sided crisis.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, although the Mongol tribes moved north to sai desert, the remnants of the tribes still circled around the nine sides and lived in the herds, often crossing the border to invade the border. Therefore, there were first police officers in the north of Gansu Town. During the Hongzhi and Zhengde years, with the eastward invasion of Turpan and the southward migration of the Yibura tribe, a new border crisis appeared in the west and south of Gansu Town.
At the beginning of Jiajing, Hami Wei was lost and the western border of Gansu Town was withdrawn. At the same time, the northern Mongol tribes began to march south, and the town of Gansu was attacked by the Mongol tribes from the north and south. In the eighth year of Jiajing, as Turpan and the Ming Dynasty resumed tributary relations, the problem west of Jiayuguan was slightly more severe. In the twenty-third year of Jiajing, the main defense object of Gansu Town was the Mongol tribes, and the main defense direction was on the north and south sides.
The Mongol tribes attacked the town of Gansu from north to south, bordering Lanzhou in the east and Jiayuguan in the west. In addition to Xiningwei, the inner guard houses in the town are distributed along the east-west line of the Hexi Corridor, surrounded by mountains and rivers from north to south, and all border the outer border. Among them, there is a detention guard station outside Jiayu Pass, with Hami Wei as the western barrier, connecting with the western region.
Xiningwei, in the Huangzhong region, is located south of Zhuanglangwei, adjacent to and from anding, Quxian, Aduan, Handong right and other fencing stations, and there are Fan people living and pastoring. Therefore, gansu town "with a first-line road, hanging alone for a few or two thousand miles, controlling the western region in the west, separating qiangrong in the south, and shading hu yu in the north"? , its strategic position is obvious. The "Huangming Nine Border Examinations" depicts the "Gansu Border Map", although this map was painted in Jiajing for twenty years, it actually reflects the border defense situation in Gansu Town before Ming Jiajing.
In the picture, the south, north and west sides of the town outside Gansu are respectively marked with Tuda and Wala. The so-called "Tuda", which is generally believed on the Internet, refers to the Mongols living in the Ganningqing area, basically the Mongol tribesmen who submitted to or surrendered to the Ming Dynasty during the Ming Dynasty's Western Expedition, and were placed in Chinese mainland to live and live, and no longer migrated by water and grass.
The southern Fan people described in the "Gansu ZhenZhan Shou Tuluo" in the "Xining Tushu" belong to Tuda. The Wallachians, a branch of the Mongol tribes of the north, reached their peak during the Orthodox years. During the jingtai to Chenghua years, the internal division disintegrated and gradually migrated to the northwest. In the "Gansu Border Map", Wala is located in the northwest direction of Gansu Town, similar to Hami.
Hami, which belonged to the Ming Dynasty's Wei wei in the northwest, was located outside Jiayuguan and was responsible for controlling the western region. Before Jiajing, Tuda, Wala, and Hami could be seen to some extent as defensive barriers to the south, north, and west of Gansu Town.
At the beginning of Jiajing, Xihai Yibula, Beiyu Little Prince, and Xifan Tulufan were the three major defensive objects of Gansu Town, which together constituted the trilateral crisis of Gansu Town.
In the middle of Jiajing, with the restoration of tributary relations between Turpan and the Ming Dynasty, the crisis in the west of Gansu Town was temporarily lifted, and the north and south sides were in flames. During this period, "the northern captives went to Yi lai, and the southern fan sat on the yi'er, but since the two crimes in Gansu, the tired and rampant poison of Tulufan has gradually become unsustainable."
Therefore, in the twenty-third year of Jiajing, the border defense crisis in Gansu Town mainly came from the Mongol tribes on the north and south sides. Taking the fourth year of Zhengde as the time node, the defense targets of Gansu Town in the early stage were mainly from the small prince tribes in the Hetao region, and in the later period, they were attacked by the Yibura tribe in the West Sea region and the Mongol tribes in the northern part of the Hetao. However, The Wallachians, who had retreated to the northwest, were weak in strength, swinging from side to side, sometimes helping the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, and sometimes creating chaos in the western region with Turpan.
There are two main defensive objects directly referred to in the "Gansu Town Battle and Defensive Map":
The Mongol tribes in the Hetao area are referred to by the titles "thieves", "thieves", and "thieves" in the text.
The Yibura tribe of the West Sea region refers to the titles of "pirate", "da thief", "haikou" and "west sea thief" in the text. Yibula was originally a tribe of small princes in the north, who occupied the West Sea due to defection, so both belonged to the Mongol tribes, so they were collectively called "prisoners".
Among the thirteen guardhouses and castles in Gansu Town, the defense objects of the seven places, such as Hongcheng Zibao, Zhuanglangwei, Zhenqiang Fort, Gulang Shou Yu Qianhushou, Zhenfanwei, Shandanwei, and Zhenyi Shouyu Qianhushou, were mainly the small prince tribes in the north, and the defense objects in six places, such as XiningWei, LiangzhouWei, Yongchangwei, Ganzhouwei, Gaotai Shouyu Qianhushou, and SuzhouWei, were mainly the Little Prince Tribe in the north and the Yibula tribe in the West Sea.
The southern part of Gansu Town crisis Xiningwei is located in the Huangshui Valley of Qinghai, in the southeast of Gansu Town.
To its north is the Hexi Corridor, where guardhouses are distributed along the Great Wall, creating a strong defensive barrier for it. Geographically, Xiningwei was on the fringes of the invasion of the Mongol tribes in the north, so it was "not plagued in the past years."
The Xining crisis in Gansu began in the fourth year of Zhengde. In the fourth year of Zhengde, the chiefs of the Mongol tribe, Yi Bu la and The Minister Of Qi, Were convicted of their masters, and led their people out of Hetao to occupy the West Sea, "since Gansu and Xining have been plagued by haikou." The westward escape route of Yibula and Arkhur is mainly in the area of Gansu Town, and the scope affects Liangzhou, Yongchang, Shandan, Gaotai, Zhenyi, Suzhou and other places.
During this period, the westward fleeing troops, while fleeing, plundered, and broke through forts and villages in gansu towns, killed soldiers and civilians, robbed livestock, and forcibly robbed grain and grass. By July of the ninth year of Zhengde, the two chief tribes of Yibula and Arkhon "attacked the fort and fort for fifty-three years, killed and plundered the officers and soldiers and the inhabitants of 1,200 people, and lost tens of thousands of cattle, equipment, and grain."
When Yi Bula and his party arrived in Liangzhou, they forcibly demanded to live here and carried out robberies in the Wei area of Liangzhou for more than ten days. After that, Yi Bula went south to occupy the West Sea and snatched the seals of the Xining Anding King and other clans, resulting in the dispersion of the Xining Fan clan. While invading the gansu town area in Hexi from the north, Yi Bula also began to invade the southeast, "chasing water and grass to live in the pasture in the spring and autumn, and harvesting the river ice in winter to plunder the min."
In November of the first year of Jiajing, Yibu Kou Min Prefecture was slightly cold. In this regard, the border officials built castles, stationed officers and soldiers, and stockpiled grain and grass at the three forks of the western part of The Cold Land, and YiBula's power continued to expand to the southwest. In May of the second year of Jiajing, Yibula "entangled the difficulties of crossing the river and approached the town of Zhencheng", and his tribe also posed a threat to the Hedong region.
Xu Qian, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Town, proposed that the original Hedong rangers be sent back to Hexi, and that 6,000 elite troops from Yansui and Ningxia Towns be dispatched to lanzhou and Zhuanglanghui to be on standby. However, this proposal was opposed by Li Cheng, a trilateral general attendant. In the face of the controversy between the two sides, the imperial court gave the advice of "ordering the town inspector to judge the empowerment, move the camera cautiously, and strive for perfection and no border troubles." Subsequently, as Yi Bulai retreated to the West Sea, the three sides were slightly quieter, and the soldiers and horses of the towns were not mobilized. Li Yu's point of view shows that in the early jiajing period, the West Haida thief and the Northern Yu had become two major border troubles in Hedong and Hexi.
At the beginning of the Jiajing Dynasty, the Mongol tribes in the north launched many conquests against the Qinghai region in an attempt to regain the Yibula and other tribes that fled west. In order to get more support, yibula and other tribes sent tribute requests to the Ming Dynasty on the one hand, and on the other hand, they united with turpan, Timug and other tribes in the west. In the three years of Jiajing, YibuLa and Tulufan united, often together, and the border situation in Gansu was frequently spread.
In the twelfth year of Jiajing, Ji Nang, one of the tribes of the Little Prince, crossed the river west, and most of the Yibula tribe was taken over, and only the Bu'er tribe escaped. After that, Bu Erbao plundered the southwestern Sichuan and Songpan areas. On the surface, the border area around Xining in Gansu Province is slightly more peaceful, but Timuge, who had been close to Bu'erbao, has become a potential western border problem.
Timurg, who was a left guard in Shazhou and Handong, lived in Suzhou and Gaotai after seven years of Jiajing. After that, it continued to move eastward, moving to Yongchang Mountain Hou, Huangcheng'er and other places, and had close contacts with the Tribes of Yibula and Bu'er in the West Sea. Earlier, Timur brother and Bu Bao were related to each other, and asked the imperial court for Bu Er to pay tribute.
Therefore, although Bu Erbao had moved out of Qinghai, Bianchen still had some concerns.
The northern part of gansu town, Wala, located in the western tatar region, was a major participant in the tumu fort revolution.
After the tumubao change, the chief of the Walla also first integrated through the coercive communication of other tribes, and his sphere of influence expanded rapidly, from Jianzhou and Wuliangha in the east to Chijin Mongols and Hami in the west, forming a threatening posture against the entire nine-sided region. But with the first to be killed, the interior of the Wallachia began to fall apart.
Subsequently, the young Tatar prince Dayan Khan unified eastern and western Mongolia, and the Wala scattered to the western region. With the expansion of Turpan's power west of Gansu Town, the relationship between Wallachia and Turpan also began to affect the border security west of Gansu Town. At the beginning of the Hongzhi Dynasty, Turpan occupied Hami. At the suggestion of Inspector Xu Jin, through the bounty of gold, the Ming Dynasty reached cooperation with the two tribes of the Huo'er Kuli and Huo'er Guqiangwen tribes of the Wala tribe, and successfully repelled Turpan and restored Hami.
In the eleventh year of Zhengde, Turpan once again occupied Hami and invaded Jiayuguan and directly attacked Suzhou. At this time, the governor of the Wala, Bu Liu Wang, lived in the vicinity of Hami. Chen Jiuyu, who was then the military commander of Suzhou, followed Xu Jin's example, and the six kings of Na shuaibu carried out military cooperation and took advantage of the falsehood to attack the three cities of Turpan. In the end, "Turpan was afraid to make peace with it".
Judging from the results of the incident, Wala played a positive role in the western defense of Gansu Town and achieved mutual benefit with the Ming Dynasty. However, in the process, the military cooperation between the two sides was conditional on the Ming Dynasty's reward of gold, which was actually the Ming Dynasty's request for help from Wala, which further explained the passive state of the Ming Dynasty in border defense.
Later, Wala turned to collusion with Turpan, which also shows that the previous common defense between Wala and the Ming Dynasty was only a temporary cooperation based on interests. In the seventh year of Jiajing, Turpan entered the territory of Gansu and plundered. When it invaded Suzhou, more than 2,000 cavalry of the Wallachians were also invading the ranks. Regarding this attack, Wala was suspected of being the leader, and the soldiers agreed that "if the incident occurs, the Wala will be beheaded to atone for his sins."
Although turpan's invasion of Suzhou did not confirm whether Wala was the real leader, the Ming rulers lost trust in Wala, and Wala once again became a border worry for Gansu town.
In the ninth year of Jiajing, Wala and Turfan had a vendetta over the marriage proposal, and Tang Ze, the inspector of Gansu Town, planned to send envoys to reward them, so as to break up the relationship between Wala and Turfan. Wang Qiong, the chief editor of Shangshu, objected to the unprovoked reward and fear of incidents. In the end, the Military Department decided that "the Wala passed the pass to pay the money, and the reward was measured, and if it did not come, there was no need to dispatch the envoy."
The Ming rulers did not forcibly recruit Wala, mainly because Turpan had already restored tribute with the Ming Dynasty, and the two sides reached a relatively stable and peaceful military relationship. However, the rulers and officials of the Ming Dynasty knew that if the Wallachian and Turpan were to unite again, it would be extremely difficult to defend, so they still had a heart of appeasement for the Walla, and after the atmosphere of "if the Walla was annexed, it would be rewarded and appeased, and its happiness would be pleased", the internal part of the Wallachian disintegrated, the power faded, and it was difficult to pose a threat to the town of Gansu alone.
In the spring of the twelfth year of Jiajing, Ji Nang, the grandson of the 30,000-strong Mongolian right-wing Dayan Khan, led more than 100,000 people to live in Muhetao, and originally planned to go deeper into Hedong and attack the capital city of Yansui and Huamachi. However, because the border ministers had long been on guard, the various sides insisted on martial law. Ji Nang turned to attack the west of the river, leading 50,000 cavalry to cross the river from the Mustang River, defeating the two tribes of Yibula and Bu'er. After breaking through the West Sea, Ji Nang turned to the northeast to plunder and harass Xuanfu and Datong.
The Mongol right-wing tribes of Ji Nang and Li Da often lived in the area of Huamachi and Helan Mountain, and in the Hexi region, they crossed the river and attacked the West Sea directly at the rebellious Bu'er Bao and Yi Bu La in the Mongol tribe, and after defeating the Erzhi tribe, they left immediately and did not occupy the West Sea.
During this period, the town of Gansu was often invaded by the Northern Mongol tribes to seize the Western Sea. In the autumn of the twenty-first year of Jiajing, the Ji Nang, one of the right-wing tribes of Mongolia, died, and The Ta began to be in its heyday, often disturbing in the Hetao area. The "Beiyu" referred to in the "Gansu Zhenzhan ShouTuluo" refers to the Mongolian right-wing Lida tribe.