What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, if the Qing government gritted its teeth, it could also change Korea from a vassal state to a province under direct control, for example, yuan shikai before the Sino-Japanese War, because Korea was only a vassal state and had its own diplomatic powers, the Qing government was more passive in dealing with Japan's criticism.
However, Li Hongzhang was relatively weak diplomatically, did not make up his mind, and after the Dongxue Party uprising, the Japanese took the opportunity to drive their troops into Korea, opened the Sino-Japanese War, and seized control of Korea.
It can be seen that the Central Plains Dynasty, especially the Qing Dynasty, had the ability to bring Korea under the direct jurisdiction of the central government, and long before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Qing army went to Korea twice to force The Korean final submission.
Why, then, did the Qing Dynasty eventually abandon its direct rule over Korea in favor of indirect rule over vassal states?
Mainly due to geographical factors, the basic disk of the ancient Central Plains Dynasty was in the north China region, and the influence of Chinese culture was spread from north China as the center to the surrounding areas.
Usually, the more peripheral the influence, the weaker it is, showing a decreasing trend, and the earlier the dynasty has the weakest influence on the periphery, and the more recent the dynasty has the strongest influence.
For example, the territory controlled by the Han Dynasty is particularly huge, but in fact, there are not many areas that can be directly controlled for a long time, such as the capital protectorate set up in the western region, sometimes set far away, and sometimes it exists in name only, because the Han army withdrew, and the territory was taken away.
Even by the time of the Ming Dynasty, indirect control over the surrounding ethnic minorities could only be exercised, such as the establishment of a post such as a toast in the southwest.
The only regimes that really achieved direct rule over most of the surrounding areas were the Yuan dynasty and the Qing dynasty.
The reason is nothing more than that the agrarian regime is only interested in the plains, the people cultivate the land, the government collects taxes, simple and rude.
The surrounding non-Central Plains areas do not have the conditions for agricultural production, and under normal circumstances, the attitude of the farming regime to them is that as long as they do not cause trouble, do not rebel, and bring your local specialties to visit them regularly, the central government does not set up institutions with direct jurisdiction, and even does not collect taxes.
However, the Yuan and Qing dynasties were also interested in non-agricultural land, so they preferred to expand.
For the rule of the northwest and southwest, as well as the northeast, it was probably only during the Yuan Dynasty, and the in-depth rule of the northeast was estimated to have been completely leveled during the Qing Dynasty and incorporated into the central government, naturally because the Qing Dynasty arose in the northeast.
Without completely formally bringing the northeast region under the direct jurisdiction of the central government, it is a fool's dream to say that the dprk is directly under the jurisdiction of the DPRK, and the northeastern region, especially the Liaoning region, is the link between the Central Plains and the Korean Peninsula.
Why did the Central Plains Dynasty delay in balancing the northeast? Because of the lack of interest in the northeast, the climate environment is harsh, and it is not suitable for large-scale farming.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, in pursuit of Yuan Shao's son, once sent troops to the northeast, but the result was that he was extremely strong and almost did not return from the northeast.
In fact, from Cao Cao's "Guancang Hai", it can be seen that Cao Cao's position at that time was in present-day Changli, Hebei, and the expeditionary operation was probably farthest in the Chaoyang area of present-day Liaoning. A glance at the map shows that Cao Cao did not enter the northeast hinterland at all.
Since then, the Goguryeo regime has risen in the northeast and has a tendency to continue to move south. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, both the Sui Emperor and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty mobilized their troops to the northeast to defeat Goguryeo. Among them, the Sui Dynasty was dragged into the quagmire of war because the Sui Emperor conquered Goryeo, the economy collapsed, and eventually the dynasty was buried in the storm of peasant revolt.
It can be seen how difficult it is for the Central Plains Dynasty to directly control the northeast.
We now look at the environment of the northeast is endlessly plain, railway and road traffic is the most developed in the country, but we can not imagine that in ancient times, the northeast was a river, hills, and poor traffic.
The ancient central government could not even take the northeast, let alone the Korean Peninsula.
After entering Korea from Dandong, it was a large mountainous hill, worse than the geographical environment of Liaodong, until the Pyongyang Plain, which was a good place to be seen.
Therefore, if the Central Plains Dynasty were to send troops from North China and march to Pyongyang, they would be exhausted and die.
However, it is nonsense to say that the transportation is not developed, and the Central Plains Dynasty cannot defeat Korea, in addition to the previous statement, the Emperor Taiji said that the emperor twice hung korea and was fully capable of directly administering Korea.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty's War of Aiding Korea and Resisting the Wu Dynasty also confirmed that the unified Central Plains Dynasty wanted to directly control Korea.
However, after the Qing regime entered the customs, it preferred to carry the national fortune and compete with the Dzungars to compete for the northwest, rather than fight the idea of North Korea.
The fundamental reason is not that the Central Plains Dynasty cannot take it, but that the cost of ruling is too high, the cost is not high, and it costs a lot of money to get a piece of land with no benefits, and the enthusiasm of the ruler is not high.
For example, it is obvious that Wanli's act of aiding Korea and resisting the Wokou was regarded as a cost of direct administration, and when the Jurchens rose, North Korea immediately separated from the central government.
Of course, in ancient times, the cost of ruling Korea was large and the cost was not high, and in the Opium War, the situation changed, steam-powered steamships went to sea in large quantities, and people's exploration of the sea increased, making the maritime rights far greater than the inland rights, and the influence of the Qing Dynasty on Korea also reached the best in history.
Before the Sino-Japanese War, in order to avoid Korea falling into the hands of the Japanese, Yuan Shikai's suggestion that Korea should be made a province was still very constructive.
Unfortunately, the Qing government at that time lacked the enterprising spirit of the outside world, and in order to seek self-preservation, even many border areas advocated giving up, including Li Hongzhang and Kang Youwei, who were still quite enlightened people, who were all thinking this way, if it were not for Li Hongzhang's early death in the end, according to Li Hongzhang's negotiation skills, the entire northeast would have fallen into the hands of Tsarist Russia.
You let him harden at this time, put The DPRK under the direct control, offend Japan, he does not have the courage!
Of course, this gesture of the Qing government also made the Koreans alienated from the Central Plains, and eventually drifted farther and farther away from China