Introduction: First of all, we need to explain that the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not completely solve the northern threat, although the Xiongnu were attacked by attacking and attacking the Xiongnu, but the Han Dynasty was also about to be dragged down. The real disintegration of the Xiongnu was during the Eastern Han Dynasty, which gradually disintegrated after a long and sustained blow by the Han Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was inferior both in terms of the spirit of shangwu and the persistence of the Mongol state policy, so it was reasonable that it could not defeat the Mongols for two hundred years. Of course, there are several other factors, which we will elaborate on below.
The Han Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty are both great unified dynasties in China's history, but they are very different. The Han Dynasty once shouted out the bold words that "those who commit crimes against the strong Han will be punished from afar", which is extremely aggressive; although the Ming Dynasty has the tradition of "the son of heaven guarding the gate of the country and the king dies in the community", after all, it is still mainly defensive. Although the Xiongnu and the Mongols were both steppe peoples, they were not the same: the Xiongnu, although strong but lacking in strategy, only blindly attacked the Han Dynasty and were eventually driven out of the east by the Han Dynasty; unlike the Mongols, they had both the combat strength to sweep Through Europe and Asia and the experience of entering the Central Plains. Therefore, when they returned to the grassland to face the Ming Dynasty of the Central Plains Dynasty again, they knew the principle of avoiding the enemy's attack. Therefore, after surviving the three axes of the early Ming Emperors such as Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, he rose again, and defeated Daming in the change of Tumu Fort to usher in an offensive and defensive turn. As for the Ming Dynasty's more than 200 years of helplessness against Mongolia, I personally think that the reasons are as follows:
The Han Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty had different national strengths and psychological advantages, so the national policy for treating the northern nationalities was different
Most of the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty were very powerful, and the blows against the Xiongnu ended from one end. After two or four hundred years of state rule, the Han Dynasty was basically uninterrupted towards the Xiongnu. Moreover, the Han Dynasty played bloody and confident in the Xiongnu, and the Han Dynasty crushed the Xiongnu with strong national strength. By the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Northern Xiongnu had moved westward, except for the Southern Xiongnu who were placed in the Hetao region in the north. As the freshness that fills the blank space of the grassland has spread to all corners of the grassland. "Guoheng perished with weakness, while Han independence perished by strength", the two Han Dynasties and four hundred years really played their own national self-confidence. Even after the Han Divided the Three Kingdoms, Cao Wei, as a three-point world, could still suppress the Xiongnu, hang wuhuan, Goguryeo and other ethnic groups.
The Ming Dynasty obviously did not feel this condition, except for the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and the Ming Chengzu Zhu Di period with the momentum of the early days of the founding of the Country and the elite soldiers who spent the rest of their lives in the past many times to chase the desert north. But mongolia was not completely solved. Because during the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongolian Yuan dynasty was orderly separated from the Central Plains, and still maintained a strong fighting force. In addition, another important reason why the Ming army was able to easily defeat the Mongols during the Ming Chengzu garrison period was the use of hot weapons in the Shenji Battalion. If it is similar to the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, it is simple to ride and shoot hard, the Ming Dynasty may not be able to take much advantage.
Since Emperor Xuanzong of The Ming Dynasty adopted a conservative national defense policy in the later period, the Mongol ministries completed the merger and reorganization on the basis of recuperation. Vala quickly rose to unify the steppe and defeated Daming's 20 elite armies in the Tumu Fort Rebellion. Although there is a reason for the eunuch Wang Zhen in the middle, it is still the sentence that no snowflake is innocent when the avalanche occurs. Wang Zhen could not blame all the problems, and the three elite battalions of Ming Yingzong's captured elite were swept away in this battle.
In the middle and late period, Daming could only build a nine-sided defense system against the Great Wall to take a defensive position against The Mongols. This has never been the case in history, and it can still be overturned decades after defeating the peak state steppe opponent. The more angry Daming was never able to rise against the Xiongnu again like the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty always maintained a defensive posture against the Mongols. The northern territory of Daming continued to shrink, and not only did all but the Great Wall fall, but also the Hetao region was occupied by the Mongolian right-wing Tumut. This cannot but be said that there was a huge gap between the Ming Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, and this gap is not only reflected in national strength but also in psychology.
It was precisely because of the difference in national strength and psychological advantages between the Ming Dynasty and the Han Dynasty that The Ming Dynasty could only use a defensive posture against the Mongols. As the Ming Dynasty's national strength gradually shrank, this gap became more pronounced. Therefore, for more than 200 years, the Final Ming Dynasty has not been able to help the Mongolian ministries.
The martial spirit of the Han Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was different from that of a warrior
The Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty were glorious times in China's history of foreign wars, and in these two dynasties, basically the Central Plains Dynasty did not lose the foreign wars. In addition to the gap in national strength, what is more important is the spirit of national martial arts and the heartfelt respect for the army. In these two dynasties, even civilian officials could be killed on horseback, not to mention the generals.
In contrast, the Song and Ming dynasties are the two only dynasties in China's history that have mastered martial arts with literature. Except for the flash of inspiration in the foreign war during the founding period, the status of military generals can hardly be mentioned. The Song Dynasty van army was known as the Thief Army, and it was tattooed with a gold seal on its face to prevent escape. And shamelessly shouted out the bastard theory that "fang is a good boy outside the Donghua Gate". This allowed loyal souls who died in battle to defend the Great Song Dynasty to live, and the Ming Dynasty's suppression of military generals reached the extreme after the cabinet completely controlled the power. Even like the famous general Qi Jiguang, he still had to seek Zhang Juzheng as a backstage in the capital to let go of his talents.
This deformed system of using culture to control martial arts gradually disappeared from the Ming Dynasty's martial spirit, which indirectly led to a serious decline in Daming's combat effectiveness. Shogun either wants to serve the civilian officials or wants to change the style of the door in the next generation and change to the civilian official. How could such a system make the border army militaristic and fierce? Compared with the Han and Tang Dynasties, it is not difficult to conclude that it is almost impossible for the Ming Dynasty to completely solve the Mongols under this system.
The Mongols differed from the Huns' experiences, which led to differences between the two tribes
Although the Xiongnu were strong for a while, they were still incomparable with the influence of the Mongol Empire. Although the Jiankun, Dingzhi and other tribes were forced to submit to the Xiongnu, they were not integrated. Jiankun also rose to the steppe in the late Tang Dynasty, then called HuangJiasi. It was not until the rise of the Khitans that the Forces of the Tang Dynasty retreated to the upper reaches of the Yenisei River. Therefore, the culture and force of the Xiongnu could not assimilate the steppe tribes, and when the Xiongnu were in a period of weakness, there would be other steppe tribes such as Xianbei who rose up and led the Xiongnu to compete for grassland hegemony.
This law is constantly being updated like the weeds of one year and one year on the grassland, from the Xiongnu to Xianbei, Rouran, Turkic, Khitan and so on. It is equivalent to the Xiongnu crossing the national peak period and being hit by the han dynasty and xianbei, Wuhuan, etc., so in addition to the surrendered southern Xiongnu, the northern Xiongnu were forced to move west to whip the European countries as the Europeans said the whip of God. Therefore, the Han Dynasty could completely defeat the Xiongnu, while the Ming Dynasty faced its opponent Mongolia very differently.
First of all, Mongolia was able to develop into a modern nation because of the strong combat power of the time and the integration of other steppe peoples. There were no other tribes in the steppe to replace the Mongols as steppe overlords, on the one hand, because the Occupation of Siberia by Tsarist Russia prevented the possibility of other ethnic groups moving south; on the other hand, the integration of the various tribes of the steppe by the Mongols. Genghis Khan's rising Beggars were the Mongols, while other powerful tribes such as the Kre, Tatars, and Naimans were integrated into the Mongols. Even the "people of the forest" on the high-latitude Yenisei River have been integrated, which is the ancestor of the Mongolian Wala. By the time of the Qing Dynasty, these were called Mo nan, Mo Bei, and Mo Xi Mongolia, so the integration of all powerful tribes in the steppe into Mongolia became one of the irreplaceable reasons.
In addition, the Mongol Empire spanned Europe and Asia, and although it was divided into four major khanates, it was a Mongol branch as a whole. That is to say, from far Central Europe to the Far East is full of Mongolian tribes, so Mongolia will not be challenged by other steppe tribes. Moreover, Mengyuan withdrew from the Central Plains with a planned and reserved structure, and had considerable combat effectiveness. The Mongol regime, which had been baptized by the civilization of the Central Plains, coupled with its own unique riding and shooting instincts of the steppe peoples, could not be completely defeated by the gradually declining Ming Dynasty.
brief summary:
To sum up, the factors that the Ming Dynasty could not treat the Mongols in the same way that the Han Dynasty destroyed the Xiongnu were complex. Among them, there are factors such as the Mongol people, which are far more powerful and complex than the Xiongnu, but also the decline of its own power caused by the policies of the Ming Dynasty.
I am the emperor of history, welcome your attention; if there is a flaw, the axe is right.