The central government of the Ming Dynasty had an institution called the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, which was related to military operations.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty also followed the "six parts" system set up by the Central Plains Dynasties in previous dynasties, and there were military departments in the central government. The military department is in charge of the selection and evaluation of military attaches, as well as military system, army training, army conscription, border defense, weapons and equipment, etc., which seem to have some overlap with the functions of the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Services.
Above_ Map of the Ming Dynasty
What is the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies?
The Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was an army leading organ set up by Zhu Yuanzhang in 1361 and continued to exist after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually strengthened the rule of imperial power, established the supremacy of imperial power in the Ming Empire, and established the absolute control of the emperor over the army.
After Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the beggar system and comprehensively consolidated the imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the governor's mansion into the governor's mansion of the five armies. After Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, the Ming Dynasty set up the governor's palaces of the five armies in both Beijing and Nanjing. After the change of Tumu Fort, the status of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies gradually declined, and the status of the military department gradually rose in the Ming Dynasty until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Di (1360-1424), also known as Ming Chengzu, Yongle Emperor
Then, the Ming Dynasty had the Military Department, which was in charge of the military, so why did there still exist the Governor's Office of the Five Armies? Is this an overlap in institutional settings?
First, the emergence of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was the military leadership institution set up by Zhu Yuanzhang before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and its earliest name was the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion. The purpose of its setting was to strengthen the control of the army by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Turban Army commanded by Guo Zixing and overthrew the decadent rule of the Yuan Dynasty. During the Red Turban Army, Zhu Yuanzhang fought bravely and the army discipline was strict, and Zhu Yuanzhang himself became the left deputy marshal of the Red Turban Army's Guo Tianxu Department. Because the armies of Chuzhou and Hezhou in the Red Turban Army personally recruited troops for Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang became the de facto leader of the Guo Tianxu Department of the Red Turban Army.
Above_ The Red Turban Army occupying Kaijing at the end of the Yuan Dynasty
If we want to establish hegemony, we must also strengthen absolute control over the army. The reason why emperors such as Liu Bang, Liu Xiu, Li Shimin, and Zhao Kuangyin were able to unify the mountains and rivers was that these emperors had a powerful army loyal to them when they were commanders. This is also no exception for Zhu Yuanzhang.
Moreover, at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang faced many strong enemies, Chen Youyi, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen and others were all enemies of Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang also faced the military threat of the Northern Yuan. This made it necessary for Zhu Yuanzhang to build an army that was absolutely loyal to himself and achieve absolute control over the army.
Above_ The Seal of the Han and Song Dynasties
In order to consolidate his military power, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the Privy Council into the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion in 1361, which was later the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies. Before Zhu Yuanzhang's restructuring, the military and political forces under his command included shao rong and other non-concubine generals, and after the restructuring, Shao Rong and other non-concubine generals were strongly restrained by Zhu Yuanzhang, thus strengthening Zhu Yuanzhang's unified leadership over military and political forces.
After the restructuring, Zhu Yuanzhang made Zhu Wenzheng the governor of Dadu, and Zhu Wen was Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, who was a family and a family in the ancient patriarchal society, and his nephew was also considered a "family". Allowing his nephew to participate in the core leadership of the army is equivalent to Zhu Yuanzhang establishing a real leadership core in the era of ancient patriarchal society.
The five ministries of the Ming Dynasty (except the Punishment Department) and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies were concentrated in the area between zhengyang gate and Chengtian gate
Through a series of integrations, Zhu Yuanzhang achieved absolute leadership over the army through the Metropolitan Governor's Office, which later became the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, thus laying a solid foundation for the future independent establishment of the Ming Empire.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's central part was set up with a military department, which was a natural product of the previous dynasty. Before the establishment of the Ming Empire, Zhu Yuanzhang's unique military leadership institution in the entrepreneurial period naturally became the military leading organ of the Ming Empire, which made the Ming Empire appear a "peculiar phenomenon" in which the two military leading institutions of the Military Department and the Fifth Army Governor's Office coexisted at the same time.
Above_ Ming Dynasty army
Second, after abolishing the system of prime ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the governor's mansion to the governor's mansion of the five armies. After the establishment of the Ming Empire, the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies became a "realistic product" of Zhu Yuanzhang's expansion of imperial power.
The Ming Dynasty was an important turning point in China's autocratic imperial power towards full concentration. In order to establish the emperor's control over the army and political power, Zhu Yuanzhang made a series of reforms to the central system of the Ming Dynasty. In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang personally abolished Zhongshu Province, and the beggar system was abolished by the Ming Dynasty. This is equivalent to Zhu Yuanzhang achieving absolute control over the administration of the Ming Empire, and the six departments of the Ming Empire were personally led by the emperor.
Above_ A brief list of official systems in the Ming Dynasty
After abolishing Zhongshu Province and further expanding imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately reformed the ming dynasty's military leadership system. In order to prevent excessive concentration of military power and rebellion by the generals, Zhu Yuanzhang split the Governor's Mansion into the Five Armies Governor's Mansion, and his subordinates were the five Governor's Mansions of the Left, Center, and Right, and the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was the collective name of the five Governors' Mansions of the Five Armies, which were in charge of the army and the guardhouses of the whole country. In order to decentralize the power of the governor, Zhu Yuanzhang set up official positions such as left and right governor and governor Tongzhi in each governor's palace, and the judge of the capital governor's office of the Chinese army was the judge of the governor's office of the fifth army.
With the continuous improvement of the organs of the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces under Zhu Yuanzhang's settings, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had already sat firmly on the throne, achieved complete and absolute control over the army. Zhu Yuanzhang made important contributions to the establishment of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion and the reform of turning the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion into the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and to the unification of the whole country after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the war of the Northern Expedition to Mongolia, and the stabilization of the national situation.
Above_ One of the Governor's Mansions of the Five Armies, the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion is under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Mansion
Third, Zhu Yuanzhang allowed the governor's office and the military department of the five armies to exist at the same time, restraining each other and ensuring that military power was firmly in the hands of the emperor himself.
There is no contradiction between the existence of the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces and the Military Department, and Zhu Yuanzhang has an extremely meticulous division of the functions of the two organs, and the Military Department has the power to appoint and dismiss generals, promote and train the army in the army, but it cannot command the army to fight. Although the Governor's Office of the Five Armies has the functions of commanding troops to fight, managing tuntian, managing military status, and selecting generals, the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces does not have the power to dispatch troops.
The division of duties between the Military Department and the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army was clear, and Zhu Yuanzhang's integration firmly held the power of the army in the hands of the emperor himself. In the era when Zhu Yuanzhang comprehensively strengthened the imperial power, the reform of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, so that the Governor's Mansion and the Military Department of the Five Armies existed at the same time, were of great practical significance to Zhu Yuanzhang's strengthening of imperial power, especially the strengthening of the emperor's absolute control over the army.
Above_ Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang bust Qianlong Imperial System
Judging from the actual results, Zhu Yuanzhang's construction and reform of the military and political system of the Ming Dynasty made the Ming army play a huge role before and after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. The Governor's Office of the Five Armies and the Military Department cooperated closely, and under the unified leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang, they launched a continuous Northern Expedition against the Mongol forces of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and the "Northern Expedition" of the Ming Empire and the decline of the Song Dynasty's military "weak" made the Ming Dynasty's military strength regain its majesty of "strong Han Sheng Tang sweeping the world".
author:
Chastity
Correction/Editing:
Lilith
Resources:
[1] History of the Ming Dynasty
[2] "Research on the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces", Wang Dong, Shaanxi Normal University, 2014
[3] "The Preliminary Investigation of the Military System in the Early Ming Dynasty" Nan Bingwen Nankai Historiography
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author