Text|Contains winter and summer
Edit|Contains winter and summer
The Ming Dynasty was another Han dynasty after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, and some nomads still looked around the Ming Dynasty's frontiers and beyond. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang made a new development on the basis of inheriting the idea of "internal and external Yi" of the previous feudal dynasties, and he put forward the ideas of "Mandate of Heaven" and "Huayi Family". This was proposed after the Yuan dynasty had reached a certain level of ethnic integration, and at the same time in order to bind the ethnic minorities and consolidate the rule of the new dynasty. Later, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty inherited and developed on this basis.
The Ming Dynasty changed the strategy of the Yuan Dynasty's foreign conquest and adhered to the idea of "defending the four yi", while the Qing dynasty developed on this basis to combine "defending the four yi" and "guarding the middle and governing the border", so the Ming Dynasty became a bridge connecting "expansion" and "defense". This shows the importance of frontier governance in the Ming Dynasty.
Ma Wensheng was an important historical figure in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. During the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, Ma Wensheng was entrusted with important tasks by the Ming court for his outstanding political and military capabilities, and made important contributions to strengthening the border defense of the Ming Dynasty and maintaining local social stability during his tenure as border minister.
Ma Wensheng's practice of governing the border
In the second year of Jingtai, Marven was promoted to the rank of scholar and was awarded the post of supervising the imperial history. Later, during the Guyuan Rebellion in the fourth year of Chenghua, Ma Wensheng was appointed as the right deputy imperial envoy and began to officially enter the political arena in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. After the Guyuan Rebellion, he successively patrolled Shaanxi, rectified Liaodong and recovered Hami, during which he pacified Tatar, Anliumin, Xingbei, and stabilized Liaodong, and made important contributions to the construction of border defense in the Ming Dynasty.
Solidify the original chaos. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols retreated to the steppe. The Mongol tribes that surrounded the northern and northwestern borders of the Ming Dynasty could be roughly divided into two tribes, Tatar and Warat, who competed with each other on the steppe. In the fourth year of Ming Jingtai, he also briefly unified the Mongolian tribes in the Mobei steppe, called himself "Dayuantian Grand Khan", and established a vast ruling empire. In the fifth year of Jingtai, after being assassinated due to internal strife among the people, Warat declined and Tatar revived.
In the first year of Chenghua, the Tatars entered the Hetao area, constantly plundering and causing chaos and provoking the border. Wars and natural disasters led to the annexation of some Mongols to the Ming Dynasty, and they were granted official positions by the Ming court and placed in border towns, which were called "Tuda" by the people of the time. However, because the "Tuda" still retained some of the customs and Xi of the Mongols, and shared common national feelings and ethnic ties with the remnants of the ancient Yuan forces in the north, they often joined forces with the Tatars who were in turmoil on the border and became a destabilizing factor that seriously threatened border security.
In April of the fourth year of Chenghua, Guyuan Tuda Mansi rebelled, and the rebels defeated the official army many times by virtue of the natural danger of Shicheng, making waves and rampant. At this time, the Tuda people scattered around gathered into a huge rebel force, and even had the tendency to spy on Shaanxi, which shocked the Ming court and the opposition. In August of the fourth year of Chenghua, the Ming court ordered Xiang Zhong to be the governor, and Ma Wen was promoted to the governor of Shaanxi, and went to Guyuan to quell the chaos. After inspecting the terrain, he saw the weakness of the rebels in the lack of water and food, and pointed out that "there is no water in the thief city and the millet is gradually lacking.
He then mobilized his army to besiege the rebels and cut them off from water and supplies. The rebels, who had been besieged for many days, gradually became scarce and were finally wiped out by the Ming army. After the war, Ma Wensheng cleaned up his troops and horses, and promptly concluded that the reason why the rebels had been unable to overcome for a long time was the steepness of Shicheng, so he proposed that Xiang Zhong send officials and troops to destroy the dangerous pass of Shicheng to prevent it from getting worse. At the same time, he did not forget to sympathize with the people of Tuda to prevent Tuda from revolting again. A series of measures he took to quell the turmoil in Guyuan gradually eased the national contradictions, and Guyuan was also stabilized.
Governor of Shaanxi. In the fourth year of Chenghua, Ma Wensheng, who made a major contribution to the pacification of the Guyuan Rebellion, was valued by the Ming court, which ordered him to patrol Shaanxi for seven years. During this period, Marven was promoted to the frontier affairs and achieved outstanding results in all aspects of border governance.
During the Chenghua period, the Mongol tribes such as Polohu and Gangaslan entered the Kouhetao area for many years, causing riots and threatening the security of the northern frontier of the Ming court. In the eighth year of Chenghua, Ma Wensheng garrisoned Weizhou, set up an ambush at Heishuikou to capture the Mongol Pingzhang, and later repelled the invading Mongols at Tangyangling. Ma Wensheng clearly understood the situation of the enemy and us, and pointed out that "in terms of today's captivity, the tribes are scattered and deeply concerned, but our armament is not strong, and when there is a shortage of food, we are also worried." In view of the dispersion of the Mongols and the lack of food in the Ming court, he proposed to repair the city wall to improve the defense capability, to calm the brake, and to use self-defense to deal with external invasion.
In the sixth year of Chenghua, an uprising broke out in Jingxiang, affecting Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi and other places, and there were as many as one million people. Ma Wensheng actively sent troops to join Xiang Zhong to suppress the uprising of the displaced people, and after quelling the turmoil, he went to the displaced areas to conduct field investigations. He pointed out that it is necessary to take precautions against the problem of displaced people, dispatch commissioners to inspect Jingxiang, Nanyang, and other places where displaced people gather, and at the same time conduct more drills to strengthen the army's combat effectiveness. He calmed down the displaced people, put forward constructive suggestions on the issue of displaced people, provided timely relief to the people, and maintained the stability of local public order.
Rectify Liaodong. The Liaodong region was an important strategic center of the Ming Dynasty to manage the northeastern frontier, and the Jurchens lived mainly in it, and the Ming Dynasty successively set up military guards to manage it during the Hongwu period. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court pursued a policy of surrender and actively conducted tribute and exchanges with the Jurchens, so as to bind the Jurchens.
During the orthodox years, the Warattobu Flower King invaded Liaodong, and the Jurchens suffered many casualties. At this time, the Ming court's surrender and tributary policies were gradually relaxed, and external invasions and internal preferential treatment no longer caused dissatisfaction among the Jurchens, who provoked popular uprisings from time to time and endangered local security. At the same time, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in the north were also eyeing the Jurchens in a vain attempt to unite with the Jurchens to launch a rebellion. Liaodong's border defense is particularly important in this environment of domestic and foreign difficulties.
In August of the twelfth year of Chenghua, Mandulu, a descendant of the Yuan Dynasty, claimed to be the Khan and invaded the Xuanfu, and the momentum was huge. After a collegial discussion, the panicked Ming court sent Ma Wensheng to Liaodong for the first time to rectify the border defense. In September, after Ma Wensheng arrived in Liaodong, he took the lead in punishing officials who were derelict in their duties, repairing cities and forts, training troops, and taking strict precautions. The Mongol rebels did not continue to invade after knowing that Liaodong was on guard, and Ma Wensheng handed over the border politics of Liaodong to Chen Yue, the governor of Shandong, and returned to Beijing. In the thirteenth year of Chenghua, the Haixi Jurchen leader Sanchiha was at odds with Chen Yue because of his unfair actions, and the Haixi Jurchen tribes also had a gap in their hearts about the Ming Dynasty.
The following year, Chen Yue mistakenly killed the tribute envoy, and the border troubles were stimulated. In April of the 14th year of Chenghua, Marven rushed to Liaodong for the second time, and he first appeased the local people, "each comforted him with oxen cloth, and ordered his chiefs to go to Beijing", and sent the leaders of various tribes into the capital to monitor and control, so as to avoid the chiefs from leading the people to make trouble. Then, he sent Zhao An, who was familiar with the Jurchen language, to "spy on the Qukui Bula in the name of surrender" to probe the Jurchen and obtain information on the enemy. Then he dispatched troops to wait for work, and defeated the rebels in time when the Haixi Jurchens attacked. In the fifteenth year of Chenghua, Ma Wensheng was demoted to prison for offending Wang Zhi. In the nineteenth year of Chenghua, after Wang Zhi fell out of favor, Ma Wen was promoted and reinstated, and he was the governor of Liaodong for the third time. Because he was fair and honest, treated the local people reasonably, and the Jurchens lived in harmony with the Han people, there were no major wars and rebellions on the Liaodong border for many years.
Reclaim Hami. Hamiwei is the Ming Dynasty Yongle four years to establish the detention of the guard, is the connection of the Central Plains and the Western Regions of the traffic artery, the Ming court named its leader as the king of Zhongshun, its geographical location and political status is very important. During the Chenghua period, Turpan occupied Hami. In the first year of Hongzhi, Turpan Sutan A Heima booby-trapped the Zhongshun King Hanshen, and the following year captured the Zhongshun King Shaanba, who was set up by the Ming court, and the border crisis was about to break out.
Due to the Ming court's consistent policy of appeasement and restraint, Hami was still unable to recover after several times, and Ma Wensheng, who was the secretary of the military department at the time, decided to take tough measures against Turpan. He adopted Yang Zhu's suggestion and took advantage of the contradictions between the Guanxi Zhuwei and Turpan to unite the armies of the Han and Han Dongwei into the Western Regions. This was the first time that the Ming Dynasty sent troops deep into the Western Regions, and successfully recovered Hami, expanding the influence of the Ming Dynasty on the countries of the Western Regions, and subduing the countries of the Western Regions.
After recovering Hami, Ma Wensheng also did a good job of cleaning up the aftermath. First of all, he ordered the leaders of the three main ethnic groups, Huihui, Harahui, and Wu'er Hami, to assist Shaanba. Secondly, taking into account the actual situation of ethnic minorities, they are allowed to live and travel freely in Hami and Suzhou. Finally, the displaced Hami people were inventoried and given material resources such as cattle tools, seeds, cloth, and food to resume their productive lives. In this way, whether it was the upper rulers of Hami or the lower class of the people, they all felt the favor of the Ming Dynasty, and Hami gradually stabilized.
Ma Wensheng's idea of governing the border
Ma Wensheng's political career of nearly 30 years as the governor of the border pass and the secretary of the military department made him an expert in handling border affairs. Throughout his career in administering the borders, many of his measures for administering the borders have been properly handled, and they have been very effective in easing contradictions and resolving crises. His idea of governing the border is the adaptation and development of the "internal and external Yi" of the previous feudal dynasties, and we can get a glimpse of it from "Ma Duansu Gong Song".
Repair armaments and enhance the combat effectiveness of non-commissioned officers. Ma Wensheng fully realized the importance of armament, and he mobilized troops from Sichuan, Guangzhou, and Yunnan to conduct drills day and night and take strict precautions. The key to improving the armament lies in the sergeants, and he realized that only by fully guaranteeing the livelihood of the sergeants can the combat effectiveness of the army be enhanced. At the same time, he proposed to set up three levels of horses allocated by the imperial court, and reward and punish the sergeants according to the actual feeding situation, so as to achieve fairness and justice, so as to mobilize the enthusiasm of the sergeants. In the face of the mobility of the nomadic Koubian, Ma Wensheng proposed that all border towns should be unified in dispatch, coordinate and support each other, and make adequate preparations.
Huai Rou and precautions, dual means of governance. Ma Wensheng has adopted a strategy of both softness and prevention for all ethnic minorities in the border areas. In the face of Guanglu Temple's incompetent treatment of the tribute envoys, he proposed that "in the future, in addition to the feast, the wine and dinner outside the noon gate will still be seen by the daily attendants." However, in the past, the derogation of wine and meat, which was very thin, allowed the officials and directors of Guanglu Temple to participate in the questioning, and sent special personnel to ensure the treatment of the tribute envoy to Huairou Yuanren. While showing grace, it is also guarding against ethnic minorities.
Ban on logging of mountains and forests to protect natural resources. In addition to focusing on the military and ethnic minorities, Ma Wensheng also noted the impact of the surrounding environment on border defense. During the Yongle Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, due to the attention of the state, the law and discipline were strict, and no one cut down the trees in the mountains and forests at will. However, after Chenghua, officials and ordinary people gathered people into the mountains for personal gain and wantonly cut down mountains and forests, causing serious damage to natural resources. Ma Wensheng realized that the mountains and forests were also the natural barriers of the Ming Dynasty's frontiers, so he suggested that the Ming court should require the military and civilians in various places to prohibit the cutting down of trees, and those who violated them should be punished according to the law.
A review of Ma Wensheng's thought on governing the border
Ma Dazheng believes that the Ming court's idea of governing the border can be summarized into three aspects: "garrison-oriented", "combining rigidity and softness", and "using razing to control razing". Ma Wensheng's idea of governing the border can also be roughly classified into these three aspects. Through Ma Wensheng's practical experience in governing the border, it can be seen that he has a keen political vision and excellent governance ability, and his years of experience in governing the border have enabled him to form a unique set of ideas on governing the border. As for the idea of governing the border, we should look at it dialectically.
He can think from both subjective and objective directions. Regarding the contradictory proposition of border defense, he believes that the main contradiction lies in the weakness of the Ming Dynasty's own defense construction. Therefore, the core of his thinking on administering the border was to strengthen his own defense, and at the same time, he believed that the main aspect of the main contradiction was to repair the armament, and then to formulate countermeasures from the three aspects of sergeants, city defense, and materials. He held that the secondary contradiction in the border defense issue lies in the proper handling of the relations between the Ming Dynasty and the various ethnic minorities on the border. He has tended to adopt a combination of rigidity and softness in dealing with minority issues. In dealing with the rebels, he paid equal attention to suppression and appeasement, and when dealing with the people, he gave both grace and power, and revealed toughness in his gentle methods, which became an important magic weapon for his border governance.
He can also start to rectify the border defense in many aspects. He can fully consider the influence of the geographical environment, take advantage of the terrain, and solve problems according to local conditions. Whenever he went to a place, he often first conducted on-the-spot investigations, considered the situation between the enemy and the enemy, and then came up with countermeasures. At the same time as formulating countermeasures, he also paid attention to the cultivation and application of talents, believing that "the rule of the country is not before the cultivation of materials". He appoints people on the basis of merit, controls people in a proper way, does not stick to seniority on the basis of seniority, punishes corrupt officials in a timely manner, and fully coordinates the system with personnel to achieve results.
In addition, he also paid attention to the development of the border defense economy, and such measures as cleaning up the tuntian fields and developing the tea and horse trade not only stabilized the border defense, eased the ethnic contradictions, but also brought economic benefits to the border defense construction.
Nor can we ignore the shortcomings of his thinking on governing the border. His idea of governing the border did not break out of the traditional idea of "Yixia in the inner China and Yidi outside", and still adhered to the attitude of "Yixia defense" to handle relations with ethnic minorities. He believed that the Yi people were "deceitful and infrequent in rebellion," and that when the Yi people were in turmoil, they often took strict precautions, strictly closed their gates, and forbade the people to have any private contacts with the Yi people, which to a certain extent affected the exchanges and cooperation between the people of all nationalities. But this is the limitation of historical figures, and it is also the inherent characteristic of his failure to transcend the times, and we should not be overly harsh on him.
epilogue
Looking back on Ma Wensheng's career in governing the border, it is worthy of praise. In the process of handling the northwest and northern border affairs of the Ming Dynasty, he implemented measures such as selecting generals and training troops, repairing tea and horse administration, building beacons, and providing relief to displaced people, which quelled local rebellions, strengthened border defense capabilities, and promoted the stability of the Ming court's frontiers.
At the same time, during his tenure, he was fair and honest, repaired the government and reassured the people, eased the class contradictions and national contradictions, contributed his own strength to the consolidation of the rule of the Ming Dynasty and the emergence of the situation of "Hongzhi Zhongxing", and also left a strong mark in the history of the middle of the Ming Dynasty.