The special social group that arose on the frontier of the Ming Dynasty, the Hui people, was in a delicate position in the long history of the Ming Dynasty. Although their identities have changed several times and they have been subject to "Yidi", they have become a force for the Ming Dynasty because of their huge role in border defense. The particularity of walking back people is also manifested in the identity of "ming dynasty origin". They were the "people" of the Ming Dynasty, and they deserved the "love and pity" of their parents and officials; they had also "wandered" the enemy territory, and while receiving special attention from the Ming court, they were also doubted about the authenticity of their identities and roles. The return of people is a special product of the confrontation between the central dynasty and the northern national regime in the Ming Dynasty, and it is a aspect of the life of the northern border people in that era.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the role of walking back to man</h1>
Intelligence has played an important role in the military battlefields of ancient and modern China and abroad. It is not only an important basis for planning decisions and army dispatches, but even becomes the key point of victory or defeat in war at some point. The Ming Dynasty had a wide border, and although there were heavy troops on the nine sides, the grassland tribes moved tens of thousands, and the Ming army was divided and defended, which could easily cause an unfavorable situation of being outnumbered. In order to win the war against the Mongols, the significance of intelligence is incomparably great. Many of the Hui also brought intelligence from the Mongol ministries when they returned, which helped the Ming government make decisions and respond to threats from the steppes in a timely manner.
There were two main means for the Ming Dynasty to obtain intelligence, one was to sendinels, and the other was to walk back to the confessions of people, "along the border guards will be strictly reprimanded, and many nights will not be collected far away as sentries", "or go back to the population to confess, even if the chuantang goes to report that the officers and troops of the neighboring border are prepared." The people who walk back have the experience of living abroad, and what they see and hear has more or less certain intelligence significance. From them, information such as the distribution of various tribes, the number of people and livestock, and military dynamics can be obtained, which is very beneficial for improving the initiative and pertinence of the Ming Dynasty in foreign wars and border defense construction. In particular, some of the "invasion" alarms they brought back not only bought time for the Ming army's deployment, improved their state of war, and if properly deployed, they could even counterattack and "pounce on the nest". To a large extent, the loss of life and property of the military and civilians has been reduced.
There was a returner of the Zhu clan who confessed that "(Hami) King..... When the grass is big, it will be rushed to Gansu Prefecture." Duan Xingsan, who was abducted back to the night and did not receive Duan Xingsan, also heard the "leader of the hui thieves" say that he was "the first to come" and that "there are still many people and horses in the back to rob you Han people." This attracted the attention of Jiang Shuang, the general of Gansu. At that time, the soldiers and horses in Gansu Town were less than 30,000, except for tolerances, old and weak, and there were less than 20,000 left, and they were divided into various places. The neighboring Shaanxi, Yan, and Ningqi tours have long been properly distributed, and it is difficult to control the enemies of the river loop for the embankment. Once the Hamibu invade on a large scale, they will not be able to defeat it. Jiang Shuang urgently wrote to Yang Yiqing, the governor of the three sides, asking for support. While Yang Yiqing dispatched the Shaanxi guerrilla general Tao Wen to come to his aid, he urged the dispatch of grain and ordered the Inspector of Gansu to urgently summon merchants to buy grain to ensure the supply of officers and troops. Half a month later, Hami did indeed burst in from Yongchang. Fortunately, with the information of the returning people, the Ming Dynasty was able to deploy early, wait for work, and then win the victory, "on the occasion of capturing and beheading thirty-six pieces of the first rank, and seizing the war horse armor and weapons and other pieces".
Another example is the fourth year of Jiajing (1525) in June, the return of people reported that 220,000 enemies would cross the river from the shallow water of the Yellow River and pursue the Ebul tribe in the West Sea, and at the same time, leave the Altosu department and wait for the opportunity to plunder the Ming Dynasty. In July, most of the enemy passed through Zhuanglang, Liangzhou and other places, went to the West Sea, and left thousands of soldiers and horses near the Ming Dynasty, invading from time to time. It is no different from the intelligence of the returning people. However, due to the preparations made in advance, the pressure on the enemy was suddenly reduced, and from time to time it made some gains, "pre-emptively deploying strategies, dispatching officers and men from various branches, refusing to intercept the border, attacking and pursuing them for several days, winning the first rank, seizing warhorse equipment, and the enemy rushing out of the border", "the troubles on the border seem to be less removed."
Secondly, the return of the people enriched the army of the Ming Dynasty and consolidated the border defense of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, strong men accounted for about 83% of the people who had a clear age record, which was the main body of the Ming Dynasty returnees. From the time of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty selected warriors from among them to fill the Imperial Horse Guard.
After Zhengde, many people returned to the side to serve, and after the engineering department Zuo gave Xiao Yan a reading of Yan, Ning, Gan, and Gubian affairs during the Wanli calendar year, he once said: "Now that he has fled back from captivity, he often throws himself into the army and raises himself." These people have a very strong fighting force, "caress and use it, they are all strong pawns." Shi Maohua, the inspector of Gansu, pointed out: "Those who dare to fight and make meritorious contributions to the present border troops lead those who have been captured and returned." Qi Jiguang also believed that the people who walked back could recognize the "prisoners" and experience hardships, and they should be set up in a battalion to give full play to their combat effectiveness and appeal, "This generation (the people who walk back) are familiar with the situation, know the Yi language, if they are placed under the standard, they are another army, thick with their grain, no police orders to go out of the sentry, there is a use for robbing the camp, the odd is born, the Fan and han are mixed, and the method of suspecting soldiers is no more than this."
The role of the people who walked back on the battlefield of Liaodong was even greater. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the situation in the Liaodong region deteriorated. In order to survive, the Liao people often "surrendered and fled" and "fled and retreated", oscillating between the two political groups. But it is undeniable that in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the Liao people were the main anti-Qing force in the Liaodong region. "Since the opening of Phi Dao, no less than a million Liao men and women in our country have run to the islands" Fourth, the threat of the Mao Liao army to the Flank of Houjin has for a long time contained the pace and strength of the Houjin offensive. The Guanning Liao Army, on the other hand, built a strong Ningjin defense line, so that the Ming Dynasty was still rock-solid at the last moment, and made outstanding contributions to the border defense of the Ming Dynasty.
The return of the people also promoted the development of national integration. The return of people traveled back and forth between the Ming Dynasty and foreign countries, and built a bridge of connection and interaction between the Han nationality and ethnic minorities such as Mongolia and Jurchen, which had both material exchanges and cultural mutual influences, which played a positive role in ethnic integration. In terms of returning to people themselves, their suffering is sympathetic. The return of the walk back to man is accompanied by great danger. They generally take advantage of the "thieves" to sleep and escape overnight. After the enemy finds out, he will often send troops to pursue and kill, so he often travels halfway to be snatched back by the enemy. For example, in September of the third year of Jingtai (1452), he walked back to the Gul Festival: "On June 20, because of the random abduction of twenty horses, twenty brothers and wives and daughters escaped, and on the third day, he saw twenty people chasing after him, killed one person and two horses, and took my daughter and luggage back." In July of the fourth year of Jiajing (1525), Liu Changsheng walked back: "I want my parents' hometown, and I consulted with the people who snatched ZhuangLang in the previous year, rode in the air in the black field, and led eighteen horses to take off." At dawn, ten of the enemy came and took both of them and their horses, and I hid them in the deep grass and did not find them. "
Not only that, because the camps of the outlying ethnic groups were a certain distance from the Ming Dynasty garrison areas, it often took several days for the returning people to reach the Ming Dynasty ground, or even for more than a month. In April of the fourth year of Jiajing (1525), Zhu Shi "jumped out of the city in the middle of the night and walked away, walking along the way for more than a month to the edge of Suzhou, greeting the night without receiving it." In december of the second year of Jingtai (1451), Han Cheng "consulted with his wife Li Shi on the night of November 20, and about the same as The Zhi (subordinate) Ningshan Wei Right Hundred Households Jia Gui laid down the general banner Meng Cheng, stole a total of seven horses, and escaped at night. Five horses fell dead along the way, and on December 18 of this year, they arrived at the Camp of Montenegro and were transferred to them." Han Cheng and the others rode back on horseback, fell five horses halfway, and it took 28 days to return to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, which showed the hardships of the journey.
Desert grassland, it is difficult to see cooking smoke. Even if you encounter others on the road, the first thing to do is to hide your tracks, rather than to go forward and beg for food and water. Therefore, during the period of walking back, it is difficult for them to get food and water supplies, and they are hungry by the dry food they carried with them on the day of the escape. Along the way, you have to endure not only fear, but also the torment of hunger, not to mention other unpredictable dangers. During the Xuande period, Zhang Xian, the commander-in-chief of the 30,000 Wei guards in Liaodong, said of the hardships of Liaodong's return: "In previous years, the Liaodong soldiers were plunderers, seven or eight of them died in ten deaths, and there were survivors, most of them stole horses and galloped back, some were killed by thieves, some were injured by tigers and wolves, some died of freezing and starvation, some were trapped in ice wading, and how many people could there be in the original guard?" Although Liaodong is talking about here, in fact, this situation is also common in other full-backs.
Walking back to people can be described as "a plan for a lifetime of death, only to be spared from the tiger's mouth" field. It is no wonder that the officials of the Ming Dynasty attached so much importance to walking back to the people, and sighed deeply: "The person who was captured was my naked son, fell into a wilderness, forever the next day, ten thousand deaths, stealing his life to the south, this is his wheezing and frightening, can also be a drooling." Climbing my wall is like seeing what is being born, and the fierce rebels kill them for profit, and the greedy will be indulged in the school to ask for credit. Is it better to kill than to kill, and to return to the right people? It is extremely unfortunate to invite disasters against nature and to do evil deeds. The Governor's House rewards a prize, Xian Bao life, and its Si is Yin De and!
In summary, the returning people have a very positive role and have made great contributions to the border defense construction of the Ming Dynasty, which is the main aspect. Of course, there are also some "enemy spies" in the return team, but relatively large, the number is insignificant. And dialectically, this is not the "active use" of the other party. Therefore, as far as the individual is concerned, there is no difference in the nature of the historical role of the returning person, but only a difference in the way of survival and the choice of path. Ming and Ming dynasties competed around the returning people, which made them appear in different roles. In this sense, the returning man is actually a victim of war. And their experience of "falling into the wilderness" and "stealing their lives to the south" also reflects the living conditions of the border people in the Ming Dynasty to a certain extent. In the context of the Ming Dynasty's frontier crisis, the government was unable to ensure the livelihood of the border people well, resulting in their displacement during the war.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > walk back to people and vassals</h1>
There is also a category of people who have a similar experience to the returners – the affiliations. The vassals were ethnic minorities who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and also had the titles of "demoting people", "daguan", and "daren". Both the returnees and the returnees had the experience of "living abroad", but the attitude of the Ming rulers towards them was very different, which fully reflected the special historical status of the returnees.
The vassals were subordinates to the Ming Dynasty as a foreigner. "If you are not of my race, your heart will be different", this is the view of the vast majority of China's rulers. Since the Ming Dynasty was the grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang, it has always had the practice of inviting and surrendering. However, in the hearts of successive emperors, they have always been on guard against their vassals, "although they are treated well, they are not prevented."
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the vassals were "stubborn to the forces, and may not be able to do their best", and if they were allowed to mix and not fortify, "they would become unpredictable". In order to reduce their escape and spying on the transmission of information, they were placed in the south far away from the grasslands, "in the early days of the country, they were assigned to the south by attaching high-ranking officials to the south", and "in the early Ming Dynasty, they were installed and surrendered in Yunnan, Liangguang, Fujian and other places". In order to prevent them from "growing in kind", the "Great Ming Law" also stipulates that the Mongolian Semu people and others are "not allowed to marry each other in this category", and can only marry with the Han people. Cheng zu rewarded his vassals generously, but at the same time repeatedly warned He Furen, who was responsible for recruiting people to surrender on the frontier, and that he "must check his sincerity and falsity and not be gullible" in the case of "Yidi"; With regard to those who have attached "Yidi," we must still secretly examine "how the people's hearts are" and "if they are not attached, they must not be sent away."
The division of ministers is even more severe. On the eighth day of April in the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), the "Three Temples of Fengtian, Huagai, and Zhensheng" was put into use for only three months, and Chengzu believed that this was the anger of heaven and ancestors for his "Jingnan" seizure of the throne and the forcible relocation of the capital. In a state of panic, he ordered the civil and military officials. The causes of the disaster are listed above. Zou Ji, an attendant at the Hanlin Academy, blamed chengzu's great campaign to solicit the "four Yi to be annexed", believing that the people who were attached to him "were all human-faced and beastly, ignorant of grace and righteousness, and only bribed by greed for Chinese goods." If you don't wait, you will be in trouble for China." He also used the stories of Wuhu Chaohua and Emperor Wu of Han to demand that Cheng Zu strictly carry out the defense of Yixia so as not to "ridicule future generations". Emperor Yingzong's first assistant, Li Xiangang, wrote to Emperor Yingzong to guard against "Yidi", and Chen Zilong praised him as "a few ancestors of Zheye". Liu Dingzhi also proposed a set of measures to prevent the return of people and the forcible Sinicization, "relocating their people and living far away in southern Turkey." It is forbidden to plant and fall, and it is forbidden to marry each other. Change their clothes, and do not remain in accordance with the customs. Or to think that they are soldiers, so that they are at odds with the armies of our Chinese people: or that they are for the people, so that they may be mixed with the people of our China, so that they may be infected."
As Yang Bo said, Ming officials have always held an attitude of "believing in and doubting" in dealing with their vassals. However, when Yu returned to the people, they generally believed that "the Chinese in Fang are all naked", and "those who have been in captivity for a long time and cannot return are not their original hearts". Even those who voluntarily defect from the country can only be rehabilitated, and there are feelings to be forgiven, "although it is a sin to say that it is a sin to die, it seems to be forgiven when it comes back." Compared with the returnees, the Ming Dynasty was more loyal and prudent to the returnees from recruitment to resettlement, which fully reflected the special significance of the "Ming Dynasty" of the returnees.
The difference in attitudes toward solicitation is most evident when the relationship between Ming and Mongolia eases. The Longqing Peace Conference, the Ming and Mongolian sides agreed: "If the surrendered population had come before the tribute, it would not have been the same." In the future, if there are people who enter the population, it is my true yi, and even the people and horses will be returned. If the Chinese Han people come into the house, there are parents and brothers, each person gives grace to raise money, divided into four pieces, and forty pieces of cloth. In the thirty-first year of the Wanli Calendar (1603), the covenant was re-concluded: "Before surrendering Zhenyi Zhao, he shall take him in, and Han Yi shall give him grace as usual, and if he takes Zhenyi privately, he shall be punished." This kind of returnees, "still routinely persuaded", invited the practice of "all dismissal" of the Yi, and fully systemized the difference between the relatives and alienations between the Han "Yi", even if such "Han people" once accepted the rule of the enemy."
The difference in resettlement policies is more indicative of the difference in status between returnees and returnees. In order to prevent the "rebellion of the vassals", most of the vassals were placed in the south during the Hongwu period, and in the Yongle period, they were placed in the custody of Gyeonggi nearby. The civil change put trust in the adherents inside and outside the Ming Dynasty in jeopardy, and the vassals near Gyeonggi were relocated to Jiangnan again. After Chenghua, a large number of descendants were sent to Liangguang. In general, either keep it away from the homeland or place it on the near side for more surveillance. In addition, the pattern of the conscription of the assigned persons is also very special, not individual placement, but small-scale centralized placement. In doing so, on the one hand, the scale of a hundred households or the general banner is still in an absolute minority relative to the entire Han military guardhouse: on the other hand, it is convenient to supervise and control the subordinates.
In terms of returning people, Zhengde used to mainly act as a warrior, and later, mainly on the basis of "voluntariness", he was incorporated into the border army or released back to his hometown. "Warriors" are pro-guards. The "principle of voluntariness" shows that the Ming Dynasty is very tolerant and trusting of returnees. The return of people to be incorporated into the border army is not limited by the formation model, and individual distribution and centralized placement are randomly combined. After the Ning family returned to the people and re-registered, they were no different from ordinary people. This kind of difference fully reflects the Ming Dynasty's trust in the returning people, which is beyond the reach of the people who belong to them.
The Jiajing period was the largest number of people who returned. In the first year of Jiajing (1521), the inscription is accurate, "In the future, if there are surrendered yiren, if there are no relatives, and the people who are involved in the affair, they will be relieved of the capital as usual; If there are relatives, there is no need to bind the parents and brothers, or the original Chinese, and the sons born, please keep the code of conduct" in the temporary play. Unless the newly attached vassals are involved in border affairs, they must be claimed by the first person to surrender before they can retain the border guardhouse. And the return of people, and even the return of people of blood, there is no need to avoid this clause. In the sixth year of Longqing (1672), it was stipulated that the population returning to the hometown and surrendering to Zhenyi, except for those who had a family sent back to the original guard, they were willing to stay in charge, and those who surrendered to Zhenyi were divided into three classes: those who were close to them lived in the east of the general soldier Yamen: those who were slightly weaker and had a family mouth, and those who lived in the official land in front of the temple; He also built more than 200 houses in the outer city to deal with the new unbelievers. Manage drills, supervise their access. The surrendered person who is placed in the place of surrender shall be used "to go out of the sentry and rob the camp, and to make a miraculous contribution, but to be convinced and generous to him."
However, there are still many officials who are very worried, they are very relieved to walk back to the people, but they are strictly guarded against "Zhenyi", "in the Chinese there is no foreign ambition, and Zhenyi every time he cheats, he is vain", "if you are not of my race, your heart will be different." If you lose control, you will start a challenge." Therefore, if it is "Yiren", even if they have won military achievements, they are only allowed to reward them with generous profits, and "they must not be indiscriminately used for promotion." Lest he seize military power and thus endanger his own rule.
"The subject hears the way of the emperor, in the naked son Li Min, and the beast Yi Di." Fu Li min and naked son, pro also. Yi Di and birds are good, and they are also neglected. As Han Chinese, their bloodline determined that the Ming Dynasty's attitude toward them was far superior to that of their vassals. This is the ming Dynasty's narrow view of nationality. However, it also reflects the special status of the returning people from one side, reflects the tendency of "surrender" at that time and the ruling psychology of the rulers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks:</h1>
Walking back to people, although the number of this group is not very large, it is of great significance. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the strategy of border control was mainly to keep, to wait for labor, waiting for opportunities, and intelligence played a great role in it. The people who walked back to the Ming Border brought a lot of foreign intelligence. Some of the returnees also participated in the war against Mongolia and the Later Jin (Qing), contributing to the consolidation of the Ming Dynasty's border defenses. The Ming government formulated a large number of relevant policies for returnees, involving legal provisions, military management, diplomatic strategies and other aspects. Of course, these provisions are usually macroscopic and principled, and when they are implemented in detail, they are often not satisfactory, and some institutional defects are exposed. At the same time, the Ming government's different policies of solicitation and resettlement of returnees in different periods reflect the changes in official attitudes in different periods, which may give a glimpse of the frontier situation at that time and the ruling psychology of the rulers.
The problem of the return of people in the Ming Dynasty was not a simple problem of population migration, but a frontier problem. It arose in the confrontation between the Ming Dynasty and hostile forces such as the Mongols and the Qing (Later Jin). They are both victims of the years of social unrest and a force that both sides of the struggle strive for and even actively rely on.