introduction
In the southwestern region of the Ming Dynasty, the Central Dynasty appointed local ethnic leaders as hereditary "tusi" to co-opt and control the upper echelons of ethnic minorities and strengthen their control over the region.
Tusi had to fulfill the obligations stipulated by the central dynasty to govern the region, defend the territory, pay tribute, and participate in conquests. Tusi all had their own armed forces, namely the Tu soldiers, which were under the control of the Central Dynasty and were subject to the Central Dynasty's requisition.
The central dynasty of the Ming Dynasty frequently recruited native soldiers in the southwest region to participate in various military wars, such as eradicating the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, suppressing the rebellion of the people of all ethnic groups, and quelling the Tusi rebellion.
These military wars contain both positive values, such as social progress, protection of barriers, and the maintenance of reunification, and negative values, such as social destruction, financial waste, and the breeding of malpractices.
1. Overview of the military wars in which Tusi participated in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty
When the Central Dynasty encountered a war, it would often recruit Tusi to lead territorial troops to participate in defending against the enemy, conquering and quelling the rebellion. In the Ming Dynasty, the Tusi in the southwest region participated in the military wars led by the Central Dynasty in the following four main situations.
First, eradicate the remnants of the old Yuan. At the beginning of August of the first year of Hongwu (1368), the Ming army captured Dadu (now Beijing), Emperor Yuan Shun fled north, and the Yuan aristocratic group that had ruled the Central Plains for 98 years was driven to Mobei. Although the Yuan Dynasty fell, there were still a large number of remnants.
In addition to most of these remnant forces retreating to Mobei and establishing the Northern Yuan Dynasty, a small number of them were entrenched in Sichuan, Yunnan and Liaodong. Among them, the Liang king of Yunnan, Baza Thorn Valmi, took the Northern Yuan Dynasty who retreated to Mobei as Zhengshuo, obeyed its leadership, and echoed it from afar.
Moreover, he refused to accept the repeated surrenders of the central Ming Dynasty, which seriously affected the unification of the country and the stability of the political situation in the southwest region.
In response to this situation, in the fourteenth year of Hongwu (1381), Zhu Yuanzhang sent the general Fu Youde of Yingchuan, the left deputy general Yongchang Hou Lanyu, and the right deputy general Xiping Hou Muying to lead an expedition of 300,000 troops to Yunnan.
For the southern expedition of the Ming army, the chief of Guizhou Jinzhu decided not to wait for the imperial court to issue an order and took the initiative to select 500 good horses from the horse breeding base to help the southern army.
In order to let the Tusi in the southwest region cooperate with the military operation of the Ming official army and isolate the Liang King Baza to assassinate Valmi, on September 1 of the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an envoy with an edict to Yang Keng, the envoy of Banzhou, saying: "Today, the army is marching south, using more war horses, and it is advisable to lead 20,000 soldiers and 3,000 horses as the vanguard. ”
That is, Yang Keng was asked to count 20,000 native soldiers and 3,000 horses as the pioneer to march south with the army. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also issued an edict to Shuixi, Wusa, Wumeng, Dongchuan, Mangbu and Zhanyi Zhutusi.
"Ordered to send people to post to Yunnan, and it is advisable to lead the local people to build roads along the border." When the central dynasty of the Ming Dynasty conquered Yunnan in the south, both Guizhou and Yunnan Tusi could recognize the situation, understand the righteousness, and cooperate with the actions of the southern army.
or sacrifice horses, or pay food, or send troops, or build roads, thus ensuring the smooth march of the southern army. After the southern army entered Yunnan, some Tusi not only took the initiative to annex, but also made meritorious contributions in the campaign. Dong Ci, the hereditary commander of the avant-garde in Yunnan, "entered Yunnan with a large army, led the people to surrender, and returned to the army to fight for thieves, so he and Zijie had the order of hereditary prefect and governor."
Second, suppress the resistance of people of all ethnic groups. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, due to the brutal feudal exploitation and oppression, the people of all ethnic groups were aroused to resist. In response to this, the Ming court requisitioned Tusi in the southwest region on a large scale to lead territorial troops to suppress it.
In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (1395), the ethnic minority people in Fengyi, Nandan, Dukang and other places in Guangxi united against the Ming. After this incident, the governor Yang Wen and the commander Han Guan were ordered to go to the conquest.
In addition to the 20,000 officers and men of the Guangxi Local Guard Station, the armed forces participating in this military operation also requisitioned "38,900 local soldiers from Tianzhou and Sicheng." With the coordination and cooperation of the local soldiers, the suppression activities went smoothly, and more than 18,300 people and his henchmen were beheaded.
648 barbarians were recruited to return to work. This was the situation at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, with the destruction of the guard system, the officers and soldiers of the guard were greatly reduced, and its combat effectiveness was also declining, facing the resistance of the people of all ethnic groups.
The imperial court had to rely more on the Tusi soldiers, and their requisitions became more and more frequent, and the number of them became more and more.
At the beginning of Longqing, the Zhuang people in several counties on both sides of the Fujiang River (now Guijiang) revolted under the leadership of Yang Gongman, Lei Gongfeng, Huang Gongdong and others, and conquered Lipu County, Fengmen, Nanyuan and other places respectively.
Guo was ordered to recruit 60,000 Tu and Han soldiers, led by the general soldier Li Xi, and carried out a joint attack and suppression of the righteous army in ten ways. There are 20 Tusi who were requisitioned this time, including Donglan, Sicheng, and Longying.
In the sixth year of Longqing (1572), the people of Huaiyuan, Yao, Dong and Zhuang in Guangxi united against the Ming, and the Ming court requisitioned 100,000 wolf soldiers in Guangxi to carry out a large-scale sweep, slaughtering more than 3,300 people.
As many as 21 toasts participated in the campaign. In the seventh year of Wanli (1579), the Zhuang and Yao people carried out a dual struggle against both the Tusi and the Ming Dynasty in the Bazhai area at the junction of Laibin, Xincheng and Shanglin counties, and were suppressed by 100,000 Tu and Han soldiers and participated in the suppression.
2. The positive value of the military wars in which the Tusi participated in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty
In the Ming Dynasty, the Tusi in the southwest region frequently participated in the military wars led by the Central Dynasty, conquered and suppressed traitors, resisted foreign enemies, charged into battle, and were invincible, which had positive values such as promoting social progress, protecting barriers, and maintaining unity. First, social progress: accelerated the collapse of feudal lordship.
The Tusi system in the southwest region is essentially a feudal lord system, and the Tusi is the big lord and the supreme ruler in its jurisdiction, holding the three powers of military, government and finance, and has the right to kill and seize the serfs.
Tusi was also the supreme landowner in the jurisdiction, handing over the land to the serfs for cultivation, and exploiting the serfs with labor rent. The most fundamental purpose of the rebellion of a small number of Tusi in the southwest region against the imperial court was to maintain the backward feudal lordship system and prevent the land from being changed and returned to the river.
Therefore, the actions of all Tusi who assisted the imperial court in participating in the counterinsurgency objectively had the nature of dismantling the feudal lordship, and their social progress was self-evident.
Before the outbreak of the Heisok War, the economy of the Banshu area had developed to a certain extent, as evidenced by the Banshu army, which was able to feed more than 100,000 people through agriculture, but the Tusi system became more and more a shackle to Banshu's social and economic development. Under the toast system.
Tusi can "take away his cattle and horses, take his children, live and kill at will, and the local people suffer from their fish and meat, and dare to be angry but dare not speak". Such a cruel feudal lordship pushed the people of Banshu into the abyss of misery, and changing the land and returning to the river became an inevitable trend for the further economic and social development of the Banshu region.
In the face of this trend, the Tusi class, represented by Yang Yinglong, vigorously maintained the backward feudal lordship system in order to protect its vested interests. Yang Yinglong said that "those who are a little more generous in the state have not invested in their funds to raise seedlings, and the Miao people are willing to die."
In addition, he also cleverly established a new law: "Each acre of land is levied with silver and money, and at first it is still collecting its wealth to recruit seedlings, and then seizing its land to raise seedlings." Therefore, in order to abolish the backward feudal lordship system in Banzhou, it is necessary to overthrow the Tusi class represented by Yang Yinglong.
In this sense, all the Tusi who participated in the Battle of Pingbo actually wanted to end the rule of the Tusi class represented by Yang Yinglong in Banzhou, so as to clear the way for Banzhou to change the land and return to the stream, abolish the feudal lord system, and implement the feudal landlord system.
It is precisely because the Tusi system in Banshu has become more and more an obstacle to economic and social development that the policy of changing the land and returning it to the river will be implemented in the future.
Facts have also proved that after the land was changed and returned to the stream, the feudal lordship system in the Banzhou area was replaced by the feudal landlord system, and its economic, political, and social relations have further developed.
Economically: the land of the Tusi was divided to the peasants, the landlord economy replaced the lord economy, and the original Banzhou area and the interior achieved economic integration.
As a result, the Banshu area became an area under the direct control of the central dynasty, and the former Banshu region was politically integrated with the hinterland; in terms of social relations, the local people got rid of their personal dependence on the Tusi, and the relationship between the feudal lords and serfs became the relationship between the feudal landlords and the peasants.
The former Banshu area has achieved social integration with the mainland. Second, the protection of the barriers: it has maintained the stability of the political situation in the southwest region. Under the Tusi system, the Tusi in the southwest region had a dual nature: on the one hand, they were ordered by the Central Dynasty and there was a subordinate relationship with the Central Dynasty.
On the other hand, the autonomy of the ethnic group has changed from a place outside China to a barrier within the unified China. "Xiyuan Wenjianlu" said: "Bondage and control are the barriers of China." ”
This situation is similar to the relationship between Wang Ji and the princes and states in the pre-Qin period, and it is a new relationship between the Central Plains and the frontiers in China. In these areas, the minority rulers saw themselves as court officials, and the minority people saw themselves as court kings.
epilogue
Whether it is the imperial court officials or the royal people, they all recognize the leadership of the central dynasty and safeguard the interests of the central dynasty, and they are mostly in the border areas between the core area of the central dynasty and neighboring countries, which is very vivid compared to the barriers. And that's exactly what happened.
When the Tusi has two hearts, it will lead to the invasion of foreign enemies and cause unrest in the inner region, and when the Tusi does not have two hearts, even if the neighboring countries are in turmoil, it can also prevent the disaster of war from spreading to the inner region.
Therefore, the existence of the toast played a role in stabilizing the inner region and defending against external enemies. However, when individual Tusi in the southwest region betrayed the central dynasty and became enemies of the central dynasty, it would undermine the political stability in the southwest region.
bibliography
"Cangwu Governor's Military Gate Chronicles"
"Hill Manuscript"