In the early Ming Dynasty, The Ming Emperor Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and the Ming Chengzu Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, the two of whom ruled martial arts, marched south to the north. After decades of conquest and management, the territory of the Ming Dynasty reached its peak during the reign of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, and the Ming Dynasty during the reign of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di set up Nuer Gandusi as a seat of governance in the northeast to rule over a large area of territory in the northeast; in the southwest, the southern conquest of Annam, in the current northern region of Vietnam, set up the Jiaozhi Cloth Envoy Department and included it in the ming dynasty's rule.
However, during the reign of Emperor Akihito and Emperor Mingxuanzong (in fact, it was mainly Emperor Mingxuanzong, because Akihito reigned for less than a year), the territory of the Ming Dynasty shrank considerably. In the north, the Ming Dynasty abandoned a large number of wei places other than the Great Wall, and the area of rule retreated to the line of the Great Wall; in the south, the Jiaotong Cloth Envoy Division was abolished, and the Annam region was separated from Ming rule. With so much territory abandoned, it may be easy to wonder whether the dynasty's national power has declined considerably. However, history is just the opposite, the Renxuan period, which lost so much land, was also the period when the Ming Dynasty's national strength was at its peak, and it was also called "the rule of Renxuan" by historians, which was able to be on a par with other famous prosperity in history. So, what happened during the period of "rule of benevolence" when this strange phenomenon occurred?
We should first understand why the "rule of Renxuan" was the heyday of the Ming Dynasty. We can sort out from many aspects such as economy, politics, and military. Economically, after Akihito came to power, he terminated Zheng He's voyage to the West during the Yongle years, which seems to us in later generations to be an act of self-isolation. However, at that time, due to the long-term southern conquest of the northern war during the reign of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the conquest of Annam, the sweeping of Mongolia, and the many times Zheng He went to the West in order to promote national prestige. These are indeed high as economic costs!
Although it has always been a gesture of the strong to the outside world, everyone knows that these large-scale military operations and diplomatic acts are very draining of national wealth. During the Yongle dynasty, these activities never stopped, and after Akihito came to power, if it continued, the natural treasury would be even more stretched. Therefore, he not only stopped Zheng He's voyage to the West, but also stopped the annual procurement activities in Jiaotong and Yunnan, all in order to save the state's financial expenditure.
Politically, both Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong appointed a cabinet headed by "Sanyang", and the political theory of the dynasty was very effective, and the relationship between the monarch and the subject was quite harmonious. On the other hand, Ming Xuanzong was also rectifying the ruling apparatus, dismissing a large number of corrupt, law-breaking, slack, and elderly officials, and carrying out measures to streamline and reduce the administrative system, and the atmosphere of the court was reorganized. Moreover, the Xuanzong Dynasty also often took some measures to reduce the burden on the people, such as reducing the grain tax.
Militarily, Emperor Renzong adjusted a series of military ministers who were important at border passes. In order to prevent the Mongols, Xuanzong specially reorganized the soldiers and horses stationed at Xifengkou to guard against the Mongol invasion at all times. When the Mongol army attacked, Ming Xuanzong personally led the troops to engage the Mongol army, personally shooting the enemy vanguard, defeating the enemy army in the engagement, and when the enemy army found out that it was the emperor's personal conquest, they fell to their knees to show submission.
Then, after understanding the strength of the Ming Dynasty during the "rule of Renxuan", we will analyze why so many territories were abandoned during the "rule of Renxuan" period. We already know that the ming dynasty's national strength reached its peak during the "reign of RenXuan", so it is obvious that the Ming Dynasty is not strong enough to rule these places. Then since it is not possible to do it, it can only be that it does not want to be done.
Why didn't the Ming Dynasty want to continue its rule in these places? We can still analyze it from many aspects. The first is economic development, as we have learned in the previous article, the land abandoned by the Ming Dynasty was mainly in the area north of the Great Wall and the Annam region (north of Vietnam), which although the north-south span is very large, have a common feature: the location is remote.
The remote location means that the traffic conditions in these places are often poor (because there are many people and many roads), and because of the natural conditions, the construction and maintenance of roads in these places are relatively high (grasslands and tropical rainforests are extremely obstructive to road construction and maintenance). This makes it difficult to move people and business in these places, which naturally hinders the development of local economies.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty mainly developed the small-scale peasant economy, and the small-scale peasant economy required the main development of planting, but in the area north of the Great Wall, precipitation was scarce, coupled with the reasons of climate change, the temperature was colder than in the previous period in history, which was very unfavorable to the development of the planting industry, which made this area very chicken for the Ming Dynasty. For these reasons, these two places were able to contribute only to the economic development of the Ming Dynasty.
For the Renxuan Dynasty, which was pursuing social stability, these two areas were very unfavorable to the Renxuan Erzong, who desperately wanted to avoid unnecessary wars. Because whether it is the area north of the Great Wall or the Annam area, it is the norm in history that is not controlled by the central dynasty. The ethnic groups in these places are also not like the Central Dynasty, which is dominated by han Chinese, and they are mostly ethnic minorities. This led to the fact that these places could easily turn from subordination to confrontation, and if they wanted to rule these areas for a long time, they would consume a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, which was also unacceptable to Emperor Renxuan, who wanted to be frugal in financial expenditure, so when these places were separated from rule, Ming Xuanzong was not willing to take these areas back.
Therefore, in summary, the reason why "the rule of benevolence" can be named is because of its stable economic development, political clarity, and strong military strength. The reason why the land area has shrunk compared to the Ming Dynasty is because Emperor Renxuan has always implemented a policy of "contraction" and is unwilling to consume national strength in order to maintain his rule in these remote areas.