Chapter 26 7. Strict defense system

Although the Ming Dynasty proclaimed local leaders as kings in the Tatar and Oala regions, set up some prison guards, and implemented various policies to strengthen ties with the Mongolian region, the conflict between the nomadic economy and the agricultural economy could not be properly resolved. The Mongolian region needs the living materials provided by the inland, and even does not hesitate to obtain them by means of plunder, so Tatars and Oalas often invade the inland.While the Ming Dynasty was sympathetic to him, he had to step up his defense. "Appoint famous generals, lead troops and horses, and prepare borders to wait for them. From Liaohai to Liangba, there are people who are at the key points." The so-called "Liezhen controls the four barbarians."Known as the "Nine Sides" important northern town, Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, Ningxia, and Gansu all had heavy troops stationed in Yongle.The commander-in-chief leads the troops to defend, camps, forts and piers, and sets up soldiers and horses according to their urgency. Usually, walking the formation, sentrying, guarding, and burning wasteland are all their duties.The enemy "doesn't want to invade our territory, and it's not for the sake of greed and brutality. It's the death of the people to defend the frontiers."At that time, "border politics were strict", and the officers and soldiers "did not dare to be idle", and "followed the military law for a little violation of the system".

1.Strictly close the fort, and plow and fight Zhu Yuanzhang paid great attention to the construction of military fortifications in the northern area. During the Hongwu period, the pass battlements spread all over the border, "from the west of Liao Dynasty, thousands of miles of contact" were used to "restrict the inside and outside", "subdue the barbarians, and caress the border gangsters." . After Yongle, due to the inward relocation of the capital of Daning, Xuanfu and other places became important points. Later, the capital was moved to Beijing, which was close to the border. Zhu Di paid more attention to the construction of the northern border fortifications.Its main facilities include forts, moats and piers.

According to "Shanxi General Annals": The earth fortresses are suitable for the location, and they are built according to the dangers of the mountains. Each fortress is equipped with arrows and stones to prepare equipment.There is a saying that if a thousand people cannot attack a fortress of a hundred people, it will gain momentum. Cutting cellars are mostly dug near the wall to prevent invasion. When digging the horizontal wall of the ground, it is called a moat.The reason why building a castle can keep patients away is that there are cellars. Most of the beacon piers are set up on the border, and they can be seen from time to time... If the terrain is high enough to look far away, piers are built and troops are garrisoned.Once there is an alarm, cannons will be fired during the day and beacons will be fired at night. It is easy for common people to send alarms by flying, and it is easy to summon soldiers and horses.

The cultivation in the Yongle period is roughly similar to this. On Gengwu in December of the second year of Shuiyue, Zheng Heng, Marquis of Wu'an, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, etc. played, and built various forts in Xuanfu.First, there was an edict to Heng equal to Xuanfu, Wanquan, and Huai'an to simplify the army and horses, to fortify the walls, to guard the battles carefully, and to be cautious about defense.For each of the several forts, a fort was chosen as a high city and a deep moat, and there were many gates in the city, and wells were opened to store water in it, so as to gather the men and horses of the several forts to carry food and pay.Look out day and night, Kou Zhiye raises fire, and daytime raises guns to believe.Guard it with sergeants, and the nearby Tunbao troops also moved into it.Heng and other business planning, to start to prepare for the cloud.

Zhu Di also repeatedly ordered to supervise: On April 21st of the fourth year of Yongle, the trenches must be strong and deep, and people must be sent to watch the high posts day and night. On June 27th, the 19th year of Yongle, all the cities must be well organized, and the forts must be repaired properly, arranged according to the law, just like a city.I will personally come to inspect, respect this. On the eighth day of October in the twentieth year of Yongle, but it was difficult to defend the forts along the border, and all the people and horses were about to be packed into the strong fortresses to live in, so as to clear the fields on the strong walls, so that the bandits would be captured if they had nothing to gain.This is it.

According to "Yitu": "The captives like to plunder wildly, and they don't attack the city (it takes a long time to attack the city), but attack the fortress occasionally. If people stick to it, they will also abandon it." There is no unique class."Therefore, the solidity of the fort played a considerable role in protecting the soldiers and civilians along the border from harassment. In addition to Xuanfu, there are forts set up in important border areas such as Ningxia, Gansu, Datong, and Liaodong.In the twelfth year of Yongle, Zhu Di ordered officials from the Ministry of War and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to inspect the construction of various forts.Zhu Di also stipulated the regulation of Tunbao:

"Shang Ming will set up fortresses for defense. Each small garrison has five or seven or four or five, and chooses a nearby and convenient place to build a large fort, surrounded by an earthen city, seven or eight feet or one or two feet high, and the city has eight gates. Zhou used trenches, one foot or four or five feet wide, deep and wide, to gather grain and grass in each garrison. The small garrison stores the daily grain, and if there is police, all the people and animals will enter the big fort and stick to it." Many cities, stone walls and moats were also built along the border.In June of the seventh year of Yongle, Zhu Di said to Cao Long, the governor of the rear army and his acquaintance, "The country puts frontier troops to guard, and relies on the city to be strong. The city must be high and deep, guarded day and night, and the city must be firm. The patrol is not slack, and there is a rush You can fight and defend as you like." In August of the tenth year of Yongle, he ordered the border generals to go west to Ximalin in Chang'anling, Yehuling and Xinghe. Captives".In March of the thirteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Rong, the left governor of Datong, said: "Bianwei City Pool is the frontier. It is busy with Niuling, Tumaohe, Chishan, Yuyangkou, and Dongsheng. The walls are low and there are no trenches, so it is urgent Build it. Follow it." In February of the 11th year of Yongle, Liu Jiang, the governor of Liaodong, said: "The previous order will select a place with a lot of water and grass in the villages, make deep moats, open wells and accumulate water, and all nearby villages Luggage, food, food, and livestock are all put inside. If there is a police, the village ministers will work together to refuse to guard it. You alone will not follow it. Do you have a good policy? That is, there is a priority so that there will be no mistakes? It should be carefully considered so that you will not regret it."

Yandun has customization: "In the eleventh year of Yongle, Yandun was built, which is five feet high, and the surrounding city is one foot and five feet high. There are trenches outside, fishing bridges and doorways. Water tanks are placed on top. The warm moon holds water, and the cold moon holds ice. The pier houses the officers and soldiers. Watch it, go up and down with a rope ladder." Zhu Di has repeatedly ordered the construction of Yandun everywhere.In this way, castles, piers, and trenches spread all over the northern border, starting from Liaodong in the east, passing through Xuanfu, Datong, Ningxia, Gansu, and until Jiayuguan, there are endless military facilities.During the Zhengde period, when Muxi, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, went to Ningxia as an envoy, he could still see the city built by He Fu in the early Yongle period, and even the guards of Hezhou, Taozhou, and Minzhou also had side walls and pass gates.

In 1980, the author visited Yandun Castle from Xuanhua to Datong.From Xuanhua to the west, passing Chaigou Fort, along the west bank of Yanghe River, there are undulating hills and mountains.On the ridge, the smoke piers face each other, stretching endlessly.Occasionally castles can also be seen on the banks of the river.For example, there is an abandoned ancient castle in the west of Chaigoubao. The city wall is generally intact and square. It is about 100 meters on each side. Used by troops stationed.This arrangement of piers and castles stretches all the way to Datong, and it is still everywhere.Such as the banks of the Shili River to the west of Datong.This is the case on both sides of the Yuhe River to the north, and on both sides of the Nanyang River to the northeast.The river bed is flat and wide, and the river is a natural channel for the Mongol population, and of course it is also an important place to defend the border and the enemy.Take the two banks of the Yuhe River as an example. From Deshengkou and Hongcibao to the south, there is an earthen side wall on the east bank of the river. The remaining wall is one meter high or less than one meter, and the width is three to four meters. The piers and abutments meander along with the mountains.On the west bank of the river, there are undulating peaks, and the highest point of each peak has piers and abutments, which are endless.

On the east side of the Guanyin Tower on the north bank of the Xishili River in Datong City, we checked a pier in detail.The platform is made of rammed loess, the base is square, about seven meters on each side, and the remaining height of the platform is about ten meters, and the top is also square, about five meters on each side.In the northeast corner of Taitai, there are earthen stairs leading from the ground to the top of the platform.The outside of the platform is surrounded by earth walls, square, about 20 meters on each side.Local residents said that in the early 1950s, Taixi still had stone house foundations, and there was a stone mill near the house, which may have been used for the residence of soldiers guarding the fortress, but none remain today.

Of course, not all of these Yandun castles were built in the early Ming Dynasty, but we can still see from them that the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to the northern frontier defense and worked hard. For the pass roads leading to Tatar and Oala, they "filled up their gaps and plugged their gaps", and stationed strict soldiers "as a defense against foreign invaders".For example, the two entrances of Gubei and Xifeng are the only way for the Tatar Oirats to invade the bandits, and they are important military sites.In the first month of the eighth year of Yongle, Bingzi, the small pass of Saigu Beikou and the outer gate of the Great Pass were only accessible by one person and one horse.Another example: In October of the twelfth year of Yongle, Bingxu, there were eleven mountain passes including Dongjiazhuang in Saibao, and three places in Shenjing, Lijiazhuang, and Dajiankou were guarded by Yandun. In Xinmao in December of the same year, Zhu Teng, commander of the Yubayashi Qianwei Commander, looked at the road behind the mountain, and said: 26 places in Sulinkou were guarded by the old army, and the two places of Huangshiya and Zhuangkejian were newly viewed as the mountain pass. Nine places are all guarded.He also said: The guarding army used to have only five or six people, but now it should be increased to ten.From it. In Bingwu, the first month of the thirteenth year, the mountain passes of Tanyu and other places north of Juyongguan were closed, and ten soldiers guarded each pass.In October Yihai, there were 16 passes in Saiguan Waiyan Moyu and other passes, each of which was guarded by ten soldiers. In September of the fourteenth year at Renyin, the commander of the security guard played a role. All the passes in the territory under its jurisdiction, three of which can be used by vehicles and riders... have been set up to guard them.There are also people in Zhifanggou and other places that can be climbed, so it is also advisable to divide the troops to patrol.The meeting can be opened to traffic with one member of a hundred households leading 20 armored soldiers to guard, and ten armored soldiers should be used for the woodcutter and animal husbandry trail.From it. It can be seen that Zhu Di paid great attention to the control of the pass. The management of the pass is even stricter.Passengers entering and exiting the gate must be inspected and inspected to be free.In April Bingxu of the seventh year of Yongle, it was ordered to set up the six exits of Bauhinia, Juyong, Gubei, Xifeng, Dongjia, and Shanhai for inspection and cooperation to prevent fraud.There are one hundred questions in each level, with the number of six characters in the book of rites and music as the number.The military governor's mansion and the military department of the army left behind in Beijing are all sealed with seals, and each is kept in the bottom book.The bottom of the Ministry of War will be surveyed and sent to the Neifu, and the bottom of the Governor's Mansion will be paid to each pass.Those who leave the customs on a business trip must have the inspection and cooperation of the inner government.If there is none, perform from the gatekeeper. In order to prevent fraud, the mobilization of the frontier troops is also based on inspection and cooperation.In May Xinmao of the seventh year of Yongle, border towns were set up to transfer troops for reconnaissance. "The top is dispatched by frontier garrison, only relying on the imperial edict, and worrying about fraud. It is a collection of sixteen characters based on bravery, sharpness, magic, strength, perseverance, victory, hero, mighty, and a total of 100 numbers. The bottom book is one for the number book. The bottom book is one for the number book. The book and the survey and cooperation stay in the inner government, and the ratio book is in charge of the side. When there is an edict to dispatch troops and horses, they must rely on the same ratio number of the survey and cooperation before they can play. All of them were fraudulent. So He Fu, the commander-in-chief of Gansu, Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin in Datong, Chen Mao, Bo of Ningyang in Ningxia, and Wang Cong, Marquis of Wucheng in Xuanfu, were given a copy of the collation book."In September of the 11th year of Yongle, Bingshen said, "Liu Jiang, the governor of Liaodong, ordered to set up frontier defenses to tighten internal and external restrictions. The system of the former king must be rigorous. From now on, no imperial treasure documents are allowed to leave the fortress. Although my words are passed on, there are no imperial treasure documents. Those who are not allowed. Those who have experience in business travel and official business in the country will listen." The Ming Dynasty prohibited military and civilian officials from having private contacts with outsiders. The so-called "people and ministers have no diplomacy", even though the clan princes and officials in Xinjiang were no exception.It is not only to prevent internal troubles caused by "renministers", but also to prevent them from colluding with the enemy and leaking military affairs to cause foreign troubles.In April 1898, the fifth year of Yongle, "the chief military officer of Gansu, Xining Hou Songsheng, said: "The imperial court forbids the private communication of foreign barbarians, and it is not strict.For those who came back to do business in recent years, many sergeants from various places in Liangzhou sneaked out of the country, and some stayed in Bieshabali, Harahuozhou and other places to leak border affairs.It is not strict here.Don't send the supervisory censor to check the governance. From now on, it should be strictly forbidden to make appointments'. "In August of the same year, Gengxu, "I ordered Chen Jing, the commander of the capital of Shaanxi Province, and the inspector to supervise the censor, saying: "There is no diplomacy between people and ministers, and there are famous precepts in ancient times."My Taizu Emperor Gao affirmed this prohibition, which is the most stringent.For example, Hu Weiyong's liaison with Japan will cause harm to the world and future generations, and he knows it well.There are still profit-seeking people on the border today, who often hide in Bulongjier and Shamichagan, pretending to be envoys of the court, asking for treasures, or stealing good horses from foreign barbarians along the road, or making profits for traders. All of this will be unreasonable.The command guards the border for the imperial court, and the censor is the minister of the eyes and ears of the country, so they all sit idly by, okay?It is careful and honest, and it cannot be relaxed'". For border generals and "foreign barbarians", the prohibition is even stricter.In August of the fourth year of Yongle, Gengzi said, "It was illegal for Mengshan, the Marquis of Baoding in Liaodong, to issue an imperial edict saying: 'To guard against bandits is like a dog's guard against theft. What is the use of dogs and robbers? What's more, it will ruin the court. The law! I owe you a crime. If you don’t correct your mistakes, there will be no regrets’”.In December of the eighth year of Yongle, Jiayin, "Edicted to Songhu, Marquis of Xining, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Province, and said: 'Your prelude, there are leaders of the pioneers who have lived in Shazhou for a long time and came to Gansu. Once they arrive, they will be sent to the court immediately, but they will not be sent. Why? Courtesy, ministers have no diplomacy. Although he is a frontier general, he is not acting in a police emergency or order. It is advisable to abide by the common law and not to send people out of the country lightly... In the past, the king of Zhongshan guarded Beijing for more than ten years, and he never sent a person out of the border At that time, there was nothing wrong with the border. The king of Zhongshan also enjoyed wealth and fame. If you can follow my instructions, the border will be safe, and your wealth will last forever'". The imperial court often ordered the border generals to send people out of the country for patrol and reconnaissance.For example, in the first month of Xinhai in the second year of Yongle, "Xuanfu was ordered to prepare for the Royal Wucheng Hou Wangcong and Tong'an Hou Huozhen to lead 5,000 cavalry and 1,500 horses to patrol the north."In February of the third year of Yongle, in Jiashen, "Wang Cong, the Marquis of Wucheng, and Huozhen, the Marquis of Tong'an, led 3,000 cavalry sentry to the north."In June of the same year, Gengchen, "Send Zhongguan Shanshou and others to lead the cavalry from Gunganling to the north of Yunzhou, and join forces with Wucheng Hou Wang Cong and others to attack the captives. Each of them will pay for one month's grain, and buy five horses every thirty miles. In order to prepare for the report."In the fourth year of Yongle, in June, Wuchen, "He Fu, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, the left governor, said: "Guo Dadu, who returned from Mobei, went to Beijing to speak, and the captives wanted to come to Yuanshan to breed in the south in winter, so you should strengthen the frontier defense. At the end of the ninth month, Guo Dadu was ordered to be the guide of the township, and he sent fine riders out of the fortress'". The troops stationed along the border, in addition to protecting the normal farming life of the people inside the border, also shouldered the task of farming.It is a traditional Chinese military thought to eat enough soldiers.Before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to farming.Later, Zhu Yuanzhang once said to Feng Sheng and Fu Youde: "It is a good law to guard the borders by garrisoning fields. Instead of raising soldiers to impoverish the people, what better way to make the people work hard for self-defense." During the Yongle period, garrison fields had a new development.In the third year of Yongle, Zhu Di ordered: At the beginning of my ascension to the throne, I thought about the principle of security, as long as the common people have enough food and clothing, and share the peace. I often think that when Emperor Gaozu was the emperor, he asked him to farm for himself, and he accumulated surplus food to prevent floods and droughts.The common people will not be transferred, and the sergeants will not be hungry or embarrassing. .Eleven members of the Banner Army in each capital planted the fields, but taught Ye Mei to work hard to save food, and the government built a warehouse to store it for him. Zhu Di called this "cultivating and fighting".In the second month of Dinghai in the fourth year of Yongle, the Commander of Shanxi and other capitals was ordered: "Fang Chunshihe, the border people are all engaged in farming, and the captives may take advantage of the time to invade and plunder. The people should not try their best to reclaim their acres, and they should be prepared strictly. When the bandits come, they will hunt and attack, and nothing will happen." Then go back to the village, carefully guard the battlefield, train the soldiers, and plow and fight, you should be careful!" In March of the ninth year of Yongle, Yiyou, "Wu Gao, the Marquis of Jiangyin who guarded Datong, said: 'Shanxi Xingdu Division belongs to the guards, and today they are either Quanwei, or even There are seven or eight garrisons, so there are few people who practice. Please leave half of them to practice, just in case of any danger." The Minister of the Ministry of War said: "The defense must not be weak. If the soldiers do not have enough food, it will be difficult to defend. It is necessary to consider the danger of the land. Yi, control the number of people. Yanghe keeps four of them, Tiancheng and Shuozhou keep three of them, Weizhou keeps two of them, and the rest are ordered to be planted. And cultivate and keep, it is custom-made'".The development of garrison fields ensured the supply of military rations to a certain extent and reduced the burden on the military and civilian movements.Regarding the farming in the Yongle period, Mr. Wang Yuquan had a very in-depth research in "Ming Dynasty Military Tunnel", so this article does not need to go into details. Yang Rong's poems: "There are soldiers in Guansai with strict orders, and there is nothing to do in the camps."It is a true portrayal of the border situation during the Yongle period. 2.The insiders are the frontier people, burning the wilderness to prevent the autumn The inward migration of Mongolian and Han residents on the border was an important measure to prevent the invasion of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and later the Tatars and Oirats in the early Ming Dynasty.At the beginning of Hongwu, the Ming army marched north, and a large number of Mongolian and Han residents inside and outside the Great Wall surrendered.At that time, the former Yuan regime retreated outside the Great Wall and glimpsed the Central Plains from time to time. How to deal with the descendants on the border was related to the consolidation of the Ming regime.In the fourth year of Hongwu, the Prime Minister of Zhongshu, Wei Guogong Xu Dazuo: "The people of Shunning and other states behind the mountain are close to the captives. Although they have been recruited and returned, they have not seen the happy life in the land. Fearing that they will be separated for a long time, they have ordered the commanders and envoys Pan Jing, Zuo Zhuan, and Gao Xian moved to Shunning and Yixing prefectures along the border, and they all went to Beiping prefecture and county to be garrisoned, and they were still organized by their old department to Fu Sui'an." Yin Geng, a man of the Ming Dynasty, said: "Although the Yuan Lord ran away, There are many evils left behind, and the denunciation has not been established, making it difficult to keep together", so "the tribe moved officials and people to the inner county".The Ming army established the world at the beginning, unable to control the people outside the border, but also to prevent them from being taken advantage of by the Northern Yuan Dynasty, emigration of the people was also a last resort.Since the fourth year of Hongwu, a large number of frontier residents have been moved to the interior.In June of the fourth year, the "people who migrated to Beijing" also migrated to "desert immigrants"; in August of the sixth year, the people moved to Shuozhou; in September, they moved to Hongzhou, Weizhou, Ding'an, Wu, Shuo, Tiancheng, and Baideng , Dongteng, Douzhou, Yunnei and other prefectures and counties; people who moved to Suide and Qingyang in November. At first, Zhu Yuanzhang advocated resettling the Mongolian and Han people who were attached to them on the spot. He said: "Whoever governs the Hulu should follow his own nature. The Hu people live in the bitter cold, and now they move to the inland, and they must be driven south. Even if it is hot, if it loses its nature, it will easily become chaos. If you don’t caress it smoothly, it will return to the frontier and choose water and grass to breed. Peter lived with him, and he will be at ease.” However, “beards and captives are all over the countryside. Zhu Yuanzhang quickly changed his mind and ordered many times that "all the barbarians outside the Great Wall will move into the interior" to deal with those who rebel, and use troops Suppression, "Don't let them gather again", "Local people must be cleaned up very much." Zhu Di acknowledged the status quo of the internal migration of the border people, and those who were attached to the Tatars often moved south.For example, at Gengwushuo in September of the seventh year of Yongle, Zhu Di ordered He Fu, the commander-in-chief of Gansu, to say: "Tatar Boke Timur and other subordinates arrived in Gansu, and they were not given any land. Scattered in places where livestock are cheap." The northward retreat of the Yuan people and the internal migration of the frontier people created a large area of ​​open space near the Great Wall, especially to the north of the Great Wall.At the same time, due to the lack of local residents, Xuanfu, Liaodong, Gansu and other places did not set up prefectures and counties, but "sent generals to select soldiers to town" and "defend the outside to defend the inside" and unified the guards.The so-called "let the governors of the old counties and towns be exhausted, and the soldiers and soldiers will be in charge of them", and millions of soldiers and civilians will be paid to them, and no one will "care for their sufferings and protect their wives and children".This is not conducive to the development and consolidation of the northern border area.The Ming people believed that it was "expedient for a while" not to set up governors in border towns, and "Emperor Wen took advantage of the remaining prestige of the three to restore the old system of counties and towns, but the establishment of the trip was urgent, and deep worries were not resolved."Since the last years of Hongwu, it has been considered to enrich the private households in the border areas.In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, the former left and right guards, Wanquan right guards, and Huai'an guards were set up in the Xuanfu.In the twelfth year of Yongle, Zhao Yan, Minister of Rites, came to Xuanfu to collect and relocate the people.In the second year of Yongle, Baoan Prefecture was established, and in the twelfth year, Longqing (now Yanqing) Prefecture was established.But this kind of work was done too little. During the Yongle period, the only newcomers were Baoan and Longqing, and Kaiping and Yiwei.Far from filling the void created by previous mass migrations.In terms of national strength at that time, it was completely possible to restore the system of relocated counties and towns and emigrate. However, what Zhu Di emphasized was vain martial arts, and he did not use much force here.On the contrary, due to the internal relocation of the Daning capital and various guards, the relocation of the Wanquan capital and some guards of the Shanxi Xingdu, and the abandonment of Xinghe, the situation in the north of the Great Wall was aggravated.The world of eternal joy and later this situation has not changed or even developed.Lu Rong (1436-1494), who was a Fang doctor in the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, said: "When arriving outside Juyongguan, there are hundreds of postal couriers. It is also the same when arriving in Ningxia from the north of Huanxian County, Shaanxi Province, because there are no prefectures or counties in the land." Zhu Yuanzhang's inward migration was to defend against the outside world, and Zhu Di's inward migration was to defend against the inside. Although both met the temporary needs of the situation, they left behind long-term troubles, which were obviously not conducive to the development of the northern region and the consolidation of the frontier. . In order to prevent being taken advantage of by the Northern Yuan-Tatar invaders, the Ming Dynasty also restricted the soldiers and civilians to farm and herd outside the border.In this way, many arable land and pastures had to be abandoned.Not only that, since the Yongle period, weeds are not allowed to grow outside the border, and every autumn and winter, they go out to burn the wasteland, so that the Tatars are not allowed to graze near the border to reduce the chance of causing trouble. "Emperor Taizong established the capital in Beijing, suppressed the northern captives, and sent generals out of the fortress in winter to burn the sentries." In the twelfth lunar month of the fifth year of Yongle, Guiji ordered Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin, who guarded Datong, to say: "The grass is flourishing on the edge of Erzuo, and if you want to burn it, it is the most appropriate. The next one is unknown, or you may be suspicious, and you will patrol the army and horses. It is difficult for the soldiers to escape, and the houses in the fortress will be damaged. It is necessary to forecast and prepare." This should be the beginning of burning wasteland.Later, customization gradually formed: Burning wasteland, every winter and early October, starting with the dry grass, the town commanded the palace army to go out and burn the weeds, so that the Tartars could not graze in the south. Every year in the winter, the Guarding Commander-in-Chief will join hands with the Censor of the Military Affairs Capital, and move the Deputy General Staff of all walks of life to visit the garrison and transfer the fortress, etc. according to the date of the meeting. Divide into three roads and five roads, head to tail corresponding to each other, scheduled to send sentries at night, set fire to wipe out the weeds along the border... In recent years, soldiers and horses have gone out of the country to burn the wasteland, and they have all been 200 miles away.The thieves heard that the soldiers and horses left the country and fled far away without any trace. Originally, after the Mongolians established the Great Yuan Empire, after nearly a hundred years of management, the vast grassland area outside the Great Wall once experienced economic prosperity.However, due to the long-term war between the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Yuan regime, the retreat of Mongolian residents to the north, the southward migration of residents near the Great Wall, and the restrictions on marginal farming and animal husbandry, and the burning of wasteland in autumn and winter, these areas have become desolate. : In the eighth year of Yongle's Northern Expedition, he climbed to the top of Lingxiao Peak and looked at Mobei. (Zhu Di) Gu Xueshi Hu Guang et al. In Kaiping, there used to be the Ordo of the Yuan Dynasty, which is like a palace in Huayan.Today, there are barren platforms and broken foundations, scattered among the desolate wind and the moon. The desert is vast, and the horsepower is not exhausted, but near the Sai there are many mountains, rivers, forests, and deserted cities and temples.For example, there are eighteen villages along the river, and there are countless military markets.In the extreme north, the land is as flat as a palm, with yellow sand and white grass, boundless as far as the eye can see. Out of the mouth of victory, ... passing through Fuzhou, but the city is deserted.Entering Changzhou in the north, there are only a hundred residents. Relocating people, burning wasteland, and restricting farming and grazing prevented Mongolians from grazing nearby, which may have reduced some incidents.However, leaving large swaths of fertile soil and grasslands to be abandoned is a kind of destruction of productivity, which is not conducive to the economic development of border areas. Of course, it cannot be used by the enemy, but it cannot be used by one's own military and country.From a long-term point of view, this approach is wrong.In addition, when the Ming army went out to conquer the fortress, there were neither eyes and ears guide nor residents' assistance.The food and salaries of the army are transported only by the people in the interior, so it is very inconvenient to move.In the 23rd year of Hongwu, the king of Yan came to Saisai and said to the generals: "I and the generals were ordered to lift up the desert and sweep away the Hu captives. Now the captives have no walls to live in, and the land is empty. When marching thousands of miles, you must have eyes and ears, but you can't. Therefore, it is difficult to succeed.” This is exactly what he said.After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he went on several expeditions to the north, but failed so far, which is not unrelated to this. In addition, due to the cutting off of the economic ties between the Mongolian people and the Central Plains, they lost many means of production and sources of daily necessities; and because they were in an opposing position with the Ming Dynasty, trade relations could not develop normally. In order to meet the needs of material life, they had to Go south to plunder.If before Yongle, the Mongols still had the ability and intention to restore the Central Plains, then after Yongle, their southward migration was mainly to meet their economic needs, and regular looting became a part of their economic life.Therefore, the defense of the Ming Dynasty also brought seasonal laws.Whenever "the first spring is warm, the ice is getting thinner, the grass is about to sprout, and the horses are thin and bowed", the Mongolians mostly manage livestock on the grasslands, and the Ming army can breathe: "Unarmor is waiting for the wind, and the saddle is carved. Waiting for the autumn solstice.” When autumn comes, the grass bears seeds, the horses are fat and bows are strong, and it is the time when the Mongols invade and plunder.This is the so-called "anti-autumn".Autumn was harvesting in the interior, and more Mongols went south for food than at this time. But at this time, "farmers harvest, the walls cannot be strong; the crops live in acres, and the fields cannot be cleared. The captives may go deep because of the food, and the autumn is high. Fat, always rely on strength to succeed."Therefore, "the soldiers to prevent autumn are mobilized from far away, the host and the guest join hands, the infantry is under attack, the horse army is in battalion, and the four seasons are strictly enforced."Although Zhu Di and later monarchs and ministers had thought hard on the issue of northern border defense, they seemed to have failed to find the root of the problem.The problem is that as long as the above-mentioned economic situation does not change, the so-called "border troubles" of the Ming Dynasty cannot be resolved.Zhu Di's frequent conquests over the years have further aggravated the isolation between the grassland area and the Central Plains, and it is almost impossible to control Mongolia.