Chapter 32 Chapter 29 The Rise and Fall of the Ming Dynasty

Ming Taizu started in Caoze, but he was able to eradicate Hu Yuan and rule the crowd, his talent is not insignificant.Although he started in Caoze, he also understood politics quite well. The laws of schools, imperial examinations, and taxation and labor established by him were all followed by the Qing Dynasty, and they had been practiced for six hundred years.Although the system of guards could not be without disadvantages, it is indeed a very complete system at the beginning of its legislation, which can form a large and strong army without disturbing the power of the people.Therefore, the scale of the founding of the Ming Dynasty cannot be regarded as grand.It's a pity that he is too selfish.The prime minister was abolished, so that the court had no important ministers, and in later generations, the power fell into the hands of eunuchs.Serving as the descendants of Duke Duke, he opened the root of military and political corruption.His torture was originally harsh, and he set up Jinyiwei to be in charge of detective affairs. In later generations, the East Factory, the West Factory, and the Inner Factory came up one after another (the East Factory was established by Chengzu, the West Factory was established in the time of Xianzong, and the Inner Factory was established in the time of Emperor Xianzong. During the time of Wu Zong, all the internal supervisors were in charge of their affairs).This cannot but be attributed to the indiscriminate conspiracy.Its feudal scholars spread all over the country, which directly caused the change of Jingnan.

The frontier defense in the early Ming Dynasty was also quite grand in scale.Kaipingwei, which overlooks Mongolia, is located in the upper capital of Yuan Dynasty.Afterwards, Daning Road came down, and Taining, Duoyan, and Fuyu three guards were set up on the site.Taining is in the east of today's Rehe, Duoyan is in the north of Jilin, and Fuyu is near Nong'an.Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, the Northeast was far-sighted.At its heyday, the Nuer Gandu Division was established at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, and the current Sakhalin Island is also under its jurisdiction ("Ming Huidian" Volume 109: In the seventh year of Yongle, the Nuer Gandu Division was established at the Heilongjiang Estuary. Cao Yanjie of the Qing Dynasty "Records of the Eastern Part of Siberia" said that there are more than 250 miles above Miaoer, mixed with Tlin on the east bank of the river, and there are two steles: one moment "Record of Yongning Temple Built by Imperial Edict" and one moment "Record of Reconstruction of Yongning Temple in Xuande Six Years", both of which belong to the The eunuch also missed the matter of Hashu's conquest of Nuergan and the bitter barbarians in the sea. The barbarians are Kuye. Xuande is the reign name of Xuanzong, and the sixth year of Xuande is 1431 AD).However, Taizu established Nanjing as his capital, so it was not very convenient for him to control the north.Cheng Zu not only usurped Emperor Jianwen, but also moved his capital to Beijing.For the control of the north, it could have been more convenient.Indeed, he also went out many times to break the Tartars and Oirats.But when he first started his army, he was afraid that King Ning, who controlled the three guards, would attack him and seduce him, so he moved the capital of Daning from Pingquan County to Baoding.So the land of three guards entered Wuliangha, and Kaiping Wei was isolated.After Chengzu's death, Zi Renzong was established and died only one year later.His son Xuanzong succeeded him.Then he moved to Kaiping to guard Dushikou.Since then, Xuan and Da have become extremes.It was only sixty years since Kaiping was conquered in the early Ming Dynasty and Emperor Yuan Shun was expelled.The strategy of the early Ming Dynasty was not limited to the north.Annan became independent from China during the Five Dynasties. In 1406, Chengzu conquered it due to civil strife, and set up the Jiaozhi Chief Envoy, which is the same as the mainland.He also sent Zhongguan Zheng He to Nanyang seven times.The incident took place between 1405 and 1433, several decades earlier than the Eastern Airlines of the Europeans.According to recent studies, Zheng He's route on that day actually entered the Indian Ocean from the South China Sea, reached the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and swept along the northeast coast of Africa.Historians may say: Chengzu did this because he suspected that Emperor Jianwen was hiding overseas, so he sent people to look for it.This is conjecture rather than reality.Even if Emperor Jianwen died and hid overseas, what could he do under the circumstances of that day?If you try to read the foreign biography of "History of Ming Dynasty", you can see that when Taizu was the emperor, the envoys to the Western Regions were quite far away.It can be seen that the diplomacy in the early Ming Dynasty intentionally followed the scale of the Yuan Dynasty.However, the scale of the founding of the Ming Dynasty was different from that of the Yuan Dynasty.Therefore, when the Yuan Dynasty fell and the Ming Dynasty prospered, the number of people from the Western Regions gradually decreased.It is also incompatible with the previous political situation, so although there are great masters, the work cannot last long.Since Renzong, there has been no such move.The south is far away from China, and the goods in this place become foreign objects in the Central Plains, which are very expensive; and the distance is so far that the government can't control it, so the eunuchs of the land are more likely to be corrupt. This is the case in all dynasties.After the Ming Dynasty took Annan, it was still the same.At that time, there were many envoys from the middle officials, and the violence was too violent. Annan betrayed him many times.When Xuanzong was established, he abandoned it.This matter happened in 1427, when Annan re-attached to the territory of China, but only 22 years.Since Zheng He's voyage to Nanyang, China has become more familiar with southern navigation, and more and more Chinese have migrated overseas.In modern Nanyang, the Chinese have indeed become the main ethnic group in that area, and their origin is at this time.However, this is also the natural development of society, with little political help.

The political corruption of the Ming Dynasty actually began when Chengzu was born.One is the cruelty of torture, and the other is the monopoly of eunuchs, and the two things are also dependent on each other.According to Taizu's order, the servants are not allowed to study.When Chengzu rebelled, he got the internal supervisor as the internal response, and began to select officials to teach in the interior.He also served as a supervisor in the Beijing camp, and followed the generals out of the town.The East Factory was also set up to be responsible for the investigation.The power of eunuchs suddenly flourished.Xuanzong collapsed, Yingzongli was young, and favored the eunuch Wang Zhen.At that time, Walaqiang killed the Tatar chief and threatened Wuliangha. In 1449, its chief also entered the bandits first.Wang Zhen rashly encouraged the Yingzong to conscript himself.When they arrived in Datong, they knew that the soldiers were invincible, so they returned to the division.Yingzong went north hunting for the enemy's army to catch up with Tumubao.The courtier Xu Youzhen and others advocated moving the capital, and Yu Qian took charge of the defense. Feng Yingzong's younger brother Jingdi supervised the country and immediately ascended the throne.He also entered the bandits first, and Shi Heng, who was modestly appointed as the commander-in-chief, fought hard to defend them.He also attacked the capital first, but could not overcome it, and then repeatedly invaded the border, but failed to benefit, so he returned to Yingzong.Generally, when the enemy soldiers invaded and the capital was in danger, whether to move the capital or not depended on the situation.The enemy is too strong to be defended, and the central government, which is the center of a country's politics, falls, and the country's politics will fall into chaos for a while, so it is advisable to retreat to a stronghold and Xu Tu rectifies it.Under such circumstances, it would be a mistake to misunderstand the righteousness of the ancient monarch's death and refusal to move the capital. Chongzhen's past events are a good lesson.If the enemy's soldiers are not very strong, sticking to the capital can boost people's hearts and morale.Once moved, a part of the country will be ravaged by the enemy, and the loss will be great and the situation will expand.On that day, the situation in Wala was not very strong, so Yu Qian's defense could not but be called a plan.However, Xu Youzhen was ashamed because of this, and Shi Heng felt resentment because of rewards, so he married the eunuch Cao Jixiang and others, took advantage of Emperor Jing's illness, broke into the palace, and welcomed the restoration of Yingzong.Yu Qian was killed.After the restoration of Yingzong, there was no good governance.His son Xianzong favored the eunuch Wang Zhi.Xianzong passed on to Xiaozong, and politics is called Qingming.Xiaozong passed on to Wuzong, and he doted on the eunuch Liu Jin.This cannot but be said to be the poison of Chengzu's evil government.Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there have been three faint kings.The first is Wu Zong's licentiousness, the second is Sejong's stupidity, and the third is Shenzong's sluggishness, and Ming's affairs have fallen into an unmanageable situation.Wu Zong favored Liu Jin at first, later Jin Fuzhu, and Datong guerrilla Jiang Bin, and guided him to travel to the north.Ning Wang Chenhao, who was enfeoffed in Nanchang, took the opportunity to cause chaos, and was brought down by Wang Shouren, the governor of Southern Jiangxi. Wu Zong also used this name to travel to Jiangnan to return.At that time, there was a large group of bandits in Shandong and Jinan, and they were lucky to be suppressed later, which can only be regarded as a fluke.Wu Zong had no children, and Sejong was succeeded by a foreign vassal.The control of eunuchs is quite strict, and the inner eunuchs dare not do whatever they want, no more than Shizong.But its nature is strict and unclear, middle-aged and good gods, daily affairs fasting and offering sacrifices, and don't care about political affairs.Because of this, Yan Song aroused his anger and took the crime of trespassing, and then seized the power, and the political affairs were severely damaged.At that time, the Japanese pirates rose up, and all the seven coastal provinces were affected by them, and they even went deep along the river, reaching Nanjing.Since Ye Ye died in the north, Oirat declined again, and the Tatar tribe entered Hetao, which was called "Tao Bandits".The Ming Dynasty has no good policy so far.At the time of Sejong, Dayan Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan, was revived, defeated the Taoist bandits, and unified Mongolia.Of the four sons of Dayan Khan, the eldest son died early.Dayan Khan and his grandson Buchi moved to the Great Wall and called them the Chahan'er Tribe, which is now the Chahar Tribe.The second son was killed by taokou.The third son was the one who conquered Taokou.He had two sons: one was the ancestor of the Ordos tribe, and he died early.One is Altan Khan, who is called "I" in "History of the Ming Dynasty" and is the ancestor of the Tumed tribe.The fourth son stayed in Mobei, and he was the ancestor of the three tribes of Khalkha (Chechen, Shangxietu, and Zhasaktu. The three-sound Nuoyan was added in the Qing Dynasty).Since Dayan Khan, Mongolia has become the situation it is today, so Dayan Khan can also be called the great man of ZTE Mongolia.I am a border trouble, the deepest.During Sejong's reign, he invaded Gyeonggi three times.Once, Yan Song lied to Emperor Shizong, saying that the people's house was on fire, and his deception was appalling.Shizong collapsed, and Mu Zongli died not long after.Shenzongli was young, and Zhang Juzheng was his prime minister.This is a good opportunity for Ming ZTE.When Mu Zong was in power, I was granted the title of king of Shunyi because his grandson was acquired by China, and he was no longer a border trouble.When the Han Er tribe was strong, Gao Gong was the prime minister, and Li Chengliang was appointed to guard Liaodong, and Qi Jiguang guarded Jizhen to fight against the enemy.Cheng Liang was good at fighting, Ji Guang was good at guarding, and Zhang Juzheng was the prime minister of Shenzong. Yi pushed and appointed these two people, and the northeast was also quiet.The politics of the Ming Dynasty had been following for a long time.Zhang Juzheng is capable of serious bureaucratic politics.The next paper, thousands of miles away, there is no one who dares not to follow the rules, so the administration of officials has improved greatly.The dilapidated finances have also been enriched after sorting out.It's a pity that he lived in the prime minister, but after ten years, Shenzong took charge of the government after his death, and became confused again.He ignored the court for more than 20 years, and all the officials formed cliques to attack each other.At that time, Gu Xiancheng in Wuxi lived in Donglin Academy to give lectures, and liked to discuss current affairs, so private parties in the court and private discussions among the people gradually became entangled and inseparable.Shenzong trusted the middle officials and made them go to various provinces to open mines, which was called mining, but in fact they used this to extort money.Also in remote areas, tax envoys were set up to harass everything.Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan invaded North Korea, and the Ming Dynasty sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to aid them. They fought for seven years, but they were unable to defeat the enemy. Only after Hideyoshi died, the Japanese soldiers retreated.After Shenzong's death, Xizong succeeded him.Trust the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, and his domineering is unprecedented.According to the statistics of the Ming Dynasty, since Wuzong, it has been in great trouble, and among them, Shizong and Shenzong have been in power for a long time.Wu Zong ascended the throne in 1506, Xi Zong died in 1627, during these 122 years, internal and external troubles occurred one after another, and things became unmanageable.Si Zongli, although he has the ambition to cheer up, is powerless.