Chapter 45 Section 5 Two Beijings and Nine Borders and Nine Towns in Ming Dynasty

In the late Yuan Dynasty, political corruption, social chaos, class oppression and ethnic conflicts also deepened day by day. The peasant uprising army led by Zhu Yuanzhang finally occupied Jiqing Luzhi (now Nanjing City) and used it as a base, then sent troops to the Northern Expedition, and finally won the national power . After Zhu Yuanzhang acquired Jiqing Road, he changed Jiqing to Yingtianfu before he became emperor at that time. In the first year of Hongwu (1368 A.D.) after he became emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang took Yingtianfu as Nanjing, and started to build a new city in the second year. It is the origin of the name of Nanjing today.It was not renamed the capital until the eleventh year of Hongwu (AD 1378).This is because it was originally planned to use Tokyo in the Northern Song Dynasty as the Beijing of the Ming Dynasty, but later abandoned this plan, so Nanjing used the title of capital again.

After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, because the prince died early, he passed the throne to his grandson Zhu Yunwen (wenwen), that is, Emperor Jianwen, which aroused the dissatisfaction of Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son, Yan Wang Zhu Di, who was in Beiping (that is, the name of Yuan Dadu was changed), and sent troops under the pretext of "the side of the Qing Dynasty" Go south, invade Nanjing, and seize power.Zhu Di is what is known in history as Ming Chengzu, also known as Emperor Yongle.His base was in the north, so he still returned to Beiping after he ascended the throne, and changed Beiping to Beijing and Beiping Mansion to Shuntian Mansion.Since then, the name of Beijing has been continued, and it was only renamed Beiping during the period of the Republic of China, but the masses still call it Beijing.

Although Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty moved his capital to Beijing, it was difficult to change his father's will to establish the capital in Nanjing, so he still called Beijing "Xingzai".Walking in, also known as "walking in the place", refers to the place where the ancient emperor stayed temporarily when he went out. This name existed as early as the Han Dynasty, and it was often used later.For example, the Southern Song Dynasty moved the capital from Bianliang (Kaifeng) to Lin'an (Hangzhou) due to the invasion of the northern powers. That is to say, Lin'an is often called the traveling capital, which means not forgetting the old capital and taking Lin'an as the temporary capital.In the Ming Dynasty, it was not until the sixth year of Ming Yingzong Zhengtong (AD 1441), the sixth emperor, that he ceased to hold the title and was renamed the capital.

The city walls of Beijing and Dadu in the Ming Dynasty were also slightly different.The north city wall moved about five miles south. Due to the influence of the topography near Jishuitan, the northwest corner of the city became oblique instead of right angled. Yongle moved the capital. To meet the needs of planning and designing the palace city and the imperial city, the south city wall also moved southward. About two miles away, it formed the inner city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with nine city gates; the second was to strengthen the defense of the capital in the Ming Dynasty, and the outer city around the inner city began to be built during the Jiajing period. Due to financial difficulties, only On the south side, this is what was later called the Outer City.For the convenience of city management, the inner and outer cities are divided into five cities: east, west, south, north, and middle, of which the outer city is the south city.There are seven city gates in the outer city, whose names are still in use today except Guangning Gate, which was changed to Guang'an Gate.

In order to protect the safety of the capital and consolidate the defense of the northern region, the Ming Dynasty also spent many years in the north, building the continuous Great Wall from Jiayuguan in the west to Shanhaiguan in the east.A large part of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty still exists today, some of which have old relics to be found, and some of them are still tourist attractions today, arousing great interest from Chinese and foreign tourists.The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was shorter than the Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty. It was divided into inner and outer sections from the east of the Yellow River in Shanxi to the northern part of Beijing today.In order to ensure the safety of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, heavy troops were stationed at the key points along the Great Wall, the most famous of which are Juyong, Zijing (west of Yi County), Daoma (west of today's Mancheng County), Yanmen (now Dai County) North), Ningwu (north of Ningwu County today), and Piantou (now Pianguan County) are more important. The first three are called the inner three passes, and the latter three are called the outer three passes.It should also be mentioned that there was a long section of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty outside Shanhaiguan, but it was relatively simple and lasted for a short period of time. It started from the north of Shanhaiguan, went northeast along the west side of the Liaoxi Corridor, and ended in the southeast of today's Fuxin City, which was changed to the southeast. It went until the north of Niuzhuang in the northwest of Haicheng City and then turned to the northeast along the east bank of the Liaohe River, and then turned to the south in the north of Changtu County to reach the north bank of the Yalu River, which is usually called the side wall.Outside the border wall, northwards to the north of the Heilongjiang estuary were all under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty. Because Emperor Yongle went south to fight for power, he moved King Ning, who controlled the three guards (Duoyan, Fuyu, and Taining) to the inland area, loosening control over the border. management of this area.

The Ming Dynasty not only built the Great Wall in the north, but also set up nine important military towns along and nearby to strengthen defenses. "History of Ming Dynasty Bingzhi" said: "Starting from Yalu in the east and reaching Jiayu in the west, it stretches for thousands of miles and is divided into lands for defense. Four towns of Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, and Yansui were initially established, followed by three towns of Ningxia, Gansu, and Jizhou. Town, while Taiyuan’s general army governs Biantou, and the trilateral government is stationed in Guyuan, which is nine sides.” It can be seen that the centers of these nine border defense areas are all called towns, and the Taiyuan general army stationed in Biantou (now Pianguan) is sometimes stationed in Ningwusuo (now Ningwu County), so it became the seat of Shanxi Town.Guyuan Prefecture is now Guyuan County in Ningxia. It can support Ningxia Town (now Yinchuan) in the north, Gansu Town (now Zhangye City) in the northwest, and Yansui Town (now Yulin City) in the northeast, which was the seat of Shaanxi Town at that time.In the north is Xuanfu Town in today's Xuanhua, Datong Town in today's Datong City, Jizhou Town in Santunying in the northwest of Qianxi County today, and Liaodong Town has moved more frequently, including Liaoyang, Guangning (now Beizhen County, Liaoning), Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan (now Xingcheng City, Liaoning) and other places were also revoked relatively early.In the Ming Dynasty, not only governors were set up in the Nine Borders, but three governors were added later, namely, Governor Jiliao, Governor Xuanda and Governor of Shaanxi Trilateral Governor. Before the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, the soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty (later changed to the Qing Dynasty) had penetrated into the interior.