Decline of navy in Ming dynasty

In the mid-Ming Dynasty, the once powerful China navy declined rapidly, which made the national security space of the Ming Empire in the North Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific region shrink sharply. Thus, it changed the power pattern in the eastern hemisphere and affected the process of modern world history.

In the early Ming Dynasty, China had a navy with 3,500 warships, which carried out large-scale cruises every spring and summer. 1373 and 1374, the Ming navy pursued the Japanese pirates twice until they reached the Ryukyu Islands, and defeated the Vietnamese pirates in Beibu Gulf in 1409. On Zheng He's sixth voyage, a China sub-fleet bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Atlantic Ocean until southwest Africa. Another sub-fleet crossed the Solomon Islands into the Pacific Ocean until the east coast of Australia. In Malacca Strait, Sri Lanka and Sumatra, the challenges to China's sea power were all dashed, 36 envoys surrendered to the Ming Empire, and China became the most powerful maritime country at that time. As a result, the overseas empire of Daming was formed, which consisted of trading fortresses in the North Indian Ocean, Malay Peninsula, Nanyang Islands and Iwo Jima. But great hegemony began to decline in the middle of the fifteenth century. The decline of the Ming navy began in the orthodox period, abandoned to the bottom in Jiajing period, and strengthened at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Its specific performance is as follows

First: the coastal health center is empty and the navy's morale is low. Wei Suojun is a hereditary professional army, with a meager salary and only one stone per month. He is exploited by officers and has a hard life. As the source of military pay, the military camp suffered from the decline of noble officers' profession, which led to meager military pay and a large number of soldiers fleeing. For example, in the middle of Jiajing, Guangzhou Qiwei was vacant by 69.8%, and Fujian Wei Zhenhai was vacant by 76. 1%. At the same time, the soldiers' morale is low, their combat effectiveness is seriously reduced, and they are poor and undisciplined. Officers don't know how to fight, they only exploit soldiers, and officers and soldiers are killing each other.

Second: the fleet is reduced and the ships are damaged. The sharp drop in the number of troops stationed in hospitals has also led to a sharp drop in naval personnel. For example, the shortage of Fujian Fenghuomen Water Village reached 73.7%, Tongshan Water Village reached 65.8%, and the number of ships in each fleet dropped sharply. The original fleet of 700 warships in Zhejiang Province was reduced by less than half in 1440, and the fleet of Xinjiangkou was 400 warships, leaving only 65,438 warships in 1474. There used to be 100 warships. In 1503, there were only three warships left. At the same time, shipbuilding declined. During Zheng He's voyage to the West, 2,000 treasure ships slowly rotted in the harbor. By the beginning of16th century, there were only 400 warships used by the Ming navy, all of which were made of wood from old ships.

Third, the coastal defense strategy has regressed and the sea defense line has shrunk. The offensive and defensive strategy was implemented in the early Ming Dynasty. In order to deal with the maritime threat from Japanese pirates, thousands of warships are sent to patrol the north and south seas every year, which is called spring patrol and summer patrol. First of all, use the fleet to patrol the sea, guard against reconnaissance and find opportunities to destroy the enemy. When pirates go deep into the inland sea, they use the alarm communication system to concentrate the navy and the defenders of the outer islands to annihilate them together. If the enemy lands, the navy and coastal guard forces will cooperate to annihilate. In addition, the Ming army often sent fleets to attack enemy-occupied islands and smash the bases of the Japanese pirates. The climax of the offensive strategy is that the Ming army has reached the Korean coast and Ryukyu Islands in the battle to pursue the Japanese pirates. In order to eliminate the maritime threat from Southeast Asia, Zheng He's fleet fought in the Straits of Malacca. In a word, destroying the enemy at sea is the core of coastal defense strategy.

After Ren Xuan, the Ming Dynasty began to shrink the sea defense line, the ocean fleet was recalled, the construction of large ships stopped, the island base was abandoned, the navy was hit hard by the retreat policy, and the sea defense line was pushed back to the coast from the distant sea and even the ocean.

Of course, the decline of the navy is relative. Until16th century, the China navy could still defeat the Portuguese navy three times in the South China Sea. War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's failure was not mainly in equipment and tactics, but actually in fighting against a Japanese mercenary equipped and commanded by a China businessman. However, the great decline of the navy is beyond doubt. In Zheng He's time, China once had the status of the US Navy today. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, the navy could no longer find the grand occasion of maritime expedition, and it was reduced from an ocean-going navy to a maritime escort. The reduction of personnel, the defection of the fleet and the contraction of the sea defense line have profound social motives:

First of all, the disappearance of the power to expand to the ocean is the most obvious reason for the decline of the navy. The maritime threat of Japanese archipelago, the high profits of overseas trade and the migration of population to the southeast have aroused the attention to the defense of the southeast coast and the elimination of Zhang Shicheng. Fang Guozhen's overseas remnants constituted the motive force for the development of the navy in the early Ming Dynasty.

Under the attack of the Ming navy, the enemy suffered heavy losses. /kloc-in the middle of the 5th century, the Japanese invaded only 14 times, of which 10 times was defeated, and the Japanese did not dare to invade. Coupled with the rise of Sino-Japanese exploration and trade, Japanese organizers have legal trade channels, and the threat of the Japanese seems to be a secondary issue.

Under Zheng He's military repression and the recruitment of soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, China refugees based in Southeast Asia were eliminated, especially after Chen Zuyi was eliminated, they either took refuge in the Ming Dynasty or disappeared, and the Southeast Asian Chinese trade network formed since the Southern Song Dynasty was shattered, which could no longer pose a threat to the mainland. Whether in coastal defense security or in trade monopoly.

The glory brought by the sea expedition was great, but the profit of the tribute trade soon disappeared. With the decline of Ming military power and the devaluation of paper money, the Ming court could no longer make profits by forcibly lowering prices and paying paper money. 1433, in the Ming dynasty, you can buy spices at the current price of 5-50 yuan with semi-transparent paper money, and 50 yuan can buy one or two pieces of gold, while the official exchange rate is 400 yuan. But in 1453, when the market price of spices was 5-8 cents, the Ming court had to pay 70 cents in cash, so the tribute trade was unprofitable.

Finally, the three-century migration to the southeast coast stopped, and a large number of people returned to the inland. The population of Zhejiang dropped from 6.5438+005 million to 5.3 million, Fujian from 4 million to 2 million, and Guangdong from 3 million to 2 million. The northward movement of the population and economic center has greatly reduced the pressure of expanding to the ocean. A series of changes in this period reduced the Ming Dynasty's interest in the ocean, but the lack of stimulation was only one of the reasons for the decline of the navy.

Secondly, the Ming Dynasty invested resources in other aspects.

The enemy's threat is enormous, but by no means fatal. The biggest threat of Ming Dynasty came from nomadic cavalry in Mongolian plateau. The expedition in Hongwu and Yongle times caused great losses and split the Mongols, but when the Ming army declined, it launched a counterattack against the Ming Dynasty. 1449, the Mongolian army captured Ming Chengzu, and matched the capital. To prevent the threat from the north from becoming the strategic center of the empire, it is inevitable to retreat to the ocean.

Most Ming officials did not understand the importance of the navy, but diverted resources that should have been used for the navy. After the Grand Canal was opened, they transferred navy soldiers to the canal to transport food, and sailors became transport workers. More than 70% of coastal soldiers were assigned to agriculture, 30% to shipbuilding, and a large number of naval personnel were transferred to Beijing to build palaces. The manpower of coastal defense is occupied by transportation, agriculture and construction. The most shameful thing is that the short-sighted emperors misappropriated a lot of money from the navy. 1425 The money saved by stopping the sea expedition was used to reward the emperor's family. 1436, the manufacture of warships was greatly reduced, and the funds were used to build the emperor's mausoleum.

Thirdly, the corruption of Ming regime and the backwardness of geopolitical thought are the important reasons for the decline of Ming navy.

The harm caused by corruption in the Ming Dynasty is obvious. The emperor privately divided the navy's salary, the eunuch used the transport fleet, the officer deducted the sailors' salary and used warships to smuggle, all of which caused the navy's fatigue. At the same time, the whole Ming Dynasty was caught in a partisan struggle, and no one cared about the maritime interests of the Ming Dynasty. The harm of corruption is obvious, but the ideological obstacles are really subtle.

China's ancient geopolitical thought has two fatal weaknesses. First, the lack of sea power concept is a typical continental geopolitical view. China is not a country lacking in maritime tradition. At the latest in the Spring and Autumn Period, there were shipping and navy. However, the strategic value of the ocean is neglected. Only Zheng He has a strategic vision of the ocean, and some members of Zheng He's fleet have the spirit of ocean exploration. Because of this, they went deep into the waters where no one had ever set foot. They were actually the first sailors to enter the South Pacific and the South Atlantic. However, their tragic origins doomed their efforts to fail. These rare navigators in ancient China were all discriminated eunuchs, and their success could only aggravate the hostility of the mainstream society to navigation. 1422, Zheng Heyuan was overseas, and the Ming dynasty bureaucrats finally made the emperor give up his attempt to expand overseas. Their reason is that the outside world is so big that we are afraid. Soon Zheng He was recalled, his fleet rotted in the harbor, his navigation materials were destroyed by the Ministry of War, the construction of ocean-going ships was stopped, overseas folk trade was banned, and the sea control right at hand was handed over to others. The lack of the concept of sea power has resulted in the continental doctrine in the national defense strategy, thus making it impossible for the navy to obtain sufficient resources.

The second achilles heel is the semi-fictional China-centered theory. Since ancient times, China has regarded himself as a celestial dynasty, regarded other countries as barbarians, indulged in the world-centered position of being true at first and illusory at last, and unwilling to understand the world outside the tributary circle. Because of the backward geographical view, it is considered that Zheng He has reached the whole world and has no power to compete with China at sea, so there is no need to keep the navy. [4] The cultural superiority brought by China's centrism made China adopt a cosmopolitan diplomatic line. Although there are geopolitical interests and resource trade considerations, it pays more attention to the implementation of values and the radiation of culture. This foreign strategy is much more civilized than colonialism and imperialism, but it is easy to ignore the strategic interests of the country. When Zheng He smashed the challenges from the Straits of Malacca, Ceylon and Java, the Ming Empire gained the legitimacy to control these strategic places, so that it could control the international routes between Asia and Europe. However, the traditional Huairou policy once again led to a missed opportunity, otherwise the Portuguese would not have the opportunity to enter the Far East. The lack of national consciousness led to the Ming Dynasty's automatic abandonment of overseas interests. Together, all this has led to a sad ending. When Western Europe borrowed money from Venetian bankers in order to build a navy, Liu Daxia, commander of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, will have important strategic value, and the navigation data obtained by Zheng He's fleet after risking his life for decades will be destroyed, which has been praised by all officials in the Ming Dynasty. If Zheng He knew what was going on underground, would he die unsatisfied? The withdrawal of a maritime force that once played an important role in the western Pacific Ocean and the northern Indian Ocean will undoubtedly have a far-reaching and complex impact, which will be discussed in detail below.

First, the collapse of the tributary trade circle in the North Indian Ocean.

As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, China businessmen played an important role in Indian Ocean trade, and this influence continued until16th century. For example, Goredo once said that he found many China trading posts on the Indian coast. According to another Portuguese book, according to the Hormuz people, there are many ships in China, and 4,000 ships in China entered the Strait at high tide. During Zheng He's voyage to the West, through military deterrence and peaceful trade, many Indian Ocean countries became vassals of the Ming Dynasty, forming a tributary trade circle in the North Indian Ocean. Including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the southwest coast of India, Hormuz, Aden and three cities on the east coast of Africa: Mogadishu, Mombasa and Rawal. These cities control trade routes to West Asia, East Africa and the hinterland of India.

At that time, the era of Arab businessmen monopolizing Indian Ocean trade had passed, and the Portuguese would not come until 1498. China had a century to control the Indian Ocean trade, thus making the Indian Ocean an inner lake of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, Daming will become a world maritime power and control the maritime silk spice road before the new air route is opened. Westerners will have no chance to establish hegemony in Asia and Africa. But all this vanished with the end of the sea adventure. Although tribute trade continues and there are many private merchant ships from China in the Indian Ocean, China has lost control of Indian Ocean trade. Without a strong maritime deterrent, foreign businessmen were unwilling to buy and sell paper money at official parity, and it was unprofitable to engage in tribute trade. The diplomatic relations between the Ming Dynasty and the countries in the North Indian Ocean were alienated. At the same time, the merchant fleet without maritime escort has no security. On July 7th,151/year alone, five China merchant ships were robbed by pirates in the Malacca Strait, but they were not protected by the motherland.

The Ming dynasty, which withdrew its navy from the Indian Ocean, was unable to protect its vassal in the North Indian Ocean. Less than a century after Zheng He's voyage to the Western Ocean, the tribute circle in the North Indian Ocean has collapsed. 15 1 1 year, Portugal occupied Laval; 1520 annexation of Hobasa and Mogadishu; 15 10 year, occupying the southwest coast of India; 15 165438, Malacca fell. At this point, except Aden, all the dependent countries of the Ming Empire in the Indian Ocean became Portuguese colonies, and the Chinese businessmen who once occupied an important position in Indian Ocean trade were either expelled or devastated. Due to heavy Portuguese taxes and piracy, China businessmen are at a disadvantage in the Indian Ocean. It is estimated that although the Portuguese do not have any competitive industrial products and shipping capacity in Indian Ocean trade, they still rely on the naval advantage to obtain huge profits, accounting for 80% of their total international trade profits. The Ming dynasty not only did nothing about it, but also knew nothing about it. Malacca fell, so we had to make an imperial edict to order Portugal to retreat and send troops to Thailand, because it had no soldiers in the Indian Ocean.

The collapse of the tributary trade circle in the North Indian Ocean wiped out seven expeditions and thirty years of operation, and China lost the opportunity to become a world empire. It also made the local people become slaves of Portugal and suffered cruel colonial rule. As the only Eastern Empire that can stop Portugal, China not only failed to assume the responsibility of protector, but also lost the military barrier and trade channel at sea, which is the last chance for China to become a global power.

Second, the shrinking sphere of influence in Southeast Asia.

Relatively speaking, the tribute circle in the North Indian Ocean is actually just some coastal cities. Apart from cultural superiority, China can only get giraffes, pearls and ginger. The value of these port cities lies in that they are strategic locations in the Indian Ocean. If they are controlled, they will control the international routes between Asia and Europe, while China is not a commercial colonial empire committed to maritime expansion.

Southeast Asia is much more important to China. Most of the main vassals of the Ming Empire were here, and the whole Indo-China Peninsula and most of the Nanyang Islands were vassals of China. Malacca and Jiugang are nominally overseas territories of China. In the tribute trade, China got minerals, timber, spices, gold, jewelry and rice from here. Especially tin ore and rice imported from Southeast Asia are of great significance to China's economy. The former is an important raw material for making copper coins, while the latter is a food source for Fujian and Guangdong residents. Through export or re-export to Southeast Asia, China's porcelain industry, textile industry, tea industry and shipbuilding industry have all made huge profits. Huge wealth, "more or less rich, the country also envies wealth."

Apart from trade, China immigrants also play an important role in the economy of Southeast Asia. At the same time, China established its own China-Southeast Asia system by adjusting international disputes and suppressing the hegemony of Java, Thailand, Vietnam and other regions, and incorporated Southeast Asia into its own China vassal system, thus establishing a huge strategic buffer zone in its southeast direction. Regarding the strategic position of Southeast Asia, Zheng He once said: "If the country wants to be rich and strong, it cannot ignore the ocean. Wealth comes from the sea, and so does danger. Once another king takes the ocean, China will be in danger. Our fleet is invincible and can be used to expand trade and subdue foreign countries so that they dare not covet the ocean. " After all, there are very few people with strategic vision like Zheng He. The Ming Dynasty not only retreated from Southeast Asia, but also severely suppressed Southeast Asian Chinese business groups, destroying the Chinese business network since the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

However, China businessmen turned to smuggling trade and even piracy trade, which finally forced the court to abandon the maritime ban. At the same time, under the pressure of population and tax, a large number of southeast coastal residents immigrated to Southeast Asia. Overseas Chinese have autonomous status, armed and strong economic strength in Southeast Asia. "Since the Ren Xuan era, Nanyang has been actively managed, and it has become a part of China. Economically, culturally and politically, Nanyang is a vassal of China. The civilization of Nanyang belongs entirely to the efforts of China people. If the Ming Dynasty can continue to operate, there is no need to wait for Europeans to come east. Southeast Asian countries have become the territory of China. "

Unfortunately, Zheng He's prediction was correct. Due to the retreat of the Ming navy, China lost control of Southeast Asia. After the withdrawal of the Chinese fleet, powerful countries in Vietnam, Thailand and other regions bullied the weak, and Southeast Asia fell into chaos again. "Zheng He's warships were withdrawn from Southeast Asia, and all the small countries and scattered islands immediately disintegrated and returned to the previous state of mutual deception." China only has the name of the suzerain, and has lost its maritime deterrent, so it can't stop the war for hegemony between vassal states. The relationship between the suzerain and the vassal became more and more empty, and finally became ceremonial. Annan once ignored the warning of the Ming empire and annexed this city belonging to the Ming princes.