Why did the Ming Dynasty only keep Yunnan and lose Vietnam?

Yunnan is now an ordinary province in China, but for a long time in ancient times, Yunnan had a relatively independent secondary civilization (Nanzhao-Dali regime), and it was not until A.D. 1254 that Mongolia conquered Dali. In the 11th year of Yuan Dynasty (1274), the government of Yuan Dynasty established Yunnan as a book province, and Yunnan officially belonged to Chinese territory.

However, this control is not strict. The remnants of Dali still exist, and the local Chinese culture in Yunnan is not prosperous. After Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty, there were two remnants in Yunnan. One is the remnants of Mongolian Yuan headed by the late Liang Wang; The other is the local strongman force headed by Dali. In September of the 14th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (138 1), Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of Ming Dynasty, appointed Fu Youde, the Hou of Yingchuan, as the general of southern expedition, the Hou of Yongchang as the left vice president and Pinghou Xi as the right vice president, and led 300,000 Ming expeditions to Yunnan. In February of the following year, the whole territory of Yunnan was completely pacified, realizing the basic reunification of the Ming Dynasty.

From then on, Yunnan was firmly controlled by the central dynasty and became a part of Chinese territory. Complete control of Yunnan is one of the greatest contributions of the Ming Dynasty to Chinese territory.

However, the Ming dynasty's exploration of southwest China was not limited to Yunnan and Guizhou. 1406, the domestic political situation in Annan (North Vietnam) was chaotic, and the Yongle Emperor Zhu Dinan recruited Annan and completely conquered him. Later, he set up a diplomatic department and formally annexed it, expanding the territory of the Ming Dynasty to Indochina Peninsula.

However, this time it didn't work. Annan's domestic rebellion continued, and the Ming Dynasty was in a panic. Finally, Li Li, an aristocrat of Annan, rose up against the Ming Dynasty and defeated the Ming army many times. The Ming Dynasty had no choice but to give up Annan. After ruling Annan for 20 years, 1428, Ming Xuanzong officially abolished the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Vietnam became independent again.

Why did the Ming Dynasty capture Yunnan, but failed to defend Annan? There are three main reasons.

First, righteousness and birthright are different.

In fact, as far as geographical relations are concerned, the connection between Yunnan and the Central Plains is not as close as that of northern Vietnam (Red River Plain), so ancient Yunnan was separated from the Central Plains dynasty for a long time, and in most cases, the Central Plains dynasty was not interested unless there were special circumstances (Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty visited the southwest, Zhuge Liang visited the south, etc.). ); Northern Vietnam has been the direct jurisdiction of the Central Plains Dynasty since Qin and Han Dynasties.

Just because Annan is too far away, assimilation is not easy and out of reach, there has been constant resistance. In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Annan defeated the Southern Han Army and achieved independence. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, it was almost 500 years! The people of Annan have long been accustomed to independence as a country. If the Ming dynasty annexed Annan again, it would naturally be resisted.

Yunnan is different. Although Yunnan was independent for a long time in history, the Yuan Dynasty ruled this place after all. According to the rules of the Central Plains Dynasty, subsequent dynasties should inherit all the territory of the previous dynasty. It is only natural that the Ming Dynasty attacked Yunnan and took Yunnan as its own territory.

Second, the efforts of the former dynasty.

There was little resistance in controlling Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty, so I have to say that the Yuan Dynasty also contributed. 1274, the Yuan Dynasty appointed Sayyid Shams Din 'Umar (Semu), a wise minister, as the governor of Pingzhang Province in Yunnan, and immediately began to operate and build Yunnan.

He imitated the mainland in Yunnan and vigorously promoted the county system, which made the administrative system of Yunnan converge with the mainland; In addition, develop agriculture, build water conservancy and enhance Yunnan's economic strength; At the same time, Yunnan has also been assimilated to some extent by vigorously strengthening the establishment of Yunnan's transportation system, vigorously increasing the links between Yunnan and the mainland, promoting Confucianism to run schools, and educating barbarians.

By the Ming Dynasty, the local Han people in Yunnan had reached a certain scale and had much closer ties with the mainland, which made the Ming Dynasty's rule over Yunnan a pillar.

Third, the ruling strategies of the Ming Dynasty were different.

After the Ming Dynasty took control of Yunnan, the policy was very successful. The Ming dynasty mainly did these things.

First, continue to immigrate to the real border. After the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty, it began to immigrate to this area on a large scale, and millions of people immigrated to Yunnan from Huguang and Jiangxi. The arrival of these people not only greatly promoted the development of Yunnan, but also made the local ethnic composition in Yunnan change rapidly. Han civilization became the absolute main culture in Yunnan, and various ethnic minorities in Yunnan also actively moved closer to Han civilization (a typical example is the wooden toast of Naxi nationality), which made the Ming Dynasty control Yunnan.

The second is the assimilation movement. After the Ming dynasty controlled Yunnan, it destroyed the traces left by the original Nanzhao Dali civilization system on a large scale, and at the same time vigorously promoted Chinese culture, which made Yunnan's local civilization almost extinct and Yunnan completely became an area ruled by Chinese civilization.

The third is to send important officials to guard Yunnan. After the Ming army retreated from Yunnan, it was afraid of instability here. Zhu Yuanzhang sent his adopted son Mu Ying to guard Yunnan for generations. Muying is famous in Yunnan's war and management, and locals dare not follow. Therefore, Mu Ying's guarding of Yunnan played a great role in the stability of Yunnan's order. After Mu Ying and his descendants guarded Yunnan, they launched a large-scale crackdown on the barbarian forces around them who did not obey the management of the Ming Dynasty, and finally made the order in Yunnan completely stable.

Over time, Yunnan has been firmly controlled by the central government, and the control has become stricter and stricter.

However, in Annan, there were serious mismanagement in the Ming Dynasty, the first of which was official corruption, which made the local people in Annan extremely dissatisfied with the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Secondly, there was no national policy of immigrating to Annan, which made the Ming dynasty's rule over Annan always lack a foundation; Subsequently, Zhang Fu, a British public servant, made some achievements in Annan. However, due to the serious threat from northern Mongolia and Judy's fear of Zhang Fu's self-respect, Zhang Fu was frequently mobilized, which made Annan unable to calm down. When evaluating this period of history, later generations thought that we should take Mu as an example and let Zhang Fu guard his toes from generation to generation so that his toes would not be lost.

It is precisely because of these mistakes that although the Ming Dynasty ruled for a short time, it never fully digested this place and became a lasting regret.