The Historical Evolution of Daning Dusi

The geographical position and strategic value of Daning In order to find out the cause and effect of Emperor Yongle's abandonment of Daning, we must have a brief understanding of Daning's geographical position and strategic value. Daningcheng Site is located in Daming Town, southwest of Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, with seven old Tushan in the west, Nuruhur Mountain in the east and Laoha River in the south of Xiliaohe River. Daning controls the upper reaches of Liaohe River in the north, borders Daling River basin in the east, Fu Xuan in the west and Yanshan Great Wall in the south, which has a very important strategic position. The upper reaches of Liaohe River where Daning is located belong to semi-arid climate, which is suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry. In history, grassland nationalities went south, and immigrants from the Central Plains often met here, thus forming a mixed economic zone or cultural zone. In a long historical period, it was the focus of the struggle between the southern grassland tribes and the Central Plains dynasty, which contained profound historical connotations.

Before the Warring States Period, the Liaohe River Basin was always a stage for ethnic and tribal activities. In the middle of the Warring States period, Yan opened its borders to the outside world, established five counties, namely Shanggu, Yuyang, Liaodong, Liaoxi and Youbeiping, and built the Great Wall in its north, bringing the Liaohe River basin under the rule of the Central Plains dynasty. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the grassland tribes went south, and the Murong family of Xianbei took the upper reaches of Liaohe River as the base, established the Yan State, and went south to compete for the Central Plains. Longcheng, the capital of Yan State, is located in Chaoyang, Daling River Basin, with a linear distance of only over 200 miles to the west. The Northern Wei Dynasty set up Yingzhou in Chaoyang until the Anshi Rebellion, which was the political center for the Central Plains Dynasty to control the Northeast.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Qidan rose in the upper reaches of Liaohe River. Sixteen states were seized in the Five Dynasties, and the Liao Dynasty was established, spanning the north and south of the Great Wall. The Liao Dynasty implemented the system of five capitals, both of which were located in the upper reaches of Liaohe River, and Dading Capital was located in Daning City. The Jin Dynasty was established, following the Five Capitals System of Liao Dynasty, and changed Zhongjing Dading House to Beijing Dading House. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, it was changed to Daning Road, which belongs to Liaoyang Province and is still the most important political center in the upper reaches of Liaohe River.

After the destruction at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the reconstruction at the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Liaodong was seized from Yan State and counties were set up. The upper reaches of Liaohe River became not only the political center of northeast China, but also the most populous area. According to Jinshi, there are 13 1 954 households with a population of about 660,000 in Dading Prefecture and Huang Lin Prefecture of Zhongjing. In the process of Mongolia's southward migration, western Liaoning was seriously damaged, but Daning is still the political and economic center of Northeast China.

According to Yuan history, in the middle of Yuan Dynasty, there were 46,600 households with 448 193 mouths in Daning Road. At that time, the total population of Liaoyang province was only 600 thousand, and Daning Road accounted for more than two-thirds of the total population in Northeast China.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Red Scarf Army made a northern expedition, and in the 18th year of Zheng Zheng (1358), it burned Kaiping (now Zhenglan Banner in Inner Mongolia), the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, and successively captured Daning, Yizhou (now Fuxin in Liaoning), Liaoyang and Pyongyang in North Korea. In the following years, the Yuan government and the Red Scarf Army suffered repeated battles and losses in Daning and other places.

In August of the first year of Hongwu (1368), the Yuan Dynasty perished. However, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty were still entrenched in the south of the desert, sometimes heading south, threatening the security of the Ming Dynasty. In order to consolidate the northern frontier, the Ming Dynasty organized two large-scale campaigns to fight against the Yuan army north of the Great Wall. In the third year of Hongwu (1370), in the first month, Xu Da launched the Dingxi Campaign in Gansu, annihilated more than 90,000 Yuan troops, and expanded Timur to flee to Mobei. In February of the same year, Li Wenzhong led a crowd to launch the Battle of Yingchang (now in the territory of Keshiketeng Banner, Inner Mongolia), but only dozens of Yuan Dynasty governors rode out of the encirclement, and the south of the desert was empty. In the fourth year of Hongwu (137 1), the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty trapped in Liaoyang surrendered, the Ming army entered Liaodong, and the Yuan army Naha retreated to Jinshan in the Songhua River basin. It is worth noting that after the Battle of Yingchang, the Ming government did not restore the administrative settings in Daning and other places, but moved the population to the south. According to land records, in March of the fourth year of Hongwu alone, there were 17274 households, and 93878 people moved to the vicinity of Beiping. In June of the same year, 35,800 households (197,027 people) moved to the mountains again and settled in the east of Beiping. After that, many people moved one after another. In addition to being placed near Beiping, many of them are placed in Shandong. At the same time, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty also plundered residents from the north. After immigration and plunder by both sides, the west of Liaohe River and the north of the Great Wall have completely become no man's land, and the achievements of material civilization accumulated in the upper reaches of Liaohe River have disappeared since the Warring States Period.

In the fourteenth year of Hongwu (138 1), the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty began to show signs of decline. At the end of the 19th year of Hongwu (1386), the Ming government recruited 200,000 migrant workers and transported 123000 stone to Songtingguan, Fuyu, Huizhou, Daning and other places. In March of the following year, Duke Guo of Song led 200,000 troops out of Songting Pass and built four cities of Daning, He Kuan, Huizhou and Fuyu. In May of the same year, Shengfeng led an army deep into the Songhua River basin, forcing more than 300,000 people in Naha to surrender. In the twenty-first year of Hongwu (1388), aquamarine raided Yutong Sea (now Bell Lake in Inner Mongolia) and captured more than 80,000 remnants of the Yuan Dynasty. After two battles, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty were basically defeated, which created objective conditions for the reconstruction of the northern border defense system in the Ming Dynasty. In August of the 20th year of Hongwu (1387), the Ming Dynasty established Daningwei in Daningcheng, Yuan Dynasty. In September, the headquarters was established, divided into Daning left, right, middle, front and back. In the twenty-first year of Hongwu (1388), Daning DuSi was changed to the northern parallel DuSi, which was under the jurisdiction of 10 Wei, namely Xincheng Wei, Fuyuwei, Huizhou Wei, Muyu Wei, Quanning Wei, Yingzhou Zuotun Wei, Yingzhou Youtun Wei, Yingzhou Zhongtun Wei, Yingzhou Qiantun Wei and Yingzhou Houtun Wei. It basically covers the upper reaches of Liaohe River and Daling River Basin. After the establishment of Daning Dusi, the Ming government established a post system from Gyeonggi in the south, Fu Xuan (now Xuanhua, Hebei Province) in the west and Guangning (now Beizhen, Liaoning Province) in the east, connecting the northern frontier as a whole. Later, Confucianism was established, Mongolian was taught, and comprehensive cultural construction was carried out. During the Hongwu period, the establishment of Daning Dusi was not an isolated phenomenon, but a part of Zhu Yuanzhang's strategic layout of long-term stability in the northern frontier. Its core is to push the northern defense line to the southern edge of the desert, so as to control the transition zone between the Great Wall and the desert in our own hands. Therefore, before and after the establishment of Daning Dusi, the Ming Dynasty gradually established Guangning Dusi in the west of Liaohe River, linking Daning with Liaodong Dusi. Later, ten guards, such as Kaiping and Xingzhou, were set up in the west of Daning, integrating Daning with Fu Xuan, Datong and Dongsheng. In order to strengthen this line of defense, Zhu Yuanzhang also enfeoffed a number of Wang Sai, stationed in various military locations, and unified the army to defend the border. Among them, Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, was enfeoffed in Daning, with the king of Guangning and Liao in the east and the king of Gu in the west echoing at a distance.

Three reasons for delaying the restoration of Daning In the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), the battle of Jingnan broke out. In October of the same year, Judy, the prince of Yan, moved north to Daning, threatening Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, and moved south, leaving the upper reaches of Liaohe River empty. In the first year of Yongle (1403), after Judy ascended the throne, she changed Ning Wang to Nanchang and moved Daning to Baoding. As for Judy's reason for giving up Daning, the most widely circulated reason is that the Mongolian Wulianha Sanwei thanked the cavalry for helping him overcome the difficulties. The famous works that hold the theory of "appreciating three observances" are: A Study on Four Foreigners in Imperial Reading in the Late Jiajing Period, The Land in the Early Wanli Period, The Prehistoric Collection of Yizhou by Wang Shizhen in the Middle Wanli Period, The National Que by Tan Qian in the Early Qing Dynasty, etc. Because of this, The History of the Ming Dynasty was adopted. However, official history books such as Shi Minglu and Ming Hui Dian are not recorded. So, is the theory of cutting the ground really good? On this issue, Amin Guo Zaoqing once questioned in Lulong Cello. Wada Sei, a Japanese scholar, also made a rigorous textual research on this issue in "Research on the Three Guards of Infinite Ha" written by 1929. He pointed out: At the beginning of Jingnan, "Sanwei was far away in the northern base area, and it was impossible to be bought by Cheng Zu or threatened by Wang Ning." "Chengzu not only didn't get the help of Sanwei, but tried his best to control Sanwei." In fact, until the orthodox years, the Ming government did not allow Sanwei to live in Daning. Later, Mr. Jia Jingyan, a domestic scholar, also made a detailed textual research on this in the article "Ming Chengzu's Field Examination in Wuliangha" and reached a similar conclusion. Since giving up Daning is not a reward for five grains and three flavors, why not restore it? Amin Ye said in "Examination of the Four Dynasties" that Daning had to move Emperor Wen (Ming Taizu). At the beginning of the war, the obstacles were still empty, and it was difficult to love my brother, and the burden of prevention was in my heart. Relocation of expedient measures, waiting for the future. Secondly, it is said that there is an imperial edict to "destroy the remnants of Lu and defend Daning". Why not chop it to save the country? It's a pity to know that the ploughing is settled and the elm trees are flourishing (Ming Chengzu returned from the northern expedition to Mongolia and died in Yumuchuan). Ye believes that Emperor Yongle's abandonment of Daning is only a "temporary relocation, which is just a matter of waiting for the future". Therefore, later scholars followed his theory and asserted that Emperor Yongle would restore Daning in the future. I'm afraid this statement is inappropriate. In fact, during the more than 20 years of the reign of Emperor Yongle, Daning was basically in a vacuum, and there were many opportunities for recovery. Why wait? There may be other reasons. There may be many other reasons, but two can't be ignored. The first is food shortage. Since the establishment of Daningwei in the 20th year of Hongwu (1387), it has become a heavy burden for the Ming government to ensure the supply of rations. In March of the twentieth year of Hongwu, the Ming government mobilized civilian workers from Shandong, Beiping, Henan and Shanxi provinces to transport grain to Daning, and those who participated in the grain transportation were exempted from summer tax. In July of the same year, Daning put into storage 365,438+1000000 stone, Songtingguan 580,000 stone and Huizhou 250,000 stone, which added up to 65,438+10000000 stone. However, after only two years, Daning has run out of food, and "the army reserves are not given." As a result, it had to be changed to merchant salt in Xiaomi. "Where Daning lost five buckets of millet, he gave the salt to Huai and Zhe. "Due to effective policies, by the first month of the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), the millet accumulated in Daning had reached 620,000 stones. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to stop losing Xiaomi to Daning and let businessmen transfer Xiaomi to Dongsheng and other places. Through the above sporadic records, we can see how heavy the grain transportation pressure in Daning is. In order to ensure the food supply of Daning and other northern military towns, the Ming government used a lot of manpower and material resources to transport food from the south to the north, of which only the maritime transportation in Liaodong lasted for more than 30 years. In the early years of Yongle, in order to restore the broken economy in the north, it was necessary to go by sea again, but it was not long before it stopped one after another, and ships and personnel turned to the activities of going to the West. The solution of "reclaiming farmland, supplemented by salt" was changed from the northern military commissariat. But the situation in Daning is different. There have been no residents here since the early years of Hongwu. After the establishment of the garrison in the twenty years of Hongwu (1387), there is a good opportunity to restore the population. But at present, we haven't seen any records of the Ming government immigrating here. When the battle of Jingnan broke out, Emperor Yongle moved all the population to the south, and it became a no-man's land again. It is not easy to restore Daning and ensure the supply of rations for hundreds of soldiers. Secondly, the delay in the reconstruction of Daning is likely to be closely related to the strategic mistakes in the frontier of Emperor Yongle. The formation of China's northern frontier is the result of the comprehensive effects of geography, society, culture and many other factors. The Great Wall is the backbone of this frontier, including the vast areas north and south of the Great Wall. China's northern frontier has a special structure, and the frontier policy of the Central Plains Dynasty must adapt to this structure in order to achieve long-term stability. This was the social reality at that time and the long-term development of history. After twenty years of Hongwu (1387), Daning and other guards were established one after another, which is a correct understanding of this structure and history. Daning's withdrawal caused the disconnection between the realistic strategy and the frontier structure, which inevitably brought negative influence to the stability of the Ming Dynasty's frontier. Emperor Yongle, who had been stationed in the north for a long time and knew the interests of the northern frontier, did not know about this and did not want to remedy it. According to the analysis of existing historical data, he took at least two remedial measures on the issue of withdrawing troops from Daning, namely appeasement and conquest. After Emperor Yongle ascended the throne, he changed the frontier policy in Hongwu period and built a large-scale health center in the north, which was incomparable by later generations. However, as far as its effect is concerned, there are different opinions, especially for grassland tribes with great mobility, which is far from the original intention of implementing the policy, and "rebellion from time to time" has disturbed the court. In the early years of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty re-conferred the titles of Sanwei and Gewei, and restored the pre-war relationship, but Sanwei soon began to harass the northern part of the Ming Dynasty. As far as conquering is concerned, in just over 20 years, Emperor Yongle made many expeditions to the north, sending hundreds of thousands of people each time. The last expedition died on the way back in the 22nd year of Yongle (1389). Why did Emperor Yongle do this? The purpose, like the extensive establishment of health centers, is to make up for the shortcomings of the defense system in the northern frontier in this way, solve all problems once and for all, and lay the foundation for future generations. However, while trying to consolidate the northern frontier, Judy ignored an important fact, that is, both building a health center and "clearing the desert" are expedient measures, and it is difficult for future emperors to maintain these two measures because of the lack of talents. With the retreat of Daning, the northern frontier of Ming Dynasty retreated across the board, which created a huge vacuum in geography. However, if this vacuum is not filled by the Ming Dynasty, grassland tribes will inevitably fill it, which will lead to a fundamental reversal of the frontier structure, that is, the northern frontier will change from the Great Wall area to the Great Wall line, and frequent crises will bring great disasters to the lives of people of all ethnic groups in the north and south of the Great Wall.

In the first year of Yongle (A.D. 1403), the capital of Daning was abandoned, and the capital of Daning was moved to Baoding House, and all the guards and offices were moved to the Great Wall. Its land was abandoned and occupied by Beiyuan.

In the fourth year of Jingtai (AD 1453), Wuliangha Sanwei begged for the ghost town of Ju Daning, but the Ming court refused to let him live 200 miles away.

After Tianshun (A.D. 1457- 1464), the land entered the three measurements.