800,000 Ming troops captured Vietnam: Why did they voluntarily give up after 20 years?

Frontier issues have always been more complicated, and neighbors often have frictions because of trivial matters, and things between countries are inevitably a bit stumbling. For example, Vietnam, our southern neighbor, has a long history of discord with China. Vietnam has been incorporated into Chinese territory many times, and every time it is found that China and Vietnam are too congenial to live together. Vietnamese culture is loyal to Zhonghua Mu. They really want to live under one roof, and neither of them is comfortable.

Zhu Yuanzhang understood this truth. He showed little interest in Annan (Vietnam was called Annan in ancient times, 1803 was renamed Vietnam) and put Annan on the list of fifteen countries that were not allowed to conquer. Zhu Yuanzhang said: "(Annan) is confined to a mountain across the sea and isolated in a corner. Its land is not enough for supply and its people are not enough." This place in Vietnam is far from China, so the traffic is inconvenient. If you get this place, you can't provide taxes to the government. The government must subsidize funds to maintain it. If you get it, people here won't need it, and you can't let them travel thousands of miles to serve. Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was not cost-effective to conquer Annan, so he made it clear that his descendants must never do stupid things to chase Annan's territory.

Annan's situation changed suddenly in the early Ming Dynasty. At the same time of the battle of Jingnan, the king of Chen Dynasty in Vietnam was forced to abdicate and give way to the powerful minister Li. Li and his son proclaimed themselves emperors and slaughtered the descendants of Chen's royal family. They also harassed the Ming border to the north and attacked the small country to occupy the city to the south. From time to time, the newly enthroned Yongle Emperor received battle reports from the border areas of the Ming Dynasty, and cries of small countries occupying cities. Of course, his father Zhu Yuanzhang calculated the economic account, and his son Judy knew in his heart that he didn't want to crusade against Annan unless he had to.

This last move happened. 1405, the descendants of Annan Chen went to Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and cried to Emperor Yongle, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, about the tragic situation that his family was usurped by the Li regime and slaughtered wantonly. Although Emperor Yongle himself sought to usurp the throne, once he took the position of emperor, he was also jealous of the usurpation of the throne by officials. He denounced the behavior of Li's father and son as "unacceptable to the gods of heaven and earth", and also denounced that Annan people were bullied by traitors. The whole country is a sinner. How can you tolerate it? In a rage, the emperor buried millions of corpses and bled for hundreds of miles. The Annan people were frightened at once, and quickly went to the table to apologize, saying that they welcomed the descendants of Chen to return to the throne and return to the throne.

Hearing this, Emperor Yongle sent five thousand chosen men to escort Chen's descendants back to Annan to reign. Unexpectedly, Emperor Li ambushed 100,000 people on the peninsula and wiped out all the descendants of Chen and the elite 5,000 soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. The news reached the ears of Emperor Yongle in Nanjing, and Yongle was furious! I heard that with one hand and one hand, people and gods were angry! It is intolerable that the teacher of the King of China should be calculated by Annan!

So, regardless of Zhu Yuanzhang's warning not to crusade against Annan, everyone agreed to send troops to crusade against Annan, singling out the blame and winning back the face of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yongle has been a soldier all his life, and his elite soldiers have just been baptized in the battle of Jingnan. 1406, a so-called 800,000-strong army stopped flogging and quickly captured the capital of Annan.

Annan people saw that the Ming army was so powerful. Anyway, Li and his son fled the capital, and the original Chen royal family was wiped out. Unable to find a decent place to be emperor, they simply surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, hoping to propose that the Ming Dynasty set up counties and counties in Annan to govern Annan and bring Annan into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yongle readily accepted, of course, that the expedition of the Ming Dynasty was not only to avenge Wang Chen of Annan. 1407, after the destruction of Annanhu in Ming Dynasty, it acquired 15 state with a population of 3.2 million. It called the occupied Vietnamese land "Chief Secretary" and Annan became the local administrative unit of the Ming Dynasty.

It's a pity that Annan, a country that admires China in cultural etiquette and takes China as its teacher, is unwilling to become a county in China in political position. During the twenty years from 1407 to 1426, the local opposition forces in Annan emerged constantly, which made the Ming army exhausted. Yongle sent troops to make repeated conquests to maintain the nominal rule of the Ming Dynasty.

After the death of Emperor Yongle, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, who had just succeeded to the throne, simply ordered the withdrawal of troops from Annan at 1427 and abolished the chief secretary. It is estimated that after the Ming Dynasty occupied Vietnam, the annual military expenditure was at least 3 million taels, while the tax collected from Vietnam by the Ming Dynasty was only 72,000 taels at most. In this way, the Ming dynasty occupied Annan for more than 20 years and spent nearly 3 million taels of silver every year to supply military and political expenses. In the long run, it will undoubtedly be a heavy financial burden of the Ming Dynasty. What's more, the threat from the Mongols in the north has always existed. It is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to maintain the long-term state of simultaneous fighting between the North and the South.

Besides, Vietnamese also have a bad impression of the Ming Dynasty. In the history book "Da Shi Yue Ji Quan Shu" written by the Vietnamese themselves, "the bandits in the north were cruel and the people in the south were trapped" was used to describe the history occupied by the Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of Vietnamese, the troops from the Ming Dynasty in the15th century were similar to those from the other side of the Pacific Ocean in the 20th century. Ancient China accidentally left a disgraceful image in neighboring countries.

Fortunately, Ming Xuanzong, who inherited the Yongle throne, was a stubborn emperor in history and had no great talent. As soon as Yang Shiqi and other ministers persuaded him, he would show off, let the 80,000 Ming troops stationed in Annan leave and abolish the Chief Secretary. Although the Ming Dynasty ended its short rule over Annan, Annan remained a vassal state of China and paid tribute to China. In fact, the Ming dynasty no longer occupied Vietnam's land and recognized Vietnam's status as a vassal state, which was also a relief for the Ming dynasty itself. After returning to the tributary trade order system, Viet Nam still actively studied China culture and maintained good relations with China. More than a hundred years later, the Ming Dynasty still had a chance to incorporate Vietnam into Chinese territory, but China learned from the past and treated it calmly.

Around 1537, civil strife broke out again in Annan regime. The Vietnamese once again asked the Ming Dynasty to send troops to quell civil strife. Emperor Jiajing's army was stationed at the south gate of the town, ready to invade Vietnam. 1539, the monarch of the rebel army and the minister of Mohs regime took the initiative to send people to the south gate of the town to demand surrender, and presented Annan's land book and household registration book to the Ming emperor, willing to incorporate Annan's regime into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming dynasty reduced Annan from a vassal state to a vassal state and reduced Annan to the commander-in-chief of Annan. Guo was recruited once every three years, and was nominally reintegrated into Chinese territory, but in fact it was still directly ruled by the King of Yue. This is another political wisdom of China. Take a step back and win more space.