Liaodong immigrant health clinic

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the emergence of various problems such as North Korea's political and financial income, the once prosperous Ming Dynasty began to face a series of crises, among which the rise of the post-Jin regime in Northeast China was one of the major hidden worries of the Ming Dynasty. Under the leadership of Nurhachi, the Jurchen tribe gradually unified and became a force to be reckoned with.

Portrait of Nurhachi

However, the lack of good management of Liaodong affairs by the Ming government gave the post-Jin regime an opportunity to develop. It was only after the forces of the late Jin Dynasty gradually grew that they thought of strengthening border defense and hoped to regain control of Liaodong area. In this process, the famous minister Xiong Tingbi played a very important role.

Not only did we rectify the Liaodong army, whose combat effectiveness dropped sharply, but we also set up a very perfect defense system along the Liaohe River. After the battle of Salhu, Nurhachi's March was successfully repelled. However, the dark politics of the Ming Dynasty had a serious negative impact on Xiong Tingbi at that time, which also provided an excellent opportunity for the late Jin Dynasty to seize Shenyang and Liaoyang and other military towns.

The Deterioration of Northeast China in the Late Ming Dynasty and Xiong Tingbi's Defense Strategy

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Emperor Judy attached great importance to the border defense work in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, because the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty still had good fighting capacity. The health station system they established made a large number of people in Liaodong become specialized military households, thus ensuring the sufficiency of border guards.

However, with the emergence of economic problems in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the border guards were short of salaries. In addition, the poor management of Ming officials, the excessive power of officers in Jiankangyuan and the cruel exploitation of soldiers made the Ming government's control over soldiers in Northeast China decline.

Distribution of Liaodong Health Stations in Ming Dynasty

At the same time, the generals who have lived in Liaodong for a long time have also formed their own interest network, which has certain connections with the local late Jin and Mongolian nobles. Many northern generals paid more attention to protecting their own interests than to being loyal to the Ming Dynasty, which also laid the groundwork for the frequent rebellion of later Ming generals.

Moreover, at that time, most people in Northeast China were in a multi-ethnic state, and many Han people even took the initiative to live in areas under the jurisdiction of the late Jin government in order to avoid the exorbitant taxes and levies of the Ming government. This made it easy for the spies of the late Jin Dynasty to enter the Liaodong defense line, and also laid a lot of hidden dangers for the defense of the Ming Dynasty.

Most importantly, since Wanli, there have been a lot of civil strife in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult for the Ming government to continue to send enough military pay and materials to Liaodong, which makes the weapons and equipment of Liaodong soldiers dilapidated. At the same time, Nuerhachi, who unified the ministries of Jurchen, began to use Han and Korean craftsmen to make a large number of well-made weapons and armor in the Houjin area, which made the fighting capacity of the Houjin army significantly higher than that of the Ming defenders.