Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1440 Destiny Is Hard to Break (Part [-])
Chinese culture has a characteristic, just like the Tai Chi Yin Yang fish, it can always see the pros and cons of one thing.The Han people often say that "it depends on man's efforts" and "man can overcome nature".But at the same time, there is another saying among the Han people, which is called "people plan things, and heaven makes things happen", or "heaven's destiny is hard to break".

Nurhachi insisted that "it depends on man's efforts", and he probably thought in his heart that "man will conquer nature", but in the original history, after he stood up and turned against the Ming Dynasty, he regarded himself as "mandate of heaven".It can be seen that no matter who it is, as their identity changes, their thoughts and positions will also change accordingly.The so-called dragon slayer will eventually become a dragon in later generations is probably the same reason.

But at this time, Nurhachi is far from being a dragon, and he may not even be called a dragon slayer.He is just a mere "captive chieftain" who is trembling under the shadow of Longwei and trying every means to develop wretchedly.If it weren't for Jianzhou's soldiers being able to fight, they wouldn't even be ranked too high in the captive chieftain.

Fifty thousand Dingkou, how capable!
And how did Nurhachi make up the population in the original history?There are two key points: one is the victory of the Jurchen unification war, allowing Nurhaci to bring all the population of the Jurchen ministries under his command. At that time, the total population of the Jurchen was about 87. Although some were lost in the unification war, there were 60 left should have.

The second is that Daming himself gave Jurchen a lot of people.The key to this matter is the so-called "Gaohuai Chaos in Liao Dynasty" incident in history.At that time, Li Chengliang was in Liaodong for the second time, and because of the huge loss of the three major levies in Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun began to privately send mining tax eunuchs everywhere, and Gao Huai was the one sent to Liaodong.

This person extorted violently and rioted in Liaodong, but Li Chengliang not only did not stop him, but also joined forces with Gao Huai. In the end, a large number of Liaodong Han people had no choice but to take refuge in Jurchen, especially in Jianzhou.To what extent?At that time, Nurhachi was established as the capital of Jiefan City, and "the Han people and men and women outside the city came and went, half of them were in Hu"—the Han people accounted for half.

In the period of Huang Taiji, he paid more attention to the population issue.From his succession to his death, in 17 years, he entered the customs and invaded the mainland of Ming Dynasty five times, each time with the main purpose of plundering the population and property, and even clearly ordered "do not attack the city, but only plunder the villages and forts."

For example, in May of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji sent Azig and other troops to fight, captured 17 people and animals, and captured the general Chao Pichang alive.

In March of the 12th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army crossed the canal, broke through Jinan Prefecture in Shandong, defeated the enemy in the city, captured more than 25 people, and triumphed in April.

In the 15th year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji launched the last entrance battle during his lifetime, and finally hit Yanzhou, Shandong.Kesanfu, eighteen prefectures, and 67 counties defeated the enemy in 39 places, obtained 250 taels of gold, 220 taels of silver, and captured 270 people, cattle, horses, clothes, etc.

Therefore, the issue of Jurchen underpopulation has always been regarded as a key issue by the high-level leaders of the Later Jin Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and plundering the Han people is one of the very important strategies.

Compared with direct military conquest, high pragmatism hopes to solve fundamental problems.For example, Gao Yushi has always believed that "the iron needs to be hardened by oneself" when it comes to the Jurchen rule or restraint in Liaodong. If the local strength of Liaodong alone can crush the Jurchen family, how can it be like it is in history?
Whether it is reforming the saltworks or building an iron factory, these are all strengthening "equipment" and are external forces.What is more critical is actually internal force, that is, people.You must know that the Han people in Liaodong at this moment are only about a million or so. Facing the Jurchens who are now competing for supremacy, they can still divide and rule.

Therefore, this time Gao Wu decided to divide the Jianzhou Jurchen into two guards, and at the same time, he was also considering another more fundamental issue: Is it possible to evacuate the population to Liaodong, which can not only alleviate the problem of land annexation in the interior, but also consolidate Liaodong. Its own ability to rule?
Before sending the order to Gao Yimin, he had repeatedly deliberated and carefully demonstrated that it was still possible to do so, but the effect may not be as successful as "Crossing the Guandong" in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.

The first thing to explain is that the basic market of Dayuan that Da Ming took over is full of desolation, and all industries are waiting to be flourished.At that time, the whole of North China was in ruins during the Han-Song uprising in the last few decades of the Yuan Dynasty. Even the traditional Central Plains such as Shaanxi and Shanxi had become virgin forests, not to mention Liaodong thousands of miles away. peninsula.

Thus, after the initial unification of China, the Ming Dynasty began the last large-scale nationwide immigration in the history of Chinese immigration.In a sense, the Hongwu immigration can be regarded as the re-colonization and re-consolidation of the traditional Han areas by the Han people since the Han and Tang Dynasties.

Before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, after the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the Han nationality was really embarrassed during this period of decline and low tide: they lost Yanyun, lost Henan, lost Hebei, lost Hexi, lost Ningxia, lost Hetao, lost Vietnam... At the end of the journey to the south, it was still impossible to escape. The flag of the Mongolian army was even planted on the island of Java, which made people feel so embarrassing!

In the Northeast, since the Western Jin Dynasty in the fourth century AD, the four counties of Korea in the Han Dynasty were lost, and Liaodong was also lost.In addition to the brief military occupation in the early Tang Dynasty, the Andong Protectorate was withdrawn again and again, from Pyongyang to Liaodong, and then from Liaodong to Liaoxi.

In the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the early years of Kaiyuan, the hard work of the two generations of Taizong and Gaozong was in vain. The achievement of the destruction of Goguryeo was stolen by Silla, and Liaodong also became the sphere of influence of the Balhae Kingdom.Then after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty, which could not even be controlled by the three towns in Hebei, what about the restoration of Liaodong and Jin'ouquan?

Adding up the above time, the land of Liaodong, the Han Chinese Central Plains Dynasty has probably been lost for more than 1000 years.

When the Ming army conquered Yanyun, and the water and land lands boarded Liaodong again, I am afraid that it was not much worse than the "Western Regions, 1000 years, goodbye is Iraq."And Daming, facing the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties that had been away for more than 1000 years, began to manage the Northeast without a foundation for rule.

In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, Hongwu not only garrisoned troops in Liaodong, but also immigrated at the same time.The immigrants were mainly the army, exiled prisoners, and criminal officials, which was roughly similar to the management of the Western Regions in the Han and Tang Dynasties.

However, the situation is very strange. Until the last year of Wanli, before Nurhaqi raised his troops, the population growth rate in Liaodong was not large, and even fell instead of rising in some periods.Gao Yushi thinks there are probably the following reasons:
One is that the living conditions in Liaodong have been harsh since ancient times. In the early Ming Dynasty, people bluntly said that Liaodong is an enemy on three sides, surrounded by Jurchen, North Korea, and Mongolia, and there must be constant warfare.

The second is the collapse of the military system of the Weisuo since Xuande. Hereditary officers annexed the farmland, drank the blood of soldiers, and ate empty wages. It has become a common phenomenon for soldiers to flee in large numbers.

The third was to withdraw from Daning in the Yongle year, and withdraw from Kaiping in the Xuande year (Gao Wuzhen’s current Kaiping was withdrawn from Kaiping), and after the Tumu Fortress change, the national defense policy of the Ming Dynasty changed from active defense or even active attack to passive defense.The connection between Liaodong and the Central Plains was during the Jiajing period. After the northern Mongolian tribes had established a firm foothold in Monan, the only road access was actually the Liaoxi Corridor. Liaodong lost its barrier and became an isolated land indirectly.And because of the construction of the side wall with concave characters in Liaodong, its strategic space was also locked in the peninsula.

Fourth, Ming Dynasty I, even in the powerful Hongxuan era, failed to truly rule Mongolia like the Qing Dynasty.

Fifth, after the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, Liaodong was completely positioned as a buffer zone for the capital to absorb damage, which exacerbated the situation in Liaodong's fourth war.

Going back to Liaodong in the early Ming Dynasty, the environment in Liaodong in the early Ming Dynasty was explained earlier, surrounded by enemies on three sides, Jurchen, North Korea, and Mongolia, none of them were fuel-efficient lamps.Therefore, Daming's management of the Northeast at that time was also an action aimed at these three.

During the Hongwu Period, Zhu Yuanzhang once planned to reset the Liaoyang Province of the Yuan Dynasty and directly control the Northeast. However, with the succession of Emperor Zhaozong of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, he not only united with the Zongwang of the Yuan Dynasty in the Northwest, but also with the Baobao Ministry of the Northwest to gain a firm foothold in Mobei. It fought small and medium-scale wars with Daming in Monan, such as sawing and demolishing towers; in the northeast, Naha, which belonged to Beiyuan, dispatched 20 troops, eyeing Ming Liaodong.

In this regard, after Zhu Yuanzhang consolidated and developed the national defense of the Ming Dynasty in the north, fortified the walls and suppressed the wilderness, immigrated through the five northern provinces, recuperated, and recovered, he continued to send generals on this basis to carry out the war of sweeping the north and clearing the desert. .

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang never gave up his efforts for a peaceful solution, but after Yuan Zhaozong refused to coexist peacefully with Daming, there was only one way to solve it by force.In the end, after the great victory in Lanyuerhai, the Beiyuan center was completely defeated, and Tianyuan Emperor Tuogusi Timur was killed while fleeing, and Beiyuan disintegrated and split.

Prior to this, the Ming army also surrendered Nahachu through the Battle of Jinshan, and at the same time recruited the Wuliangha tribe to achieve certain results. By setting up three guards, it became a barrier in Liaodong.

In fact, at this time, the Ming Dynasty had only a few large strongholds and sporadic fortresses in the north. The nine-sided system of later generations had to wait until the Jiajing period to fully implement it.At the same time, the initial completion of the Ming Great Wall was also during the Jiajing period.This is the situation in Mongolia.

While Zhu Yuanzhang was working on solving the Mongolian issue, the dispute between Ming and North Korea in Northeast Asia was becoming increasingly fierce.In the late [-]th century, following the uprising of the Red Turban Army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the peninsula Koryo took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains to get rid of the control of the Yuan Dynasty, and then actively implemented the northward policy, which pushed the northern boundary of Koryo from the Datong River to the banks of the Yalu River.

By the time Daming entered Liaodong, Koryo had not only established a stable rule along the Yalu River, but also began to appease the Jurchen tribe across the Yalu River.When the Ming Dynasty wanted to set up a guard post in the former Yuan Dynasty's old place in the northern part of the peninsula, Goryeo even intervened in Liaodong affairs in order to consolidate the achievements, and did not hesitate to launch a war.

At this time, Li Chenggui, a Korean general, staged a coup d'état on the way to the army, won the power of Korea, and later directly founded the country of Korea.However, the newly-born North Korean regime inherited the northward policy of the Goryeo era, and it contained a coveted heart for the Northeast.

It should be noted here that North Korea at that time was not the so-called harmless little China during the Wanli Aid Korea period. At that time, it was even called the small overlord of Northeast Asia, posing a fatal threat to Liaodong.

Facing the nascent North Korean regime, Zhu Yuanzhang did several clever things.First of all, because of the righteousness of the suzerain, North Korea has never been given an official title. In the end, Hongwu I did not formally confer Li Chenggui, but only gave a "right to know about Korea"-in name, Li Chenggui is still a temporary worker and usurper. If it is not right, it will not go well, leading to an embarrassing situation during the founding of North Korea.

Secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang used the tribute trade under the suzerain-vassal system to conduct unequal trade with the war horse resources left by North Korea in the Yuan Dynasty, or by means of barter, or by force to give North Korea tribute horses and plunder North Korea's war horses.

Since the Ming Dynasty was in an absolute dominant position in the trade between the two sides and monopolized the pricing and trading methods of war horses, after a long period of unequal trade, the quality and quantity of Korean war horses dropped sharply, and it was never possible to restore the grand occasion of the early Joseon Dynasty.This point has been mentioned earlier in this book, and the details will not be repeated here.

Again, Zhu Yuanzhang imposed a technical blockade on North Korea, and strategic resources were blocked as much as possible.For example, gunpowder formula, cannon-making technology, and beef tendon required for North Korean bows and crossbows were either restricted or not given.All in all, it is to do everything possible to weaken and restrict North Korea through non-war means.This is the case of North Korea.

So what about the Jurchen situation?Zhu Yuanzhang carried out recruiting work in the Jurchen area, but because the Hongwu period mainly targeted Mongolia and North Korea, the large-scale recruiting of the Jurchen was not carried out in the Yongle period.Hongwu’s appeasement of the Jurchen area was not as good as that of the North Korean regime on the peninsula, but it was also because of the long-term weakening of North Korea during the Hongwu period, which also made North Korea stop at the south bank of the Yalu River and no longer have the strength to enter the northeast.

Probably in the late Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty basically solved the Mongolian raids in the Northeast, coupled with the extraordinary achievements in weakening the Korean military, the work of recruiting and uniting the Jurchens began to be implemented.

On this issue, Zhu Yuanzhang has basically done what one generation does, which is far better than his economic work.During the Yongle period, the Ming Dynasty set up the Nuer Gandu Division in the Jurchen area, and carried out large-scale recruiting work, which basically solved the Jurchen problem. It abandoned the policy of combining the Monan Shitu Guards and the Jimi Guards in the Hongwu period in Mongolia, and fully implemented the Jimi Xutu, and five out In Mobei, Sanli captured the court, continuing Hongwu's aggressive offensive.

Then re-communicated with Wuliangha Sanwei, who had lost contact with the Jingnan War. In addition to insisting on necessary measures such as the Hongwu period's technical blockade, material restrictions, and horse purchases, he also gave up the area south of the Yalu River that was disputed with North Korea and concentrated on management. Jurchen area.

At this time, it could have been regarded as the golden age of large-scale immigration to Liaodong, but the Ming Dynasty in the Yongle period was very similar to the Gaozong period in the early Tang Dynasty.By inheriting the achievements of the previous dynasty's painstaking efforts, adhering to the suzerain-vassal world view with Chinese characteristics, focusing on restraint, supplemented by powerful military strikes, and economic control, the sphere of influence of its own territory has been expanded to the extreme.

However, similar to the collapse of the military system in the early Tang Dynasty, the Weisuo system collapsed in the early Ming Dynasty, and most areas either gave up in fact or put it on hold.At the same time, it is also facing insufficient population. The Guanzhong area is like Yunnan-Guizhou, and the Huguang area is not saturated yet, and there is not much energy to put Liaodong in the first place.

The emigration dilemma of Yongle in the early Ming Dynasty was that, first, the Battle of Jingnan took away the military power in Monan during the Hongwu period, and the capital of Daning was also in name only at the beginning of Yongle, and simply moved inward.Even though the Mongolian tribes did not dare to go south to stabilize their nomads due to the strong military threat in the early Ming Dynasty, forming a vacuum area, but there was no stronghold for protection and support during the immigration process.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it reached the Wanli era, and the main dilemma was the opposite of that in the early Ming Dynasty.There is enough population, but the state's executive power has declined, and the Weisuo system has collapsed.The strength of Ji Liaoxuan's big frontier army has declined significantly compared to the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The defense of the land is still passable, and the extension of the border is basically a dream.

Especially during the Wanli period, they caught up with the three major battles. Although winning was a win, it was almost considered a blow to the family after the fight. If you think about expansion, you have no such strength at all.

However, the emergence of Gao Pragmatism changed this situation and made him feel that he had a solid foundation for immigrating to Liaodong.

First of all, half of the Mongolian problem has been solved, and the other half can be solved with a high probability in three or four years; secondly, the North Korean problem no longer exists. At this time, North Korea has long been weak, and it will take a few years for the Japanese to plow it. Not to mention after that, it is very likely that Daming will do what he says, and will be completely reduced to a son's regime.

The only problem is Jurchen, but at this time it is only the 16th year of Wanli, not the 46th year of Wanli. Nurhachi is still too early to rise. Not grim.

Liaodong now has corn, tussah silk, cotton, coal fire kang, sea salt, iron factories, Hokkaido rice, etc., as well as highly pragmatic armed households and Xuanda elites arranged in advance. It can be said that apart from the population itself, other conditions are basically complete. , It is completely possible to wait for the arrival of immigrants to enrich the local area of ​​Liaodong.

This is also one of the important reasons why it is necessary to stabilize the Liaodong border at this stage and not to fight in a leisurely manner.If there are still any problems, it is probably that this kind of thinking has not yet been formed in the court, let alone policies.

The only good news is probably that Gao Pragmatic is the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and after years of hard work, Zhu Yijun also felt that the Ming court was doing nothing wrong for disaster relief. Now whenever a disaster occurs, he will ask the Ministry of Accountancy to see if there is anything There are ways to think about it.

The victims in the disaster area are the best immigrant targets that Gao Pragmatism can think of.The Little Ice Age caused disasters from north to south. Migrating the victims from the north to Liaodong first can not only relieve the pressure on the disaster-stricken areas, but also enrich Liaodong. It can be described as the best of both worlds.

In other words, the difficulty is probably how to transport the disaster victims and resettle them properly.However, there is a pragmatic way to do this. Jinghua's water transportation capacity can obviously be used, and the Liaohe Hetao area recovered after the Liaonan War is obviously the best resettlement place-it is also the Liaohe Plain.

Gao Yimin looked at Cao Yu who had talked with him just now, and thought in his heart: The master wants to use Cao Yu's contribution to divide and build the state to pull Li Chengliang down, push Cao Yu to the position of Liaodong commander, and then reclaim the Liaohe Hetao Plain. But I don't know if Nurhachi in Hetuala City intends to resist stubbornly, or choose to "surrender and lose half"?
As he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard an order from outside reporting: "Report——Marshal, the captive chieftain Erbeile Shuerhaqi sent an envoy to pay homage!"
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(End of this chapter)