During the Ming Dynasty, present-day Vietnam was divided into two parts, called "Annam" in the north and "Champa" in the south.
During Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, both Annam and Champa maintained tributary relations with the Ming Dynasty. However, this relationship only lasted until the late Hongwu period;
By the Time of Yongle, this tributary relationship had come to an end, and Annam had gone from being an independent state to being part of the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty.
What's going on here?
Figure | Territory of the Ming Dynasty
During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the king of Annam was the Chen clan, and he always maintained a relatively close tributary relationship with the Ming Dynasty. However, in the late Hongwu period, the Minister of State of Annam, 'Li Jiyao', arbitrarily ruled and established himself as king after deposing the King of the Chen clan.
In the first year of the Ming Dynasty, Li Jiyao slaughtered the Chen clan and renamed him Hu Yiyuan as Emperor Taishang, and the throne was inherited by his son Li Cang.
In April of the first year of Yongle, Li Cang sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to congratulate Zhu Di on the throne, and told Zhu Di that after the death of Chen Rixuan, the king of Annam, there was no successor, and because he was the grandson of the Chen clan, he was elected as the new king of Annam.
At this time, Zhu Di had just succeeded to the throne, the situation was unstable, and he needed someone to support him, so he simply made Li Cang the king of Annam.
The following year, after the Lao military and civilian propaganda envoy sent Chen Rixuan's younger brother Chen Tianping to Nanjing, he explained the truth to Zhu Di and the truth came out.
Subsequently, Zhu Di sent Yushi Li Qi and others to Annam to blame Li Jiyao's father and son for the crime of usurpation. Although Li Jiyao's father and son are superficially obedient, they have a bad stomach!
Figure | Ming Chengzu Zhu Di statue
After that, Li Cang went to Zhu Di and asked Chen Tianping to return to China and make him the king of Annam, and Zhu Di agreed!
Therefore, in the spring of the fourth year of Yongle, Zhu Di sent emissaries and more than 5,000 soldiers and horses to escort Chen Tianping back to China, and as a result, as soon as he entered the territory of Annam, he was ambushed by Li Jiyao's father and son.
After Zhu Di heard this, he was immediately furious and immediately ordered Zhu Neng, the Duke of Chengguo, to serve as a general in Zhengyi and serve as the chief military officer, and Marquis Musheng of Pingxi and Zhang Fu as the deputy generals of The Left and Right Zhengyi, and raised hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Annam.
Unfortunately, Zhu Neng died of illness before he entered Annam, so he made Zhang Fu, the Marquis of Xincheng, the commander-in-chief.
During the attack on Annam, the Ming army adopted a powerful propaganda offensive, posting notices to appease the people. The contents of the notice are all the crimes of the Li father and son, such as exterminating the Chen clan, plundering Yunnan, killing their masters twice, and so on.
In addition, in the notice, the Ming army also emphasized that after defeating the Lê clan, it continued to have the Chen clan as the king of Annam.
In May of the fifth year of Yongle, the Ming army captured Li Jiyao's father and son in one fell swoop, and the land of Annam was restored. However, since they could not find any legitimate descendants of the Chen clan to inherit the throne, the courtiers suggested that Zhu Di open a county in Annam.
In June of the same year, Zhu Di officially promulgated the "Southern Edict of Ping'an", renaming Annam 'Jiao'an', and establishing the Buzheng Division, the Capital Division, and the According Cha Division in this area, with a total of 17 provinces, 47 prefectures, and 157 counties.
In addition, the Ming army also set up 11 guards and 3 shou yu qianhu offices in its key areas. Its army is subordinate to Guangxi, and civil affairs are subordinate to Jiaodong.
Here we briefly explain that the "Wei" mentioned here refers to a military system of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the "Weishou system".
Regarding this system, as we said in a previous article, it is actually similar to the "prefectural military system" in the Tang Dynasty, which is a policy of "educating soldiers in agriculture", which is simply put: fighting wars in wartime and self-cultivation and self-support in peacetime.
"Wei" refers to the large military area, about 5600 people as a guard, the Ming Dynasty set up 11 guards in Annam, about 60,000 people;
In addition, a "thousand household institutes", with about 1120 people, has set up three thousand households, with a total number of more than 3300 people.
Therefore, in this way, the Ming Dynasty stationed between 65,000 and 70,000 soldiers and horses in the key areas of Annam.
Since independence at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Annam has since been re-incorporated into the territory of China.
However, Annan is still a "hot" potato!
Figure | Zhu Di (stills)
In order to be able to govern Jiaoguan (Annan) well, Zhu Di not only let The Ministry of Works Shangshu Huang Fu come here to serve as the governor of the Bucha Division and the Two Divisions of the Chucha Division, but also let Zhang Fu garrison Jiaoguan.
A year later, after the situation was relatively stable, Zhang Fu was ordered to return to Beijing and was given the title of "British Duke". However, as soon as Zhang Fu left, Jian Ding, the old department of the Chen clan, rebelled, and the Ming army was defeated in several conquests.
In the seventh year of Yongle, the situation in Jiaolan became more severe, and Zhu Di had to send Zhang Fu to Pingding again. Zhang Fu commanded properly, and had a good plan, and soon after entering jiaotong, he was born and captured, and Jiaotong returned to peace.
The following year, Zhang Fu returned to the capital, but Jian Ding's son Chen Jikuo raised an army to rebel. After that, Zhang Fu went to suppress the rebellion, and after two years of hard fighting, he finally captured Chen Jikuo, and the next year, the class returned to Beijing.
After that, Zhang Fu went to Jiaotong again in the thirteenth year of Yongle and stayed in this town for two years. In the fifteenth year of Yongle, after Zhang Fu was recalled to the capital, a struggle against the Ming Dynasty led by 'Li Li' broke out in Jiaolan.
After that, although the Ming government was able to roughly control the situation of Jiaoyi, it was never able to completely annihilate the anti-Ming clique led by "Li Li".
This situation continued until the Xuande period!
After Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, he deeply felt that the situation in the land of Jiaojing was complicated and abnormal, and it was unrealistic to want to permanently assign it to the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and he would not get anything but constantly consuming money and grain.
As a result, Emperor Xuanzong decided to abandon Jiaozong, let it become an independent state, and restore normal tributary relations with it.
In fact, Ming Xuanzong's decision was very correct!
Because from the perspective of the relationship between the clans and clans at that time, Zhang Fu's first invasion of Annam was justified, and the psychology of Annan's subjects could bear it, so militarily, the Ming army progressed smoothly.
But Zhu Di included Annam in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, making it a "county" of the Ming Dynasty, and its nature changed!
Figure | Map of Cross-Borders
Although Huang Fu had a good administration after entering Annam, Zhang Fu was also very strategic in using troops, and the Ming army was also heroic in battle, but the land of Annam has a history of independence for more than four hundred years from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the present, so it is only Zhu Di's wishful thinking to return to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
Whether it is Jian Ding, who initially rebelled, or Chen Jikuo, Li Li and others later, they all showed extremely distinct national spontaneity.
In other words, the Ming Dynasty stationed in Annam and classified it as one of its own territories, the essence of which was "aggression"; but for Zhu Di, his original intention was only to govern Annam well, so that the people of Annam could enjoy the same blessings as the people of the Heavenly Dynasty.
But for some of Annan's subjects, the Ming government did this as a veritable "invasion," so some of them naturally rebelled in order to achieve the goal of autonomy.
In fact, in this regard, Zhu Di did not do as well as his father Zhu Yuanzhang!
Figure | Zhu Yuanzhang (stills)
When Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, he once designated Annam as a "country without conquest", what does it mean?
That is to say, this place in Annam can maintain a tributary relationship with it, as one of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, from time to time to give some grace, let it obediently obey. But it is very unrealistic to try to conquer it and make it one of your own territory.
In zhu Yuanzhang's words: "The land is not enough to supply, and the people are not enough to make orders."
In short, even if you get Annam, it is not profitable, and it is better to maintain a tributary system between each other than to work hard to take the land.
On this point, zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly warned future generations before his death that they must not "rely on China's wealth and strength, covet temporary military achievements, and raise troops for no reason." ”
However, in less than eight years, Zhu Di left behind these earnest teachings of his father Zhu Yuanzhang.
Finally, after more than 20 years of blood, the Ming Dynasty's policy towards Annam returned to its original state.
References: "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Records of the Ming Dynasty", "Ancestral Training of the Emperor ming", etc.;