Ming Dynasty "Gongtu"
Before modern times, the international order in East Asia, as it is called "Tianxia" in ancient Chinese texts, was always shaped by the so-called "tribute system" founded by China.
In this system, China was the only central and suzerainty, and the surrounding and peripheral powers were vassal states, which submitted to the Central Dynasty of China, accepted the canonization of the Central Dynasty of China, and paid tribute to the Central Dynasty of China on a regular basis, of which the essence of the tribute was more often as a kind of concession trade.
The maintenance of such a "heavenly order" requires the support of two dimensions, the first is the comprehensive strength of China's central dynasty, and the second is the value system of the so-called "Huayi Debate", that is, the cultural and civilization degree of China's central dynasty is superior to that of the surrounding regimes.
Looking at the relationship between ancient China and the surrounding Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Ryukyu, it was subordinate to this system. However, once China's central dynasty declined, or fell into a split, and its strength and force were not captured, it was easy to be coveted or imitated by the more ambitious regimes around it.
And this potential covetousness or imitation can be divided into two different situations:
One is to gradually replace the original Central Dynasty and shape itself as the only tributary center, and the other is to copy this system on a small scale, and to incorporate other weak regimes that the power of China's Central Dynasty cannot take into account for the time being into a miniature version of the "tributary system" centered on itself.
Japan's view of the Korean Peninsula as its tributary state can be described as deliberate and long-standing, and for this reason, it has not hesitated to fabricate the legend of Empress Shengong's conquest of the "Three Koreas" in its absurd history book "The Secretary of Japan", which is mixed with a lot of myths.
The so-called "Three Koreas" refers to the three kingdoms of Mahan, Chenhan and Benhan that appeared on the Korean Peninsula around 200 AD, at that time, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains was in the era of the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, after which the Wei and Jin Dynasties further split, weakening the central plains dynasty's rule over the vassal states on the Korean Peninsula.
In the fifteenth year (438) of the Southern Dynasty, the Japanese King Zhen of Wu asked Emperor Wen of Song for a seal, claiming to be "the military of the six kingdoms of Governor Of Jiejie, Baekje, Silla, Renna, Qinhan, and Muhan, and the great generals of Andong (Baekje, Silla, Renna, Qinhan, and Muhan were all separatist forces on the Korean Peninsula at that time)", hoping that China would endorse his rule over Korea, but in the end, Emperor Wen of Song only gave him a "General Andong" and completely rejected his evil plot against the "Three Koreas".
Previously, Emperor Liu Yu of the Song Dynasty named the King of Baekje on the Korean Peninsula "Grand General of Zhendong" and the King of Goguryeo as the "Great General of Zhengdong", both of which were higher in status than the "General of Andong" of the King of Wu, which shows that in the minds of the Central Dynasty of China at that time, the status of the Korean Peninsula was far more important than that of Japan.
Later, Silla in the south of the Korean Peninsula began to expand, and once with the Liu Song Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Song simply renamed the King of Wu as the "Great General of Andong", all of which supervised the military affairs of the five kingdoms of Wo, Silla, Renna, Qinhan, and Muhan except the former Baekje, in fact, the Liu Song Dynasty partially acquiesced in the rule of the Uighur King on the Korean Peninsula, of course, all this is more likely out of the expedient measure of "using yi to control yi".
However, this made the ambitions of the Uighurs more and more inflated, so that Japan's covetousness for the Korean Peninsula remained undead, and it repeatedly tried to annex the Korean Peninsula and incorporate it into its sphere of influence, and thus launched three famous naval battles with China, the suzerainty of the Korean Peninsula since ancient times: the Battle of Baijiangkou during the Tang Dynasty, the Battle of Wanli Korea in the Ming Dynasty, and the Battle of Jiawu at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
The Book of Han records that "there were Uighurs in the sea, divided into more than a hundred kingdoms. Imagine that the great China, Wei and Wu are all regarded as divided, and Japan, which is "divided into more than a hundred countries" in the land of bullets, is not it a mess?
However, during the Tang Dynasty, Japan began to learn from and emulate China, and gradually integrated into a centralized state centered on the "emperor", and the reason why it was called "emperor" was a manifestation of arrogance and arrogance, and it was intended to have an equal relationship with the Chinese emperor.
Friends who often watch Korean dramas probably know that Korean costume dramas always dare to call the Korean monarch "king", and absolutely do not dare to call him "emperor". However, Japan, the small state of the Central Plains Dynasty, is different, and they are eager to copy and build a "tianxia" centered on Japan, a world in which China is also the center of "Chinese culture", and in this fictional game of "enclosure and self-congratulation", the Japanese always regard the Korean Peninsula as their "forbidden".
It was a structural contradiction that eventually evolved into a collective unconscious, entangled but never solvable spell shared by the two peoples, Japan and Korea.
Once Japan completes its internal integration and reunification, this subconscious will resurrect, such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's end of the Warring States chaos, after the unification of Japan, he can't wait to launch the Wanli Renchen Rebellion, and later, the Koreans also tampered with this history and made it into the movie "The Battle of Naruto".
In fact, the annexation of the Korean Peninsula is like a stubborn disease in Japan, every once in a while, it will occur once, and as for the destructive power after the attack, it depends on the strength and binding force of China's central dynasty, otherwise, once it is out of control, it will even have the regret of eating the navel, and endanger China.
Meiji-shin, Japan
During the Meiji Restoration period, Japan also erected the banners of "Honoring the King" and "Emperor Zheng Retro" in an attempt to reshape the authority of the "Emperor", so in the 1930s, Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, and the so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was a copy of the above-mentioned Japan's vain attempt to build a "world order" centered on itself.
Of course, in this respect, our other close neighbor, Vietnam, is the same as Japan, and its covetousness for the Indochina Peninsula is the same as that of Japan.
After the founding of the Sui and Tang dynasties, they will completely submit to the Korean Peninsula, restore the territory of the Han Dynasty, and recreate the "heavenly order" centered on the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which should be the proper meaning of the topic of shaping the legitimacy and legitimacy of their regimes.
Previously, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty pacified wei dynasty Korea, set up four counties in the northeast and the Korean Peninsula, Lelang, Xuanju, Lintun and Zhenfan, and completely countized the Korean Peninsula, but since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Central Plains were in dispute, and Goguryeo took advantage of the situation to rise in northeast China, and once expanded and established the capital in Pyongyang.
Goguryeo was established by ethnic minorities in China, and it should not be confused with the Later Goryeo clan of the Wang clan, which originated mainly from the Korean Peninsula, and the reason why the Wang clan established the country was obviously to use the name of Goryeo to covet the territory of Goguryeo.
In order to finally submit to Goguryeo, the Sui Emperor built warships on the Shandong Peninsula and led a million troops to conquer Goguryeo in the east, but the result was a complete defeat, and he himself was devastated.
Tang Taizong continued the established strategy of the Sui Emperor to conquer Goguryeo and re-establish the "order under heaven", but it was also unsuccessful, and the historian Chen Yinke said in the "Treatise on the Political History of the Tang Dynasty", "After the Sui Emperor Chengwen Emperor unified and prospered, Tang Taizong used the power of internal and external forces to pour the strength of the whole country of Zhongxia into attacking the small state of Gao (Jura) Li, and finally retreated. Emperor Zhao actually sat down to overthrow his clan society, and Tang Taizong also hated it endlessly. ”
At this time, the Liaodong region of China and the Korean Peninsula from north to south distributed Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla three regimes, this period, also known as the "Three Kingdoms" period of Korea, Tang Taizong attacked Goguryeo, but was blocked in Liaodong, at this time, sandwiched in the middle of Baekje muddy waters to explore the fish, attack Silla.
Silla was earlier incorporated into the Tang Dynasty clan system and was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, but Baekje colluded with Goguryeo to oppose Silla, so Tang Gojong decided to raid Baekje by sea, thus realizing a joint army with Silla, thus going north to contain Goguryeo, creating an opportunity for the main force of the Tang army to break through the Liaodong defense line from the north to the south, and to attack and destroy Goguryeo from the north and south.
Of course, in the complex pattern of the Korean Peninsula, Silla also harbored a ghost fetus, and wanted to use the power of the Tang Dynasty to swallow baekje, achieve expansion, and even unify the Korean Peninsula.
Thus, when Silla and the Tang army that crossed the sea landed jointly attacked Baekje, Silla and Tang dynasty goals were the same, and once Baekje was destroyed, Silla began to be in harmony with the Tang army when it attacked Goguryeo with the Tang army, so that when the Tang general Li Ji launched a general attack on Goguryeo, he once again failed.
Of course, this is also easy to understand, once the Tang Dynasty destroys Goguryeo, Silla will have to face a more powerful Tang Dynasty, and it is difficult to ensure that it will not become the next Goguryeo?
Outside the Central Plains Dynasty, the most concerned about the situation on the Korean Peninsula is undoubtedly Shimayi Japan, because Japan is an island country, lack of resources, and its dependence on and yearning for the mainland are deeply rooted, and the Korean Peninsula is its first foothold on the mainland.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, some Japanese forces began to establish a stronghold to operate the East Asian continent in Renna, the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, which was clearly seen when King Zhen asked the Liu Song Dynasty for a seal.
The Japanese forces, which lived in that corner and were neighbors of Silla, were also accustomed to long-distance and close attacks, especially across Silla, and befriended Baekje and Goguryeo, which was clearly seen by Liu Renluo, the Tang Dynasty commander who crossed the sea and defended Baekje, "Baekje and Goryeo were aided by the old party, and although the Uighurs were far away, they also had a common influence, and if there were no town soldiers, they would still be a country." ”
In the TV series, Tang Gaozong is often regarded as a sick man under the control of Wu Zetian, but a large part of the Tang Dynasty's great martial arts was completed during the Tang Gaozong period, and this time, when Tang Gaozong decided to cross the sea to conquer Baekje, in order to protect military secrets, he detained the Japanese envoys who were in Chang'an at the time, but also completely pushed Japan to the side of its opponents, Goguryeo and Baekje.
In 660, the Tang Dynasty destroyed Baekje in one fell swoop, and once the news reached Japan, Japan quickly reorganized its armaments and prepared to support the exiled Prince of Baekje in Japan as the new Baekje king, in order to appeal to the people. However, the Japanese were unfavorable, and the pro-conquering Emperor Qi died of illness after arriving in Fukuoka, across the sea from the Korean Peninsula, after which Emperor Tenchi ascended the throne, and the Tang army was also blocked when trying to unite with Silla north and south to attack Goguryeo, and the Tang army that crossed the sea to attack Baekje became a lone army.
This stalemate once again gave Japan confidence and an opportunity to take advantage of it, and in March 663, the Japanese army landed from the Silla-controlled area, and along the way, they only focused on attacking the city, but forgot to join the remnants of Goguryeo or Baekje, which seemed to prove the stereotype that little Japan lacked a big pattern in its genes, but was greedy.
Perhaps the Japanese thought that the Tang Dynasty lone army that remained in Silla was not worried, so they did their best to pick up the cheap along the way, but unexpectedly the Tang Reinforcements came from the sea again, and merged with the tang Dynasty lone army that remained behind, and at the critical moment, it was still the Liu Renluo, who knew nothing, with the strategy of encircling the point to fight for help, successfully ambushed the Japanese fleet four times at the mouth of the Baijiang River, and burned more than 400 Japanese ships searching for Japanese ships, which is the famous Battle of Baijiangkou in history.
What was even more surprising was that the Tang reinforcements that came from the floating sea were led by an unknown general, Sun Renshi, a makeshift army, about 7,000 people, all from the Shandong Peninsula.
Author: Our special invited author Shen Jiuchuan
Resources:
"Japan's View of Korea before Modern Times" (Monthly Journal of History, Guo Rui and Wang Xiaoke, No. 9, 2004)
"The Evolution of Tang Dynasty Relations with Japan and Silla before the Battle of Baijiang", Han Sheng, (Studies in Chinese History, No. 1, 2005)
"How Rising Powers Compete with Hegemonic Powers for Small Countries: A Case Study Based on Ancient East Asian History" (World Economics and Politics, Yang Yuan, No. 12, 2012)
"The Nongchen War and the International Order in East Asia" (Graduate Student Journal of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhao Shuai, No. 2, 2017)
"The Clan System and the Westphalian System" (International Observation, Hu Lizhong and Xing Xinyu, No. 6, 2011)
"The Transformation Logic of the Modern "Japanese-Style Huayi Order" (International Political Science, Wang Ming, No.1, 2016)
Zizhi Tongjian (Sima Guang et al., Zhonghua Bookstore Edition)
History of the South (Li Yanshou, Zhonghua Bookstore Edition)