How many subordinate states did Ming dynasty have? According to statistics, there were 148 of them. Is this an honorable thing? Many people used this as an exaggeration, saying that Ming Dynasty was a time when all peoples were judged and world surrendered. During late Ming Dynasty, Italian missionary Matteo Ricci came to China, who, after researching so-called tribute system, said: “It is not world that pays tribute to China, but China pays tribute to whole world. "What does that mean?

First of all, to create illusion of "All nations come to Korea", Ming Dynasty banned private trade and instituted a no-sea policy. One of goals of sea embargo policy is state's monopolization of trade, forcing foreigners to engage in tribute trade with China; secondly, it implements those who come more often policy, which means that as long as they come to pay their respects, Ming should be a big reward. Thus, tribute trading does not bring money, but brings losses. Thirdly, all fleets that traded with China in future would be recorded as tributaries, so among 148 tributary states of Ming dynasty at that time were colonial powers such as Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Fourth, send Zheng He's fleet to Western Ocean to advertise national prestige of Ming Dynasty everywhere, and then take initiative to trade tribute with other countries. The Ming Dynasty gained reputation, and neighboring countries received money.

Kirin as a tribute to African countries

But result of this tribute trade was that financial pressure of Ming Dynasty was too great. In tribute trade, Ming Dynasty could not reward neighboring countries with large amounts of gold and silver, so circulation of silver in country was prohibited at beginning of Ming Dynasty. During Yongle period, tributary country reached its peak and supply of silver was insufficient, so silver mines were dug all over country and Chinese silver was sent to foreign countries. However, fiscal revenues of Ming Dynasty were not rich, and its commercial revenues were only one-sixth of that of Song Dynasty. 90% of country's fiscal revenues came from agricultural taxes. To support spending, Ming Dynasty increased tax collection and at same time issued paper money and copper coins on a large scale, causing inflation. During Xuande period, price of rice, cotton cloth, and other materials rose 50 times compared to Hongwu period, and price of cloth increased more than 300 times. Inflation seriously hit development of industry and trade, and also seriously damaged interests of ordinary people. Just like servant said to Zou Jishanshu, "The ban on sending money abroad has existed since past, but now it is exhausting whole world to give it, which can be said to be inappropriate."

We can illustrate this with a few examples of tribute trading. The first example is change in civil engineering. Oirat Mongolia was already strong by time of Ming Yingzong and almost unified all tribes of Mongolia. First, in order to get more economic benefits from Ming, he often "payed tribute" to Ming. After 1439, more than 2,000 tribute envoys from Wala came to Beijing every year. The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of money on Wala, and annual number of "messengers of tribute" in Datong alone reached 300,000 taels. Tribute came first in 1449. This time, Ming Dynasty deducted four-fifths of price of a horse, meaning that 80% less reward was paid. Advantage was also enraged first, and began to attack Datong. Ming Yingzong led 500,000 elite fighters into battle, but entire army was annihilated and Ming Yingzong was captured.

The second example is a tribute battle in Japan. At beginning of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to Japan asking them to come to DPRK, but Japan refused. However, in 1401, when Japan was unified, Muromachi shogunate decided to "pay tribute" to Ming dynasty and use Ming dynasty as a cash machine, given that Japan's years of war and economic depression required a lot of funds. During Warring States period in Japan, major warlords began to compete for a monopoly of tribute to Ming Dynasty. In 1523, two major Japanese warlords arrived in Ningbo with tribute letters, and Ming Dynasty received them. As a result, two warlords fought in Ningbo to compete for right to trade with Ming Dynasty. One of warlords burned, killed, and plundered Ningbo all way. This is famous "Battle for Tribute". Since then, Ming Dynasty banned trade with Japan.

The third example is Alda Mutual Market. After Tumubao Incident, tribute trade between Ming dynasty and Mongolia was interrupted, and Mongolia attacked Datong many times, which exhausted Ming dynasty. During period of Altan Khan, Monan Mongolia rose and he invaded Datong 45 times. In 1550, Alta Khan attacked Datong, and Qiu Luan, Datong's chief Xuanfu warrior, decided to bribe Alta Khan with a large amount of money. The content of bribe was not to force Alta Khan to retreat, but to allow him to attack to other areas. . Soon Altan Khan went straight to Beijing, which provoked famous "change of Genshu." Faced with a Mongol attack, Forbidden Army in Beijing was too timid to fight. What's even more ridiculous is that commander-in-chief of Beijing Forbidden Army even dressed up as a Mongol army and went to countryside to plunder. In order to allow Altan Khan to leave Beijing, Jiajing Emperor hurriedly sent Altan Khan a large amount of "leather and pearl coins" to ask for peace with Altan Khan, and allowed him to burn, kill and plunder in Beijing, and finally returned, when he was happy. This is most absurd "Gengxu Change" in history. Thereafter, in order to prevent Altan Khan from attacking, Ming dynasty agreed to resume tributary trade and paid Altan Khan a large amount of "annual coins" like "annual coins" each year. Northern Song Dynasty. Thus, peace was restored and event became known as Alta's Mutual Market.

Gengxu Change

Fourthly, Jurchen tribe attacked Ming Dynasty. In early Ming Dynasty, in order to appease Jurchens, they traded tribute with Jurchens, and Jurchens received a lot of benefits. In 1464, Ming Dynasty imposed a limit on amount of tribute to Jurchens in Haixi and Jianzhou, which caused discontent among Jurchen ministries. So Jianzhou Ministry began to "rob" Liaodong. Since then, wars between Ming dynasty and Jurchens have continued intermittently. 60 years after two conquests during Chenghua Jianzhou period, Jurchens surrendered again, resumed tribute trade with Ming dynasty, and accepted canonization of Ming dynasty. In these 60 years, Jianzhou's economy began to recover. During Jiajing period, relations between Jurchens and Ming dynasty escalated again, also due to fact that Jurchen "tribute" was difficult. Beginning in 1542, Jianzhou Jurchens continued to invade Liaodong. To organize Jurchen tribe, Ming Dynasty built a side wall in Liaodong.

From above four examples, we can see how much surrounding peoples and countries hoped to pay homage to Ming Dynasty. Not only that, even Portuguese wanted to come. In 1511, Portugal destroyed Kingdom of Malacca and cut off communication between China and Indian Ocean, but Ming Dynasty did not know about this. Therefore, Portuguese merchants posed as Muslim merchants and came to China to pay tribute. As a result, Ming dynasty discovered that they were not Muslim and refused. Later, Jiajing ordered expulsion of Portuguese. As a result, Portuguese merchant ships occupied Tuen Mun Island, and Ming dynasty sent 4,000 sailors to fight. As a result, Portugal lost 3 ships, which was half of total; Portugal lost two more ships in war. After two wars, Portuguese merchants believed that six merchant ships could not conquer Ming, so they decided to bribe Ming eunuchs and finally got Macau.

After reading these things about Ming Dynasty, I really think that Ming Dynasty is a self-sacrificing dynasty. They would rather starve Chinese than feed foreigners, bully their own people rather than cater to foreign countries. people . Where in the world can a second such dynasty be found?