In eyes of many people, Ming Dynasty is a very strong dynasty, and it also says that dynasty "does not get along with relatives, does not pay tribute, does not claim vassalage, and does not cut land", "a gentleman dies in village, and emperor guards gates of country." However, in reality, Ming Dynasty lost countless territories. During Yongle era, Ming Dynasty had a territory of 7 million square kilometers, and then quickly decreased to 4 million square kilometers. So what is most embarrassing thing in history of Ming Dynasty? Some say that it was battle of Tumubao, in which 500,000-strong army was destroyed and Ming Yingzong was captured. But editor wants to introduce a more shameful thing, i.e. "Yi Da Pays Tribute", this incident completely exposed incompetence, shamelessness and corruption of Ming Dynasty, which made Ming Dynasty pay Mongolian defense fees for decades.

He who dares to say that he will die if he takes Hetao back

In 1455, tianjiao of pastures in area also died first, and Oirats (Oirat Mongolia) entered a 200-year history of decline. The Ming Dynasty seems to have finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief. But after fall of Vala, her Tatar (Monan Mongolia) rose again. In 1465, Tatars occupied Hetao region, and since then entire northern part of Ming dynasty was exposed to Mongol cavalry. Although Ming Dynasty sent troops on crusade many times, it was to no avail. After that, another Tianjiao appeared on pastures - Dayan Khan, who assumed power in 1487, united Mongolia in 1506 and became "lord of Zhongxing." It seems that tomorrow's life will be difficult again.

Dayan Khan

But God still gave Ming Dynasty a chance. Dayan Khan died in 1517 at age of 44. Since then, Mongolia has fallen apart again, splitting into more than 40 tribes. The Ming Dynasty did not take advantage of this opportunity. The Ming Dynasty was reign of Emperor Sejong of Ming Dynasty from 1522 to 1566, that is, Jiajing Emperor. He was a famous weak emperor of Ming Dynasty, during his reign, Yan Song's power was overwhelming, and politics of Ming Dynasty were very corrupt. Twenty-four years before Jiajing, Ming government spent 6 million taels on military spending in the north, but it had no effect. It was said in history that "military defense has no size." The loot is nearby.

The Ming Dynasty and Mongolia were bounded by Great Wall

Faced with such a turbulent situation in Mongolia, governor of three sides, Zeng Mishu, asked Jiajing Emperor to send troops to rebuild Hetao. Zeng Mi's proposal was supported by chief minister of Xia Yan's cabinet. However, restoration of Hetao touched Yan Song's pockets: if Hetao was restored, military spending in north would inevitably be reduced, which angered Yan Song. Seo Yang Sun falsely accused Zeng Mian of being "friends with close servants" and "doing nothing out of greed." Since then, no one in Ming dynasty has dared to talk about restoration of Hetao.

Yan Song

Secondly, change of Gengxu: Ming army did not dare to shoot an arrow at Mongolia.

Opportunities are fleeting. After Mongolia experienced a short split, it began to move towards unification again. In 1542, Altan Khan (Altan Khan) unified Monan Mongolia, and his sphere of influence extended from Xuanhua in east to Datong in north, Hetao in west, Gobi Desert in north, and Great Wall of China in south. After unification of Monan, Altan Khan had 40,000 cavalry, of which 10,000 were elite. At that time, Ming army stationed in Datong numbered 130,000 people, but Altan Khan invaded Datong 45 times, and Ming army, in principle, could not compete with it.

Statue of Altan Khan

In 1550, Altan Khan led an army to attack Datong, and Zhang Da, a soldier general, and Lin Zhuang, a deputy soldier general, died in battle. In end, he decided to bribe Altan Khan with a large amount of money. The content of bribe was not to force Altan Khan to retreat, but to allow him to attack other regions. Soon Altan Khan went straight to Beijing, which provoked famous "change of Genshu."

Gengxu Change

In August of same year, Altan Khan's army invaded Tongzhou, and Ming army collapsed at first touch, and Mongol army reached city of Beijing. The civilian and military officials of Ming Dynasty turned pale with fright and panic. The Ming War Ministry extracted their military records and found that there were only 50,000 banned soldiers in Beijing. Faced with formidable Mongol army, these forbidden troops wept and dared not advance, and they all wept together. Therefore, War Office immediately recruited another 40,000 troops to defend Beijing, but these troops still did not dare to fight. However, Jiajing Emperor foolishly handed over defense of Beijing to Qiu Luan and asked him to command army. However, Qiu Luan did not dare to engage in battle with Altan Khan, did not dare to shoot an arrow at Altan Khan's army, and even disguised his army as Mongol army, entered vicinity of Beijing in order to "rob people's wealth", "people suffer worse than prisoners ". Yang Song thought that Yi Da Han would naturally return after he had enough. The Jiajing Emperor hurriedly sent Altan Khan a large amount of "leather, pearl, and jade coins" to sue for peace with Altan Khan, and allowed him to burn, kill and rob in Beijing and finally returned when he was happy.This is most absurd "change of Genshu" in history.

Later Ming Situation

Third, I respond to tribute: Ming promised to pay for protection

After Gengcheng Revolution, Mongolia continued to attack Ming Dynasty, and frequency of attacks was too high. For example, in 1552, Al Da Khan "offended Datong four times, Liaoyang three times, and Ningxia once." In 1553 he attacked once each in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Since then, every year, they mainly attacked Ming Dynasty and even directly hit Beijing. The words "Jingshi Shock" were written down many times.

In 1570, an event occurred that changed relationship between Ming Dynasty and Mongolia. This year, Altan Khan's grandson Naji defected to Ming due to increased family conflicts, and Ming tried to negotiate with Altan Khan on this issue. In same year, Altan Khan led an army of 100,000 to attack Ming dynasty and demanded that Ming dynasty return his grandson. The Ming Dynasty quickly sent someone to tell him about his grandson's condition. Al Da Khan was overjoyed when he learned that his grandson received benefits and promised not to attack Ming Dynasty again. However, Ming Dynasty pursued a closed door policy, which did not contribute to economic development of Mongolia. Altan Khan made several demands on Ming Dynasty. The first was to open border and allow normal trade between two countries;

I answer in mutual market

After these requests were sent to Emperor Longqing of Ming Dynasty, ministers began to discuss. Isn't this a request to Ming Dynasty to pay for protection? In 1571, Wang Chonggu wrote "Shu on Approval of Questions of Tribute", suggesting that Altan Khan's request be fully accepted, but his name changed. For example, change "annual coins" to "city awards", change trade to "tribute", and at same time allow Altan Khan to take title of Ming dynasty. This is no doubt to find a decent way to pay protection fee to hide shame. In same year, Altan Khan and Ming dynasty reached a series of agreements. The Ming dynasty canonized Altan Khan as "King Shunya" in name, and Ming dynasty opened borders. At same time, Ming Dynasty gave Mongolia a "city award".

Lin Dunhan

This "city reward" is a lot of money, but for Ming Dynasty, it can save a lot of military expenses and at same time keep peace at front of Great Wall, so it can be considered "cost-effective". According to statistics from Wanli period, 600,000 taels of military spending could be saved annually due to stability in north. So how much is this "city award" worth? At end of Ming Dynasty, Ling Dan Khan became Great Khan of Monan of Mongolia, and Ming dynasty gave Ling Dan Khan over 1 million taels of "city awards" every year. It wasn't until Lin Dan Han was destroyed by Qing Dynasty in 1635 that Ming Dynasty's "city reward" of Mongolia was discontinued. Therefore, Ming Dynasty paid Mongolia protection fees for 60 years.