The "Rinan County" in the title of Prince Zhu Cizhao of Rinan County was the old name of the Champa Kingdom. The Jinghai navy in his official position, Jinghai Jiedushi, was a vassal town established by the Tang Dynasty in the seventh year of Xiantong to protect the Annan area against the attack of Nanzhao.
The government of Nanduhufu in Shangzhen was conquered twice by Nanzhao in the first year of Xiantong and the fourth year of Xiantong, and the situation was precarious.
Among them, the fall of the Zhennan Protectorate in the fourth year of Xiantong lasted for three years, and it was not recovered until the seventh year of Xiantong by the famous general Gao Pian in the late Tang Dynasty. Then the vassal navy was set up to resist the Nanzhao attack on Annan. At that time, the two countries were engaged in a decades-long tug-of-war. The battlefield stretched from Sichuan to Annan. The result could be It's a lose-lose situation!
The Tang Dynasty, which had no central army available for a long time, relied on the troops sent by a bunch of separatist or semi-separatist Jiedu envoys to hang up the once powerful Nanzhao and beat them hard, causing it to "repeatedly overthrow the masses and weaken the country", even to the point of conquest. The point where men under the age of fifteen serve as soldiers.
The depletion of Nanzhao's own military strength also gave Zheng Maisi, a Han Qingping official who had defected to Nanzhao, the opportunity to launch a coup, kill more than 800 members of the Nanzhao royal family, proclaim himself emperor, and establish the Dachanghe Kingdom.
In the Tang Dynasty, hundreds of Xuzhou soldiers who were guarding Guilin were unable to return home after six years of defense. The people were so angry that they launched an uprising and fought all the way back to Xuzhou. Later, they fought with the Tang Dynasty officers and soldiers in Xuzhou for nearly a year, which seriously consumed the army. The military strength of the Tang Dynasty in the hinterland of the Central Plains.
A few years after Pang Xun's uprising was suppressed, the "Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao uprising" occurred. Therefore, some people believe that the Tang Dynasty fell due to Huang Chao and the disaster was based in Guilin.
But if we really want to trace the source, the decades-long Tang Zhao War is probably the real root cause of the disaster.
The root cause of Annan's separation from China was actually the long-term war that led to the defeat of both Tang and Zhao countries. It had little to do with whether to establish a vassal state or a navy.
After Zhu Cixiang thought about it again and again, he still felt that the establishment of vassal towns was the most appropriate method of managing colonies that the Ming Dynasty could use at present.
Otherwise, what else can be done?
The Ming Dynasty's direct jurisdiction now follows the path of separation of military and political affairs. Governors and prefects (prefectures) basically cannot interfere with military affairs (except for patrols to maintain public security), and governors, admirals, and soldiers in chief cannot interfere with local government affairs.
In addition, the governor, admiral, and commander-in-chief are only the persons in charge of the military region (war zone). Unless specifically authorized, they cannot have jurisdiction over the model divisions stationed in the defense zone (including the troops under the division's jurisdiction) and other units directly controlled by the Generalissimo's Office. Basically, the army can only manage some model regiments - not all model regiments that are not organized into divisions are under the jurisdiction of the governor, admiral, and commander-in-chief. They can only manage a part of them.
In addition, there are 16 general mansions under the jurisdiction of the recruitment and training of new recruits and the management of military dependents - these general mansions are theoretically directly under the jurisdiction of the Generalissimo's Palace. Although the post of general can be held concurrently by an admiral, the general office and the admiral department cannot be merged, and two sets of teams must be maintained.
Under this situation, the military and political power in the territories directly under the Ming Dynasty were divided very finely. Senior officials such as the governor-general, admiral, commander-in-chief, governor, prefect, and prefect could only manage their own affairs and restrain each other. No one had full power. .
This governance structure ensured the authority of the central government of the Ming Dynasty, but it also reduced the efficiency of local military administration.
Within a distance of one or two thousand miles around Nanjing, the efficiency reduction is not significant - 600 miles can be reached in three or four days on an expedited basis, and then the two central offices (Cabinet Office and Generalissimo's Office) can deal with it in time.
But beyond this distance, it becomes a bit difficult to govern!
For example, the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Guizhou are outside the “2,000-mile expedited circle.” Fortunately, Guangdong and Guangxi are not war zones now, and the problem is not big - but the Ming Dynasty's control over Guangdong and Guangxi is still weaker than that of the "two lakes and four rivers" at the core.
There are a large number of chieftains in Guizhou, and there is very little land under the direct jurisdiction of the governor. The total number of fields (controlled by the governor of Guizhou) is only a few hundred thousand acres. He is said to be a governor, but he is actually a magistrate.
Under the Governor of Sichuan and Guizhou, there are also two Jiedushi Departments with great authority - the Eastern Sichuan Jiedushi Department and the Western Sichuan Jiedushi Department.
As for Shaanxi, which was further away, Emperor Zhu simply entrusted the autonomy to the two major vassal towns of Pingxi and Shuofang.
The only exception is probably Liaodong - although Liaodong is not outside the "2000-mile express circle", it does have to cross the sea, so communication with Nanjing is not very convenient.
However, there is currently only one Jinzhou Prefecture in Liaodong Province, which is a newly established "Tuntian Prefecture" and is relatively easy to manage.
Moreover, the troops stationed in Liaodong are all model armies directly under the central government, and they are stationed in Liaodong in turns. They are easier to command, so there is no need to establish a Liaodong vassal.
The two territories of Champa and Ca Mau are over 6,000 miles away from Nanjing, and there is also a long sea route, so communications are affected by the monsoon. Without the establishment of a vassal town that oversees military and civil affairs and has very high military and financial authority, it would be really difficult to govern.
In fact, vassal towns are not equivalent to fighting against the central government's separatist regime - Jiedu envoys, like governors, governors, admirals, and generals, are all officials appointed by the court. As for whether he can be replaced, the key is not the name, but whether he has private soldiers who can fight against the imperial court!
If the civil governor had private soldiers who could fight against the imperial court, it would still be a separatist vassal town!
Therefore, among the vassal towns established by the Ming Dynasty, there are actually separatist vassal towns and Zhongshun vassal towns.
Among them, the Pingxi Army, Shuofang Army, Dongning Army, and Jinghaijun were all separatist vassal towns and had the military strength to resist the imperial court. However, the Dongning Army only had a powerful naval force and no land force that could fight against the Model Army. Therefore, it could only theoretically fight against the Ming Dynasty.
The Huaibei Army, Xu Haijun, Jinou Army (Jinou Camp Field Envoy), Eastern Sichuan Army, and Western Sichuan Army were all Zhongshun vassal towns and had no ability to resist the imperial court.
In addition to vassal towns, there are two forms of local autonomy (can also be regarded as separatist regimes): chieftain and vassal state.
Among them, chieftains are mainly concentrated in the southwest and northwest of the Ming Dynasty - chieftains not only exist under the Ming Dynasty court, but can also exist under feudal towns. The 330,000 households under the Pingxi vassal were classified as "chieftains" by the Ming court.
A vassal state is a large chieftain with a country name - not a vassal town with a country name, because the leader of a vassal town is not necessarily hereditary, while the leader of a chieftain must be hereditary.
In other words, the two vassal kings, Zhu Cijiong, the acting king, and Zhu Cizhao, the king of Rinan County, are not actually "kings of the vassal state", but princes (prefecture kings) who also serve as military envoys.
There is currently only one true vassal state, and that is Annan!
After receiving the memorials from Li Weiqi, Zheng Jie, Wu Gongpin, Mo Jingyu, Ruan Phuocin and others claiming to be ministers and seeking titles, the Ming court responded immediately.
Li Weiqi was canonized as the King of Annam, Zheng Chi was named the Marquis of Thanh Hoa, Wu Gong Pi was named the Marquis of Tuyen Quang, Mo Keng Yu was named the Marquis of Cao Binh, and Nguyen Phuc Bin was named the Marquis of Quang Nam - Thanh Hoa, Tuyen Quang, and Cao Binh. Although the names of Marquis of Guangnan and Marquis of Guangnan both use the name of the mansion of Annan Kingdom, they are both marquises conferred by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so they all belong to the marquises of the Ming Dynasty!
It’s not like King Annan can just issue an edict to attack!
At the same time, Zhu Cihong also used an imperial edict to absolve the Zheng, Wu, Mo, and Ruan clans of all past crimes - whether they forced Emperor Li to hang himself or proclaimed himself king and emperor, it is no longer a problem now. Therefore, they are all loyal ministers of Annan Kingdom, loyal ministers certified by the Emperor of Heaven, and they are all loyal beyond words!
While canonizing King Annan and the four marquises, and certifying a group of Annan loyal ministers, Emperor Zhu also discovered a bad guy.
It’s the evil Champa State!
This Champa country was obviously a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, but it did not abide by the vassal rule and surrendered to Annan and Zhenla. It also took advantage of the civil strife in Annan to invade Annan. It was a heinous crime, so it must be punished!
Not only did the Ming Dynasty have to send troops, but the newly enthroned King Annan and his four loyal ministers also had to send troops together...
