Yan victory
142-616: Emperor Ming may refer to: Emperors of the Ming Dynasty Emperor Ming of Han (28-75) Emperor Ming of Wei (205-239), see Cao Rui Emperor Ming of Zhao (274 - 333), see Shi Le Emperor Ming of Jin (299 - 325) Emperor Ming of Song (439 - 472) Emperor Ming of Southern Qi (452 - 498) Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou (534 - 560) Emperor Ming of Western Liang (542–585) Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (685 - 762), sometimes referred to as Emperor Ming Ming
284-462: A 48 km (30 mi) long wall around Nanjing , as well as new palaces and government halls. The History of Ming states that as early as 1364 Zhu Yuanzhang had begun drafting a new Confucian law code, the Da Ming Lü , which was completed by 1397 and repeated certain clauses found in the old Tang Code of 653. Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo , which was similar to
426-402: A brilliant scholar and official who also refused to serve the new regime. He even pointed out to the emperor that even after a hundred generations, he would still be known as a "usurper". Liu Jing died in prison. Even Huang Zicheng, in an audience before the emperor, condemned the rebellion. When asked if he could be charged with a crime, he replied: Why don't you charge me as a close advisor to
568-767: A coup against the Tianshun Emperor out of fear of being next on his purge-list of those who aided him in the Wresting the Gate Incident. Cao's rebel force managed to set fire to the western and eastern gates of the Imperial City (doused by rain during the battle) and killed several leading ministers before his forces were finally cornered and he was forced to commit suicide. While the Yongle Emperor had staged five major offensives north of
710-670: A eunuch servant, hanged himself on a tree in the imperial garden right outside the Forbidden City. Seizing opportunity, the Eight Banners crossed the Great Wall after the Ming border general Wu Sangui (1612–1678) opened the gates at Shanhai Pass . This occurred shortly after he learned about the fate of the capital and an army of Li Zicheng marching towards him; weighing his options of alliance, he decided to side with
852-588: A force personally to face the Oirats after a recent Ming defeat; the emperor left the capital and put his half-brother Zhu Qiyu in charge of affairs as temporary regent. On 8 September, Esen routed Zhengtong's army, and Zhengtong was captured—an event known as the Tumu Crisis . The Oirats held the Zhengtong Emperor for ransom. However, this scheme was foiled once the emperor's younger brother assumed
994-625: A grave mistake. It was not long before war broke out. The immediate cause was the arrest of two of Zhu Di's lower officials on 6 August 1399, for alleged "subversive activity". In response, Zhu Di, with the support of provincial dignitaries in Beijing, took control of Beijing and its surrounding counties and prefectures. By 9 August, his troops had already advanced to Jizhou and occupied the Juyong Pass northwest of Beijing. They also successfully thwarted General Song Zhong's attempt to recapture
1136-433: A historical work lambasting and belittling his political opponents. The instability at court came right as natural calamity, pestilence, rebellion, and foreign invasion came to a peak. The Chongzhen Emperor (r. 1627–44) had Wei dismissed from court, which led to Wei's suicide shortly after. The eunuchs built their own social structure, providing and gaining support to their birth clans. Instead of fathers promoting sons, it
1278-432: A low civil service rank. The one great advantage of the lesser functionaries over officials was that officials were periodically rotated and assigned to different regional posts and had to rely on the good service and cooperation of the local lesser functionaries. Eunuchs gained unprecedented power over state affairs during the Ming dynasty. One of the most effective means of control was the secret service stationed in what
1420-474: A major cause of "China's cultural stagnation and economic backwardness." However Benjamin Ellman argues there were some positive features, since the essay form was capable of fostering "abstract thinking, persuasiveness, and prosodic form" and that its elaborate structure discouraged a wandering, unfocused narrative". Scholar-officials who entered civil service through examinations acted as executive officials to
1562-447: A massive influx of South American silver. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose paper money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, the heterodoxy introduced by Wang Yangming permitted a more accommodating attitude. Zhang Juzheng 's initially successful reforms proved devastating when
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#17327722587361704-498: A much larger body of non-ranked personnel called lesser functionaries. They outnumbered officials by four to one; Charles Hucker estimates that they were perhaps as many as 100,000 throughout the empire. These lesser functionaries performed clerical and technical tasks for government agencies. Yet they should not be confused with lowly lictors, runners, and bearers; lesser functionaries were given periodic merit evaluations like officials and after nine years of service might be accepted into
1846-435: A peace offer. However, the negotiators returned with the news that Zhu Di had refused negotiations. It was later discovered that they had secretly negotiated an end to the war without the emperor's knowledge. Five days later, on 13 July, Li Jinglong and Zhu Hui, who was in charge of defending Nanjing's Jinchuan Gate, opened the gates of Nanjing to the rebels. This allowed them to enter the city without any resistance. During
1988-472: A public statement. In these communications, he stated that he had taken action to put an end to internal political disorder and confusion, to uphold the Hongwu Emperor's statutes and laws defining the duties of princes, and that he was motivated by respect for his late father. He accused the emperor and his entourage of withholding information about his father's illness and preventing him from attending
2130-467: A rebellion that sparked a three-year civil war . Under the pretext of rescuing the young Jianwen from corrupting officials, Zhu Di personally led forces in the revolt; the palace in Nanjing was burned to the ground, along with Jianwen himself, his wife, mother, and courtiers. Zhu Di assumed the throne as the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–24); his reign is universally viewed by scholars as a "second founding" of
2272-606: A result of these events, the emperor dismissed Li Jinglong and appointed Sheng Yong, who had been promoted to marquis, as the new "commander-in-chief for the pacification of the rebel forces". Tie Xuan was also appointed as the Minister of War. From the autumn of 1400, Zhu Di, influenced by information from eunuchs and other supporters remaining at the Nanjing court, focused on a war of attrition. He sent his troops on raids to disrupt communications and destroy enemy supplies in southern Beiping and western Shandong. On 9 and 10 January,
2414-564: A series of lit beacons and signalling stations to allow rapid warning to friendly units of advancing enemy troops. There were many problems—fiscal or other—facing Ming China that started during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (1572–1620). In the beginning of his reign, Wanli surrounded himself with able advisors and made a conscientious effort to handle state affairs. His Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng (1572–82) built up an effective network of alliances with senior officials. However, there
2556-471: A slowdown in agriculture was produced by the Little Ice Age . The value of silver rapidly increased because of a disruption in the supply of imported silver from Spanish and Portuguese sources, making it impossible for Chinese farmers to pay their taxes. Combined with crop failure, floods, and an epidemic , the dynasty collapsed in 1644 as Li Zicheng's rebel forces entered Beijing. Li then established
2698-525: A society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy 's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. He also took great care breaking the power of the court eunuchs and unrelated magnates, enfeoffing his many sons throughout China and attempting to guide these princes through
2840-399: A threat from a government cavalry raid led by General Ping An ( 平安 ), but were ultimately saved by the arrival of reinforcements led by Zhu Gaoxu , his son. In early June, Zhu Di launched an offensive by marching on Dezhou and was successful in crushing Li Jinglong's exhausted troops in front of the city and occupying it. He then advanced to Jinan and began besieging it on 8 June. However,
2982-559: A vast imperial household, staffed with thousands of eunuchs, who were headed by the Directorate of Palace Attendants. The eunuchs were divided into different directorates in charge of staff surveillance, ceremonial rites, food, utensils, documents, stables, seals, apparel, and so on. The offices were in charge of providing fuel, music, paper, and baths. The bureaus were in charge of weapons, silverwork, laundering, headgear, bronze work, textile manufacture, wineries, and gardens. At times,
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#17327722587363124-442: A very expensive, sophisticated tutoring of the sort that wealthy gentry families specialized in providing their talented sons. In practice, 90 percent of the population was ineligible due to lack of education, but the upper 10 percent had equal chances for moving to the top. To be successful young men had to have extensive, expensive training in classical Chinese, the use of Mandarin in spoken conversation, calligraphy, and had to master
3266-566: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty ( / m ɪ ŋ / MING ), officially the Great Ming , was an imperial dynasty of China , ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led Yuan dynasty . The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people ,
3408-588: Is underrepresented in modern scholarship. Others note the Ming need for Central Asian horses and the need to maintain the tea-horse trade . The Ming sporadically sent armed forays into Tibet during the 14th century, which the Tibetans successfully resisted. Several scholars point out that unlike the preceding Mongols, the Ming dynasty did not garrison permanent troops in Tibet. The Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) attempted to reestablish Sino-Tibetan relations in
3550-725: The Huang-Ming Zuxun , a set of published dynastic instructions. This failed when his teenage successor, the Jianwen Emperor , attempted to curtail his uncle's power, prompting the Jingnan campaign , an uprising that placed the Prince of Yan upon the throne as the Yongle Emperor in 1402. The Yongle Emperor established Yan as a secondary capital and renamed it Beijing , constructed the Forbidden City , and restored
3692-581: The fubing system of the Tang dynasty (618–907). In 1380 Hongwu had the Chancellor Hu Weiyong executed upon suspicion of a conspiracy plot to overthrow him; after that Hongwu abolished the Chancellery and assumed this role as chief executive and emperor, a precedent mostly followed throughout the Ming period. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established
3834-736: The Censorate , and the Chief Military Commission and personally took charge of the Six Ministries and the regional Five Military Commissions. Thus a whole level of administration was cut out and only partially rebuilt by subsequent rulers. The Grand Secretariat , at the beginning a secretarial institution that assisted the emperor with administrative paperwork, was instituted, but without employing grand counselors, or chancellors . The Hongwu Emperor sent his heir apparent to Shaanxi in 1391 to "tour and soothe" ( xunfu )
3976-489: The Embroidered Uniform Guard , and other peoples such as Jurchens were also prominent. He frequently wrote to Mongol, Japanese, Korean, Jurchen, Tibetan, and Southwest frontier rulers offering advice on their governmental and dynastic policy, and insisted on leaders from these regions visiting the Ming capital for audiences. He resettled 100,000 Mongols into his territory, with many serving as guards in
4118-684: The Grand Canal and the primacy of the imperial examinations in official appointments. He rewarded his eunuch supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats . One eunuch, Zheng He , led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia and the eastern coasts of Africa. Hongwu and Yongle emperors had also expanded the empire's rule into Inner Asia . The rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances;
4260-546: The Great Wall against the Mongols and the Oirats, the constant threat of Oirat incursions prompted the Ming authorities to fortify the Great Wall from the late 15th century to the 16th century; nevertheless, John Fairbank notes that "it proved to be a futile military gesture but vividly expressed China's siege mentality." Yet the Great Wall was not meant to be a purely defensive fortification; its towers functioned rather as
4402-643: The Han River to Wuchang , and finally along the northern border of Jiangxi province, Li Zicheng died there in the summer of 1645, thus ending the Shun dynasty . One report says his death was a suicide; another states that he was beaten to death by peasants after he was caught stealing their food. Despite the loss of Beijing and the death of the emperor, the Ming were not yet totally destroyed. Nanjing, Fujian, Guangdong, Shanxi, and Yunnan were all strongholds of Ming resistance. However, there were several pretenders for
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4544-621: The Japanese invasions of Korea in the 1590s. Ming officials declined the offer, but granted him the title of dragon-tiger general for his gesture. Recognizing the weakness of Ming authority in Manchuria at the time, he consolidated power by co-opting or conquering surrounding territories. In 1616 he declared himself Khan and established the Later Jin dynasty in reference to the previous Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty . In 1618 he openly renounced
4686-557: The Jinyiwei , a network of secret police drawn from his own palace guard. Some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule. The Hongwu Emperor issued many edicts forbidding Mongol practices and proclaiming his intention to purify China of barbarian influence. However, he also sought to use the Yuan legacy to legitimize his authority in China and other areas ruled by
4828-523: The Qing dynasty in 1739—states that the Ming established itinerant commanderies overseeing Tibetan administration while also renewing titles of ex-Yuan dynasty officials from Tibet and conferring new princely titles on leaders of Tibetan Buddhist sects . However, Turrell V. Wylie states that censorship in the Mingshi in favor of bolstering the Ming emperor's prestige and reputation at all costs obfuscates
4970-527: The Second Manchu invasion of Korea and forced Joseon to become a Qing tributary. Shortly after, the Koreans renounced their long-held loyalty to the Ming dynasty. A peasant soldier named Li Zicheng mutinied with his fellow soldiers in western Shaanxi in the early 1630s after the Ming government failed to ship much-needed supplies there. In 1634 he was captured by a Ming general and released only on
5112-637: The Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 , occurred during the Jiajing Emperor 's reign, killing approximately 830,000 people. Originally a Ming vassal who officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of imperial Ming power, Nurhaci , leader of the Jianzhou Jurchens , unified other Jurchen clans to create a new Manchu ethnic identity. He offered to lead his armies to support Ming and Joseon armies against
5254-553: The Shun dynasty , but it was defeated shortly afterwards by the Manchu -led Eight Banner armies of the Qing dynasty , with the help of the defecting Ming general Wu Sangui . The Mongol -led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Explanations for the demise of the Yuan include institutionalized ethnic discrimination against the Han people that stirred resentment and rebellion, overtaxation of areas hard-hit by inflation , and massive flooding of
5396-676: The Yellow River as a result of the abandonment of irrigation projects. Consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351. The Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus , a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang
5538-568: The conquest of Tibet by Güshi Khan (1582–1655) in 1642, establishing the Khoshut Khanate . The Hongwu Emperor specified his grandson Zhu Yunwen as his successor, and he assumed the throne as the Jianwen Emperor (r. 1398–1402) after Hongwu's death in 1398. The most powerful of Hongwu's sons, Zhu Di, then the militarily mighty disagreed with this, and soon a political showdown erupted between him and his nephew Jianwen. After Jianwen arrested many of Zhu Di's associates, Zhu Di plotted
5680-642: The 12th century. Ming era examinations were perhaps more difficult to pass since the 1487 requirement of completing the " eight-legged essay ", a departure from basing essays off progressing literary trends. The exams increased in difficulty as the student progressed from the local level, and appropriate titles were accordingly awarded successful applicants. Officials were classified in nine hierarchic grades, each grade divided into two degrees, with ranging salaries (nominally paid in piculs of rice) according to their rank. While provincial graduates who were appointed to office were immediately assigned to low-ranking posts like
5822-504: The 16th century, the expansion of European trade —though restricted to islands near Guangzhou such as Macau —spread the Columbian exchange of crops, plants, and animals into China, introducing chili peppers to Sichuan cuisine and highly productive maize and potatoes , which diminished famines and spurred population growth. The growth of Portuguese , Spanish , and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced
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5964-573: The Bedchamber, Bureau of Handicrafts, and Office of Staff Surveillance. Starting in the 1420s, eunuchs began taking over these ladies' positions until only the Bureau of Apparel with its four subsidiary offices remained. Hongwu had his eunuchs organized into the Directorate of Palace Attendants, but as eunuch power at court increased, so did their administrative offices, with eventual twelve directorates, four offices, and eight bureaus. The dynasty had
6106-411: The Great Wall. Generals serving in northeast China, close to Zhu Di, were gradually replaced by loyal followers of the emperor. Zhu Di requested the return of his sons, but Qi Tai advised keeping them as hostages. However, Huang Zicheng convinced the emperor that releasing them would help calm the situation. In June 1399, the emperor allowed the sons to return to Beijing, which ultimately proved to be
6248-526: The Jianwen Emperor ascended to the throne in 1398. In 1399, Zhu Di rebelled under the guise of restoring order and the rights of the princes. After three years of fighting, he successfully conquered the capital of Nanjing in June 1402, while the emperor and his family were likely killed in the palace fire. This marked the end of the war. Soon after, Zhu Di ascended to the throne as the third emperor of
6390-406: The Jianwen Emperor's uncles, including Zhu Su , Prince of Zhou; Zhu Gui , Prince of Dai; Zhu Bo ( 朱柏 ), Prince of Xiang; Zhu Fu ( 朱榑 ), Prince of Qi, and Zhu Pian ( 朱楩 ), Prince of Min, were removed from their positions due to both real and perceived crimes. They were either exiled, placed under house arrest, or forced to commit suicide. The most dangerous prince was Zhu Di , Prince of Yan, who
6532-592: The Jianwen era and extended the Hongwu era until the end of 1402. The government archives, with the exception of financial and military documents, were burned. After the Yongle Emperor ascended to the throne, a large-scale purge of the state administration took place. This purge was, to some extent, inevitable due to Confucian morality, which did not allow the Jianwen Emperor's staunchest followers to recognize
6674-580: The Manchus. The Eight Banners under the Manchu Prince Dorgon (1612–1650) and Wu Sangui approached Beijing after the army sent by Li was destroyed at Shanhaiguan ; the Prince of Shun's army fled the capital on the fourth of June. On 6 June, the Manchus and Wu entered the capital and proclaimed the young Shunzhi Emperor ruler of China. After being forced out of Xi'an by the Qing, chased along
6816-673: The Merciless , a fictional character in the Flash Gordon stories Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Emperor Ming . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor_Ming&oldid=1226556150 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Title and name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
6958-584: The Ming armies, particularly on the northern border. However, the new government sought to limit the power of the emperor's uncles. This policy, known as "reducing the feudatories" ( 削藩 ; xuefan ), was advocated by Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, who cited past dynasties such as the Han dynasty where the Rebellion of the Seven States had occurred. As a result, the government prohibited the princes from participating in public affairs. In 1398-1399, several of
7100-660: The Ming court in 1557 to settle Macau as their permanent trade base in China. Their role in providing silver was gradually surpassed by the Spanish , while even the Dutch challenged them for control of this trade. Philip IV of Spain (r. 1621–1665) began cracking down on illegal smuggling of silver from New Spain and Peru across the Pacific through the Philippines towards China, in favor of shipping silver mined in
7242-454: The Ming dynasty since he reversed many of his father's policies. Yongle demoted Nanjing to a secondary capital and in 1403 announced the new capital of China was to be at his power base in Beijing . Construction of a new city there lasted from 1407 to 1420, employing hundreds of thousands of workers daily. At the center was the political node of the Imperial City , and at the center of this
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#17327722587367384-405: The Ming dynasty. Upon assuming power, he made efforts to erase the legacy of the Jianwen Emperor by removing his supporters from positions of authority and reversing his reforms. Despite initially rebelling in the name of protecting the rights of the princes, Zhu Di adopted a similar oppressive stance towards them as the Jianwen Emperor and gradually stripped them of their political influence. After
7526-509: The Ming in campaigns against aboriginal tribes. In 1381, the Ming dynasty annexed the areas of the southwest that had once been part of the Kingdom of Dali following the successful effort by Hui Muslim Ming armies to defeat Yuan -loyalist Mongol and Hui Muslim troops holding out in Yunnan province. The Hui troops under General Mu Ying , who was appointed Governor of Yunnan, were resettled in
7668-593: The Ming overlordship and effectively declared war against the Ming with the " Seven Grievances ." In 1636, Nurhaci's son Hong Taiji renamed his dynasty the " Great Qing " at Mukden (modern Shenyang), which had been made their capital in 1625. Hong Taiji also adopted the Chinese imperial title huangdi , declared the Chongde ("Revering Virtue") era, and changed the ethnic name of his people from "Jurchen" to " Manchu ". In 1636, Banner Armies defeated Joseon during
7810-558: The Ming throne, and their forces were divided. These scattered Ming remnants in southern China after 1644 were collectively designated by 19th-century historians as the Southern Ming . Each bastion of resistance was individually defeated by the Qing until 1662, when the last Southern Ming emperor, Zhu Youlang , the Yongli Emperor, was captured and executed. Despite the Ming defeat, smaller loyalist movements continued until
7952-606: The Spanish Latin American colonies through Spanish ports. People began hoarding precious silver as there was progressively less of it, forcing the ratio of the value of copper to silver into a steep decline. In the 1630s a string of one thousand copper coins equaled an ounce of silver; by 1640 that sum could fetch half an ounce; and, by 1643 only one-third of an ounce. For peasants this meant economic disaster, since they paid taxes in silver while conducting local trade and crop sales in copper. Historians have debated
8094-401: The Yellow River. Within a month, he had captured several crucial strongholds in northwestern Shandong, effectively disrupting the government troops' lines. The government sent Xu Huizu ( 徐輝祖 ), the eldest son of Xu Da , to strengthen the defense with new forces, but even he was unable to halt the rebel advance. The rebels continued to push southward, and on 3 March, they captured Xuzhou in
8236-591: The Yongle Emperor's reign (1402–1424) and afterwards managed huge imperial workshops, commanded armies, and participated in matters of appointment and promotion of officials. Yongle put 75 eunuchs in charge of foreign policy; they traveled frequently to vassal states including Annam, Mongolia, the Ryukyu Islands, and Tibet and less frequently to farther-flung places like Japan and Nepal. In the later 15th century, however, eunuch envoys generally only traveled to Korea. The eunuchs developed their own bureaucracy that
8378-850: The Yongle Emperor, the Ming Dynasty established the Nurgan Regional Military Commission on the banks of the Amur River , and Yishiha , a eunuch of Haixi Jurchen origin, was ordered to lead an expedition to the mouth of the Amur to pacify the Wild Jurchens. After the death of Yongle Emperor, the Nurgan Regional Military Commission was abolished in 1435, and the Ming court ceased to have substantial activities there, although
8520-417: The Yuan capital Dadu (present-day Beijing ) in 1368. The last Yuan emperor fled north to the upper capital Shangdu , and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu to the ground; the city was renamed Beiping in the same year. Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or "Vastly Martial", as his era name . Hongwu made an immediate effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built
8662-402: The Yuan. He continued policies of the Yuan dynasty such as continued request for Korean concubines and eunuchs, Mongol-style hereditary military institutions, Mongol-style clothing and hats, promoting archery and horseback riding, and having large numbers of Mongols serve in the Ming military. Until the late 16th century Mongols still constituted one-in-three officers serving in capital forces like
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#17327722587368804-589: The aloof emperor and his officials; any senior official who wanted to discuss state matters had to persuade powerful eunuchs with a bribe simply to have his demands or message relayed to the emperor. There were several military campaigns, which included the Ordos campaign , Bozhou rebellion by the Chiefdom of Bozhou in southwestern China and the Imjin War , during the Wanli Emperor's reign. The Hongwu Emperor forbade eunuchs to learn how to read or engage in politics. Whether or not these restrictions were carried out with absolute success in his reign, eunuchs during
8946-439: The army and ruined their chance for a turnaround in the battle. Just five days later, Zhu Di took advantage of Xu's recall and surprised and captured Ping An and other generals at Lingbi. On 7 June, the rebels overcame Sheng Yong's defenses on the Huai River and bypassed the heavily fortified cities of Fengyang (on the Huai River ) and Huai'an (on the Grand Canal). They then captured Yangzhou on 17 June. However, their advance
9088-722: The besiegers by attacking their camp. At the same time, Zhu Gaochi set out to attack from within the city. The government army, taken aback by the sudden attack and suffering from the cold, retreated first to Zhending and then to Dezhou in Shandong . In December 1399, Zhu Di issued another proclamation accusing the emperor's associates, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, of crimes. The emperor then removed them from office, but continued to consult with them. In January 1400, Zhu Di launched an offensive in Shanxi , advancing towards Datong at its northern tip. Li Jinglong, however, did not react until March, when Zhu Di had already left Datong and returned to Dezhou. This delay resulted in many soldiers from
9230-460: The capital. The emperor also strongly advertised the hospitality and role granted to Chinggisid nobles in his court. Hongwu insisted that he was not a rebel, and he attempted to justify his conquest of the other rebel warlords by claiming that he was a Yuan subject and had been divinely-appointed to restore order by crushing rebels. Most Chinese elites did not view the Yuan's Mongol ethnicity as grounds to resist or reject it. Hongwu emphasised that he
9372-428: The capture of the Emperor Yingzong of Ming during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade and connected and fortified the Great Wall into its modern form. Wide-ranging censuses of the entire empire were conducted decennially, but the desire to avoid labor and taxes and the difficulty of storing and reviewing
9514-485: The city under the control of his eldest son Zhu Gaochi . Li Jinglong saw this as an opportunity and marched against Beijing with a new army, besieging the city on 12 November. Meanwhile, Zhu Di had secured his power in the northeast by subjugating Zhu Quan , Prince of Ning, who was based at Daning north of the Great Wall . He also recruited three guard units of Mongol cavalry, giving him a total of 80,000 troops. He quickly returned to Beijing and on 2 December, he surprised
9656-460: The city was defended by Ping An and Sheng Yong ( 盛庸 ), two capable government generals, with the support of Shandong governor Tie Xuan . Under their leadership, several successful sorties were organized against the enemy's advance. When news arrived of a relief army being sent from Nanjing, Zhu Di broke the siege and retreated to Beijing on 4 September. As a result, government troops were able to reclaim Dezhou and other territories lost in 1400. As
9798-426: The control imposed upon the Jurchens in Manchuria by the Mongols, yet it created a norm of organization that would ultimately serve as the main instrument for the relations with peoples along the northeast frontiers. By the end of the Hongwu reign, the essentials of a policy toward the Jurchens had taken shape. Most of the inhabitants of Manchuria, except for the Wild Jurchens , were at peace with China. In 1409, under
9940-441: The county graduates, those who passed the palace examination were awarded a jinshi ('presented scholar') degree and assured a high-level position. In 276 years of Ming rule and ninety palace examinations, the number of doctoral degrees granted by passing the palace examinations was 24,874. Ebrey states that "there were only two to four thousand of these jinshi at any given time, on the order of one out of 10,000 adult males." This
10082-422: The court of the Tianqi Emperor (r. 1620–1627) and had his political rivals tortured to death, mostly the vocal critics from the faction of the Donglin Society . He ordered temples built in his honor throughout the Ming Empire, and built personal palaces created with funds allocated for building the previous emperor's tombs. His friends and family gained important positions without qualifications. Wei also published
10224-476: The death of the Hongwu Emperor , the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, in 1398, his grandson Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne as the Jianwen Emperor. At the age of fifteen, Zhu Yunwen became the heir to the throne in 1392 following the death of his father, Zhu Biao , who was the eldest son of the Hongwu Emperor. The new emperor inherited his father's moderate character. He expressed the style and goals of
10366-496: The deceased emperor who failed to advise him to deprive you of your princely powers early enough, consequently allowing you to become so fierce and cruel. Qi Tai and other followers of the Jianwen Emperor were executed, along with a large number of their family members, teachers, students, and supporters. Many others were imprisoned or deported to the border. This widespread purge impacted tens of thousands of individuals. The Yongle Emperor justified his rebellion by claiming to defend
10508-544: The emperor and ministers at times). The Secretariat operated as a coordinating agency, whereas the Six Ministries— Personnel , Revenue , Rites , War , Justice , and Public Works —were direct administrative organs of the state: The imperial household was staffed almost entirely by eunuchs and ladies with their own bureaus. Female servants were organized into the Bureau of Palace Attendance, Bureau of Ceremonies, Bureau of Apparel, Bureau of Foodstuffs, Bureau of
10650-514: The emperor appointed Marquis Geng Bingwen (c. 1339–1404), a retired experienced general, as the commander of the troops tasked with suppressing the rebellion. In an attempt to defeat the rebels near Beijing, Geng Bingwen marched on 11 September 1399 with 130,000 soldiers to Zhending, a city southwest of Beijing. However, two weeks later, he suffered a defeat north of the city with heavy losses. Zhu Di then besieged him in Zhending for three days, but
10792-592: The emperor's trust and continued to oversee military operations in the Yangtze basin. In the summer, the rebels continued to raid the supply lines of government troops in southern Beiping and southern Shandong. In July 1401, Sheng Yong attempted to cut the rebel supply lines along the Grand Canal, but was unsuccessful, leaving government troops in northern Shandong in a dire situation. In August, Ping An launched an attack on Beijing from Zhending, successfully pushing
10934-531: The emperor, handling paperwork under the reign of the Yongle Emperor and later appointed as top officials of agencies and Grand Preceptor, a top-ranking, non-functional civil service post, under the Hongxi Emperor (r. 1424–25). The Grand Secretariat drew its members from the Hanlin Academy and were considered part of the imperial authority, not the ministerial one (hence being at odds with both
11076-497: The emperor. As in prior dynasties, the provincial administrations were monitored by a travelling inspector from the Censorate. Censors had the power to impeach officials on an irregular basis, unlike the senior officials who were to do so only in triennial evaluations of junior officials. Although decentralization of state power within the provinces occurred in the early Ming, the trend of central government officials delegated to
11218-454: The enormous archives at Nanjing hampered accurate figures. Estimates for the late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million, but necessary revenues were squeezed out of smaller and smaller numbers of farmers as more disappeared from the official records or "donated" their lands to tax-exempt eunuchs or temples. Haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. By
11360-557: The establishment of the Xi dynasty , while Li's center of power was in Hubei with extended influence over Shaanxi and Henan. In 1640, masses of Chinese peasants who were starving, unable to pay their taxes, and no longer in fear of the frequently defeated Chinese army, began to form into huge bands of rebels. The Chinese military, caught between fruitless efforts to defeat the Manchu raiders from
11502-466: The exam generally limited participants to those already coming from the landholding class. However, the government did exact provincial quotas while drafting officials. This was an effort to curb monopolization of power by landholding gentry who came from the most prosperous regions, where education was the most advanced. The expansion of the printing industry since Song times enhanced the spread of knowledge and number of potential exam candidates throughout
11644-431: The funeral. Additionally, he accused the emperor and his ministers of persecuting the princes, who were falsely accused of planning an uprising. He claimed that his actions were a reasonable form of self-defense, not directed towards the emperor, but towards his treacherous and criminal ministers. He also asserted that he had no interest in the throne, but as the eldest living son of the deceased emperor and Empress Ma , he
11786-489: The government army retreated. On 27 April, he defeated Ping An's cavalry at Gaocheng and forced them to withdraw to Zhending. Once again, the city resisted the attempt to capture it. In response, the emperor dismissed Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng (on 17 April) and replaced the latter with Ru Chang ( 茹瑺 ), who became the leader of the peace party at court along with Li Jinglong. Ru and Li proposed peace talks to Zhu Di, but were rejected. Despite their dismissal, Qi and Huang still held
11928-559: The government army successfully defeated the rebels who were attacking Dongchang, a city located on the Grand Canal in Liaocheng prefecture. Sheng Yong's army used firearms and rocket weapons to kill tens of thousands of Zhu Di's soldiers. As they retreated to Beijing, Zhu Di narrowly avoided being captured by Ping An's cavalry. The emperor, encouraged by this triumph, once again appointed Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng to their previous positions on 31 January. In an attempt to gain control over
12070-495: The government by choosing the name of his era, "the Establishment of Civil Virtue" (Jianwen). Instead of relying on deserving generals or princes from the imperial family, he chose to surround himself with Confucian scholars. His closest advisers were Huang Zicheng , Qi Tai , and Fang Xiaoru , idealistic scholars committed to reform but lacking practical experience in managing the country. The Jianwen Emperor ascended to
12212-504: The government to properly manage irrigation and flood-control projects caused widespread loss of life and normal civility. The central government, starved of resources, could do very little to mitigate the effects of these calamities. Making matters worse, a widespread epidemic, the Great Plague of 1633–1644 , spread across China from Zhejiang to Henan, killing an unknown but large number of people. The deadliest earthquake of all time,
12354-424: The guards continued to exist in Manchuria. Throughout its existence, the Ming established a total of 384 guards (衛, wei ) and 24 battalions (所, suo ) in Manchuria, but these were probably only nominal offices and did not necessarily imply political control. By the late Ming period, Ming's political presence in Manchuria has declined significantly. The Mingshi —the official history of the Ming dynasty compiled by
12496-411: The heavily fortified city, carefully weighing his options. However, the emperor's entourage was divided. Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, who were once again called upon, advocated for the defense of the capital at all costs. On the other hand, Li Jinglong and Ru Chang wanted to negotiate. On 9 July, the emperor sent Li and Zhu Hui ( 朱橞 ), Prince of Gu, the 17th son of the Hongwu Emperor, to the enemy's camp with
12638-423: The installation of the Jianwen Emperor's son as the new emperor. In response, Zhu Di allegedly ordered Fang to write a proclamation announcing the accession of the new emperor, but Fang refused, stating that he would rather die than serve a usurper. Fang was later seen as an example of a loyal servant who remained faithful to his master under all circumstances. Another example is Liu Jing (1340–1402), son of Liu Ji ,
12780-430: The intricate poetic requirements of the eight-legged essay. Not only did the traditional gentry dominated the system, they also learned that conservatism and resistance to new ideas was the path to success. For centuries critics had pointed out these problems, but the examination system only became more abstract and less relevant to the needs of China. The consensus of scholars is that the eight-legged essay can be blamed as
12922-632: The kingdoms visited by Zheng He, Yongle proclaimed the Kingdom of Cochin to be its protectorate. The Chinese had sent diplomatic missions over land since the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) and engaged in private overseas trade , but these missions were unprecedented in grandeur and scale. To service seven different tributary voyages, the Nanjing shipyards constructed two thousand vessels from 1403 to 1419, including treasure ships measuring 112 to 134 m (367 to 440 ft) in length and 45 to 54 m (148 to 177 ft) in width. Yongle used woodblock printing to spread Chinese culture. He also used
13064-594: The largest political division was the circuit ( lu 路). However, after the Jurchen invasion in 1127, the Song court established four semi-autonomous regional command systems based on territorial and military units, with a detached service secretariat that would become the provincial administrations of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Copied on the Yuan model, the Ming provincial bureaucracy contained three commissions: one civil, one military, and one for surveillance. Below
13206-459: The last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley and cementing his power in the south. After the dynastic head of the Red Turbans suspiciously died in 1367 while a guest of Zhu, there was no one left who was remotely capable of contesting his march to the throne, and he made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward
13348-413: The level of the province ( sheng 省) were prefectures ( fu 府) operating under a prefect ( zhifu 知府), followed by subprefectures ( zhou 州) under a subprefect. The lowest unit was the county ( xian 縣), overseen by a magistrate. Besides the provinces, there were also two large areas that belonged to no province, but were metropolitan areas ( jing 京) attached to Nanjing and Beijing. Departing from
13490-701: The local peoples. After the overthrow of the Mongol Yuan dynasty by the Ming dynasty in 1368, Manchuria remained under control of the Mongols of the Northern Yuan dynasty based in Mongolia . Naghachu , a former Yuan official and a Uriankhai general of the Northern Yuan dynasty, won hegemony over the Mongol tribes in Manchuria ( Liaoyang province of the former Yuan dynasty). He grew strong in
13632-600: The main central administrative system generally known as the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, which was instituted by various dynasties since late Han (202 BCE – 220 CE), the Ming administration had only one department, the Secretariat, that controlled the six ministries. Following the execution of the Chancellor Hu Weiyong in 1380, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Secretariat,
13774-457: The majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty ), numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family —collectively called the Southern Ming —survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor ( r. 1368–1398), attempted to create
13916-587: The meantime, he asked for mercy for his close friend Zhu Su and begged for the restoration of their broken relationship. He refrained from openly hostile actions because his three sons had been residing at the Nanjing court since the funeral of the Hongwu Emperor, effectively holding them as hostages. The emperor considered granting his pleas, supported by Qi Tai, but Huang Zicheng demanded forceful action. The emperor hesitated to respond to Zhu Di's requests while also systematically reducing his uncle's power. He recalled his personal guard of 15,000 men to Kaiping, north of
14058-615: The military to expand China's borders. This included the brief occupation of Vietnam , from the initial invasion in 1406 until the Ming withdrawal in 1427 as a result of protracted guerrilla warfare led by Lê Lợi , the founder of the Vietnamese Lê dynasty . The Oirat leader Esen Tayisi launched an invasion into Ming China in July 1449. The chief eunuch Wang Zhen encouraged the Zhengtong Emperor (r. 1435–49) to lead
14200-606: The most influential eunuch in the Directorate of Ceremonial acted as a de facto dictator over the state. Although the imperial household was staffed mostly by eunuchs and palace ladies, there was a civil service office called the Seal Office, which cooperated with eunuch agencies in maintaining imperial seals, tallies, and stamps. There were also civil service offices to oversee the affairs of imperial princes. The Hongwu emperor from 1373 to 1384 staffed his bureaus with officials gathered through recommendations only. After that
14342-422: The north and huge peasant revolts in the provinces, essentially fell apart. Unpaid and unfed, the army was defeated by Li Zicheng—now self-styled as the Prince of Shun —and deserted the capital without much of a fight. On 25 April 1644, Beijing fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng when the city gates were opened by rebel allies from within. During the turmoil, Chongzhen , the last Ming emperor, accompanied only by
14484-457: The northeast, with forces large enough (numbering hundreds of thousands) to threaten invasion of the newly founded Ming dynasty in order to restore the Mongols to power in China. The Ming decided to defeat him instead of waiting for the Mongols to attack. In 1387 the Ming sent a military campaign to attack Naghachu , which concluded with the surrender of Naghachu and Ming conquest of Manchuria. The early Ming court could not, and did not, aspire to
14626-471: The northern part of Zhili . As a result, the government was forced to withdraw its troops from Beiping province and the city of Dezhou in order to defend Zhili. In April 1402, the rebel army moved to Suzhou , located in northern Anhui (at that time part of Zhili). They defeated Ping An's cavalry, who attempted to stop them. However, on 23 May, they suffered a defeat at the hands of Xu Huizu on Mount Qimei. The emperor's sudden dismissal of Xu Huizu unsettled
14768-412: The nuanced history of Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming era. Modern scholars debate whether the Ming dynasty had sovereignty over Tibet. Some believe it was a relationship of loose suzerainty that was largely cut off when the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–67) persecuted Buddhism in favor of Daoism at court. Others argue that the significant religious nature of the relationship with Tibetan lamas
14910-471: The palace until the coup against the Jingtai Emperor in 1457 known as the "Wresting the Gate Incident". The former emperor retook the throne under the new era name Tianshun (r. 1457–64). Tianshun proved to be a troubled time and Mongol forces within the Ming military structure continued to be problematic. On 7 August 1461, the Chinese general Cao Qin and his Ming troops of Mongol descent staged
15052-549: The pass from Kaiping, ultimately defeating and killing him at Huailai. Many of the general's soldiers defected to Zhu Di's side, having previously served under him. Zhu Di justified his actions by claiming that he needed to punish treacherous court officials. He referred to this as the Jingnan campaign, a campaign to clear away disorders, and defended his actions in letters sent to the court in August and December 1399, as well as in
15194-461: The proclamation of the Republic of China . Described as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history" by Edwin O. Reischauer , John K. Fairbank and Albert M. Craig , the Ming emperors took over the provincial administration system of the Yuan dynasty, and the thirteen Ming provinces are the precursors of the modern provinces. Throughout the Song dynasty,
15336-553: The provinces as virtual provincial governors began in the 1420s. By the late Ming dynasty, there were central government officials delegated to two or more provinces as supreme commanders and viceroys, a system which reined in the power and influence of the military by the civil establishment. Governmental institutions in China conformed to a similar pattern for some two thousand years, but each dynasty installed special offices and bureaus, reflecting its own particular interests. The Ming administration utilized Grand Secretaries to assist
15478-485: The provinces. For young schoolchildren there were printed multiplication tables and primers for elementary vocabulary; for adult examination candidates there were mass-produced, inexpensive volumes of Confucian classics and successful examination answers. As in earlier periods, the focus of the examination was classical Confucian texts, while the bulk of test material centered on the Four Books outlined by Zhu Xi in
15620-526: The rebels back to the north. However, in October, the rebels were able to push government troops back to the south. On 15 January 1402, Zhu Di launched a new offensive. Based on the counsel of sympathetic Nanjing eunuchs, he chose not to advance through the fortified cities along the Grand Canal, as he had done in previous years. Instead, he headed west where the government forces were weaker. He passed through Baoding and Zhending, bypassing Dezhou, and crossed
15762-468: The region as part of a colonization effort. By the end of the 14th century, some 200,000 military colonists settled some 2,000,000 mu (350,000 acres) of land in what is now Yunnan and Guizhou . Roughly half a million more Chinese settlers came in later periods; these migrations caused a major shift in the ethnic make-up of the region, since formerly more than half of the population were non-Han peoples. Resentment over such massive changes in population and
15904-479: The region; in 1421 the Yongle Emperor commissioned 26 officials to travel the empire and uphold similar investigatory and patrimonial duties. By 1430 these xunfu assignments became institutionalized as " grand coordinators ". Hence, the Censorate was reinstalled and first staffed with investigating censors, later with censors-in-chief. By 1453, the grand coordinators were granted the title vice censor-in-chief or assistant censor-in-chief and were allowed direct access to
16046-530: The resulting conflicts, the imperial palace was set on fire. After the flames were extinguished, three charred bodies were discovered and identified as those of the emperor, empress, and their eldest son. On 17 July, Zhu Di ascended the imperial throne as the successor of the Hongwu Emperor and adopted the era name Yongle, which means "perpetual happiness". He denied the legitimacy of his overthrown nephew, abolished his reforms, and attempted to erase them from history entirely. In addition, he retroactively abolished
16188-448: The resulting government presence and policies sparked more Miao and Yao revolts in 1464 to 1466, which were crushed by an army of 30,000 Ming troops (including 1,000 Mongols) joining the 160,000 local Guangxi . After the scholar and philosopher Wang Yangming (1472–1529) suppressed another rebellion in the region, he advocated single, unitary administration of Chinese and indigenous ethnic groups in order to bring about sinification of
16330-468: The right to establish a new dynasty . In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang , in the Battle of Lake Poyang , arguably the largest naval battle in history . Known for its ambitious use of fire ships , Zhu's force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650,000-strong. The victory destroyed
16472-454: The rights of the princes. After taking the throne, he restored the titles of the princes of Zhou, Qi, and Min, but without granting them the same power as before. However, in the latter half of his reign, the Yongle Emperor began to treat the princes in the same manner as the Jianwen Emperor, whom he had condemned. He removed bodyguards from almost all of them and accused several of his own brothers of criminal acts, punishing them accordingly. As
16614-456: The scholar-officials who populated the many ranks of bureaucracy were recruited through a rigorous examination system that was initially established by the Sui dynasty (581–618). Theoretically the system of exams allowed anyone to join the ranks of imperial officials (although it was frowned upon for merchants to join); in reality the time and funding needed to support the study in preparation for
16756-414: The scrutiny of recorded evaluation, although they were expected to confess any of their faults. There were over 4,000 school instructors in county and prefectural schools who were subject to evaluations every nine years. The Chief Instructor on the prefectural level was classified as equal to a second-grade county graduate. The Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction oversaw the education of the heir apparent to
16898-480: The south perishing due to exhaustion from the long march and harsh weather conditions. In May, the two armies, consisting of a total of 600,000 soldiers, engaged in the battle of Baoding in central Beiping. Li Jinglong attempted to outflank the enemy, but the maneuver was hindered by heavy rains and floods. The government army suffered significant casualties and was forced to retreat in disarray to Dezhou on 30 May, and then continued south to Jinan . Zhu Di then faced
17040-476: The southern region of Beiping province, Zhu Di launched a new offensive in late February. On 5 and 6 April, Sheng Yong was defeated at Jiahe (located north of the Hutuo River near Dezhou). The rebels were aided by a storm from the northeast, which hindered the government troops. According to folk legend, the storm was summoned by Taoist monks advising Zhu Di. However, Zhu Di was unable to capture Dezhou, where
17182-517: The terms that he return to service. The agreement soon broke down when a local magistrate had thirty-six of his fellow rebels executed; Li's troops retaliated by killing the officials and continued to lead a rebellion based in Rongyang, central Henan province by 1635. By the 1640s, an ex-soldier and rival to Li— Zhang Xianzhong (1606–1647)—had created a firm rebel base in Chengdu , Sichuan , with
17324-401: The throne of the Ming dynasty at the young age of twenty-one, much younger than his uncles who were the sons of the Hongwu Emperor. His uncles were granted the titles of princes ( wang ) and were given significant income and privileges by their father. They were stationed in various provinces and had a personal guard of three to fifteen thousand men at their disposal. Some of them even commanded
17466-426: The throne under the era name Jingtai (r. 1449–57); the Oirats were also repelled once the Jingtai Emperor's confidant and defense minister Yu Qian (1398–1457) gained control of the Ming armed forces. Holding the Zhengtong Emperor in captivity was a useless bargaining chip for the Oirats as long as another sat on his throne, so they released him back into Ming China. The former emperor was placed under house arrest in
17608-408: The throne; this office was headed by a Grand Supervisor of Instruction, who was ranked as first class of grade three. Historians debate whether the examination system expanded or contracted upward social mobility. On the one hand, the exams were graded without regard to a candidate's social background, and were theoretically open to everyone. In actual practice, the successful candidates had years of
17750-435: The usurper. They were ordered to follow their master, including their clients and household members. The case of Fang Xiaoru serves as an illustration. Initially, Zhu Di had no intention of killing him and even made a promise to his mentor Dao Yan that he would not harm him. However, after the capture of Nanjing, Fang was paraded and offered a position in the civil service. Fang, however, accused Zhu Di of rebellion and demanded
17892-456: The validity of the theory that silver shortages caused the downfall of the Ming dynasty. Famines became common in northern China in the early 17th century because of unusually dry and cold weather that shortened the growing season—effects of a larger ecological event now known as the Little Ice Age . Famine, alongside tax increases, widespread military desertions, a declining relief system, and natural disasters such as flooding and inability of
18034-640: The wake of a Mongol-Tibetan alliance initiated in 1578, an alliance which affected the foreign policy of the subsequent Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1912) in their support for the Dalai Lama of the Yellow Hat sect. By the late 16th century, the Mongols proved to be successful armed protectors of the Yellow Hat Dalai Lama after their increasing presence in the Amdo region, culminating in
18176-415: Was a propagandistic term used by the victorious side to refer to the civil war that took place between 1399 and 1402 in the Ming dynasty . This conflict was between the Ming government, led by the second Ming emperor, the Jianwen Emperor , and his uncle, Zhu Di , Prince of Yan. The war was sparked by the removal of the emperor's uncles and the restriction of Zhu Di's power by the central government after
18318-512: Was a decisive and exceptionally capable commander, leading an elite group of Ming soldiers, including a large contingent of Mongolian cavalry. On the other hand, the imperial party was weakened by the indecisiveness and poor coordination of its commanders, as well as the conflicting views between those who supported aggressive tactics and those who favored conciliatory approaches. Additionally, the emperor and his closest ministers lacked military experience. The war officially began in August 1399 when
18460-546: Was a matter of uncles promoting nephews. The Heishanhui Society in Peking sponsored the temple that conducted rituals for worshiping the memory of Gang Tie, a powerful eunuch of the Yuan dynasty. The Temple became an influential base for highly placed eunuchs, and continued in a somewhat diminished role during the Qing dynasty. During the last years of the Wanli era and those of his two successors, an economic crisis developed that
18602-451: Was a penniless peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352; he soon gained a reputation after marrying the foster daughter of a rebel commander. In 1356, Zhu's rebel force captured the city of Nanjing , which he would later establish as the capital of the Ming dynasty. With the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus
18744-541: Was called the Eastern Depot at the beginning of the dynasty, later the Western Depot. This secret service was overseen by the Directorate of Ceremonial, hence this state organ's often totalitarian affiliation. Eunuchs had ranks that were equivalent to civil service ranks, only theirs had four grades instead of nine. Jingnan campaign The Jingnan campaign , or the campaign to clear away disorders ,
18886-478: Was centered on a sudden widespread lack of the empire's chief medium of exchange: silver. The Portuguese first established trade with China in 1516. Following the Ming Emperor's decision to ban direct trade with Japan, Portuguese traders acted as an intermediary between China and Japan by buying Chinese silks from China and selling it to Japan for silver. After some initial hostilities gained consent from
19028-533: Was halted on 1 July by Sheng Yong's fleet at Pukou on the Yangtze River. Two days later, the fleet commander Chen Xuan ( 陳瑄 ; 1365–1433) defected to the rebels. This allowed them to cross the river and have an open road to Nanjing. The Jianwen Emperor had previously called upon armies from the north and was currently recruiting new soldiers to protect the capital. With 200,000 troops stationed in Nanjing and its surrounding areas, Zhu Di cautiously approached
19170-536: Was in comparison to the 100,000 shengyuan ('government students'), the lowest tier of graduates, by the 16th century. The maximum tenure in office was nine years, but every three years officials were graded on their performance by senior officials. If they were graded as superior then they were promoted, if graded adequate then they retained their ranks, and if graded inadequate they were demoted one rank. In extreme cases, officials would be dismissed or punished. Only capital officials of grade 4 and above were exempt from
19312-431: Was no one after him skilled enough to maintain the stability of these alliances; officials soon banded together in opposing political factions. Over time Wanli grew tired of court affairs and frequent political quarreling amongst his ministers, preferring to stay behind the walls of the Forbidden City and out of his officials' sight. Scholar-officials lost prominence in administration as eunuchs became intermediaries between
19454-503: Was not conquering territory from the Yuan dynasty but rather from the rebel warlords. He used this line of argument to attempt to persuade Yuan loyalists to join his cause. The Ming used the tribute they received from former Yuan vassals as proof that the Ming had taken over the Yuan's legitimacy. Tribute missions were regularly celebrated with music and dance in the Ming court. Hui Muslim troops settled in Changde , Hunan , after serving
19596-415: Was obligated to restore the law and legality that had been subverted by the new government. At the onset of the war, Zhu Di commanded a force of 100,000 soldiers and only held control over the immediate vicinity of Beijing. In contrast, the Nanjing government had three times the number of troops and significantly more resources. However, the government's superiority was not as clear-cut as it seemed. Zhu Di
19738-448: Was organized parallel to but was not subject to the civil service bureaucracy. Although there were several dictatorial eunuchs throughout the Ming, such as Wang Zhen , Wang Zhi, and Liu Jin , excessive tyrannical eunuch power did not become evident until the 1590s when the Wanli Emperor increased their rights over the civil bureaucracy and granted them power to collect provincial taxes. The eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568–1627) dominated
19880-497: Was the Forbidden City , the palatial residence of the emperor and his family. By 1553, the Outer City was added to the south, which brought the overall size of Beijing to 6.5 by 7 kilometres (4 by 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles). Beginning in 1405, the Yongle Emperor entrusted his favored eunuch commander Zheng He (1371–1433) as the admiral for a gigantic new fleet of ships designated for international tributary missions . Among
20022-445: Was the oldest and most influential of the Hongwu Emperor's sons. He was based in Beijing , and during the campaigns against the Mongols, he proved himself to be a capable military leader and an energetic administrator. Despite not being named as a successor in 1392, he considered himself unjustly neglected. Zhu Di was the obvious next target, but the government was cautious towards him, giving him time to prepare and gather forces. In
20164-433: Was unable to conquer the well-fortified city and eventually retreated. In response to Geng's failure, the court replaced him with General Li Jinglong , but the new commander did not improve the management of the troops. Instead of launching offensive actions, he waited and gathered troops in an attempt to later crush the enemy with numerical superiority. In mid-October, Zhu Di left Beijing to recruit new soldiers, leaving
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