Formation and Change of the Liaodong Contact Zone During the Ming dynasty

Abstract

Ming established a defense system centered on ‘Liaodongdusi’ in the first year of Hong-wu and attempted to enter Jurchen’s territory based on this system. At the time, however, it was unable to concentrate its military power on the Jurchen, devoted to the maintenance of the system of Liaodongdusi and the defense of Mongolia. Thereby the ‘Tie-ling wei’ and ‘San-wan wei’ that had been set up in Yalu River and Tuman River for the containment of Jurchen and Joseon were transferred to northern of Liaodongdusi. Ming maintained the system in the period of Yung-le’s resign and re-tried to advance into Jurchen’s territory such as Hui-rong River. First, the establishment of ‘Nuergan-dusi’ to include the Hui-rong River in the jurisdiction of the Ming and at the same time to establish a ‘wei-suo’ in a number of Jurchen’s town to make it a Ming’s jurisdiction. After the establishment, Nuergan-dusi became a permanent organization, failed to develop stably, and remained a temporary military organization with 10 military activities as needed. Moreover, in the period of Xuan-de’s resign, Nuergan-dusi completely lost its function, so Hui-rong River became an out-of-door region. Ming also wanted to advance into the Tuman River watershed. In the process, ‘Mengke-temur’ in ‘Jian-zhou Jurchen’ became a prime target for Ming to conciliate due to its strong tribe. However, since Mengke-temur was already under Joseon influence, Joseon and Ming caused conflict over them. Ming’s entry into Jurchen’s territory had a variety of objectives, such as strengthening military forces to conquer Mongolia, securing rear forces, separating Joseon and Jurchen, and restraining Joseon from advancing Liaodong. Because of this, Ming had a strong will to secure Jurchen’s jurisdiction. Eventually, Mengke-temur gradually moved away from Joseon as he leaned toward Ming. The situation of Jian-zhou Jurchen breakaway from Joseon can be regarded as being temporarily incorporated into Ming s wei-suo system, but Jurchen was distributed over a vast Liaodong, and their overall change process meant Jurchen s growth. The 15th-century Joseon and Ming joint Jurchen conquest and strengthening of border defenses reflect the growth of Jurchen and the resulting Liaodong crisis. Ming s defensive line construction means Liaodongdusi’s defense, but it is also a transition to passive policy and a growth of foreign forces. In this sense, the 15th century is the period when Ming s foreign advance activities are most vigorous and at the same time turn into a passive defense policy centered on ‘The Great Wall’. Therefore, when we understood the period of Yung-le’s resign, it was simply understood as a period when foreign activities flourished, but it had obvious limitations in terms of its effectiveness. It can be said that these limitations have been one of the important reasons for the transition from Ming s aggressive offensive to defensive defense.