The Ming Dynasty, as the last dynasty in history to be established by the Han people, is of self-evident importance. During this period, Han culture was revived and reached a new level.
Although the establishment of the Ming Dynasty was a bumpy process, it played a vital role in the protection and inheritance of Han culture.
The first task at hand is to rebuild the international order, and there is a legend that Japan even killed many envoys because it did not abide by the rules of the Ming Dynasty, which made Zhu Yuanzhang have the idea of eliminating Japan.
However, Liu Bowen, a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty, used his wisdom to dissuade Zhu Yuanzhang, not because Liu Bowen was soft-hearted, but out of an important political consideration.
So what is Liu Bowen for? The Ming Dynasty was established by the Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongols between the Song and Ming dynasties.
Although the Mongolian people are now deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with their ability to sing and dance, and hospitable, they have not yet integrated into China and are a foreign people full of wildness and fighting power.
This brutality and fighting power allowed them to rise quickly, defeat the Jin state established by the Jurchens, and set the iron hoof on the territory of the Song dynasty and other countries.
The Southern Song Dynasty fell, and Lu Xiufu accompanied the last emperor to jump off the cliff and die for the country. This also meant that the Han regime at that time completely disappeared, and the Han people ushered in 98 years of foreign rule.
The Mongol attacks not only affected the Song Dynasty, but the surrounding Korean Peninsula, Japan, and even Europe saw the strength of the Mongols and submitted to them. The Mongols thus established a magnificent empire that spanned Eurasia, and Beijing was renamed "Dadu" and became the political center of the Mongols.
Despite its vast territory, the Yuan Dynasty only stayed on the stage of history for a short time, because the Mongols were good at conquest but lacked experience in maintaining their rule. The history of the Yuan Dynasty was only a short 98 years, during which the emperors changed frequently, up to more than ten generations, which made it difficult to stabilize the policy and the political system was never mature.
Moreover, in the later period of the young lord's rule, the power fell into the hands of powerful ministers and relatives, and the political foundation of the Yuan Dynasty was shaken.
Although the empire was founded by foreign peoples, it was not only Mongols, but also a large number of Han, Semu, and Goryeo. And the ethnic policy of the Mongols also often led to disputes, which gave rise to a strong tendency within the empire.
At the same time, the upper rulers of Mongolia lived a life of luxury and luxury, while the lower classes of the common people were often left without food and clothing.
In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, huge peasant uprisings broke out in various places, and one of them, Zhu Chongba, gradually rose to prominence and eventually became the most powerful force. In 1368 AD, he changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang, set up the capital Yingtian, established the Ming Dynasty, ended the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, and liberated the Han people from the rule of the Mongols.
However, the Mongols did not die out, but returned to their homeland in the steppe and established their own regime, known as the "Northern Yuan" in history.
Many of the surrounding countries began to face a choice, either to continue to submit to the Northern Yuan or to submit to the emerging Ming Dynasty. Goryeo, located on the Korean Peninsula, became the first country to set an example.
King Gongchou quickly threw himself into the arms of the Ming Dynasty and officially became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. However, this relationship lasted only four years, and with the assassination of King Gongcho, the new king of Goryeo, Wang Yu, ascended the throne.
As soon as the new ruler took office, he became hostile to the Ming Dynasty and even killed the envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty to ask for horses. However, the Goryeo people still accepted the canonization of the Mongols, wearing Hu clothes, cutting their beard hair, and speaking Hu language.
At this time, the new scholars of Korea began to emerge, and they advocated submitting to the Ming Dynasty in order to gain greater influence in the court. And Li Chenggui, a general with military power in his hands, began to gradually emerge.
In 1388 AD, a dispute broke out between the Ming Dynasty and Goryeo over Tielingwei, and Goryeo sent troops to the Ming Dynasty without knowing whether they were alive or dead, and the commander of the army was Li Chenggui.
Yi Sung-gye seized the opportunity to expel the Goryeo royal regime and establish the Joseon Dynasty. The Joseon Dynasty immediately surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, not only becoming a "subject country" of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years, but also receiving the conquest of the Ming Dynasty and opening the era of its own civilization.
More than 100 other countries, such as Ryukyu, Annam, Chenla, Siam, Champang, Java, Sulu, Manraka, Ceylon, Luzon, Hemaobao, Merokhu, Borneo, Kumaralang, Vung Ka Shilan, and Chenla, have also expressed their loyalty to China.
However, there is one country that has not been content to be quiet, and that is Japan. Japan believes that it is separated from China by the sea, and that the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and it can act arbitrarily. In addition, the Japanese regime at that time was turbulent, and for some reason, it entered the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
The north was headed by Emperor Koukou, and the south was honored by Emperor Daigo, and the attitude towards China became a point of contention between the two forces of Japan.
In order to strengthen the control of Emperor Daigo, who was more legitimate and powerful in the south, Zhu Yuanzhang sent seven envoys to Japan. Upon their arrival in Japan, the seven envoys not only demanded that Japan submit to the Ming Dynasty, but also condemned Emperor Daigo and Prince Ryara, a powerful minister, for the frequent incursions of Japanese pirates into Chinese waters.
However, Prince Huailiang and others were not intimidated by the might of the Ming Dynasty, but instead killed 5 of the envoys and detained the chief envoy Yang Zai.