Chenghua Liting almost let Jianzhou Jurchen exterminate the military operation

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-03-01

During the Chenghua period, the Jianzhou Jurchens constantly invaded the border of the Ming Dynasty and colluded with Korea, which attracted the attention of Ming Xianzong. He sent troops to Jianzhou Jurchen twice, and in the second operation, he ordered the complete extermination of the Jurchen tribe, an event known as the "Chenghua Plough Court".

This operation succeeded in defeating the Jurchens, and the Ming Dynasty's Liaodong border was peaceful for a hundred years, until the emergence of Nurhachi.

Dong Shan, the sixth ancestor of Nurhachi during the period of Zhu Jianshen of the Ming Dynasty, suffered the misfortune of his father being killed during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, but Dong Shan escaped wittily. In order to find a place to live, he turned to the Ming court for help, and finally got shelter.

During the reign of Ming Yingzong, Dong Shan wrote a letter requesting to relocate, and Ming Yingzong decided to protect them, considering that Dong Shan's father had been loyal to the Ming Dynasty for many years. So, Ming Yingzong arranged for the army to escort Dong Shan and his entourage, arrived safely in the Liaodong region, and lived with Li Manzhu, the then Jianzhou Wei.

The Jurchen Dong Shan's uncle Fan Cha was the commander of the Jianzhou Left Guard, and the relationship between the two has not been very harmonious, and even the incident of "one guard and two seals" occurred, which hides Dong Shan's attempt to seize power.

Dong Shan secretly stole the seal of the commander of the left guard of Jianzhou, resulting in the inability to handle official duties normally. Dong Shan went to Beijing to apply for a new seal, and when he returned, he displayed the old and new seals, trying to seize the power of the left guard of Jianzhou.

Although Dong Shan's plan was not clever, he eventually succeeded in seizing control of the Jianzhou Left Guard. This incident further exacerbated the contradictions between Dong Shan and Fancha's uncle and nephew.

In order to alleviate this tension, Ming Yingzong decided to split the Jianzhou Left Guard and create a new Jianzhou Right Guard. Dong Shan was appointed as the commander of the Jianzhou Right Guard, and managed the Jurchen tribe together with the original Jianzhou Wei Li Manzhu.

In this way, it has the title of "Jianzhou Sanwei".

After the Ming Dynasty and the tribes of the Jianzhou Jurchen Dongshan opened their borders to each other**, both the Central Plains and the Jianzhou Jurchens benefited from it, and the Jianzhou Jurchens were able to develop rapidly and become the most prosperous area outside the Guan.

In the process, Dong Shan became the nominal leader of the three guards of Jianzhou, while the original leader Fan Cha had died, and Li Manzhu was also old and sick, unable to manage.

Dong Shan continued to grow and develop in the border, but he was indifferent to the great grace of the Ming Dynasty, but colluded with the Mongols, led troops into the customs, harassed the border, plundered the population, and attempted to cause greater harm to the Ming Dynasty, becoming a major threat to the north of the Ming Dynasty.

But the Ming Dynasty and North Korea were neighbors, and Dong Shan's actions were soon learned by Ming Yingzong, who angrily issued an edict warning Dong Shan that if there was any further change, the border would be closed**, leaving the Jianzhou Jurchens in a difficult situation.

Dong Shan was so frightened that he immediately wrote a letter to admit his mistake, and offered a large number of precious items, and even went to Beijing to apologize in person.

The Joseon king Yi Jin ostensibly apologized to the Ming Dynasty and paid tribute, but secretly kept in touch with the Joseon Dynasty, and even accepted the title of the Joseon king and became the central privy envoy of the Joseon Dynasty.

Dong Shan, who had inflated self-confidence, bought and sold forcibly in the **, and even colluded with Haixi Jurchen and others to invade the border of the Ming Dynasty. In 1466, Dong Shan invaded the Ming border as many as 97 times, killing thousands of border people and plundering countless civilians, leaving the people of Liaodong in dire straits.

The Ming Dynasty has always adhered to the ancestral teachings, focusing on admonitions, and tried to appease Dong Shan with rewards. However, Dong Shan was undaunted by this, and while laughing at the appeasement of the Ming Dynasty, he continued to invade the border.

This led to preparations inside and outside the imperial court to defeat Dong Shan by force. At that time, Ming Xianzong was still hesitant to send troops. However, Dong Shan's arrogant attitude eventually prompted Ming Xianzong to decide to completely crusade against the Jurchens.

Although Ming Xianzong was still ready to appease Dong Shan, Dong Shan's subordinates spoke wildly at the banquet, scolded Ming Xianzong, and asked Ming Xianzong to give rewards to the leaders of the various Jurchen tribes.

This rude behavior aroused the anger of Ming Xianzong, so he ordered the detention of Dong Shan's family and escorted Dong Shan back to Jianzhou to ransom his family. Dong Shan was very dissatisfied with this, and a war between the two sides was about to break out.

Ming Xianzong appointed Zhao Fu as the main general, and Wang Zhi, the governor of the West Factory, as the supervising army, led 50,000 Ming troops to Jianzhou. However, North Korea, to which Dong Shan depended, stood on the side of the Ming Dynasty at this time, did not miss the old feelings, and sent troops to build a state together.

North Korea originally wanted to attack the Jianzhou Jurchens, but now it is even more like a fish in water, and has made a lot of efforts.

The failure of the Jianzhou Jurchen was due to the command of Wang Zhi, the commander of the Xichang Factory, which destroyed most of the camps, beheaded thousands of people, and countless more died. At the same time, the captive Ming civilians were released, Dong Shan's family was exiled to Lingnan, and Dong Shan himself was beheaded.

Jianzhou Sanwei suffered heavy losses, especially Li Manzhu, the boss of Jianzhou Wei, who was deliberately killed by North Korean Manmen. Although the scattered Jianzhou Jurchens soon regrouped and continued to plague the Ming border, although the Ming army was often cleared, it was difficult to maintain stability for a long time.

Therefore, Ming Xianzong decided to completely exterminate the Jurchen tribe. The second time the Ming army sent troops was supervised by Wang Zhi, in addition to the army, also sent Xichang, this time the task is to collect intelligence and provide accurate information for the Ming army.

The Ming army, under the orders of Ming Xianzong, decided to send troops to attack the Jianzhou Jurchens in the cold winter. At that time, it was already snowing heavily in Jianzhou, and such weather was obviously not conducive to the battle.

Therefore, the Jurchen people relaxed their vigilance, thinking that this battle was similar to the previous purging and suppression, and the Ming army would retreat after a while, so they seemed very unconcerned. However, the dispatch of the West Factory gave them a glimpse of the real plough court sweeping.

Before sending troops, Wang Zhi used the powerful intelligence system of Xichang to obtain the distribution map of the gathering points of each camp of the Jurchen tribe in Jianzhou, and knew the location information of the Jurchen well.

Although Jianzhou was in heavy snow, the Ming army seemed to be hanging, accurately and viciously encircling and suppressing the Jurchen tribes one by one, and thoroughly purging the entire Jurchen tribe. Every time a Jurchen camp was breached, the Ming army would take away all the cattle, sheep, horses, livestock, and **, and completely destroy the camp, so that the Jurchen suffered a catastrophe and the population was reduced to the lowest point.

This battle completely reduced the Jurchen tribe, and at the same time completely shattered their confidence in resisting the Ming Dynasty. From then on, the Jurchen tribe no longer dared to have the intention of resisting the Ming Dynasty, and this action was deeply imprinted in the memory of the Jurchens.

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