Why didn t the Ming Dynasty go west? The southwestern part of the Ming Dynasty was not larger than i

The main enemies of the Ming Dynasty were the Mongols in the north and the Jurchens who rose in the later period, as well as the Japanese in the East, so the Ming Dynasty's defense focus was in the north (against the Mongols and Jurchens) and the east (against the Japanese and pirates).

It should be stated: at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a powerful empire emerged in Western Asia, the Timurid Empire, which defeated the expanding Ottoman Empire in the west and captured Sultan Bayezid I. In 1404, Timur personally led 200,000 iron cavalry to invade the Ming Dynasty during the Zhu Di period, but died of illness on the way, so that the Ming Dynasty escaped a catastrophe.

In West Asia, in addition to the Timurid Empire, there were also many powerful nomadic states, such as the Shaybani Dynasty and the Safavid Dynasty. These countries are not easy to conquer, and the Ming Dynasty did not have the extra troops to go on the expedition, so the Ming Dynasty did not provoke the countries in Central and West Asia.

Why go west?

In fact, Mongolia in the north still has relatively strong strength.

Although scattered, it should not be underestimated.

Sending elites westward will give Mongolia an opportunity.

And the Tang Dynasty after exterminating, driving out and merging several large parts of the Turks.

For the time being, there is no northern trouble, and the Tang Dynasty itself has foreign blood.

Therefore, it has greater influence on the Western Regions.

That's why I chose to go west.

But the westward expansion didn't work out, did it?

Clause. First, the main enemy of the Ming Dynasty is Mongolia, at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang only drove the Mongols out of the capital, and failed to destroy the Yuan Dynasty, after the Mongols retreated to Mobei, from the new organization of the Yuan Court, known as the Northern Yuan, in order to remove the threat of the Northern Yuan, Zhu Yuanzhang had five personal expeditions to Mobei. In this case, the Ming Dynasty was unable to launch an offensive in other directions.

Second, at that time there were khanates established by the Mongols in Central Asia, so how can it be said that there were no strong enemies?

There were few feudal states in the west, so there was no need to go west. Moreover, the most important thing is that the west is full of lofty mountains, and it is very difficult for foreign enemies to get in.

During the Ming Dynasty, the main threat was the Mongol and northeastern Jurchens (i.e., the Manchus). So there are heavy guards on the Great Wall.

There is a Ming generation, and the north captives the south. Finger refers to Meng Yuan. The strength is very strong, and there are more than 30 people who control the strings. Mongolia is divided into three tribes: Tatar, Warat, and Uliangha. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongol expedition was also defeated by Helin. It is more difficult to deal with in the later stage.

The territory has a lot to do with climate change, and the time of occupation of the Western Regions is during the warm and humid period, and the precipitation is suitable for farming.

During the Ming Dynasty's heyday, the southwestern territory encompassed most of the Indochina Peninsula, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, northern and central Thailand (Bangkok was a border city at the time), and eastern Burma. The historical process is roughly as follows, after the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the above-mentioned countries have become independent, not yet part of the territory of China (Ming Dynasty), Ming Chengzu sent Zheng He to the West, the above-mentioned countries began to communicate with the Ming Dynasty, during the Yongle period, Champa (that is, Hanoi, then Vietnam was called Annam) was attached to the Ming Dynasty, officially became the territory of China, and then Cambodia, Laos and other tribes have paid tribute, becoming a subject country (similar to North Korea at that time), in the last years of Yongle, Burma invaded Thailand (Siam), Thailand asked for help to the Ming Imperial City, Cheng Zu sent 5,000 elite soldiers and horses 1,000 horses out of Annam to support Thailand, defeated the Burmese army north of Chiang Mai in Thailand, killed its commander, and dropped more than 54,000 people, the Burmese army foolishly thought that Thailand was enabled to flow into the Indochina Peninsula of the remnants of the fallen Mongols, so they sent 100,000 heavy troops to attack, Ming Jun desperately resisted, the war entered a stalemate, after the Ming army reinforcements directly out of Yunnan to attack Burma, the Burmese army was defeated, voluntarily withdrew from Thailand, and ceded a large piece of territory in the east that had been occupied by the Ming army, accounting for about 60% of its total area, Since the decline of Burma, Thailand has also ceded its northern and central territories to the Ming Dynasty for long-term security, so as to form a situation that does not border Myanmar. Until the death of Chengzu, the southwest territorial pattern was basically formed.

After the Tumubao Rebellion, the Ming army was unable to control the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula, so Thailand and Cambodia became independent, and only the territories of Burma, Vietnam, and Laos remained until the 20s of the 20th century.

Absolute The countries of the Indochina Peninsula such as Vietnam in the southwest are all our subject countries to pay regular tribute, all of which are counted as our territory, ethnically speaking, they are all Yao people, and the people of Yunnan have the same roots and ancestors, they are all of Jiuli and Miao descent, and they are all one family.

Of course. At that time, Myanmar, Laos and other countries were our country's propaganda and consolation divisions.

To put it simply, the power of the West Factory has far surpassed that of the Jinyi Wei and the East Factory at that time, and the eunuch who set up him at the beginning was to reflect his own rights and be different, so he had the West Factory.

The west factory of the Ming Dynasty is the unique name of the official office of the Ming Dynasty, the full name"West Detective Factory"。In order to strengthen the rule of spies, in 1477, the West Factory was added in addition to the East Factory, and the East Factory and Jinyi Wei were collectively called the Factory Guard, and the eunuch Wang Zhi was used as the commander, and its power exceeded that of the East Factory, and the scope of activities from the Beijing Division spread all over the place, and the power was great.

During the Ming Dynasty, Xichang was very powerful, and he could report directly to the emperor and only listen to the emperor's orders.