In the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368), the conquering general Xu Da led a 250,000-strong army to the northern expedition, and drove Yuan Shundi, the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, back to the Mongolian grassland. At this point, the Yuan Dynasty established by Mongols withdrew from the historical stage.
However, although Yuan Shundi fled back to Mongolian grassland, it still had considerable military strength. According to historical records, the Northern Yuan Dynasty (the name of the regime after Yuan Shundi fled to the north) "has more than one million bows and thousands of families". This statement is a bit exaggerated, but at least it shows that Yuan Shundi still had many troops in his hand at that time.
Since then, the Ming Dynasty has sent troops to attack Mongolia in the north for many times, and achieved good results, but it has never been able to completely destroy its opponents. The problem of border troubles in the north has become a heart disease that the Ming Dynasty cannot solve.
In order to strengthen the defense in the north, the Ming Dynasty set up nine military towns on the northern border from Yalu River in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, which is the famous Jiubian in the Ming Dynasty. From east to west are Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Fu Xuan Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town (Taiyuan Town), Yansui Town (Yulin Town), Guyuan Town (Shaanxi Town), Ningxia Town and Gansu Town.
The total strength of Jiubian Town changed greatly in different periods of Ming Dynasty, of which the strength in Yongle period was about 680,000, and then it was between 400,000 and 900,000, reaching 885,000 at most in the forty-eight years of Wanli. During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty, there were 590,000 troops.
Liaodong Town starts from Fenghuang (now Fengcheng) in the east and ends at Shanhaiguan in the west, with a total length of more than 970 kilometers. The city defense system of Liaodong Town is divided into five levels: Town, Road, Acropolis, Suocheng and Fort. There are two towns, Liaoyang City and Guangning City. Town East, South, West, North and Middle are five stationed towns, which are road cities.
Each city is responsible for 25 guard units with a total staff of 5,600. Some acropolis independently established defensive acropolis, such as the famous Ningyuan Acropolis. Health center 127, relying on the city is the city, the scale is not large. The lowest level is Baocheng, also known as Taibao, with Block 107.
The Yugoslav capital system of Jiubian Town is generally similar, and the Yugoslav capital situation of other military towns can refer to Liaodong Town, which will not be described in detail below.
During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong Town stationed 230,000 troops. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the number of troops stationed was between 70,000 and 90,000. In the forty-eight years of Wanli, the strength of Liaodong Town reached a record high of 260,000. But although the number is large, the combat effectiveness is poor, and many soldiers are given for nothing. When they really encounter war, they often encounter the embarrassing situation that there are no soldiers available. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, during the Chongzhen period, the number of troops had been reduced to more than 80,000.
Jizhou Town is the largest military town in Jiubian, starting from Shanhaiguan in the east and Mutianyu in the west, with a total length of more than 880 kilometers. During the Yongle period, the garrison was set at 85,000, and during the Chongzhen period, the garrison was nearly 6.5438+0.3 million.
Fu Xuan starts from Mutianyu in the east and reaches Xiyang River in the west (now Huai 'an County, Hebei Province), with a total length of 5 10 km. There were about126,000 troops stationed in Yongle period and more than 80,000 troops stationed in Chongzhen period.
Datong Town starts from Zhenkoutai in the east (now northeast of Tianzhen County, Shanxi Province) and ends at Yajiao Mountain in the west (now east of Qingshuihe County, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia), with a total length of more than 330 kilometers. There were 6.5438+0.35 million troops stationed in Yongle period and more than 76,000 troops stationed in Chongzhen period.
Shanxi Town (Taiyuan Town) starts from the Great Wall of Zhenbao Town in the east and reaches Piantouguan near the Yellow River in the west. Shanxi Town is located in the inner side (south) of the Great Wall of Datong and Fu Xuan Town, so it is also called the Inner Great Wall. The main function is to prevent the enemy from marching in after the defense line of the outer Great Wall is breached. As the second line of defense, Shanxi Town has relatively few troops, with 53,000 troops stationed during the Chongzhen period.
Yansui Town (Yulin Town) starts from Huangfuchuan Fort (now Huangfu Township, Fugu County, Shaanxi Province) in the east and reaches Huamachi (now Yanchi County, Ningxia) in the west, with a total length of more than 880 kilometers. There were 25,000 troops stationed in Yongle period and about 45,000 troops stationed in Chongzhen period.
Guyuan Town (Shaanxi Town) starts from the western boundary of Raoyang Shuibao in Yansui Town in the east and reaches Lanzhou and Lintao in the west, with a total length of about 500 kilometers. In the early Ming Dynasty, there were only three towns in the northwest: Yansui, Ningxia and Gansu, but the front line was too long and the distance was far. Once a war broke out, the three towns could not echo each other from a distance, so Guyuan town was added during Hongzhi period of Ming Dynasty. During the Chongzhen period, Guyuan Town had nearly 60,000 troops.
It starts from Huamachi in the east of Ningxia and reaches the north bank of the Yellow River in Ximagou, Ningxia Zhongwei (southwest of Ningxia Zhongwei) in the west, with a total length of about 1 1,000 km. There were about 70,000 troops stationed in Yongle and 25,000 troops stationed in Chongzhen.
Gansu starts from the north bank of the Yellow River in southeast Lanzhou in the east and reaches Taolai River in Jiayuguan in the northwest in the west, with a total length of about 800 kilometers. There were about 96,000 troops stationed in Yongle and 40,000 troops stationed in Chongzhen.
Jiubian Town in Ming Dynasty played a very important role in resisting the invasion of the northern pirates. In addition, it also has a hidden attribute, that is, it controls the trade between the central plains and the grassland with the potential of the pass. The Central Plains is vast in territory and rich in natural resources. However, the grassland area is short of products and highly dependent on the Central Plains. In the middle and late Ming dynasty, it was by controlling trade that many Mongolian tribes in the north bowed to the Ming dynasty and achieved the goal of defeating the enemy without fighting.