Among the existing archives of ming dynasty, there are some files from Hongwu four years to Chongzhen seventeen years, including Hongwu, Yongle, Xuande, Chenghua, Zhengde, Jiajing, Qin Long, Wanli, Taichang, Apocalypse and Chongzhen. Most of them are files of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty. From the language point of view, there are imperial edicts and orders issued by the emperor; Officials presented the emperor's inscription and playing books; Topics, posts, briefings, contributions, notices, manuals, newspapers, speeches and contributions formed by various organs in their official activities; There are also maps, contracts, tax stamps, household registration forms, forms, and various books. Among them, the topic line draft, scientific copy draft and script draft are the most, accounting for about 85% of the total in archives of ming dynasty.
Although the number of archives of ming dynasty is limited, its contents are quite complicated, including some precious historical materials. For example, the household registration form and land sales contract in Hongwu period; In the eighth year of Yongle, he ordered the lost family in Tibet to take pictures of Nie Yima and others. In addition, there are two death-free iron coupons awarded to heroes in the fifth year and the twenty-third year of Chenghua, as well as the military post selection book rebuilt in Wanli of Ming Dynasty. These are rare archives with the nature of historical relics in China. In addition, the book titles, scripts and manuscripts in the Apocalypse and Chongzhen periods are the largest, which have great historical value. These files reflect and record the social economy, class contradictions and class struggles in the late Ming Dynasty. Specifically, there are documents about grain transportation, land reclamation and tenancy; There are documents reflecting the local disaster situation, such as "thieves are everywhere, village smoke has been cut off, roads are blocked" and so on. For example, Xie Bingqian, an inspector of Shaanxi Province, said in an essay: "I am sorry for the lack of money, and the money law is chaotic and the sales are sparse. At this time, human feelings are really broken and cooked, delicious! " But the rulers of the Ming dynasty ignored the lives of the people. Although after years of floods, droughts and famines, the people were in dire straits, but the rulers still levied exorbitant taxes, and Liao, suppression and training followed one after another, resulting in "the slave bandits have not yet had a female wave, and the king has turned into a wild fire." The government and generals killed people at will, even extorted money, ignored human lives, killed good people and forced people to rebel. These files have vivid records. Especially in this part of the archives, there are documents that reflect and record the peasant uprising led by Li Zicheng in the late Ming Dynasty, including the places where the peasant army went, which were welcomed by the peasants, "coming out at once" and "following the wind", as well as the activities of peasant rebels in Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, Anhui, Hubei, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Gansu and Hebei. These documents record the specific historical facts that the peasant army conquered Xiangyang and other important towns, killed the princes and established local political power in the occupied areas. These materials are the most direct historical evidence about the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty and are very precious historical materials.
In the archives of the Ming Dynasty, many of them belonged to the local government of Manchu established by Nurhachi and Huang Taiji, and the documents of fighting against the central government of the Ming Dynasty in the northeast region were full of records of so-called town defense such as "slavery", "Lu" and "Dazi". Therefore, the Zhu Ming regime dispatched troops, organized arms and salaries, built border defense projects, and the strategic situation and overall situation of Ming officials secretly fighting the Qing army.
There are also documents about Zheng Zhilong's maritime activities in archives of ming dynasty, which have important reference value for studying the family history of national hero Zheng Chenggong. The archives of the Ming Dynasty's use of troops against Shuixi Tusi are also precious historical materials for studying the history of the Ming Dynasty. Such notices can be listed one by one.
The Selected Book of Military Duties in Ming Dynasty is a register that records the replacement of military duties in Beijing and overseas in Ming Dynasty. Because many health centers are located in frontier areas, the historical role of these archives in the jurisdiction of our country is self-evident and very important. There are also some other books, such as: new officer selection book, excellent care book, replacement officer's room book, manuscript copying and filing, royal security title book file, manuscript book and so on.
There are also some maps in the Ming archives. Such as: Chuanze map, Jiubian map, coastal defense map, celestial sphere map, Xisha geographical map, Daming mixed map, etc. They are all rare treasures in this important historical file. In addition, there are materials such as Ming Yao Hui, Ming Hui Dian, Shi Ming Mu Na, Tong Ming Jian, Da Ming Law Collection, etc. Although most of them have been carved into words, it is still valuable to preserve them as manuscripts.
It should be noted that apart from the archives department of the Forbidden City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as far as we know, there are some units and individuals in China that keep many historical archives of the Ming Dynasty. How to keep these precious historical documents centrally and uniformly in order to make better use of them is a problem that we should study and solve as soon as possible. As for the archives of the Ming Dynasty transported by Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan Province Province, Taiwan Province Province will be returned to the people.