The coastal defense system of Ming dynasty was not formed at the beginning of the establishment of Daming, but experienced a process of continuous development, improvement and formation.

When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, began to create a peaceful and stable internal and external environment in order to restore the orthodox position of the Chinese nation in China, and formulated a good-neighborly foreign policy and foreign trade policy. Different from previous dynasties, the Ming Dynasty formed a unique tribute system and trade system. Under this condition, a large number of outstanding diplomats emerged in China, such as Zheng He and Chen Cheng.

A strong foreign trade position depends on a stable national position, and national security is naturally inseparable from the coastal defense policy. From the day when mankind just established military practice, the ocean has been closely linked with war, so the maintenance of a country's political power is closely related to its coastal defense policy. Haiphong? Literally, it means defending sovereignty against enemies invading from the sea. Generally speaking, coastal defense activities are aimed at dealing with hostile forces, wandering pirates and so on.

First, the historical process of coastal defense development

There was a coastal defense policy as early as the Qin Dynasty, but throughout the history of China, the coastal defense policy before the Yuan Dynasty was mainly to deal with domestic hostile forces and other ethnic groups.

After the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming and Qing Dynasties were mainly to resist the military activities carried out by foreign enemies at sea. However, a complete maritime defense system was not formed in the Yuan Dynasty, and the whole system was gradually improved in the Ming Dynasty.

The coastal defense policy of Ming Dynasty was originally formulated to resist Japanese pirates who invaded the southeast coastal area of China at that time. In fact, this problem appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty in China, but in the14th century, which was probably equivalent to the Ming Dynasty in China, Japan was divided into the North and South Dynasties, and wars continued between the two sides.

By 1392, that is, in the twenty-five years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the Southern Dynasty had perished, and the Northern Dynasty unified the whole of Japan. Many samurai who lost in the war, as well as ronin who lost their livelihood, colluded with some Japanese businessmen and constantly invaded the southeast coastal areas of China.

Under the attack of our government, the invasion gradually weakened. But 1467, Japan rebelled and entered the Warring States period. During this period, the war lasted 100 years. During this period, the Japanese vassal states rushed to trade with China.

The princes who failed to establish trade began to support their warriors and ronin to rob and plunder our country. During the Jiajing period, the Japanese attempted to invade China with Korea as a springboard. However, with the influence of the Korean War, Japan's plot was broken.

The coastal defense construction of China in Ming Dynasty was gradually developed under such circumstances. Due to the adoption of Zhu Yuanzhang? Good neighborliness and self-improvement? Strategically, the whole coastal defense is also tight and loose, strong and weak.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Ming Dynasty, which had just passed the war, adopted a diplomatic attitude towards the invasion of the Japanese pirates and imposed a sea ban. At the same time, under the command of Zhu Yuanzhang, coastal defense was also strengthened step by step. Gradually, the defense system based on the ocean has changed into a combination of land and sea.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the navy had 24 guards, each with 40 warships, and 350 soldiers were responsible for training warships. In the battle, soldiers were mobilized from other guards to board the ship to fight. When the Japanese invaders invaded the southeast coast of China, it was this water army that went out to sea for many times to resist and annihilate the invading Japanese pirates.

At the same time, China's naval power is also growing. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, health clinics were established in coastal areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Shandong. These stations undertake a large part of maritime defense work.

In the 19th year of Hongwu, the coastal defense construction of Ming Dynasty entered a brand-new stage, and Xin Gong Tanghe began to plan coastal defense. A city was built next to the health clinic. In cities, families with more than four people should send a soldier. Every 100 families will help the government buy two warships, and soldiers will patrol the sea to prevent Japanese invasion. According to the estimation of the military system at that time, there were about 400 thousand troops in the whole coastal area, and there were about thousands of warships that could be mobilized.

At this time, the coastal defense system echoed by land and sea was formally established. Maritime defense is mainly undertaken by the navy, and land defense is undertaken by the army and inspection departments. If the enemy is found at sea, it will be annihilated by the navy. If the enemy is too big and close to the coast, the army will quickly rush to the enemy landing site to annihilate the enemy.

From Yongle to Xuande, the whole maritime system has developed to a higher level. Due to the gradual stability of the country, social production has also experienced a series of recovery. At this time, the national economy developed to a great extent, and the national strength was obviously enhanced, which provided a solid material foundation for coastal defense construction. First of all, the number of hospitals in Bohai coastal areas has been improved. In view of the remnants of the north and the influence of the Yuan Dynasty, five health clinics were built in Liaodong area. Shandong has three battalions and 24 guard units, which not only resisted the Japanese pirates, but also strengthened the defense of the right wing of the capital.

At the same time, in terms of naval equipment, Yongle built 137 ships in the first year, 50 ships in the next year, and Zhejiang and other provinces built 1 180 ships in three years. Most of these ships were used for coastal defense, which marked the further strengthening of China's maritime defense capability during the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, in order to show national strength, envoys represented by Zheng He made many voyages to the West to show China's prosperity. Although there is no war, this fleet is definitely a maritime military force with important deterrence. After seeing this warship, more than 30 countries in Asia and Africa all surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and established tributary trade relations with it. This activity created a peaceful maritime international environment for the Ming Dynasty in China.

Since then, the coastal defense system of China in the Ming Dynasty was formally established. However, with the increasingly corrupt politics, the intensification of contradictions within the ruling class, and the growing power in the border areas, China's coastal defense forces are also gradually corrupt, and finally they are useless. Although there was a certain degree of revival under the auspices of the emperor, it was greatly weakened in the end.

However, even in the last years of Chongzhen, the coastal defense of the Ming Dynasty was far from being abolished. After Dutch colonists invaded Penghu, China twice and landed in Taiwan Province Province, China, the coastal defense of Ming Dynasty still played its due role, driving away Dutch colonists several times. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the Dutch attempted to occupy Taiwan Province Province and open the door of China by force, this intention never succeeded, which shows that even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal defense policy still had certain defensive capabilities.

Second, the significance of coastal defense in Ming Dynasty

The navy of the Ming Dynasty was definitely the strongest navy in the world at that time. From the establishment of the early Ming Dynasty to the demise of the Ming Dynasty, although the navy of the Ming Dynasty was weakened, it has always had a strong influence in the world.

China caravan has always been the most important caravan in Indian Ocean trade, and Zheng He's voyage to the West made many countries along the Indian Ocean become vassals of the Ming Dynasty through military threats. After the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the collapse of coastal defense facilities also led to the collapse of the North Indian Ocean stock exchange. While China lost its status as a world empire, the local people in the Indian Ocean became Portuguese slaves and began a painful colonial life.

Southeast Asia was the territory of the Ming Dynasty at that time. In the Ming Dynasty, the Straits of Malacca nominally belonged to China's overseas territory. With the support of tributary trade, minerals, timber, spices and other materials were all shipped to China, which is of great significance to the economic development of China as a whole. At the same time, China's porcelain, textile, tea and other industries are also exported to Southeast Asia, and China immigrants have played an important role in the economic circle of Southeast Asia. Later, with the retreat of the Ming navy, China lost control of Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia fell into chaos again.

Summary:

During the Ming Dynasty, the coastal defense policy of combining land and sea was extremely powerful. This tells us that building a strong navy is of great significance to the stability of a country. Be prepared for danger in times of peace, even if the country is in a stable period, it is extremely necessary for the development of coastal defense.