The establishment of the Li Dynasty was inseparable from the help of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the Koryo dynasty before the Li Dynasty had always been closely related to the Yuan Dynasty, and even its king was a descendant of Kublai Khan's nephew. Later, he secretly colluded with the northern yuan forces who fled to Mobei, so he was hated by Zhu Yuanzhang. At the same time, Koreans are constantly angry at the pro-yuan policy of the North Korean rulers.
So in 1392, in the 25th year of Ming Hongwu, Li Chenggui, the general of Jinwu, took the opportunity to launch a mutiny, ending the rule of the Koryo dynasty. Later, he sent people to join Zhu Yuanzhang and asked for the title.
Zhu Yuanzhang replied:? The name of Dongyi, but the name of North Korea is beautiful and far away, so it can be named after it. ? So? North Korea? This name officially became the title of the new dynasty.
Since then, Korea has maintained a very close suzerain-vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and the succession of its successive kings must first be approved and canonized by the Ming Dynasty emperor, otherwise it will not have legitimacy. Later, after the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, Korea became a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty and was sheltered by the Qing Dynasty. The succession of its king should also be recognized by the Qing court.
In this context, although the internal strife of the Korean dynasty continued, and the corruption of its court was no less fatuous than that of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, it was always able to stand up because of the protection of the suzerain. In this regard, we can have a detailed look at how the suzerain helped the Korean dynasty through the crisis.
As we all know, the downfall of the feudal dynasty generally has three situations: usurpation of the throne by powerful ministers, domestic uprising and invasion by foreign enemies.
First of all, the power minister usurped the throne because Li respected Confucianism and founded the country, which led to his very high status as a Confucian scholar-bureaucrat in China, even inferior to Song and Ming Dynasties in the Central Plains.
At the same time, although the Li Dynasty was imperial, it was actually more like a gate valve system. State power is actually in the hands of the main gate forces, such as Yao's family, Han's family in Qingzhou, Yin's family in Fuping, Shen Shi's family and Min's family. Due to the decentralization of power, in the 500-year history of the Li Dynasty, there was constant intrigue among consorts, cronies and the royal family.
However, no matter how they fight, the last person who can inherit the unification must be the imperial clan of the Li Dynasty. Those aristocratic families who hold power only dare to stand behind the platform, and no one dares to brazenly ascend to the throne. The reason is that korean king must get the consent of the suzerain, otherwise, once the suzerain intervenes, it will definitely get more than one bargained for.
For example, Vietnamese minister Hu Liji usurped the throne of Vietnam and established the Hu Dynasty. As a result, the Ming dynasty immediately sent troops to destroy Hu, and the North Korean nobles naturally dared not take risks. Therefore, even if the political struggle in North Korea is fierce, the throne always alternates within Lee.
Secondly, let's look at the peasant uprising in North Korea. In fact, after Lee's rule, peasant uprisings were rare and weak, because the geographical position of the Korean Peninsula was very special, with mountains and plateaus in the north and flat and fertile land in the south. Therefore, the vast majority of North Korea's population lives in the relatively concentrated southern region, so that the government can better manage and control it.
For example, if there is a famine, the government can provide relief at the first time to avoid the situation from expanding; Or there is rebellion, the government can also counter the rebellion at the first time to prevent the rebellion from getting worse; If North Korea cannot quell the rebellion by itself, it can also turn to the suzerain for help.
For example, in the 20th year of Guangxu, the biggest peasant uprising broke out in North Korea. After the uprising broke out, the Korean dynasty immediately borrowed soldiers from Yuan Shikai stationed in Seoul to counter the rebellion. As a result, the insurgents were easily wiped out by Yuan Shikai's army. Because of this, in the history of the Korean peninsula, there is basically no precedent for the success of the peasant uprising.
Finally, let's talk about foreign invasion. In Korean history, the most serious foreign invasion was Renchen Japanese rebellion.
In the twenty years of Wanli, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched a war to conquer Korea and almost destroyed it. Korean king Li Yun came to Daming to seek asylum, but with the support of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese were driven away.
Generally speaking, it is precisely because of the protection of the suzerain country that Lee's North Korea base can escape the crisis of national subjugation again and again. However, as the saying goes, success is also Xiao He and failure is also Xiao He. With the decline of the Qing government, Li's life in North Korea came to an end. Shortly after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan annexed the Korean peninsula and the Korean dynasty perished. Later, the Republic of Korea was founded and worshipped the United States as the new sovereign state.