A Study Of Xuan-Da Governor-general In Ming Dynasty

Xuan-Da Governor-General was an important official in Ming Dynasty whichwas set up in Xuanfu, Datong and Shanxi area. It’s evolution mainly divided in threeparts, Jingtai to Hongzhi was its sending period, In Zhengde to Jiajing it was sendingand set up alternately, after1542AD, it was fixed in this area. In its Non-Fixed times,it was involved in Jingying expeditions, eunuch, governor and zongbing guan were incharge of expedition together, but the Jingying expeditions had too much cost,governor was set up in border area before Jingying expedition, in the wake of frequentinvasion by Mongolia, and Jingying was weak day by day, Jingying expeditions wereat a dead end, governor was fixed in Xuanfu, Datong and Shanxi area. That was thereal evolution process in north border area.Xuan-Da Governor-General’s power mainly included military power, militarypay power and appointment power. Military power was numerous and jumbled, thisarticle just discussed the power in the military affairs such as delivering information,formulating military plan, organizing fight and reporting merits, from these affairs, wefound governor’s power was limited, many affairs depended on Board of war andcentre decision-maker, governor wasn’t arbitrary. According to specifically studiedthe military pay power of Xuan-Da Governor-General, We found the governorsometimes concurrently managed military pay power in its Non-Fixed times,sometimes didn’t, in its Fixed times, it concurrently managed Military Pay Power. ToMilitary Pay of Three Frontier Bases, Xuan-Da Governor-General principallyconcentrated on the main points, didn’t intervene in specific affairs, it managed itsBiao-Bing’ pay and some pecuniary rewards. In the latter Chong-zhen period, a viceminister of Board of Revenue was set up so as to urge the delinquent Min-yun. Fromthe military pay aspect, Xuan-Da Governor-General hadn’t been an independentinterest entity, this situation was bad for its functions. In its Non-Fixed times, it’sappointment power was very limited, after it was fixed, it’s appointment powermainly reflected on examination, transfer, and self-appointment. Examination contained regular examination and exceptional examination, regular examinationmainly contained year-end examination, evaluation and demission recommendation,governor had the right to transfer intermediate military officer, but the centre had thelast word, self-appointment was aimed at base military officer, governor had the lastword. Xuan-Da Governor-General although had the power to control three frontierbases, but its autonomy was limited, many affairs should be referred to the centralministries.Biaobing and Military Defense Circuit were the departments directly undergovernor. Biaobing was established at1545, at first there was only one battalion, to1555, there became two battalions, three battalions were established at1617. Greatchanges had been made in Chongzhen period, Liang tingdong divided Biaobing intotwo battalions, but Lu xiangsheng enlarged Biaobing to five battalions, when trooptraining program was rising, Biaobing had twenty battalions. Biaobing’s expansionwas military expansion in miniature, the failure of military system led the dynasty tobe destroyed. Yanghe Military Defense Circuit was the major assistant, Xuan-daJianjun Tunmu Dao was set up later, finally Yangbiao Jianjun Dao and HuaibiaoJianjun Dao were established, these were governor’s assistants, they helped governordealed complicated matters.Xuan-Da Governor-General was stationed in Shuozhou at its early fixed time, itmoved to Yanghe later, since then,Yanghe became its station, exceptYanghe,governor had other mobil stations, such as Huailai, Huaian and Xuanfu city,among these,the frequently-used mobil station was Huailai, Mingshi wronglyregarded Huailai as governor’s station. In1635, Manchu soldiers invaded XuandaShanxi, this incident was a good example to show how governor dispatch his troops.In this example, governor made a bad decision, Zongbing guan didn’t obey his order,Xunfu was selfish that only considered his own interest, all these conditions led to acrushing defeat, the system which civil official commande military officer movedtowards failure.This article has dicussed group structure of Xuan-Da Governor-General, most ofgovernors had Jinshi origin, and governors’ native place mostly was north, In its non-fixed time, governors often came from Board of War or Board of Revenue, in itsfixed time, governors often came from Xunfu, many governors had gone to Board ofWar, because of many reasons, more than half of governors had dropped out ofbureaucracy forever or temporary. Xuan-Da Governor-General was an high-levelofficial, most Jinshi spended more than twenty years to get the position. In its fixedtime, its average tenure of office was27month, in JiaLong period,its tenure wasnear the average, in Wanli period, because of Long-term programme about officialand emperor’s laziness, its tenure was highly above the average, but in Tianqi andChongzhen period, its tenure was highly below the average, because of politicalstruggle or military press. Xuan-Da Governor-General was elected by ministers, theemperor although could express his view, but couldn’t make an arbitrary decision, itdidn’t conform to the theory which deemed emperor had absolute power.