Conflicts Of Provisions And Funds Between Ming Dynasty And Choson In The Imjin War

At the end of the sixteenth century,the war of aggression against Choson launched by Japan had a profound impact on Northeast Asia.At the beginning of the outbreak of the war,the “three capitals and eight provinces” of Choson were all lost and had to turn to the Ming Dynasty for help.Ming decided to send troops to aid Choson for considerations of its own national defense security,thus opening the prelude of the seven-year eastern expedition to assist Choson.With the Ming troops rushing to Choson in succession,Ming and Choson began to cooperate with each other in the war against Japan.Among them,the provisions and funds for troops is the key point.The issue of provisions and funds includes raise,transport,management and distribution.Influenced by many factors,divergences and conflicts between Ming and Choson continued to arise in the process of cooperation.These conflicts,once formed,cannot be resolved,and thus become potential disharmony factors in the relations between the two countries.Although scholars at home and abroad have been involved in the issue of provisions and funds in Ming and Choson,their achievements are limited.This thesis combs the issue of provisions and funds in both countries in the chronological order aiming to make a breakthrough on the basis of previous studies in detail.This thesis analyses the basic situation of the cooperation between Ming and Choson,and points out their specific conflicts and causes.This thesis is divided into three parts.The first part investigates the raise and transport of the provisions and funds in Ming and Choson and their respective division of labor on the issue of provisions and funds in detail.The second part divides Imjin War into three stages: battling stage,armistice stage and aftermath stage,and elaborates the concrete manifestations of the conflict of provisions and funds in different periods.The third part deeply analyses the causes of the conflicts between Ming and Choson,namely,the objective reality of the huge amount of food expenditure,the actual situation of financial shortage in the two countries,the consideration of national interests under the suzerain-vassal system and the inadequate supervision of the relevant officials.