Border-incidents Of Ming Dynasty And Mongolia In The Epistles

On March28th(lunar calendar) the5thyear of Longqing in MingDynasty (April21th,1571in solar calendar), there was an imperial edict,formally announced “Altan Tributary” to the whole nation. Thereby thefriendly relationship between Ming and the right wing of Mongolia wasset. When recalled the past, beginning from the year that the Mingemperor Zhu Yuanzhang called on to “expel the North Yuan, recoverChina”, every Ming emperor was suffering from the turbulence from theMobei.“Every time stemming from the ups and downs of ‘Northbarbarians’ fortune, it would lead to anxiety of the safety of borderland”,so that “war” or “treat cordially” were both difficult. For the emperorJiajing, disasters from the North took place each year that “in Xuanda, orShanxi, Jichang, even as far as the capital city and its environs and therewere no peaceful day lasting for more than thirty years.” At thebeginning of emperor Longqing, Altan Khan invaded Fen Zhou and ShiZhou which had produced great torment to the local. The trouble fromthe North barbarians had not been able to be restrained.The scourge in borderland forced the emperor Longqing not tomake concession any more, but on the contrary, the emperor andofficials made concerted efforts devote themselves to the construction ofthe North defense that thoroughly reformed the slack situation of thearmy in former dynasty. At that time, Hanagi who was the grandson ofthe Mongolia chieftain Altan Khan, surrendered to the Ming Dynastymerely for dissatisfaction with his own tribe. Under the control of the“Archdove” like Gaogong, Wang Chonggu, the Ming Dynasty not onlysolved it properly but also gave up the “Rejection of the Tributary” setby the former dynasty. By this chance, the Ming Dynasty activelycontacted with many tribes of Mongolia by certain compromise fromeach other so that in the end they reached to consensus of “AltanTributary”. Since then, long period of peaceful time was enjoyed by the whole nation, which as historical books praised is that “there was notnecessary to defense that warning fire has been out, and the country gotmore and more peaceful and rich. Such prosperity, like this, has not everbeen recorded in ancient or current history annals.”Zhang Siwei was born in a merchant family, and at that time heserved in the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs. Although ZhangSiwei didn’t have relationship with “Altan Tributary”, he noticed itclosely in virtue of his uncle Wang Chonggu, who was, as viceroy, incharge of this issue. Letters of discussing on the Tributary withJianchuan Wang were just the correspondence about the problems ofTributary between Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu. These23letters,which originated from November,1570and ended at September,1571,developed about “Altan Tributary” and further discussed a series ofproblems, including those leaders of the North barbarians, newest trendson negotiation, the clauses and schedules of Tributary, the situation oftrade and so on. They embraced both big and small issues, and showedin detail or in simple terms, which displayed the whole process of “AltanTributary” from rough start to perfect end onto papers.Zhang Siwei’s Letters of discussing on the Tributary withJianchuan Wang connected the court and the borderland in the past,whose role was so obvious; nowadays, it still proves its values: firstly, itrecords the complete information about “Altan Tributary” which helprelative researches as firsthand materials; secondly, it also records thethoughts and behaviors of Zhang Siwei about “Altan Tributary” which isbeneficial to the research of him; thirdly, the letters reflects the positiveattitude and action of “the Archdove party”in Ming court, and showsthat the court has become proactive, rather than conservative previously,to seek opportunities to make the dream “Altan Tributary” come true.