The Reason Of Study On The Setup-Lag Of Pingyue Military And Civilian Government In Guizhou Province In Ming Dynasty

Pingyue military and civilian government in Ming Dynasty is located innorth-central Guizhou, which is near the Sichuan-Guizhou border, where an ancientHunan-Yunnan post road came by. Lofty mountains and steep hills embosom the regionand a lot of rivers crisscross the land, so the Pingyue region is called “the strategic placewith mountains and rivers”. However, taking an overview of the setup process ofgovernments at all levels in Guizhou Province, it can be seen distinctly that the time ofthe setup of Pingyue military and civilian government lagged markedly behind thesetup-time of other prefectures in Guizhou.The paper is to make it clearly that theprocess of the setup of prefecture’s government and its characteristics, meanwhileexplore the comprehensive reason of the setup-lag and its influence on local people. Thepaper is to illustrate that the setup of prefectures of Guizhou Province was not only theadministrative action of local governments, but also the decision of the Ming court, andthe reason why the Ming court hesitated to make decision and to carry out the policy, isnot only due to the political environment of Guizhou province, but also due to theecological environment, the culture of ethnic groups, historical factors, andadministrative costs in Guizhou etc.On the background of the setup of governments at all levels of Guizhou Provincein Ming Dynasty, the paper relates the process of the setup of Guizhou Province and thehistory of administrative divisions-building of Pingyue military and civilian government.It is shown that: At the11th of Yongle(Yongle11)1413, the central governmentstarted the setup of government of Guizhou province, At the beginning of the setup ofthe province government institution, only eight “Fu”s were set up, not includingPingyue “Junminfu”(Pingyue military and civilian government). The predecessor ofPingyue military and civilian government is Pingyue Wei.The process of the setup of“Fu” can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty.28th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty(1600), after the court put down the rebellion of Bozhou,Pinyue military and civiliangovernment was added in the Pingyue Fortress City in order to rule HuangpingPrefecture, and Yuqing,Meitan, Weng’an Counties. Qingping Wei,Kaili Anfusi,Pingyue Wei, Yangyi Zhangguansi all were allocated to the jurisdiction of the Pingyuemilitary and civilian government.It is of important necessity to accomplish the setup of prefecture of Pingyue region,due to Pingyue"s remarkable military strategic significance that its tough terrain gives.The setup-time of “Fu”(Guizhou pingyue military and civilian government) is in thelate of Ming Dynasty. For the following reasons: First, the region is located in thewatershed between Yuanjiang River and Wujiang River. Karst topography and normallandforms display a staggered distribution. Surface morphology is diverse. Mountainsand rivers crisscross the region. It is a sinister natural geographic environment. Second,Pingyue is a multi-ethnic region, and Han nationality is the subject people. Miao Buyiminority live together, adjacent to each other. All ethnic groups and diverse lifestylescoexist. Third, the land is connected to the border of many provinces. The affiliation is not reasonable, resulting in the competition of the neighboring chieftains, the growthand rebellion of Bozhou chieftain, and thus the out of control of the court. For thesereasons, in this area, the government garrison costs, the construction costs of thegovernment office, salaries of officials and other administrative costs are too high,therefore up to the repression and pacification of the Bozhou Rebellion, Ming Dynastyhomeopathically set up the government”Fu”, however, at this time,the Guizhouprovince had been set up nearly200years.The existence of Pingyue military and civilian government exerted an importantinfluence over the local. After Ming Dynasty’s repression and pacification of BozhouRebellion, the function of Pingyue government, not only is to protect the security of thepost road, to solve the financial problems of the post road, but also to limit the growthof the separatist forces and chieftains’ privileges, to moderate the development of thesize of chieftains in the vicinity areas, thus to guarantee the rule and the maintenance oflocal stability of Ming Dynasty. By doing this, Guizhou territory shape changed fromthe "V" into a "”.Thus this measure solved the defects of Guizhou Province’sgeographical territory, brought more convenience to the traffic of Guizhou, causedpolitical, and economic development in Guizhou. The setup of Pingyue military andcivilian government strengthened the links between the central government andGuizhou, accelerated the feudalism process of southwest ethnic minorities, promotedthe economic and cultural exchanges between Guizhou and the mainland, thusconsolidated the unification of the multi-ethnic country. The process of the setup ofPingyue military and civilian government provided a model to the rulers in laterdynasties about the management and construction of Guizhou Province.