A Study On The Military Posts Of The Meritorious Aristocrats In The Early Ming Dynasty

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty,the meritorious aristocrats played an important role in the political arena.After the civil war,the status of the Meritorious Aristocrats changed,and the meritorious aristocrats basically withdrew from the core of the power group.Military service is a good example of this change.One of the outstanding features of the military posts held by the gallant officials of the Hong Wu Dynasty was that the posts were mainly dispatch.At the beginning of the Establishment of the Ming Dynasty,the army began to fight a lot,most of the generals for the meritorious aristocrats.The military duties of meritorious aristocrats involved many military affairs.In addition to military operations,they also included training soldiers,cultivating fields,repairing cities,and transporting grain and rates.And some formal permanent military chief officers,such as the governor of the grand governor’s office,served less.Generally speaking,the group of the early Ming dynasty meritorious aristocrats extensively participated in the military affairs of the Ming dynasty,they are decisive.Zhu Di undertook the largest knighthood in Ming history.Due to the reorganization of the defense system in the northern Part of the Ming Dynasty,the meritorious aristocrats were widely appointed as local garrison officers.At the same time,Zhu Di would also grant some meritorious aristocrats the title of "in charge of a house",since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty "Meritorious Aristocrats in charge of the house" principle of the official.In general,in the Yongle dynasty,meritorious aristocrats was still quite active in taking up military posts,but their power declined significantly compared with that of the Hongwu era.In the early years of Renxuan,due to their good performance in the two changes of the imperial throne,the group won the trust of Zhu Gaochi and his son.In the central,Jingying commander,Nanjing garrison,both to the meritorious aristocrats.In local areas,there were also a high proportion of meritorious aristocrats serving as garrison officers.In the later period of Xuande,Emperor began to involve civil officials more in military affairs,and promoted some ordinary generals out of town and into frontier areas.The number of military officials began to decline obviously,indicating the decline of yongle group of military officials.Orthodox years,the military posts of the meritorious aristocrats as more and more fixed,or for the center commander,or for nanjing garrison,or for the five military government.There were few guards at the local level.With the support of the eunuchs,their military status was improved.But the occurrence of civil engineering change,the group of meritorious aristocrats suffered a major blow.They almost become political foil,become the ornament of center.