Page 50 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

Plate 4.1 Chinese bronze cannon, Ming dynasty, dated 1545 (Jiajing reign). Length 64.5cm. The Capital Museum, Beijing

similar to the processes taking place in Southeast Asia, a to be significant in the long-term development of Vietnam,
topic which will be touched upon below. 44 for it ultimately facilitated the greater centralisation of the
Aided by their superior firepower and logistics, in early state and aided in its wars: first of liberation against the
1407 the Ming advanced in multiple wings and smashed Ming and subsequently in campaigns of expansion to the
through formidable Vietnamese defences rather easily. south and the west. Though many Vietnamese were enlisted
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They forced Hồ Quý Ly to torch and abandon his Western into the Ming governmental structure within Vietnam itself,
Capital while using firearms and new tactics to frustrate the the Ming also forcibly deported thousands of tradesmen and
war elephants sent against them, for example concentrating artisans to Nanjing, including gunsmiths. Additionally,
52
fire at the handlers and the trunks of the animals. Notably, some were assigned to the School for the Sons of State (guo zi
46
the Ming supposedly deployed firearms to great effect against xue 國子學) and trained as students, perhaps to serve as
Vietnamese elephants in the bloody street fights for control of envoys later.
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the Eastern Capital. But the Ming were still apparently Finally, again exercising the rights of the Yongle emperor
47
impressed enough with the war elephants that they took some as the Son of Heaven, Zhang Fu selected handsome young
back as war booty to China, including them among the boys to be sent to the Ming capital for castration and palace
235,000 livestock they claimed to have captured. 48 service. This is significant for a number of reasons. First of
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According to Chinese accounts, after the Ming captured all, distributing eunuchs was the right of the emperor, and
the capital, a large number of Vietnamese officials begged to tributary states often presented the Ming emperor with gifts
55
be formally incorporated into the empire on account of the of eunuchs. By forcibly taking these young boys Zhang Fu
49
total extermination of the Trần royal line by the Hồ. The was asserting the right of his monarch to tribute, though that
Ming acceded to this ‘request’, citing earlier Chinese control distinction would soon be erased with the formal annexation
of the region as a precedent, and administrative offices were of Vietnam. Next, in part because of his status as usurper
established in accordance with the manner in which the and again in contravention of his father’s express wishes, the
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Ming governed other frontier regions. Vietnam was Yongle emperor had grown particularly dependent upon the
formally annexed as the province of Jiaozhi on the first day eunuch establishment in his government. Producing more
of the sixth month of 1407 [5 July 1407]. This would prove eunuchs with at least some knowledge of his newest province
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and its language could prove useful to the emperor in the
long term.
The gunsmiths, however, have hitherto drawn the most
attention from scholars, in part because several Ming

Plate 4.3 Two small bronze cannons, late 16th century. Military
Museum, Hanoi

Plate 4.2 Two Chinese-style
bombards (left: LSb 19241;
right: LSb 19233). The one on
the right contains an
inscription in Chinese,
although some of the
characters are indistinct.
History Museum of Vietnam,
Hanoi

40 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450