| dc.description.abstract | In 1618 summer, Jurchens attacked Fu-Shun, a fortress of Ming Empire in Liao-Tung. This event started the war between Late Jin and Ming. For this war, Ming court sent an imperial inspectors by the central government, named “Liao-Tung ching-lüen”(遼東經略) with major military duties. In late Ming period, there were already had governors (Liao-Tung hsün-fu) and supreme commanders (Chi-Liao ts’’ung-tu) in Liao-Tung, but the court did not let them lead troops to fight with Jurchens. Instead, the court sent another official to command the troops.
By studying the development of the post of Liao-Tung ching-lüen, we can find that if the emperor gives the authority to bureaucracy, then the civil service could control the national army. However, it always put into practice by collective leadership. That means there was no official could make decisions without colleagues’ endorsement. Such pattern made the emperor’s power cannot be challenged, if the officials who command army disputed for strategy, the emperor would be the highest arbiter.
Although the emperor could make sure he is the highest authority in this pattern, it may also bring a bad effect. If there was heavy conflicts and confrontation, which didn’t compromise immediately and successfully between officials and emperor, the collective leadership would go into chaos. Unfortunately, it happened in late Ming Empire and caused they fail in the war against Jurchen’s invasion. | en_US |