Ming Pacification of the Southern Frontier and Tusi Governance

Timeline

1. 1393Empire-wide (including southwestern regional commands) · ChinaIn the second month of the 26th year of Hongwu, the Ming court standardized the empire's regional and guard commands: 17 regional commands, 329 inner and outer guards, and 65 defensive thousand-household units. The Yunnan Regional Command oversaw guards at Dali, Chuxiong, Lin'an, Jingdong, Qujing, Jinchi, and elsewhere, forming a military garrison network that, combined with the tusi system, achieved military settlement and long-term control of the southwestern frontier.
2. 1393Lijiang Prefecture · YunnanIn the tenth month of the 26th year of Hongwu, Marquis of Xiping Mu Chun memorialized: the Lijiang tusi people annually paid 760 taels of white silver, all produced in Moso caves; the people exchanged horses for silver and could not judge its authenticity, so he requested permission to pay in horses instead. The court approved. This reflected the Ming's pragmatic adjustments to tribute in tusi regions, lightening the people's burden to consolidate their allegiance.
3. 1393Guangxi tusi regions · GuangxiIn the 26th year of Hongwu, the tusi officials of Sicheng Prefecture, Cen Zhen, and the prefect of Fengyi Prefecture, Huang Silong, among others, sent envoys to tribute horses and local products, and the court bestowed paper money. In the early Ming, Guangxi tusi were governed through pacification and the tribute system; the Huang and Cen clans hereditarily held their lands, and together with garrison troops they formed a mixed tusi-and-civil administration, keeping the southern frontier largely at peace.