International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2020

 

To defense against aggressors and dispel pirates: Wu Qian was appointed as Coastal Military Commissioner and the difficulties of the coastal defense in the late Song Dynasties

(Abstract)

 

ZHU, Wenhui

 

Through Chinese history, the Southern Song Dynasty, mid- and late Ming Dynasty, and Modern Time (1840-1945) were the three periods in which the problem of coastal defense became salient. The coastal defense became as important as national defense in the Southern Song Dynasty. Unlike the latter two periods, the main threat to coastal defense in the Southern Song Dynasty was from the northern nomadic regimes. As the relationships between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin and Mongolian (Yuan) regimes changed, the situation of coastal defense and the tasks of the Coastal Military Commission (yanhai zhizhi si) kept on changing, and its influence lasted till the later years of the dynasty. In the war with the Mongolians, the imperial court had issued an order to strengthen the sea defense. However, the coastal defense forces were constantly weaken. The article takes Wu Qian who served as Coastal Military Commissioner (yanhai zhizhi shi) as an entry point to make clear his measures and priorities during his tenure, and finally, analyzes the problems of the coastal defense in the late Song Dynasty。