A New Perspective on the Establishment of Tieling wei 鐵嶺衛

The issue of Tieling wei toward the end of Goryeo dynasty should not be considered solely from the Korea-centered view but from perspective that takes various events into consideration around the late 14th century in the Far East, including the Ming's military advancement into Liaodong. The first establishment of Sanwan wei together with Tieling wei occurred toward the end of 1397, and this was the period when Ming set out to devise a strategic plan for Liaodong after finally mopping up Mongol's remaining resistance led by Nagachu 納哈出. After establishing 11 of 25 military bases which later formed the Liaodong Headquarter 遼東都司, Ming decided to set up Sanwan and Tieling wei, with the strategic objectives of influencing Jurchen along Tuman and Amnok River and of blocking Goryeo's northern expansion in advance, at locations farther than the line connecting the 11 pre- built military bases. However, Ming was later forced to relocate Tieling and Sanwan to Fengji 奉集 and Kaiyuan 開原: internally they had logistics problem, and Jurchen's resistance did not cease entirely and externally they found a need to rule Liaoxi 遼西 to accommodate surrendering Mongols after Ming defeated the main forces of Northern Yuan. Taking temporary fast-moving political circumstances and the chronicles, the diplomatic efforts of Goryeo toward Ming Taizu 明太祖 and the military intimidation Choi Yeong's 崔瑩 Liaodong invasion can not be considered as the direct causes that forced the evacuation of these two military bases. But Yi Seonggye’s 李成桂 withdrawal was one of the factors that allowed Ming to pay less attention to this area till they established Jianzhou wei 建州衛 during emperor Ming Chengzu 明成祖 14 years later. It would be a fragmentary interpretation to view the ambition over land as the source of the Ming-Goryeo conflict regarding the establishement of Tieling wei. While Goryeo treated the issue of Tieling wei as a matter of territory, Ming intended to run the base to rule the population in the course of taking over Yuan's Shuangcheng Regional Commander Office 雙城摠管府 in that area. The fact that it was the Ming's Board of Revenue 戶部 that delivered the notice of Tieling wei to Goryeo indicates its primary interest was the population.