The word territory focuses on actual control. The so-called actual control can actually be understood by these keywords: administrative officials, garrison, issuing currency, collecting taxes, and verifying household registration. Only when these three conditions are met at the same time is actual control, that is, territory.
So based on this standard, how big is the territory of Da Meng? In fact, it is only more than three million square kilometers within the Great Wall.
Mengchu still had a few guard posts north of the Great Wall as military strongholds to defend Mongolia, but they were of little use because they were all abandoned after Zhu Si, including the agricultural area of ??Hetao.
Of course, modern Mingchui will definitely be dissatisfied. After all, those empty shells of Dusi and Siberia are all tools used by Mingchui to forcefully promote cuteness.
But the "Map of Huangmeng's Unified Geography" makes it very clear that the territory of Huangmeng is within the Great Wall.
The "Dameng Guangyu Map" also makes it very clear that it is inside the Great Wall.
There is also a general map of the four barbarians in "Da Moe Armed Forces", which anyone who knows Chinese characters should be able to understand.
As for why Tan Qixiang painted the Ming Dynasty with uncapped virtues on the map, you only need to understand the historical background at that time.
The historical background at that time was the Sino-Soviet debate. The Russians boasted that China only had Han people and the northern border only reached the Great Wall, in order to deny its historical aggression against China; and our country also let It's just that the maps of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty can be drawn as large as possible. When it comes to talking nonsense, you don't need to be reasonable, just compare who can talk louder.
But in fact, Tan Qixiang did not think that the Ming Dynasty was really that big. This can be seen from the article "Historical China and China's Territory of Past Dynasties".
To be honest, it is impossible to compare the Ming Dynasty's relationship with Tibet to the Yuan Dynasty's relationship with Tibet, or the Qing Dynasty's relationship with Tibet. It is far from catching up. The Ming Dynasty's relationship with the Jurchen tribes outside the Northeast Border cannot be compared with that of the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. The Tatars and Oaras outside the Great Wall have been in a state of hostility for a long time. So during the Ming Dynasty, China was divided into several parts.
Of course, not only Tibet, the Ming Dynasty basically had no control over all border areas. At most, it only maintained a tributary relationship.
This is because the Ming Dynasty was the only closed or autistic introverted dynasty in Chinese history. This is why the Ming Dynasty destroyed the country's industry, commerce and free trade, leaving only the agricultural economy as its main function. financial support. As a result, the Ming Dynasty's national power was weak and unable to support its expenses in expanding its territory.