明代甘肃苑马寺考论

Research on The Horse Administration(Yuan Ma Si) of Gansu in the Ming Dynasty

明朝永乐年间在北方边境地区设立了四个苑马寺,甘肃苑马寺是其中之一。苑马寺的设立是为了就近解决边军马匹供应问题,确切地说,是为即将展开的对漠北政权的"北征"提供军马保障。因此,它是朱棣宏大军事战略的重要组成部分。甘肃苑马寺位于今青海西宁,其牧马草场涉及河湟地区、甘肃祁连山东南麓等地,与西北军卫牧马地相表里。但是,甘肃苑马寺牧马效率低下,始终未能达到预期目的,于是在正统初年被裁撤,并入陕西苑马寺。甘肃苑马寺作为明代国家马政的组成部分,存在时间较短,对于国家马政的贡献有限。其裁撤说明缺乏系统性考虑,仅服务于短期军事目标的马政建设,具有不可持续性。

The Ming government set up four Horse Administrations during Yongle. The Horse Administration in Gansu is one of them. The Horse Administration was designed to solve the problem of horse supply for Troops near borders. Rather, it was established to provide horse to conquest the Mobei which could be starting to happen, so it is an important part of Zhu Di’s great military strategy. The Horse Administration of Gansu was in Xining of Qinghai. The meadows for horse include Hehuang region, the southeast of the Qilian Mountains, which connected to the meadows of northwest military. But the Horse Administration of Gansu was inefficient. It has never achieved its intended purpose, so it was cut in the early years of Zhengtong, and was incorporated into the Horse Administration of Shanxi. As one of composition parts of the horse policy of the country in the Ming Dynasty, the Horse Administration of Gansu existed for a short time, so its contribution was limited. It shows that, if the horse policy only served short-term military goals and lacked the long-term consideration, it was not sustainable.