Ming court in the context of "Three Departments and Six Ministries"

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⭐ Core Definition: Ming court

The government of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) was modeled after the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Over time, the government system changed and adapted to circumstances. The Ming government was traditionally divided into three branches—civil, military and surveillance, with the imperial household and its eunuchs holding a distinct position.

In the beginning, the central civil authorities were led by the Central Secretariat, which oversaw Six Ministries and other less significant institutions. The Chief Military Commission served as the high command of the army, while the Censorate held the highest control authority. The empire was divided into two metropolitan areas and thirteen provinces, each of which was managed by a Branch Secretariat. The lower levels of administration included prefectures and subprefectures, with the lowest level being the counties. There were approximately 1,400 counties in Ming China.

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Ming court in the context of Koxinga

Zheng Chenggong (Chinese: 鄭成功; pinyin: Zhèng Chénggōng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tēⁿ Sêng-kong; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen (鄭森) and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (國姓爺), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century and expelled the Dutch from Taiwan, founding the Kingdom of Tungning.

Born in Japan to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, Zheng rose through the Ming court via the imperial examinations and was serving as a Guozijian scholar in Nanjing when Beijing fell to rebels in 1644. He swore allegiance to Longwu Emperor, who favored and granted him the royal surname Zhu in 1645, a name he proudly used instead of his native Zheng surname for the rest of his life, hence popularizing his aforementioned honorific name. He was made the Prince of Yanping (延平王) by the Yongli Emperor in 1655 for his stern loyalty and numerous anti-Qing campaigns. He was best known for defeating the Dutch East India Company's colonial state on Taiwan, who had been harassing and raiding his maritime supply lines, at the Siege of Fort Zeelandia in 1662 and established a dynastic state on the island that continued to exist until 1683. After defeating the Dutch, he died suddenly in 1662 while planning to invade Luzon in retaliation for the Fourth Sangley Massacre committed by Spanish colonists in the Philippines.

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