This paper comprehensively analyzed how the Ming capital’s transfer from Nanjing to Beijing influenced the change in the relationship between Joseon and Ming. Beijing transfer was a big project that began after Yongle became emperor through a coup called “Jingnan Incident(靖難之變)” and was steadily promoted and completed for 20 years. Through Beijing transfer, Ming dynasty, which began as the “Nanjing Capital Era,” was converted to the “Beijing Capital Era” in less than 60 years after its founding. Since many previous studies assumed Beijing as capital city as a self-evident result and analyzed the Joseon-Ming relationship as a pre-stage of the Joseon-Qing relationship, they easily overlooked how much Beijing transfer dramatically changed the relationship between Joseon and Ming.
This paper analyzed in three main aspects that there was a huge difference in Joseon-Ming relationship between the period when the capital city was Nanjing and the period when it was Beijing.
First, Beijing transfer contributed to the transition from a mutually distrustful conflict relationship to a mutually trusted cooperative relationship between Ming and Joseon. In this process, similar political background of Emperor Yongle, who led capital transfer from Nanjing to Beijing, and King Taejong, who led capital transfer from Geasung to Hanyang, played a critical role.
Second, Joseon envoy’s route to Ming was converted from sea route to 100% land route from 1409 through Beijing transfer.
Third, during Imjin war, the fundamental reason of Ming for the dispatch of troops to Joseon was because the capital was in Beijing at that time. Ming had no choice but to decide on a dispatch to Joseon because the Japanese military, which occupied Joseon, could threaten Beijing's weak logistics system. This is a conclusion drawn through an analysis of the weak capital logistics system caused by Beijing transfer, which was overlooked in previous studies.