自戰國時代燕國設郡「遼東」、「遼西」以來，遼東地區一直是漢民族的邊防要地。處於漢胡交壤之界，此地「負山阻海，地險而要，中國得之則足以制胡，胡得之亦足以抗中國，故其離合實關乎中國之盛衰。」明初朱元璋取代蒙元政權，成為遼東的新主人，並於此地設立遼東都司，但因僅設衛所而無州縣，形成以軍事機構兼管地方行政之情勢，與內地諸省大不相同。明代的遼東都司所轄疆域甚廣，東至鴨綠江與朝鮮接壤，北至開原、鐵嶺，南至旅順與山東的登州、萊州隔海相望，西則至山海關與北京相連。朝鮮、蒙古、女真等外族環伺，戰略地位極其重要。為加強此處的軍事佈防，明朝先後在此設立衛所、修築邊牆並分置兵備道。透過「衛所」、「邊牆」與「道區」之間，彼此點、線、面的相互串連，明朝於遼東構築起東以遼陽、西以廣寧為主的雙核心防禦體系，此一體系維繫至明末後金崛起後，才又產生新的變化。

Liaodong area have been most important border distrist of Han nationality since the Warring States Period, Yan Kingdom set up “Liaodong ”county and“Liaoxi ”county. Locating between Han nationality and Barbarians,Liaodong is an important military area .Who controls Liaodong will be the ruler of China.Replace of Mongol,Zhu Yuanzhang became the new ruler of Liaodong and set Chief Military Commission here in the early Ming Dynasty.Different form provinces in Central Plains,there were no countries had been established in Liaodong where only military units been established.Therefore, Liaodong became a military administration area. The range of Liaodong Chief Military Commission is widely,east to the Yalu River bordering Korea,north to Kaiyuan and Tieling.From south to Lushun across the sea with Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong,west to Shanhaiguan is connected with Beijing.Surrounded by Korea, Mongolia, and Jurchen,the strategic position of Liaodong is extremely important.To strengthen the military defense here,Ming Dynasty established Wei Suo,built Boarder Walland assigneda few officials to become Bingbeidao. Through the ''Wei Suo'', ''Boarder Wall'', and ''the district of Bingbeidao '' ,connect each other in the form of ''point-line-surface '',Ming Dynasty built dual- core defense system consisting mainly of Liaoyang in the east and Quang Nin in the west.This defense system was maintained until the rise of Houji Khanate.