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The chieftain system existed throughout the Ming Dynasty. Although there were measures to transform the chieftains into officials, most of them were passive.
For example, during the Yongle period, the chieftains of Sizhou and Sinan in Qiandong were changed to officials. This successful case was not initiated by the Ming court.
The reason was that the eldest branch of the Tian family, which controlled Sizhou, and the third branch, which controlled Sinan, had turned against each other. After several generations of killing each other, Qiandong had been in turmoil. Later, the third branch took the initiative to offer land, and the Ming court took the opportunity to change the land system to the official system and sent troops to destroy the eldest branch of the Tian family in Sizhou.
Later, the chieftains of the Yang family in Bozhou and the An family in Shuidong were changed from native chieftains to officials because these chieftains first launched a large-scale rebellion. The Ming court only changed the chieftains to officials after it put down the rebellion.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, Tusi were treated relatively well. After the middle and late periods, due to the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army, the Ming army became increasingly dependent on Tusi troops, and often had to call Tusi troops to the Central Plains to suppress rebellions. Qin Liangyu of Shizhu and Long Zaitian of Shiping had entered the Central Plains for a long time to fight for the Ming court.
There were only a few chieftains like Qin Liangyu who understood the righteousness of the cause. Most of them were arrogant and domineering because they were relied on by the Ming court. The Ming court had to rely on them to suppress the rebellion and was unable to control them. These chieftains had been arrogant for a long time and became more and more unruly. When they entered the Central Plains to suppress the rebellion, they often took the opportunity to plunder and cause great harm.
They were even more unscrupulous in the areas around their jurisdiction. The chieftains allowed the local people to plunder and kill the Han people, causing the Han people to not dare to cultivate the land around them. Over time, these lands became theirs.
In some cases, after the Han people planted crops, when the harvest time came, the chieftains allowed the local people to rush to harvest the crops, leaving the Han people who had worked for a year with nothing to harvest.
When the government sent troops, they fled into the deep mountains and old forests. These places were poor and remote, and it was impossible to station a large army for a long time. As soon as the government troops left, they came out again and looted as before.
In short, this situation was already very common in the southwest during the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The Ming court was busy dealing with Liaodong and the rebellions in the interior and was unable to take care of all the other things. The rebellions by the chieftains in the southwest were also increasing.
However, the policy of transforming native peoples into officials has its own particularities. It is not possible to solve all problems immediately by sending an army of 100,000 troops there.
Therefore, Gu Jun'en even suggested letting Yunnan remain in chaos for a while longer, so as to consume the strength of each chieftain.
The current chaos in Yunnan is actually a chaotic fight between various chieftains. Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qian, originally had a small army. When Sha Dingzhou attacked Kunming, Mu Tianbo fled Kunming in a hurry with only a few guards for protection, and he didn't even have time to take his mother and wife with him.
His small army had been devoured by Sha Dingzhou without leaving any residue, and now it was all up to Long Zaitian and other chieftains to fight against Sha Dingzhou. In other words, the chieftains were consuming each other.
Qin Mu was very moved by Gu Jun'en's suggestion. Instead of letting the chieftains rule Yunnan separately, it would be better to let them be in chaos for a while. When they were almost exhausted, they could be pacified in one fell swoop, once and for all. In the long run, this would also be good for the people of Yunnan.
Jin Lei also offered two strategies to Qin Mu. He said slowly, "King Qin, in addition to the division and disintegration that you all mentioned and the strategy of defeating them one by one, I think there are two more strategies that can be used for the places that have been pacified."
"Tell me, what are the two strategies?"
"I have two plans for you, King Qin. One is to control the natives. Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, local chieftains have been arrogant and lawless, causing great harm, and the natives often fear power and do not remember kindness. Therefore, the chieftains who have been pacified should be severely punished, and those with greater influence should be killed. This can prevent them from reviving, and it can also deter the natives and make them accept the court's resettlement.
Second, we must take away the weapons. The natives are poor and violent, and they love to fight. They carry weapons with them. If they disagree, they will immediately draw their swords and fight each other, causing bloody incidents. This will deepen the hatred between the Han people and the natives, which is difficult to resolve. This long-term confrontation is often the root cause of unrest. Therefore, we must take away all the weapons of the natives and enact laws to strictly prohibit them from carrying weapons. "
"Well, Gong Nan is right. These two strategies are indeed good strategies and very targeted." Qin Mu nodded frequently and called Jin Lei by his name, which was extremely rare.
As the founding fathers of the Qin Dynasty, people like Sima An had the opportunity to be addressed as "sir" by Qin Mu. Calling someone by their given name was a sign of intimacy, and even Gu Jun'en and Yu Dayou, who were present, were envious.
After some discussion, Qin Mu became more determined to reform the chieftains in the southwest. It would be better to take advantage of the current conflicts among the chieftains to wipe them out once and for all to avoid endless troubles in the future.
The current situation in Yunnan is that the chieftain army headed by Sha Dingzhou is mostly based north of Kunming; while the Shiping chieftain Long Zaitian and Ningzhou chieftain Lu Yongming, who support Mu Tianbo, are mostly based south of Kunming.
This has created a situation of confrontation between the north and the south in Yunnan, and the two sides are in a stalemate.
On the other hand, on the surface Long Zaitian was supporting Mu Tianbo, but Mu Tianbo had no soldiers or generals, and in fact he was controlled by Long Zaitian and Lu Yongming. These chieftains were actually just taking advantage of the prestige that the Duke of Qian had long enjoyed in Yunnan, gaining a name for righteousness, and wanted to take the opportunity to become more powerful.
Of course, the actual situation is far more complicated than this. In the whole of Yunnan, except for a few large provincial capitals, most areas are still under the rule of chieftains.
Moreover, external forces intervened. There was a country called Dongwu (Myanmar) to the south of Yunnan, which had long been eyeing Yunnan. Fifty years ago, Dongwu King Mang Yingli led his troops to invade Yunnan, but was repelled by the troops led by Liu Jing and Deng Zilong, the defenders of Yunnan at that time.
The current King of Dongwu is called Thalong. The previous King of Dongwu, Anabilon, had just recovered all the lost territories of Lower Dongwu and recaptured Shalian occupied by the Portuguese. He drove the Portuguese invaders out of Dongwu and thus completed the unification of Dongya again.
Helong caught up with a good era. The current Dongwu Kingdom can be said to be rich and powerful. Since he succeeded to the throne, he has been committed to the recovery and development of the domestic economy and distributed land to landless farmers. In the seventh year, he also conducted a national census and compiled survey statistics on household registration, cultivated land area, output and taxation in various places as the basis for taxation and labor conscription. This greatly increased the national strength of Dongwu.
The King of Dongwu was once granted the title of Diwula Envoy during the Yongle Period. There was news from Yunnan that Mu Tianbo had sent people to ask for help from Dongwu. Dongwu would probably take the opportunity to send troops into Yunnan. If this was true, the situation in Yunnan would become even more murky.
After discussing this, Yu Dayou said, "It is necessary for the Qin army to enter Yunnan as soon as possible to exert its influence. However, after our army enters Yunnan, how to maintain the balance of power among all parties and let them fight longer is a difficult problem."
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "No, once our army enters Yunnan, whether you like it or not, it will definitely break the current stalemate between the parties. It is impossible to sit on the sidelines and provoke others to consume each other. No one would be so stupid."
Yu Dayou replied: "What the King of Qin said is very true. I do not want the General of the Southern Expedition to sit on the sidelines. However, after our army enters Yunnan, how can we make the various chieftains continue to fight in order to consume them? This requires a certain strategy."
"In my opinion, this is not very difficult. All our army needs to do is to change from a participant to a leader. Since Sha Dingzhou refuses to drink my toast, let's give him some punishment wine. We should first destroy him and take control of him. Then we can gather the chieftains who are now attached to him to deal with Long Zaitian, Lu Yongming and others in the south. That will be all."
Sima Kai echoed, "The King of Qin is wise and wise. I think this is a good plan. The chieftains who are attached to Sha Dingzhou are mostly fence-sitters. Since they are fence-sitters, they will not really work for Sha Dingzhou. After our army destroys Sha Dingzhou, they will definitely turn to our Qin. Then let the General of the Southern Expedition order them to attack Long Datian, Lu Yongming and others in the south. When our army dominates one side, it will be much easier to control the outcome, and we can weaken them step by step."
Qin Mu asked Sima Kai to record the opinions discussed by everyone and compile them into a plan. One copy was used to inform the cabinet and six ministers in Jinling to cooperate with them, and one copy was sent to Guizhou for Cui Feng, He Tengxiao and others to refer to.
If we can control Yunnan and Guizhou first, Guangdong and Guangxi will have no room to maneuver, or they will be like turtles in a jar with nowhere to escape, and it will be much easier to deal with them in the future.
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ps: Asking for monthly tickets every day may make you feel a little disgusted. To be honest, I am also embarrassed. But the reality is cruel. If you don't ask, you will be surpassed by others. If you don't want to be stepped on by others and groan in pain, you can only beg your brothers.
I beg the Prime Minister again, brothers, please support me with monthly tickets, so that this miracle created by everyone can continue longer, please support me with monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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