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It is said that Sha Dingzhou pursued Mu Tianbo to Chuxiong, but was stopped by the coalition forces of Yang Weizhi, the military governor of Jincang, Long Zaitian, the chieftain of Shiping, and Diao Xun, the chieftain of Jingdong.
Sha Dingzhou attacked Chuxiong fiercely. In the critical situation, Yang Weizhi asked Mu Tianbo to escape to Yongchang Prefecture (Baoshan, Yunnan). Sha Dingzhou gave up attacking Chuxiong and led his troops to chase Mu Tianbo to Xiaguan. He sent his general Li Rifang to capture Menghua. Another route led by Wang Shuo captured Dali City.
Yang Weizhi took advantage of the enemy's retreat to the west to repair Chuxiong City and issued an edict to attack the enemy, which was responded to by Ningzhou Tusi Lu Yongming and others. When Sha Dingzhou saw the fire in the rear, he quickly gave up chasing Mu Tianbo and returned to attack Chuxiong and Ningzhou.
After failing to capture Chuxiong, Sha Dingzhou took out his anger on Ningzhou, led the main force to attack, and broke Ningzhou in one fell swoop, killing Lu Yongming. Sha Dingzhou was worried that Kunming would be unstable if he left it for too long, so he temporarily returned to Kunming.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Yunnan had more Yi people than Han people, and Tusi rebelled from time to time, making the situation in Yunnan even more complicated and confusing. In order to consolidate its power, the Ming court adopted two major measures: immigration to the border and stationing troops.
For a long time, the Ming court organized the migration of a large number of inland residents to Yunnan. Most of the Han people who migrated to Yunnan at that time came from the wealthy areas of Jiangnan. After they migrated, most of them lived in towns and Pingba areas, mainly engaged in agricultural production activities.
Due to the massive influx of Han people, Yunnan’s population and ethnic composition changed from “more Yi and fewer Han” to “more Han and fewer Yi” since the Ming Dynasty.
Sha Dingzhou knew that as a chieftain, if he could not appease the heroes and gentry, he would not be able to control Kunming for long, let alone replace the Duke of Qian and become the "King of Yunnan".
After Sha Dingzhou returned to Kunming, he called himself "General Governor", set up a military parade, had guards on duty when entering and leaving, cleared the roads and stopped people from walking, and raised flags and banners. He played horns and drums in the morning and evening, just like a king, hoping to increase his prestige.
His wife, Wan, called herself "mistress". The couple rode in a sedan chair with eight bearers, and visited the gentry with their business cards, looking very happy.
The gentry in the Kunming area were frightened by Sha Dingzhou's power and expressed their willingness to submit to him. Of course, because the Qing army was heading south and the whole country was in chaos, many people took the initiative to surrender to Sha Dingzhou with a speculative mindset and offered him advice.
On the other hand, the Yebushou who had infiltrated Yunnan early in the morning were also not idle. They also secretly visited the local Han gentry.
For hundreds of years, Han people in Kunming would invariably say "from Nanjing" or "from Yingtian Prefecture" when talking about their ancestral home and origins.
This is a fact. When people moved to Yunnan in the early Ming Dynasty, they mainly moved from Yingtian Prefecture. On the one hand, it was to solve the problem of too many people and too little land in Nanjing area, and on the other hand, it could strengthen the border, killing two birds with one stone.
Because most of the ancestors of these Han people came from Nanjing, they always have a stronger sense of identity with the Qin State, which had its capital in Nanjing.
Moreover, Sha Dingzhou and Wan Shi had a very bad reputation. Wan Shi's maiden name was Wan Cailian, she was from a merchant family, and soon after she married Ami Prefecture Tusi Pu Mingsheng, her husband died in battle. Wan Cailian, relying on her martial arts and good brains, continued to lead her husband's subordinates, attacking east and west.
She was a complete whore, living a dissolute life. She kept many male lovers at home, and later remarried Wangnong Tusi Sha Dinghai, and had an affair with Sha Dinghai's brother Sha Dingzhou.
Sha Dingzhou was probably sexually proficient. After pleasing Wan, Sha Dingzhou took advantage of Wan's killing of her brother to seize the power of Wangnong Tusi. The two of them fell in love, which was despised by Pu Fuyuan, the son of her ex-husband Pu Mingsheng. So the adulterous couple killed Pu Fuyuan and merged Wangnong Tusi and Ami Tusi into one.
In short, what the couple did was extremely shameful. In fact, the Han gentry in Kunming disdained to follow such people. It's just that now they have to bow their heads under the eaves.
After receiving some benefits promised by Ye Bushu, many gentry said that they would respond as soon as the Qin army arrived.
Sha Dingzhou had taken over most of Yunnan and on the surface had the support of a large number of gentry. He was feeling very complacent, but he was unaware that undercurrents were surging beneath his feet.
That day, the couple returned to the palace, surrounded by people. Wan's brother-in-law Tang Jiabin came out in panic and said, "General, it's bad. Qujing has been lost. General, we must think of a solution quickly."
Sha Dingzhou and Wan were both shocked. They didn't care about pretending anymore and jumped off the sedan chair. Wan asked first, "How did Qujing fall? Who did it? Where are Sha Mantian and the others?"
"Madam, General Sha's entire army was annihilated, and he himself was reportedly captured. The news has just reached Kunming. We don't know much about the specific situation in Qujing right now. Some say it's the Qin army that has arrived, while others say it's not the Qin army at all, but the family of Mu Tianbo's wife Jiao who sent troops to seek revenge. There are also different opinions on how many troops have arrived, with some saying several thousand and some saying tens of thousands."
Jiao Liang, the father of Mu Tianbo's wife Jiao, used to be an official in Guizhou. Since Sha Dingzhou started his rebellion, he has been busy hunting down Mu Tianbo. In addition, the mountains and rivers blocked his way, so he was not very clear about the changes that had taken place in Guizhou.
If it was the Qin army that came to attack, Sha Dingzhou thought it would be easier to deal with. However, if it was Jiao's family members that came to attack, it would be troublesome because the Duke of Qian had been ruling Yunnan for two or three hundred years and had great prestige. If Jiao's family members came under the banner of revenge, they would definitely get the support of many people.
He was so anxious that he was furious and said, "It's all just a rumor. Why don't you send someone to find out who it is and how many troops have come?"
Tang Jiabin said quickly: "Return to the headquarters. We have sent people to investigate. Headquarters, no matter who comes, it is a fact that Qujing is lost. Qujing is only two or three hundred miles away from Kunming. We must mobilize troops and deploy defenses as soon as possible."
Wan and Sha Dingzhou thought so, so they dispatched their capable general Li Rifang to lead a thousand troops and hurried out of Kunming to meet them in the direction of Qujing.
Sha Dingzhou felt that the situation was serious, so he called in two other advisers, Yu Xipeng and Rao Xizhi, to discuss countermeasures.
Yu Xipeng and Rao Xizhi were originally Mu Tianbo's advisers, but due to corruption, they fled to Ami Prefecture.
Sha Dingzhou's sudden rebellion was instigated by the two of them. It was also thanks to their advice that they were able to capture Kunming City so smoothly, so Sha Dingzhou relied on them very much and always called them "sir".
"Mr. Yu, Mr. Rao, now that things have come to this, what do you think we should do?" Sha Dingzhou paced around the hall with a gloomy face.
Yu Xipeng replied: "General, the situation is unclear now, but in my opinion, 90% of the troops coming are from the Qin army. There was news before that the Qin army was attacking Guizhou, but it is not clear how many troops have come now, which makes it difficult to deal with."
Rao Xizhi said: "No matter how many troops the enemy has, they were able to quickly capture Qujing, which shows that they must have come prepared. General, the current situation is unclear, we'd better stabilize the enemy first. Didn't the Qin envoy come to see the general a while ago? Why don't we agree to their conditions first, stabilize the enemy, and wait until we transfer the army back from the west and find out the details of the enemy, and then make plans."
Tang Jiabin shook his head worriedly and said, "I have already sent people there, but the Qin envoy's residence is already empty, and I can't find it even if I try to find it."
About a month ago, the Qin State sent an envoy to contact Sha Dingzhou, but at that time Sha Dingzhou was in high spirits. He only agreed to accept the title of Emperor Qin, but did not agree to Qin sending troops into Yunnan. He wanted to make Yunnan his own independent kingdom like the Duan family did before. Therefore, the talks between the two sides broke down.
Wan was a little smarter than Sha Dingzhou. She said, "The enemy quickly broke through Qujing. They came with ill intentions. What's important now is to first withdraw the troops from the western front, at the same time appease the people in the city, and strictly investigate the spies..."
Just as Wan said this, a messenger came running in, breathlessly reporting: "Madam, the headquarter, something bad has happened. Luliangwei was attacked by a group of enemies whose origins are unknown. After the enemy captured Luliangwei, they are heading south to Lunanzhou."
"How many troops does the enemy have?" Sha Dingzhou grabbed the messenger by the collar and asked anxiously.
"There are... four thousand... No, no, no, I'm afraid there are five thousand..."
"Please calm down, General. It seems that this group of people must have come south from Qujing. This is bad. General Li Rifang went to Yanglin to meet the enemy, but the enemy did not advance westward, but turned south. General Li Rifang is afraid that he will catch nothing." Rao Xizhi said, standing up in shock.
"Hurry up and send the order to Li Rifang to withdraw and head southeast to Yiliang to meet the enemy. Go!"
Ma Liuliang did not go straight to Kunming, but took the south route. This was beyond everyone's expectations and also confused Sha Dingzhou. However, at this time, Sha Dingzhou still believed that this group of people were aiming for Kunming, but just chose to resist from the east. He never expected that others were eyeing his old nest.
Perhaps this is what is called a master being defeated by a random punch, and Sha Dingzhou is far from being a master... ... .
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ps: I have a headache. At first I thought it was because I didn’t sleep well last night. I took my temperature and it was 38 degrees...
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.(To be continued..)
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