prosperous age

"Sir, we are willing to surrender."

"I will obey you, sir, and I am willing to surrender with you."

In the lobby of Lujiang City Prefecture, several generals knelt on the ground and kowtowed, repeating a few words over and over again.

From the lobby entrance to the yard, there were seven or eight corpses lying there, all wearing the armor of Ming Dynasty army generals.

These people were naturally not Xian Gui's confidants, but rather people who had been sent in from other forces in the city. However, they all held certain powers to a certain extent, and they were also the people that Xian Gui had sent to guard the north and south gates some time ago.

There is no doubt that there are not many Ming people who are really willing to surrender to Myanmar these days. After all, the size of the country is there, and even a fool knows what to choose.

Who would make such a choice unless they are arrogant or have someone hold something against them?

Unfortunately, there is no choice because the line is expensive.

And your subordinates online have no choice.

Either follow him and surrender to the King of Burma, or end up like those cold corpses in the yard.

The remaining generals and officers were naturally afraid of death, otherwise they would have been lying outside long ago.

"Well, that's great. From now on, we are all one family, no one is different from the other. Just listen to me, and I will naturally protect you.

I know you are still worried about the power of the Ming court, but don't forget that although they have a million troops, the real situation is still unclear.

What's more, there is a vast territory that needs to be guarded, and they simply cannot spare many troops. The best they can do is to transfer a few thousand people from Sichuan, Guizhou and other places to support Yunnan.

Compared with the 200,000 or 300,000 troops under the Burmese king, we are still not strong enough. I made this choice for everyone's future."

Xian Gui would never tell them that he was actually coerced.

Instead, the choice was made after analyzing the military strength of Ming and Burma.

"The Burmese army is now powerful, and the Ming army has no power to resist. It won't be long before Yunnan changes hands.

We all grew up here, and that’s why I chose to do this. Tell me, am I doing the right thing?”

Xian Gui continued to ask with a smile.

"Yes, the master is only thinking about us. Qian Gui and Liao Xiang are blinded by their own greed and fail to appreciate the master's painstaking efforts. They really deserve to die."

"Your Excellency has considered everything. I am willing to follow your lead."

The servant of the Xian family was standing outside the door, with blood still dripping from the knife in his hand. No one dared to say "no" at this time. Everyone kept praising Xian Gui for thinking about them.

If the Burmese army really has the ability to seize Yunnan from the Ming Dynasty, this would actually be a good choice for people like them.

Yes, although the Ming Dynasty advocated loyalty, filial piety, integrity and shame, its policy was to keep people in their hometowns as much as possible.

These military generals may have lived in Yunnan several generations ago, that is, they immigrated here in the late Hongwu period, but they have lived in Yunnan for a hundred years and can be considered native locals.

After the Ming court was defeated, they had to leave their homes, which was somewhat reluctant for these people.

Of course, up to now, they do not think that the Ming Dynasty will be defeated. At most, it will lose some places in southwestern Yunnan. Big cities like Chuxiong and Kunming are unlikely to be lost.

It was only because the current situation was stronger than the people that they had no choice but to surrender against their will.

"You don't know yet, Li Chengliang is actually using you and me as cannon fodder. Our Lujiang City is a small place, how can it withstand the attack of more than 100,000 Burmese troops? How is Tengchong compared to our Lujiang City?

Not only is the city huge, but there is also a whole garrison there, and it fell quickly, but he gave me a death order to defend Lujiang City for a month. Tell me, after a month, how many of you will still be able to stand here?"

Here, Xian Gui began to brainwash these new members, and also began to plan to arrange his own confidants to go to Nanbei City to take over the army.

These people are still useful. With them around, the soldiers under their command will not act recklessly.

At this time, the Ming troops on both sides of the Lujiang River were on high alert to prevent any ships from coming from the other side.

The Lujiang ferry, which was once quite busy, now has not a single ferry boat on the wide river.

Outside the city, Xian Lao San picked up his family from the dock. Instead of returning to the city, he went straight through the city to the west, where the Burmese army camp was located.

Xian Lao San did not go to the agreed grove to wait for Hanba's arrival, but went directly to the Burmese army camp in front.

At this time, the Burmese army camp began to expand its camp again in the rear because the central army arrived. Therefore, the Burmese troops facing the direction of Lujiang City were on high alert to prevent the Ming army in the city from launching a surprise attack.

Seeing several people dressed as servants escorting a Han master directly to the military camp, he naturally shouted at them loudly.

To be honest, this is the first time I have seen a Ming person approaching them so brazenly. In the past, they would always stay as far away from him as possible.

Stopping in front of the camp gate, the servant of Xianfu immediately shouted inside: "Please inform General Hanba that the third master of Xianfu heard that the King of Burma has arrived and came to pay his respects."

Although the matter of Xianfu's surrender had not been completely negotiated at this time, the threat in the city had been eliminated by Xiangui, so naturally there was not much to worry about.

Moreover, as for what Gui did offline, he had no choice but to go all the way, with no way back.

At this time, Hanba, who was welcoming the Burmese King Mang Yinglong, was stunned when he received the news in the king's tent.

  He hasn't had the chance to tell the Burmese king about the situation here, why did the Xian family come to him on their own initiative, so impatient?

Hanba briefly explained the situation to Mang Yinglong, who smiled and said, "Since that Xian family member wants to see me, let him in.

It should be impossible for them to regret it now, hehe."

"Well, King of Burma, I will go out and bring him in."

When Hanba heard Mang Yinglong's words, he immediately smiled and said.

Soon, Hanba arrived at the camp gate and saw Xian Lao San coming here with a few servants.

"Lord Hanba, I am glad to see you at last."

The third person on the line bowed and smiled, then went up to him enthusiastically to start a conversation.

"Why, has something happened in the city?"

Hanba noticed that the third brother seemed to be more enthusiastic today than yesterday, and something was obviously happening, so he asked immediately.

Although the third man on the line yesterday had already decided to surrender, he still had bargaining chips in his hand, so he could still negotiate terms with him. But he was so enthusiastic today, which was obviously not right.

“No, it’s just that my eldest brother has completely taken control of Lujiang City. He urged me to come and meet the King of Burma as soon as possible. He wants to know how to cooperate with our army to cross the river next.

Baoshan City doesn't know about this yet. Speed ​​is of the essence. If we rush across the river at this moment, by the time we reach Baoshan City, Li Chengliang may not have enough time to react."

The third person on the line would naturally not reveal the truth directly, as something had already happened on his side and the court already knew about it.

Therefore, it is necessary to formulate a strategy as soon as possible to allow the Burmese army to cross the river in order to ensure their position in the Burmese army.

This is also the only value of the Xian family in the eyes of the Burmese king.

If we delay too long and the Ming army reinforcements arrive on the other side of the river, it will be extremely difficult to cross the river.

Although the Ming army on the other side of the river was not under Xian Gui's jurisdiction, his strengths and weaknesses were clear: there was only one guerrilla leader with only a few hundred soldiers. Although Xian Gui could defeat these Ming troops directly, he still wanted to hold on to the two thousand soldiers in his hands and was unwilling to lose much.

Let’s not talk about the Ming Dynasty. In Myanmar, strength is a matter of fact. The strength in your hands is your status in Myanmar.

Although Xian Gui is not from Myanmar, he has heard and seen a lot about the situation there.

As long as the chieftain has soldiers and is willing to obey the orders of the Burmese king, he can become the local emperor and do whatever he wants.

Without soldiers, the chieftain is nothing and the land will be directly divided among others by the Burmese king.

The more soldiers there are, the larger the territory is; this is the rule in the chieftain territories of Myanmar.

Only the areas directly controlled by the Toungoo Dynasty were operated according to the Burmese king's orders.

Overall, it was much more cruel than the Xuanwei Division controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

Although Hanba didn't quite believe it, one of the words of Xianlao San touched his heart, which was "speed is the essence of war."

Even if people who lead troops in battle have not summed up this term, they will use it in actual combat.

When Hanba heard this, he felt it made sense.

After seeing the idiot Old Third, I felt a sense of respect for the culture of the Ming Dynasty.

We can hear such reasonable words from such people. It seems that we still need to study Han culture carefully.

This inevitably reminded me of the Chinese book that the Burmese king always kept in his hands, called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". I have to find it and ask someone to talk about it.

Hanba was somewhat educated, at least he knew some Chinese characters, but reading Chinese books was too difficult for him.

Well, all I can say is that the books he read at the beginning were all about the imperial examinations used by the Han people, which were naturally not something that ordinary people could understand.

Most Burmese people who could read the Four Books and Five Classics would choose to go to the Ming Dynasty to take the imperial examinations, and the Ming Dynasty would accept them all.

In fact, there were indeed examples of scholars from foreign vassal states successfully passing the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Tang Dynasty, there has been a precedent of directly allowing scholars from vassal states to take the imperial examinations.

For example, Abe no Nakamaro, the Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty, entered the Imperial College, later passed the imperial examination, stayed in the Tang Dynasty as an official, returned to his country once, and later returned to the Tang Dynasty and was buried in Chang'an.

During the reign of Emperor Muzong of Tang, the "Bingong System" was established, which allowed foreign countries to recommend "Suwei students" to the Tang Dynasty. The recommended students could study in the Imperial Academy and take the "Bingong Imperial Examination". Students with excellent results would be awarded the title of "Jinshi Jidi".

Then you can choose to return to your country, or participate in the selection of the Ministry of Personnel and stay in the Tang Dynasty to serve as an official.

After passing the imperial examination, Cui Zhiyuan of Silla served as the lieutenant of Lishui County, worked as an aide to Gao Pian, wrote "Exhortation to Huang Chao", and finally returned to Silla.

Until the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were 58 Bingong Jinshi. Even during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there were dozens of people who passed the imperial examination.

The Northern Song Dynasty continued this system. In the ninth year of Kaibao, Jin Xingcheng from Goryeo entered the Imperial College and later passed the imperial examination. The King of Joseon wanted him to go back, but he refused to leave and was promoted to the position of Palace Secretary.

In the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo, Goryeo Kang Jian passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. He stayed in the Northern Song Dynasty as an official and also impeached Kou Zhun.

Due to the years of war in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, the imperial examinations, like the college entrance examinations during the turbulent period, were delayed for many years.

When the Ming Dynasty held its first imperial examination, it was already the fourth year of Hongwu.

In this first examination after the founding of the country, 120 people finally passed the examination and became Jinshi. Among them was one from the Korean Peninsula. The original words in historical records were "a person from Goryeo State", and his name was Jin Tao.

That year, four students from Korea came to China to study, and only Jin Tao passed the exam.

The experience of Jin Tao was recorded in the Veritable Records of Ming Taizu: "Only Jin Tao passed the imperial examination and was appointed as the magistrate of Anqiu County, Dongchang Prefecture. Pu Shi and Liu Boru both failed.

The three of them all requested to return to their country because they could not speak Chinese. The emperor gave them generous travel expenses and sent them back by boat.

After passing the imperial examination, Jin Tao was assigned to serve as the magistrate of Anqiu County in Dongchang Prefecture. However, he applied to return home on the grounds of language barrier.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not take it too seriously and even issued an edict to give them generous travel expenses and "send them back to their country."

However, after returning to China, Jin Tao rose to fame overnight. According to records, he "became the prime minister of his country", transforming from a county magistrate in China to the prime minister of Goryeo. This is the best proof of the value of passing the imperial examination in China.

In addition, scholars from Vietnam, Myanmar and other places also participated in the imperial examinations, which not only demonstrated the influence of Confucian culture in the Asian cultural circle, but also demonstrated the strong self-confidence of ancient China and its open attitude towards the outside world.

To put it in today's terms, it can be regarded as the ancient version of the war for talent and the battle for people.

Under the leadership of Hanba, Xian Gui naturally met the Burmese King Mang Yinglong very quickly, and his attitude was extremely respectful at this time.

After all, this person will be the one who decides the life and death of their family in the future. And after making this decision, their Xian family is no longer Ming people, but Burmese.

At this time, the third person on the line regarded himself as a Burmese and showed his consideration for Myanmar everywhere.

Of course, most of these were taught to him by Xian Gui, which made Mang Yinglong very amused.

"Speed ​​is the essence of war?"

When Hanba said this word that he heard from Xian Lao San, Mang Yinglong naturally took it very seriously.

Controlling the Lujiang ferry was the most important thing in this battle. If the Ming army in Baoshan was given a chance to react, it would be difficult to launch a surprise attack.

Immediately, Mang Yinglong dispatched more than a thousand soldiers and horses, who followed Xian Lao San to bypass the city and go directly to the dock. They used the boats of Lujiang City to cross the river, occupy the ferry crossings on both sides and seize the boats.

"The army will set up camp according to the marching order. After we take the ferry today, we will cross the river tomorrow and head straight to Baoshan City to capture Li Chengliang alive."

Mang Yinglong immediately issued the latest royal order.

Li Chengliang was a first-rank military general of the Ming Dynasty and the Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Right Army Military Governor's Office. If he could be captured, the impact on the Ming court would undoubtedly be enormous, and the difficulty of dividing the territory would seem to be greatly reduced.

Anyway, in Mang Yinglong's view, those officials in the capital of the Ming Dynasty who dominated the fate of the empire should all be timid and afraid of fighting. As long as the strength of the Burmese army was demonstrated, it would be easy to force them to surrender.

At this time, in the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty capital, Wei Guangde was also summoned by Zhang Juzheng from the duty room.

"Brother Uncle, what is the matter with this call?"

Wei Guangde walked into Zhang Juzheng's duty room. After the two of them bowed to each other and sat down, Wei Guangde asked directly.

"I've read the Yunnan battle reports you sent me these days. The Burmese army is strong this time. Do you think Li Chengliang needs to send more reinforcements?"

According to the paper data reported by the Ministry of War, the Ming army drew 70,000 to 80,000 elite soldiers from the three provinces. This should be a real number, after all, they were all soldiers selected by the Li father and son.

However, Yunnan had an army of more than 100,000 on paper. According to the situation of the Ming army garrisons, Zhang Juzheng estimated that it would be good if they had 50,000 or 60,000 troops.

In fact, the imperial court only gathered 120,000 to 130,000 soldiers and horses in Yunnan this time, and they had to be distributed to guard various places. Only 100,000 of them could actually be deployed on the battlefield, and most of them were soldiers and horses selected by Li Chengliang.

With less than 100,000 troops, they have to fight against the Burmese army of more than 200,000. They have been feeling a little uneasy recently.

Even though the navy has already reached southern Burma. (End of this chapter)