prosperous age

Chapter 967 1056 Jiaozhi

Li Chengliang was still confused, so Wei Guangde took out the information handed over by Jin Yiwei and handed it to Li Chengliang.

"Look, the imperial court had suspicions before, but was never sure of the real situation there, so it kept you in the capital.

Now that the news has been confirmed, it's time for the Right Army Governor's Mansion to make some moves. "

Taking the note handed over by Wei Guangde, Li Chengliang read it carefully.

Although the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty said that military generals were vulgar warriors, in fact, the families with hereditary military positions were not vulgar in any way. Many of them were literate and had good knowledge.

Because the Ming Dynasty relied on culture to suppress military affairs, families of military generals often tried to let them take the merit test to become civil servants when they were still young. Only those who really did not have the IQ would seek a military position.

Not to mention Yu Dayou, a scholar, Li Chengliang also passed the examination and was also a scholar. However, the culture in Liaodong was not prosperous, and he had not passed the examination at the age of forty.

As for why I failed the provincial examination and failed to be elected, what does this have to do with the poor local culture?

Isn’t it true that exams all rely on peer support? You only need to be better than your fellow students to stand out?

This is true for candidates from other provinces, but this does not apply to Liaodong.

In the Ming Dynasty, the "three divisions" system was implemented in the local area, namely the Chief Envoy Department, the Inspection Envoy Department and the Capital Command Envoy Department, which were in charge of civil affairs, justice and military affairs.

However, Liaodong, which is located on the border, belongs to the military front line and most of the residents are military households in the garrison. Therefore, there is only a capital department and no chief envoy department.

Although the Dusi can manage money and food matters together, scientific research affairs can only be affiliated to other provinces.

Shandong and Liaodong face each other across the sea. The troops who captured Liaodong in the early Ming Dynasty set out from Dengzhou on the Jiaodong Peninsula and arrived in Lushun. Because of this connection, the rural examination in Liaodong was based in Shandong in the middle and early Ming Dynasty.

The so-called mid-to-early period refers to when, in fact, it is the tenth year of Jiajing.

Ten years before Jiajing, scholars in Liaodong took the provincial examination. They either took a boat across the sea to Shandong to take the provincial examination, or they took the land route and took the Western Liaoning Corridor through Shuntian Prefecture to Shandong to take the examination.

Not to mention the risks of the sea route, there are also many Liaodong candidates who have encountered shipwrecks.

The land route is safer than the sea route, but the distance is too long.

After traveling long distances to Shandong to take the exam, many candidates are physically unable to bear it, and naturally they fail the exam.

What's more, being on the same stage as Shandong candidates, although Shandong is not a major imperial examination province, it is still above average in the north, and Liaodong candidates have almost no chance.

The academic examination gives merit and honor to scholars. Although it is also a unified examination for a province, the cake is divided according to locality. Even the rain and dew are affected. No matter how bad the prefecture or county is, there are only a few places.

In the rural examination, there is no saying that each prefecture and county has to allocate quotas for candidates. It really relies on strength to compete for the chance to be on the list.

The changes in the Liaodong examination took place in the 10th year of Jiajing.

"Quan Liao Zhi" records: "According to the Confucianism born in Liaodong, he used to go to Shandong to take the examination for the Chief Secretary. In the tenth year of Jiajing, Xu Chao, a student student, and others repeatedly invited people nearby, and the Jiawu Department was changed to take the examination in Shuntian Prefecture."

According to the records of "Reading History Fangyu Minutes", Xu Chao, a student member, was a guard of Dingliao and an affiliated Guowei of Liaodong Dusi. The seat of Liaodong Dusi was Liaoyang City, so Xu Chao can be regarded as a native of Liaoyang.

There was nothing special about him. History said that he had a "mellow nature". He entered school early to make a living and was a very filial man. After his death, he stayed in a house and guarded the tomb for three years.

But unfortunately, Xu Chao's road to the scientific examination was not smooth. He went south to Shandong many times to take part in the provincial examination, but he "failed" repeatedly.

No matter who it is, they will feel depressed when they fail to succeed in repeated attempts. This dissatisfaction accumulated over time and finally broke out in the 10th year of Jiajing.

The rural examinations during the Ming and Qing Dynasties were held in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, also known as "Autumn". In ancient times, transportation conditions were limited, and candidates who traveled far away usually had to leave one or two months in advance.

In June of the 10th year of Jiajing, Liaodong students, including Xu Chao, embarked on a journey to Shandong for the Xinmaoke Township Examination.

Unexpectedly, the weather in the summer of that year was not suitable for long-distance travel, with heavy rain and scorching heat. Xu Chao and others trekked in the heat and mud for nearly two months before arriving in July. Jinan, at this time, there is less than a month left before the exam.

Due to fatigue from the journey and acclimatization, the Liaodong scholars who set foot in the examination room performed poorly. Many of them left the examination midway, and few of those who persisted until handing in their papers passed the examination.

When the results were released, I saw that among the dozens of candidates admitted, there was only one candidate from Liaodong, and his name was Han Wei.

Before this, although the admission rate of candidates in Liaodong was not as good as that in mainland Shandong, at least three or four people could be admitted each time. For example, in the last provincial examination, An Yongqing, Fu Zhi and Feng Weijian passed the exam.

Only one person was admitted this time, which made the Liaodong candidates, especially Xu Chao, who had traveled a long distance, were exhausted physically and mentally, and full of complaints, unable to bear it.

After returning to Liaoyang, Xu Chao contacted a group of scholars and came to the capital to submit a petition, saying that the main reason for Liaodong candidates' poor performance in the provincial examination was that it was too far to go to Shandong to take the examination, rather than because their own level was not high and they asked to take the examination nearby. , no longer took part in the Shandong imperial examination, but went to Shuntian Mansion to take the exam.

The actions of the Liaodong scholars finally alarmed the court.

In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and the petitions of the scholars should have been handed over to the Ministry of Rites.

In the tenth year of Jiajing's reign, Xia Yan, a native of Guixi, Jiangxi Province, served as Minister of Rites.

Xia Yan supported the request of Liaodong candidates in his memorial "Reforming the Imperial Examination to Suit Human Feelings", "At that time, Liaozuo and Shandong used to have convenient sea lanes", so it was just a matter of Liaodong scholars going to Shandong to take the exam; now, "sea lanes are blocked" Under such circumstances, he took the overland road across Shuntianfu and came to Shandong. He chose the far away instead of the near, and "things seemed to be uneven."

After the report was submitted, the imperial court approved it, and the candidates in Liaodong were transferred to Shuntian Prefecture to take the provincial examination.

However, the difficulty of the provincial examination in Shuntian Prefecture is actually similar to that in Shandong, except that it requires less walking. This is why many historical allusions and novels say that Li Chengliang once stayed in the capital for a long time.

Li Chengliang is a scholar anyway, so he naturally has to stay in the capital to prepare for the provincial examination.

Compared with the mainland, the frontier army is very different in terms of duties.

When a military position in a border town becomes vacant, if there is no suitable person in the family to take over the position, someone else will often be immediately arranged to take over.

Li Chengliang decided to give up taking the merit examination and prepare to join the job, but he delayed for a long time and spent a lot of effort.

Therefore, it is not difficult for Li Chengliang to read the documents of the Ming Dynasty.

After he read Jin Yiwei's information, he already understood his mission.

"Mr. Wei Ge, the Toungoo dynasty mentioned in the article has so many people and many soldiers and horses, and it is actually able to defeat surrounding forces in just over twenty years."

Li Chengliang looked up at Wei Guangde and asked.

“All of this will have to wait for Jin Yiwei’s spies to send back information, but judging from the current information, I predict that they will soon turn their attention to Meng Yang.

You should also be able to guess that since there is no more land left and right to occupy, your eyes will naturally turn to Yunnan. "

Wei Guangde said.

"The imperial court wants me to prepare to send troops immediately?"

Li Chengliang asked carefully.

He knew nothing about the situation of the Ming army without asking him. If he was not fully prepared, he would be in trouble.

Wei Guangde glanced at him and then said: "Not so fast.

Today's cabinet decision has just been reported to the palace and has been approved.

The imperial court went to Yunnan. First, it ordered the Burmese Xuanwei Division to stop attacking the Laos Xuanwei Division, and at the same time, it investigated the matter of Liuwei in detail. After that, it should give an order to Mang Yinglong to go to Kunming to be punished. "

Wei Guangde said.

"Hey, this"

Li Chengliang's eyes widened, feeling completely unbelievable.

"It doesn't matter whether he comes or not. If he comes, he can avoid the suffering of the southwest swordsmen. If he doesn't come, the court will need you to go there and put down the mess left by the Dongyu Dynasty." Wei Guangde said.

"Mr. Wei Ge, when it comes to matters in the southwest, the imperial court has not always asked the Duke of Guizhou to go out to fight with his seal, but I am..."

Li Chengliang said with some embarrassment.

If you go to Yunnan, there are many local tigers there. The Mu family has been cultivating in Yunnan for hundreds of years. Their strength is intertwined and their influence is huge.

If he ran over there, he would offend the Mu family.

Later generations said it was Prince Mu's Mansion. In fact, the Mu family inherited the titles of Marquis of Pingxi and Duke of Guizhou.

The first-generation head of the family was the godson of Zhu Yuanzhang. He became the Marquis of Pingxi. After his death, he was posthumously named King of Qianning. The next two generations of family heads also inherited the title of Marquis of Pingxi.

During the Yongle period, Mu Sheng, the Marquis of Pingxi, became the Duke of Guizhou from the Marquis of Xiping, and gained his current title.

It is worth mentioning that the ninth generation Duke of Guizhou, Mu Chaobi, seized his brother's land and house and was disrespectful to his sister-in-law. He was eventually demoted and imprisoned for his crime. His son Mu Changzuo took the title in the fifth year of Longqing.

Wei Guangde was naturally uneasy about letting Mu Changzuo handle the Burmese affairs.

Wei Guangde didn't just want to keep Yunnan, but wanted to completely capture the territory outside Yunnan and expand the Ming Dynasty's out-of-control zone to the Indian Ocean.

Even if Mang Yinglong did not rebel and led troops to attack Yunnan, Wei Guangde would force him to rebel.

Otherwise, the original system of three announcements and six consolations would still be in place, and the Ming Dynasty would not be able to reach out to the local area at all.

History has also proved that Mu Changzuo seemed to only have the strength to preserve Yunnan, but did not have the ability to bring the land of Myanmar under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

"His father is still imprisoned. Even if he has this ability, the court would not dare to trust him with the soldiers and horses from the southwestern provinces."

Wei Guangde said casually.

This is actually a lame reason, because Mu Changzuo, as his son, strongly opposed what Mu Chaobi did.

Seeing Li Chengliang's reaction, Wei Guangde felt that it was necessary to explain it clearly to him, although it was a bit difficult to say it.

Therefore, Wei Guangde casually glanced at the duty gate, and then lowered his voice and said: "Mu Changzuo has the ability to guard Yunnan, but he does not have a long-term vision. Otherwise, I don't believe that he would not be aware of such a big commotion outside the territory.

It can only be said that he did not consider the court at all, and allowed the three announcements and six comforts to get out of control without reporting it to the court. He may even have connections with Myanmar and benefit from it.

When you return to the Governor's Mansion, the first thing you do is to take stock of the Southwest Guards Station, give them orders to get ready for training, and prepare their troops.

Wait two months, and the imperial court will ask you to go to the southwest to reorganize troops and horses in the name of patrolling the border, and the imperial court will resume control there. "

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Li Chengliang had some suspicions in his mind that the imperial court was planning to seize this place directly and was no longer planning to let the local chieftain continue to manage it.

There may still be chieftains left in office, but the Ming Dynasty will send officials and garrisons there, like in the southwestern provinces.

The big cities were controlled by officials and troops sent by the imperial court, while the remote areas were managed by chieftains.

Whether this approach is good or not actually depends on the times.

Although feudal dynasties were formed in various parts of Myanmar at this time, the degree of development was very low and not at all like that in the Central Plains.

The Ming Dynasty was now unable to effectively control even the southwest and other surrounding border areas, so it had no choice but to imitate the system of envoys in Yunnan and Guangxi.

Controlling important cities, radiating surrounding areas, and gradually changing the level of local development is the necessary process for effective occupation.

"Mr. Wei Ge, does the imperial court want to control Myanmar for a long time?"

Li Chengliang asked tentatively.

Wei Guangde looked at Li Chengliang and asked meaningfully: "Is it difficult?"

"Mr. Wei Ge, this."

Li Chengliang looked confused at this time, and he didn't know what he thought of to do this.

“Whatever you have in mind, it’s okay to say it.”

Wei Guangde said in a seemingly carefree manner.

It seemed easy to say that, but Wei Guangde also murmured in his heart that Li Chengliang was afraid when he heard that he was going to attack Burma.

Nowadays, the story of "Three Kingdoms" has been left in the Ming Dynasty. The story about Zhuge Liang's pacification of the southwest has made many people think that the southwest has complex terrain and heavy miasma, so it is difficult to fight.

Wei Guangde is now worried that Li Chengliang will be affected by this, and he is afraid of going there.

If he hadn't listened to Yu Dayou's words, Wei Guangde would actually have thought so in his heart.

However, Yu Dayou told him that the environment in the southwest war was indeed very harsh, but it was not completely impossible to deploy the army. Otherwise, how would Mang Yinglong rise?

When fighting there, guides are indispensable.

As long as you find a good guide, understand the terrain there, and mobilize the army, it will actually be the same as usual.

As for jungle ambush, in fact, any terrain can be ambushed, it is not unique to the southwest.

Generally, when marching, you should try to avoid the jungle.

In a word, it is not as evil as what is said in the book. After all, it is a novel, a made-up story.

In fact, this is also true. Li Chengliang is not afraid of the complex terrain and environment in the southwest, and he also understands the benefits of finding a guide. When he fought in Liaodong, he was not familiar with the terrain at all, so he just wanted to find someone who was familiar with the terrain to understand the situation.

"Mr. Wei Ge, do you still remember that Jiaozhi was appointed as the Chief Envoy?"

Contrary to Wei Guangde's expectation, Li Chengliang said another name.

"Cochin."

After hearing Li Chengliang's words, Wei Guangde somewhat understood his worries.

Most people of later generations don't know that northern Vietnam has been directly ruled by China since the Qin and Han Dynasties.

However, this place is remote, has inconvenient transportation, and has a large number of native people. It is difficult for the Central Plains dynasty to control assimilation, so the foundation of its rule has always been unstable.

In 939 AD, the local forces in Annan took advantage of the civil strife in the Central Plains to defeat the Southern Han Dynasty and gain independence, called the Annan Kingdom.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, although there were conflicts from time to time, China and Vietnam generally maintained a relatively stable suzerain-vassal relationship.

In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang swept away the heroes and established the Ming Dynasty. The geopolitical situation of the new dynasty was quite severe. There were still a large number of residual Yuan forces in the north and Yunnan, and Japanese pirates also began to harass the southeast coast.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang gave up the previous dynasty's national policy of conquering the east and west, and turned his attitude toward surrounding areas to be gentle. In the "Ancestors of the Emperor Ming" edited by him, he listed 15 "countries that should not be conquered" and warned his descendants not to use weapons indiscriminately. , and Annan is one of them.

(End of this chapter)