prosperous age

Chapter 968 1057 Ideas for Governing Burma

When Li Chengliang mentioned Jiaozhi at this time, he was actually reminding Wei Guangde not to commit the old crimes of the Yongle Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty captured Annan and established the Jiaozhi Chengxuan Administrative Affairs Department. It was not that Emperor Yongle intended to occupy this place, but purely for the authority of the Celestial Dynasty.

In 1400 AD, the second year of Jianwen, the Chen Dynasty in Annan declined, and the powerful minister Hu Jiyou usurped the throne and established the Hu Dynasty. Hu was extremely afraid of the possible interference of the Ming Dynasty, so he concealed the matter from the Ming Dynasty for a long time.

In 1403, after Zhu Di seized the throne, the Hu family seemed to have sensed an opportunity. Hu Hancang, the son of Hu Jiya, presented himself to Zhu Di, who had just succeeded to the throne, with the title of being in charge of Annan state affairs, and falsely claimed that the descendants of the Chen Dynasty were extinct and that he was the emperor of the Chen Dynasty. His nephew was favored and asked the Ming Dynasty to be canonized as King Annan.

Zhu Di, who was suspicious of the matter, sent people to Annan to investigate, but the Hu family had already grasped the overall situation, so it was naturally impossible for the envoy to find anything. Zhu Di, who could not find any evidence, named Hu Hancang king.

After that, the Ming Dynasty began to find that things were getting more and more wrong. First, survivors of the Chen family continued to go to China to accuse the Hu family of tyranny. Second, Annan frequently harassed the Sino-Vietnamese border and neighboring cities, causing instability on the border.

In the fourth year of Yongle, the Chen royal family came to China to accuse the Hu family of various evil deeds. Zhu Di sent troops to escort them back to Vietnam, but they were ambushed by the Hu army on the way. The Chen royal family was executed by Ling Chi. This incident finally angered Zhu Di completely.

East Asia is centered on the "Huayi concept" and the "vassal system". Each vassal state must pay tribute to China as a sign of submission.

But the position of the boss cannot be in vain. As the "sovereign state", it is China's obligation to ensure the security of the "subordinates" regime, and it is also related to the majesty of the "Celestial Kingdom".

For the Ming Dynasty, which overthrew the alien rule, maintaining the "vassal system" could mark itself as Chinese orthodoxy, especially the sensitive Zhu Di.

Hu Chao seemed not to take Ming Chao seriously. On the one hand, they threatened the security of southern Xinjiang, invaded the city, and hindered the Ming Dynasty from exercising suzerainty. On the other hand, they ambush the Ming army and harassed the former royal family, triggering Zhu Di's sensitive nerves and offending the majesty of the "suzerain state" .

If we don't take action, the boss will no longer be able to be the boss, so the southern expedition is inevitable.

After that, it was simple. The Ming army invaded Annan in two directions, and soon captured the Hu family and his son, and destroyed the Hu Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty originally hoped to find a suitable candidate to be king in Annan, to find a ruler who could be accepted by all classes in Annan and in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty. The most ideal candidate was naturally a descendant of the former king Chen's family.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty also made such attempts, but these efforts were not successful.

Finally, the Ming Dynasty decided to come to power in person and prepare to rule directly.

After that, rebellions continued in the Jiaozhi area. Although the turmoil was quelled by the powerful Ming army, the Ming Dynasty became increasingly powerless in Annan and the situation became increasingly volatile.

In the first year of Xuande, Li Li defeated the Ming Dynasty general Wang Tong in the Battle of Guidong. The following year, he defeated the Ming Dynasty reinforcements in the Battle of Zhileng and killed General Liu Sheng.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's rule in Annan had collapsed, and Annan had become a bottomless pit of financial waste. Seeing that the situation was over, Wang Tong reported to the court and negotiated peace with Li Li.

Finally, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty decided to withdraw his troops, and Li Li issued the "Ping Wu Da Gao", officially proclaimed himself emperor, and established the Later Li Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Yongle, hundreds of thousands of troops from the Ming Dynasty marched southward. In just one year, they swept across southern Xinjiang and restored the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

In the second year of Xuande's reign, after successive losses of troops and generals, the Ming Dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the small country in southern Xinjiang. Twenty years of operations were ruined, and it was quite embarrassing.

When Li Chengliang mentioned Jiaozhi at this time, he was actually reminding Wei Guangde whether his plan could be successful and not to make the same mistake again.

After understanding Li Chengliang's reminder, Wei Guangde's face became uncertain.

Indeed, Wei Guangde failed to calculate the possible consequences of the Ming Dynasty directly ruling Burma. If the local people were as dissatisfied with the king as Annan was, who knows how many years the Ming Dynasty would be able to survive?

"Is there any way you can stabilize Burma?"

Wei Guangde asked calmly.

"The final general only knows how to fight, but does not know how to govern a place."

Li Chengliang lowered his head and replied.

"The Mu family lives in Yunnan."

Seeing this, Wei Guangde said something without beginning or end.

However, after Li Chengliang heard Wei Guangde's words, he suddenly raised his head and looked at him.

Wei Guangde did not hesitate to look at him. Although Li Chengliang was a mighty general of the Ming Dynasty and had countless lives on his hands, Wei Guangde was also someone who had been on the battlefield after all, so he was not afraid at all.

After the two looked at each other for a while, Li Chengliang was defeated first. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, he chose to bow his head in front of Wei Guangde.

"The last general only knows how to kill."

"call"

Wei Guangde let out a sigh of relief when he heard Li Chengliang's words. Wei Guangde was not satisfied with his answer.

"Since the Three Proclaimers and Six Welfares were sealed there in the early days of the Kingdom, and there were a large number of Qianhu and Wei commanders, if there were many tribes, all we had to do was follow the example of the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong and divide and rule them."

However, Li Chengliang's next words gave Wei Guangde an idea.

It seems that Myanmar is also inhabited by tribes, and the ethnic groups are very complicated. Even in later generations, there will be no peace there.

"You go back first."

Wei Guangde did not express his position, but still said: "Prepare the troops and horses first. As for what happens next, if you have ideas, you can write a charter and submit it."

At first, Wei Guangde only thought of using Li Chengliang to push back the Toungoo dynasty, thinking that putting him under guard in Myanmar would stabilize the situation there. However, he ignored that if the rule was improper, there might be another decades of turmoil.

The current national strength is not as good as that of the early Ming Dynasty, and it may not last long.

Thinking of this, even though I knew that I had simplified the problem at the beginning, I was already ready to shoot.

After watching Li Chengliang leave, Wei Guangde sat there quietly for a while.

"When a car reaches the mountain, there must be a road, and when a boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally go straight. There is always a way."

Wei Guangde encouraged himself in his heart, got up and returned to the desk.

Looking at the piles of memorials on the desk, Wei Guangde had no intention of reading the memorials at the moment, so he simply stopped reading.

Anyway, the important memorials are placed at the top, and the unimportant ones are placed at the bottom. It doesn't matter if you delay reading them for a day or two.

Taking out a piece of rice paper and spreading it out, Wei Guangde picked up his pen and began to think silently about how to deal with Myanmar.

This time, the focus is on Myanmar, which is to find a way to achieve long-term peace and stability.

The pen has been in my hand for a long time, but it has not landed on the rice paper.

If resistance is encountered, suppression is necessary. It is impossible for the Ming army generals not to understand this.

What Wei Guangde needs to think about is how to fundamentally eliminate the will of ordinary people to resist.

Once, Wei Guangde believed from the situation at the inland garrison that the Ming army's combat effectiveness was very weak. But in fact, after years of observation, especially through exchanges with Ma Fang, Yu Dayou, Qi Jiguang and others, Wei Guangde has realized that in East Asia, there is no army that seems to have overall strength that exceeds the Ming army.

If the barbarians who came from Europe encountered each other at sea, and the two sides were equally powerful, the Ming navy would have a high probability of defeat and almost no chance of winning.

But if you are on land, it seems that Europeans are like that.

Because there are so few people they can come over.

According to the information collected by Yu Dayou, a barbarian team of three to four hundred people is already a large-scale army.

With such a small force, it would definitely be as easy as destroying an ordinary Qianhusuo, but if it faced a trained one, it would be hard to say.

Not to mention that the basic combat units of Ming Dynasty are actually Qianhusuo and Wei.

The navy still needs to develop before it can go to the open sea.

But on land, Ming Dynasty borders Burma. He also knows that Burma seems to be related to the Yi people, but so what?

Could the Burmese recruit three hundred or four hundred Europeans to help them fight the war?

Yes, Jinyiwei's intelligence has mentioned that Mang Yinglong actually has an unknown number of barbarian mercenaries, who use current European firearms to help the Toungoo Dynasty fight.

A few hundred people may be able to dominate in Europe, but in Asia, they have no chance at all.

Even for the Japanese country, according to Jinyiwei's intelligence, the scale of village wars was thousands of people, and the Japanese country was also equipped with a large number of iron cannons.

The large number here does not mean how many people in the Japanese country use them, but refers to almost all the daimyo, or in Wei Guangde's view, the village chiefs. Some of their subordinates use such firearms.

The iron cannon shocked Wei Guangde at first.

However, after knowing that the Japanese iron cannons were actually blunderbuss in the hands of the Ming army, I felt relieved.

The Ming army is now equipped with a large number of artillery. If the Japanese country also has such equipment, it will be difficult to fight in the future.

For a long time in the future, artillery will be the god of war, unless the air force appears, because they can transport explosives farther away, drop them from the sky, and replace part or so of the cannon.

夷人

Li Chengliang's words suddenly appeared in Wei Guangde's mind.

Myanmar seems to have been colonized by the British, as did neighboring India. It seems that only the surrounding Vietnam is French territory, which was taken from the Manchus.

Wei Guangde lacked historical knowledge, but he also knew what the Black Flag Army was. He had participated in the Vietnam-France War. Anyway, it probably meant that the Qing Dynasty defeated the French, but in the end they lost their territory.

At the same time, the Battle of Mawei seemed to have broken out in Fujian. Although the Manchus and Qing Dynasties suffered heavy losses, they still ostensibly won the war and repelled the French attack. However, the efforts of the soldiers seemed to have been lost in diplomacy.

The British could colonize South Asia for a long time, so why couldn’t the Ming Dynasty stand?

Liaodong Jurchen tribe

At this moment, Li Chengliang's words echoed in his mind, and he seemed to have told the key to the problem.

Despite the fact that the Toungoo Dynasty had invaded and occupied countless neighboring countries and tribes, all the hidden dangers were covered up due to the strong momentum of the country.

But once it fails, even if it's just a big defeat, these hidden dangers may explode, triggering a chain reaction.

Aren't the forces that the Toungoo Dynasty annexed just Jurchen tribes?

How can such a gathering of forces be united? All they need to do is differentiate themselves and then manage each other by race, attracting conflicts into races.

The more Wei Guangde thought about it, the more excited he became. It seemed that he had opened the key to overseas colonization.

If we follow the thinking mode of the literati and Confucian scholars at this time in the Ming Dynasty, they would definitely choose to implement Confucian ideas of benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom, trust, etc. in these places, hoping to influence foreigners and get them to accept Confucianism, which would make it easier to rule.

Then, force will be taken against those stubborn people. After all, they are officials of the Ming Dynasty and they also have to serve the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

However, Wei Guangde seemed to have thought of a better way.

That is to make full use of the characteristics of the local ethnic groups, recruit officials and mercenaries from each group, and exchange them to the territories of other tribes to manage them.

By then, their will to resist will not necessarily be directed against the Ming Dynasty, but towards those other ethnic groups who oppressed and managed them.

Let the various ethnic groups in Myanmar exploit each other, and the Ming Dynasty will enjoy the remaining profits behind the scenes.

In addition, according to the Ming Dynasty's custom, certain privileges were also given to local chieftains of various ethnic groups. As long as the leaders are roped in, the people below will probably not rebel and cause trouble, no matter how reluctant they are.

After all, how can it be a big deal if there is no leader?

Some people may still think that people's rebellion can overthrow a dynasty, but history has proven that this is not credible.

Common people's rebellion can shake the foundation of an empire, but it is difficult to overthrow them and will eventually be suppressed.

Most of those who really succeed in rebelling are people within the ruling class.

In the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and it was the Guanlong nobles who benefited. In the Song Dynasty, the generals who led the army directly rebelled. That is to say, the Ming Dynasty was a little bit special. The great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang was born in Niuwa, and he really conquered the world in civilian clothes, and he succeeded.

Therefore, when Wei Guangde was thinking, he paid more attention to the local chieftains. He had to win over them and make them follow the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly, so that the foundation of his rule could be solid.

Except for key positions, Han officials were used as little as possible, and Ming troops were only stationed in important cities. The rest were left to mercenaries of various ethnic groups.

Wei Guangde kept thinking in his mind, and his pen didn't stop at all. All the important information was written on the paper.

After taking notes, Wei Guangde took a sip of tea and found that the tea was a bit cold.

But it doesn't matter, I'm in a good mood, and I'm too lazy to ask Lu Bu to come in to change the tea.

Then, Wei Guangde looked at the records on the desk, read them from beginning to end, polished some of the details, and then read them again.

After repeating this several times, Wei Guangde suddenly became enlightened.

He thought about the future generations, after countless colonial countries gained independence and established their own countries through their own efforts, why many countries that suffered colonization later turned against each other.

Especially in South Asia, the war has basically never stopped.

Even in Myanmar, domestic factional struggles are complicated and all forces have their own armed forces. The Myanmar government has only achieved superficial unity.

At first I was still a little confused. I only knew that it was because of the mess left by the British colonists. Now that I think about it carefully, maybe the root cause is here.

Eighty percent of the British control these ethnically complex areas through ethnic division. Years of ethnic conflicts have accumulated. With the intervention of external forces, they can unite to resist the mother country.

Once successful, the external force disappears, but it will return to its original state.

Conflicts between ethnic groups cannot be easily reconciled. After all, they are all filled with blood and tears, and a contract cannot solve any problem at all.

As for the external forces relying on for independence, they are naturally the two leaders of the Eastern and Western camps. They cannot allow Britain to regain blood through the colonies and have the opportunity to grow up again and compete with them for the top position.
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(End of this chapter)