Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 345 Luzon Xuanwei Division

On May 27, the fourth year of Yongle, Wuding Marquis Guo Ying died at home at the age of sixty-eight.

Because Guo Ying did have great military exploits and had the status of the prince's grandfather-in-law, he was still awarded the Duke of Ying after his death, with the posthumous title "Weixiang".

Guo Ying's death seemed to announce the end of a generation.

Regarding his departure, Zhu Gaoxu was just a little bit sad, but Guo Yan burst into tears. For this reason, Zhu Gaoxu asked her to take Zhu Zhanhe to the Hou Mansion to keep vigil for three days. He also took the time to visit the Wuding Hou Mansion.

In mid-June, Guo Ying was buried at the Guo family tomb in the north of Juye City. The title of Marquis of Wuding was inherited by his second son Guo Ming.

For an individual, Guo Ying's death is hard to accept, but for a country, Guo Ying's death is not a sensation.

After calming down for a while, Zhu Gaoxu continued to devote himself to government affairs.

Time flies, Yang Zhan and Zheng He in Nanyang hunted and suppressed the remnants of Chen Zuyi. Chen Zuyi fled to Majapahit, but was finally captured by the king of Majapahit, Vikaramavahana, and gave it to Zheng He as a meeting gift.

Majapayi's idea was very simple. From the time Zheng He destroyed Chen Zuyi, they knew that the Ming Dynasty was not something they could afford. It would be better to take advantage of Chen Zuyi's serious injury and send Chen Zuyi prisoner to Zheng He to ensure that the Ming Dynasty would not attack him. Majapahit took action in the southern part of Sumatra.

"Drakpa Gyaltsendi said that we are willing to build a post road for the imperial court, but can we ask the imperial court not to station troops in Xifan."

This move greatly shocked the chieftains in the Duogan area. Even the chieftains in the Uzang area also learned the news. Each faction sent monks to confirm the official army's intention to enter Xifan.

Upon learning of this news, Drakpa Gyaltsen, the leader of the Pak Drup regime, sent monk Harima to Qamdo to talk with Hou Xian, who was also from Xifan.

Such conditions were initially unacceptable to Majapahit, but when Zheng He took his fleet to Majapahit to take over Chen Zuyi and other pirates, Majapahit agreed.

They saluted him respectfully, but their eyes revealed fear.

When they learned that the imperial court was going to build a post road in Xifan and expand the tea and horse trade, they were indeed very happy. But when they learned that the Ming army was going to build guard posts along the post road and station troops in Lhasa, they were very happy. Some are reluctant.

After Li Ying finished speaking, Hou Xian also added: "When we entered Xifan this time, you ignored the edicts given to you. Later, the local nobles killed our people. When we went to quell the rebellion, you sent people When I came to communicate, I had already explained the imperial court’s will.”

In the courtyard, he was taken to the reception room.

The road, which is less than one foot wide, is very crowded, and many of the houses on both sides are small and dark.

Inside, he saw Hou Xian sitting on a valuable chair.

"Sorry..."

After the incident broke out, Liu Zhao, who was closest to Mu Tu, led his troops to support the suppression of the rebellion. The rebellious Xifan bandits were suppressed and more than 2,000 of them were beheaded.

"I have seen the imperial army. It is very majestic and mighty. I admit that all the warriors of Xifan combined cannot defeat them. But if the imperial court only wants to conquer Xifan with force, then the imperial court will never be able to conquer the people of Xifan. heart of."

Khalil Mahjong conveyed the thoughts of most of the Spanish dignitaries represented by Drakpa Gyaltsen to Hou Xian, but Li Ying sniffed after hearing this: "Then why did we lead the army here?"

Their clothes were in tatters, and even though it was slightly cold in August, their clothes were very thin.

Although Harima was young, his reputation had already spread, which was why Drakpa Gyaltsen sent him to negotiate.

Hou Xian and Li Ying could understand Xifan, but Liu Zhao and Mu Tu could not, so after Harima opened his mouth, two soldiers walked in from the door and told them what Harima had said.

Facts have proved that they made the right choice. The Ming Dynasty now simply cannot occupy the entire Sumatra Island. Therefore, after Zheng He took over Chen Zuyi's territory, he asked Majapahit to allow his domestic Malays to freely travel to the old port of Xuanwei. As for the southern territory for the time being, It was handed over to Majapahit for management, but Majapahit was not allowed to mistreat the local people.

Hou Xian said this, and Harima responded helplessly, explaining at the same time: "We don't know the court's intention. Besides, if it is just to build a post road, there is no need to send tens of thousands of troops into Xifan."

After all these things were over, Zheng He could detach his fleet to meet the envoys and kings of various countries, and take them back to Nanjing, bringing an end to his first voyage to the West.

Calculating the time, he should arrive in Nanjing in March of the fifth year of Yongle. After all, the construction of the Luzon Xuanwei Division would waste a lot of time.

"Monk Harima of the Rupu Temple saw angels and three generals."

On the first day of July, Liu Zhao, Li Ying, and Mu Tubing divided into three groups. Under the leadership of the envoy Hou Xian, they entered the Xifan area. They ordered the chieftains from various places to send people and the court to send food to jointly build three post roads into Qinghai-Tibet.

Facing thousands of well-armored Ming troops, the two armies in the north encountered no obstacles. Only Mu Tu in the south broke out conflicts with the locals when they were recruiting in Xiangcheng, Batang, Litang and other places.

Walking into it, young Harima immediately saw the slaves whose shackles had been cut off.

As time entered August, the Western Fan nobles in Qamdo attacked the Ming army camp. The Ming army took the opportunity to bombard Qamdo City. After the whole battle, more than 3,000 Xifan rebels were killed. Qamdo City was destroyed even if it could not hold out for a day. Take it.

There were three men sitting on his left and right, wearing military uniforms and looking like Han people. One of them looked like a Han man, but the other two didn't look like him.

"Now that the city of Qamdo has been captured, you are sending people to report your attitude now. This has made the court and the people in the Xifan area laugh."

He reined in his horse and accepted the inspection of the Ming army's cavalry, and led them to Qamdo City.

At this point, things in the south of Nanyang have come to an end for the time being. Zheng He will also go north to Boni, Sulu and other countries. After arriving on the main island of Luzon, he will appease the local overseas Chinese and set up the Luzon Xuanwei Division, Nanhai Guard and Luzon Guard there.

When the horses whistled, a 20-year-old young monk wearing the robes of Pamudlupa arrived not far from Champa.

However, as we gradually entered the inner city, many courtyards of chieftains and chieftains began to appear. Their courtyards were always so clean and tidy, which was very different from the places where civilians and slaves lived.

Compared with the voyage to the West, it is naturally the imperial edict of the Ming Dynasty to enter the Western Fandom.

Of course, what is even more different from the residence of the First People is the palace-like temple in Qamdo City.

Hou Xian has a typical appearance from Taozhou people, with deep facial features, and his skin is much fairer than the local Xifan people.

From a distance, Harima could see that there were no monks in the temple, and naturally thought that Hou Xian had entered the temple to live there.

Although Qamdo City is said to be a city, it is actually a stone village built of stone.

"As a result, because of your mistakes, the monks and leaders of Qamdo City attacked us, and we were forced to fight back."

But before his idea came to fruition, he saw the soldiers of the Ming Army leading him into the courtyard of a leader.

"But in the face of the imperial court's decree, you have been stalling for half a month. We have no choice but to continue marching towards Lhasa and at the same time appease the local leaders."

Hou Xian sat in the main seat, nodded to Harima's words, and then said: "What do you plan to say to us when the Enlightenment Master sends you here?"

"Conquer by force?" Hou Xian's face showed displeasure when he heard this. He stood up and found a document from the thick pile of documents on his desk. He walked down and handed the document to Harima.

"After the imperial court decided to build a post road for Xifan, His Royal Highness the Prince of the East Palace wrote the "Rules for Entering Fan" and asked the entire army to recite it for more than half a year."

"Because of these rules, we did not actively launch a war all the way into Western Fan, but passively defended and counterattacked."

Seeing that Hou Xianyi was filled with indignation, Harima opened the "Code of Entry" in his arms.

There are thirty articles in this code, which include: respecting the religious beliefs of the people of Xifan, protecting the temples of Xifan, and not allowed to enter the temple without permission, let alone live in the sutra hall.

Fishing and hunting are not allowed near the temple. They are not allowed to go to the "sacred mountain" to cut firewood or graze cattle.

In addition, the people of Xifan have the custom of sky burial and water burial, and it is strictly forbidden to watch, peek, etc.

It can be said that all the religious, folk customs and other precautions related to Xifan have been written in. Even Harima, who has been practicing Buddhism for many years, dare not say that he can write such a sincere "Code".

"His Royal Highness is a man who understands Buddhism."

Although he was here for negotiation, Harima still praised the prince whom he had never met.

However, praising an individual is an individual, and when it rises to the level of a group, Harima can only argue with reason.

"We see the respect the officers and soldiers show us, but we cannot accept the presence of troops stationed in Lhasa, Sanzhujie (Shigatse) and other places."

"We garrisoned the army to protect you." Li Ying said: "Your army is weak. Our army took the initiative to enter Xifan to protect the post road and protect the tea horse post road that you rely on for survival. We do not need you to provide rations. We only need Isn't it harsh for you to provide the horse gifts that were promised to His Majesty the Emperor Gao?"

After all, Li Ying was a military commander, and what he said was a bit explicit and vulgar, making Harima a little confused as to how to answer him.

Fortunately, there was Hou Xian in front of him, and Hou Xian also said to Harimah: "We can lower the standards and divide them in Sanzhujie, Nagqu, Lhasa, Dege, Luoluo, Batang, Litang, and Daowu." One thousand troops were stationed, and two thousand troops were stationed in Qamdo.”

"After the construction of the Tea Horse Post Road is completed, we will also reduce the garrison as appropriate and will never continue to deploy more troops."

"Besides, if there are rebels in Xifan, then we can also solve the problems and troubles for the Enlightenment National Master."

Hou Xian's words made Harima calm down, and he analyzed it calmly.

In the previous negotiations, Hou Xian planned to station 3,000 troops in Lhasa, 2,000 in Xigaze, 3,000 in Qamdo, and 3,000 in each of the other places.

Now after adjustments, the main force of the Ming army is stationed mainly in the Weizang area of ​​​​Dogan, followed by Uzang.

If they really made any move, Nazhaba Gyaltsen could also secretly assemble the armies of Naqu, Lhasa, Damxung, and Qushui.

As long as each family is willing, they can pull out six to seven thousand people to fight against the Ming army in Lhasa and cut off the supplies of the Ming army in Sanzhujie and other places.

Harima considered whether Drakpa Gyaltsen was willing, and then saluted Hou Xian and said: "If we follow the rules of Emperor Gao, then Ma Fu is enough to crush the people of Xifan."

Harima's words made Hou Xian sneer in his heart. The horse tax set by Zhu Yuanzhang was one horse for three households every year, and these horses could be exchanged for tea to benefit the people of Xifan. The actual profits made by the Ming Dynasty were very small. . However, even so, the nobles were still unwilling, after all, they needed to pay for the slaves' horse gifts.

It's better now, the Ming army has advanced into Qamdo, but these people are still so stubborn.

If His Majesty and His Highness hadn't told him earlier, Hou Xian really wanted to fight directly to Lhasa.

"The imperial court took the situation in Xifan into consideration and decided to build a tea horse post road to increase the amount of tea flowing into Xifan from one million jins to several million jins."

"As for the horse tax, the imperial court also promised that one horse per five households could be used as a local tax, and a hundred catties of dry tea would be given to these five households."

When Hou Xian said this, he kept looking at Harima, which made Harima also know that this was Hou Xian's bottom line.

"In this case, I am willing to go to the Sakya Hall and tell Drakpa Gyaltsen Deshe about this matter."

After saying this, Harima did not leave immediately, but waited for Hou Xian's arrangements. After all, without Hou Xian's nod, he would not be able to leave Qamdo.

"Come here, send the eminent monk Harima away."

Hou Xian spoke, and immediately two naturalized Xifan Ming soldiers walked out of the courtyard.

Under their escort, Harima successfully walked out of Qamdo City, and his horses were also fed beans.

Riding a horse, he returned to the Sakya Temple. After many days of running, he arrived outside the Sakya Temple in Sanzhujie.

The Sakya Temple was built in the sixth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty, more than 300 years ago. Its founder was Kun Gongchojibu of the Sakya sect.

He originally built the Sakya Monastery, which was mainly known as the main temple of the Sakya sect. With Sakya Monastery as the center, his Kun family gradually formed the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, Fan monk Pasiba planned to establish the local political power of Tubo. Sakya Temple became the capital of the local political power of Sakya and also became the political, military and cultural center of the Xifan region.

In order to expand his influence, Pasiba recruited another 130,000 migrant workers to build the Sakya Nan Temple on the south bank of the Zhongqu River, and finally completed the entire construction scale of the Sakya Temple.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Jamgqu Gyaltsen, the founder of the Phamudruppa regime, convened a collective meeting of the political and religious leaders of the Sakya sect and reached an agreement. It was decided that the Sakya sect should be replaced by the Phamudruppa regime in owning the Sakya Hall. Sakya regime.

In this regard, whether it was the Yuan Dynasty at that time or the Ming Dynasty later, both dynasties recognized the Pāmudlupa regime's takeover of the ruling power of Xifan and achieved the highest governing power in Xifan.

Drakpa Gyaltsen is now the leader of Pamudlupa's regime. He has been in power from the Hongwu period to the present, but he is very busy because of Hou Xian's entry into Xifan.

When he was nervous, Harima, who was sent by him, walked into the Sakya Hall of Sakya Monastery and saluted the enshrined Buddha statue before he looked at Drakpa Gyaltsen who was sitting on the futon.

Although Drakpa Gyaltsen has been in power since the 18th year of Hongwu, he is only thirty years old now, which is when he is strong.

Seeing Harima returning, Drakpa Gyaltsen slowly opened his eyes. Harima also saluted him in person, and told him about his journey to Qamdo and the result of his conversation with Hou Xian.

After listening to all this, Drakpa Gyaltsen calculated in his mind for a long time. He knew that he was no match for the Ming army, even if he brought together the leaders of the entire Shannan and Shanbei regions, he was no match. Therefore, for Harima to achieve such success He was already very satisfied with the results.

"You did a great job on this matter. I will tell them the rest, so there is no need to embarrass you."

"Dixi..." Seeing Drakpa Gyaltsen's behavior, Harima couldn't help but said, "I don't think they will end it so easily."

"The officers and soldiers entered Xifan in order to demonstrate their power over the land of Xifan, and the power of the land of Xifan is in the Sakya Hall."

Harima spoke out what he was thinking very slowly. Drakpa Gyaltsen also stopped chanting when he heard this, his eyes showing concern.

The Ming army's entry into Xifan does not mean that they can defeat the Xifan people simply by force, because Pamudlupa's regime still exists, and the Xifan people can still regroup even if they are defeated.

In order to defeat the status of Pamudlupa's regime in the hearts of the Western people, the first thing to do is to take away the Sakya Hall.

Once the Sakya Hall is lost, people from all over the world will soon understand that the heaven of Xifan no longer belongs to Pamudlupa, but to the Ming Dynasty, or to the regime recognized by the Ming Dynasty.

As long as they realize this, Napa Mudlupa's regime will soon be divided and decline.

"We are now powerless to resist them..."

Drakpa Gyaltsen's voice was very weak, as if he was saying something he didn't want to admit.

Indeed, now he is struggling to pull out thousands of people. How can he fight the Ming army?

The attack on the Ming army by the Fan people in Qamdo and other places was not accidental, it was the result of someone's deliberate instigation, but their performance was enough to show how big the gap was between the Ming army and the Western Fan army.

According to Drakpa Gyaltsen's knowledge, the Ming army killed six to seven thousand people along the way to suppress the rebellion. However, except for a hundred of them who were unable to fight due to illness, the remaining casualties totaled less than sixty people.

The gap between the two sides is too big. Xifan is no longer the Tubo of the past. Only by accepting the arrangement can they protect their own safety.

Seeing what Drakpa Gyaltsen said, Harima seemed to have been drained of her strength, stood up and left the Sakya Hall swaying.

Shortly after he left, Drakpa Gyaltsen summoned the monks under his command and asked them to convey his thoughts to the ears of the various leaders.

As this group of monks left, people from all over the country soon fell apart. They also ignored the Ming army's call to build post roads at the beginning, and now they respond to every request.

Drakpa Gyaltsen's submission made the leaders of the entire Xifan region aware of the strength of the Ming army.

Because the progress was too smooth, Hou Xian left his troops to garrison in various places, and led four thousand people to march towards Sanzhujie.

Before September, Hou Xian came to Sanzhu Festival and met Drakpa Gyaltsen of Sakya Hall on the way of the monks.

The next day, Hou Xian wrote a letter asking Kuai Ma to send the letter to Nanjing.

Braving the cold, the fast horses stopped and went until the beginning of winter before the letter arrived at Chengdu Prefecture. Officials from Chengdu Prefecture also sent Tangqi to deliver the urgent letter to Nanjing.

When the letter arrived in Nanjing, it happened to be the fifteenth day of the winter lunar month, and Zheng He from the south also sent news.

Sitting in the Chunhe Hall with fire walls and fire tunnels, Zhu Gaoxu read Hou Xian's letter at a glance. After reading it, he sighed:

"I can't believe that Tubo, which once attacked the Tang Dynasty with hundreds of thousands of troops, now has the largest political power and can't even pull out five thousand troops."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed, and Yishiha next to him also nodded: "I thought there would be several fierce battles, but I didn't want to just have a few conflicts in Santang and Qamdo."

"The conflict you mentioned is probably a test of their greatest strength." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head, and many questions in his mind were answered.

In the case of Qinghai-Tibet, it is indeed a waste to station 10,000 troops. Five thousand troops are enough to control the entire Qinghai-Tibet.

And if nothing else goes wrong, as the world temperature gradually dropped during the Ming Dynasty, the living environment of Qinghai-Tibet will continue to deteriorate, and I am afraid it will not make waves in the future.

"The loss in transporting food has indeed exceeded my expectations."

Zhu Gaoxu picked up the memorial written by Liu Zhao of Qamdo, which read "Songpan started to transport 50,000 shi, and it took two months to transport it to Qamdo, and only more than 16,000 shi were left."

"Nearly 70% of the 50,000 shi of food arriving in Qamdo was lost. If it continues to be transported to Shigatse and Lhasa, of the 16,000 shi of grain, only less than 5,000 shi will be delivered."

"In addition to the difficulty of transporting food, the main problem is eating."

Zhu Gaoxu read Liu Zhao's memorial and wrote that the rice was not cooked well, so the soldiers could only eat rice with uncooked ingredients, so many of them fell ill and lost a lot of their troops.

This is true for the Western Fan soldiers, let alone the Han soldiers.

"How's the pressure cooker going?"

He raised his head and looked at Yi Shiha, who also nodded and said: "It's not difficult, we've done it all."

The pressure cooker is not a technical thing. There was already a similar bear-footed bronze tripod in the Western Han Dynasty, but it was expensive to build.

Zhu Gaoxu doesn't need something so beautiful, he just needs it to be usable.

"Let the craftsmen go to Chengdu to make them and ship them to Xifan in batches."

"In addition, I went to ask my father to issue an edict to confer Liu Zhao as the commander of Duogandu, and Mutu as the commander and magistrate of Duogandu."

"Yes." Yishiha agreed and asked at the same time: "What should Zheng He do?"

"Let me take a look first." Zhu Gaoxu picked up Zheng He's memorial, opened it and flipped through it, and then he saw the specific situation of Zheng He and the others.

A month ago, they had just ended their contact with Bodhi and Sulu on the island of Kalimantan, and then walked north. However, they encountered a storm on the way and went in the wrong direction, so they accidentally ended up in Mindanao, south of Luzon.

There, they had some conflicts with the local natives. After replenishing fresh water, they walked north and successfully arrived at Manila on the main island of Luzon. They also met the local overseas Chinese and their leader Xu Chai. guy.

According to Zhu Gaoxu's instructions, Zheng He appointed Xu Chailao as the Luzon Xuanwei Envoy, established the Luzon Xuanwei Department, and established the Nanhai Guard and the Luzon Guard.

According to the results of Zheng He's half-month census compilation of Qi people, there are nearly 20,000 local Han people in Luzon, which is relatively large. Moreover, many of them have experienced acclimatization and are good soldiers.

Now Zheng He and others have begun to detach fleets to greet kings and envoys from various countries. The reason for writing to Zhu Gaoxu is to ask who will manage the Nanyang Old Port Xuanwei Division and Luzon Xuanwei Division, and which governor's office they will belong to.

Faced with the problem, Zhu Gaoxu filled in Cui Jun's name without thinking, and at the same time handed over the two Xuanwei Divisions to the jurisdiction of the Navy Governor's Office.

After finishing Zhu's review, he handed the memorial to Yi Shiha. At the same time, he stood up and looked at the "General Map of the Guest Services of the Four Barbarians in the World" behind him. He pointed to the old port of Nanyang and the direction of Luzon and said:

"It's time to change the colors of these two places..."

(End of this chapter)