I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 638: A Pure Heart in a Jade Pot
Wang Yi'e looked at Zhang Yong and the other three, his eyes full of unquestionable determination.

That’s right!
This is the ultimatum!

If the four of you don't obey, you will all be killed together. For the imperial court, the flock of sheep to be slaughtered in Guizhou and southern Sichuan made little difference whether there were two or three more or two or three less.

Zhang Yong and the other three understood the meaning in Wang Yi'e's eyes.

Although I was a little angry, I could do nothing about it.

They are too close to Hunan, and they have heard about the imperial court's crackdown on the chieftains in western Hunan in the past two years.

The Yongshun Xuanwei Office, the Baojingzhou Xuanwei Office, and the Shizhou Guard, as well as twenty or thirty chieftains of all sizes, were completely subdued.

According to reports that reached Sinan, these chieftains had various reasons for their surrender.

The Baojing Prefecture Xuanwei Office was the Zhenxiang Camp under the Phoenix Mountain. It was conquered and without its backbone, it immediately knelt down.

Deng Zilong went into Fenghuang Mountain alone and conquered the Zhenxiu Camp, which had a huge impact.

The composition of the Zhenxiangying was very complex, including local Miao people and children of military settlements who migrated during the Hongwu period, but it had always been the most capable army in Xiangxi, especially after the Zhengde period, when the government was corrupt, the military was in disrepair, and the chieftains in various border areas were ready to make moves.

The Zhenxiangying went on many expeditions for the imperial court. They defeated the chieftains, big and small, including Shizhouwei and Yongshun Xuanweisi in Huguang, Youyang Xuanfusi in Sichuan, Lipingfu and Liguzhou in Guizhou, and all of them were convinced and submitted to them.

Last year, there was chaos in Zhenxiangying, and the local chieftains felt like it was Chinese New Year.

Unjust is doomed to destruction!
But not long after, the court sent a fierce general, Deng Zilong, who entered the Zhenxiang camp alone. With the help of Yao Bingzhou, the assistant commander of Chenzhou Guard, and Quan Shenyong, the magistrate of Changde, who were old acquaintances of the chieftains, he quickly subdued this group of the most ferocious wolves in western Hunan.

After Zhenxiying was subdued, all the chieftains, big and small, in the border areas of Hunan and Guizhou were completely defeated.

In addition, after Governor Osprey took office in Huguang, various means were used frequently.

More than ten chieftains, including the Sangzhi Anfusi, Yongshun Xuanweisi, Shinan Xuanfusi, Dongxiang Wulu Anfusi, and Wufeng Shibaosi, were deeply assimilated into the Han culture. Their children were eager to live a Han life, and many of them took the imperial examinations and military examinations to win fame.

Governor Osprey exchanged land for land and money for people.

The land in the hinterland of Wuchang, Changsha and other places was used to exchange for the land under the names of various chieftains, and then the land was bought out in one go by converting the number of soldiers and civilians under the name of the chieftain into money and grain.

They also arranged houses for the chieftains in the cities they liked, and helped their sons with honors to get official positions in the local government. For those without honors, they were recommended to study in public schools and the Nanjing Imperial Academy.

These dozen chieftains happily handed over the land and people passed down from their ancestors, moved to their favorite places, and lived the life of wealthy Han people that they had always dreamed of.

There were seven or eight chieftains, including Sanmao Xuanfusi, Dawang Anfusi, Dongliusi, Baiyadongsi, etc., who believed that the terrain was strategic and easy to defend but difficult to attack, so they ignored the orders of Governor Yuying and continued to do as they pleased, occupying the land and acting as kings.

It is said that Governor Yuying laughed and said, "Your terrain is dangerous, right?" He sent troops to guard each checkpoint and strictly prohibited a grain of rice, a salt, or an inch of cloth from entering the territory of these chieftains.

In less than half a year, these unruly chieftains knelt down one after another and surrendered obediently.

There were two chieftains who refused to surrender, but were killed by the instigated soldiers and civilians below. They happily surrendered to the court, holding the heads of their families.

With positive and negative examples right there, the remaining chieftains of all sizes in Huguang, after careful consideration, accepted the conditions of transforming their chieftain status into officialdom.

If you take one step forward, the sky will be vast and the sea will be vast; if you take one step back, you will see a cliff that is thousands of feet high. Anyone with a sound brain knows what to choose.

The collective surrender of the chieftains of all sizes in the border areas of Huguang had far-reaching consequences.

In particular, the chieftains of all sizes in Sinan, Tongren, Zhenyuan and Liping Prefectures in Guizhou, which were close to Huguang, and Chongqing Prefecture in Sichuan, were all secretly calculating in their hearts.

As a leader among the chieftains, Zhang Yong has seen the general trend of the time clearly.

After the chieftains in the border areas of Huguang were transformed into officials, the imperial court was bound to continue moving forward.

It was obvious that the imperial court had set its sights on the Yang family, the largest Xuanweisi family in southern Sichuan and also influential in Guizhou, and the An family in Shuixi. Once these two families were eliminated, the chieftains of Guizhou, big and small, would be like grasshoppers in autumn, unable to jump even if they wanted to.

Where to go?

Zhang Yong was calculating rapidly in his mind, his thoughts were like the winding Wu River, making who knows how many turns it had.

"Wang Duxian, this concerns the future of the four families. We need to discuss it carefully."

Wang Yi'e waved his hand and said, "No problem. Guangning, prepare a quiet room for Chief Zhang and the others, and let them close the door and discuss it properly."

"Yes."

Zhang Yong and three others went to discuss the matter on their own, while Wang Yi'e, Tang Kekuan, Liu Xian, Wu Cheng'en and Yao Bingzhou sat together to discuss the matter.

"When I left the throne, the emperor mentioned that our dynasty had adopted measures to control the chieftains in the southwest, using barbarians to rule barbarians. I never expected that a hundred years later, it would become a case of using bandits to rule bandits."

Wu Cheng'en echoed, "Your Majesty is wise, and he has pointed out the drawbacks of the chieftain system in the southwest."

Wang Yi'e smiled and said to him, "Mr. Ruguan, Envoy Tang and Envoy Liu were previously busy with military affairs and were unfamiliar with civil affairs. They were even more unfamiliar with the Tusi system in the southwest. I would like to take this opportunity to explain it to you two."

Tang Kekuan and Liu Xian looked at each other and said with a smile, "Yes, Mr. Ruguan, please help explain it."

"Mr. Wu is just showing off his skills in front of an expert."

Wu Chengen cleared his throat and began to speak.

"The Tusi system in the southwest originated from the pre-Yuan Dynasty. After the Mongols entered the Central Plains, they were more interested in the glitz and glamour of the Central Plains. They looked down upon remote border areas such as the southwest, which were mountainous, long, poor and destitute.

Therefore, they implemented the chieftain system for the native chieftains here, "using native officials to govern the native people", recognized the hereditary status of the chieftains of various border areas, gave them official titles, and then nominally incorporated the southwestern border into the territory of the former Yuan Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, the chieftain system was a method used by the former Yuan Dynasty central government, which was unable to take care of the remote southwestern regions, to win over the native leaders in order to stabilize the border.

From the current perspective, this system is extremely short-sighted.

Under the jurisdiction of the Tusi, the land and the people were hereditary. They had the final say in judicial, financial, civil and military affairs, and could do whatever the local people wanted and had the power of life and death. Except for not being able to ascend the throne and become emperor, they were treated like emperors in all other ways. They only needed to pay a small amount of taxes to the court and send envoys to present books regularly to show their obedience.

Over time, each chieftain formed his own territory, and the imperial court could not interfere. Except for using the imperial court's reign title, the rest was no different from the foreign vassal states. "

Wu Cheng'en spoke in great detail, and Tang Kekuan and Liu Xian listened very carefully.

The two men knew that one of their biggest enemies in future military operations would be the chieftains of all sizes in the southwest.

"After Emperor Taizu established the country, he realized the harmfulness of the Tusi system and only partially continued the Tusi system. According to the size of the Tusi's hereditary jurisdiction, Tuzhifu, Tuzhizhou, and Tuzhixian were set up in order to bring the Tusi under the control of court officials.

Unfortunately, the results were minimal. The remote areas in the southwest were still governed by local chieftains.

Since the Hongzhi period, there have been frequent rebellions among the chieftains in the southwest of the country.

First, the imperial court adopted the approach of "granting us titles and salaries, and favoring them with names, so that they can be easily controlled, and therefore they will dote on me," using titles and generous salaries to win over the obedient chieftains and attack those who refused to obey the king's orders.

Use barbarians to rule barbarians.

However, once the imperial court had to dispatch too many troops, "changes would arise in a hurry, they would rely on their merits and abuse their faults, and the invasion would become more serious," and the situation would be chaotic.

There were also disloyal chieftains who secretly levied more taxes and opened mines without authorization to enrich themselves. They took advantage of the opportunity to train soldiers and horses during the offensive, and then gradually became more powerful, and even used the local troops under their control to split and rule. Mangruiti in Yunnan Province split and rebelled during the Jiajing period. The court was unable to reach it and watched the thousands of miles of territory being split away. There was a rumor among the people of Yunnan and Guizhou that "the government only loves a piece of paper, and lost (Yunnan language means lost) 2,000 miles of land."

The harm is serious, and it has indeed reached the point where it must be rectified.”

Wang Yi'e nodded and took over the topic, "The emperor is wise and understands the difficulties and chaos in the southwest. He told us officials frankly that if we want long-term peace and stability, we have to change the natives and return them to the people.

The imperial edict says, "The greatest threat to Yunnan and Guizhou is the Miao barbarians. If we want to keep the people safe, we must first subdue the barbarians. If we want to subdue the barbarians, we must change the natives into commoners."

The governor of Sichuan, Shi Tinggong (Yin Zhengmao), on the one hand, suppressed the local chieftains who were using the people to cause rebellion in Guangdong and Guangxi, and on the other hand, tried to implement the emperor's policy of "changing the chieftains into officials".

After three or four years of trial operation, they summarized a lot of experience, "The best way to change the flow is to capture them by trickery, the worst way is to suppress them by force, the best way is to force them to surrender, the worst way is to order them to surrender by imperial decree."

"To control barbarians, we should use both kindness and force."

The emperor issued orders to convene several meetings, and the central and local governments discussed together the best way to transform the natives into officials, and then determined a method to develop military, political, and economic methods simultaneously.

First take military measures, such as stationing troops, garrisoning soldiers, repairing borders, and building checkpoints to prepare for any eventuality.

Then, through political means, prefectures and counties were set up, work teams were dispatched, propaganda and education were carried out, household registration was checked, land was measured, taxes were collected, cities were built, water conservancy projects were developed, schools were set up, and clinics were established.

What matters is the economic means.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

First, the taxation was unified. Previously, the chieftains collected taxes and used them to enrich themselves first, and only paid a small portion to the court, completely disregarding the lives of the people under their rule.

After the conversion of the natives to the Han people, they all paid taxes in a unified way. The emperor also issued decrees many times to exempt the newly returned people from the Han people in three years and reduce the land tax in five years, so as to reduce the burden on the returned people.

Secondly, we made full use of trading companies such as supply and marketing cooperatives to exchange what they had and what they needed, and provided the returning people with daily necessities such as cotton cloth, salt, grain, etc., which they had previously had to buy at high prices, at affordable prices, thereby improving people's living standards.

Three parts military, three parts politics, and four parts economy, thus ensuring the smooth implementation of the policy of changing the natives to officials.”

Wang Yi'e glanced at Tang Kekuan and Liu Xian, and said emphatically: "Although the military is only about three points, it is the foundation of the transformation of the chieftains. The chieftains have been disobedient for many years, and it is impossible to reason with them. We must use both kindness and force.

The emperor instructed that the fists must be hard so as to crush all those who resist stubbornly, and the palms must be soft so as to appease all those who surrender and submit.

Your troops are the prerequisite for making the chieftains sit down willingly and listen to the court's reasoning.

"Power and virtue come first, and then you can win people over with virtue."

Tang Kekuan and Liu Xian nodded and replied, "Your Majesty is wise. We will certainly follow your instructions. As long as Wang Duxian and Yin Duxian inform us of your orders, we will follow them without error."

After waiting for more than two hours, Zhang Yong and three others walked in with different expressions.

"Wang Duxian, your reputation is well-deserved. We are the prey you are targeting."

Wang Yi'e laughed, "I know that you four are not ordinary people, and I don't want to be mediocre. But if you want to become an extraordinary person, you must achieve extraordinary achievements.

Now there is a golden opportunity in front of you four, aren't you excited?
The Yang family of Bozhou, the Xi'an family of Shui, and the She family of Yongning will become the three monkeys who kill monkeys and scare chickens in the southwest's return to the land. Now that we have the negative example, we have the positive example of buying horse bones for a thousand gold coins. Are you willing to do it?"

The eyes of Zhang Yong, Anyue and the other three were shining and sharp.

Of course I want to do it!
Just being a positive role model is too risky, and you might even end up losing your entire family.

Is it worth it?
Wang Yi'e noticed the expressions of the four people and continued, "Reforming the chieftains is a national policy approved by the emperor. This governor can also see that the four of you are completely different from other chieftains in the southwest.

You have long enjoyed the emperor's grace, admired civilization, and are loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Now is the time of drastic changes and the situation is taking off.

The emperor’s grace is so great that no one else can even ask for it.”

Zhang Yong sighed, looked at the three people behind him, turned around and said to Wang Yi'e, "Wang Duxian, the four of us are willing to sell our lives and property to Wang Duxian."

Wang Yi'e nodded happily: "Since the four of you have made up your minds, I ask you to rest assured. I have not only the vast sky above my head, but also the wise emperor.

You may not believe in me, but you cannot not believe in the Holy Son of Heaven."

Zhang Yong and his three companions knew that they had already boarded the ship and it was impossible for them to regret getting off the ship. There were so many difficulties and dangers, even if it was the beach of hell, they had to go forward.

"Wang Duxian, even if we risk our lives, we will never dare to fail the trust of Wang Duxian and the expectations of the court."

Wang Yi'e was overjoyed and said, "Well, the four heroes are so clear about justice, I will not let you down, but if I break my promise, I will be punished by heaven and earth!
Envoy Tang, Chief Secretary Wu, let's discuss the details with the four heroes. Envoy Liu, we will also need the help of Kawabe Dusi later, so you can come and discuss it as well."

"it is good!"

The Zhenyang River in Zhenyuan Prefecture flows eastward and passes through Guyu Pass in Pingxi Wei (Yuping) of Sizhou Prefecture, and is renamed Wushui River.

After passing Yuanzhou (Zhijiang) for sixty miles, it turns south until it merges into the Qingshui River in Qianyang County, and together they are called Yuanjiang River. It then turns east to Hongjiangzhai, then turns north and goes straight to Chenxi County.

Qianyang County was established as Fancheng County in the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of the Western Han Dynasty. It was renamed Longbiao County in the eighth year of Zhenguan Period of the Tang Dynasty. It was renamed Qianyang County in the third year of Yuanfeng Period of the Song Dynasty. There is a Furong Tower next to the riverside pier in the county seat.

The sun was shining brightly, making the entire Furong Tower look like something out of a painting; it seemed as if it were not in the human world.

"Hibiscus Tower?"

A man in his twenties looked up at the four-story building with painted beams and carved buildings and asked in confusion, "'If my friends and relatives in Luoyang ask me, I will tell them that my heart is as pure as ice and as clear as a jade pot.' Could this be the Furong Tower mentioned in Wang Changling's "Two Poems of Farewell to Xin Jian at Furong Tower"? "

A thirty-something green-robed official nearby chuckled, "Captain Yang is well-read and talented, but this is not the Hibiscus Tower in Wang Changling's "Two Poems of Farewell to Xin Jian at Hibiscus Tower".

The Furong Tower in the poem is located in the northwest of Runzhou and was originally named Northwest Tower. These two poems were also written by Wang Changling when he was the magistrate of Jiangning.

However, after Wang Changling became the magistrate of Jiangning, he was demoted to the magistrate of Longbiao County and lived here for eight years. The local people built it to commemorate it.

"So that's how it is!" Lieutenant Yang nodded and sighed, "'A heart as pure as ice in a jade pot', why can't the court understand the pure heart of our Yang family? They allow Wang Yu and Wang Duxian to humiliate us at will."

He was Yang Zhaolong, the second son of Yang Lie, the Xuanwei envoy of Bozhou, and the younger brother of Yang Yinglong, the actual person in charge of the Bozhou Xuanwei Office.

The green-robed official accompanying him was Liao Zhi, the chief clerk of Qianyang County. He was currently the highest-ranking official in Qianyang County Yamen, as the positions of magistrate, county magistrate, and county lieutenant of Qianyang County had been vacant for several years, and he shouldered all the responsibilities.

Liao Zhi laughed: "I am a humble official and dare not discuss state affairs. My duty is to ensure that Captain Yang has good food and accommodation, and then send Captain Yang on a boat to Chenxi, and that will be considered a complete deed."

Yang Zhaolong glanced at him and felt a little angry.

When did the officials of the Ming Dynasty change their nature? Even if I spend money, I can't buy any information. Is he really a coward, or does he know nothing?
"I appreciate the hospitality of Liao Zhubu."

"Haha, no problem. Captain Yang, the boat to pick you up is ready, please!"

"please!"

Yang Zhaolong bowed casually, and with his entourage, he walked down the steps and walked along the plank to the boat.

Watching the two ships gradually go away, Liao Zhi said to his confidant without turning his head, "Send a pigeon immediately to tell Yao Dushi and Ren Dushi that the goods are on the way. Then write the details in a secret letter and send it to Chenxi by express ship."

"As ordered!"

(End of this chapter)