The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 163 The inevitable war

June, the 1768nd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, AD.

At this time, the north has begun to become slightly dry and hot.

This temperature is nothing for people in the south, but for a northern place like Beijing where the weather is clear and cool all year round, it is quite uncomfortable.

According to past practice, Beijing would begin preparing for the emperor's autumn hunt in Chengde Prefecture to escape the summer heat.

No matter whether the emperor goes or when he goes, we must be prepared.

But now, all the men, women, young and old in Beijing know that this year, forget about Mulan's Autumn Hunt. Be careful not to anger the Emperor, or you might lose your head for no reason.

The city of Beijing at that time was much smaller than it was in later generations.

After the Manchus entered the city, they drove all the Han people out of the city. Although the policy was relaxed later, the Han people who could stay in Beijing were still a minority.

This results in the fact that Beijing's urban area is not large, far from being comparable to big cities such as Guangzhou and Jiangning.

Although the streets are wide and the houses are magnificent, the Forbidden City is still magnificent, but it always lacks a bit of vitality.

Lin Tong stood outside the Dong'an Gate of the imperial city and looked from afar. He always felt that the Forbidden City, including the entire capital, seemed to be alive.

It is like a white-browed tiger crawling on the ground, examining every visitor with cold eyes.

Only when the bannermen, who could say auspicious words for an hour without repeating themselves, walked by quickly, did the air around them seem to become a little more lively.

Lin Tong was very uncomfortable. For the first time, he felt very nervous, as if he had entered a hellish den.

In his heart, he sighed deeply and muttered in a voice that he could hardly hear:

"This is not a Han Chinese place. It's located in the Central Plains, yet it feels so unfamiliar. Since our ancestors refused to surrender, why should our descendants smear our ancestors?"

Human emotions are very strange things. When Lin Tong first arrived in Beijing, he no longer had any feelings for the Bannermen.

Even when he set out, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Shiyao, hinted to him that as long as he was willing to tell everything about Mo Zibu and serve as a pawn for the court to monitor Mo Zibu, he would receive a reward that everyone wanted desperately.

Raise the flag!

Li Shiyao promised that as long as Lin Tong was obedient, he would definitely have Lin Tong carried directly to the Han Army's Bordered Yellow Banner.

But now, Lin Tong no longer wants to think about it.

. . . .

In the Forbidden City and the Hall of Mental Cultivation, it was rare for Emperor Qianlong not to enjoy himself in his favorite Qingyi Garden on Wanshou Mountain, which had just been completed four years ago, but instead returned to the inner city of the imperial palace.

Unlike what was portrayed in the later dramas, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty rarely lived in the Forbidden City. The place was too depressing and the emperors did not like it.

Therefore, the Qing emperors either stayed in the Three Mountains and Five Gardens outside Beijing, such as the Old Summer Palace, or went to the Mountain Resort in Chengde.

This is the same as in later generations, where rich people would never live in high-rise buildings with dozens of floors near the CBD, but would prefer to live in large villas halfway up the mountain in the suburbs.

I, Emperor Qianlong, am actually not young anymore. I will be 57 years old in August. According to most people, it is very likely that I will die in a few years. His father, Emperor Yongzheng, died at the age of 58.

However, this guy has a very strong vitality. At the age of 57, he still doesn't show many signs of aging.

Staring at the memorial sent back by Counselor Shuhede and the new Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, E Ning, Qianlong was so angry that his whole body was shaking.

It turned out that since the news of Mingrui's death in battle came, Qianlong immediately mobilized the army and prepared for the fourth expedition.

Moreover, Qianlong had made careful preparations this time. From the news sent back by Li Shiyao, he had basically understood the customs of the Konbaung Dynasty and knew about the dramatic changes that had taken place in Southeast Asia.

Therefore, Qianlong felt that he had taken the matter seriously enough this time and was determined to destroy the Konbaung Dynasty.

At the same time, Mo Zibu's memorial through Li Shiyao, even though it was edited, still deeply hurt Emperor Qianlong's self-esteem.

He even ordered Liu Tongxun to compile all the information about the former Ming Emperor Wanli's attack on the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma for him to see.

As a result, Qianlong discovered that Mo Zibu was right. Although the Ming court did not make arrangements for the southwest affairs in the end, the Ming army did defeat the Burmese.

A lot of money was spent, but every battle was exciting, showing the power of the Celestial Empire.

But when it came to him, he was beaten three times and ended up like this.

He felt very angry when he thought that Wanli, who had not attended court for decades, could defeat Myanmar, while he, who claimed to be a sage king, could not do it.

In particular, Liu Jing, one of the main generals of the Ming court who defeated the Burmese, was eventually killed in the Battle of Sarhu.

What does this mean?
This shows that if we rank them by military strength, it is easy to draw a conclusion that the old Eight Banners > Ming Army > Burmese > current Eight Banners.

Qianlong said this was totally unacceptable. He had to kill the Burmese, or at least he couldn't let the Eight Banners, which he had reorganized over the past 20 years, be worse than the Ming army during the Wanli period.

Therefore, the memorials sent back by Shuhede and E'ning were unacceptable to Emperor Qianlong and made him furious.

In their memorial, Shuhede and E'ning listed the difficulties of conquering Burma, summarizing them into five points:
First, there was a shortage of military livestock such as war horses and draft horses. Based on the troop size of 10,000 Manchu soldiers and 30,000 Han soldiers, 100,000 war horses and draft horses were needed.

Yunnan is located in a border area, and the Dian horses are short in stature and few in number, so it is difficult to gather them in a hurry.

The second problem was the shortage of military rations. Based on 40,000 soldiers and 100,000 horses, at least 400,000 dan of grain would be needed in just ten months. However, the province of Yunnan only had more than 300,000 dan in stock, leaving a huge gap.

Well, these two guys are actually still covering it up. Considering the level of corruption in Yunnan's officialdom, the fact that there are actually 200,000 dan of grain means that officials of all ranks have a conscience.

So even though on the surface there was only a shortage of tens of thousands of shi of grain, the two of them still complained bitterly about the food shortage.

Third, there are high mountains and dense forests from Yunnan to Myanmar, making the transportation of military rations extremely difficult.

In the Central Plains, only 200,000 civilians may be needed to feed 40,000 troops and more than 100,000 mules and horses.

But in Yunnan, E Ning admitted that it would be impossible without a million people.

Yunnan's human resources are not as abundant as those in the Central Plains. It is simply a dream to concentrate a million migrant workers on the Yunnan-Myanmar border.

Fourth, the army had a difficult time marching. In addition, the road conditions on the Yunnan-Myanmar border were too bad, and it was difficult to transport the Qing army's heavy weapons. The Burmese army was well-rested and had set up cannons waiting for the Qing army to deliver them.

Fifth, they were not used to the climate and water. In the first three wars, almost as many people died of illness as died in battle. The casualties were too great and they could not hold on.

Well, these two guys had not yet thought that in the Fourth Qing-Myanmar War, disease would teach the Bannermen a severe lesson.

In reality, Shuhede and E'ning are very competent and have basically taken all aspects into consideration.

But these two guys were completely scared by the first three wars, and they didn't want to fight a fourth time at all.

Therefore, he only listed the difficulties and proposed peace talks with the Burmese, without mentioning how these difficulties should be resolved.

Qianlong was such a shrewd man. As soon as he saw the tone of the letter, he knew what Shuhede and E'ning were thinking.

He immediately flew into a rage and threw the memorial to the ground. In front of all the civil and military officials, he cursed Shuhedeongning as "shameless and perverse, ungrateful to the emperor, and without any responsibility as a minister."

Not satisfied with the scolding, Qianlong ordered the memorials of the two men to be reviewed by his ministers and every minister to participate in the criticism.

He immediately dismissed Shu Hede from his post as Minister of Punishment and ordered the imperial guards to recall him to Beijing to discuss his crimes. He also demoted the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, E Ning, to the position of alternate Governor of Fujian.

In fact, Qianlong was fooled. If Shuhede had really taken on the responsibility of the Fourth Qing-Myanmar War, he would have been in danger of death. Although he was dismissed from his post, he was brought back to Beijing to be tried.

But his crime is not punishable by death!
For a Manchu minister of the Plain White Banner like Shuhede, dismissal was no big deal unless he was sentenced to exile or death. The most important thing was to escape from the pit of the Qing-Myanmar War.

After a few days, Qianlong came to his senses, but the imperial edict ordering Shuhede to return to Beijing had already been issued, and he was too proud to say that he had been tricked by his ministers.

So he immediately issued an edict, ordering E Ning to continue to serve in Yunnan and make meritorious contributions, and to prepare for military affairs. Finally, this cunning old dog was not allowed to escape.

However, this still did not solve the problem, that is, except for Emperor Qianlong, most people in the Qing Dynasty were extremely afraid of invading Burma.

Qianlong's punishment of Shuhede gave many high-ranking officials of the bannermen hope of escape, and fewer and fewer people took the initiative to take responsibility.

At this time, envoys from the Konbaung Dynasty arrived in Beijing again.

King Baixiang knew that although he had won, it was a pyrrhic victory. As long as the Qing Dynasty wanted to attack him, he would always be in danger of being beaten again.

Even if it was a miserable victory, he couldn't bear it.

The two sides had communicated once before, but at that time King Baixiang relied on his victory. Because the victory was too tragic and he could not explain it to his country, he bit the bullet and said he was negotiating peace, but asked the Qing Dynasty for the chieftains of Menglian, Cheli and other places.

This almost angered Qianlong to death. He immediately drove away the Burmese envoy and declared that he would never negotiate peace.

This time, the White Elephant King was threatened by the restoration of Siam, and he barely managed to calm down the dissent in the country before deciding to send envoys to negotiate peace.

He also released the captured Qing official Yang Chongying, son of former Yunnan and Guizhou Governor Yang Yingju, as a goodwill gesture.

But when he arrived in Beijing, although the White Elephant King no longer demanded the chieftains in the territory, Qianlong was first humiliated by the White Elephant King, then provoked by Mo Zibu, and later he was forced to adopt a non-violent non-cooperation policy by the senior bannermen, and he had no way to save his face.

Therefore, even though the White Elephant King lowered his demands, Qianlong was still furious and demanded that the White Elephant King "surrender to the emperor or send a noble minister to come."

No matter whether the White Elephant King came to pay homage in person or sent royal ministers to Beijing to kowtow and admit their mistakes to Emperor Qianlong, the White Elephant King would never agree.

The fourth Qing-Myanmar war was inevitable.

(End of this chapter)