Southern Ming, my destiny is too abstract

Chapter 1 Failure is Treason
"Failure is treason, success is revolution."

The king receives his mandate from Heaven, and the change of dynasties is a change of Heaven's mandate.

The four seasons are formed through the transformation of Heaven and Earth; Tang and Wu revolutionized, following Heaven's will and responding to the will of Man. What a great time for transformation!
Zhu Cixuan, the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty who had traveled back to 1660 for several months, looked intently at Mangbai, the younger brother of Pingdali, the Prince of Toungoo of Hongsha Kingdom, who was sitting at the table.

Zhu Cixuan, a prisoner of the Hongsha Kingdom, had no courage as a hostage and continued to incite Mangbai to rebel and seize the throne.

"Hou Wang, the war has been going on for a year and a half. The Shan chieftains and the various counties in Upper Hongsawadi are already overwhelmed by it. The leaders are waiting for you to step forward."

After sitting down at the negotiation table, Toungoo King Mangbai had a blank expression on his face until he raised his eyebrows.

Hold up two fingers and make the Catholic cross.

“Not a year and a half, but ten years.”

"Since eleven years ago, shortly after my brother ascended the throne, your father in Mengsai has sent officials to Mengsu, Xikun, Dengni, Gaima, Jingdong, Jingyong and other places within our Hongsha Kingdom to collect taxes."

"By the end of the year, our country will send four large armies to Mengmao and Xikun to repel your Ming officials and recover the lost territory."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cixuan's body, which was leaning forward, shrank slightly.

Is this even possible?!

Damn, where are the places you are talking about?
In the past few months, he has been trying hard to learn some of the Hongsha people's spoken language and has no understanding of these complicated place names.

The chieftains on the Luchuan Plateau are complex and intricate, with more than a dozen small tribes in addition to the three major tribes.

Not to mention that he had only studied for a few months, even Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qian who ruled Yunnan Province for generations, might not be able to understand it clearly.

What's more, these small southern barbarian countries are sandwiched between the big countries.

It was not uncommon for a chieftain to pay tribute and taxes to two countries.

It was common for the small chieftains in the eastern part of the Luchuan Plateau to pay tribute to the four countries of Hongsha, Siam, Lancang and the Ming Dynasty.

Only Hongsha Kingdom, a feudal power in Indochina, has always coveted the Luchuan Plateau.

In addition to the feud with the Shan people, since the founding of the country, they have been encroaching on and annexing the Luchuan Plateau and getting rid of the Ming Dynasty's Xuanwei Office.

They even invaded Yunnan Province at one point, triggering the Ming-Hongsha War during the Wanli period.

To put it bluntly, the rise of Toungoo was based on the annexation of the six Xuanwei offices in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, only the Hongsha Kingdom would mobilize troops to deal with the indecisive behavior of the small chieftains on the Luchuan Plateau.

It is said that the Chinese did not dare to resist and were beaten back.

There were probably only a few tax-collecting officials at that time, and most of them were Sun Kewang who had set up camps in Luchuan in Yunnan Province.

Sun Guozhu's camp took over all the land and assigned special people to manage it. He collected land tax and divided it into 50-50. 50% went to the tillers and 50% went to the Dashi Army. Then 10% was taken from the Dashi Army's 50% and given to the landlords and chieftains.

With this kind of exploitation, it would be strange if the chieftains in those places did not ask for help from the Hongsha Kingdom.

Speaking of which, can this be blamed on my father, Emperor Yongli?!
Zhu Cixuan was thinking in his mind.

In 1646, the first year of the Yongli reign, Emperor Yongli was in eastern Guangdong, then fled to Huguang, and took a small route to Guangxi Province, then returned to eastern Guangdong, fled to Guangxi Province again, then merged with the Dashi Army, went to Guizhou Province, and finally to Yunnan Province, and then hunted in Hongsha.

Eleven years ago, Yongli was still fleeing from Zhaoqing in eastern Guangdong to Wuzhou in Guangxi Province, and was still engaged in the factional strife and fighting the Five Tigers.

After thinking about it, Zhu Cixuan threw the blame away.

"Lord Hou, at that time, my father was still at the border of Annan. The events on the Yunnan border were all caused by the traitor Sun Kewang, who acted arbitrarily and disrupted the relationship between our two countries."

"The chaos has lasted for ten years. If the prince accepts my request, all of Luchuan will be returned to Hongsha. We can pass through Siam and then fight in Annan. Hongsha will then be able to put an end to the chaos."

"Middle Earth is indeed a vast country. Our country is separated from Annan by three other countries, thousands of miles away. We cannot understand the affairs of a great country."

After Mangbai finished speaking, he lowered his head and took a sip of tea, then took out two betel leaves from the gold-plated lacquerware engraved with a pagoda on the table.

He slowly applied two layers of lime water, then added betel nut spices and asked.

"I have learned from Adayun (the official title of Yun in Toungoo) and the Muduki (chieftains) of Hsipaw and Dubiin counties that you intend to exchange the Muduki's captured families and soldiers, along with my brother, Marquis Chiangmai, and my uncle, Marquis Pagan, for you and your father."

"I'm curious, why don't you talk directly to my brother?"

There are tiger tattoos on Mangbai's neck and arms, and tattoos of gods and demons on his knees and thighs under his short skirt. He looks like a gangster, and he is slowly wrapping betel nut bags.

Zhu Cixuan took the betel nut bag and put it in his mouth.

The Hongsha people love eating betel nut and are proud of the fact that their teeth have become black from chewing it. They drink tea mixed with betel nut and chew betel nut whenever they go out or rest. Even the royal palace has a betel nut attendant who specializes in wrapping betel nut for the royal family.

The father of King Anawrahta, the founder of the Pagan Dynasty, the first unified feudal dynasty in the history of the Hongsha Kingdom, was the betel nut officer of the former king.

Zhu Cixuan sighed, enduring the bad taste in his mouth.

"The king is just like my father, the emperor. He is indecisive and unwilling to advance or retreat. The two sides are deadlocked and the war is difficult to stop. It is time for us, the princes and his close brothers, to give them a push and make a decisive decision on the affairs of the two countries."

Mang Bai nodded: "My brother really has a heart like a bodhisattva."

"But why did you choose me? My brother, Marquis Beimu, is currently engaged in a battle with Gong Xinwen and Andiwen (Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan) in the south."

"If you follow your venomous and evil plan, collaborating with my brother, the Marquis of Pimu, and joining forces with Gong Xinwen's army, you will easily succeed even if the walls of the royal capital, Ava, are as strong as Mount Arakan, and the guns of those Portuguese and Dutch are as terrifying as the wrath of the Buddha."

Isn't it you who started the cursed water disaster next year?

He killed almost all the few remaining ministers of the Ming Dynasty, looted the Ming Dynasty's imperial court, and completely imprisoned Emperor Yongli and his son. At the end of the year, he handed them over to the old dog Wu Sangui.

The following year, he was strangled to death by a bowstring in Kunming.

I am not sure about the loyalty of Marquis Beimu. If he reports me, I will be doomed.

Your Hongsha Kingdom was beaten so hard by Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan that you could only defend the capital. How dared the Marquis of Bimiao learn from Xibisibi and mobilize troops from the front line to launch a mutiny?

Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan would not follow the example of the north and sit idle.

Besides, I am very sure of your ambition and the fact that you will kill your brother and seize the throne in a few months.

I am also following the development of history.

Besides, you didn't report me, but came to meet with me secretly. It's obvious what you are thinking.

Zhu Cixuan was secretly dissatisfied.

"This is what the Hongsha minister Adayun and the leaders of Xibu and Dubaiyin counties told me. The king is a wise ruler, just like his ancestors, Mangyinglong and Mangyingli, who can lead the Hongshawadi tribes to greatness again."

Mang Yinglong and Mang Yingli were the founders of Toungoo, who unified the Hongsha Kingdom. They frequently launched foreign wars and successively occupied the six major Xuanwei offices in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty and part of the territory of the Lancang Kingdom. Siam was also Toungoo's territory. They killed the King of Siam and made its crown prince a puppet.

Mang Bai curled his lips, not believing the flattery at all: "Then why don't I join forces with the Qing court in the Central Plains? They are your mortal enemies!"

“Even in our country of Hongsha, we know that to deal with the tigers in the forest, we must cooperate with the elephants in the mountains.”

Zhu Cixuan sat upright and said seriously, "Does the prince really rely on the Eastern Tartars?"

Mangbai said: "The Hongsha people cannot defeat tigers, but elephants can easily trample tigers. The Qing people have driven you back to our Hongsha Kingdom."

Zhu Cixuan said, "A tiger can only eat three or five people, but an elephant can easily destroy a village. Our Ming Dynasty has been occupied by the Eastern Tartars for thousands of miles of the Central Plains. How can the prince be so confident in introducing the Eastern Tartars into Hongsha? Hongsha's three million people are just enough to cover the casualties of our Ming Dynasty's wars with the Eastern Tartars over the past decade."

"Our Ming Dynasty has already paid the price of 30 million people. Is it okay for your Hongsha Kingdom to sacrifice one or two million people?"

Mangbai's eyelids twitched and he stopped chewing betel nut, somewhat frightened by Zhu Cixuan's threat.

Just like a small chieftain sandwiched between big countries.

The Hongsha Kingdom is just a slightly larger chieftain between the two major countries in China. It has no control over its own affairs and cannot please both sides.

The distance from Annan to Hongsha Kingdom resulted in millions of casualties.

All of this was beyond his imagination.

The remaining 20,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty had already put Hongsha Kingdom under great pressure.

After a silence of more than ten breaths, Mang Bai spoke: "I can't rely on the Qing court, so I rely on you, the lonely Crown Prince of Ming."

Zhu Cixuan solemnly promised, "Depend on us. If the prince allows Adayun to lend me troops to eliminate the powerful ministers and take over the throne, I will have 300 warriors ready to fight as the prince's vanguard."

"I have caused unrest in Ava City. The prince can mobilize troops from outside to quell the rebellion in the royal city, and then he can restore order and inherit the throne."

"I won the throne of the Ming Dynasty and went to Annan to fight. The princes ascended the throne of the Liuli Palace and established a new country. I revived the great power of Toungoo during the time of Mangyinglong and Mangyingli."

……

When they arrived at the pagoda, they were surrounded by the imperial guards. The chieftain of Mangshi was forced to leave. Suspecting he was scheming, he snatched the guards' swords and waved them at them. The rest of the people also resisted him, so the guards opened fire. Those who were not shot were beheaded by the king's order. — "Hongsha History: The Curse of Water"

(End of this chapter)