Chapter 41 Sejong Chapter 42 The haze behind the great prosperity
Chapter 2166 Sejong Chapter 42 The haze behind the great prosperity
Needless to say, in the years when the empire was at its peak, there was no shortage of troubles and chaos. The Han Empire, which was invincible in conquering East Asia, was also inevitably suffering from border troubles. The barbaric chaos and civil unrest that occurred every year in the remote and poor areas of the empire,
Needless to say, "security wars" are also normal within the empire, and are not unique to those feudal states that expand externally.
During the Jianlong era, the imperial court's border troubles did not occur in Anton, where a fight almost broke out. There were two main ones, one in the southwest and the other in Mobei. From the eighth to the eighteenth year of Jianlong, the imperial court led by Liu Wenji also
He spent a lot of energy and used it in two directions. These are the only two "martial arts" worth recording in Liu Wenji's entire reign.
How can the prosperous times in history be without the embellishment of "martial arts"? It can't be just for ordinary thieves and chaos, but there must be some "illustrious martial arts" that can be used.
The first is the southwest. Since the Sichuan and Sichuan rebellion was put down in the early years of Yongxi's reign and Emperor Taizong visited the south and summoned chieftains from Yunnan and Guizhou tribes in Chengdu, the entire southwest has been peaceful for thirty years. Of course, some "daily" turmoil cannot be avoided.
, but at least it is still under a stable Han unification order as a whole, and the wheels of Sinicization are also rolling towards the front of history in a subtle way.
In the past thirty years, the Yunnan and Guizhou region has made great progress and development. The stability of the political system and the guarantee of social security can often promote prosperity. During that period, it can also be said that the Yunnan and Guizhou region has the highest degree of civilization and the most prosperous society in history.
a stage.
Of course, this prosperity was driven by the Han civilization as the locomotive, and the main way it was achieved was through close exchanges with the Han people. What ultimately emerged was a situation where Han and Yi were mixed.
Economically, although Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces have never been able to get rid of their dependence on Jiannan and the imperial court, animal husbandry and handicrafts have also flourished. As one of the pillars of the Tea Horse Economic Circle, animal husbandry is an important driving force for its development.
The reputation of horses spreads all over the southwest. Coupled with various handicrafts, metal smelting, traditional agriculture, and the discovery of medicinal materials such as bezoar and musk, the southwest mountains with high mountains, dense forests, and dangerous roads can no longer be completely regarded as remote areas.
Politically and culturally, although Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces have been in a mixed area with Han and barbarians for a long time, and the "flowing soil" goes hand in hand, and even the soil is more important than the flowing, under the influence of a large number of Han officials, Han troops, Han merchants, Han people, and the Han people who followed them,
Under the influence of domestic civilized books, customs and commodities, the imperial court achieved great success in developing and consolidating the southwest, and the progress of Sinicization was visible to the naked eye.
Not to mention ordinary barbarians, at least among barbarian tribes and upper-level chieftains, Chinese language and rituals have basically spread. It’s not that Chinese civilization really has any irresistible magic power that makes chiefs and chiefs rush to convert and learn.
The circle of order established by the Han Empire in Yunnan and Guizhou will suffer losses if it does not move closer to Sinicization and the imperial court.
If you accept sinicization, your life may not be much better, but if you refuse or even resist, your life will definitely be bad! And the root of everything lies in the heavy troops that the imperial court maintains in various prefectures and towns in Yunnan and Guizhou all year round.
In terms of comprehensive military strength, the Han army in the Yunnan-Guizhou Province is far inferior to Jiannan, the core of the southwest. However, if we simply look at the combat effectiveness of the army, who can fight, the Yunnan-Guizhou army, especially the frontier army in the Yunnan Province
, it is comparable across the country. This is all determined by the politics, geography and folk customs of Yunnan and Guizhou.
The rapid development of economy and culture, as well as the stability of social security, often bring about population growth. When the empire's population explodes, the same is true for the southwest region. Even if the growth rate is not as high as that of traditional wealthy areas, in Jianlong
At the beginning of the era, the population of Yunnan and Guizhou also exceeded five million.
One thing that is certain is that the actual population is definitely far higher than this figure! As a hub for close exchanges with central Guizhou, Jiannan, and Guangnan West Road, Yunnan Daozhi Shanchanfu (Kunming) has gradually expanded into a large city with a population of 100,000
, this scale and level can be ranked high even if it is expanded to the entire southwest region.
The development and prosperity of Yunnan and Guizhou in the past thirty years is undeniable and cannot be denied. However, its social contradictions are also rapidly accumulating. Agrarian conflicts (Dian and Guizhou due to their special political environment have not been as unified as those in the mainland)
(the local tax reform), the gap between the rich and the poor, the conflict between Han and barbarians, the greed and exploitation of bureaucrats and powerful officials, and the bloody battles between chieftains and barbarians
As time went by, conflicts accumulated to a certain extent and they naturally broke out. In fact, starting from the third year of Jianlong's reign, riots in Yunnan and Guizhou began to increase. Incidents of barbarians harassing and plundering Han people occurred one after another.
The number of tribes (including feudal chieftains) plundering, attacking, and expanding each other gradually increased.
In response to these riots, local government officials and soldiers just suppressed and suppressed them as usual, just like they have done for the past thirty years. However, it is obvious that the old methods cannot solve the problems in the new stage, which leads to the unrest and social unrest.
Public security is unstable and the crime rate continues to increase, gradually leading to turmoil and unrest throughout Yunnan and Guizhou.
The "Sichuan-Dian" tea and horse trade was affected, and the loss of direct benefits naturally attracted the attention of relevant departments. After Zhang Shixun, the governor of southwest China at the time, learned of the situation, he paid special attention to it and personally reported it to the court.
But inertia also existed in the center of the empire, and the court didn't pay much attention to it at first. After all, the riots in Yunnan and Guizhou had never really subsided. They were just barbaric chaos. Once they made a fuss, they would stop.
Of course, the killing and plundering of Han people could not be tolerated, and Zhang Shixun needed to be given face, so the imperial court issued a relatively harsh order to the Yunnan and Guizhou Yamen, requiring the two to strictly restrain and rectify the situation.
Public security. At the same time, a document was sent to the two chieftains, asking them to cooperate with the Han government to maintain stability in Yunnan and Guizhou and quickly restore regional stability.
If such a move had taken place in the Taizong Dynasty, or even in the Kangzong Dynasty, the effect would have been immediate. But to be fair, by the Jianlong era, the chieftains in the southwest with high mountains and distant emperors had long lost the respect for the imperial court that they had thirty years ago.
Awe and even gratitude.
Therefore, when the imperial document was issued, very few chieftains responded, or they did not seem to need the imperial intervention. Those who lived in peace were still peaceful, and those who were attacking each other were still fighting fiercely.
However, the local government and the garrison did not dare not to take the imperial orders seriously. They still went out in force and struck hard, and achieved certain results. However, there were not many who were sincere in suppressing thieves and maintaining stability.
In contrast, some government officials and soldiers took this opportunity to kill and plunder the barbarians, intensifying the conflict, and it was no surprise that greater chaos would come.
It was observed that the security in the southwest was difficult to stabilize, and the chaos was gradually increasing. The imperial court gradually paid attention to it. Liu Wenji was even more angry at the inability of the two officials to maintain stability, and even the dereliction of duty and the overt and covert violations.
Therefore, from the fifth year to the eighth year of Jianlong's reign, Liu Wenji carried out frequent political and military rectifications on Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces. However, this kind of rectification brought severe pain to the military and political affairs in southwest China, and also caused the original order to further lose control.
The biggest chaos occurred in the late autumn of the eighth year of Jianlong's reign, when the three Jiaohe departments of Ningzhou (Ayue, Hehe, and Wangnongshan) at the junction of "Dian and Guangxi" jointly raised a flag to rebel against the Han Dynasty.
The reason why this rebellion initially attracted the attention of Yunnan Taoist priests was because the Jiaohe Sanbu were hereditary chieftains who had been canonized by the imperial court. This kind of betrayal and provocation was much more serious than ordinary barbaric rebellions.
Therefore, after learning that the chaos had occurred, the defenders of Zuining Prefecture quickly attacked, intending to nip the chaos in its bud. Then, they were defeated by three rebels and were completely wiped out. Zuining Prefecture fell and the chaos began.
The incident also spread from a small remote state in Yunnan to a wider area.
It was different from the Sichuan-Shu Uprising more than 30 years ago. Although there were wars and rebels everywhere, the Jiannan rebels were dominated from beginning to end, with the two rebel leaders Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun.
The rebellion in Yunnan and Guizhou lasted longer, but it did not reach an alliance or form a unified command. It seemed that everyone was dissatisfied with the Han people and the rule of the Han Dynasty, so someone took the lead in rebelling against the Han. So
Then they raised the flag of rebellion, or fished in troubled waters, using chaos to expand their forces. While fighting against the Han, they still did not stop annexing each other.
But even in such a magical "rebellion", the scale and scope of the rebellion showed a trend of expansion throughout the ninth year of Jianlong. By the beginning of the tenth year of Jianlong, when the southwest rebellion was at its peak, half of the people in Yunnan and Guizhou Province
There are chieftain or barbarian rebellions in the above areas.
As the source of the rebellion, Yunnan almost completely fell into the flames of the rebels. Even though the government and army have always maintained a strong position with their strong strength, they still appear passive in quelling the rebellion despite the war.
Once the chaos subsides, another one breaks out, one after another, and the chaos is repeated again and again, and the officers and soldiers are inevitably exhausted from running for their lives.
Such a situation occurred not only because the rebels gave full play to their "local vigilante" attributes, but also because many powerful Han people could not restrain themselves and tried to seize chestnuts from the fire. At the same time, many lower-class Han people who had been oppressed by the government and chieftains were barbarians.
The people also gathered together to conspire and cause chaos.
Therefore, at least in the ninth year of Jianlong, almost the entire Yunnan Province turned into a mess.