Chapter 456: Zhu Yuanzhang's Trust in the Mu Family
Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that his eldest grandson would praise Mu Ying so highly.
"If we let Mu Ying guard Yunnan for generations, the eldest grandson will have nothing to be afraid of."
In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a smile.
Zhu Ying said: "What's there to be afraid of? Speaking of which, although my grandson has never met Uncle Mu Ying, he has heard of his great reputation a long time ago. It's a pity that we haven't had the chance to meet him."
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed a little: "He is a good boy. At that time, my eldest sister and I didn't have a son. We saw that he was pitiful, so we adopted him as our adopted son."
"He was only eight years old at the time, and he followed us all the way to the north and south, wandering around."
"Ying'er is extremely smart and very filial to us. He always does it before I ask him to do it."
"Your grandma gave birth to your father when he was ten years old."
"He is our adopted son and the eldest. After the eldest son was born, we could see the joy in his eyes."
"Your father and he have a very good relationship. Although they are not real brothers, they are no different from each other."
"We are busy arranging things for the war every day, and your grandma is also busy helping us. When your father was a child, he was always helped by Ying'er. He spent more time with Biao'er than our father. many."
"We have always been at ease with Ying'er. Although some ministers have persuaded her, I believe that Ying'er will never do anything to regret us."
"Later we established the Ming Dynasty, and Ying'er also made a lot of contributions, so we asked him what reward he wanted."
"At that time, we took out the map of the Ming Dynasty and asked him to choose a place to make him king, but he didn't want it."
"Ying'er told us that his merits are not enough to make him a king, not even a duke. At most, he can only be a marquis."
"And the first thing he asked us for was to restore the Mu surname."
Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Speaking of which, when Ying'er followed us, she also changed her surname to Zhu."
"It is true that I have some sort of fate with my eldest grandson."
That is to say, Mu Ying changed her surname back to Mu. Otherwise, if her surname was Zhu and she was admitted to the imperial family, she would have the same name as Zhu Ying.
And the old man's words also reflected his deep feelings for Mu Ying.
Mu Ying was the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the Ming Dynasty. He was capable of both literary and military skills and was extremely tough. However, he only lived to be forty-eight before he died of illness.
But compared to other founding heroes, he died a happy death.
Zhu Yuanzhang can be said to be the most ruthless emperor in history. He is famous for killing heroes. Especially after the death of Prince Zhu Biao, it can be said that almost all the founding heroes were killed.
Mu Ying was quite successful, and was always reused by Zhu Yuanzhang to guard the important areas in the southwest.
Even now, after Mu Ying's death, she still has great trust in Mu Ying's descendants.
Mu Ying's life experience can be said to be extremely miserable. He was a baby, and Zhu Yuanzhang adopted him as his adopted son when life and death were on the line.
At the age of twelve, he followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world. He was invincible and made many military exploits, making great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's victory in the world.
When Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, Mu Ying, as the emperor's godson, in the eyes of others, should at least be given the title of king.
However, when she went to guard the border in Yunnan, where both young and old were poor, and fought against the barbarians of all ethnic groups in the southwestern region, Muying never complained and always defended the southwestern territory of the Ming Dynasty.
Mu Ying worked hard in the southwest and put down the rebellions of ethnic minorities many times. Zhu Yuanzhang said: Since you are in the town, I have no worries about the southwest.
Mu Ying always has a grateful heart. Although he lives in the southwest, he is very grateful to Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma for their help and support.
Once he won a battle and harvested some trophies or some local products, he would choose some high-quality gifts and give them to Zhu Yuanzhang to repay Zhu Yuanzhang's kindness.
Muying guarding Yunnan for generations was actually Zhu Yuanzhang's carefully considered choice.
Yunnan is far away from the capital, has a large number of ethnic minorities, is close to foreign countries, is riddled with snakes, insects, rats, ants, rugged terrain, and is filled with miasma. All these unfavorable conditions restricted the central government of the Ming Dynasty from organizing households in Yunnan to unify the people.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang encountered difficulties in governing Yunnan.
In fact, in the fifteenth year of Hongwu's capture of Yunnan, similar to the mainland, Yunnan established the Chief Envoy Department and the Guard Station, but the effect was not good.
The Yunnan editions were hidden by the local chieftains, who did not buy into the chief envoy's account at all.
Coupled with the successive chieftain rebellions, the Ming army stationed in Yunnan was exhausted from conquering east and west, and Zhu Yuanzhang was forced to rethink the rule of Yunnan.
In the 16th year of Hongwu's reign, after more than a year of deliberation, Zhu Yuanzhang finally made the decision to select "famous officials and highly expected people" to guard Yunnan.
Since then, this policy has become a national policy that has not changed since the Ming Dynasty.
Who is the "famous minister"?
The three great generals of Yunnan at that time were Fu Youde, Lan Yu and Mu Ying.
In terms of closeness, it can only be Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted son Mu Ying, because once an outsider is chosen to guard Yunnan, which is far away from the emperor, it will easily develop into a separatist force.
With Zhu Yuanzhang's jealous and suspicious temperament, no matter who he is, he will never be able to feel at ease, only Mu Ying.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang recalled Generals Fu Youde and Lan Yu back then and explicitly asked Mu Ying to guard Yunnan.
Since Mu Ying officially "guarded Yunnan" in the 16th year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty's system in Yunnan actually underwent major changes. Although the Chief Envoy still existed, the highest authority became General Mu Ying, who actually controlled Yunnan by military force.
Mu Ying is the highest local authority in Yunnan and has all administrative decision-making power. Generals stationed in various prefectures and counties can also interfere in local administration.
This is actually no different from the Tu Emperor.
Even the censor of the capital could only act based on Mu Ying's face.
Except for Prince Zhu Biao, there is no such authority.
Even the King of Qin Zhu Chen, the King of Jin Zhu Fan, and even the King of Yan Zhu Di were far from reaching such a level of trust.
This is a province, and Yunnan is very large.
In the 19th year of Hongwu's reign, Mu Ying wrote a letter requesting for the garrison of Yunnan. His garrison policy was three garrison and seven garrison, and garrison and garrison at one time. The garrison range covered all parts of Yunnan, and the garrison soldiers acted as a suppressive force.
This approach not only allowed the Ming army to be self-sufficient, but also strengthened the local suppression capabilities.
This move won repeated praise from Zhu Yuanzhang, saying that farming could "relieve the people's strength and provide enough food for the troops. No border defense strategy is good at this."
The farming system was then widely implemented in Yunnan. It was this move that made Zhu Yuanzhang feel that Mu Ying could succeed, so he felt more confident in letting him guard Yunnan.
But from another perspective, Mu Ying's farming system is equivalent to raising soldiers for his own family.
Most of these soldiers stationed in the fields were not Han Chinese, but local chieftains.
In Yunnan, originally everyone only recognized Mu Ying, but if this continues, it will be okay.
When this matter was approved by Zhu Yuanzhang, the situation exploded at the court meeting that day.
A large number of civil servants knelt down in the Fengtian Palace and begged Zhu Yuanzhang to restrain Mu Ying from granting such great power. This was no different from a state within a state.
It stands to reason that Zhu Yuanzhang, who is suspicious and suspicious, should also take back Mu Ying's power.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not even bother to suppress the case. He dismissed all the impeachments of all civil servants on the spot and banned the matter from being discussed in the future.
This shows the trust in Mu Ying.
He really treats Mu Ying as his own son.
Now, it turns out that Mu Ying has not lived up to Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations.
There is no possibility of being questioned in terms of loyalty.
Among them, the most important thing is filial piety.
"I don't remember, my eldest grandson. When you were a child, you loved playing with your Uncle Mu Ying the most."
"Because of our arrangement, your father often has to review memorials, so every time Ying'er comes over, he will play with her for a long time. At that time, your favorite thing was to ride on Ying'er's back and play horse riding games."
"We were all shocked at the time. In the 10th year of Hongwu's reign, it happened to be the day when we named him Marquis of Xiping. Unexpectedly, he won the title of Marquis of Xiping in Fengtian Palace, and then he became your horse."
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed as he spoke, as if he remembered the scene he saw that surprised and pleased him.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this incident that Zhu Yuanzhang always trusted Mu Ying from the bottom of his heart without wavering in the slightest.
The accumulation of many such small things made it possible for Mu Ying to guard Yunnan during the fifteenth year of Hongwu.
Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little sad again:
"He is a good and filial boy. When your grandma passed away, it was July. Ying'er was still campaigning abroad. He led his troops back to Dianchi Lake and joined forces with Fu Youde to pacify Wusa, Dongchuan, Jianchang, and Mang.
Among the barbarians in the tribe, set up Ussa Guard and Bijie Guard."
"We found out later that Ying'er fainted in the military camp after hearing the news of the elder sister's death. Then she didn't eat for three days and got seriously ill and almost died."
"Last year Ying'er was also hit because of Biao'er's passing away and couldn't hold on."
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was already slightly choked.
Big sister, Zhu Biao, Mu Ying.
These are the people he was closest to.
The two second sons of King Zhu Fang of Qin and King Zhu Fan of Jin were also the legitimate sons of Zhu Yuanzhang, but emotionally they were not as close as Mu Ying.
The biggest key here is filial piety.
No one can question Mu Ying's filial piety.
The ancestral precepts Mu Ying left for future generations before her death also made Zhu Yuanzhang sigh.
"All my descendants must serve the country loyally, be diligent and careful in everything they do, and be humble when dealing with their colleagues. Special edict. Be careful! Be warned!"
Zhu Ying also felt a little sad at this time.
Mu Ying's family is full of loyalties. Since Mu Ying, he has followed the Ming Dynasty for nearly three hundred years and has never had any separation.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Ming Dynasty, Mu Cheng was defeated in the attack on Gaoligong Mountain and died in Chuxiong.
The imperial court gave a posthumous gift to King Dingyuan, and his youngest son Mu Bin assumed the title and settled in the capital, while his younger brother Mu Ang took charge of Yunnan.
After Mu Ang's death, he was granted the title of Dingbian Bo and was succeeded by his nephew Mu Bin.
Starting from Mu Ang, although the titles of the Mu family gradually decreased, the imperial court still relied heavily on the generals of the Mu family to quell the frequent wars on the border.
It can be said that with the Mu family guarding the border, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty felt particularly at ease sitting on the throne of the Golden Palace in Beijing.
After the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the Nanming regime established by the royal family surnamed Zhu was still surviving in the south. As a prince in Yunnan, Mu Tianbo chose to follow the last emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang, and began his life in exile.
Mu Tianbo is the eleventh grandson of Mu Ying. In the first year of Chongzhen, his father Mu Qiyuan died suddenly. Mu Tianbo, who was only ten years old, inherited the title and served as the general of the Southern Conquest.
In the 18th year of Shunzhi, the Qing army invaded Yunnan, and the chieftain Kaiyuan of Yunnan took the opportunity to rebel. Mu Tianbo was forced to flee, and the Mu family was almost wiped out.
Zhu Youlang, assisted by Mu Tianbo and others, fled to Myanmar.
The king of Myanmar, Mangtala, took them in, and Mangbai killed Mangtala and established himself. The new king, Mangbai, had long thought of abandoning these Ming Dynasty old and young people, and even wanted to disguise them on the surface.
In July of that year, King Mangbai of Burma asked someone to send a message, agreeing that Emperor Yongli would cross the river, and the two of them would drink the cursed water and swear an oath to become friends forever.
Emperor Yongli was also suspicious, but he was under the protection of others and had to obey their arrangements. Emperor Yongli, military general Mu Tianbo, academician Ma Jixiang and other civil and military officials hurriedly went there, but were unexpectedly surrounded by three thousand Burmese troops.
At the critical moment, Mu Tianbo grabbed the knife and resisted.
Unfortunately, they were outnumbered, and all 42 Nanming officials were killed. The Burmese army then rushed to the residence of Emperor Yongli and killed all 300 of his followers. This incident is known as the "Curse Water Disaster" in history.
At this point, the Ming Dynasty, which was served by the 12th and 16th Duke of Guizhou of the Mu family, had completely come to an end.