A month and a half has passed since the military planning meeting in Jiangning Town, Yingtian Prefecture.
The series of plans and timetables formulated at the meeting were all implemented faithfully, and no one obstructed them. According to the plan, Yunnan and Guizhou will be pacified this winter while the weather is cool, and the big leader Hongyi will not be attacked until next year.
As early as the end of September, Li Dingguo and other generals rushed to the southwest with light cavalry.
In early October, part of the Ming army stationed in Huguang also received military orders and set off after a short preparation.
Finally, they gathered together at Chenzhou Prefecture, which is located at the hub of Qianzhong Road. After a short rest, they entered Yunnan and Guizhou.
Of course, according to the plan, the Ming army did not rush to fight from the beginning.
In name, they are only escorting the newly appointed officials appointed by the imperial court to take office. As long as the local chieftains do not resist, it can be resolved peacefully.
The Yunnan-Guizhou region has been nominally the territory of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times. In the late Ming Dynasty, there were frequent rebellions, armed resistance, and self-government, but no one dared to establish a national title.
The Ming army that came this time had a total number of about 20,000 soldiers, as well as many logistical auxiliaries. Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang each led half of them and were responsible for Yunnan and Guizhou respectively.
Most of the backbone soldiers of these troops were former Western Army soldiers who had been transformed by the Ming Dynasty. They had also made outstanding achievements in killing Tatars in defensive battles such as the Battle of Nanyang and had withstood the test.
There are also some soldiers who were originally from the old Ming army and local armed forces in Sichuan. The loyalty of these people is also reliable, but their original combat effectiveness is not good, or they are used to eating empty pay and being veterans. This year, the court also punished them
Focused rectification
Loyalty does not equal the will to fight. Many people in the old Ming army were just weak and deserted, but they did not have the courage to rebel and join the bandits. On the contrary, other troops were brave and tough, but they were also more courageous when rebelling or surrendering to the enemy.
Previously, these troops had not experienced all the tests, so even if they were commanded by Zhu Shuren and participated in some battles, they would not be equipped with the latest weapons.
Including Zhang Huang's words to defend Nanyang before, Li Dingguo's soldiers were only qualified to fight on the line with melee weapons and proved themselves in the battle to kill the Tatars. What about the new first-class muskets "made in Wuchang" or the double-barreled breech-loading cavalry rifles? They
I never got it at that time.
Starting from the second half of this year, Daye Arsenal's production capacity has been further increased, and there are more new weapons in stock. Zhang Huangyan followed Zhu Shuren's instructions and selected about a thousand "Wuchang-made" guns equipped with the latest high-quality forged steel bayonets, plus two
One hundred double-barreled breech-loading cavalry rifles and several revolvers were distributed to Li Dingguo's troops.
When distributing them, priority is given to those soldiers who performed best in the Battle of Nanyang and were rewarded for their meritorious service. This can be regarded as an incentive and gives them hope. After the distribution, it took a short period of two or three months for the new weapons to be issued.
Using training, this new mission was assigned.
Before the troops set off, they were also told that the security mission in Yunnan and Guizhou was a rare opportunity to perform meritorious service in peacetime. If they performed well here, they would be given priority in the distribution of new rifles and sophisticated armored stomachs if there was another war against the Tatars in the future.
Therefore, the morale of the troops is very high. Those who missed the opportunity to make meritorious service during the Battle of Nanyang are now holding back their energy.
…
After the troops were mobilized and set off, after more than a month of trekking, they finally arrived in Yunnan and Guizhou in two groups.
Not to mention, maybe it was because the local army had fought with the peasant army who had fled here two years ago and was still a bandit from the West. In addition, due to the lack of local information, I originally had a bad impression of the Ming army. I felt that the Ming army was a bunch of incompetents.
A coward without a will to fight.
Therefore, when Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang first arrived, some local chieftains were still tough, and several of them jumped out to resist with determination.
Fortunately, most of the first batch of reformed officials sent by the imperial court to Yunnan and Guizhou were cannon fodder, not loyal and virtuous people, so even if they encountered resistance and suffered losses, they didn't feel bad at all——
During the Nanjing Defense War at the end of last year, a large number of officials whose crimes were not serious but were implicated by Wang Duo and Qian Qianyi were either downgraded or devalued, or registered only to be released to remote areas in the future.
In addition, some representatives of the interests of the large southern landowners who opposed the imperial court's inventory of land and population this year, and those hidden scholar families with large populations, were also registered by Zhu Shuren.
Now, if the imperial court wants to change the status of the chieftain, of course, let these two types of people take the lead and be the first batch of exiled officials! Let’s test whether the blade of the unruly chieftain is sharp! If you do it well, you can still be alive after serving several terms and successfully return.
By transforming into a native, one can naturally atone for one's previous sins and regain the favor of the imperial court.
There are more than a dozen chieftains of various sizes in Yunnan and Guizhou. Within just half a month, they clashed with some of the officials. They also wanted to give the imperial court a disdain. A dozen cannon fodder officials were killed and imprisoned.
Expelling, it's a lot of fun.
Of course, Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang would not be lenient. Whenever there were bad examples of crowding the government and killing officials in the chaos, they would immediately attack and kill them with thunderous means.
There were a few rebel chieftains in Yunnan who were not too scared when they first heard that Li Dingguo was sending troops. The main reason was that the terrain was dangerous and remote. Originally, the Ming army had no way to deal with them. They had been restrained for the past two hundred years, so why should they do it now?
Subdued?
On the ninth day of the eleventh month, Meng, the chieftain of Lima's Xuanweisi territory, killed an official sent by the imperial court, who was a disciple of Wang Duo. The news spread back to Dali Mansion where Li Dingguo was personally stationed.
On November 13th and 14th, news came back to Ganya to announce that Chieftain Meng was in charge, and in Nandian to announce that Chieftain An was also killing officials and causing rebellion. The two officials who were killed were a literary friend of Qian Qianyi.
Another one is an unknown civil servant who was punished at the beginning of the year for resisting the imperial court's thorough investigation of the population and land, and for deceiving his superiors and concealing his information from his subordinates.
Li Dingguo received bad news one after another in Dali Mansion. Knowing that he could not show mercy, he decided to send troops.
Liu Wenxiu, who came with him, objected on the grounds that those places were too remote and there were not many soldiers to go there due to logistical difficulties.
Liu Wenxiu analyzed: "Second brother, we must not be reckless in this matter. The imperial court strictly controls our military expenditures. It has said that in the past few years, the total expenditure on truces, quelling civil strife, and the use of troops against high officials should not exceed three to five million taels."
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If we sacrifice our strengths and start a new war against the Tatars in the future, we will suffer a lot of losses in military supplies, equipment and veterans, which will in turn affect our combat effectiveness."
Li Dingguo's attitude was very resolute: "Since the imperial court has taken action, it must establish its power with thunder. The purpose of destroying several chieftains now is to let other chieftains see an example and save troops in the future."
Liu Wenxiu shook his head, pointed at the map and sighed: "I did not stop the use of troops. When I arrived a few days ago, didn't I put out the resistance of Chashansi on the border of Dali Prefecture? The chieftain chieftain and his whole family were killed.
You have established your authority.
If we later choose soft persimmons that are relatively close to traffic thoroughfares but still have no eyes to prick their heads to scare chickens and monkeys, wouldn’t it be more cost-effective than going over Gaoligong Mountain to deal with Limasi and Ganyasi’s raw meat?”
There is some truth to what Liu Wenxiu said. The main reason is that the Yunnan area in the Ming Dynasty was actually very vast, even larger than in later generations.
Theoretically, the Ming Dynasty's border with Myanmar reached all the way to the Malikai River. There were also three or four Xuanweisi in the lands between Gaoligong Mountain and the Malikai River.
After the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng and Qianlong betrayed their country several times and ceded some land to Myanmar. Later, the border between China and Myanmar in the middle part of Yunnan was retreated from the Malikai River to the watershed between the Malikai River and the Nu River.
That is Gaoligong Mountain.
(Note: According to Qingfen, it was because Yongzheng felt that "since Burma has been conquered, declared to recognize the Qing Dynasty as the suzerain state, paid tribute as a vassal state, and no longer supported the remnants of the Ming Dynasty who fled to Burma, we should show the Celestial Kingdom
He was very tolerant and gave the Burmese king some land that had not been rehabilitated to govern."
At that time, Chinese civilization did not have the concept of modern diplomacy, and it did not take the arbitrary grant of land jurisdiction seriously.)
And since the nominal area of Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty was so large, how could it be easy to reach the four Xuanwei Divisions to the west of Gaoligong Mountain?
If you don’t understand the harshness of the local geographical environment, you can refer to an example - the land west of Gaoligong Mountain was later part of the "Savage Mountains" in northern Myanmar. Until the Anti-Japanese War, the invading Myanmar troops were forced into the Savage Mountains by the Japanese army.
It was unspeakable suffering and heavy losses.
When deploying troops to those places, even if there are no enemy troops blocking the roads and creating logistical obstacles, at least five or six logistical auxiliary troops will be needed to maintain one combat soldier, which is too much of a loss.
After Li Dingguo arrived in Dali Prefecture, he also observed the surrounding terrain. He did not rest for ten consecutive days and kept running around to understand the actual geography.
Therefore, he is not making empty promises and fighting an unprepared battle, but he actually understands this logistical difficulty.
He then sorted out the strategy and discussed with Liu Wenxiu: "Don't you know that the road is dangerous and far away? Then I will lead fewer soldiers and attack the enemy for food. Then I will threaten some other nearby chieftains who are new to the Ming Dynasty and use Zhu Xuan to comfort the subordinates."
The original contradictions among various ministries are just driving away tigers and devouring wolves.
Fortunately, the prince has given our army more miasma-repelling pills and medicinal oils. Even if we eat pumpkin, fruit, mushrooms and game delicacies to supplement the military rations, it should not make the soldiers too acclimatized.
In addition, the soldiers who want to go on an expedition should be selected from those who followed their eldest brother to fight in Yunnan and Guizhou two years ago. It is said that anyone who has lived in Nanzhong for one or two years and survived vomiting, diarrhea, fever and other miasma will develop physical symptoms.
Resistance, this is also summed up by several great scholars from the Jiangning Research Institute, and experiments have been done."
Liu Wenxiu didn't quite understand the reliability of these statements and had some doubts, so Li Dingguo divided his troops and assigned tasks:
This winter, one of them was stationed in Dali Prefecture, and the other was stationed in Kunming Prefecture. They were divided from east to west to pacify many rebellious chieftains who might show up. They tried to attack with small groups each time, mainly to divide and disintegrate, and to exterminate the traitor chieftains.
After the plan was decided, Li Dingguo took action.
In order to prevent logistical difficulties, he actually sent only two thousand soldiers to ensure the logistics of mules and horses, and rushed across the Gaoligong Mountains to attack the three chieftains who had caused trouble.
These soldiers are equipped with 300 "Wuchang-made" riflemen and sufficient ammunition supplies. The other soldiers mostly carry traditional crossbows. Finally, there are dozens of double-barreled cavalry rifles, two lightweight and smallest
Cavalry artillery is convenient for towing and marching in mountainous areas. At the same time, if you encounter an attack and want to attack the stronghold, you can also join the battle immediately to catch the enemy off guard——
Because if you don’t bring cannons, you will have to temporarily build siege weapons when you reach a strong camp. Even if these civil structures are not strong, you can break through the wall by just spending a day or two building a flying ladder and hitting the wood, but it will still give the enemy time to react.
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With the cavalry cannon, sneak attacks can be carried out. Even a small force marches quickly to the outside of the camp in the middle of the night. Then there is no other fire preparation. The first shot is to drag the cavalry cannon 200 steps outside the camp gate and blast it at the gate.
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Once a sneak attack breaks down the village gate immediately, and then covers up the influx of people, the effect of the surprise attack can be maximized.
…
With a lot of preparations and some mental arithmetic but no care, Li Dingguo's seemingly risky and radical gamble on life actually had miraculous results.
On the one hand, before sending troops, Li Dingguo first deceived and tried to be gentle, sending some gold, jewelry and other property to the two rebellious chieftains in the Rima Xuanwei Division, pretending to want to compromise, and asking them to "not actually accept the control of exiled officials"
, but don’t openly pull the flag”,
Li Dingguo's letter also stated that as long as they agreed to accept "actually being the local emperor and not resisting the system of exile in name", then the imperial court would not send any more exiles for a few years, and they would still be able to replace the three exiles who had been killed.
They put a bucket of shit on their heads, saying that it was illegal raids after they took office that led to the resistance of the citizens.
He also said that the dead people were all Wang Duo anyway, and Qian Qianyi's old friend had nothing to do with Mr. Guo. Mr. Guo was hoping to kill someone with a borrowed knife and would not embarrass them.
The letter was filled with falsehoods and lies, but it also made the southwestern chieftain, who had little strategic knowledge, relax his vigilance and continue to mistakenly believe that Ming Dynasty was that cowardly.
While the negotiations were being stabilized, Li Dingguo had already led a small force in person and quietly set off on the road, crossing Gaoligong Mountain, sleeping and sleeping in the open air along the way. He spent a lot of money to buy grain and fruits and vegetables from other local tribes of docile chieftains who were oppressed by the rebellious chieftains.
, travel lightly and quickly.
In less than half a month, they reached the main village of Dongfu of the Simeng clan in Lima Xuanwei. They also got a guide from a local tribe that was not amenable to the Meng clan's rule in advance to lead the way. They calculated the time and arrived in front of the village in the dark at dawn.
While the barbarian soldiers were still sleeping, the Ming army set up cannons, blasted open the gate of Dongfu Village, and rushed in. The battle was resolved in one morning, and the whole family of the rebellious chieftain was killed.
Such an adventurous and bloody battle, in just one month, many nails were pulled out in Limasi and Ganyasi.
Li Dingguo quickly showed his kindness and power, distributing tobacco seedlings to the tribes who led the imperial army and provided assistance. He also taught the local chieftains how to smoke this kind of tobacco leaves, or took out snuff bottle samples and asked people to rub them under their noses to try to refresh themselves.
Effect.
It also advertised that the imperial court would purchase this kind of leaves uniformly in the future and guarantee the purchase price.
After some operations, those chieftains who were lucky enough not to follow the rebellion decided to try farming for two years. If they could really get rich, there would be no need to resist anymore.
As the actual work progressed, Li Dingguo and others later discovered a new situation: in addition to tobacco, there were other crops brought by the Ming army, which seemed to be more popular among the locals.
In Li Dingguo's military rations, he originally brought some spice crops that had been promoted in Huguang a few years ago, namely red peppers, which were dried and made into spicy oil. They were originally carried with the army for food disinfection and sterilization, and for the soldiers to eat.
If you are not used to eating tropical crops, you can use chili oil to cover up the odor.
In Yunnan and Guizhou, especially Guizhou, where Sun Kewang is responsible, due to inconvenient transportation, even salt is very expensive, and the freight for transporting Sichuan salt is extremely high. The locals have long been accustomed to adding less salt and using various other strong-flavored plant products to enhance the taste of food.
Heavy taste.
Now that they have discovered that peppers, a seasoning that can be grown directly locally without relying on external shipments, those chieftains who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty have asked Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang for pepper seeds, demanding that not only tobacco seedlings but also pepper seeds be given next year.
After Li Dingguo and others discovered this unexpected demand, they naturally reported it immediately and sent it to Nanjing at the beginning of the next year. Of course, Zhu Shuren immediately approved it after reading it and dispatched the pepper seeds.
It's just that unlike tobacco, which can be monopolized by the state, chili peppers can easily spread naturally within a few years after the seeds are provided, and by then everyone can grow them if they want.
Originally, there was a lack of planting in Yunnan and Guizhou, and it was just because of the inconvenient transportation that no one could traffic the initial seeds on a large scale.
But no matter what, even if there is a time difference, for example, those tribes that surrendered to the Ming Dynasty could popularize peppers two or three years earlier, while those tribes that resisted the Ming Dynasty would get peppers two or three years later.
The time difference here is enough for the Shunming tribe to make a lot of money from the Niming tribe by selling seeds. Over time, the Shunming tribe will become more powerful, forming a crushing force and accelerating the return of the tribe.