Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 271: Den of Thieves
In Qujing City, the Ming army entered the city. The shouting and killing in the city lasted for an hour. Then the army received the order to put down their weapons and gather their troops.

The troops of the various divisions rushed out of the Qujing government office. The cavalrymen marched through the streets carrying the flags of their respective camps, shouting:
"General Ma Bao orders all soldiers of the Tengxiang Army and the Gui Army to put down their weapons immediately. All flag officers must gather their soldiers and assemble at the north gate within half an hour. Those who fail to arrive within the time limit will be executed."

"General Gao Yigong, the commander of the Loyalty Camp, orders all soldiers of the Loyalty Camp to put down their swords immediately, and all flag officers of each team to gather their soldiers and assemble at the west gate within half an hour. Those who fail to arrive within the time limit will be executed."

"General Li Dingguo, the commander of the Loyalty Camp, orders all soldiers in the Loyalty Camp to put down their swords immediately, and all flag officers must gather their soldiers to the East Gate within half an hour. Those who fail to arrive within the time limit will be executed."

"Yunnan Governor Zhang Huangyan ordered that when the imperial army enters the city, the gentry and civilians in the city should immediately return home and defend themselves. Without the imperial order, no one in the city is allowed to go out without permission. Those who roam the streets and loot during the chaos will be regarded as remnants of the rebels and will be executed without mercy."

The soldiers in the city were ordered to march out in all directions. Half an hour later, the soldiers from all the armies that were originally scattered throughout the city finally gradually retreated outside the three gates.

Another quarter of an hour later, more than ten teams of red-armored Tengxiang soldiers suddenly rushed out of the government office and went to suppress the rioters in various places in the city.
The Tengxiang soldiers were armed with swords and knives. Whenever they saw a Western Army soldier wearing Ming Army uniforms or with a red scarf tied around his arm, they would immediately remove their swords and have someone take them away.
If they encountered civilians without identification, they would take women and children away with them, and the rest would be killed without asking about their origins.
Half an hour later, the city of Qujing finally returned to peace. Apart from the Ming soldiers running around to suppress the rebellion, no one was seen on the streets.
The people in the city hid in their homes, looking through the cracks in their doors with horror at the soldiers riding past on the streets. When they saw that these soldiers really did not break into their homes to rob, the people in the city relaxed a little.
The gentry and former officials in the city, Jiang Maoxun, Chen Yunji and others found that the soldiers entering the city claimed to be the Ming army, so they asked people to invite the soldiers on the street, and Chen Yunji and others were quickly taken to the government office.

Chen Yunji and others confirmed the identity of the troops entering the city, and followed the court's order to follow the soldiers to appease the people in the city. With the appearance of these gentry, the people in the city soon settled down.

Qujing Prefecture Office, above the lobby, Zhang Huangyan and Ma Bao sit on the left and right
On the left below are Gong Yi, Gao Yigong, and Xu Gao, the lieutenant general of the Gui army. On the right are Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, Bai Wenxuan, and other former generals of the Loyalty Camp of the Dashi Army.

On that day, the imperial court negotiated with the Dashi Army to recruit them and promised to return the captured soldiers to the Western Army. Zhu Lang did return the captured soldiers such as Wang Shangli and Feng Shuangli to the Western Army as agreed.

However, these people were not released back to Bozhou as Sun Kewang had expected. Instead, they were all given to Li Dingguo by Zhu Lang, who then threw them all to Yunnan Province.
Wang Shangli and his men were part of the Western Army that was leaning towards Sun Kewang. Even if Zhu Lang released them, Wang Shangli and his men would not be grateful to Zhu Lang and would only continue to unite under Sun Kewang. In this case, Zhu Lang would not allow these men to return.

Li Dingguo intended to truly accept the Ming court's offer and send these people to his side. Li Dingguo's prestige and strength were enough to suppress these people.

At this time, Wang Shangli and others marched into Yunnan, thousands of miles away from Sun Kewang, and with Ma Bao and other Ming troops suppressing them, it was enough to make these people obey orders.

Zhang Huangyan saw that everyone in the hall had arrived. He nodded to Ma Bao beside him, then looked at Gong Yi below and said

"What's the situation in the city now?"

"When the city's gentry, such as Jiang Maoxun and Chen Yunji, learned that the imperial court had entered the city, they all came out to appease the city. The imperial army behaved in a measured manner and has now gathered back to the camp. As long as the city is under curfew for one or two days, the people in the city will be able to regain their peace."

"In addition, the city's treasury has also been counted. The army entered the city just in time, and the enemy's plan to burn the grain failed. I led the people to count and found a total of more than 5,000 stones of rice, which should be enough for us to need for one or two months."

When everyone in the field heard this, their faces were relieved. The journey from Guiyang to Yunnan was long and took a long time. With this batch of food and money, the Ming army could move freely to a certain extent without having to wait for food in the rear.
Ma Bao also spoke at this time
"Tell someone to keep an eye on this batch of food and money. The imperial court is currently deploying troops in Sichuan and needs a large amount of food and fodder. If we can solve the food and money problem in Yunnan, it will also reduce the pressure on His Highness."

Everyone nodded when they heard this. At this time, the food and money for your province were all transported thousands of miles from Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. It was another thousand miles from your province to Yunnan, and the loss was frightening.

Yunnan Province is not a barren land like your province. Although the climate here is hot and humid, which makes it difficult for people from the Central Plains to adapt, there is no shortage of food. It is still feasible for the Ming army to solve the food and salary problem in Yunnan Province.
After Gong Yi reported the situation in the city, Zhang Huangyan spoke

"I have just met the traitor inspector and interrogated him to reveal some information about the rebel Sha Dingzhou."

Now Sha Dingzhou has almost occupied the entire Yunnan Province. Except for a few prefectures and counties such as Chuxiong, which are still resisting, the rest of the prefectures and counties and chieftains in Yunnan Province have either been wiped out by Sha Dingzhou's army or have surrendered to him.

After interrogating Luo Guoyan and the surrendered soldiers in the city, the Ming army also roughly figured out the military situation of Sha Dingzhou.
After occupying Kunming, Sha Dingzhou defended Kunming with more than 20,000 people, while he led 30,000 to 40,000 people to besiege Yang Weizhi, the Jincang patrol officer in Chuxiong City, hoping to completely eliminate the last resistance force of the Ming court in Yunnan Province.

After Sha Dingzhou occupied Kunming, he not only attacked and killed the chieftains of the prefectures and counties who supported the Ming court and Mu Tianbo, but also sent leaders to various prefectures and counties in Yunnan Province. Every pass and big city was guarded by one military leader, two Congse, and one chief of literature, with hundreds of soldiers.
There were more than 20,000 soldiers in Kunming City, 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers besieging Chuxiong, plus soldiers guarding various passes. Sha Dingzhou had at least 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers under his command, while the Ming army now had only 14,000 people. From the perspective of military strength, it was obviously at a disadvantage.

Ma Bao frowned when he heard this and said

"How strong are the soldiers under Sha Dingzhou? Are they as strong as the barbarian soldiers guarding the city today?"

Although the Ming army easily entered Qujing today, the brave local soldiers who were skilled in swordsmanship on the city walls also left a deep impression on Ma Bao and others. If all the soldiers under Sha Dingzhou were such foreign soldiers, it would probably take a lot of effort to suppress the rebellion this time.

"It shouldn't be. According to Naro Guoyan, Gao Abao, the military leader in Qujing City, is the confidant of the Sha bandits. Nearly half of the two thousand foreign soldiers in the city are carefully selected local soldiers from the Sha bandits' hereditary native states."

"These elite bandits don't have many soldiers under their command. Most of the soldiers in the bandit army are local soldiers of various tribes that the bandits forcibly recruited. These are probably the local soldiers of various tribes that we encountered when we crossed the waters in Pingyi City."

Liu Wenxiu, Wang Shangli and others were relieved when they heard this, but Ma Bao above them still frowned and did not relax.

The Ming army's plan was to capture Qujing and then advance rapidly, taking advantage of Sha Dingzhou's inability to react and heading straight for Kunming.
But no one expected that this small group of Tusi rebels could gather nearly 100,000 troops.
If Sha Dingzhou led his troops to attack Chuxiong, he would definitely take away a large number of elite troops. The defenders in Kunming City were most likely ordinary foreign soldiers.
But Kunming still had the support of the city wall at that time. Although the troops of the Ming army entering Yunnan were elite, it was probably a bit difficult for 10,000 people to attack 20,000 people with a city wall between them.

Moreover, Chuxiong was not too far from Kunming. If they could not quickly capture Kunming, once Sha Dingzhou received the news and led his troops back from Chuxiong, the Ming army would be in a situation where they would be attacked from both sides.
The army that the imperial court could send to Yunnan Province had already been deployed here. It would be difficult to withdraw more troops to Yunnan in a short period of time. At this time, the Ming army in Yunnan Province would be one less if one died.

As a local chieftain, Sha Dingzhou could continuously send reinforcements from his own chieftain state. If the two sides were deadlocked, the Ming army would suffer.
Gong Yi also knew the court's strategy. Looking at the two people above with frowns on their faces, he thought for a moment and then spoke.

"Since the bandit army has stationed a large number of soldiers in Kunming, then we should not attack Kunming. The Sand bandit suddenly occupied Yunnan Province. On one hand, he wanted to occupy the major cities and passes in Yunnan Province, on the other hand, he wanted to guard Kunming, and on the other hand, he wanted to lead the army to besiege Chuxiong. He should have sent out most of his soldiers." "The Sand bandit is only concerned with occupying various places in Yunnan Province. The bandit's nest Mengzi Amizhou should be empty of troops at this time. Why don't we lead our troops to attack the bandit's nest directly?"

"Even if we fail to capture Lin'an Prefecture, Sha Dingzhou will be in chaos when he learns that Ami Prefecture is under attack. The Sha bandits will surely lead a large number of troops to support us. We can wait for the opportunity to fight them again."

The hereditary state of Sha Dingzhou was Mengzi, and Sha Dingzhou's wife Wan was in charge of Amizhou. Both places were in Lin'an Prefecture.

Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and others nodded slightly upon hearing this. The strategy proposed by Gong Yi was exactly what they wanted.
They used the same tactics when they invaded the Central Plains in the past. If it was difficult to attack, they would just bypass it and attack a vulnerable point directly. Now that the Yunnan bandits were defending Kunming with a large army, why would they have to fight against the city wall?

But at this time, Zhang Huangyan above shook his head
"This proposal is not appropriate. We still have to go to Kunming."

"Even if we lead our troops to break through the thieves' nest in Lin'an, it will not be beneficial to the overall situation of Yunnan Province. If we want to pacify Yunnan Province as soon as possible, we still have to take Kunming."

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province. If Kunming is captured, Yunnan Province will be shaken. The chieftains who are waiting and watching are likely to defect to the Ming Dynasty again.
Without the recognition of these chieftains, Sha Dingzhou would be unable to move forward in Yunnan Province and could only retreat back to his old nest in Lin'an Prefecture. Once Sha Dingzhou retreated back to Lin'an Prefecture, it would be difficult for him to become powerful again.

After Sha Dingzhou retreated, Ma Bao and others could slowly straighten out the relationship between the chieftains in Yunnan Province. When the chieftains in various places submitted to the Ming Dynasty again, the Ming army could recruit the chieftains of various tribes to send troops in the name of the court to completely wipe out Sha Dingzhou.

Hearing this, Ma Bao nodded and said

"Governor Zhang is right. We only have over 10,000 people. Lin'an is the lair of the bandits. The bandits have the best geographical advantages and people's support here. We must not fight a decisive battle with the bandits in Lin'an."

"We still have to find a way to capture Kunming. It is difficult for the imperial court to send troops to Yunnan Province. Now the Sand Bandits are numerous and powerful, so we cannot underestimate the enemy and fight recklessly. Only by capturing Kunming and then connecting with the various tribes in Yunnan Province that support the Ming, can we gather enough troops to wipe out the Sand Bandits."

Everyone in the hall frowned upon hearing this. What Ma Bao and the others said also made sense. Although Gong Yi's plan was good, it also had a problem. That was that they had to fight against the reinforcements from Sha Dingzhou in Lin'an, where they were unfamiliar with the place.
If this strategy is implemented, it will either result in a great victory or a great defeat. Zhang Huangyan and Ma Bao obviously do not want to take the risk.
Everyone in the hall frowned in thought, but at this moment Ma Bao's expression changed and he suddenly spoke

"Gong Daoyuan just said that if we attack Lin'an, the bandits will surely be in chaos. Why is that?"

"Although Lin'an is a den of thieves, it is only a remote prefecture and county, and is not very valuable. The Sha thieves have occupied Kunming for a year and established a prefecture. Even if we attack Lin'an, Sha Dingzhou can slowly send troops to surround it, so there will be no chaos."

Gong Yi was also stunned when he heard this, and then he said

"The governor is not from Yunnan Province, but he doesn't know that this chieftain is very different from us people in the Central Plains."

"These chieftains have inherited the title of chieftain from father to son, and the people in the central part of the state have also been dominated by the chieftains from generation to generation. If the bandit nest in Lin'an is attacked, the Sha bandits will certainly not dare to sit back and watch us capture Lin'an, and will slowly deploy troops."

Following Gong Yi's explanation, everyone began to understand that for chieftains like Sha Dingzhou, the hereditary state was their foundation, and no property or power was as important as their hereditary state.

If Lin'an was attacked, Sha Dingzhou would definitely come to the rescue immediately, or he would have no choice but to come to the rescue.
The main force of Sha Dingzhou's army are all natives of Tuzhou. The relatives of these generals and soldiers are all in Tuzhou. If Sha Dingzhou dares to ignore them, the soldiers under Sha Dingzhou will be in chaos.
For these chieftains in Yunnan Province, Tuzhou is the foundation of their existence. For the sake of their own Tuzhou, Kunming and Yunnan Province are all things that can be abandoned.

For Sha Dingzhou, as long as the hereditary state still exists, he can always make a comeback even if he fails several times.

If he lost Tuzhou, even if he occupied Kunming and the entire Yunnan Province, he would be like water without a source, becoming weaker and weaker, and eventually being completely swallowed up by other Tusi forces.
This is the most fundamental difference between a dynasty and a chieftain. The chieftain's territory is hereditary, and the people in the central part of the state have always worshipped the chieftain. The chieftain can easily obtain a group of soldiers who are willing to work for him, and these soldiers will almost never betray the chieftain. But the price is that the chieftain state will become the fatal weakness of the chieftains.
The Ming court's camp soldiers, formed by the recruitment system, did not have this problem at all. Although Kunming was the capital of Yunnan Province, as long as the people above could withstand the pressure, even if Kunming was lost, it would not affect the combat effectiveness of the camp soldiers at all. The camp soldiers would fight as they should.

Ma Bao thought for a moment, but suddenly a fierce look flashed in his eyes. He looked at the people below and said

"Then let's attack this den of thieves in Shadingzhou!"

After hearing Ma Bao's plan, everyone in the hall realized that they didn't want to attack Lin'an and waste their manpower, but Sha Dingzhou didn't know that they didn't want to attack Lin'an.

Since the chieftains like Sha Dingzhou valued their home base so much, the Ming army was just preparing to launch a massive attack on Lin'an Prefecture, forcing Sha Dingzhou to send troops back to support them.

Sha Dingzhou's army is now divided into two parts. The main force led by Sha Dingzhou is in Chuxiong, and the other part is in Kunming.
Compared with Chuxiong, Kunming is obviously closer to Lin'an Prefecture. In other words, once Lin'an Prefecture is attacked, Sha Dingzhou will send troops to rescue. It is very likely that he will dispatch the army from Kunming to rescue first.

The troops that the Ming army sent into Yunnan this time can all be called elite. Ma Bao's Tengxiang Army is needless to say. Gao Yigong's Zhongzheng Battalion is the veteran soldiers who followed Li Guo into the capital. The Zhongyi Battalion under Li Dingguo is also the elite remaining among the hundreds of thousands of Western Army.

As long as the rebels in Kunming leave the city, even if 20,000 of them come out together, Ma Bao is confident that he can lead his men to defeat them.
The Ming court actually had a strong presence in Yunnan Province. Just as Sha Dingzhou's foundation was Lin'an Prefecture, the foundation of the Ming Dynasty in Yunnan Province was Kunming.
As long as the Ming court can retake Kunming, Zhang Huangyan and others will be able to regain the momentum of Yunnan Province with the prestige accumulated by the Ming Dynasty in Yunnan Province for hundreds of years.
Sha Dingzhou seemed to have seized all of Yunnan, but as long as the Ming court took back Kunming, Sha Dingzhou's killing and looting of all of Yunnan would destroy the illusion that all of Yunnan had submitted to him.

For the Ming court, the victory or defeat of Yunnan Province depended on Kunming. As long as Kunming was taken, Sha Dingzhou would be a dead body in the grave and could only sit and wait for death.

After some thought, everyone thought this plan was feasible. They discussed the distribution of troops and food for a while, and then they dispersed and began to prepare.

(End of this chapter)