Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 279 Counterinsurgency
The news that the Ming army entered Yunnan to suppress the rebellion spread quickly throughout Yunnan Province. The chieftains of various tribes in Yunnan Province were all shocked when they received the news.

Sha Dingzhou's rebellion had been going on for more than a year. During this period, Sha Dingzhou massacred the whole city and plundered the whole Yunnan province, while the Yunnan Ming army was defeated. The Duke of Qian, who had dominated Yunnan for hundreds of years, fled alone. Even the capital Kunming was occupied by Sha Dingzhou.

Just when the chieftains of Yunnan thought that the Ming Dynasty had lost power, the Ming court finally sent troops to Yunnan to quell the rebellion.
Moreover, as soon as the Ming Dynasty entered Yunnan, it killed Sha Dingzhou's 20,000 troops and recaptured Kunming in one fell swoop. The Ming Dynasty that had oppressed Yunnan Province for hundreds of years was back.
As the Ming cavalry arrived at various local states, a number of local chieftains also received a call from the Qian State Mansion to gather troops to quell the rebellion. The local chieftains, ranging in size from 3,000 to 800, were required to bring their own food and rush to Kunming to gather troops within a certain period of time. After arriving in Kunming, the food and wages would be borne by the court.

After the chieftains in central Yunnan received the imperial edict from the Duke of Qian, their reactions were different.

The tribes of Dongdong were close to Kunming and were the most submissive to the Ming court. After receiving the imperial edict, the chieftains of Dongdong responded one after another and led their troops to Kunming.
Wuding Prefecture was the place where the chieftain Wubikui, who had led the rebellion, was located. However, even the chieftains of the various tribes in Wuding Prefecture immediately expressed their willingness to obey the imperial edict after receiving it.
The main force of the Ming court that entered Yunnan to suppress the rebellion was stationed in Kunming. No matter what the chieftains of the various tribes in the east had in mind, they had no choice but to obey the imperial edict and come here, and they could not hesitate at all.

The Ming army was busy suppressing Sha Dingzhou at this time, so they certainly had no time to care about them. But if they hesitated and waited until the Ming army pacified Sha Dingzhou, their situation would be bad.
The chieftains of the eastern part of Xidong responded one after another, while the chieftains of the western part of Xidong began to split.
The tribes to the west of the city were roughly divided by Yongchang Prefecture. The tribes to the east of Yongchang Prefecture, such as Lijiang Tusi Mu Yi and other Tusi, hesitated for a moment after receiving the imperial edict, and then reported back to the emperor, accepting the order and deciding to send soldiers to Kunming to participate in the war.
The Si clan chieftains in Nandian and Longchuan to the west of Yongchang delayed the arrival on the grounds that the journey was too long and it would be difficult to arrive on time.
Meng Lian and Cheli in the southwest refused to send troops, saying that they were poor and had no food.
In fact, these chieftains in southwestern Yunnan Province were prepared to sit back and watch the battle between the Ming court and Sha Dingzhou, and they would side with whoever won in the end.

The land of Zhunan should be the base of Shadingzhou, but no one dared to respond except Lin'an Prefecture. However, the chieftains of Yuanjiang, Guangnan and other prefectures and counties around Lin'an Prefecture actively responded.

Among them, Yuanjiang Tusi Nasong not only immediately dispatched troops in response to the imperial edict, but also stated that he could solve the problem of food and wages on his own without spending a single grain of rice from the imperial court.

After Sha Dingzhou rose to power in Lin'an Prefecture, he continued to expand his influence to the prefectures and counties surrounding Lin'an. Almost all the chieftains around Lin'an Prefecture had conflicts with Sha Dingzhou.

Previously, Sha Dingzhou was powerful and they had no choice but to submit to him. But now that Sha Dingzhou has lost power, Na Song and others immediately decided to use the power of the Ming court to completely eliminate Sha Dingzhou.
Now that Sha Dingzhou has been defeated and returned to Lin'an, if Sha Dingzhou wants to fight against the Ming Dynasty, he can only exploit the manpower and material resources of the surrounding prefectures and counties. At this time, even for their own sake, they must destroy Sha Dingzhou.

In addition to recruiting the chieftains in Yunnan Province to send troops to quell the rebellion, the Ming court also sent a letter to Dongchuan, asking the chieftains of Dongchuan to join forces to quell Shadingzhou.
Although Dongchuan is under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Province, it is actually only a line away from Yunnan Province, and is even closer to Kunming than many Xixi Tusi.
After receiving Mu Tianbo's order, the chieftains of Dongchuan, Lu Wanzhao and Lu Wanyi, refused to send troops, saying that Dongchuan belonged to Sichuan Province and the Duke of Qian had no right to recruit troops.
Afterwards, Zhang Huangyan and other officials from Yunnan Province issued an imperial decree in the name of the Ming court, ordering the Dongchuan Tusi to send troops to help suppress the rebellion, but this time the Lu family simply ignored it.
After several exchanges of letters from Yunnan Province, the two Lu family members never responded. The three Yunnan Provincial Departments subsequently stopped caring about the situation in Dongchuan, and the matter seemed to have come to an end.

The chieftains of the Dongchuan Lu clan had actually been standing aside and watching the situation in Yunnan Province. When Sha Dingzhou occupied the whole of Yunnan Province and sent people to persuade them to surrender, they ignored him. When the Ming court sent people to summon them to quell the rebellion, they were also indifferent.
Given the strength of the Dongchuan Tusi tribe, unless Dongchuan rebelled, neither side would take the initiative to provoke the Lu family. This was also the reason why the two Lu family members dared to stand aside and watch.

Regardless of the attitudes of the chieftains, half a month after the Qian State Mansion issued the edict, all the chieftains who were willing to obey the edict and support the Ming Dynasty finally arrived in Kunming City on time. After inspection, a total of more than 20,000 chieftain soldiers were recruited.
After the chieftains of various tribes had gathered, the Ming army did not delay any longer and led the troops to the battle.
During this rebellion, the Ming army left 2,000 Gui troops to guard Kunming, and ordered the Gui army's deputy general Xu Gao to recruit another 2,000 militiamen to help defend the city.

Gao Wengui, Yang Wu and other 3,000 men continued to guard the south of the road, making a show of attacking Ge Ni Pass in a big way to prevent Sha Dingzhou from breaking into the east with a surprise force and disrupting the rear of the Ming army.

The 30,000 troops were divided into two camps. Ma Bao led the Tengxiang Army with 3,000 men, Li Dingguo led the Zhongyi Camp with 3,000 men, and Gao Yigong led the Zhongzheng Camp with 3,000 men. A total of 9,000 men formed the main force of the Yunnan Camp.

Mu Tianbo, as the Duke of Qian, was in charge of the Tusi Camp, with Shiping Tusi Long Zaitian and Xu Mingchen as his deputy generals, commanding all Tusi Yi soldiers.

The army went south after leaving Kunming and soon reached Xinxingzhou.
There are three important towns to the north of Lin'an Prefecture, from left to right they are Li'e, Tonghai, and Ningzhou. Without taking these three cities, the army will not be able to continue to move south.
The Ming army rested in Xinxing Prefecture for a day, and then split into two groups. Ma Bao led the main force of the Ming army westward and continued southward to Li'e, while Li Dingguo led 3,000 loyal troops as a detachment, heading eastward and attacking Ningzhou via Jiangchuan.

Ma Bao led the main force of the Ming army and soon arrived at the city of Li'e. Li'e, Tonghai, Ningzhou and the other three cities were the gateways to Lin'an. Since Sha Dingzhou was ready to defend Lin'an to the death, he had naturally sent people into the city to defend it.
When Ma Bao and his men arrived at the city, two thousand Yi soldiers under Sha Dingzhou had already occupied the city and closed the four gates.

When the Ming army arrived at the city, they sent people to call for surrender. At this time, the people who were still sent by Sha Dingzhou to defend the city must be Sha Dingzhou's most trusted confidants.
The Ming army failed to persuade them to surrender, but Ma Bao did not say much and immediately ordered the siege to begin.

Under the city of Li'e, Ma Bao, Gao Yigong and other main forces of the Ming army stood in formation, but a group of Tusi camp soldiers were driven forward, carrying simple ladders to attack the city.
At Long Zaitian's suggestion, Mu Tianbo divided the Tusi camp into three groups, each with 4,000 to 5,000 people, and launched an attack at the same time.
Arrows rained down from the top of the city walls. Except for the generals who were in armor, most of the ordinary soldiers in the Tusi camp were wearing short shirts made of homespun cloth. Hundreds of people in the Tusi camp were killed or wounded soon.
Although the defenders on the top of the city had the advantage of the city wall, they only maintained the advantage for a moment. As the Tusi soldiers below the city climbed up to the top of the city wall, a bloody fight began on the city wall.
Sha Dingzhou was born in Lin'an Prefecture, so he knew the importance of the three cities of Li'e. Therefore, nearly half of the soldiers sent to guard the three cities were loyal veterans from Mengzi.
The Ming army attacked for half a day, but the city walls were well defended. At this time, more than a thousand people from the Tusi camp who were attacking the city had been killed or wounded. A group of Tusi also came to complain.
Seeing that they could not take the city after a long siege, Mu Tianbo and his men were about to order a temporary withdrawal and rest, but at this moment, chaos suddenly broke out on top of the north gate.
Hundreds of young men with red scarves on their arms and wearing short black cotton jackets suddenly rushed up from the city walls, shouting
"Defeat the bandits in the sand and avenge the old governor"

"Revenge for the old governor"

"Kill the thief, kill the thief"

The leading young man shouted loudly, and the other young men also shouted. The young men in the city rushed to the top of the city with swords and knives, and fought with the Sha family soldiers on the top of the city.

The Ming army had the advantage in numbers. Although the Yi soldiers defending the city were brave, they could only barely hold off the Ming army's siege.
At this time, the young and strong men in the city suddenly rushed to the rear, and the guards on the top of the city were caught off guard and were killed directly.

After Yang Weizhi tricked Sha Dingzhou away and gathered all the food, money, and soldiers, he immediately raised the flag in Chuxiong to support the Ming Dynasty.

Under the leadership of Yang Weizhi, the chieftains of the Ming Dynasty in the east also responded one after another, and the first to respond were the chieftains of Li'e, Ningzhou, and Shiping.
After Sha Dingzhou found out that Chuxiong had rebelled again, he immediately led his troops back to suppress the rebellion. After Sha Dingzhou led his troops back, he successively attacked and destroyed the two chieftains of Li'e and Ningzhou. Wang Keyou, the chieftain of Li'e, was also killed by Sha Dingzhou in the chaos.
After Sha Dingzhou conquered the two cities, his soldiers naturally plundered and killed people wantonly. It had only been half a year since Sha Dingzhou conquered Li'e. Almost every household in Li'e now had a grudge against Sha Dingzhou.

Seeing the arrival of the Ming army, the Wang clan members in the city immediately gathered the young and strong men in the city, distributed the swords and knives hidden in the Wang clan, and attacked the city directly from inside. Although Mu Tianbo and Long Zaitian did not know why the north of the city was in chaos, they immediately discovered this opportunity.
The Ming army in the north of the city soon received the order and began to press forward. The Ming army under the city and the Wang family members inside the city joined forces, and the defenders in the north of the city were quickly killed and dispersed.

The Ming army captured the city walls, and soon the north gate of Li'e was opened. As the Ming army continued to pour into the city, the rebels in Li'e were completely defeated.

In just half a day, Li'e, one of the three towns in the north of Lin'an, fell into the hands of the Ming army.
The Ming army entered the city and seized 3,000 dan of rice and more than 30,000 taels of silver. Ma Bao took all the 3,000 dan of rice as military rations, but only took 30% of the silver, and distributed the rest to the chieftains in the chieftain camp.

The chieftains had just been forced by the Ming army to attack the city first. Now they saw the Ming army distributing silver, and their faces became better.
The Ming army only suffered about a thousand casualties in this attack on Li'e, all of whom were local chieftains. The main force of the Ming army, Tengxiang and Zhongzheng, did not suffer any casualties.

The Ming army rested for a day under the city of Li'e, and then continued to march eastward without stopping.
To the east of Li'e is a small town called Hexi. After Hexi, you will reach Tonghai.
The Ming army captured Li'e in one day, but the sharpness of the Ming army shocked the Yi army in Tonghai City.

After learning that Li'e had fallen, Li Achu, the defender of Tonghai City, did not dare to defend Hexi anymore. He ordered the burning of Hexi and at the same time, all the defenders of Hexi City were withdrawn to Tonghai, preparing to defend Tonghai City with 3,000 troops.

When the Ming army arrived at Hexi City, it had already been burned to ashes. A group of homeless people were crying and picking up corpses under the ashes in the city. When they saw that another large army had arrived, the few remaining people also fled.

The Ming army was not concerned about the rise and fall of this small city at this time. Seeing that Hexi was destroyed and it was impossible to station there, Ma Bao and his men did not stop and continued to march eastward, finally arriving at the foot of Tonghai City before dusk.
Since the Ming army set out from Xinxing Prefecture to attack Lin'an Prefecture, there has been no delay along the way. However, when they arrived at Tonghai City, the pace of the Ming army's siege slowed down.

Ma Bao and his men set up two camps outside the city, and at the same time sent out cavalrymen to sweep the city thoroughly, expelling and killing all the Yi army scouts scattered outside the city, and then surrounded the city.

The Ming army surrounded the city for three days. During this period, the Ming army just sent people to the city to surrender. After the city refused, the Ming army did not send a single soldier to attack the city.

Li Achu stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the Ming army camps that stretched for miles outside the city. His heart became heavier. After the Ming army defeated Du Qifei and captured Kunming, they seized more than 3,000 war horses.
Although these Yunnan horses were not as tall as the Liao horses, they were also war horses. At this time, whether it was the original Ming army or the chieftain Sha Dingzhou in Yunnan Province, all of them used Yunnan horses to form cavalry.
At this time, with the addition of the 1,000 Liao horse cavalry of the Tengxiang Army, the three battalions of the Yunnan Province Ming Army already had 4,000 to 5,000 cavalry.

The Ming army patrolled with cavalry every day, almost completely isolating Tonghai City from the outside world.

Although Li Achu also sent soldiers out of the city at night to Lin'an for help, he had no idea how many of these soldiers could escape, and how many of them could arrive in Lin'an in time to report the news.

Li Achu was not even sure whether Sha Dingzhou would send troops to rescue after hearing the news.

The Ming army of 30,000 surrounded the city. If the reinforcements from Lin'an were too few, it would be useless. If they were too many, it would be a waste of time to come and fight the Ming army outside the city.
Li Achu was terrified, but the initiative was no longer in his hands. The only thing he could do was to hope that Sha Dingzhou would come to rescue him as soon as possible after hearing the news.

On the fifth day of the siege, smoke and dust suddenly rose on the official road east of Tonghai City. A group of soldiers suddenly appeared at the end of the official road and marched towards Tonghai City.

Li Achu stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the soldiers who suddenly appeared outside the city, with a look of despair on his face. At the front of the team, several red military flags fluttered in the wind.

The soldiers who suddenly arrived outside the city turned out to be another Ming army.

Li Achu looked at the direction the Ming army was coming from, and he became more and more panicked. Sure enough, not long after the Ming army arrived, the Ming army outside the city, which had not responded for several days, finally took action.
In the Ming army camp, the low drum sounded, and countless Ming soldiers in the two camps walked out of their tents.
The Ming army lined up in front of the camp and then slowly moved down towards Tonghai City.
The Ming army lined up under the city walls, and several cavalrymen galloped towards the city. When they reached the city walls, they began to shout:

"Listen, rebels in the city. The rebels in Li'e and Ningzhou have been wiped out by the imperial court. You have no reinforcements. Tonghai is now an isolated city."

"If you want to survive, you must quickly open the city and surrender. If the imperial court invades the city, these two traitors will be your fate."

"The court will only give you half an hour to wait. If you don't open the gate and surrender within half an hour, the court will attack the city immediately."

The cavalrymen below shouted once, threw the two heads directly under the city, and then ran back to the formation.

The two heads below the city were soon sent to the top of the city. Li Achu looked at the two familiar gray heads, and the last glimmer of hope in his eyes finally extinguished. Not only Li'e, but Ningzhou had also been captured by the Ming army. Tonghai had become an isolated city.

(End of this chapter)