Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1169 Tang Xiucai

The emperor was right. The lineage of the Duke of Qian was not considered true nobility but family members. After all, Mu Ying was originally called Zhu Ying. Crown Prince Zhu Biao, Prince of Jin, Prince of Qin and others treated him as an elder brother and they had a deep relationship. From this perspective, Mu Tianbo was Zhu Shenzhu's junior.

Pulling Mu Tianbo to sit down, Zhu Shenzui started chatting with him in a friendly manner.

At first, the content of the conversation was mostly about family matters, which made Mu Tianbo feel a lot more relaxed. After chatting for a while, Mu Tianbo suddenly remembered something and told the emperor that he had brought some gifts to the emperor from Yunnan, but Yunnan was not as good as the Central Plains, so they were just some local specialties.

Handing over the gift list he had brought with him, Zhu Shenzhui took it with a smile and looked through it. It indeed contained some Yunnan specialties, and of course some other things specially prepared by Mu Tianbo.

“Have the departments in Yunnan been stable in recent years?”

"Your Majesty, the situation in Yunnan's various departments is fine. With me in Yunnan, these chieftains will not pose a problem to the court." Mu Tianbo replied with a little pride.

The province of Yunnan is somewhat special from other provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Since the pre-Yuan Dynasty, Yunnan has formed a semi-independent state. Due to the policies of the pre-Yuan Dynasty and the special terrain and ethnic structure of Yunnan, local forces are extremely strong. In the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, the King of Liang of the Yuan Dynasty who fled to Yunnan occupied this place. Not only did he refuse to surrender, he also killed the envoys sent by Taizu, and instigated local ethnic minorities to fight against the Ming Dynasty. In the end, Taizu sent Fu Youde as the commander-in-chief, Lan Yu and Mu Ying as deputy generals, and led 300,000 troops to attack Yunnan, and finally solved the problem of King of Liang.

However, after the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, the fundamental problems of Yunnan were still not solved. Ethnic minority rebellions occurred from time to time in various parts of the country. Later, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang specifically asked Mu Ying to stay in Yunnan with his troops to ensure the rule of Yunnan. This is also the origin of the Mu family guarding Yunnan for generations.

During these two hundred years, successive Dukes of Qian have been working to stabilize Yunnan, using both military and appeasement means to suppress the various ethnic groups in Yunnan. In addition, three million immigrants were sent to Yunnan during the Ming Dynasty, which changed the population structure of Yunnan.

Although the situation in Yunnan has improved greatly after more than 200 years of Han Chinese reproduction and intermarriage with local Tu people, it is not so easy to truly solve the Tu people problem. Therefore, in view of this situation, the Ming Dynasty's rule in Yunnan was a combination of the provincial government established by the court and the local Tusi. In addition to the government offices set up by the court, there were also local Tusi regimes recognized by the court. The latter were equivalent to local emperors in the local area. They not only had land and people but also soldiers. On the surface, they were respectful to the court, but in fact, these people were not very humble and respectful. Once something happened or they were driven by interests, these Tusi would often rebel. There were many similar cases over the years, and I don't know how many Tusi were dealt with and destroyed by the successive Dukes of Qian.

The departments that Zhu Shenzhui had just asked about were not the provincial administration department, but the local chieftains. Seeing Mu Tianbo talking about this matter in a relaxed manner and his disdainful expression towards the chieftains in his words, he sighed in his heart and shook his head slightly.

"Your Majesty?" Seeing this, Mu Tianbo was a little confused. Compared with the Central Plains, Yunnan had good weather and harvests in recent years due to its geographical location and had not suffered any natural disasters. Moreover, he was in charge of Yunnan as the Duke of Qian and controlled the military power. The local chieftains were also respectful to the court. However, the emperor's expression clearly showed that he disagreed with what he said. Why?

"Take a look at this." Zhu Shenzui took out a memorial from the side and handed it over. Mu Tianbo hurriedly took it and after flipping through it, he realized that this was a secret memorial from the Jinyiwei, but the name of the person who submitted the memorial had been blurred.

After carefully reading the contents, Mu Tianbo couldn't help but frown. He concentrated and thought for a while before asking, "Your Majesty, this memorial...?"

"This memorial is exactly what you saw. It was sent by the Jinyiwei some time ago." Zhu Shenzhui said lightly, pointing at the memorial with his hand: "Don't you have any idea of ​​what it says?"

"This..." Mu Tianbo hesitated and said, "I, the chieftain of Wuding, have long been on guard. This man is indeed unruly and relies on his own strength to be the strongest among the chieftains. He is not very loyal to the court. I did get news a few days ago that Wubi Kui seems to have ulterior motives. I have mobilized troops to guard against him. If this man really dares to start a rebellion, I will make sure he never returns!"

At this point, Mu Tianbo paused, and said with a puzzled look, "But Sha Dingzhou has always been respectful to the court. I met him before I came to Beijing. To be honest with Your Majesty, it was Sha Dingzhou who first reported Wu Bikui's unusual behavior to me. This shows his attitude towards the court. But to say that he also has ulterior motives, is it a mistake?"

Shaking his head slightly, Zhu Shenzhui asked, "How did you arrange for Sha Dingzhou when you left Kunming and came to the capital?"

Mu Tianbo answered this question immediately, telling the emperor that he had asked Sha Dingzhou to closely monitor the actions of Wuding Tusi Wu Bikui, and also arranged for the cooperation of Shiping Tusi Long Zaitian, Li'e Tusi Wang Yangzu, Ningzhou Tusi Lu Yongming, Jingdong Tusi Diao Xun and other tribes. These Tusi, like Mengzi Tusi Sha Dingzhou, were relatively Hanized in Yunnan and relatively loyal to the court. They were also Mu Tianbo's trusted Tusi. They were not weak, and they had a lot of troops. The Mu family was able to sit in Yunnan for so many years, in addition to being the Duke of Qian and the General of the Southern Expedition, controlling the military power and serving as the general of Yunnan, relying on the help of these Tusi that they had conquered.

Yunnan was a special place. It was impossible to rely on the government alone to rule effectively. The power of the chieftains was too strong in Yunnan. Moreover, Yunnan was mountainous and densely forested, unlike the Central Plains. It was impossible for the imperial court to conquer it completely by force. Once the imperial court sent troops, these ethnic minorities would hide in the mountains. It would be difficult for the imperial court's tens of thousands of troops to survive in the mountains, not to mention fighting.

Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to truly control Yunnan, it could not do without these chieftains. Only by using the barbarians to control the barbarians could Yunnan be stabilized, and Yunnan was ruled through the influence of these chieftains. This was also the special policy of the Ming Dynasty in Yunnan for more than 200 years.

"Let's ignore the others for now, but you need to be careful with Sha Dingzhou. He can be used, but not for a big role. Especially, you cannot give him the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Once there is anything unusual, you must act decisively and don't be careless!" Zhu Shenzhui reminded seriously.

Mu Tianbo nodded repeatedly and said yes, but Zhu Shenzui could see that he disagreed in his heart, and felt that the Jinyiwei had misjudged Sha Dingzhou. In his opinion, Sha Dingzhou was loyal and there would be absolutely no problem with him.

Zhu Shenzhui was a little worried about his reaction, and he told Mu Tianbo not to be careless and to be careful. According to the report of Jinyiwei, Sha Dingzhou just married a wife last year. His wife was not ordinary. She was the widow of Pu Mingsheng, the chieftain of Ami Prefecture. After Wan remarried to Sha Dingzhou, the land and subordinates of the chieftain of Ami Prefecture that Pu Mingsheng controlled during his lifetime were all returned to Sha Dingzhou. As a result, Sha Dingzhou's power increased greatly. He controlled the subordinates and territories of two chieftains and became the most powerful chieftain in Yunnan.

That would be fine, but the key point is that Wan had a brother-in-law named Tang Jiabin, who was a student in Lin'an Prefecture. For some unknown reason, he went to Yunnan and married Wan's sister. Although Tang Jiabin was just a scholar, he was not a simple person. After marrying Wan, Tang Jiabin became Sha Dingzhou's counselor and helped Sha Dingzhou with his advice and was highly trusted by him.

According to the secret report of the Jinyiwei, this Tang Jiabin is not an ordinary person. He has great ambitions around Sha Dingzhou. He has been secretly planning something these days, and Sha Dingzhou also listens to Tang Jiabin and trusts him. If the two of them separated, Zhu Shenzhu would not be worried. Although Sha Dingzhou is a chieftain, he is just the leader of the local ethnic minority. A local emperor, even if he is a chieftain, has little knowledge and can't do anything with his ability and vision.

As for Tang Jiabin, a student, there were many people like him in the Ming Dynasty. And as the saying goes, a scholar cannot succeed in a rebellion even after three years. Tang Jiabin, a scholar with no power, could not achieve anything on his own.

But the combination of the two is obviously wrong. One is good at martial arts, the other is good at literature. One has territory and soldiers, and the other has ideas. What's more, Sha Dingzhou's strength has greatly increased, and Tang Jiabin has ambition and planning ability. The effect of the two together is far greater than one plus one, which cannot help but make people vigilant.

There are many examples of scholars joining foreign races and causing trouble, and the three most famous ones are:

The first one was Zhonghang Shuo, who defected to the Xiongnu during the Western Han Dynasty. Although Zhonghang Shuo was a eunuch, he was also a scholar. Because he was designated by the Han Dynasty to be sent to the grassland as a member of the marriage alliance, Zhonghang Shuo, who did not want to live outside the Great Wall, had no choice but to defect to the Xiongnu in order to retaliate against the Han Dynasty. He became an adviser to two generations of Xiongnu leaders, helped the Xiongnu reform the system, improve the military system, and repeatedly made plans to attack the Han Dynasty. He adopted a policy of armed plunder and occupation, making the Xiongnu a serious threat to the Central Plains.

The second person is Zhao Deyan from the early Tang Dynasty. He was frustrated in the Tang Dynasty and took the initiative to defect to the Turks in order to make a name for himself. He was noticed by Jie Li Khan and became his confidant.

In Tujue, Zhao Deyan used what he learned to help Jie Li Khan strengthen the centralization of power and move the Han Chinese administrative system to the outside of the Great Wall, thus making Tujue strong in a short period of time. Zhao Deyan even suggested that Jie Li Khan become emperor and use Confucianism to influence the Tujue tribes in an attempt to compete with the Tang Dynasty for the world and replace it.

As for the third person, it was Fan Wencheng, who committed suicide not long ago because Shenyang was broken. As a Han Chinese and a descendant of the famous minister Fan Zhongyan, Fan Wencheng took the initiative to defect to the Jiannu and became a veteran confidant of the three dynasties of Nurhaci, Huang Taiji and Fulin.

Compared with ordinary Jiannu, Fan Wencheng brought more harm to the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. It was also because of Fan Wencheng's advice that the Jiannu developed rapidly after its rise, helping Huang Taiji to improve the Eight Banners system and establish a centralized system. In the end, Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and established the Qing Dynasty, and led his troops to attack the Great Wall. Fan Wencheng's shadow was behind all these things.

With the precedents of these people, how could one not be cautious about the appearance of Tang Jiabin and his identity and status beside Sha Dingzhou? In Zhu Shenzhui's view, a good student, and a student from Lin'an Prefecture, who did not stay in his hometown to study peacefully but traveled thousands of miles to Yunnan to become Sha Dingzhou's counselor, this person must be very simple.

(End of this chapter)