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

Chapter 1187 Chessboard
Wubikui was originally a hereditary chieftain of Yuanmou, but was later deposed for his crimes. However, during the reign of Emperor Tianqi, he was awarded the post of garrison commander because of his meritorious service. His troops were brave and good at fighting, and they made many contributions, so the court named him the chieftain of Wuding.

In the past few years, Wu Bikui, under the instruction of Qian Guogong Mu Tianbo, joined the Ming army to attack Pu Mingsheng, the chieftain of Amizhou. Mu Tianbo attacked Pu Mingsheng not because of Pu Mingsheng's rebellion, but because of the Qian Guogong's policy in Yunnan.

The fact that the Duke of Qian was able to control Yunnan for more than two hundred years and suppress the various chieftains in Yunnan was definitely not due to his benevolence and prestige, but more because he used his status and the military power in his hands to strike a balance among the various chieftains.

In order to suppress Yunnan, the Dukes of Qian of all dynasties often adopted the strategy of using one faction to fight another. That is, from time to time, they would find a stronger chieftain to beat him, and at the same time, they would win over other chieftains to cooperate with the Ming army to attack the other side, or even eliminate most of the other side's forces to prevent it from growing stronger.

This is actually a way of balancing, or killing the chicken to scare the monkey. The Duke of Qian's Mansion will never allow anyone in Yunnan to be more powerful than the Mu family. Whoever dares to show up will be beaten. In this way, the power of the chieftains can be suppressed to prevent any of them from becoming too powerful.

At the beginning, because Pu Mingsheng was strong, he attracted Mu Tianbo's attention. In order to weaken the opponent's strength, Mu Tianbo found a random reason to deal with Pu Mingsheng, and ordered Wu Bigui to send troops to join forces with Yunnan Governor Wang Kang to attack Pu Mingsheng, intending to solve Pu Mingsheng's problem in this way as before.

But no one expected that when Wu Bikui sent troops to attack Pu Mingsheng, Pu Mingsheng got the news of the attack on him in advance, and sent an envoy to find Wu Bikui privately and brought him a valuable gift. In addition to sending a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, Pu Mingsheng also brought a letter to Wu Bikui, telling him that you led the troops to attack me just because of the intention of the Qianguo Mansion, and the reason why the Qianguo Mansion did this was mainly because of its strong strength, which made Mu Tianbo afraid.

But have you, Wubi Kui, ever thought that this is not the first time that the Mansion of the Duke of Qian has done such a thing? In the past two hundred years, there are many chieftains who have been beaten by the Mansion of the Duke of Qian in this way, and many people have even been killed. Moreover, if you, Wubi Kui, help the Mansion of the Duke of Qian to deal with me today, then you may be the next target of the Mansion of the Duke of Qian. Maybe after the Mansion of the Duke of Qian has dealt with my reputation, they will turn around and take ruthless action against you. The truth of the rabbit's death makes the fox mourn, and we must be on guard against the loss of the lips and the cold of the teeth!

It was Tang Jiabin who came up with this idea for Pu Mingsheng. One must admit that Tang Jiabin was quite clever. And this letter finally moved Wu Bikui, not only because Pu Mingsheng gave him so much gold and silver, but more importantly, what was said in the letter was indeed true.

Wu Bikui agreed deeply with what Tang Jiabin said in the letter. As a chieftain of Yunnan, he certainly understood the attitude of the Duke of Qian's Mansion towards chieftains like them. He was even more worried about the consequences of killing Pu Mingsheng as Mu Tianbo suggested.

For this reason, Wu Bikui decided to secretly cooperate with Pu Mingsheng, intending to work without effort in the subsequent war and let Pu Mingsheng go privately. As long as Pu Mingsheng's strength can be preserved and the Ming army can't do anything to him, then Mu Tianbo will definitely not touch him. In this way, isn't it the best choice to have the best of both worlds?

But no one expected that something unexpected would happen later. When the two sides went to war, Wu Bikui led his troops to pretend to be defeated on the battlefield and directly ordered a retreat. His sudden retreat immediately caught the Ming army, which had joined forces, off guard.

The Yunnan governor Wang Kang who went to the battlefield together was only a civilian official who did not know how to deploy troops or fight. Just as he was commanding his troops to attack, Wubikui's main force suddenly "collapsed". Wubikui's men turned around and ran away, and the Ming army, which was not very strong in combat, collapsed in an instant in fear. Wang Kang was completely unable to do anything in a hurry. In addition, Pu Mingsheng's troops took the opportunity to attack, and the Ming army collapsed and fled in all directions.

At this time, an accident occurred. The commander-in-chief and Governor of Yunnan, Wang Kang, died on the battlefield. It was not known whether he was accidentally killed while escaping, or whether Wang Kang committed suicide out of shame after seeing the entire army collapse. Anyway, Wang Kang died directly on the battlefield.

Wang Kang's death was a surprise to Wu Bikui and Pu Minsheng. Their original plan was just to put on a show to protect themselves. But who would have thought that the governor of Yunnan would be killed in an accident on the battlefield? This made the matter unmanageable.

After the war, Yunnan was shocked by Wang Kang's death, and Mu Tianbo was even more shocked.

Just when Mu Tianbo was planning to mobilize troops to attack Pu Mingsheng again, news of Pu Mingsheng's death came. Perhaps it was because Pu Mingsheng was injured on the battlefield, or perhaps it was because Wang Kang's death frightened him. In any case, Pu Mingsheng died of illness soon after this battle. After his death, the chieftain of Amizhou lost his leader, leaving only the widow Wan. Not long after, Sha Dingzhou married Wan with the help of Tang Jiabin. Sha Dingzhou wrote a letter to Mu Tianbo, telling him that the chieftain of Amizhou no longer existed, and expressed his loyalty to the court and the Duke of Qian's Mansion. From then on, Mu Tianbo no longer had any reason to send troops to Amizhou.

Although the problem of Amizhou came to a temporary end due to Pu Mingsheng's death, Mu Tianbo's anger did not subside. It was fine for Pu Mingsheng, after all, he was dead, and Amizhou, including his, was returned to Sha Dingzhou. He, the Duke of Qian, couldn't bully Pu Mingsheng's widow, right? Such a thing would be bad for Mu Tianbo's reputation, not to mention that Sha Dingzhou had always been respectful to the Duke of Qian's Mansion, and he had no reason to target him just because Sha Dingzhou married Wan.

Compared to his reputation, Mu Tianbo hated Wu Bikui more. In his opinion, if it wasn't for Wu Bikui's private release, which led to the defeat of the Ming army, Governor Wang Kang wouldn't have died. Moreover, this battle was extremely frustrating. A battle that was clearly a sure win ended up like this. Such a defeat was like putting Mu Tianbo's face on the ground and stepping on it. How could Mu Tianbo bear this?

Even Wu Bikui himself knew that he had offended Mu Tianbo badly this time. In a state of anxiety, Wu Bikui mobilized his own army to guard against Mu Tianbo's attack. At the same time, he contacted people everywhere to speak well of him, and secretly prepared to rebel directly if he failed.

Wubikui had no other choice after being forced into a desperate situation. However, because he was the strongest among the chieftains in Yunnan, Mu Tianbo was not sure that he could easily defeat Wubikui. In addition, the attitudes of some other chieftains were also very important. Although Mu Tianbo wanted to skin Wubikui alive, he did not dare to send troops rashly without being completely sure. Therefore, the situation was temporarily deadlocked and the war did not happen immediately.

But Sha Dingzhou was not idle. Sha Dingzhou was not stupid, and he had Tang Jiabin, the "master", as his adviser. Why did Mu Tianbo attack Pu Mingsheng? Why did Wu Bikui treat Mu Tianbo as a formidable enemy now? Tang Jiabin analyzed it clearly for him in private, and told Sha Dingzhou that he had to do three things right now.

The first thing is to continue to pledge allegiance to Mu Tianbo and show his loyalty to the court and the Duke of Qian. After annexing Pu Mingsheng's forces, Sha Dingzhou's strength has greatly increased, which is a good thing but also a bad thing. Don't forget Pu Mingsheng's previous experience. Once Mu Tianbo is afraid of Sha Dingzhou, then Sha Dingzhou may be the next target of the other party. Therefore, it is very necessary to gain Mu Tianbo's trust and reduce Mu Tianbo's vigilance against himself.

The second thing was to find a way to divert Mu Tianbo's target. Right now, there was a most suitable person who could stand in front of Sha Dingzhou, and that was Wu Bikui. Because of the previous reasons, Mu Tianbo was already strongly dissatisfied with Wu Bikui and even resented him, and Wu Bikui's anxiety was also obvious. In this case, it was perfect to instigate both sides. Taking the opportunity of showing loyalty, he quietly revealed the news of Wu Bikui's intention to "rebel" to Mu Tianbo to divert Mu Tianbo's attention. At the same time, Wu Bikui was also sent a message with "good intentions", telling him to be vigilant against the Duke of Qian's Mansion, and that Mu Tianbo would send troops to attack him at any time.

In this way, the rift between the two sides became even bigger. As long as Mu Tianbo did not deal with Wu Bikui, the other party would definitely not pay attention to Sha Dingzhou. Moreover, instigating both sides and playing both sides was also extremely beneficial to Sha Dingzhou.

As for the third thing, it is to accumulate strength as soon as possible, integrate the forces of the two chieftains, and prepare for the changes in the later period. According to Tang Jiabin's plan for Sha Dingzhou, Mu Tianbo will definitely send troops to Wu Bikui, and the two sides will definitely fight.

Once the war breaks out, according to previous practice, Mu Tianbo will definitely order the chieftains of various tribes to cooperate with the Ming army in combat. Sha Dingzhou is one of the most powerful chieftains and is deeply trusted by Mu Tianbo, so it is very likely that Sha Dingzhou's troops will be dispatched.

If the situation reaches this point, then Sha Dingzhou's dispatch of troops is a foregone conclusion. Once the war breaks out, both sides will fight to the death. Tang Jiabin judged that it would not be easy for Mu Tianbo to defeat Wu Bikui in a short time. Wu Bikui's strength is not weak, and he is also good at fighting. Even if Mu Tianbo finally kills Wu Bikui, there will inevitably be considerable losses.

At this time, Sha Dingzhou's chance came. At the most appropriate time, he would suddenly send troops and stab Mu Tianbo in the back. It would be best if he could kill Mu Tianbo on the battlefield. If that didn't work, he would retreat to the next best thing and look for an opportunity to take Kunming. Once Kunming fell into Sha Dingzhou's hands, Sha Dingzhou could replace Mu Tianbo's position in Yunnan and join forces with other chieftains to turn Yunnan over.

Tang Jiabin believed that this plan had a great chance of success. Moreover, Yunnan was different from other provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Although it belonged to the Ming Dynasty, it had a strong degree of independence. In addition, the chieftains in Yunnan had a special status. The imperial court only controlled Yunnan in name and had never fundamentally solved the Yunnan issue.

Once this was accomplished, the power of the Duke of Qian in Yunnan, including the power of the imperial court, could be driven out of Yunnan, and in the future, Yunnan would be ruled by Sha Dingzhou. By that time, Sha Dingzhou could win over the chieftains of various tribes in Yunnan, and then rely on his strong military force and the advantage of occupying Kunming, and it could be said that he would be crowned the emperor.

Tang Jiabin thought that the saying "Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers of different races born from different species" was too appropriate, and such a good opportunity must not be given up. As long as Sha Dingzhou could deal with the Duke of Qian and take control of Yunnan, then the establishment of a country in Yunnan would be just around the corner. At that time, Sha Dingzhou would become the king of Yunnan, and he could establish the Dian Kingdom and call himself the monarch, and Tang Jiabin would become a founding hero of the Dian Kingdom.

Even in Tang Jiabin's heart, he thought that Sha Dingzhou was just a chess piece of his. After Sha Dingzhou established a country and became king, it was possible that Tang Jiabin would replace him in the future. If he could ascend to the throne of King of Dian, then Tang Jiabin's life would be complete. How could such wealth and honor be compared with a mere imperial examination career?
(End of this chapter)