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

Chapter 1214 Retreat to the Base
Tang Jiabin is a decisive person. Once he has made a decision, he will not hesitate. He is not like the indecisive Sha Dingzhou.

Two days later, Tang Jiabin found a reason to persuade Sha Dingzhou to allow him to go south for an inspection. At this time, Sha Dingzhou was also worried that the appearance of the Ming army in the east would threaten his southern stronghold. Therefore, Tang Jiabin suggested that Sha Dingzhou temporarily stay in Kunming and go south to check the situation, so that he could respond to any problems that might arise. Sha Dingzhou agreed to this suggestion, and thus, Sha Dingzhou left Kunming with several hundred men and headed south. Before leaving, he secretly took several chests of gold and silver from the treasure room without Wan's knowledge and hurriedly left with his men.

After leaving Kunming and traveling about a hundred miles south, Tang Jiabin summoned his men and told them not to go south anymore, but to turn west and head towards Burma.

These hundreds of men were all Tang Jiabin's men, guards specially assigned to him by Sha Dingzhou. Tang Jiabin treated these guards very well, not only rewarding them but also equipping them with the best gear. Over time, these guards became quite loyal to Tang Jiabin, and they were the only army under his control.

Since the route had to be changed, Tang Jiabin was not stingy. He took out a box of gold and silver he had brought and generously distributed it to everyone. He told them that this was a secret mission, which was agreed to by Sha Dingzhou. The reason for doing this was to cover up the truth. As long as they reached Burma and persuaded Mang Bai to send troops, Yunnan would be pacified, and everyone would have made a great contribution.

This gold and silver was considered half; the other half would arrive after they reached Burma and the mission was accomplished, so everyone needn't worry. No one doubted Tang Jiabin's words. Firstly, these men were local chieftain soldiers, illiterate and simple-minded, easily fooled. Secondly, everyone knew Tang Jiabin's identity; he was not only the prime minister but also the brother-in-law of Sha Dingzhou. Even their departure from Kunming had been approved by Sha Dingzhou. Since Tang Jiabin had said so, no one objected, especially with so much gold and silver involved. They nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Thus, the group changed direction, turning from south to west, escorting Tang Jiabin to Burma.

After Tang Jiabin was transferred to Myanmar, Sha Dingzhou in Kunming was unaware of the matter, and even Tang Jiabin's wife, Wan, was unaware of it. More than half a month later, when there was still no news of Tang Jiabin from the south, Sha Dingzhou became suspicious and sent people to investigate. Only then did they discover that Tang Jiabin had not arrived in Ami Prefecture and had gone somewhere unknown; no one knew his whereabouts.

Only then did Sha Dingzhou realize the truth. Recalling Tang Jiabin's earlier reaction, he concluded that Tang Jiabin had "fled to escape punishment." Enraged, Sha Dingzhou immediately led troops to surround Tang Jiabin's residence and sternly questioned Tang Jiabin's wife, Xiao Wanshi. Xiao Wanshi claimed to know nothing. Only after searching the residence did they discover that a significant amount of gold and silver was missing, apparently taken by Tang Jiabin. Sha Dingzhou was furious, feeling he had treated Tang Jiabin well; why would this scoundrel abandon him?
In the end, Sha Dingzhou didn't do anything to Xiao Wanshi. After all, Xiao Wanshi was Da Wanshi's younger sister, his sister-in-law. He couldn't very well kill his sister-in-law to vent his anger, could he? Since things had come to this, Sha Dingzhou had no other choice. Tang Jiabin had disappeared somewhere in the past half month and was nowhere to be found. He couldn't find him even if he wanted to.

Moreover, at this time, Sha Dingzhou didn't have much energy to deal with Tang Jiabin's problem, because his indecisiveness and double-dealing caused the situation in Yunnan to change.

In the west, Mu Tianbo finally persuaded several chieftains in Yongchang, gaining their support and finally having some capable troops at his disposal. This was also related to the fact that the Sichuan White-Spear Army and the Guizhou Army had already invaded Yunnan. The chieftains weren't stupid; their previous inaction was because they weren't sure who the final winner would be. However, as time went on, Sha Dingzhou didn't show any signs of overwhelming power. Not only did he fail to take Chuxiong in one fell swoop, but he also retreated back to Kunming.

Shortly after Sha Dingzhou returned to Kunming, Ming reinforcements from Sichuan and Guizhou arrived in Yunnan one after another, capturing Xuanwei and Fuyuan. Now, the two forces have joined together and are attacking Qujing Prefecture, the eastern gateway to Kunming. At this time, Sha Dingzhou is indecisive, neither advancing westward nor eastward to fight the Ming army to the death, and has been hiding in Kunming. This has made most of the local chieftains no longer have a high opinion of Sha Dingzhou.

In this situation, the chieftains also had their own considerations. If Shading Prefecture had the ability to take over the entire Yunnan, then they would definitely side with Shading Prefecture to protect themselves.

However, once the Ming Dynasty gains power and Sha Dingzhou fails, these local chieftains will naturally take advantage of the situation. Otherwise, once the imperial army has dealt with Sha Dingzhou, they will definitely hold these chieftains accountable. It is possible that they will make an example of them. No one wants to be the one to be killed. Now, taking advantage of the opportunity that the situation has tilted in favor of the imperial court, they should quickly send troops to assist Mu Tianbo, which can be considered as making amends for their mistakes.

For this reason, these chieftains began to express their support and actively mobilized troops to assist Mu Tianbo in suppressing the rebellion. With the gathering of troops and the change in the chieftains' attitudes, Mu Tianbo finally had the strength to fight against Sha Dingzhou. Moreover, after some troops marched eastward, the crisis in Chuxiong was completely resolved. Yang Weizhi, having received reinforcements, had no more worries about his rear. In order to cooperate with the Ming army in the east, Yang Weizhi gathered troops in Chuxiong and began to attack Kunming.

Although his forces were temporarily insufficient to capture Kunming, Yang Weizhi could easily use them to launch attacks on the surrounding areas, constantly harassing and weakening Sha Dingzhou's strength. Furthermore, as the Chuxiong army began its eastward advance, the Ming army in Qujing intensified its siege. While Sha Dingzhou's forces in Qujing were considerable, not inferior to the Ming army, and Qujing, as a prefectural city, was well-defended, although it lacked cannons like Kunming, the city walls and the garrison within made it difficult for the Ming army to capture, provided they held firm.

The problem was that Sha Dingzhou remained indecisive. Apart from initially sending a troop to reinforce Qujing, he made no further moves. He squandered these excellent opportunities, leaving the Qujing troops bewildered. Neither the commander nor the soldiers understood Sha Dingzhou's intentions. Furthermore, the Ming army's attacks were exceptionally fierce, especially the White-Spear Army, which was incredibly skilled and inflicted heavy losses on the defenders during the siege. As time went on, the morale of the Qujing defenders plummeted day by day.

Furthermore, neither the White-Spear Army nor the Guizhou Army blindly attacked the city. Both commanders were well aware that a forced siege would come at a great cost, and that even if they managed to capture Qujing with their limited forces, they would likely suffer significant losses. Therefore, during the siege, both armies maintained a good pace, refraining from committing their full strength to a direct assault from the outset. Instead, they adopted certain strategies, which ensured that the attacking forces suffered casualties while simultaneously putting immense pressure on the enemy.

In addition to these, the Ming army also continuously swept through the areas surrounding Qujing, cutting off the rear passage between Qujing and Kunming, making Qujing an isolated city.

In addition, the Ming army repeatedly tried to persuade the garrison in Qujing to surrender, and also secretly contacted local people and gentry in Qujing who were inclined to join the Ming army. This combination of internal and external forces made the garrison uneasy.

After holding out for nearly a month, the Qujing garrison, which had not received any reinforcements from Sha Dingzhou, decided to abandon the city and break out. However, they did not expect that the Ming army outside the city had already learned of their plan. On the day of the breakout, the Ming army set up an ambush outside the city and made preparations with the help of an inside agent. As soon as the enemy broke out, they were caught in a trap. The fleeing garrison was trapped in the Ming army's ambush. At the same time, several thousand Ming soldiers attacked Qujing through the east gate opened by the inside agent. The garrison was caught in a dilemma and made no effort to fight back. In less than half an hour, they all surrendered.

With Qujing captured, the city fell into the hands of the Ming army, not only opening the eastern gateway to Kunming but also changing the entire situation in eastern Yunnan.

Upon receiving news of the loss of Qujing, Sha Dingzhou in Kunming could no longer remain seated. Instead of immediately leading his main force to counterattack Qujing and recapture it from the Ming army, or turning around to launch a fierce attack on Yang Weizhi and eliminate the Ming army in the west, he was considering his own situation and the safety of his base.

Sha Dingzhou had always valued his stronghold highly; otherwise, he wouldn't have ignored Tang Jiabin's advice. Now that Qujing had been lost, he was even more worried about his stronghold being raided. In his view, even Kunming was not as important as his stronghold. As long as his stronghold remained, as long as the territory he had cultivated for many years was still there, Sha Dingzhou would have a solid foundation.

Because of this idea, Sha Dingzhou did not intend to defend Kunming and fight a decisive battle with the Ming army there. He was focused on protecting his base. After considering it for several days, Sha Dingzhou finally made a decision: he would leave 3,000 men to garrison Kunming, while he himself would lead his troops south back to his base. He thought that he would protect his base and then deal with the Ming army. He would defend Kunming if he could, but if he couldn't, it didn't matter. As long as he could protect his base and find a way to defeat the Ming army, Sha Dingzhou would still have a chance to make a comeback.

However, Sha Dingzhou didn't consider the impact this decision would have on his troops. Already demoralized by the loss of Qujing, Sha Dingzhou's forces were filled with anxiety; now, they were being forced to abandon Kunming. Although three thousand men were stationed there, could they truly hold Kunming? Not only was Yang Weizhi's army advancing from the west, but the Ming army that captured Qujing was also reorganizing after incorporating surrendered troops, preparing to march eastward towards Kunming. With such a pincer attack, how could Kunming possibly hold out?
A few days after Sha Dingzhou left Kunming with his main force, the Kunming garrison took advantage of the fact that the Ming army had not yet arrived and proactively contacted them to surrender. In the eyes of the Kunming garrison, they had become Sha Dingzhou's pawns. If they continued to fight for Sha Dingzhou, not only would there be no benefit, but they would also die without a burial place.

Since Sha Dingzhou had abandoned them, why not surrender to the Ming army and join the rebellion? Although following Sha Dingzhou in rebellion was a serious crime, they were not the masterminds; they were merely troops coerced by Sha Dingzhou. Furthermore, since Sha Dingzhou had abandoned them, they were naturally not his direct personal guard. As a marginalized army, they felt no psychological pressure being forced to rise up under Sha Dingzhou's command. Surrendering to the Ming army might offer them a chance to survive, while resisting to the end would mean certain death. Even a fool would know which option to choose.

(End of this chapter)