Chapter 369:
The only thing that makes Huang Tai feel at ease is that the Southeast New Army does not seem to have any intention of attacking northern Guangdong.
After capturing the coastal prefectures of Guangdong, Tan Lun stopped attacking cities and territories, and instead began to digest the land he had already occupied.
The land of Guangzhou Prefecture became the Pearl River Delta in later generations, and later became the Greater Bay Area.
This area has a dense water network and can be said to be the best land.
However, the Ming court has been unable to extract too much tax from Guangdong. Transportation is naturally a reason. The cost of levying grain from the southernmost part of the empire to the capital is astronomical.
The more important reason is that the rebellions in Guangdong and Guangxi continue and they have never been able to establish a stable rule.
Guangxi has a small population but a large number of people. The wolf soldiers Zhang Jing recruited were those who surrendered to the chieftains in Guangxi and were reorganized.
However, these Guangxi chieftains also rebelled from time to time, so the grain collected by Guangdong was often sent to Guangxi for "payment" to help Guangxi put down rebellions.
In addition, Guangdong was also plagued by Japanese pirates, and there were frequent rebellions by the coastal people. For example, the famous Yuan Chonghuan in the late Ming Dynasty, whose ancestors were the people who settled ashore.
However, in history, Guangdong has also been prosperous.
In the mid-Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Lu Zhi once said that Guangzhou was "a local important meeting, with a common name of Yin Fan, a trader who always rushes to gather." The tax revenue of Guangzhou was second only to that of Jiangnan. In the Tang Dynasty, It is a financial and taxation center.
By the Song Dynasty, Guangzhou Port was the second largest port after Quanzhou. In front of Guangzhou Port, there were thousands of sails racing and hundreds of boats competing.
But when the Ming Dynasty began to ban the sea, coastal trade could not be carried out, and Guangdong declined rapidly.
Tan Lun knew the importance of maritime trade to Guangdong. Just after he captured Guangzhou City, he asked the Metropolitan Governor to open the sea and set up municipal shipping departments in Guangzhou and Chaozhou to open ports for maritime trade.
Tan Lun's strategic plan is good. He first stabilizes Guangdong's basic market through maritime trade, develops the two treaty ports of Guangzhou and Chaozhou, and then moves north to plot Shaoguan, so that the new southeastern army can move north through Shaoguan. The southern Hunan region in the north of Huguang thus threatened Huguang, the granary of the Ming Dynasty.
However, the development of things often changes rapidly, and perfect plans often can only remain in the plan.
Just after the Fourth Brigade captured the coastal prefectures of Guangdong, an envoy galloped into Guangzhou City.
Now in Guangdong Province, Tan Lun is the governor of Guangdong and the governor-general of Guangdong's military and political affairs.
Bai Zhifu, the first magistrate of Guangdong, remained in charge of Guangzhou, the most prosperous and densely populated Jiafu in Guangdong.
Yu Zigao, the commander of the Fourth Brigade, was the most capable of fighting the New Army, and he was regarded as the chief military officer of Guangdong.
Tan Lun specially recalled Yu Zigao, who was stationed in Zhaoqing, for a meeting, which shows the importance of this matter.
Yu Zigao, who was dressed tall and straight in military uniform, walked into the governor's office. Governor Bai was already sitting in the hall drinking tea.
Yu Zigao was a little confused. He thought it was some urgent military situation, but Governor Tan and Magistrate Bai didn't look too nervous.
"Governor Tan, Magistrate Bai, what's the urgency of summoning the generals back?"
After Yu Zigao quickly captured the city and captured the territory, he was now trapped in the quagmire of a security war.
Originally, Yu Zigao stationed troops in Zhaoqing Prefecture to put pressure on the Ming army in Shaoguan Prefecture.
Unexpectedly, his opponent was not the Ming court's army, but the Yao villages and Yao people in Gaozhou and Zhaoqing prefectures. The Miao people on the Leizhou Peninsula also kept joining in the fun.
Brigadier Yu, who destroyed the Japanese Feilong Army in Fujian and captured Guangzhou Prefecture one day, was devastated by the rebellion of these chieftains and was busy putting out fires in Zhaoqing all day long.
Tan Lun took out a letter, handed it to Yu Zigao and said,
"This is the letter written to me by Wang Daokun, the governor of Guangxi. Mr. Wang wants to join us in the southeast."
"What! No!" Yu Zigao immediately objected.
Tan Lun smiled at Bai Zhifu and said: "I knew that Brigadier Yu would definitely object."
Bai Zhifu also held a tea cup and said: "Haha, just the chieftain of Zhaoqing Prefecture in Gaozhou will torture Brigadier Yu to death. If If Guangxi surrenders, then Brigadier Yu will lead troops to suppress the bandits in the mountains of Guangxi. Of course he will object."
Yu Zigao was not angry at the two civil servants who were making fun of himself. He said:
"Isn't it early that Governor Tan Have you discussed it yet? You also wrote to the Governor, explaining the strategy of developing Guangdong first and then annexing Guangxi. Why did Guangxi invest so quickly? "Guangxi is a place with many mountains and little fields, and is full of toasts, and in the Ming Dynasty
. Administratively, Guangxi is an inland province.
Yu Zigao's fourth brigade is best at the Yuanyang Formation, but the Yuanyang Formation is suitable for fighting in open plains, and is not effective in mountainous areas.
After thinking about it, I know that a weapon like Langzhen cannot be used on the mountain!
Therefore, Yu Zigao's idea was to train troops while suppressing the rebellion in Zhaoqing, and then recruit some local soldiers who were familiar with mountain warfare, and wait until the training was over before planning for Guangxi.
Why don’t you, the governor of Guangxi, Wang Daokun, play your cards according to the routine?
You, a high-ranking official from the Ming Dynasty, why did you surrender so quickly?
Just when Yu Zigao was aggrieved, Tan Lun said:
"Governor Wang is the chief minister of the Grand Governor. The Grand Governor wrote to him before and after the army was launched, persuading him to return to our southeast." "
But Governor Wang always refused. Surrender, but a letter of surrender was sent a few days ago. Brigadier Yu, guess why?"
Yu Zigao immediately said: "The chieftain of Guangxi rebelled again?"
Tan Lun nodded and said: "That's it. After dismissing the wolf soldiers and killing Zhang Jing, Guangxi chieftains have been unrest. Last month, more than thirty chieftains from Tengxia Yao village rebelled with their blood for the alliance. They elected a Qu commander and gathered 20,000 people to start rebellion again. "
Hearing this, Yu Zigao also had a headache. It's no wonder that Wang Daokun didn't surrender before, but he surrendered now.
Xunzhou in Guangxi is surrounded by thousands of mountains, among which is the Xunjiang River, which originates from Liuzhou and Qingzhou, winds eastward to Xunzhou, and passes through Xiangzhou, Yong'an, Xiuren, Lipu, Pingle County, etc.
The mountains near Xunjiang are all steep cliffs, the most dangerous of which is called Dadeng Gorge.
There are hundreds of caves in Teng Gorge, among which Immortal Pass and Nine-story Cliff are the deepest and most steep.
Among them, the Yao people have lived for generations, with the four surnames of Lan, Hu, Hou and Pan as their common surnames. There are more than thirty native officials canonized in Tengxia. It is even more difficult to count the Yao villages that have not been canonized by the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to the Yao people, there are also children in the mountains who are good at using poison and crossbow arrows.
Several rebellions in Guangxi during the Ming Dynasty were almost all related to Tengxia.
After Wang Yangming and Zhang Jing suppressed the rebellion twice, Tengxia was originally settled.
During the Japanese rebellion in the southeast, Zhang Jing also took away two thousand wolf soldiers from Tengxia. These two thousand people followed Zhang Jing from Fujian to Zhejiang and killed many Japanese pirates.
But later, in order to seize the initiative in the southeastern anti-Japanese war, the Yan Party framed and impeached Zhang Jing. One of the charges was that the wolf soldiers had lax military discipline and Zhang Jing allowed the wolf soldiers to plunder Zhejiang. Later, Zhang Jing was executed. The wolf soldiers who followed Zhang Jingyuan to fight the Japanese in Zhejiang not only did not receive military pay and silver rewards from the court, but were also driven back to Guangxi as prisoners.
As soon as these wolf soldiers returned to Guangxi, they immediately started a rebellion. Among them, the rebellion in Tengxia was the most serious and powerful.
After Wang Daokun arrived in Guangxi, he always adopted a relatively soft and conciliatory policy towards Guangxi.
It's just that although Wang Daokun thinks so, his officials don't think so.
In the areas of Guangxi where Han barbarians lived together, the Ming court established Jizhou County and appointed local officials, the so-called chieftains, to make these areas autonomous.
Tuguan is hereditary, and the canonized Tuguan family is also the chieftain. They are the rulers of a Yao village for generations.
Corresponding to local officials are the officials appointed and removed by the Ming court. These officials cannot be hereditary and will move due to transfer, so they are called "floating officials".
The establishment of native officials was originally a last resort measure. After several rebellions in Guangxi, the Ming Dynasty also gradually implemented the reform of native officials in Guangxi, that is, the hereditary rule of native officials was taken back and replaced by the appointment and dismissal of local officials.
This measure was naturally conducive to unification, but many problems arose during the implementation of the Ming Dynasty.
Those who served as officials in Guangxi were basically the least promising officials in the Ming Dynasty.
The biggest wish of these officials is to be promoted immediately, leave Guangxi, and return to the prosperous areas of the Central Plains to serve as officials.
Originally, the process of converting native officials to local officials was a long-term process. By promoting sinicization and assimilating the barbarians, or using Han immigrants to open up land and increase the area where Han people settled, when there were more local Han people than barbarians, the rights of native officials could be gradually removed and the rule of official officials could be implemented. .
But this is too slow!
Therefore, in the process of converting the local barbarians back to their hometowns, these officials often acted too hastily. Many officials even instigated the barbarians to rebel, and then asked the court to send troops to suppress them. As long as all the local barbarians were killed, wouldn't it be a conversion to their native lands?
There were also many officials who colluded with Han merchants to exploit the barbarian villages, or incited the barbarians to fight each other.
After all this trouble, the local Han-Barbarian conflict became more serious, and rebellions continued in Guangxi.
This time Tengxia rebelled again. The murder of Zhang Jing was used as a trigger. The long-term conflict between barbarians in Guangxi intensified, and a chain reaction occurred after the Ming court lost control of the south.
Tan Lun said: "The Chief Governor told me that if he, Governor Wang, refused to surrender, it would be for the sake of the people. If he surrendered, it would also be for the people." "But since Governor Wang has surrendered, we can't do it because of the chieftain of Guangxi
. We started a rebellion and just sat back and did nothing."
"The Grand Governor said before I came to the southeast, we raised troops in the southeast to resist the Ming Dynasty, not to occupy the land and become king, or for personal wealth." "In this world, the
general There are rich and poor, and there are always those who are easy to manage and those who are not easy to manage. But as long as it is the land of my Han family, I cannot give up an inch of it!" "The Grand Governor once warned me that I must remember the lessons
of Annan!"
Yu Zigao was awe-inspiring. His father was a martial arts scholar and had been studying since he was a child. He naturally knew about Annan's old affairs.
Annan, known as Jiaozhi and Jiaozhou in ancient times, has been under the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established counties here.
At the turn of the Han Dynasty, the Second Expedition Rebellion occurred. General Ma Yuan, the famous founding general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Fubo, entered Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion, and Annan returned to the Eastern Han Dynasty.
At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Shi Xie separatized Jiaozhou, and even the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties finally conquered Jiaozhou.
But for such a place, when the Song Dynasty was founded, Song Taizu named the Annan Ding tribe leader as "Annan Protector", "Jiaochao Taiwei", and "Jiaozhi County King", and regarded Annan as a "vassal".
From then on, Annan accelerated the speed of centrifugation, began to develop its own language, and finally separated from the Central Plains.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Di also sent a large army to recover Annan. However, the Ming Dynasty's rule in Annan only lasted for more than 20 years. Because the soldiers' expedition was too expensive, they finally withdrew from Annan.
Su Ze compared Guangxi to Annan because Guangxi now shows a strong centrifugal tendency just like Annan did in the past.
Now Yu Zigao also understood the political significance of entering Guangxi. Regardless of the war between Southeast and the Ming Dynasty, the Guangxi issue cannot be tolerated.
After Yu Zigao understood this, he immediately said:
"Your Majesty Governor, my subordinates understand. I will prepare the army for war and prepare to enter Guangxi!"
Tan Lun smiled and said to Magistrate Bai: "I know that Brigadier Yu is impatient. , But don't be impatient."
"Military order from the Governor's Office."
Yu Zigao immediately stood upright. Tan Lun took out a military order and said,
"This is the military order issued by the Governor half a month ago. At that time, Guangxi Yao Rebellion has already begun. After the Governor heard about it, he ordered us to be prepared and respond at any time to enter Guangxi to suppress the rebellion."
Bai Zhifu said with emotion: "The Governor is really good at predicting things."
"Military order! Expand from the fourth brigade. Three thousand people are preparing to enter Guangxi to suppress the rebellion."
When Yu Zigao heard about the army expansion, he naturally smiled. After accepting the military order, Tan Lun said:
"The fourth brigade will recruit soldiers who are good at mountain warfare. It is said that they can be recruited from the Yao people who surrendered in Guangdong, as long as they provide Chinese education, Fuzhou will send a special religious group to do this." "
In addition, the Grand Governor also transported a batch of new equipment to Guangzhou from Fuzhou , just in time to test its power in the Guangxi battle, it is already in the arsenal outside Guangzhou."
When he heard that there was new equipment, Yu Zigao's eyes lit up.
Compared with the more direct 1st, 2nd and 3rd brigades, the equipment of the 4th Brigade has always been relatively backward.
This is not because Su Ze is mean to the 4th Brigade, but because the 4th Brigade was formerly the Qi Family Army, and its own formations and gunnery training were insufficient.
Tan Lun said to Yu Zigao: "The new equipment sent this time was specially developed for mountain operations. Brigadier Yu, you have to test it carefully. The Governor not only gives you weapons, but also asks you to write a report."
Hearing the words "write a report", Yu Zigao looked bitter, but thinking about the new equipment that could be used, Yu Zigao said: "Governor Tan, take me to see the new equipment quickly!" Yu Zigao arrived
. In the arsenal, a young officer wearing a blue military uniform saluted him.
"Li Yangong, logistics staff officer of the Fourth Brigade, reported to the brigade commander."
Li Yangong did not perform any meritorious service during the battle north, and he was depressed for a long time when he returned to Shanghai.
Later, when he heard that there was still fighting in the south, he signed up to join the Fourth Brigade.
It happened to be sent by the Metropolitan Governor's Office to escort this batch of new equipment.
Yu Zigao hurriedly returned the gift and asked eagerly: "Consultant Li, where are the new equipment?"
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(end of chapter)