Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 575 Pacifying Guizhou (Part 2)

After dealing with Tian Renhou of Sizhou, Li Yinbing sent the prefect as an envoy to pacify other chieftains, while also personally rushing to Zunyi, which was the territory of the Yang family of Bozhou.

In just one month, the four chieftains and five major powers in Guizhou were basically all taken down.

Yes, there are five of the four chieftains, which is normal, right? The main reason is that the Tian family of Sizhou split into two. In addition to Tian Renhou of Sizhou in the north, there is also Tian Renzhi of Sinan in the south.

Similarly, the two Tian families that split up each married off a daughter to the emperor. Tian Renhou from the north married off his granddaughter. This was mainly because Tian Renhou was old, almost sixty years old, and his own daughters had long since married. Only his granddaughters still had unmarried daughters. Tian Renhou's granddaughter was named Tian Ruoyi, and she was just 16 years old this year.

In the south, Tian Renzhi married off his youngest daughter. Tian Renzhi was nearly fifty years old, and his granddaughters were all too young, none even ten years old, so they were definitely not suitable to marry the emperor. However, he himself had a young daughter who had not yet been married, named Tian Muhui, who had just turned 17 this year, and she was suitable to marry the emperor.

Speaking of Tian Muhui and Tian Ruoyi, they are actually distant relatives, aunt and niece. It's quite a misfortune for an aunt and niece to marry the same man. After they get married, it's hard to know how they should address each other when they meet.
Similar to the north, the territory of the Tian family in Sinan was also divided into four prefectures: Zhenyuan Prefecture, Liping Prefecture, Rongjiang Prefecture, and Duyun Prefecture. The conditions were the same as those for the Tian family in Sizhou: the administrative offices were abolished and prefectures were established, allowing the Tian family to hold hereditary deputy positions. At the same time, they had to give up some land and people to the court for registration as commoners.

Besides the Tian family, the situation was similar for the Yang family in Bozhou.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the territory of Bozhou was basically the same as the area of ​​Zunyi City in later generations. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Bozhou was a whole administrative division, and in later generations, this area was also designated as Zunyi City.

However, in order to implement the "Decree of Grace" and weaken the power of the Yang family in Bozhou, Lu Jin deliberately divided this area into four prefectures. The three places in the northwest corner, Chishui, Xishui, and Tongzi, were merged into Xitong Prefecture; Daozhen and Zhengan in the northeast corner were merged into Zhenzhou Prefecture; Renhuai, Zunyi, and Suiyang in the southwest corner were merged into Zunyi Prefecture; and Meitan, Yuqing, and Weng'an in the southeast corner were merged into Yuqing Prefecture.

This division does seem a bit fragmented, but it's not too late to adjust it after the complete reform of the native chieftain system. Doing it this way now is just a waste of administrative expenses and a way to pay the salaries of a few more prefects, but it is still very beneficial for the court to control the Yang family of Bozhou.

In addition, during the Ming Dynasty in the original history, Bozhou was always under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Province. However, Lu Jin directly assigned Bozhou to Guizhou. There were two considerations for doing so. First, it was based on the administrative divisions of later generations. Second, it was mainly an economic consideration. Guizhou was already poor, ranking last among all provinces in the country. If such a large area as Zunyi were assigned to Sichuan, Guizhou would become even poorer, which would not be conducive to its future development.

Secondly, since the Yang family of Bozhou was known as one of the "Four Great Tusi of Guizhou", it would be better to put them together, which would also make it easier for the imperial court to manage them.

The current head of the Yang family is named Yang Yuanding, a hereditary Pacification Commissioner of Bozhou during the Yuan Dynasty. Their ancestors were also Han Chinese. The earliest one to come was Yang Duan from Taiyuan, Shanxi. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, in the third year of Qianfu, he led his army into Bozhou and defeated the Nanzhao Kingdom. He was then enfeoffed as the Marquis of Bozhou and ruled Bozhou hereditarily. Each generation regarded themselves as vassals of the Central Plains court. Therefore, the Yang family had no psychological barriers to submitting to the Ming Dynasty. In any case, they would submit to whoever won the war in the Central Plains.

With such a small territory and population in Bozhou, they could neither contend for the world nor even establish a separatist regime. Their only ambition was to be local emperors. Apart from relying on the central government and becoming chieftains, they had no other great aspirations.

Now that the Yuan Dynasty has fallen, the new Ming Dynasty has come to pacify him, and Yang Yuanding is naturally willing to submit. He readily handed over the official seal of the Yuan Dynasty. The only thing that makes him somewhat worried is that Lu Jin's half-baked reform of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials, abolishing the Bozhou Pacification Commission and establishing four prefectures, sending officials from the court, and also requiring immigrants and troops to be stationed. Furthermore, it requires the Yang family to give up some land and people. No matter how you look at it, it seems to be aimed at the reform of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials.

However, Lu Jin allowed them to retain hereditary deputy positions, as well as a certain population and land. This was neither quite traditional nor entirely traditional, which really troubled Yang Yuanding for a while.

However, in the end, considering Lu Jin's request to marry a Yang woman as a concubine, the generous dowry, and the threat of hundreds of thousands of troops, Yang Yuanding finally agreed to the court's conditions.

There was a small problem when it came to marrying off his daughter. Well, it wasn't really a problem, mainly because Yang Yuanding himself had no sons or granddaughters, and his own daughter had already married, so there was no suitable candidate in his own family.

Yang Yuanding was the 20th generation head of the Yang family in Bozhou. In the original history, he had no descendants (no sons). After he died in 1370, his father, who was still alive, took charge and passed the power to Yang Keng from another branch. Yang Keng was also the 21st generation chieftain of the Yang family who officially submitted to the Ming Dynasty in the original history. However, this boy is only four years old now, born in the same year as Lu Jin's eldest son.

Fortunately, the Yang family of Bozhou was large and powerful, with a considerable number of members. Although the current head of the family, Yang Yuanding, had no heirs, he still had many nephews and nieces. So he immediately selected a suitable girl from among his nieces, named Yang Minjun, who was 18 years old this year and was ready to marry the emperor.

Then there's the An clan of Shuixi. Well, at this point in time, there isn't a name like 'An clan of Shuixi' yet, because the Shuixi chieftains were all Yi tribes, and they didn't have Han surnames. The first person in Shuixi to have the surname An was actually 'Aqilongdi,' the only son of Lady Shexiang.

Shexiang sent her son to study at the Imperial Academy in Nanjing. After graduating from the academy, Zhu Yuanzhang bestowed upon him the official robes of a third-rank official and granted him the surname An. He then changed his name to 'An De'. From then on, Shuixi had its first person with the surname An, and from then on, he was called the An family of Shuixi.

The origin of the Shuixi An clan can be traced back to the Luo clan's ghost kingdom, hence they are also called the Shuixi Luo clan. However, they are not surnamed Luo. These Yi tribes were probably subdued by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period, possibly the prototype of the "Seven Captures of Meng Huo" in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Luo clan's ghost kingdom was also enfeoffed as the King of Luodian by the Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.

The current Yi chieftain of Shuixi is named Ahua. He is the 65th generation chieftain of the Shuixi Yi people. His official official position is the Pacification Commissioner of Shunyuan Pacification Commission, appointed by the Yuan Dynasty. He is also the head of the Eight Tribes of Qiannan. He governs 48 Yi tribes. In terms of territory and strength, he is not much weaker than the Yang family of Bozhou.

At the same time, this Ahua was the only one among the four chieftains of Guizhou who was not of Han ethnicity.

He also had three sons: the eldest was named Zha'e, the second was named Longnei, and the third was named Aicui. The third son, Aicui, also had a Yi name, Longzan Aqi, who was the husband of the later Lady Shexiang. In other words, Shexiang was Ahua's daughter-in-law.

Because the situation of the Yi chieftains in Shuixi differed slightly from the other three chieftains, the conditions for their pacification by the Ming Dynasty also differed slightly. While the methods included marriage alliances, the abolition of the chieftainship and the establishment of a prefecture, the transfer of land and people, registration as commoners, and hereditary deputy positions, the Ming Dynasty offered greater consideration in terms of tribute. For the other three chieftains, Lu Jin directly collected tribute at several times the amount of taxes levied on registered households. However, for these Yi chieftains, the demands were not excessively high; the minimum was only equal to the tax amount levied on registered households, and anything more was up to them.

Well, the main reason for doing this is that these Yi chieftains are too honest and simple-minded. If you force them to pay, they won't cheat or cheat, and they won't be able to collect the taxes that Lu Jin wants. So, they can only resist by force, which will only force them to rebel.

On the contrary, if they are given more care, these Yi chieftains are easy to win over. They are even the easiest of the four chieftains in Guizhou to be registered as citizens and to be Sinicized.

Therefore, when she learned that the Ming Dynasty's envoy had come to offer her terms of surrender, Ahua hesitated only slightly before agreeing immediately. This was because in the original history, it was not the Ming Dynasty that offered them terms of surrender, but rather they themselves had sent envoys to request to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

In this timeline, since Lu Jindu sent envoys to pacify them, they were even less likely to refuse.

Another point that distinguishes the Yi people of Shuixi from the other three major chieftaincies is that, for example, the Yang family of Bozhou valued their power in Bozhou, while the Yi chieftains of Shuixi had no political ambitions at all. They didn't care who became emperor or how high an official position they were given. They just wanted to live their own lives. As long as the court didn't make things too difficult for them, such as imposing heavy taxes, they didn't want to anger the court and were willing to behave themselves.

To put it bluntly, they're just a bunch of ordinary people.
In light of this situation, the envoy also put forward several favorable conditions. After the administrative offices were abolished and prefectures were established, the court would provide them with a stable supply of salt and ironware, so that they would no longer have difficulty obtaining salt as before. At the same time, they would not lack ironware, such as cooking utensils and farming tools.

In addition, the imperial court also acquired several high-yield crops suitable for mountain cultivation, namely corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, which it was willing to give to these Yi chieftains. Whether the imperial court sent immigrants to teach them or they sent people to the capital to study, it was all acceptable.

When Ahua learned that the potatoes could yield at least several hundred catties per mu, could be grown in dry land and mountainous areas, and could be used as a staple food, she was overjoyed. She not only agreed to marry her precious daughter Ashima, who had just turned 17, to the emperor, but also said that she would have her two older brothers, who were Ahua's two sons, accompany her to the wedding, and take the opportunity to go to the capital to thank the emperor for his great kindness. Then, when they returned, they would bring back the potatoes and corn.

The envoy was overjoyed upon hearing this and readily agreed. Thus, the Yi people of Shuixi were successfully pacified and submitted to the Ming Dynasty.

The territory of the Shuixi Yi people was also divided into four prefectures: Bijie Prefecture, Puan Prefecture, Anshun Prefecture, and Zhenning Prefecture.

As a result, only the Song family of Shuidong remained in the middle. Among the four major chieftains of Guizhou, the Song family of Shuidong had the smallest territory and was located in the middle of the major powers. Therefore, the territory of the Song family of Shuidong was no longer divided and was directly designated as Guiyang Prefecture, which was also the capital of Guizhou Province.

The Song family of Shuidong were also of Han Chinese origin, originally from Zhengding, Hebei. They moved to Guizhou at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the leader of the Song family served as the prefect of Manzhou and began to rule Guizhou hereditarily. During the Song Dynasty, he served as the military governor and the Guizhou Pacification Commissioner.

At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Song clan in Guizhou split and had internal strife. At that time, Song Longji, the head of the Song clan, joined forces with the Yi chieftain of Shuixi to resist the Yuan Dynasty. As a result, Song Longji was killed by his nephew Song Azhong and surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty with his troops. He was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Shunyuan by the Yuan Dynasty and was then appointed as the Pacification Commissioner of Shunyuan.

By the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, around the time of Lu Jin, the head of the Song family in Shuidong had passed down to the grandson of Song Azhong. The current head of the family was named Song Menggudai, with the surname Song and the given name Menggudai. It was a name bestowed by the Yuan dynasty.

In the original history, Song Menggudai of Shuidong and Ahua of Shuixi took the initiative to send envoys to the Ming Dynasty to request their submission. Later, Song Menggudai was renamed 'Song Qin' by Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't need to change this timeline. Upon hearing that the Ming envoy had come to offer amnesty, Song Mengduo took the initiative to request to submit and asked the envoy to change his name. The envoy changed his name to Song Mingyi, indicating that he was deeply righteous and also loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Song Mingyi was overjoyed and quickly agreed to all the envoy's conditions. He also expressed his willingness to marry his niece, Song Ruoli, to the emperor as a concubine. This little girl was not even as old as Ashima next door; she was only 16 years old this year, but in ancient times, she was considered an adult.

Thus, all four chieftains and five major powers in Guizhou submitted to the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty sent more than 300,000 troops, it did not use a single soldier and successfully pacified the entire Guizhou with just a few envoys. Although the abolition of the chieftain system was not yet complete, the abolition of the chieftain system was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

The foundation has been laid. In the future, we can gradually migrate people to Guizhou, promote new crops, popularize Mandarin education, and continuously build cities and roads. In two or three generations at most, the reform of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials in Guizhou will surely succeed.

As for why Guizhou's capital was ultimately chosen to be Guiyang, there was really no choice in the matter.

Firstly, Guiyang has a relatively large, narrow basin, which is considered a good piece of land in Guizhou. Secondly, it is located in the middle of Guizhou Province and is situated at a major transportation hub. From Guiyang, one can reach Yunnan, Sichuan, Hunan, and Guangxi, making it a crossroads of four provinces. Historically, Guizhou's first railway, the Qian-Gui Railway, ran from Guiyang to Liuzhou in Guangxi, which demonstrates its geographical and transportation importance.

Finally, there were also political considerations. Guiyang is located at the junction of the four chieftains. By setting up the provincial capital here, the imperial court could maintain a central position, separating the four chieftains and facilitating the mediation of their conflicts. At the same time, stationing troops here could also deter the four chieftains. It was a win-win situation. Therefore, the provincial capital really could only be set up in Guiyang.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di weren't fools. They had their reasons for choosing Guiyang as the core of Guizhou. It wouldn't be a big mistake for Lu Jin to simply copy it.

In early September, the four chieftains were all subdued, and Zhu Liangzu and others officially led their army to Guizhou. However, this saved them from fighting, as local chieftains along the way helped them. The three armies arrived in Puan Prefecture in southwestern Guizhou without incident.

When Liang King Bazarawami of Yunnan learned of the Ming army's attack on Yunnan, he immediately dispatched his general Dalima with 100,000 troops to Qujing to meet the enemy. Qujing was the gateway to Yunnan; if they couldn't hold it, there was no point in defending the rest.
(End of this chapter)