Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 356 Yelang is arrogant
Arrogance is caused by information asymmetry.

In the eyes of Chieftain Meng Lian, the Ming court was leaky on all sides, and exchanging a few prefectures for the stability of Yunnan could be considered a good deal.

But he didn't know that Duoduo was defeated and retreated to the north, and Ajige was beheaded in Ganzhou. Although the Ming court only had half of the country at this time, its strategic situation was much more proactive than that of the Qing court.

Under such circumstances, if Zhu Cilang could still tolerate a small chieftain Meng Lian making noise in front of him, then he would really become a good-tempered person.

"Did the Emperor really say that?"

Looking at the frightened envoy, Chieftain Meng Lian suddenly became a little confused.

He thought of all kinds of possibilities, but he never thought that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would say such words.

No matter what, he just wanted to take advantage of the situation, so how could he really break off relations with the imperial court?
But now.
"Did the imperial court drive the Tartars away?"

"Why are you asking me? Would you still raise an army if you knew I would?"

Chieftain Meng Lian asked a tentative question to Sha Dingzhou, who was tied up like a dumpling. After hearing the other party's answer, he could only cast his gaze on the messenger helplessly.

After he captured Sha Dingzhou, he had planned to hand him over directly to the court. However, during this process, he did not know which thief in his heart gained the upper hand, and the idea of ​​using Sha Dingzhou to exchange for territory became uncontrollable.

Then he led his soldiers to set up camp south of Chuxiong, and after sending out the envoys, he waited with great anticipation for the reward from the court.

"Captain, why don't you take Sha Ni to confess his crime to His Majesty?"

"Yes, take me to the emperor to kowtow and see if he will let go of Chief Meng Lian who has ulterior motives."

As soon as the messenger's words were heard, Sha Dingzhou started to speak in a weird tone. However, after hearing the conversation between the two, Tusi Meng Lian had no reaction at all, as if he was possessed by a demon.

He truly regretted it extremely now, and it was no exaggeration to say that he was possessed by a demon.

In the final analysis, he had thoughts that he shouldn't have because of the "opportunity" that unexpectedly fell upon him, but his own strength and the external environment did not support the realization of his thoughts.

When reality revealed the tip of the iceberg to him, he became anxious and worried because of his unfulfilled desires and the impending crisis. In detail, he was not as good as a hero like Sha Dingzhou.

"Sir, tell me the truth. Are all the things you said when you started the rebellion true?"

"Of course. Although the imperial court's reports to Mu Tianbo have been interrupted for several months, it is absolutely true that the Tartars crossed the Yangtze River."

As soon as Sha Dingzhou finished speaking, Tusi Meng Lian fell into deep thought.

Only now did he finally react. He had heard from Sha Dingzhou how badly the court was beaten by the Tartars, but he had heard from the emperor how badly the court beat the Tartars.

Neither of these two statements came from a credible channel. He had been struggling for a long time but was just following other people's instructions.

"Do you think there is a possibility that the emperor did not defeat the Tartars, but was beaten by the Tartars and had no place to go, so he fled to Yunnan."

After hearing what Chieftain Meng Lian said, Sha Dingzhou's first reaction was to laugh out loud.

He knew very well that Chief Meng Lian was in the same state as he was before. To put it bluntly, he just couldn't accept the reality.

Regardless of whether the story of "Ajige's captivity" is true or false, the news that Duoduo was driven back to Jiangbei came from the official newspaper.

What's more, those musketeers were well-equipped and well-trained. Even if they were not considered a strong army at the time, they were certainly not an ordinary team. If the Tartars could defeat a team with such men and horses and force them to flee in panic, it would be unknown how strong the Qing army would be.

But he still didn't laugh in the end. After all, he still had the capital to turn things around. If this old guy really woke up, how would he survive?
"This." After a long pause, Sha Dingzhou pretended to be in deep thought. After Chief Meng Lian's attention was all on him, he said with a little uncertainty: "I am sure that the Qing army crossed the Yangtze River, but I see that the Ming army is well-equipped and has high morale. It doesn't seem like they fled to Yunnan."

"Stupid! What can you tell from just one encounter? Maybe this group of people is the emperor's last resort!"

“Hiss~~~~~.”

As soon as the internal "flaw" was exposed by Chieftain Meng Lian, Sha Dingzhou immediately took a breath of cold air, as if he had figured something out.

He said no more after that, but just clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, obviously regretting that he had misjudged the situation.

Seeing him like this, Chief Meng Lian did not mock him. However, when he was adjusting his strategy based on his latest judgment, the messenger interjected in a quiet voice.

"Captain, what Sha Ni said is correct. The Ming army is indeed well-equipped and has high morale. They definitely did not flee to Yunnan."

"You know nothing!"

Chieftain Meng Lian naturally scoffed at the envoy's statement, but the person who could be settled with such a person must be the most trusted among the trusted ones. After a moment, he adjusted his tone.

"Let me ask you, have you ever met Qu Zhongcheng from Guangxi since you entered the camp?"

"Never."

"Then why don't you think about why he didn't follow the emperor?"

"Maybe it's some other official business?"

"What kind of official business is this? If the Ming and Qing dynasties were still at war, then this war would be a very important matter. But now the emperor has come to Yunnan, and Qu Shisi is nowhere to be seen. In my opinion, he is either covering the emperor's retreat or he has already died."

“Hiss~~~~~.”

After hearing this, not to mention the envoy, even Sha Dingzhou couldn't help but wonder if this was really the case. But who would have thought that before they could think about it carefully, they saw a local soldier running over in a panic.

"Chief! Something terrible has happened! We are surrounded!"

When the voice came, both of them couldn't help but let out a cry in their hearts, and then Chief Meng Lian hurriedly ordered his men to be on high alert, but he had thrown all his previous thoughts out of his mind.

After about a cup of tea, a middle-aged man dressed as a chieftain appeared in front of them, surrounded by more than a hundred local soldiers.

After seeing the figure of the person coming, Sha Dingzhou's heart was inevitably chilled, but Chief Meng Lian shouted loudly: "Brother Hanlong, what are you doing?!"

Han Long's territory is not far from Meng Lian, and his strength is similar to his. However, in this chaos, he neither supported Sha Dingzhou nor took the initiative to help Mu Tianbo. It seemed that he wanted to stay in a neutral position and make a bet after the two sides decided the winner.

In this regard, Sha Dingzhou did not force Han Long to change his mind. After all, there were more than 50 chieftains in the whole of Yunnan. Except for a few who were still loyal to the Ming court, there were at least 16 or 17 who joined him in the rebellion.

With this kind of strength, not to mention dealing with Mu Tianbo, that stray dog, he is confident that he can deal with the Ming army from Guangxi even if it enters Yunnan.

So, while Yunnan had been in chaos for such a long time, those neutral chieftains had been hiding in their own territories, with no intention of intervening in the war outside. But now.
He got the news, why did I know nothing about it?

With this in mind, Sha Dingzhou no longer had any hope.

After all, he was a powerful figure of the time. When he saw that Han Long, who had been in a neutral position, had brought his troops here, he knew that the situation in Yunnan had changed beyond his knowledge.

But when he was completely disheartened, Chief Meng Lian was still shouting to the opposite side, obviously trying to persuade the other side to join his camp.

"After the Ming army is driven away, the Duke will be the boss, and your brother Hanlong will naturally be the Prime Minister of Yunnan. You must not miss this good opportunity!"

Facing the tireless Tusi Meng Lian, Han Long did not react at all. When his throat was almost smoking from shouting, teams of local soldiers appeared from all directions.

So the middle-aged man in the opposite formation slowly urged his horse forward.

"Stop talking, just surrender."

This sentence naturally had no effect on Sha Dingzhou, but Chieftain Meng Lian was extremely shocked. It was obvious that he had not expected that the bright prospects he had anticipated would not be able to shake the other party in the slightest.

"Brother Hanlong! You have to think clearly. If you hand us over to the emperor, you can only get some fame and money. But if you join us, we can control Yunnan in three parts!"

According to Chieftain Meng Lian's idea, not to mention dividing Yunnan into three parts, even occupying Guizhou and Guangxi was not completely impossible. However, to his surprise, after hearing these words, Han Long seemed to be like ignited gunpowder and he actually attacked directly.

"Dream on! You greedy bastards, you actually want Guizhou and Guangxi? Now that you have invited the emperor here, I want to see how you divide Yunnan into three parts!"

"Brother Hanlong! What are you talking about? The Ming and Qing dynasties are at war, the emperor might just flee."

"idiot!"

After cursing harshly, Han Long seemed to still feel unsatisfied, and then he revealed a piece of news that made Chief Meng Lian and others turn pale.

"Wangnong in Shadingzhou has been breached! Kunming is also in the hands of the emperor! He not only brought soldiers from Guangxi this time, but also brought Dong people from Jiangxi. It's ridiculous that you are still dreaming of the Spring and Autumn Period. This is really a punishment from God to Yunnan!"

Snapped!
As soon as he finished speaking, the horsewhip in Chief Meng Lian's hand fell to the ground.

Now he finally woke up from his sweet dream and realized how wrong he had been.

But it was too late.

If he had not been surrounded by Han Long, he could have made a show of asking for forgiveness and established an image of the Ming Emperor as a magnanimous and forgiving person.

If he had not sent people to Chuxiong, he would have even had a great chance of becoming a meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty.

But now.
Realizing that the situation was different from what he had expected, Chief Meng Lian turned around and looked at Sha Dingzhou who was tied up like a dumpling. However, to his surprise, although the rebel leader Sha Dingzhou was still a little listless, his expression was not despair, but he seemed to be thinking about something.

"Han Long! We are doomed to die after our defeat, but why do you keep saying that we are harming Yunnan?!"

"Forget it. I don't want to talk to you dying people, but for the sake of our many years of friendship, I will let you be a ghost who understands."

Having said this, Han Long paused for a moment, and then continued speaking after he had sorted out his words.

"I know you want to learn from Annan, but you have never thought about the many barriers between Annan and the Ming Dynasty. In the past, Guangxi also rebelled frequently like us. These two factors combined made Emperor Xuanzong abandon Annan. How can we have such conditions?"

After the words fell, although Sha Dingzhou did not hear the answer he wanted, he understood the root cause of his defeat. However, Chieftain Meng Lian still looked distraught, and it was obvious that he did not hear a word of these words.

However, Na Hanlong did not pay any attention to this "idiot". He waited until he had taken a breath before telling Sha Dingzhou the answer he wanted.

"I told you this before. No matter who wins the world, they will not allow us to learn from Annan. Your chaos will definitely not end well!

Originally we were living in Yunnan and obeying the imperial court, so the imperial court would not pay any attention to us. But you caused such a big mess that you even provoked the emperor. After we deal with you traitors, how can we who don't help either side end up with anything good?"

These words had little meaning to Sha Dingzhou, but he was surprised to find that he had obviously underestimated Han Long, who had always been low-key.

If I had his assistance, I probably wouldn't have ended up in this situation so quickly.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, Sha Dingzhou couldn't help but smile bitterly, but he didn't know why, but he asked another question afterwards.

"Since you know you will not get any good results, why don't you just start a war? Maybe you can win a battle or two by chance with the advantage of the terrain, and then you can negotiate terms with the emperor."

"Raise an army? You are the only person of note in Yunnan. The rest are all idiots like Meng Lian. When they see the emperor's army entering Yunnan, they are probably kneeling on the ground in their tents. What are you talking about raising an army?"

"I have connections in Burma, if you're willing."

"Did you not send spies into the interior?"

"what?"

Faced with Sha Dingzhou's persuasion, Na Hanlong did not show much impatience.

But who would have thought that after he threw out his last card, the other party asked such a question without any context.

Sha Dingzhou, who was confused, was stunned for a moment. Han Long actually waved his hand, and then the local soldiers behind him suddenly launched an attack.

To be honest, not to mention these chieftains, there are also many officials in the Han area who have various ambitions.

But this Hanlong is completely different from other chieftains.

Although chieftains would travel to Han areas when they were young, most of them just ate, drank and had fun before returning home. However, he learned a lot before returning to his territory to inherit the position of chieftain.

In this way, unlike those chieftains who only had their eyes on their small piece of land in Yunnan, he knew very well that Yunnan was inseparable from the mainland, so the basis of his various actions was naturally higher.

There is nothing much to say about the battle to encircle and annihilate the remnants of Meng Lian's army. Han Long was supposed to lead the troops to the emperor's tent to listen after summarizing various situations. His previous words not only made Meng Lian lose his mind, but also made the soldiers under his command completely lose the will to fight.

In this way, the entire "battle" lasted only about three or two incense sticks. After all the enemy soldiers surrendered, he took the heads of Chief Meng Lian and Sha Dingzhou and went straight to Chuxiong.

"I just hope the emperor can be gentler."

(End of this chapter)