Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 358 You decide for yourself

Zhu Cilang's arrangement for Yunnan was very simple. He took advantage of Sha Dingzhou's rebellion to convert the territories of his cronies into official territory, and then used the power of the army to carry out limited reduction of the population in the neutral and unknown areas.

This method does not have an appropriate description at present, but it is often called "sausage cutting" in later generations.

For a big country, this method is a compulsory course.

Especially after those in power fully understood that "a ruler should not raise an army out of anger, and a general should not go to war out of resentment", this method that is not easy to arouse large-scale resistance and is low in cost has become the only way to deal with certain external crises.

On this point, Spain, the first empire on which the sun never sets, did extremely poorly.

During the decades of its heyday, it was either fighting a war or on its way to a war.

Under such circumstances, bulk Europe united and launched a challenge to Spain simultaneously from the sea and land.

If it were not for the massive wealth it had plundered from the Americas and global trade routes, this country, which had little talent for fighting wars, might not have been able to survive for even a few decades.

In comparison, the British successor has done an excellent job.

Perhaps it is because this island nation has a very clear understanding of its own disadvantages. Since its rise, it has placed political means first and put war, which is most important to ordinary people, in second place.

On the one hand, this enabled it to maintain its hegemony for a longer period of time, and on the other hand, it also enabled it to face its decline calmly and not choose to fight a life-and-death battle with its successor through war.

This is naturally related to the inheritance of the leadership position within the Ansa gang, but it is undeniable that his ability to judge the overall situation also played a decisive factor.

At this point we have to mention what the successor did when power was transferred.

In the eyes of later generations, it was the support of that successor that enabled Britain to persevere.

But the actual situation was that the son took advantage of his old father's distress and used all kinds of means to seize all the family businesses accumulated in Britain for one or two hundred years into his own hands.

When his old father was almost penniless, he joined the war by taking advantage of the attack on the port.

If that were the case, Britain would have the possibility of recovering thanks to its vast overseas colonies.

But who would have thought that the successor was not satisfied with this.

After the war, it took advantage of the exhaustion of all the old powers and used the MZ self-determination trick to directly cut off the financial support for old Europe.

Just saying it may not give us an intuitive understanding of how ruthless this move was, but if we know that there were only more than 60 countries in the world before the war, and that the number more than doubled after the war, we can probably understand what this meant to old Europe.

Of course, this is just the white people’s family affair, and it only has limited reference value for Zhu Cilang.

After all, his hands are still limited to China's inherent territory, and the internal basic logic in dealing with various affairs is fundamentally different from that outside.

However, this did not prevent him from cutting sausages in Yunnan. After all, his ancestors had been doing this for so many years. As the one being cut, Han Long also understood that this situation was irreversible.

Therefore, how to gain the greatest benefit for himself in this process became his top priority.

just
"General Mei, I wonder when His Majesty will be free to summon us?"

"General Mei, we have been in this frontier for a long time. We only hope to listen to the saint's teachings in person as soon as possible. I don't know when we will have this opportunity."

"Master Mei, the remaining followers of Sha Dingzhou must be dealt with as soon as possible."

Just when Mei Chun led Han Long to the gate of the camp specially set up for a group of chieftains, bursts of slightly anxious voices were heard from inside.

Although everyone's reasons were different and their wording was slightly different, their underlying meaning was the same, which was to find out from Mei Chun when His Majesty would summon them.

"Don't worry, everyone. Your Majesty has been traveling a long way and has rested now." Mei Chun paused for a moment, and when he saw the different expressions on the faces of the chieftains, he continued, "But your Majesty has already given some instructions to the chieftain of Hanlong. You can have a good discussion tonight, so you don't have to worry about how to respond when you see your Majesty."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone noticed Han Long who was half hidden behind Mei Chun. At this point, everyone's thoughts became more and more complicated, but they couldn't say a word.

"Then I will not bother you any more."

After doing all this, Mei Chun left after saying a few words. After his figure disappeared among the military tents, someone suddenly spoke.

"Brother Hanlong is indeed a good man. We have been waiting in vain in this village for such a long time, but you, a latecomer, have been summoned by His Majesty first. I wonder what advice Brother Hanlong gave to His Majesty. Why don't you tell us about it?"

Obviously, these words are not only sarcastic, but also full of sarcasm.

Although these people were not as able as Han Long to see the current situation clearly, they were very concerned about this audience because the court's arrangements in Yunnan concerned their vital interests.

But who would have thought that after waiting for so long, others would take the lead. The most important thing is that with this lead, one may gain an incomparable advantage in the subsequent distribution of benefits.

Under such circumstances, even though these chieftains knew that Hanlong was not easy to mess with, there would always be someone who was so angry that he brought the matter to the surface.

However, Hanlong remained calm and did not seem to be annoyed by someone trying to sow discord between him and other chieftains.

This is not surprising. After all, he is not a person who only focuses on his own little piece of land. He can make all kinds of judgments based on the general trend. How could he not know the various tricks that follow?

In essence, the imperial court had always used various means to create discord among the chieftains. Even if there were people like Sha Dingzhou who dared to rise up in rebellion, there would always be some people who would remain neutral, and there would always be some people who would help the imperial court to quell the rebellion.

Just like now, His Majesty obviously wants to use Hanlong to carry out all arrangements for Yunnan.

If we don't allow him to have some intention of cutting himself off from the chieftain group, aren't we afraid that another Sha Dingzhou will emerge?
"Whether you believe it or not, I am just following orders."

Han Long made an unconvincing defense, but most of the chieftains just sneered.

Seeing this, he knew that saying more would be of no use, so he said something and went to the tent first.

Are you helpless?
Han Long was probably quite helpless. He had never had any ambitions and had never offended anyone over the years. He just lived a peaceful life.

But when Tian Xin emerged, he immediately became the target of public criticism. Even though there were many chieftains who were on good terms with him, no one stood up to say a word for him in such a situation.

Resentment?
Probably a little bit, but he knew that if there had been no Sha Dingzhou Rebellion, life in Yunnan would have remained the same as before, and the imperial court would have continued to control these obedient chieftains like in previous dynasties.

Therefore, the resentment was more directed towards Sha Dingzhou, and not much towards the emperor who was high above them.

A moment later, Han Long was the first to enter the largest tent in the camp, followed by a group of chieftains. After everyone sat down, he got straight to the point. "Sha Dingzhou has been executed."

This sentence was just an opening remark, and there were many more things to say later, but Hanlong stopped after this sentence, obviously having anticipated how everyone would react to the news.

"Didn't he run away?"

"How?"

"I didn't hear that!"

Perhaps because the news was too unexpected, the buzzing sound in the tent lasted for a long time before gradually dying down. After some smart people reacted, everyone turned their eyes to Han Long.

"Yes, it was me. I happened to meet that traitor on the way here," Han Long explained lightly, and then brought the topic to the key point: "But this is not a big deal. Your Majesty is in Yunnan in person. Sha Dingzhou's life or death is only a matter of time. The key lies in the aftermath."

By chance?

Why didn’t I get there?

Regardless of whether this could be considered an explanation, no one present believed that this was just a coincidence.

But when everyone's attention was focused on Sha Dingzhou's death and their fear of Han Long's deep scheming, Han Long himself suddenly thought of a question.

It was indeed a coincidence that Sha Dingzhou's head was taken, but if it wasn't a coincidence, who would Your Majesty put on the stage?

Could it be
Thinking of this, Han Long couldn't help but feel a chill, but he didn't feel that those eyes full of various meanings were so unbearable.

It is obvious that he was just there by coincidence. Even if there was no one like him who had made great contributions, His Majesty would have picked out a chieftain at random and pinned today's routine on him.

Everything was planned, and it didn't matter who played the bad guy.

After the sudden realization, Han Long no longer had any hope. He sighed in his heart and told His Majesty all the arrangements regarding Yunnan.

"That's about it. Do you have any other questions?"

"Brother Hanlong, it is only natural to wipe out the remaining followers of Sha Dingzhou, but why do you want to move our people to another place? Could it be that Your Majesty has been bewitched by someone?"

"That's right! Brother Hanlong, without our men, how can we defend the Ming Dynasty from the enemy?"

"Brother Hanlong, why don't you argue with His Majesty about such an important matter?"

Facing the accusations from the chieftains, Han Long remained calm. Only after those who were qualified to make comments had expressed their objections did he begin to speak leisurely.

"Well, this is indeed not a good idea. If it were me, after I have annihilated Sha Dingzhou's followers, I would not implement any policy of changing the natives to officials in those places, nor would I extract young and strong people from your population to join the various places."

Ok?
What's happening here?
Han Long's words were obviously inconsistent with his position. Even though the chieftains were certain that he had come up with such a plan to curry favor with his superiors, they were all stunned when they heard his words.

But now Han Long is wholeheartedly standing on the side of the Ming Emperor, so how could he really change his stance?

"Even if we sincerely submit to His Majesty, after three or two generations, there will inevitably be people with bad intentions causing trouble again. It is better to leave the chieftains of Sha Dingzhou's lineage behind and let them quell the rebellion when we start. In this way, the families will become mortal enemies through fighting, and the court will not have to worry so much."

"You are just making alarmist statements, hoping that we will agree to it so that you can win the honor in front of the emperor?"

As soon as Han Long finished speaking, these words came from somewhere in the tent.

Honestly speaking, although this sentence is more straightforward, it cannot compare to the previous ones in terms of the sincerity.

But to everyone's surprise, Han Long, who had been trying to keep his emotions stable, turned red because of this sentence. In fact, he could no longer hold back his anger and it finally exploded.

"Idiot! Sha Dingzhou is a big idiot! You are all little idiots!"

Everyone here is a local emperor. How could we have ever been insulted with such words?

But at this time they were all in the Ming army camp, and they still had some concerns. After getting over the initial anger, they were only thinking about how to take revenge on Han Long, but no one dared to attack on the spot.

But Hanlong was only annoyed at everyone's stupidity, how could he just want to vent his anger?

It took him only three or two breaths to suppress his anger. Then he continued, "There are some friends among you who are on good terms with me. I usually ask you to read more Chinese books, but none of you are willing to listen. Now you are in this situation and you don't know whether to live or die. None of you can tell which is the way to survive!"

After the words were spoken, the expressions of everyone present were still extremely ugly.

Seeing this, Han Long knew that he was right to call them idiots, but he still thought about how to make them understand the current situation.

"Kunwang, you are closest to Guangxi. Has there ever been a big rebel like Sha Dingzhou, She Chongming, or Yang Yinglong?"

Such a nonsensical sentence made the chieftain called Kunwang a little confused, but he had some connection with Hanlong and did not want to make the situation too awkward, so he searched his mind for a while before speaking.

"She Chongming and Yang Yinglong seem to be chieftains of Sichuan and Guizhou, but Guangxi has never produced such a big rebel."

"Why?"

"This"

Kunwang's reaction seemed to be within Hanlong's expectations. After he kept talking for a long time without being able to explain it, Hanlong waved his hand to signal the other party not to embarrass him anymore.

"Guangxi is not conducive to the army's march, so the court used an extremely cruel move there."

Originally, Han Long did not want to use this word to describe the court's methods, but after racking his brains, he still could not find a more appropriate word, so he finally used the word "cruel".

"If you rebel today, I will use my soldiers to suppress the rebellion. If my family rebels tomorrow, I will use yours to suppress the rebellion. When both sides have killed many people and the hatred is overwhelming, Guangxi will be like a pile of loose sand and it will be difficult to unite forces. Naturally, there will be no great rebels like Shasheyang, and the court will save a lot of trouble."

As soon as he finished speaking, a sound of swallowing saliva was heard in the tent, but Han Long didn't bother to find out whether it was because of hunger or fear. He paused for a moment and asked back.

"I have said so much, it is up to you to decide which one you want to choose."

(End of this chapter)